diff options
| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-14 18:40:29 -0700 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-14 18:40:29 -0700 |
| commit | 2fb0ad9994fc5029e128218bc84092cb223b98e7 (patch) | |
| tree | 5b48b3157dfa2209cc500f0a19468383dbd3ca7b | |
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 44399-0.txt | 8370 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 44399-h/44399-h.htm | 8490 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/44399-8.txt | 8764 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/44399-8.zip | bin | 0 -> 146002 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/44399-h.zip | bin | 0 -> 149585 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/44399-h/44399-h.htm | 8860 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/44399.txt | 8764 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/44399.zip | bin | 0 -> 145917 bytes |
11 files changed, 43264 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/44399-0.txt b/44399-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f52690a --- /dev/null +++ b/44399-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8370 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44399 *** + +Note: Images of the original pages are available through + the Bodleian Libraries, Univerity of Oxford. See + http://dbooks.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/books/PDFs/600061818.pdf + + + + + +STONEHEART + +by + +GUSTAVE AIMARD + +Author of "Bee-Hunters," "Smuggler Chief," etc., etc. + + + + + + + +London, +Charles Henry Clarke, 13 Paternoster Row. +1874 + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + I. SYMPATHY + II. THE VIRGIN FOREST + III. DON TORRIBIO QUIROGA + IV. LA TERTULIA (THE PARTY) + V. THE AMBUSH + VI. SAN LUCAR + VII. THE ATTACK ON THE PRESIDIO + VIII. DISGRACE + IX. THE PRISONER + X. THE CAMP OF THE REDSKINS + XI. THE RENEGADE + XII. WOMAN'S WILL + XIII. PALEFACE VERSUS REDSKIN + XIV. THE CATASTROPHE + XV. ONE MONTH LATER + XVI. PREPARATIONS FOR THE CHASE + XVII. THE CHASE + XVIII. EL VOLADERO DE LAS ÁNIMAS + XIX. THE HAND OF GOD + + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +SYMPATHY. + + +Sympathy is a feeling admitting neither analyzation nor discussion. +It masters us, whether we will or no. Persons we meet unconsciously +attract or repel us at first sight. And why? It is a question +impossible to answer, but the fact is indubitable. An irresistible +magnetic influence draws us towards people whom, if we listened to the +promptings of self-interest, we ought to shun; while, on the other +hand, the same influence compels us to avoid others, in whom this very +interest should induce us to confide. + +And it is an extraordinary fact, well worthy of remark, that this +intuition, acting in opposition to our reasoning powers, seldom if ever +misleads us. Sooner or later we are forced to acknowledge as right +what to the prejudiced eyes of the world appeared erroneous, and find +that our sympathy, far from deceiving, has only led us to the truth. + +The result of this sympathy and antipathy are so palpable, so many +persons have experienced the effects of this mysterious influence, that +it would be superfluous for us to linger longer over the topic. + +Don Estevan and Stoneheart had become acquainted under circumstances +which might have induced enmity between them, or, at all events, made +them indifferent to each other: the reputation of the bee-hunter, +and the singular life he led, were ample reasons why the young +and straightforward _mayor domo_ of Don Pedro de Luna should feel +himself repelled by them; and yet a diametrically opposite effect was +produced without the two young men knowing why, and they suddenly +felt themselves friends, bound together, not by one of those vapid +sentimentalities so common in civilised life in Europe, where the +word "friend" means no more than a mere acquaintance, and is one of +the titles most easily and constantly profaned, but by the strong, +true feeling, admitting neither limit nor reasoning, which shoots up +so strongly in a few hours that it engrosses an immense part of the +existence of those of whom it has taken possession. + +They had never seen each other before their casual encounter in the +road to San Lucar, and yet they seemed to have known each other for +ages, and now only to have met again after a long parting. + +Singular to say, the same effect was produced on both at the same +moment, without calculation or reservation. + +What we have asserted is so true, that Don Estevan, notwithstanding +the innate prudence of his character, had not hesitated to confide to +Stoneheart, on the spur of the moment, the history of his master, or, +to speak more correctly, his benefactor. He had recounted this history +in all its details, without disguising anything, or omitting a title, +induced to act as he did by the secret presentiment which apprised him +that he had found a man worthy of sharing the burden of this important +secret. + +The course of this tale will furnish us with still stronger proofs of +the singular confidence these two men had instantly felt for each other. + +The sun was setting in a flood of purple and gold behind the snowy +crests of the lofty and jagged mountains of the Sierra Madre, when Don +Estevan ceased speaking. + +The landscape assumed that garb of placid melancholy in which it +clothes itself at the approach of eve; the birds came flying in +countless flocks, to nestle, twittering, under the leafy boughs of the +grand old trees. _Vaqueros_ and _peones_, galloping in all directions, +mustered the cattle, and drove them towards the _hacienda_; and in the +distance appeared a camp of _arrieros_, whose watch fires already began +to tinge the rapidly darkening sky with a ruddy glow. + +"And now," resumed Don Estevan, "having acquired as intimate a +knowledge as my own of the secrets of the family with whom chance has +brought you into contact, what do you intend to do?" + +"First, and before all a single word," answered Stoneheart. + +"Say on; you must indeed have many things to confide to me in your +turn." + +"Not so many as you think. You already know as much of my life as I do +myself; that is to say, almost nothing. But that is not the question +between us at present." + +"What can it be, then?" said Don Estevan, unable to repress his +curiosity. + +"I am about to tell you. Surely you have not told me this long and +interesting tale with the sole purpose of satisfying a curiosity I +never exhibited; there must be some other motive in your thoughts, +and I think I have guessed it. Don Estevan Diaz, two bold men, bound +to each other as closely as the ivy and the oak, with thoughts running +in the same channel, with but one will between them,--two such men +are mighty; for the one forms the complement to the other, and what +each alone would not dare to essay, the two will undertake without +hesitation, and be almost certain to succeed, however hazardous and +rash their projects may seem. Are you of the same way of thinking?" + +"Most surely, Don Fernando; I am entirely of the same opinion." + +A flash of joy illumined the face of the bee-hunter. "Good!" said he, +stretching out his arm; "Here is my hand, Don Estevan; it belongs to a +man who, with his hand, offers you a loyal and honest heart, whatever +may be said to the contrary: will you accept them?" + +"_¡Vive Dios!_" eagerly exclaimed the _mayor domo_, heartily pressing +in his own the hand so frankly tendered; "I accept both one and the +other. Thanks, brother! I was on the point of making the same offer to +you; we are now one for life or death. I am yours, as the handle is to +the blade." + +"Ah!" said Don Fernando, with a sigh of pleasure, "At last I have a +friend. I shall no longer wander through life alone: joy and sorrow, +grief and happiness,--I shall have one to whom I can confide them all." + +"You shall have more than one to sympathise with you, brother; you +shall have a mother too. Mine shall be yours also. Come, let us mount; +it grows late. We have still many things to talk of." + +"Let us go," was all the hunter answered. + +The horses had not strayed from the neighbourhood of the _rancho_, near +which they found abundant pasturage: the men easily _lassoed_ them, and +five minutes later the friends rode side by side in the direction of +Don Estevan's dwelling. + +Ña Manuela was awaiting them at the entrance. She was smiling. + +"Make haste!" she cried, as soon as she perceived them; "the _angelus_ +has rung an hour ago. It is supper time." + +"Which means to say, mother, that we are dying with hunger," replied +her son, dismounting; "so, if you have not prepared an ample meal, you +run great risk of leaving our appetites unappeased." + +"No fear of that, Estevan. I thought you would arrive in some such +condition; so I took my precautions." + +"Can you forgive me, madam," said the bee-hunter, "for making this +fresh inroad on your hospitality?" + +The mistress of the house smiled kindly. + +"I am so ready to forgive you, señor," said she, "that, feeling +convinced we should have you a long time with us, I have myself +arranged your _cuarto_ (quarters)." + +Don Fernando did not reply at once: a lively blush overspread his +features; he dismounted, and approaching the old lady: + +"Señora," said he, much affected, "I know not how to thank you; you +have guessed the dearest wish of my heart. Your son calls me brother: +would you deign to permit me to call you mother? How happy it would +make me!" + +Ña Manuela fixed upon him a long and steadfast gaze: her face exhibited +tokens of vivid emotion; two tears coursed slowly down her pallid +cheeks. Then, stretching out her hand to the hunter, she said: + +"Be it so! Instead of one, I have now two children. Come, my sons, +supper is waiting." + +"My name is Fernando, mother." + +"I will not forget it," was her smiling answer. They entered the +dwelling, while some _peones_ led away the horses to the _corral_. + +Don Fernando had not deceived his friend; he had in truth given him a +mother. + +The meal proceeded with the cheerfulness to be expected from three +persons who, although strangers three days before, had suddenly +understood and appreciated each other: that is to say, it was gay and +cordial. No allusion was made to the impromptu band which had linked +them together so intimately and unexpectedly. + +As soon as the _peones_ had retired, and their masters found themselves +alone, they left the table, and betook themselves, as on the previous +day, to an inner room, where, sheltered from prying eyes and ears, they +ran no risk of having their conversation overheard, commented on, and +perhaps reported. + +"Shut the door," said Don Estevan to Don Fernando, who was the last to +enter. + +"Not so," replied the latter; "we will leave it open: by this means we +shall both see and hear anyone who may come near us. Take this as a +general rule: never close the door when you have secrets to tell." + +Don Estevan drew forward some _butacas_ (seats), sat down, lit his +cigarette, and turning to the hunter, said: + +"Now for our talk!" + +There are certain situations in life where the most insignificant word +becomes of the greatest importance. So, when Don Estevan said, "Now for +our talk!" each of the three felt that the conversation to ensue would +not be confined to the limits of pleasant chat, but would almost assume +the proportions of a congress with closed doors, so extremely grave +were the matters which would be propounded. + +It was Don Fernando who first commenced the conversation in the decided +and clear manner which was habitual to him. + +"My friend, I have pondered deeply on what you told me today: you would +never have intrusted such an important secret to me, if grave reasons +had not induced you. I think I have divined your reasons; they are +these: the tranquillity which Don Pedro has enjoyed since he lived here +is menaced; you dread evil to Doña Hermosa. Are these your motives, or +am I mistaken?" + +"You are not. In fact, I have for some time past been oppressed by +a vague fear, a secret apprehension, I cannot subdue; I feel, as it +were, the approach of some misfortune, without knowing whence or how it +will come. Doubtless you know better than I can tell you, that in all +men's lives certain dark hours occur, in which the brave man trembles +without apparent cause, like a child afraid of its own shadow. All +things alarm, all things excite suspicion. Well, my friend, for the +last two months I have lived these dark hours: an invincible sadness +overpowers me. In a word, I am living in fear, without knowing why; +for all around me takes its usual course: Don Pedro is as calm, Doña +Hermosa as gay, as lively, and as free from care as ever; we live +in this out-of-the-way corner of the world entirely ignorant of its +doings; the rumours of society die without an echo on our threshold. +What have we, then, to fear? Who is the enemy that lies in wait for +us, and whose savage eye watches us night and day? I know not; but I +repeat, I feel him; I see him, as it were, without being really able to +discover him." + +"You know your enemy now, as well as I do. It is the Tigercat. The +conversation you overheard last night between him and myself must have +enlightened you as to his intention, if not as to his plans." + +"True; but, nevertheless, my mind refuses to admit that this man can +really be our enemy. As there can be no effects without causes, so +there can be no hate without a reason. Since Don Pedro's arrival in +this country, he has never come in contact with this man at home or +abroad, for good or for evil. Why, then, should he wish ill to my +master?" + +"Why! Why!" repeated the hunter, with feverish impatience. "Why does +day follow night? Why are there good and bad men? Why rascals and +honest people? The inquiry would lead you too far, my good friend. +I know as well as you that none of you have ever come in contact +with the Tigercat. It is impossible to doubt it; but what does that +signify? This man is a gloomy miscreant, the greater portion of whose +life is spent in doing evil for mere evil's sake. Don Pedro is loved +and honoured by all who know him; Doña Hermosa is respected even by +the Apaches,--the most ferocious redskins of the prairie; hence, most +likely, the hatred he bears to the family of the _hacendero_. In +such a man's eyes, no one has the right to be good and honest with +impunity; it is an obvious necessity that all loyal hearts should be +his natural enemies. A man, however low he may have fallen, can never +forget his frightful downfall, or the position from which his crimes +have hurled him; he cannot forgive the world his own abasement; but as +he cannot avenge himself upon it in the mass, he wages war upon it in +detail, attacking all those within his reach, and taking his revenge +on them for fault she has himself committed. Here lies the sole cause +of Tigercat's hatred of Don Pedro; seek no further reason; no other +exists." + +"Yes; you are right," answered Don Estevan uneasily; "it must be as you +say." + +"Of course it is! Trust in me, who have known the monster so long, as +it is he who brought me up. But enough of this: what do you intend to +do, now we have clearly ascertained our position?" + +"I confess I find myself greatly embarrassed, and know not how to +extricate myself from the dilemma--how to upset plans the aim of which +is beyond my ken; how to thwart projects tending to an unknown end. +There lies the difficulty for me." + +"I think it would be by far the best course to leave the family in +complete ignorance of our suspicions," said Ña Manuela. + +"Say rather our conviction, señora," replied Don Fernando. "But in +this matter I am quite of your opinion: it will be easy for us to +guard Don Pedro and his daughter so secretly that they shall not dream +of the danger which threatens them. Then, if the position grows too +complicated, we shall not be in want of pretexts to oblige them to keep +watch over their own safety." + +"Oh, yes!" exclaimed Don Estevan excitedly; + +"It is most important that they should entertain no suspicion, +particularly Doña Hermosa, who is so sensitive. Poor child; if our +fears prove true, she will learn to know misfortune too soon. Come, +Fernando, counsel us; you are the only one who can aid us in this +trying emergency." + +"I will do all a man can do to save those you love." + +"Thanks. But why not save those whom you love yourself? You have +already rendered them an inestimable service." + +"Alas, my friend!" said the hunter, with a sigh; "What am I, the +miserable adventurer, that I should lift my thoughts so high? I am +nothing more; and can only play the part of the honest watchdog, who +saves his master and dies at his feet." + +He spoke these words in accents of so much sadness and humility, that +Don Estevan and his mother, moved to tears, with one accord seized his +hands, and pressed them affectionately. + +"Do not speak thus, brother," exclaimed the _mayor domo_; "you do not +know Doña Hermosa as we do: a more upright heart, a purer or nobler +soul, does not exist: she loves you." + +"Ah," said Don Fernando with emotion, "do not utter the word. Doña +Hermosa--love me--me! It is impossible." + +"Doña Hermosa is a woman, my good friend; you saved her life. I do not +positively know the nature of her sentiments towards you,--it is very +likely they are inexplicable to herself,--but I am convinced of her +gratitude to you; and in a young girl gratitude soon merges into love." + +"Silence, Estevan!" cried the old lady, interrupting him; "Such words +must not be used when speaking of your master's daughter." + +"Very true, mother; forgive me; I was wrong. But had you heard Doña +Hermosa speaking of our friend as I did, and exacting from me a promise +to search for and bring him to her,--_¡vive Dios!_ you would not know +what to think." + +"Perhaps so; but, at all events, I should not have poured oil upon +the flame, and, for my own sake and that of my friend, should have +prudently locked up my thoughts at the bottom of my heart." + +"Do not think me so mad, señora," exclaimed Don Fernando, "as to attach +more importance than they deserve to your son's words. I know too well +what I am--I have too complete a conviction of my inferiority--to dare +to raise my venturous eyes to her whom honour compels me to respect as +one of the angels." + +"Well said, Don Fernando, and spoken as a man should speak," broke +in Ña Manuela; "but let us drop the subject, and occupy ourselves in +finding the means of escape from the dilemma we are in." + +"I think," replied the hunter, with some hesitation--"I think I can +show you the means, if you cannot contrive something better." + +Mother and son eagerly drew their _butacas_ nearer to him, in order to +listen more attentively. + +"Speak, brother, speak," cried Don Estevan; "let us have no further +delay. These means, what are they?" + +"You must excuse me," resumed Don Fernando, "if the plan I am about to +submit to you should not be exactly compatible with the strict laws of +honour as they are understood in the civilised world; but I entreat you +to recollect that I have been brought up as a redskin; that the man +with whom we are about to enter into mortal strife is more than half +an Indian; and the war he intends to wage with you will be an Apache +war, full of treachery and ambuscades; that, in order to meet him with +advantage, we too, whatever repugnance we may feel, must employ the +same measures,--must turn his own weapons against himself; must repel +treachery by treachery, and knavery by knavery; for if, adhering to +a false idea of honour, we persist in an open and honest warfare, we +shall play the part of fools indeed, and he will outwit us." + +"What you say, Fernando," replied the _mayor domo_, "is unfortunately +but too true. The proverb is right, 'Cap a knave with a knave.' I +perfectly understand the bearing and the justice of your reasoning, yet +I confess that it is hard for an honest man, accustomed to look his +enemies in the face, to be forced to wrap himself in a fox's hide, and +condescend to stratagem when his heart leads him to attack openly." + +"But what can we do? This is one of the sad necessities of our +position. If we do not act in this wise, we may as well submit to our +foe as attempt to thwart his measures; for we should fail." + +"Let it be as you wish, since there is no other method; but now for +your plan." + +"It is this: notwithstanding the disagreement between myself and the +Tigercat, he has allowed me to dive too deep into his confidence--too +many of his secrets are known to me--for him to exhibit any rancour +against me, whatever anger he may feel. Accustomed for a number of +years to mould me to his will, and rule over me as he pleased, he +thinks he knows my character thoroughly, and is persuaded that my +dispute with him was only an outbreak of temper, and that nothing would +please me more than to place myself once again under his guidance. +Finally, like all men who have through long years cherished a chimera, +the Tigercat--who, I am convinced, has only fostered me and suffered me +in his presence for the sake of making me useful in one of his infernal +plots--will allow himself, shrewd as he is, to be overreached by me, if +I choose to take the trouble." + +"All this sounds plausible enough," observed Don Estevan. + +"I think it does. Well, then, listen to my proposal. At daybreak +tomorrow you and I will leave for the _presidio_, where I will put you +into communication with a certain rogue of my acquaintance, who is as +much devoted to me as people of his sort can be. This _pícaro_ will +serve you as an agent: through him we shall learn all the Tigercat is +doing at San Lucar with the _leperos_ he is enrolling for some sinister +purpose. We will then part: you to return quietly to this place; I to +rejoin the Tigercat in the prairies. In this way, whatever happens will +reach our ears. This is my project; what do you think of it?" + +"It is capital, Fernando; you have thought of everything." + +"But remember three things: first of all, whatever I may do or say, +whatever measures you may see me try, do not take offence at them; +leave me complete master of my actions, and never for a moment suspect +that I intend to betray you." + +"Have no uneasiness on that score; I will put no faith in the testimony +of my eyes or ears: my confidence in you shall be unalterable. And now +for your next remark." + +"You will instantly comprehend its importance. As soon as we have left +the _presidio_, we must be as strangers; we must know nothing of each +other." + +"It is indeed an important piece of advice, and I will take care to +follow it; the consequences of a single mistake would be incalculably +disastrous to us." + +"Lastly, be ready to act at the first signal, be it by night or day. +Never mind what you may be doing; leave everything instantly to assume +the offensive the moment the signal is given." + +"Good. After tomorrow, on the pretence of having certain urgent work +to be carried out at the _hacienda_, I will quietly enlist a score of +_leperos_,--hairbrained fellows,--who for gold will obey me blindly +and recoil before no danger." + +"The very thing! You can easily employ them here in doing nothing till +the time comes for the use of knife and rifle." + +"I will be answerable that no one shall make a single inquiry +concerning them. But what sort of token will you send me, and through +whom will you send it?" + +"The token will be a white eagle's plume broken into three pieces, and +with the quill painted red. He who brings the plume will only say the +words, 'My two piastres.' You will give them to him without remark, and +send him away again." + +"But who is the man, Fernando?" + +"He will be a stranger; most likely the first man I happen to meet. +It is requisite that the messenger should not suspect the importance +of the message he conveys, should he chance to fall into the enemy's +hands." + +"Well reasoned! Come, come, I think we shall get through this business +successfully." + +"As for me, I am sure of it," exclaimed Don Fernando, "if you will only +follow my instructions to the letter." + +"Do not be anxious on that score, brother; I will answer for my +accuracy." + +Everything having been thus arranged and decided on by our three +personages, they separated and retired to rest, for it was already +late, and the two men were to mount at daybreak to take the road to the +_presidio_ of San Lucar. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE VIRGIN FOREST. + + +Don Torribio Quiroga, with whom we have now to do, was a young man of +twenty-eight, with a refined and intellectual countenance, an elegant +figure, and possessing in the highest degree the manners of the best +society. + +He belonged to one of the richest and most considerable families in +the province of Chihuahua: the death of his parents had put him in +possession of an income of more than five hundred thousand piastres, or +about ninety thousand pounds sterling; for money is plentiful in that +country. + +A man in this position, and gifted with all the mental and physical +advantages enjoyed by Don Torribio, had a right to very high +pretensions; for, a certain amount of fortune once reached, obstacles +no longer exist, or, at least, are only an excitement instead of an +impediment. + +Don Torribio had succeeded in all his undertakings, with one exception: +his struggle against Don Fernando,--a struggle in which the latter had +always come off victorious. + +Thus the hatred the rich _hacendero_ felt for the bee-hunter, and which +was originally based upon puerile motives, had insensibly increased +with each successive mortification, and ended at last by assuming the +alarming proportions of real Mexican hate, which only the death of its +object can appease. + +After the meeting with Don Fernando Carril, which resulted so +unfavourably for him, Don Torribio Quiroga remained a prey to that cold +and concentrated rage which slowly eats into the soul till it explodes +with terrific violence. + +As soon as he lost sight of his lucky adversary, he had started at full +speed. His spurs mangled the flanks of his luckless horse, who snorted +with pain, and redoubled his furious pace. + +Now, where was Don Torribio going, with distorted features and hair +streaming to the wind? + +He did not know himself; moreover, he did not care. + +He saw nothing, heard nothing. Revolving sinister projects in his +brain, he crossed torrents and ravines without checking his horse's +career. + +Hatred was crying aloud in his heart; nothing cooled his burning +forehead; his temples beat as if they would burst, and nervous +agitation shook him in every limb. + +This state of overexcitement lasted many hours. His steed still +continued to fly. At last the noble animal, worn out with fatigue, +suddenly stopped and dropped upon the sand. + +Don Torribio rose, and looked around him with a bewildered air. + +A shock like this rude fall was necessary to restore order to his +ideas, and recall him to reality. Another hour of such continued +anguish would have made him raving mad, or ended in sudden apoplexy. + +It was night. Thick darkness covered the earth; a mournful silence +reigned over the wilderness to which chance had brought him. + +"Where am I?" he exclaimed, endeavouring to make out his position. + +But the moon, hidden by clouds, gave forth no ray; the wind began to +roar like thunder; the branches of the trees crashed against each +other, and, from the depths of the wilderness, the growlings of the +wild beast began to mingle their deep notes with the sharper howling of +the wild cats. + +Don Torribio strained his eyes in vain efforts to penetrate the +darkness around him. At last he approached his horse, which was +stretched on the ground, and drawing its breath with difficulty. Moved +with pity for the faithful companion of so many adventures, he stooped +down, removed his pistols from the holsters to his belt, and taking +from the saddle, where it was slung, a gourd filled with rum, began +to wash the eyes, nostrils, and mouth of the panting animal. Half an +hour's persistence seemed to restore life to the horse. He got on his +legs, and, with his natural instinct, soon discovered a neighbouring +rill, at which he slaked his thirst. + +"All is not yet lost," muttered Don Torribio; "after all, I may make my +escape hence." + +But a deep roar resounded at a short distance, repeated immediately +afterwards in four different directions. + +The horse's coat stood on end; and Don Torribio felt a cold shudder run +through his veins. + +"Curse upon it!" he exclaimed; "I have stumbled upon a drinking place +for panthers! What is to be done?" + +He stooped, and found the confirmation of his fears in the footprints +stamped in the muddy borders of the rill. + +Just at this moment he saw, at ten paces from him, two eyes, glimmering +like burning coals, fixed upon him with strange intensity. + +Don Torribio was a man of well-tried courage. Many a time, before the +eyes of his comrades, he had performed deeds of wonderful temerity; but +now, alone in the darkness, and surrounded by savage animals, he felt +himself overcome by deadly terror: his chest heaved, and his breath +came and went with difficulty through his set teeth; a cold sweat broke +out on his limbs, and he was on the point of dropping. + +But this fit of terror did not last above a minute. By a violent effort +of his will, he collected himself, and calling all his energy to his +aid, prepared for a desperate struggle, in which he knew he must +succumb; yet, preserving that instinct of self-preservation and hope +which is seldom utterly extinguished in man, he determined to defend +his life to the last moment. + +Just then his horse, with a snort of horrible fear, bounded away, and +made his escape on to the plain. + +"So much the better," muttered Don Torribio; "perhaps the poor brute's +speed may save him." + +A frightful concert of yells and howling broke out in all parts +of the forest at the flight of the horse, and mighty shadows, +indistinguishable in the darkness, bounded past Don Torribio. + +He smiled bitterly. + +"Aha!" said he; "Shall I stand here to be devoured, without attempting +to escape? _¡Vive Dios!_ It would be the act of a fool! Come, I am not +eaten yet: I will go." + +A violent gust of wind here cleared the heaven of clouds, and for some +minutes the wan light of the moon lit up the wild spot, in which Don +Torribio found himself. + +A few paces off, the Rio del Norte ran between two steep banks; on all +sides, and far away in the distance, the dense masses of the virgin +forest extended themselves. A chaos of rocks piled on each other in +inextricable confusion, from whose fissures rose clumps of trees +overgrown with entangled creepers drooping in fantastic garlands, +pushed its ramifications to the verge of the river; the soil, composed +of sand and the detritus always abounding in the forests of America, +crumbled under the footstep. + +Then Don Torribio knew where he was: at least fifteen leagues from +the nearest inhabited spot. He was entangled in the first spurs of an +immense forest--the only one throughout the country of the Apaches +which the hardy pioneers of civilization had not yet dared to explore, +such mysterious horrors seemed concealed in its dark recesses. + +Don Torribio took no pains to inquire how his headlong course had +brought him to this dreaded region. Danger so frightful that it claimed +the exertion of all his powers, hung too directly over his head for him +to waste time in speculating on anything save the manner of extricating +himself. + +At this side, the limpid steam we have mentioned issued from a rock; +its banks, impressed with numberless footprints of wild beasts, clearly +indicating that the spot was a favourite drinking place, when, at +sunset, they left their lairs to seek their food and quench their +thirst. And as a further living proof of the fact, two magnificent +jaguars, male and female, had at that very moment stopped at its +border, and were watching with restless eyes the gambols of their young. + +"So," said Don Torribio to himself, "here are pleasant neighbours;" and +he mechanically cast his eyes on the other side. + +An immense panther, crouched on a rock in the attitude of a cat on the +watch, had fixed on him two eyeballs glowing like carbuncle. + +Don Torribio, according to the custom in South America, never left home +without his weapons. His carbine, of great price, was of remarkable +accuracy, and by a providential chance, had not been broken when he +fell with his horse. He had placed it as he rose against a rock beside +him: he stretched out his arm, and seized it. + +"Good!" said he, with a grim smile; "The struggle will cost them dear, +at all events." + +He shouldered the weapon; but at the moment he was about to fire, a +plaintive caterwauling causing him to raise his eyes, he saw a dozen of +catamounts and tiger cats of immense size perched in the branches above +him, while a number of wolves crept stealthily up and dropped down in +the bushes behind him. Poised on the summits of the surrounding rocks, +a tribe of vultures, bald buzzards, and _urubus_, with half closed +eyes, seemed to be expecting the moment to seize their share of the +quarry. + +With one bound, Don Torribio threw himself on to an angle of the rock, +and from thence, by aid of his hands and knees, he contrived, in the +course of a minute or two, to drag himself with enormous difficulty, +to a kind of terrace, about twenty feet above the ground. Here he felt +himself in comparative security for a time. + +The horrible concert performed by the denizens of the forest, attracted +one after another by the keenness of their scent, increased in volume +with every minute, and had now reached such a pitch, that it drowned +the roar of the wind which was raging through the ravines and +clearings. + +The moon had disappeared behind the clouds, and Don Torribio was once +more enveloped in darkness. But if he could no longer distinguish the +wild beasts, he knew they were there: he smelt their odour; he saw +their eyes flashing through the obscurity; and their yells, nearing him +more and more, made him feel that the last spark of hope would soon be +extinguished for ever. + +Firmly planting his feet on the ground and leaning a little forward +to secure his aim, he drew a revolver, and fired six shots in rapid +succession at the tiger cats. Six howls of agony, and the noise +produced by falling from branch to branch, immediately followed. Six of +the beasts were killed or wounded. + +Nothing more horrible can be conceived than the uproar caused by this +unexpected onslaught. The wolves threw themselves yelling on the +victims, which they began to devour eagerly, disputing their booty with +the vultures and _zopilotes_, who also claimed their share. + +Suddenly there was a strange rustling amongst the leaves and branches +of the trees. A body, of indistinguishable shape, shot through the air, +and alighted growling on the platform. Don Torribio, clutching his +rifle, dealt the animal a terrific blow with the butt on the skull, and +the brute rolled howling from the top of the rock to the bottom. + +And now his ears were stunned by the uproar arising from a dreadful +combat, a few feet below him, between the jaguars and tiger cats on +one side, and the panther which had attacked them. Fascinated by the +terrible danger to which he was exposed, Don Torribio, forgetful of the +evil consequences to him that might ensue, fired two pistol shots into +the mass of foes tearing and rushing at each other's throats at his +feet. + +Thereupon a strange thing occurred: all these animals, natural enemies +to each other, seemed to comprehend that it would be better to unite +against man, their common foe, than waste their strength in strife +among themselves. Suddenly ceasing from the terrible combat in which +they were engaged, and abandoning, with one accord, the bloody and +half-devoured bodies of the victims, they turned their rage in the +direction of the rock on which Don Torribio seemed to set them at +defiance, and attacked it in concert with terrific energy--leaping upon +its excrescences, striving to hold on to them, and trying to escalade +it on all sides at once. + +The situation grew more and more critical. Several tiger cats had +already bounded on to the platform. As fast as Don Torribio knocked +them over, others took their place. The number of his enemies increased +with every minute; his own strength and energy were gradually deserting +him. + +This strife of one man against a host of ferocious brutes had something +grand and striking about it. Don Torribio, like one with the nightmare, +strove in vain to beat back the constantly renewed crowds of his +assailants: he felt close to him the hot and fetid breath of the tiger +cats and panthers; the roaring of the jaguars, and mocking moans of the +panthers, poured into his ears a frightful song, that deafened and made +him giddy; the eyes of thousands of his invisible foes flashed through +the obscurity, and fascinated his own gaze; and sometimes the heavy +wing of the vulture or _zopilote_ brushed his cheek, from which the +cold sweat exuded. + +An accurate perception of his own existence had vanished from his soul; +he no longer thought: his life, if we may still use the expression, had +grown mechanical; his motions and gestures were those of a machine, and +his arm rose and fell with the dull regularity of a pendulum. + +Talons had already torn his flesh; several catamounts, rushing upon +him, had fastened on his throat, and he had been obliged to seize them +bodily to force them to quit their hold. His blood was streaming from +twenty wounds, superficial, it is true; but the moment was close at +hand when the energy which alone sustained him would be worn out, and +he would fall from the rock, to be torn in pieces by the brutes who +were ever pressing more madly upon him. + +At this solemn moment, when strength and courage were alike failing, +a last cry issued from his breast--a cry of agony, a cry of horrible +expression, which was repeated far and wide by the echoes: the last, +the final protest of a bold man, who owns himself vanquished, and +instinctively calls on his kind for succour before he falls. + +Wonderful to relate, a cry answered his own! + +Don Torribio, astonished, and not daring to believe that a miracle +was to take place in a wilderness where none before himself had dared +to penetrate, fancied his ears had deceived him; yet, confessing to +himself how little strength was still left him, and feeling hope +faintly reviving in his soul, he uttered a second cry, more poignant, +more help-seeking than the former. + +As soon as the echoes of the forest were silent after their repetition +of the cry, a single word, weak as a sigh, was borne to his listening +ears on the wings of the breeze: "Hope!" + +Don Torribio recovered himself. Electrified by the word, he seemed +to regain new life and strength, and redoubled his strokes on his +numberless assailants. + +Suddenly the gallop of many horses was heard in the distance, several +discharges of firearms illumined the darkness with their transient +splendour, and some men, or rather demons, rushed unexpectedly into the +thickest crowd of wild beasts, making a horrible slaughter. + +At this moment Don Torribio, attacked by two tiger cats, rolled upon +the platform struggling with both. + +In a very short time the brutes were put to flight by the newcomers, +who hastened to light fires to keep them at bay for the rest of the +night. + +Two of the men armed with burning torches of ocote wood, set themselves +to search for the man whose cries of distress had brought them to his +aid. + +They were not long in finding him stretched out on the platform, +surrounded by ten or twelve dead tiger cats, and clutching in his +stiffened hands the throat of a strangled catamount. + +"Well, Carlocho," exclaimed a voice, "have you found him?" + +"Yes," replied the other; "but he seems dead." + +"_¡Caray!_" resumed Pablito; "It would be a pity; for he was a bold +fellow. Where is he?" + +"There; on the rock opposite you." + +"Can you let him down with the _verado's_ help?" + +"Nothing easier; he is as still as a log." + +"Make haste, then, in the name of heaven!" said Pablito; "Every +minute's delay may be a year's life stolen from him!" + +Carlocho and the _verado_ lifted Don Torribio by the feet and +shoulders, and with infinite precaution carried him from the improvised +fortress he had defended so bravely to one of the fires, and laid him +on a bed of leaves prepared by El Zapote; for the four _vaqueros_ were, +by a strange chance, reunited in this spot. + +"_¡Canarios!_" cried Pablito, at sight of the miserable man; "Poor +devil! How they have mauled him! It was high time for help." + +"Do you think he will recover?" asked Carlocho, with great interest. + +"There is always hope," said Pablito dogmatically, "when the vital +organs are uninjured. Let us look at him." + +He bent over the body of Don Torribio, unsheathed his poniard, and put +the blade to his lips. + +"Not a sign of breath!". and he shook his head. + +"Are his wounds serious?" asked the _verado_. + +"I think not: he has fallen from fatigue and overexcitement." + +"But in that case he may come round again?" + +"Perhaps he may; perhaps he may not: all depends upon the greater or +less violence of the shock to his nervous system." + +"Ha!" exclaimed the _verado_ joyfully; "Look here! He breathes. _¡Vive +Dios!_ He has tried to open his eyes!" + +"Then he is saved!" replied Pablito; "He will soon come to his senses. +This man has a constitution of iron. He will be able to be in the +saddle in a quarter of an hour, if he likes; but we must attend to his +wounds." + +The _vaqueros_, like the backwoodsmen, live far from inhabited places; +and are obliged to be their own doctors; hence they acquire a certain +practical knowledge of surgery, and are adepts in the collection and +application of the herbs in use among the Indians. + +Pablito, aided by Carlocho and the _verado_, bathed the wounds of Don +Torribio, first with water, then with rum, and blew tobacco smoke into +his nostrils. + +The latter, after some minutes of this strange treatment, uttered a +scarcely perceptible sigh, moved his lips slightly, and at last opened +his eyes, which as yet had no consciousness in them. + +"He is saved!" repeated Pablito; "Now let us leave nature to work: she +is the best doctor I know." + +Don Torribio raised himself up, supporting himself on one elbow, and +passed his hand across his forehead, as if to recall his thoughts. + +"Who are you?" he said in a feeble tone. + +"Friends, señor; fear nothing." + +"I am killed; my limbs are all broken." + +"It is nothing to signify, señor; it is only fatigue: you are as well +as we are?" + +Don Torribio sat up and looked attentively at the men who surrounded +him. + +"I must be mistaken," said he; "I never expected to find you here. By +what miracle did you reach me in time to save me?--you, whom I promised +to meet at a rendezvous so far from the spot where we are?" + +"It was your horse performed the miracle, señor," said the _verado_. + +"How is that?" asked Don Torribio, whose voice grew stronger every +moment, and who had already managed to stand up. + +"The case is very simple. We were skirting the forest, on our road +to the place you had pointed out to us, when suddenly a horse passed +across us at a giddy speed, a pack of wolves at his heels. We soon +relieved him from his incarnate foes. Then, as we thought it unlikely +for a saddled horse to be all alone in a forest into which none dare +venture, we set out in search of his rider. Your cry was our pilot." + +"Thanks!" replied Don Torribio; "I shall know how to repay the debt I +have contracted with you." + +"Nonsense! That is not worth speaking of. Come! here is your horse; we +can go as soon as you like." + +Don Torribio held up his hand. + +"Stay here," said he; "we shall find no more suitable place than this +to discuss what we have got to say to each other." + + + + +Chapter III. + +DON TORRIBIO QUIROGA. + + +There was a long silence after these words of Don Torribio. The +_vaqueros_, with their eyes fixed on him, endeavoured to guess his +thoughts from the play of his features. But Don Torribio's face, cold +and rigid as a block of marble, gave no signs of the thoughts within. +At last, after casting a glance of suspicion around, more from habit +than from any fear of being overheard, he rolled a cigarette, lit it +with the greatest coolness, and began to speak in a careless tone. + +"My good _verado_, I am truly sorry that you have taken these +honourable _caballeros_ from their vocations, and put yourself to +inconvenience, in order to repair to the place I had appointed." + +"Why so, señor?" asked the _verado_, perfectly puzzled by this +commencement. + +"For a very simple reason, señor,--because the motives no longer exist +which induced me to wish to confer with you." + +"What!" cried all the rogues together; "Can that be possible?" + +"Oh, yes!" he replied coolly; "All things considered, Don Fernando +Carril is a charming _caballero_. I should be in despair if I caused +him the slightest inconvenience." + +"_Diablo!_ not quite so charming!" observed the verado; "The fellow who +ordered Carlocho to kill me quietly!" + +"It was not to me, dear friend," said Carlocho, with great suavity, +"but to Don Pablito here, that Señor Don Fernando gave the order." + +"You are right; I made a mistake. Accept my excuses, señor." + +After this exchange of courtesy, the two bandits again grew silent. + +"An honest man sticks to his word," said Tonillo; "and if Don Torribio +has changed his mind, we have nothing more to say. That reminds me," he +added, with a smothered sigh, "that I must refund to you two hundred +piastres, which you advanced to--" + +"Keep the trifle, dear señor," said Don Torribio; "the money cannot be +in better hands than yours." + +The _vaquero_, who had pulled the coins from his pocket with evident +reluctance, thrust them back again with a celerity that evinced the +greatest satisfaction. + +"It is all the same," said he; "I do not consider myself quits with +you, señor. I am an honest man, and you may rely upon me." + +"On us all!" exclaimed the others in one voice. + +"I thank you for your devotion, señores, and appreciate it highly. +Unfortunately, as I say once more, it is of no use to me." + +"It is unfortunate," said the _verado_; "one does not find such patrons +as you every day, señor." + +"Pooh!" said he gaily; "Now you are free, what prevents your placing +yourselves under the orders of Don Fernando? He is very generous; a +_caballero_ to the tips of his fingers: I am sure he will pay you well." + +"I suppose it will have to be so, señor," said Pablito; "moreover, we +can now confess that we have already been thinking of it, and--" + +"Have already taken service with him," said Don Torribio carelessly. "I +was aware of it." + +"You know it?" cried the bandits, struck with astonishment. + +"And are not vexed at it?" continued Pablito. + +"Why should I be? On the contrary, I am delighted. It is a strange +chance; but perhaps you will be even better able to serve me by the +change." + +"Indeed!" said they, becoming very attentive. + +"Certainly you may. So you really are devoted to me?" + +"To the last drop of our blood!" shouted the _vaqueros_ in touching +unison. + +"You do not despise money?" + +"Money can never hurt those who have none," replied the sententious +Pablito. + +"When it is earned honourably," added Tonillo with a grin like a monkey. + +"I agree with you," said Don Torribio; "particularly when it is a +question of a hundred ounces or so," (about three hundred and forty +pounds sterling). + +The bandits trembled with joy, and their wild eyes sparkled. They +exchanged looks of promise to themselves for the future, which did not +escape Don Torribio's observation. + +"_¡Caray!_" they muttered, hugging themselves with joy. + +"So that would suit you, I suppose?" + +"_Rayo de Dios!_ a hundred ounces! I should think so," said Pablito. + +"There may be more," observed Don Torribio. + +"But doubtless it will be a difficult job," the _verado_ ventured to +say. + +"_¡Dame!_ You know, things are going wrong at present." + +"No need to tell us that, señor; the misery is frightful." + +"Perhaps there may be a man to kill?" insinuated Carlocho. + +"That might happen!" roundly replied Don Torribio. + +"So much the worse for him," muttered Pablito. + +"Then the offer is agreeable to you, even in that case?" + +"More so than ever," growled Tonillo. + +"Since that is your opinion, _caballeros_, listen attentively," said +Don Torribio, drawing himself up; "I have pledged my honour," he began, +"to make no attempts against Don Fernando Carril, either directly or +indirectly." + +"An honest man sticks to his word," said Tonillo. + +"And I intend to keep mine scrupulously, as regards Don Fernando." + +The _vaqueros_ made signs of approbation. + +"But," continued the speaker, "you know as well as I do that Don +Fernando is a man made of mysteries, whose life lies hidden under an +impenetrable veil." + +"Alas, yes!" piteously sighed Tonillo. + +"No one knows what becomes of him for the greater part of his time: he +disappears for months together, to start up again at the moment when +one least expects him." + +"It is but too true," said Pablito; "the life of the _caballero_ is +most extraordinary." + +"To how many dangers he must expose himself," continued Don Torribio, +"in those perilous adventures, of which no one knows the object, nor +the direction in which he seeks them!" + +"It is terrible even to think of them," said Carlocho, with an air of +conviction. + +"One so easily meets with mishap in the wilderness," added the _verado_. + +"Without going further, only look what might have happened to yourself +tonight, señor!" said Tonillo, looking interested. + +"It is dreadful," exclaimed Pablito. + +"You will clearly understand, señores," resumed Don Torribio, "that I +can by no means be responsible for the numberless accidents to which +Don Fernando's manner of life exposes him at every step." + +"This is incontestable," cried the others. + +"Chance seems to take malignant pleasure in deranging and upsetting +the best conceived plans; and it is impossible for me to save him from +chance, even with the lively interest I take in his safety." + +"There can be no doubt on that head," said Pablito, dogmatically; "and +certainly not a soul would have the right to utter a word of reproach +against you, señor, should poor Don Fernando be killed in one of his +perilous adventures." + +"Exactly what I think; but as I am now no longer the enemy, but the +friend of Don Fernando, and in that capacity take the greatest interest +in knowing all that may happen to him, so that I might fly to his aid +if necessary--" + +"Or avenge him, if ill luck should have it that he should be killed," +said Carlocho, interrupting him. + +"I should like," continued Don Torribio, "to be constantly apprised of +whatever may happen to him." + +"Oh, holy friendship!" exclaimed Tonillo, raising his eyes to heaven +with a sanctified air; "Thou art not a mere idle word!" + +"_Caballeros_, you could not be in a better position for giving me +information; and as all trouble should have its reward, you shall +receive at least one hundred ounces to share amongst you, or two +hundred, according to the news you may bring me. You understand?" + +"Perfectly, señor," replied Carlocho, with imperturbable composure, in +the name of his deeply touched companions; "the office you confide to +us is most honourable. You may rely on our carrying out your views to +your utmost satisfaction." + +"Well, that is settled, señores; I rely upon the accuracy of your +information, for you must perceive the ridiculous position in which +a false report would place me in the eyes of Don Fernando's numerous +friends, whom I should be loth to disturb without good cause." + +"Trust entirely to us, señor; we will confirm our information by +irrefragable proof." + +"Good! I see we understand each other; it is useless to pursue the +matter further." + +"Perfectly useless, señor; we are men of quick comprehension." + +"Yes," said Don Torribio, smiling; "but, as your memories may be short, +do me the honour of dividing these ten ounces amongst you,--not as the +earnest--money of a bargain, for there is no bargain between us, but +as a return for the service you have just done me, and as a means of +imprinting our conversation on your brains." + +The _vaqueros_, without waiting to be pressed, extended their hands, +and, with smiling faces, pocketed the ounces so liberally bestowed. + +"Now, one word more, _caballeros:_ where are we?" + +"In the Selva Negra, señor," answered Pablito; "not more than four +leagues from the Hacienda del Cormillo, where Don Pedro de Luna and his +family are at present residing." + +Don Torribio started in astonishment. + +"What! Has Don Pedro left Las Norias de San Antonio?" + +"Yes, señor; since yesterday." + +"What a singular thing! El Cormillo is on the extreme verge of the +wilderness, in the midst of the Apaches: it is impossible to understand +it." + +"They say it was Doña Hermosa who wished for this change, of which +scarcely anybody has yet heard." + +"What an extraordinary whim! After the dangers to which she was exposed +only a few days ago, to come and brave the redskins on their own +territory!" + +"The _hacienda_ is strong, and perfectly safe from sudden assault." + +"True: yet the change of residence seems very incomprehensible. At +sunrise, I should be happy if you would do me the honour of serving me +as guides till I get within sight of the _hacienda_. It is important +that I should see Don Pedro without delay." + +"We shall be at your orders, señor, as soon as you please to depart," +answered Carlocho. + +The night was fleeting; and Don Torribio had need of repose to restore +his strength, exhausted by his late struggle for life. He rolled +himself in his _zarapé_, stretched out his feet towards the fire, and +was soon asleep, in spite of the trouble that racked his mind. + +The _vaqueros_ followed his example, after drawing lots amongst +themselves as to who should watch over the common safety. + +The post fell to Carlocho: the others closed their eyes; and the +silence of the wilderness, which had just been so terribly disturbed, +resumed its empire. + +Night passed, without anything occurring to disturb the rest of these +guests of the forest. + +At sunrise the _vaqueros_ were up. After feeding and watering their +horses, they saddled them, and roused Don Torribio, announcing that the +hour of departure had arrived. + +The latter rose at once; and, after a short prayer uttered by them all, +the five men mounted, and left the clearing which had nearly proved so +fatal to one of them. + +The Hacienda del Cormillo may be looked upon as the advanced sentinel +of the _presidio_ of San Lucar; it is, without contradiction, the +richest and strongest position on the whole Indian frontier. It rises +on a kind of peninsula, three leagues in circumference, on which an +incalculable number of cattle pasture at liberty. We will not expatiate +much on the description of a dwelling in which only a few scenes of our +story are laid; we will confine ourselves to saying, that in the middle +of the _hacienda_ properly speaking, and perfectly secured behind the +massive fortifications, loopholed and bastioned, of the fortress (for +El Cormillo was certainly such), there stood a white house, small +indeed, but admirably arranged, pleasant and cheerful looking. At a +distance, the roof was half concealed by the branches of the trees +which covered it with their verdant foliage; from its windows, the eye +roamed on one side over the wilderness, on the other over the Rio del +Norte, which unrolled itself in the plain like a silver band, and was +lost to view in the blue distance of the horizon. + +The _vaqueros_, in company with Don Torribio, had struck into the +forest. For three hours their route led them along the banks of the Rio +Bravo del Norte, till they were opposite the Hacienda del Cormillo, +which dimly showed itself in the centre of one of those charming +oases created by the deposit of the river, and covered with groups of +willows, nopals, mesquites, orange and citron trees, and jasmines in +full flower, amongst the branches of which a whole host of birds of +varied plumage warbled unceasingly. + +Don Torribio halted, and turning towards his companions, who had +likewise stopped, addressed them: + +"I must leave you here; I thank you for the escort you have done me +the honour to give me. Your help is no longer needed. Return to your +avocations, señores; you know our agreement, and I reckon on your +punctuality." + +"Farewell, _caballero_," they replied, bowing ceremoniously to him; +"cast aside all anxiety as to the measures we are about to take." + +They turned the heads of their horses, made them enter the river as +if they intended to cross it, and soon vanished behind a rise in the +ground. Don Torribio remained alone. + +The families of Don Torribio and Don Pedro de Luna, both originally +Spanish, and connected by various ties in old times, had always lived +on a footing of great intimacy. The young man and the girl had almost +been brought up together. So, when her handsome cousin had come to bid +her adieu, and announce his departure for Europe, where he was to stay +a few years, in order to complete his education and acquire the manners +of the fashionable world, Doña Hermosa, then about twelve years old, +had felt sorry to lose him. They had loved each other from infancy, +unwittingly obeying the secret impulses of childhood, which is always +seeking for happiness. + +Don Torribio had left her, carrying his own love with him, and never +doubting that Doña Hermosa was preserving hers for him. + +On his return to Veracruz, after visiting the most celebrated places of +the civilized world, he had hastened to put his affairs in order, and +set out for San Lucar, burning with desire to meet her whom he loved +so dearly, and whom he had not seen for three years--his Hermosa, that +pretty child, who by this time, must have grown into a beautiful and +accomplished woman. + +The surprise and joy of Don Pedro and his daughter were extreme. +Hermosa was particularly happy, for, we must confess, she had thought +all day long of Don Torribio, and looked at him through the medium of +her recollections of childhood; yet at the same time she felt her heart +disturbed by mingled sensations of pain and pleasure. + +Don Torribio perceived it: he understood, or thought he understood, +that she still loved him; and his happiness was complete. + +"Come, children," the smiling father had said, "embrace each other; you +have my permission." + +Doña Hermosa, with many blushes, bent forward her forehead to Don +Torribio, who respectfully touched it with his lips. + +"Is that what you call kissing?" cried Don Pedro. "Come, come, no +hypocrisy; embrace each other frankly. Do not play the coquette, +Hermosa, because you are a pretty girl and he is a handsome fellow; and +you, Torribio, who have come upon us like a thunderbolt, without giving +warning, do you think to make me believe you have ridden many hundred +leagues, as fast as your horse could carry you, to see me? I know for +whom you come all the way from Veracruz to San Lucar! You love each +other. Give each other an honest kiss, like betrothed lovers as you +are; and if you are wise, you will be married offhand." + +The young people, melted by his kind words and pleasant humour, threw +themselves into the arms of the venerable man, to hide the depth of +their emotion. + +In consequence of this reception, Don Torribio had been formally +acknowledged as having a claim to the hand of Doña Hermosa, and in that +capacity was received by her. + +We must do the girl the justice to say, that she sincerely believed she +loved her cousin. The ties of relationship, their childish friendship, +and the long separation, which had increased the warmth of their +feelings, disposed her to think favourably of the marriage proposed by +her father. She awaited the day fixed for her espousals without any +degree of impatience, and looked forward with a kind of pleasurable +hope to the time when she would be indissolubly united to him. + +Although such an assertion will most likely make many of our readers +cry "Fie!" upon us, we will nevertheless maintain that a young girl's +first passion is rarely genuine love. Her second love originates in +the heart; the first only in the brain A young girl who begins to +experience the first emotions of her heart naturally allows herself +to be attracted by the man who, from circumstances and his relations +towards her, has long ago obtained her confidence and excited her +interest. This kind of love, then, is only friendship, fortified by +habit and magnified by the secret influence exercised by the as yet +vague and undecided thoughts which crop up in the brains of sixteen; +and lastly, and more than all, by the want of opportunities for +comparing her lover with others, and the fact that the marriage is +already settled, and she thinks it impossible to recede. + +This was the position in which Doña Hermosa, without at all suspecting +it, stood towards her cousin. The marriage had been retarded, up to +the day about which we are now writing, for divers reasons of age and +convenience, although Don Pedro attached immense importance to it, +either on account of his intended son-in-law's enormous wealth, or +because he was persuaded the union would make his daughter happy. + +Matters had proceeded thus between the young people, without any +remarkable incident occurring to trouble the calm of their relations to +each other, up to the time when the events we have narrated in another +place happened to Doña Hermosa in the prairie. But at the first visit +Don Torribio paid his betrothed after her return to the Hacienda de +las Norias, he perceived, with the clear-sightedness of love, that +Doña Hermosa did not receive him with the freedom or the frankness of +speech and manner to which he had been accustomed. + +The girl seemed sad and dreamy; she scarcely answered the questions he +addressed to her, and did not appear to understand the hints he threw +out about their approaching marriage. + +Don Torribio at first attributed the change to one of those nervous +influences to which young girls are subject, without suspecting it. He +fancied she was unwell, and left her, without dreaming that another +filled the place in the heart of his betrothed which he believed +himself alone to occupy. + +Moreover, upon whom could his suspicions fall, if he entertained any? +Don Pedro lived in great retirement, only receiving at long intervals +his old friends, most of them married, or long past the age for +marrying. + +It was impossible to suppose that, in the two days Doña Hermosa spent +in the prairie among the redskins, she could have met with a man whose +appearance and manners could have touched her affections. + +However, Don Torribio was soon compelled to acknowledge in spite +of himself, that what he had at first taken for a girlish whim was +a confirmed resolve; or, in one word, that if Doña Hermosa still +preserved for him the friendship to which he had a right, as the +companion of her childhood, her love, if she had ever felt it for him, +had vanished for ever. + +When once convinced of this certainty, he became seriously uneasy. The +love he felt for his cousin was profound and sincere; he had let it +grow into his heart too deeply to be easily eradicated. He saw all his +plans of happiness in the future crumble together, and, his hopes once +shipwrecked, resolved to have the indispensable explanation from the +girl which should tell him how much he had to hope or fear. + +It was with the intention of demanding this explanation from Doña +Hermosa that, instead of returning to San Lucar, where he lived, he +had desired the _vaqueros_ to show him the way to the Hacienda del +Cormillo. But as soon as his guides left him, and he found himself +alone in front of the _hacienda_, his courage nearly evaporated. +Foreseeing the result of the step he was about to take, he hesitated to +enter the dwelling; for, like all lovers, in spite of the pain caused +by the girl's indifference, he would have preferred to go on cheating +himself with futile expectations, rather than learn a truth which would +break his heart, by robbing him of all hope. + +The struggle lasted a long time; more than once he made as if he would +ride back; but at last reason conquered passion. He comprehended how +difficult the position would be, both for Doña Hermosa and himself. +Happen what might, he resolved to end it; and digging his spurs into +the flanks of his horse, he galloped towards the _hacienda_, rightly +fearing that, if he lingered longer, he would find no strength to +accomplish the project he had formed. + +When he arrived at El Cormillo, he was informed that Don Pedro and his +daughter had gone hunting at sunrise, and would not return before the +_oración_ (time for mass). + +"So much the better," muttered Don Torribio between his teeth, and +with a sigh of satisfaction at the respite chance had so opportunely +afforded him. + +Without stopping for the refreshments offered him, he turned his +horse's head in the direction of San Lucar, and galloped off, +congratulating himself that the explanation he both dreaded and desired +had been thus providentially delayed. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +LA TERTULIA (THE PARTY). + + +We must now introduce our readers to the Hacienda del Cormillo, two +days later than the event we have just narrated. + +Towards eight o'clock in the evening, two persons were seated in the +drawing room of the _hacienda_, close to a _brasero_ (brasier); for the +nights were still cold. + +A stranger opening the doors of this room could have fancied himself +transported to the Faubourg St. Germain, it was so elegantly +furnished in the French fashion. Parisian luxury was exhibited in the +carpets, Parisian taste in the choice of the furniture. Nothing was +forgotten,--not even a pianoforte by Erard, on which lay the scores +of Parisian operas, nor a magnificent harmonium from the workshops of +Alexandre; and as if to prove that glory travels far, and genius has +wings, the novels and poems in fashion at Paris strewed a round table +by Boule. Everything put you in mind of France and Paris, with the +exception of the silver _brasero_, which, with its glowing knots of +olive wood, showed that you were in Spanish America. This magnificent +withdrawing room was lighted up by candles of rose-coloured wax, in +handsome chandeliers. + +It was Don Pedro and his daughter who was seated by the _brasero_. Doña +Hermosa was clad in a dress of the greatest simplicity, which made her +look still more charming. She was smoking a tiny cigarette, rolled in a +maize leaf, which did not interrupt the flow of her conversation with +her father. + +"Yes," said she, "the most lovely birds in the world have been brought +to the _presidio_." + +"Well, _querida chica?_" (my darling). + +"It appears to me that my dearest father is not quite as gallant as +usual tonight," she said, pouting a little, like a spoilt child. + +"What do you know about that, señorita?" answered Don Pedro, laughing. + +"What! Is it the truth?" she exclaimed, as she jumped from her seat, +and clapped her hands together; "You have thought--" + +"Of buying you the birds. Tomorrow you will see your feathered +subjects, and your aviary stocked with parakeets, love birds, Bengalis, +hummingbirds, and Heaven knows how many others. There are at least four +hundred of them, you little ingrate!" + +"Oh, how kind you are! And how I love you!" replied the girl, throwing +herself into her father's arms, and kissing him a thousand times. + +"That will do, that will do, little monkey! Do you want to stifle me +with kisses?" + +"What shall I do to show my gratitude for such kind forethought?" + +"Poor little dear!" said he sadly; "I have only yourself to love now." + +"Say to adore, my dearest father; for it is adoration you feel for me; +and I too love you with all the strength of love which God has given +me." + +"And yet," said Don Pedro, in tones of gentle reproach, "you are not +afraid of causing me uneasiness." + +"I!" said Hermosa, beginning to tremble. + +"Yes, you," he replied, threatening her with uplifted finger; "you are +concealing something from me." + +"Father!" she murmured softly. + +"Daughter, a father's eye can pierce to the bottom of the heart of a +girl of sixteen. Some extraordinary change has taken place in you these +last few days: your thoughts are strangely preoccupied." + +"You are right, father," she replied with a good deal of firmness. + +"And what are you dreaming about, little girl?" asked Don Pedro, +smiling to conceal his anxiety. + +"About Don Torribio de Quiroga, father." + +"Aha!" replied he, "Because you love him, I suppose?" + +Doña Hermosa drew herself up, and assumed a serious expression. + +"I!" said she, placing her hand on her bosom, "No! I deceived myself +until today. I do not love Don Torribio, and yet I cannot help thinking +of him, although I do not know why. Since his return from Europe, a +change has come over him for which I cannot account. It seems to me, +that he is not the same person who was brought up with me. His look +pains, yet fascinates me; his voice raises a feeling of undefinable +sorrow. Certainly, the man is handsome; his manners are noble, and his +bearing that of a highbred gentleman: yet there is something nameless +about him which chills me, and inspires invincible repugnance." + +"How romantic!" said Don Pedro, laughing. + +"Laugh at me! Mock me!" she replied, her voice trembling. "Shall I +confess everything, father?" + +"Speak confidently, dearest child." + +"I will. I believe this man, whom I thought I loved, will bring evil +upon me." + +"Child," replied Don Pedro, kissing her forehead, "what ill could he do +you?" + +"Father, I cannot tell; but I dread it." + +"Do you wish me to break with him, and not to admit him again?" + +"Heaven forbid! It would certainly hasten the misfortune that threatens +me." + +"Pooh! you are a spoilt child! You grow whimsical, and amuse yourself +by creating phantoms. All these fears and imaginary presentiments +spring from your love for your cousin. The only way to restore your +tranquillity is to marry you to him as soon as possible; and be sure, +my dear, that is what I intend to do." + +Doña Hermosa shook her head sorrowfully, and cast down her eyes, +but she made no reply: she felt that her father had completely +misunderstood her meaning, and that any attempt to bring him over to +her wishes would be vain. + +Just at that moment a _peon_ announced Don Torribio, who entered the +room. + +He was dressed in the latest Paris fashion; and the glare of the +candles lighted up his handsome face. + +Father and daughter both trembled; the one perhaps with joy, the other +certainly with fear. + +Don Torribio, after gracefully saluting Doña Hermosa, approached her +and respectfully offered her a superb bouquet of exotic flowers. She +took them with a forced smile, and, without looking at them, placed +them on the table. + +Soon after, other persons were announced: the governor, Don José +Kalbris, and his staff; two or three other families--in all, about +twenty people; and lastly, Don Estevan Dias, and Don Fernando Carril. + +It was certainly impossible to recognise the hardy backwoodsman, the +redoubtable bee-hunter, who a few days before had done Don Pedro and +his daughter such signal service, in the elegant caballero who arrived +in the company of the _mayor domo_ of the hacienda. His irreproachable +bearing, his distinguished manner, in short, all about him, banished +suspicion, or rather prevented comparison. + +We have already said that Don Fernando Carril, although his life was +wrapped in impenetrable mystery, was superficially known to all the +best society in the provinces, and, thanks to the easy-going manners +of the Mexicans, received in the best families. His presence at the +hacienda was, therefore, nothing extraordinary. Nevertheless, his +appearance excited lively curiosity in the guests; for it was a long +time since Don Fernando had been seen at any entertainment. + +Like Don Torribio, the hunter, when he entered the room, approached +Doña Hermosa, bowed profoundly to her, and respectfully offered her a +flower he held in his hand. + +"Señorita," said he, in a voice full of suppressed emotion, "deign to +accept this modest flower; it grows only in the desert," he added, +significantly. + +Doña Hermosa trembled at the sound of his voice, which she thought she +had recognised; a lively blush rose to her cheeks; and dropping her +eyes under the ardent gaze fixed upon her, she took the flower and +placed it in her bosom, as she answered inarticulately: + +"Everything that comes from the desert will be dear to me henceforth." + +The conversation of the guests had by this time grown animated. The +little incident passed without remark, except from one person, who, +with that kind of intuition which springs from love and jealousy, had +divined in Don Fernando one who, if not an openly declared rival, was, +at least, preferred in secret. + +This person was Don Torribio Quiroga. + +Leaning towards Don Estevan, who chanced to be near him, he said, in +a voice low indeed but perfectly distinct and audible to all: "What +golden key does this man possess, whom nobody knows, by which he +introduces himself into honourable families, where his presence is +neither desired nor invited?" + +"Ask him yourself, señor," said Don Estevan dryly; "he will most likely +be able to explain his conduct satisfactorily." + +"I shall follow your advice this instant, señor," answered Don Torribio +haughtily. + +"It is unnecessary, caballero; I heard your words perfectly," said Don +Fernando. + +His voice was calm, and he made a courteous bow to Don Torribio, while +an ironical smile curled his lips for a moment. + +All conversation had been suddenly broken off; a profound silence +reigned over those present, and the looks of all were turned in +curiosity towards the two men. + +Doña Hermosa, pale and trembling, cast a look of entreaty on her father. + +Don Pedro walked resolutely into the middle, of the room, and placed +himself between the two caballeros. + +"What does this mean, señores?" said he. "Is this the idea of propriety +you have brought back from your travels in Europe, Don Torribio? Do +you dare to turn my drawing room into lists wherein to break your lance +in personal quarrels? What right have you to cavil at Don Fernando's +presence here? You are not my son-in-law yet, as far as I know. I am +master here, and can receive whom I think fit." + +"Even cutthroats and _salteadores_ (highwaymen), cousin, if such is +your good pleasure," replied the young man, with an ironical bow. + +Don Fernando looked as if he were going to rush upon the man who had +thus insulted him, but managed to contain himself. + +"Will Don Torribio deign to explain himself," he said calmly, "and not +speak in enigmas?" + +"And whose fault is it, caballero, if I speak in enigmas? Are you not +the cause of the mystery?" + +"Enough, caballeros!" exclaimed Don Pedro; "He who utters another word +on this subject, makes me his mortal enemy." + +The two men bowed respectfully to the hacendero and separated, but not +without having exchanged looks of terrible expression. + +"Well, colonel," continued Don Pedro, addressing the governor, in the +hopes of glossing over the lamentable altercation, "What news from La +Ciudad? Is Mexico still tranquil?" + +"Our great Santa Anna," replied the colonel, who was choking in his +uniform, "has once more soundly beaten the audacious general who has +dared to issue a _pronunciamiento_ (manifesto) against him." + +"Thank God! Perhaps this victory will procure us the tranquillity of +which commerce stands so much in need." + +"Yes," said a rich hacendero, a neighbour of Don Pedro. "Communication +has been so difficult of late, that we can forward nothing." + +"Are the redskins at work?" asked a merchant, whom these words had +troubled. + +"No," said the governor; "there is no danger from them. The last lesson +they got was a rude one, and they will not forget it. For a long time +they have not dared to invade our frontiers." + +An almost imperceptible smile curled the lips of Don Fernando. "You +forget the Tigercat and his adherents," said he. + +"Oh! the Tigercat is only a bandit," said the governor hastily. +"Besides, Government is at this moment preparing an expedition against +him, so as to finish, once and for all, with his band of brigands." + +"It is an admirable idea," said Don Torribio, with a sarcastic sneer. +"It is time this frontier should be cleared of the host of fellows, +with more than equivocal habits, who infest it." + +"I am quite of the same opinion; it seems a most sensible measure," +said Don Fernando quietly, but giving back to his adversary a smile as +bitter as his own. + +"In case of invasion, do you think the Indians able to give the +province much trouble?" asked the merchant. + +"H'm!" said Don José, with a patronising air; "People entertain +exaggerated ideas of these redskins; in fact, they are but miserable +wretches." + +Don Fernando smiled again; but this time the smile was savage and +sinister. + +"Señor _gobernador_," said he, "you are not quite right. To judge by +the news you were good enough to communicate, I believe the Indians +will keep quite peaceably at home, unless they are determined to tempt +ill luck." + +"_¡Rayo de Dios!_ I should think so," replied the governor. + +"Ah! Señorita," said Don Torribio, gracefully turning to Doña Hermosa, +"may I pray of your kindness to let us hear that delicious song from +the _Domino Noir_, which you sang to such perfection a few days ago?" + +Doña Hermosa, darted a look from under her long lashes at Don +Fernando. The latter's eyes conveyed a mute prayer of entreaty. Without +further hesitation, she placed herself at the piano, and, in a pure and +feeling voice, sang the romance in the third act. + +"I remember having heard that delicious romance sung in Paris by Madame +Demareau, that nightingale who flew away too soon," said Don Torribio, +bowing gallantly to Doña Hermosa. "I know not whether you or she sang +it with most taste and spirit." + +She answered: "Cousin, you have lived too long in France." + +"How so, señorita?" + +"Because," she replied, with a smile as cold and keen as the point of a +poniard, "France has made you a detestable flatterer." + +"_¡Bravo!_" chuckled the fat governor, whose cheeks shook with delight. +"You see Don Torribio, our creoles rival the Parisian ladies in the +smartness of their repartee." + +"Incontestably, colonel," answered Don Torribio. "But I can take my own +part," he added in an undefinable tone; "I shall soon have my revenge." +And he cast a glance at Don Fernando and Doña Hermosa, who were seated +close to each other, which made the girl shudder with fear. + +"Don Fernando, and you other caballeros, here present," said the +governor, addressing the guests, "I hope that tomorrow you will attend +the _Te Deum_ to be sung in honour of our glorious Santa Anna." + +"I shall have the honour," said Don Fernando. The others made a similar +response. + +"As for me," said Don Torribio, "you must excuse me, colonel; for +business compels me to leave tonight." + +"What!" cried Don Pedro, in astonishment; "You are going to travel +tonight, cousin?" + +"I am indeed, Señor Don Pedro; I am obliged to leave you, even though I +have but just arrived." + +"Well, that is a singular and most unforeseen resolution. Where are you +going?" + +"Excuse me if I keep the object of my expedition secret. Certain +persons must not have the sole right of making mysterious excursions." + +"Indeed!" said Don Pedro peevishly. "And do you intend to stay away +long?" + +"I hope not, but dare not say I am sure." + +"So much the better. Come back to us as soon as you can; for," said he +significantly, "your return will please all of us here." + +"_¿Quién sabe?_" (who knows?) muttered Don Torribio, with a sinister +expression. + +Doña Hermosa, who overheard these two words, could no longer master her +fears. + +While Don Pedro and his cousin were exchanging these words, the girl +Whispered to Don Estevan: + +"Brother, tomorrow, after mass, I want to speak to you at my nurse's." + +"To me, or to my friend?" said Don Estevan softly. + +"To both," she answered, with feverish agitation. + +Don Estevan and Don Fernando now retired with joyful hearts. The latter +was sure that Doña Hermosa had recognised him. + +The other visitors also gradually departed, till Don Torribio de +Quiroga was left alone with his host. + +"Cousin," said he, in a low and broken voice, as he bent down to the +lady to bid her farewell, "I am about to begin a journey in which I +shall incur considerable danger. May I hope you will remember the +traveller in your prayers?" + +Hermosa looked him in the face for an instant, and replied with an +austerity unusual in her: + +"Cousin, I cannot pray for the success of a journey the purport of +which I do not know." + +"Thanks for your frankness, señorita," he replied, without exhibiting +emotion; "I shall not forget your words." + +"So you are really going, Don Torribio?" said Don Pedro, who joined +them at the moment. + +"This very instant, cousin: all is ready for my departure." + +"Then I wish you luck! I hope we shall soon hear from you?" + +"Yes," he replied, with a singular expression; "you shall soon hear of +me. Farewell!" + +"What is the matter with your cousin, _niña?_" asked Don Pedro, when he +found himself alone with his daughter: "His conduct tonight has been +very strange." + +Before she could answer, the door opened. "The _capataz_ of the +Hacienda de las Norias," said a _peon_ who had entered, "wishes to +speak to Señor Don Pedro de Luna on affairs of consequence." + +"Admit him instantly," replied Don Pedro to the domestic who had +announced the arrival of the _capataz_ so pompously. + + +Don Torribio was terribly agitated when he left the house. He looked +back, and cast a venomous eye on the windows of the room, on which he +could see the graceful shadow of Doña Hermosa. + +"Proud girl," said he in a terrible voice, "I hate you with all the +power of the love I once felt for you! Soon, very soon, I will punish +you for your disdain." + +Then, wrapping his cloak around him, he rapidly took the direction of +the nearest _patio_ (out-buildings), where he hoped to find his horse. +Indeed, he found him there; a _peon_ holding the bridle. Don Torribio +seized the reins, threw the _peon_ a piastre, flung himself into the +saddle, and rode off at a gallop. + +"_Wagh!_" said the Indian, picking up the money; "What ails the young +master? One would think him mad. How he scampered off!" + +In the meantime Don Torribio had left the hacienda behind him, and was +making all haste on the road to San Lucar. + +But he had not ridden more than a quarter of an hour, when suddenly, at +a turn of the road, his horse gave a start of terror, reared, and flew +round, with his ears laid close to his head. Don Torribio looked to see +what had alarmed the animal. + +A man of tall stature, mounted on a strong black horse, held the middle +of the road four or five paces in advance of him, and completely barred +his passage. + +Don Torribio cocked a pistol. + +"Holloa, caballero!" he cried in a sharp tone; "Move to the right or +the left." + +"Neither to one nor the other, Don Torribio de Quiroga. I want to speak +to you." + +"It is a singular demand at this time of night, and in such a place." + +"I did not choose either time or place. Did you not receive a note +without a signature today?" + +"I did," said Don Torribio, striking his forehead; "and the note +proposed--" + +"To teach you things," hastily interrupted the stranger, "which it is +important you should know at once." + +"Those were the words contained in the note." + +"It was I who sent it." + +"Indeed?" said Don Torribio, surprised; "was it you?" + +"Yes; and I am ready to satisfy you; but to do that, you must follow +me." + +"But what good will it do me to know these matters? Perhaps it would be +better to leave them untold." + +"As you please; I do not force you to listen to me. Everyone is free +to act as he chooses. If you prefer to sit down under insult without +avenging yourself, I have no objection." + +These words were uttered with such a sneer, that Don Torribio could not +help shuddering. + +"Do you in truth offer me revenge?" he asked in a voice half stifled +with the rage surging at his heart. + +"You shall judge, if you will follow me." + +"Demon!" cried Don Torribio, "Whoever thou may'st be, lead on, since it +must be so! I will follow thee, even unto hell." + +"Amen," said the stranger, with a sinister chuckle. + +The two riders dashed into the darkness, and the sound of their furious +pace was soon merged in profound silence. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE AMBUSH. + + +Don Fernando and his friend, as we have related, left the hacienda a +little before Don Torribio. They had made all haste to reach their +dwelling. The _tertulia_ had ended at nine o'clock; and by eleven they +were at the _rancho_. + +Doña Manuela was expecting them. In a few words they reported to her +all that had happened at the _tertulia_, and hastened to their couches; +for they were obliged to leave again at daybreak, if they wished to +arrive in good time at San Lucar without over-fatigueing Doña Manuela, +who was to accompany them. In fact, according to agreement, they +mounted their horses a little before four in the morning. + +In Mexico, on account of the intense heat of the day, people generally +travel by night; that is to say, from four in the morning till eleven, +and from six in the evening till midnight. Nine o'clock struck as the +three entered the _presidio_. Don Fernando left his friend and the +mother to find their way to the house he possessed in San Lucar, which +he had placed at their disposal, while he himself repaired to the +governor's house, whither affairs of grave importance called him. + +The worthy governor overwhelmed the visitor with civilities,--for +the latter had, on more than one occasion, rendered him important +service,--and seemed unable to show him sufficient courtesy But, in +spite of the efforts of his host, Don Fernando perceived that Don José +Kalbris was a prey to anxiety, which all his sense of the attentions +due to his guest did not enable him wholly to conceal. + +Don José Kalbris was a brave and worthy soldier, true as his own +steel, to whom the Mexican government had given the charge of the +_presidio_ as a recompense for his valiant services during the War +of Independence. For fifteen years the colonel had governed the +_presidio_, and, thanks to a certain degree of severity tempered by +justice, and to his undoubted courage, had managed to keep it in a +state of comparative tranquillity, in spite of the evil passions of +the _vaqueros_--a set of rascals, three or four of whom he was obliged +to garrote annually, in order to overawe the rest--and the continual +raids of the Indians, who pushed up under the guns of the fort in their +attempts to carry off cattle and make prisoners, the latter being +their favourite booty, especially women. + +Don José, endowed with moderate intelligence, but rich in experience, +and warmly supported by the better classes, who had entire confidence +in him, had contrived to maintain peace in his province without much +difficulty up to the time of which we are now speaking. This denoted +a certain strength of character in the old soldier, who was without +education, and had made his own career, particularly when one takes +into consideration the difficulty of his receiving support from his +government; so that he was thrown on his own resources, and obliged to +take the initiative, and act on his own responsibility, in all cases +where he thought fit to exercise the strong arm of the law. + +In person the governor was a tall, stout man with a purple and bloated +face, perfectly self-satisfied, fond of hearing himself talk, and who +laid great stress on every syllable he uttered. + +Don Fernando, well acquainted with the colonel's character, and holding +him in great esteem, was astounded at the uneasiness he displayed, and +the change from his usual placidity of manner. Fancying that want of +money might be at the bottom of his embarrassment, he resolved to sound +him, and come to his aid, if that were necessary. + +"Holloa!" said the colonel, "What good wind blows you to the _presidio_ +so early, Don Fernando?" + +"The wish to see you," replied the latter, pressing the hand the +colonel extended. + +"It is very kind of you. You will breakfast with me, of course?" + +"I came to invite myself." + +"That is right," said the colonel, striking a bell. + +A domestic entered. + +"This caballero will do me the honour to breakfast with me." + +The servant, a well-trained soldier, disappeared. + +"By the bye, Don Fernando, I have a heap of papers here addressed to +you." + +"Thank Heaven! I was afraid they had been delayed. I want them +particularly, for certain reasons." + +"So much the better, then," said the colonel, producing the papers, +which Don Fernando put into his pocket. + +"Breakfast is ready," said the same man who had appeared an instant +before. + +The governor and his guest proceeded to the breakfast room, where they +found a third person waiting for them. This was a Major Barnum, an +old Englishman, tall, dry, thin, and formal; as brave a soldier as +ever existed; for twenty years in the service of the Mexican Republic; +devoted heart and soul to the country of his adoption; and second in +command in the _presidio_ of San Lucar. + +He and Don José had seen much service together, and were attached to +each other like two brothers; resuscitating in this out of the way +corner of the world the fables of Castor and Pollux Damon and Pythias, +and all the other heroes of ancient friendship. + +Don Fernando and Major Barnum were slightly acquainted with each other, +and glad of the meeting; for the Englishman was an excellent fellow, +and hid a warm and loyal heart under his rather cold manner. + +After the usual greetings, all three placed themselves at table, and +commenced a vigorous attack on the delicacies with which the board was +abundantly supplied. + +When the first keen relish of appetite had been appeased, the +conversation became more lively, and at the close of the meal grew +quite amicable and confidential. + +"By the bye, what is the matter with you, Don José?" said Don Fernando. +"There is something odd about you today, which I have never seen +before." + +"Right," said the governor, draining a glass of _Jerez de la Frontera_ +(sherry); "I feel sad." + +"You sad! You astonish me. If I had not noticed your appetite at +breakfast, I should think you were ill." + +"Well," said the soldier, with a sigh, "my appetite is good." + +"Then what is there to vex you?" + +"I have a presentiment of evil," said the governor, seriously. + +"A presentiment of evil!" echoed the major. "I know that at first +sight it seems ridiculous for old soldiers like ourselves to attach +importance to such folly, which is only, at the best, the result of +a diseased imagination. Nevertheless, I too feel like the colonel: I +am uneasy without knowing why; I expect every moment to receive evil +tidings. In two words, I am firmly convinced some great danger is +impending. I feel it, I know it, without being able to guess whence it +is to come." + +"Ah," said the governor, "the major has just described my own +sensations. Long as my career as a soldier has been, I have never +felt so anxious and oppressed as now. I have been in this state of +excitement a whole week, and am astonished nothing has happened to +justify my forebodings. Don Fernando, God does give warnings of danger +to man." + +"I do not deny the truth of what you propound. I know you too well to +have the least intention to question your conviction. But still, how is +it to be accounted for? You and Major Barnum are not men to be afraid +of a shadow, or easily scared; you have proved that a thousand times. +Has nothing occurred to confirm your presentiment?" + +"Nothing as yet," replied the governor; "but I momentarily expect bad +news." + +"Come, come, Don José!" said Don Fernando gravely; "you are suffering +from an attack of a malady very common in the major's country, where +they call it 'the blue devils.' It is a kind of spleen, caused by the +fogs in England. Listen to me: get yourself bled--do not spare the wine +cup; and in a couple of days you will be the first to laugh at the +trick your fancy has played you. Do you not think so, major?" + +"I wish it were so," said that officer, shaking his head. + +"Pooh!" said Don Fernando; "Life is short enough already. What is the +use of creating bugbears to frighten ourselves? And besides, who is +there to give you trouble?" + +"_¿Quién sabe?_ We are never sure of anything on the frontiers." + +"Nonsense! The Indians have grown as quiet as lambs." + +Just then a servant opened the door, and beckoned to the governor. + +"What do you want?" said the latter. + +"Señor," replied the servant, "a _vaquero_, just arrived in all haste, +requests an audience. He is the bearer of important intelligence." + +This announcement fell like a sheet of ice on the three caballeros, and +thoroughly stopped the flow of their fictitious gaiety. + +"Let him come in," said the colonel. + +Then casting a look of inconceivable sadness on Don Fernando, he added: + +"It is fate herself who undertakes to answer you!" + +"We shall see!" replied Don Fernando with a forced smile. + +Heavy footsteps were heard in the adjacent apartments, and the +_vaquero_ entered. + +It was Pablito. + +The man had indeed the look of one who brings bad news. He seemed to +have just left the battlefield--to have escaped from a massacre. His +clothes hung in rags, stained with mud and gore; his face, pale as +death, had an expression of sadness very strange in such a man. It was +with difficulty he held himself upright, so dreadfully jaded he seemed +by the struggle he had had to reach the _presidio_. His spurs left a +bloody mark on the floor at every step; and he was forced to support +himself on his rifle. + +The three men looked at him with mingled fear and pity. + +"Here," said Don Fernando, pouring out a tumbler of wine; "drink this; +it will restore you." + +"No!" said Pablito, thrusting back the glass; "I thirst for blood, not +wine!" + +These words were uttered in such a tone of hatred and despair, that the +listeners involuntarily turned pale, and shuddered with horror. + +"What has happened?" said the colonel, in deep anxiety. + +The _vaquero_ wiped the cold sweat from his brow with the back of his +hand, and said, in short, sharp accents, which struck terror into his +hearers: + +"The Indians are upon us!" + +"Have you seen them?" asked the major. + +"Yes," said he abruptly; "I have seen them." + +"When was that--today?" + +"This very morning, colonel." + +"Far from hence?" + +"About twenty leagues. They have already crossed the Rio del Norte." + +"Already! How many are there? Do you know." + +"Count the sand grains in the desert, and you will know." + +"God!" said the colonel; "it is impossible. The Indians cannot assemble +in such numbers in the course of a day. Your fears have deceived you." + +"Fears!" said Pablito, laughing derisively. "Fear is very well for +you who live in towns; in the wilderness we have no time to make her +acquaintance." + +"Well, then, how are they coming?" + +"Like a tornado, burning and pillaging as they come." + +"Is it their intention to attack the _presidio_?" + +"They have formed an immense half moon, the two horns of which are +nearing you every moment." + +"Are they still a good way off?" + +"Yes; for they are acting on a preconceived plan, establishing +themselves firmly in places capable of defence, and apparently not +governed by the sole instinct of pillage; but, as it would seem, +obeying the directions of a chief who understands the art of war, and +whose influence is felt in all their movements." + +"This looks serious," said the governor. + +The major shook his head. + +"Why have you waited so long before you warned us?" said he. + +"This morning, at daybreak, my comrades and I were surrounded by more +than two hundred of these demons, who seemed to rise out of the ground. +We defended ourselves like lions: one is dead; two of us are wounded, +but we managed to escape; and here I am." + +"Get back to your post as soon as possible; they shall give you a fresh +horse." + +"I will be off directly, colonel." + +The _vaquero_ saluted and left them. Five minutes later, they heard his +horse's hoofs clattering over the stony road. + +"Well," said the colonel, looking at the two others; "what did I tell +you? Did my forebodings lie?" + +Don Fernando rose. + +"Where are you going?" asked the colonel. + +"Back to the Hacienda del Cormillo." + +"At once! Without finishing your breakfast?" + +"This instant. I am torn by indescribable anxiety. The Indians may +attack the hacienda; and God knows what may happen." + +"El Cormillo is fortified, and cannot be taken by a _coup-de-main_. +However, I think Doña Hermosa would be safer here. Try, if there is +time, to induce Don Pedro to return: no one can foresee the issue of +an invasion undertaken on such a scale; and one cannot take too many +precautions. I should be glad to see Don Pedro and his daughter safe +among us." + +"Thank you, colonel; your advice is excellent. I will use every effort +to induce Don Pedro to follow it. Good-bye. I venture to flatter myself +that an energetic demonstration on your part will rid us of these +ferocious foes, whose tactics are always to attempt a surprise, and who +disappear as suddenly as they came the moment they find their plans +have been discovered." + +"God grant it! But I scarcely hope as much." "Farewell, caballeros, +and good luck!" said Don Fernando, pressing the hands of the two old +soldiers. + +Don Estevan was waiting for him in the court, and joined him as soon as +he appeared. + +"Well," said the _mayor domo_, "you have heard the news? The Indians +are coming like the locusts." + +"Yes; I have heard so." + +"What do you intend to do?" + +"To return to the hacienda at once." + +"H'm! That would be scarcely prudent. You know how speedily these +demons spread themselves over all the country; we should most likely +meet some of them." + +"Well! We will ride over their corpses." + +"_¡Canarios!_ I dare say. But you may be killed." + +"Pooh! Doña Hermosa expects me; and I am not killed yet." + +"True; but you may be." + +"Well, we shall see." + +"Probably so. However, as I foresaw the objections you would make, +I have arranged everything to go. The horses are ready saddled, the +_peones_ in waiting: we will set off as soon as you choose." + +"Thanks, Estevan; you are really a friend." + +"I know it," said the latter, with a gay smile. Estevan Diaz whistled +shrilly, and the _peones_ entered the court, leading two horses by +their bridles. + +"Let us be off," said Don Fernando, springing into the saddle. + +"Let us be off," repeated Don Estevan. + +They gave the horses their heads, and began to push their way slowly +through the crowd of idlers assembled before the gates of the fortress +to learn the latest news, and trotted down the steep incline leading +from the fort to the old _presidio_, replying, as well as they could, +to the questions with which they were assailed on all sides. As soon as +they had threaded the town, they increased their speed along the road +to the Hacienda del Cormillo, without noticing the repeated signals of +several more than suspicious-looking individuals, carefully wrapped in +thick cloaks, who had followed them at a distance since they left the +fort, talking eagerly the while to each other. + +It was a stormy day. The sky was gray and lowering; the birds wheeled +screaming around; and the wind, blowing in squalls, roared in the deep +defiles of the road, filling the air with clouds of impalpable dust. + +The two _peones_ who had brought the news of the Indians' march upon +the _presidio_ rode twenty paces in advance, and scanned the country +on each side of the road with startled looks, expecting every instant +to see the redskins make their appearance, and to hear the dreaded +war whoop. Don Fernando and Don Estevan rode side by side, without +exchanging a syllable, each sufficiently occupied by his own thoughts. + +In the meanwhile, the nearer the travellers got to the river, the +more the storm increased in intensity. The rain fell in torrents, +the lightning flashed incessantly, and the peals of thunder rolled +majestically among the high cliffs, from which enormous crags were +constantly detached, and hurled crashing into the river. + +The storm had reached such a pitch of fury, that the riders had the +greatest difficulty in making progress, and were in constant danger of +falling with their horses, which were plunging wildly in their fright +at the tempest. The ground, soaked with rain, afforded no foothold +for the poor brutes: they slipped and stumbled at every step, snorted +violently, and threatened to break down. + +"It is impossible to get farther," said the _mayor domo_, picking up +his horse from a plunge which had nearly unseated him. + +"But what is to be done?" asked Don Fernando, looking about him with +great anxiety. + +"I think we had better take shelter under this clump of trees for a +while: the storm grows worse and worse. It is folly to pursue our +journey while it lasts." + +"Let us go, if we must," said Don Fernando resignedly. + +Accordingly they turned towards a small copse on one side of the road, +which seemed to offer some little shelter from the intensity of the +storm. + +They were only a few paces from it, when four men, their faces covered +with black masks, rushed out of the wood, and dashed at the travellers, +whom they attacked without uttering a word. The _peones_ fell from +their saddles, knocked over by two shots from the masked strangers, and +rolled on the ground in convulsive agony, uttering the most piteous +cries. + +Don Fernando and Don Estevan, astonished at this sudden attack by men +who could not be Indians,--for they were dressed like _vaqueros_, and +their hands were white,--instantly dismounted, and, placing themselves +behind their horses, awaited their assailants' onset with cocked rifles. + +The latter, after making sure of the death of the _peones_, turned +their horses' heads to attack the two Spaniards. Shots were again +exchanged, and a terrible combat began,--a dreadful struggle of two +men against four--in which no word was spoken, and which was intended +to end in the death of those who had been so treacherously set upon. +However, the combat was sustained with a semblance of equality which +discouraged the assailants, of whom one had already fallen, cut down +to the teeth; while a second was retreating, with his chest pierced +through by the good blade of Don Fernando. + +"Aha! my masters," exclaimed the latter; "have you had enough, or do +you wish to make further acquaintance with my blade? Fools that you +are! You should have set at least ten to assassinate us." + +"What!" added the _mayor domo_, "Are you already satisfied? You are not +clever enough for highwaymen; the man who pays you might have made a +better choice." + +In fact, the two remaining men in masks had withdrawn a few paces, and +held themselves on the defensive. + +Suddenly four other masked men appeared, and all six rushed upon the +Spaniards, who awaited them firmly. + +"The devil! I wronged you by my suspicion," said Don Estevan. "I see +you are up to your work;" and he discharged a pistol point-blank into +the midst of his adversaries. + +The latter, still without a word, answered his fire, and the struggle +was renewed with fresh fury. + +But the two brave Spaniards could not defend themselves much longer: +they were exhausted with fatigue; and it was not long before they, in +their turn, fell on the dead bodies of two more of their assailants, +whom they had sacrificed to their fury before they fell. + +When they saw Don Fernando and Don Estevan stretched on the ground, +the strangers uttered a shout of triumph. Without troubling themselves +about the _mayor domo_, they seized the body of Don Fernando, threw it +over the neck of one of their horses, and rapidly vanished amongst the +manifold complications of the road. + +The tempest continued to rage with fury. A lugubrious silence reigned +in the spot where this tragedy had been acted, and where seven corpses +were now lying, round which the vultures and hideous _zopilotes_, +uttering their hoarse cries, began to sail in narrowing circles. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +SAN LUCAR. + + +When Don Fernando left them, the governor and the major remained +perfectly mute a while, overcome by the gravity of the news they had +just received. But a state of prostration so much at variance with the +character of the two veterans, whose life had been spent in active +service, could not last long. They soon recovered their animation, like +two noble steeds who prick up their ears at the signal for the charge; +their features resumed their usual expression of imperturbability; and, +having exchanged a shake of the hand; they left the apartment. + +"The shock has been a rude one, and I was far from expecting it," said +the colonel; "but, _¡vive Dios!_ the pagans shall find out whom they +have to deal with. Major, have the officers' call sounded we will hold +a council of war, to concert measures of defence." + +"That is right," replied the major; "just what you ought to do. I had +rather see you thus--proud, resolute, and stern--than troubled and +anxious, as you have looked these last few days. _Caray!_ you are +yourself again, now, my good friend." + +"Well," said the governor, smiling, "you ought not to be astonished +at the change, my dear Barnum. For some time past I have been sadly +oppressed by vague forebodings, and the ill they threatened seemed the +greater, because I could not divine what it might be. Now the stroke +has fallen, I know what I have to do. I have not the least doubt that +the danger which menaces us is immense, but we know what the result +will be." + +"Quite true," said the major, leaving him to obey the orders he had +received from his chief. + +The officers of the garrison were soon assembled around the governor; +there were six of them, without counting the major and colonel. Don +José Kalbris invited them to be seated, and then addressed them: + +"_Caballeros_, you are aware why I have sent for you: the Indians +threaten us once more. I have just got the information from one of our +bravest scouts--in fact, the most faithful and intelligent of them all. +It is a grave case, señores; for the Indians have leagued themselves +together, and are marching against us in great force. I have caused +you to meet here, in order to organise a vigorous defence, and to +endeavour to discover the means of giving these savages so sharp a +lesson, that it will be a long time before they dream of invading our +territories again. But, first of all, let us see what means are at our +disposal." + +"We have plenty of arms and ammunition," said the major. "We have +two hundred thousand pounds of powder, abundance of muskets, sabres, +lances, and pistols; and the guns are in good condition, and amply +supplied with round shot and grape." + +"A capital account," said the colonel, rubbing his hands for joy. + +"Unfortunately," continued the major, "although we have plenty of arms, +we have very few men fit for service." + +"How many men have we?" + +"The effective state should be two hundred and seventy; but, unluckily, +disease, death, and desertion have reduced them to a hundred and +twenty." + +"The deuce!" said the colonel, shaking his head; "But I think we +might manage to increase the number. We are in one of those critical +positions where the end sanctifies the means: we must not be nice in +our choice. Besides, the common safety is in question. I trust to meet +with no opposition to the execution of a plan which I hope will save us +all." + +"What is it? We all go hand and hand with you." + +"I know that very well. I do not allude to you, señores, but to the +inhabitants of the town, who will reject it, and with whom we shall +be obliged to have recourse to forcible measures. It is of the last +importance to make an imposing show of men on the walls. Now, this is +what I propose: all the _peones_ of the _haciendas_ shall be enrolled, +and formed into companies; the merchants shall form another corps; the +haciendas, well mounted and armed, shall defend the approaches, and +patrol the plain. By these means, we shall muster an effective force +of about eleven hundred men,--a number quite sufficient to hold the +savages in check, and force them to retreat precipitately to their +villages." + +"You must recollect, colonel, that the greater number of the _vaqueros_ +here are criminals, to whom any disturbance is a pretext for plunder." + +"For that reason, I have appointed them the exterior defence of the +place. They shall encamp outside the _presidio_, into which they shall +not enter on any pretence. To lessen the chance of a mutiny amongst +them, they shall be formed into two divisions--one of which shall be +constantly employed in scouring the neighbourhood, while the other +remains in camp. Thus, by keeping them always at work, we shall have +nothing to fear from them." + +"As for the creoles, and the strangers at present in the _presidio_," +said the major, "I think you had better order them to assemble in the +fort every night: we shall be able to use them in case of necessity." + +"Very good. You will also double the number of scouts, the better +to avoid a surprise. You will also have the entrances to the place +barricaded, to check the tremendous charges the Indians make when they +attack a position." + +"Permit me to propose, colonel, that a man to be depended upon should +be despatched to put the hacenderos on their guard, and warn them to +take refuge in the fort at the signal of three guns, to announce the +approach of the Indians." + +"It shall be done, major; or these poor fellows would be all massacred +by the pagans. The inhabitants of the town must also be warned to +retire--the women into the fort--as soon as the Indians are visible, +or they may be carried off. The savages are partial to white women, +and in the last inroad carried off three hundred: such a piece of +misfortune must not happen again. I think, señores, we have taken every +precaution against the threatened danger; we have now only to do our +duty as brave men. Our fate is in the hands of God, who will surely not +abandon us in circumstances of such great peril." + +The officers rose, and were preparing to take leave of their chief, +when another _vaquero_ was announced as bringing reports to the +governor. + +Don José made signs to his officers to retain their seats, and ordered +the scout to be introduced. + +It was Tonillo el Zapote, Pablito's friend. He had left the place where +they had hidden themselves to watch the movements of the Indians four +hours after his comrade, and yet had arrived at the _presidio_ only an +hour later,--sure proof of the importance of the news he bore. + +He looked as impudent and sneering as ever. His face was pale, and +smeared with blood and powder; his dress was torn in many places; while +the bandage round his head, one arm in a sling, and, more than all, +three or four scalps which hung bleeding from his girdle, showed that +he had had a hard tussle with the Indians, and been obliged to cut his +way through them to reach the _presidio_. + +"Zapote!" said the governor; "your comrade, Pablito, has just left me." + +"I know, colonel," answered the _vaquero_. + +"Have you brought us worse tidings than his?" + +"That depends upon the light in which you look upon them, señores." + +"What do your words imply?" + +"Oh!" was the reply, while the speaker swayed himself carelessly from +side to side; "If you love your ease, it is very probable it would +be troubled before long, and, in that case, the news I bring cannot +be very pleasant to you; but if you are fond of mounting to meet the +redskins, you can easily gratify your whim, and all I have to tell you +will be very acceptable." + +Notwithstanding the gravity of the situation and the anxiety they felt, +the governor and his officers could not help smiling at the singular +logic of the _vaquero_. + +"Explain, Zapote," said Don José; "we shall then know what to think of +your tidings." + +"Hardly ten minutes after my comrade left me, I was rummaging in the +bushes, which seemed to me to have an odd kind of motion, when I +discovered a _peon_, whose terror was so great, that it took me a +good half hour to get him to describe the dangers from which he had +escaped. The fellow belonged to a poor old man called Ignacio Rayal, +one of the two solitary individuals who escaped from the massacre +of the inhabitants of the peninsula of San-José by the Apaches in +the last invasion, twenty years ago. The _peon_ and his master were +looking for firewood, without dreaming of danger, when the Indians +suddenly started up close by. The former had time to hide himself in +a drain; but the old man, too feeble to save himself, fell into the +hands of the savages, who butchered him with all the refinements of +their horrid barbarity. His body was riddled with wounds, till his own +mother would not have known him; he had received twenty lance thrusts; +and his head was smashed to atoms with tomahawks. I left the _peon_ to +watch in our ambuscade, after I had restored his courage as well as I +could, and, proceeding in the direction he pointed out, was not long +in seeing a host of Indians driving before them a multitude of cattle +and prisoners. These fellows put everything to sack and fire on their +route; they were marching rapidly on the _presidio_, and detached +parties at intervals to destroy the haciendas on their road. The +haciendas of Piedra Rosa and San Blas are no longer standing; they are +now a heap of ashes, under which their unfortunate owners lie buried. +These are my tidings; make what you like out of them, señores." + +"And these scalps?" said the governor, pointing to the bloody trophies +hanging at the _vaquero's_ girdle. + +"Oh! These are nothing," he replied, with a smile of triumph; "as I had +got too near the Indians, in the hope of getting a better idea of their +force and intentions, they saw me, and naturally wanted to lay hands on +me; so we had a bit of a skirmish." + +"I presume these Indians are a party of pillagers from the wilderness, +who want to steal cattle, and will retire when they have collected +enough booty." + +"Hm!" said Tonillo, shaking his head; "I am not sure of that. There are +too many of them; they are too well equipped. Colonel, these fellows +have another object: unless I am greatly mistaken, they intend to wage +war to the knife against us." + +The governor exchanged looks with his officers. + +"Thank you, Zapote," said he; "I am pleased with you. Your conduct +has been that of a loyal Mexican. Return to your post, and be doubly +vigilant." + +"You may rely on my comrades and me, colonel. You know, we do not +exactly love the Indians," said Tonillo, who saluted and left them. + +"You see, señores," said the governor, "that the situation grows more +critical every minute. We will lose no more time in deliberation. You +may go." + +"One moment," said the major; "I have a piece of advice to give before +we separate." + +"Let us hear it, old friend." + +"No precaution must be omitted in the perilous circumstances which +surround us. We are here in an out-of-the-way place, far from any +speedy and efficacious support. We may have to sustain a siege in the +_presidio_, and run the risk of being starved out. I propose that a +vessel be immediately despatched to the governor general of the state, +to apprise him of our critical position, and to request reinforcements; +for it is impossible, with our scanty forces, to hold out long against +the invasion." + +A profound and solemn silence followed this speech. + +"What do you think of Major Barnum's advice?" said the colonel to his +officers. + +"We agree to it," said one of them, speaking in the name of the others; +"and we think it ought to be put into execution without delay." + +"I am of the same opinion," said Don José; "let it be so. Caballeros, +you may retire." + +And now they began to organise the defence with an energy inconceivable +to those acquainted with the Spanish character, and the profound +laziness which is one of its principal failings. + +The terrible danger menacing them made all the inhabitants of the +_presidio_ responsible for each other; it seemed to give courage to +those who had none, and redouble the ardour of the others. + +Two hours later, troops of cattle were driven in and parked in the +town, the streets barricaded, the guns supplied with ammunition, and +the women and children shut up in the buildings within the fort. + +A vessel had been despatched to the capital of the state, as had been +agreed on in council; and a hundred and fifty resolute men intrenched +themselves in the old _presidio_, the houses of which they loopholed, +in order to make head against the Indians when they appeared. + +The governor and Major Barnum seemed to multiply themselves; they were +ubiquitous; encouraging the newly enlisted, helping the workmen, and +speaking hope to all. + +About three o'clock in the afternoon, a strong wind arose, bringing +with it from the south-west volumes of thick smoke, obstructing the +view of objects at a distance. It was caused by the conflagration +throughout the country. The anxiety of the inhabitants increased +tenfold, as the direction from which it came proved that it could only +arise from the doings of the Indians. + +The Indian tribes always have recourse to this measure when they intend +to invade the territories of the whites; an excellent aid to their +system of attack by surprise, for, by shrouding the country in smoke, +they prevent the scouts discovering them from afar, and are more easily +able to conceal their numbers and motions. + +On the day in question, the Indians, unhappily for the Mexicans, +succeeded better than their wont; for the wind drove the smoke across +the open, and one could scarcely distinguish objects at ten paces off. + +It must be allowed, that in a country so uniformly level as the +prairies, which afford no points to mask a march, and where nothing +is easier than to find out the enemy's whole strength, the stratagem +employed by the Indians is as simple as it is ingenious. + +The scouts came galloping in one after the other, to report to +the governor the approach of the enemy, who, according to their +calculations, would reach the _presidio_ of San Lucar that same night. + +The masses of Indians increased every moment. Their hordes covered +the open; they marched with inconceivable rapidity, and seemed to +concentrate all their forces on the luckless _pueblo_. + +The governor ordered the three alarm-guns to be fired. Immediately +one saw the poor _rancheros_ (cottagers) of the plain trooping in +crowds into the town, bringing with them their cattle and furniture, +and shedding tears of rage and despair at the sight of their harvests +blazing in all directions. + +The poor men encamped as they best could in the squares of the +_pueblo;_ and after sending their women and children into the fort, all +able to bear arms rushed to the barricades, resolved to make those pay +dearly who had been the cause of their ruin. + +Terror and consternation reigned throughout the town: nothing was +heard but sighs and lamentation; and night came, to add horror to the +situation by enveloping the earth in darkness. + +Strong patrols paraded the streets incessantly; and at times hardy +_vaqueros_, gliding like serpents through the obscurity, ventured two +or three hundred paces from the walls, to assure themselves that no +immediate danger threatened the _presidio_. + +Things remained in this state till about two in the morning, when, in +the midst of the mournful silence brooding over the town, a slight +noise, scarcely perceptible at first, was heard. It grew louder every +moment, and all of a sudden, as if by enchantment, and without any +one being able to guess how they got there, the Apaches crowned the +barricades of the _presidio_, brandishing flaming torches and uttering +the war whoop. + +For a moment the inhabitants thought the town was taken; but Major +Barnum, who commanded at this post, was too old a soldier, and too +accustomed to Indian warfare, to be deceived by their stratagem. At the +moment the Apaches were about to cross the barricades, a well-sustained +fire opened suddenly upon them, and drove them from the intrenchments +much faster than they had scaled them. + +The Mexicans charged with the bayonet: for one moment there was a +frightful _mêlée_, from the midst of which rose cries of agony, +maledictions, and the sharp clang of steel crossing steel; then the +whites regained their position; the Indians disappeared; the town, +illumined for so short a time by the blaze of the torches, was again +enveloped in darkness; and the silence, broken by the few minutes of +onslaught, was once more complete. + +This was the only attempt that night. The Indians were up to their +work; having failed in their bold _coup-de-main_, they would, in +all probability, convert the attack into a blockade, if they were +determined to take the town; or they might retreat altogether, if their +miscarriage had led them to despair of mastering it. + +But at daybreak this latter illusion vanished; the Indians seemed to +have no inclination to beat a retreat. + +The country presented a most afflicting spectacle; everything was +burnt down, and the disorder frightful. In one place a band of mounted +Apaches were driving before them the horses and cattle they had stolen; +in another, nearer the town, and facing towards it, a strong body of +warriors, with poised lances, watched the movements of the inhabitants +of the _presidio_, with the intention of repelling any sortie that +might be attempted; behind them, women and children were chasing the +cattle, which were lowing with anger at being forced to quit the +pastures; here and there prisoners, men, women, and children, driven on +by blows of the lance, lifted their hands in vain supplication, and +painfully dragged themselves forward amidst their captors. Lastly, +as far as the eye could see, long files of Indians were hastening up +on every side, while others drove in the pickets, or built _callis_ +(huts); and the town was completely surrounded. + +Then an unheard-of circumstance occurred--a circumstance which the +most experienced soldiers in the fort had never witnessed in all their +previous encounters with the Indians, viz. the order that ruled through +all this disorder; that is to say, the manner in which the _callis_ +were grouped, the serried and disciplined march of the infantry, the +precision of their movements; and, what particularly upset all the +arrangements of the colonel and major, the drawing of a parallel about +the place, and throwing up an earthwork with immense rapidity, so as to +shelter the Apaches from the fire of the guns. + +"_¡Sangre de Dios!_" exclaimed the colonel, with an angry stamp; "those +wretches have a traitor among them; they have never made war in this +fashion before." + +"Hem!" said the major, pulling at his moustache; "We shall have to tilt +against rude jousters." + +"Yes," replied the colonel; "and if succour does not arrive from the +city, I do not exactly see how this is to end." + +"Badly, colonel. _¡Caray!_ I am afraid we shall lose our hides here. +Look! There are more than three thousand of them, without counting +those who are still coming and blackening the plain on all sides. But +what is the meaning of this noise?" he added, as he turned in the +direction whence the notes of a trumpet proceeded. + +Four sachems, dressed in white, and preceded by an Indian bearing a +white flag, had halted at half-gunshot from the first barricade at the +old _presidio_. + +"What can this mean?" said the colonel; "They seem to demand a parley. +Do they think I am fool enough to fall into the snare? Major, a hatful +of grape for that group of pagans! We'll teach them to take us for +dolts!" + +"I think you are wrong, colonel, and that it would be better to parley +with them; in that way we shall learn their intentions." + +"You may be right, my good friend; but who will be fool enough to risk +his life among these lawless bandits?" + +"I, if you will permit me," answered the major. + +"You!" cried Don José, in astonishment. + +"Yes; is it not our duty to suffer no means to escape us by which we +may save the wretched people confided to our honour? I am only one +man; my life is of little importance to the defence of the _presidio_, +and the step I am about to take may save it." + +The colonel stifled a sigh, pressed his old friend's hand +affectionately, and exclaimed, in a voice half choked with the emotion +he vainly endeavoured to suppress: + +"Go, since you insist upon it." + +"Thanks," said the major joyfully. And he turned with a firm step in +the direction of the barricade. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE ATTACK ON THE PRESIDIO. + + +Major Barnum was unarmed; he was offering up his life, and would not +take his sword, that he might have no pretext for defending himself +should a conflict ensue, as would probably be the case. + +When he had got within earshot, he halted. As in his former campaign he +had often had occasion to confer with the Apaches, he had learnt enough +of their language to need no interpreter. + +"What do you require, chiefs? Have you crossed the Rio Grande del +Norte, and invaded our frontiers, in breach of the peace existing +between us?" + +He said this in a loud voice, and saluting them with his hat, which he +immediately replaced after this act of courtesy. + +"Are you the man whom the palefaces call Don José Kalbris?" asked one +of the chiefs; "The man to whom they give the title of governor?" + +"No; according to our laws, the governor may not quit his post. I am +Major Barnum, second in command, deputed to represent him; so you may +report to me what brings you hither." + +The chiefs conferred together for an instant; then, planting their long +lances in the sand, they dashed forward on their horses till beside the +major. + +The latter, who had never taken his eyes off them, had divined their +purpose, but remained motionless, and testified no surprise at seeing +them at his side. + +The Indians, who had intended by the suddenness of their action to +throw off his guard and perhaps intimidate the major, were secretly +annoyed at his coolness, which they could not help admiring. + +"My father is brave," said the one who was spokesman. + +"At my age," replied the veteran, "one does not fear death; one often +looks upon it as a blessing." + +"My father bears on his head the snows of many winters; he must be one +of the wisest chiefs of his nation. The young men listen to him with +respect around the council fire." + +The major bowed modestly. + +"Do not talk of me," he said; "we have met to discuss graver matters. +Why have you demanded this interview?" + +"Will not my father lead us to the council fire of his nation?" said +the warrior in insinuating tones. "Is it proper for great _sachems_, +renowned warriors, to treat of important affairs on horseback, between +two armies ready to come to blows?" + +"I understand your meaning, chief; but cannot comply with your desires. +When a town is invested, no leader of the enemy can be admitted as flag +of truce." + +"Does my father fear that we four should take the town?" said the +Apache, laughing, but secretly vexed at the abortion of his plan to +communicate with the friends he undoubtedly had in the place. + +"It is not my custom to fear anything," replied the major; "I tell you +a fact of which you were ignorant, that is all. And now, if you wish +to use this pretext to break off the interview, you can do so; I have +nothing more to do than to go back." + +"Oho! My father is hasty for his age. Why break off the interview, when +we have not even mentioned the object of it?" + +"Speak then, and tell me what brings you here." + +The _sachems_ looked at each other, and exchanged a few words in a +whisper. Then the chief took up the word: + +"My father has seen the great army of the Apaches, and the nations +their allies?" + +"I have," replied the major carelessly. + +"And has my father, who is a learned paleface, counted the warriors who +compose it?" + +"Yes, as far as it was possible." + +"Ah! And how many are there, according to my father's counting?" + +"Upon my word, chief," replied the major, with an unconcern that was +admirably counterfeited, "I must confess that, as for us, we do not +care how many of them there are." + +"But still," persisted the Indian, "at how many does my father count +them?" + +"How can I know? Eight or ten thousand I dare say." + +The chiefs were astounded at the indifference the major displayed for +numbers thrice their force; and the Apache warrior replied: + +"And my father is not frightened at the number of warriors united under +one chief?" + +The wonder of the _sachems_ had not escaped the major. + +"Why should I be frightened? Has not my nation conquered greater +numbers?" + +"It is possible," said the chief, biting his lips; "but this time you +will not conquer." + +"Who can tell? Is that what you came to parley about, chief? If so, you +might have spared yourself the trouble." + +"No; it is not that. Let my father be patient." + +"Speak, then, and have done with it. One never knows how to get on with +all your Indian circumlocutions." + +"The army of the great nations is camped before the _presidio_ to +obtain satisfaction for all the wrongs the palefaces have done the +Indians, since they first set foot on the red man's territory." + +"What are you talking about? Explain yourself clearly; and, first of +all, what is your pretext for thus invading our frontiers, without +previously declaring war? Have we broken the treaties we made with +you? Have we not always been generous to the Indians who claimed our +protection? Answer!" + +"Why does my father pretend to be ignorant of our just reasons for war +with the palefaces?" replied the Apache, feigning to be discontented +with the major's speech. "My father knows that we have for centuries +been at war with the Long Knives,[1] who dwell on the other side of the +mountains. Why has my father's nation, which assumes to be at peace +with us, made treaties with them?" + +"Chief, you are only seeking a quarrel; but that does not signify. I +would rather you had told me frankly that your wish was to pillage +and steal our horses and cattle, than give me a reason without common +sense. We should be at war with the Comanches, if you really meant what +you say. Therefore, chief, mock me no more, but proceed to facts. What +is it you demand?" + +The chief burst out laughing. + +"My father is cunning," he said. "Listen; thus say the chiefs: 'This +land belongs to us: we will have it.' The white ancestors of my father +had no right to establish themselves in it." + +"That pretext is, at all events, specious; for my ancestors bought this +land from one of your _sachems_." + +"The chiefs in assembly round, the tree of the Master of life have +determined to return to the great white chief, without reserve, all the +articles formerly given to the _sachem_ in exchange for the land, and +to resume the country belonging to them, in which they will no longer +have the palefaces." + +"Is that all you were deputed to tell me?" + +"It is all," said the chief, bending his head. + +"And how much time," answered the major, "do the chiefs allow the +governor of the _presidio_ to discuss these proposals?" + +"Two hours." + +"Very well," said the major coolly. "And if the governor refuses, what +will my brothers do?" + +"The _sachems_," replied the Apache, emphatically, "have determined to +resume the ownership of their territory. If the palefaces refuse to +restore it, their village shall be burnt, their warriors put to death, +their wives and children carried away as slaves." + +"Ah!" said the major; "Before you obtain that result, all the whites +in the _presidio_ will have been killed in its defence. But it is not +for me to discuss the matter with you. I will carry your demands to the +governor, precisely as you have made them; and tomorrow, at sunrise, +you shall have your answer. Hostilities must be suspended until then." + +"No; it is for you to stop them. We cannot stay here inactive; so be on +your guard." + +"Thanks for your frankness, chief," replied the major. "I am happy +at meeting an Indian who is not altogether a rascal. Good-bye, till +tomorrow." + +"Farewell," said the chiefs courteously. + +All were struck with admiration at the coolness of the veteran. + +The major retired as slowly as he had come, without manifesting +apprehension. + +The colonel awaited him at the barricade with the greatest anxiety. The +long interview had filled him with uneasiness. He had prepared himself +to avenge any insult that might be offered to his envoy. When the major +reached the barricade, he hastened to join him. + +"Well?" said he impatiently. + +"They are only seeking to gain time, in order to execute one of their +devilries." + +"What is the sum of their demands?" + +"Their pretensions are absurd, and they know it; for they sneered when +they laid them before me. They pretend that the _sachem_ who ceded the +territory to the Spaniards, two hundred years ago, had no right to sell +it. They demand that we should surrender it to them in twenty-four +hours; if not--then follow the usual threats. Ah!" said the major, with +an ironical smile, "I forgot to tell you, colonel, that they pretend to +be ready to restore everything the _sachem_ received for the land he +sold. That is all I am commissioned to report." + +The colonel shrugged his shoulders in disdain. + +"The demons are mad," said he, "or else they are trying to lull us into +security, so as to surprise us the more easily." + +"What do you think of doing?" asked the major. + +"Redouble my vigilance, my good friend; for I have no doubt we shall +soon come to blows with them again. I am specially uneasy about the old +_presidio_." + +"You go back to the fort; I will take the command of the advanced post. +It is most important, in case of a check, that our communication should +not be cut off, and that we may be able to retreat into the place +without too great loss." + +"I will leave you at liberty to act, my dear major; I am sure you will +do your best." + +The two veterans separated, after shaking hands warmly. The colonel +returned to the fort, while the major actively bestirred himself to put +the post confided to him in safety against a surprise. + +The garrison of the old _presidio_ consisted chiefly of _vaqueros_ and +_leperos_,--people, we confess, on whose fidelity the major could only +moderately rely. But the stout old soldier locked the apprehensions +that tormented him up in his heart, and feigned entire confidence in +these fellows, whom he more than suspected. + +The day passed over quietly enough. The Apaches, buried like moles +behind their intrenchments, seemed determined not to quit them. The +sentinels watched vigilantly at the barriers and barricades which +closed the suburb. The major, reassured by this apparent tranquillity, +hoped that the Indians would not assume the offensive before the term +proposed for the receipt of the governor's answer; and, overwhelmed +with fatigue from the numerous operations he had been obliged to +superintend in providing for the defence in its minutest details, he +retired to a house close to the barricade, to snatch a few minutes of +necessary repose. + +Certain of our old acquaintances were amongst the defenders of +the suburb: Pablito, El Verado, Tonillo, and Carlocho. The worthy +_vaqueros_, since the appearance of the Indians, had given such +undeniable proofs of fidelity, that the major, at their request, and as +a reward for their good conduct, had confided to them the most advanced +barricade, which was, in fact, the key of the suburb. + +A few minutes after sunset, these four men were together at the foot of +the barricade, and talking in whispers. A dozen more rascals of their +own stamp, grouped a few paces off were evidently awaiting the result +of their mysterious council. + +At last they rose, and their colloquy terminated. + +"Well, then," said Carlocho, by way of wind-up, "it is settled for ten +o'clock?" + +"For ten o'clock," peremptorily replied El Zapote; "a man can only +stick to his word. We have been nobly paid, and must fulfil our +promise, especially as we have received half the amount." + +"True," said the others, thoroughly convinced; "the loss would be too +great." + +"I should think so!" exclaimed El Zapote; "Only think, _queridos_ (my +boys); five-and-twenty ounces a piece!" + +The bandits grinned like hyenas which scent a corpse, and their eyes +glistened with greed. + +The major, lying half upright on a _butaca_, slept the restless sleep +of a man whose mind is preoccupied by affairs of great moment; when +all of a sudden he felt himself rudely shaken, and a voice, half +unintelligible from emotion, shouted into his ears: + +"Rise, major, rise! We are betrayed! The _vaqueros_ have given up the +barricade to the Apaches, and the Indians are in the place." + +The officer bounded to his feet, seized his sword, and rushed out of +doors without answering, followed by the man--a Mexican soldier--who +had so rudely awakened him. + +At a single glance, the major recognised the truth of the disastrous +news reported to him. El Zapote and his comrades had not only +surrendered the barrier to the Apaches, but had even joined them, +followed by the few wretches we mentioned above. + +The situation was very critical. The Mexicans, disheartened by the +shameful defection of the _vaqueros_, fought without energy or order, +dreading further treachery, and on that account not daring to make good +head against the enemy. + +The Apaches and the _vaqueros_ howled like demons, and charged +furiously on the demoralised defenders of the _presidio_, whom they +slaughtered pitilessly. + +It was a horrid spectacle to witness, this homicidal strife, illumined +by the lurid reflection of the houses fired by the Indians to light up +their victory. The war whoop of the Apaches mingled with the cries of +agony of the Mexicans they were massacring and the awful roaring of the +flames, fanned by the frequent squalls. + +The major threw himself resolutely into the thickest of the fight, +calling the garrison around him, and exciting them by voice and +gesture, to a desperate resistance. + +The appearance of the commandant of the _presidio_ produced an +electrical effect on the Mexicans. Animated by his example, they +formed around him, and replied by a well-directed fire to the attacks +of their ferocious foes. + +The _vaqueros_, brought to a stand by the point of the bayonet, +ignominiously fled, pursued by a shower of balls. + +Thanks to the energetic action of the major, the fight was fairly +renewed; but Barnum was a soldier of too much experience to allow +himself to be deceived by a factitious success. He felt that any +attempt to hold the suburb would be madness; he therefore only thought +how to make good his retreat in the best possible order, and to bring +off the women and children. + +Calling his boldest and most resolute men about him, he formed them +into a body to hold the Indians in check, while the non-combatants +embarked and crossed the river. The Apaches perceived big project, and +doubled their efforts to hinder its execution. + +The _mêlée_ grew still more frightful. A desperate hand-to-hand combat +ensued between whites and redskins; the former fighting for the safety +of their families, the latter in the hope of an immense booty. + +But the Mexicans, encouraged by the heroic devotion of their commander, +only retreated step by step, resisting with the energy of that despair +which performs prodigies, and in desperate circumstances trebles the +strength of man. + +This handful of brave men, scarcely numbering a hundred and fifty, kept +in check for three hours, and without allowing themselves to be broken, +nearly two thousand Indians, falling one after the other at their +allotted posts, in order to save their wives and children. + +At last the final boats full of wounded and non-combatants quitted +the suburb; the Mexicans uttered a shout of joy, charged the Apaches +once more, and, under the orders of the major,--who, like an old +wounded lion, seemed to abandon the fight with regret,--commenced their +retreat, continually harassed by the Apaches. + +They soon reached the river. Here the savages were constrained to fall +back in their turn, being decimated by the showers of grape poured upon +their dense ranks by the guns of the fortress. + +This successful diversion permitted the scanty survivors of the +heroic Mexican phalanx to enter the boats, and retire without further +molestation, carrying with them two or three prisoners they had +contrived to secure. The fight was at an end, after having lasted five +hours. The Apaches had only conquered through the treachery of the +_vaqueros_. + +The colonel received his friend at the landing place, and congratulated +him on his admirable defence, which, in his eyes, was as good as a +victory, on account of the enormous losses it had caused the enemy. + +Then, without losing time, the two officers took measures to complete +the defence of the place, by ordering the construction of strong +intrenchments on the bank of the river, and the erection of two +flanking batteries, of six guns each. + +The capture of the old _presidio_ by the Indians, through the +treachery of the _vaqueros_, was an immense loss to the Mexicans, +whose communications with the numerous haciendas on that bank were cut +off. Luckily, the colonel, foreseeing a result almost inevitable from +the want of troops at his disposal, had withdrawn the whole of the +population of the suburb into San Lucar. The houses had been gutted, +horses and cattle carried off, and the boats moored under the batteries +of the fort, where they were in safety--at least for the present. + +It is true the Indians were masters of the suburb; but the success had +cost them greater losses than the possession of it was worth. After +all, the Mexicans had only lost an insignificant piece of ground, +scarcely worth defence; for the old _presidio_ was not the key of the +place, of which it was only a questionable dependency, and from which +it was separated by the breadth of the river. + +Thus the effect of the battle on the two camps was exactly the reverse +of what the reader might suppose. + +The Mexicans almost congratulated themselves on the loss of a position +nearly useless to them in the present state of affairs, and the defence +of which could only cost them many valuable lives; while the Apaches +asked each other sadly what good the conquest of the suburb had done +them, in return for the loss of more than five hundred of their bravest +warriors who had fallen. + +Two _vaqueros_, who had been thrown from their horses, had been taken +prisoners by the Mexicans during their retreat. + +The colonel ordered a court martial to assemble, commanded two high +gibbets to be erected a little in advance of the new intrenchments +along the river, and had them hung in the sight of the whole +population, and of their companions, who had clustered together on the +opposite bank of the river, and uttered shouts of impotent rage at +seeing them executed. + +Don José Kalbris was not naturally cruel; but in this case he justly +thought he ought to make an example, in order to intimidate such as +might have the inclination to imitate them. A _bando_ (an edict), fixed +to the foot of each gibbet, announced that the same fate awaited every +revolted _vaquero_ who fell into the hands of the Mexicans. + +While this was doing, evening closed in; and the Indians, to annoy +the whites, amused themselves by setting fire to the suburb they had +taken the night before. The immense volume of flame produced by the +conflagration threw fantastic shadows over the camp of the Apaches and +the town of San Lucar, whose miserable inhabitants, plunged in the +stupor of grief, knew they had no mercy to expect from foes like these. + +The colonel seemed made of iron: he did not take a moment's rest, but +visited the posts continually, and sought by every means to strengthen +the defences of the town. + +He and the major had just entered the fort, after making a final round. +The night had passed, and the Indians had retreated to their camp, +after making a futile attempt to surprise the _presidio_. + +"Well, major," said the colonel, "you see how it is; there is no use in +our trying to blind each other. It is only a question of time for us; +whether we shall be taken tomorrow or in a week, no one can say: but +everyone can see what the result must be." + +"Hm!" said the major; "When the last moment has come, we shall always +have the resource of shutting ourselves up in the fort, and blowing it +and ourselves to the devil." + +"Unluckily, we have not even that resource." + +"How so?" + +"Why, we old soldiers might blow ourselves up easily and ought to do +it; but we cannot condemn the women and children shut up with us to +such a cruel fate." + +"True; but I have it! Although we cannot blow ourselves up, I can +always blow out my brains." + +"You have not even that consolation, my good friend. Is it not our duty +to set an example to the poor people cooped up here, and protect them +while we can? Is it not our duty to be in the breach to the last?" + +The major made no reply to this argument, which he inwardly +acknowledged to be unanswerable. + +"But," said he, after a pause, "how is it we have received no news from +the capital of the state?" + +"Ah, my friend! Out there they have probably other things than us to +think of." + +"I will not believe it." + +At this moment a servant opened the door, and announced: + +"Don Torribio Quiroga!" + +The two men shuddered, without being able to account for their emotion. + +Don Torribio entered. He wore the magnificent uniform of a colonel +in the Mexican service, and on his left arm the ribbons of an +aide-de-camp. He bowed respectfully to the two officers. + +"Is that you, Don Torribio?" said the colonel. + +"I suppose it is," said the former smiling. + +"When I last saw you, you were about to undertake a long journey." + +"From which I have just returned." + +"But the uniform you wear?" + +"Good heavens, caballeros! I was tired of being treated in the +provinces as a nobody, a kind of useless ninny. I threw off everything +of that sort, and have become a man of the world like others." + +"Then you are--?" asked Don José. + +"An officer like yourself, colonel,--of the same rank; and moreover, +aide-de-camp to the governor of the state." + +"It is wonderful!" said the colonel. + +"Why so? Nothing could be more simple." + +The major had taken no part in this conversation. When Don Torribio +entered, a strange suspicion had seized him. + +"I confess," said the colonel, "that I was a thousand miles from +thinking--" + +"What, pray? That I should turn officer? You see, you were wrong; +and so much the more so, since I have been deputed by the general +commanding the province to bring you a message, which I am sure will be +of great service to you in the present conjuncture." + +He drew forth a large folded paper, sealed with the Mexican arms, and +presented it to the colonel. + +Don José hastened to take it. + +"With your permission," said he, and hurriedly broke the seal, and read +the missive. + +"Aha!" he exclaimed; "Four hundred and fifty men! I did not expect so +strong a reinforcement." + +"The general feels greatly concerned for the _presidio_," said Don +Torribio; "he will spare no sacrifice to retain it." + +"_¡Vive Dios!_ caballero, with such help I care as much for the Indians +as for a bundle of straw." + +"It seems to me that they will not arrive a whit too soon," said Don +Torribio, with a sneer. + +"_¡Canarios!_ It is just in time; but now we shall have some fun." + +"I hope so," said the other, while an indescribable smile curled his +lips. + +"And your men?" asked the governor. + +"Will be here in an hour, at the latest." + +"To what corps do they belong?" + +"To none in particular; they are _guerilleros_" (irregular troops). + +"Hm!" said the colonel, showing a little disappointment; "I should have +preferred other troops. But never mind; if you like, we will go out to +meet them." + +"I am at your orders, colonel." + +"Shall I go with you?" asked the major. + +"Nothing could be better," said Don Torribio hastily. + +The colonel hesitated a moment. + +"No," said he, at last; "remain here. One cannot tell what may happen, +and somebody must be here to act for me in my absence. Come, Don +Torribio." + +With a sigh of satisfaction, the major threw himself back again on the +sofa from which he had risen. + +The two men went out. Just as they were mounting, they encountered a +horseman, who came up at full speed. + +"Estevan Diaz!" muttered Don Torribio to himself; "Please Heaven he has +not recognized me." + + +[1] The inhabitants of the United States. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +DISGRACE. + + +As we have already said, Don Torribio had rapidly quitted the Hacienda +del Cormillo in company with the mysterious stranger whom he had met in +such an extraordinary manner. + +Their journey was not long. At the close of a quarter of an hour, the +stranger pulled up his horse, saying, in a sharp tone: + +"It is useless to take you farther before I know what I have to expect +from you." + +Don Torribio had halted at the same time as the unknown. + +"I think you are making a mistake, caballero," said he dryly. + +"In what way, if you please, señor?" said the other in a sneering tone. + +"I am going to put you in possession of a few facts, which will put us +on a level with each other." + +"Let us hear them, caballero; I am all attention." + +"In the first place," said Don Torribio firmly, "before we go any +farther, let me give you a piece of advice." + +"Advice is always useful: if yours is good, I shall profit by it; of +that be certain." + +"You will be right. I am unaware whether you know me, but be sure of +this: I am not easily frightened; and if, for some unknown reason, you +have led me into an ambush, I warn you that, at the first suspicious +movement you make, I will blow your brains out; for I neither know you, +nor what your intentions are." + +"Good! You are a man after my own heart, I see clearly we shall come to +an understanding." + +"Perhaps so. But as it is not I who have come to seek you out,--as +I have not claimed your aid in any way,--I demand, in the first +place, that you give me a clear explanation, without prevarication or +circumlocution." + +The stranger shrugged his shoulders. + +"Is it not enough for you to know that I am in a position to serve you +effectually in the plans of vengeance you meditate?" + +"I neither understand what you say, nor to what you allude," said Don +Torribio haughtily. + +"Aha!" said the other, laughing grimly; "Is that the way you answer +me?" + +"Why should I give you a different answer? What right have you to my +confidence? On what plea, supposing I have a secret, do you pretend to +search into it?" + +"Because your enemy is mine also; because, in avenging you, I avenge +myself. Do you understand me now?" + +"No more than I did before. If you have nothing else to say, we had +better break off our conference and part." + +The stranger made a gesture of impatience: he had not expected to meet +with so much inflexibility. + +"One word more, Don Torribio Quiroga. The man whom you hate, whose +death you have already plotted, is called Don Fernando Carril. That man +who for a long time has crossed your path at every turn, counteracting +your plans and ruining your hopes, has overthrown you in all your +reencounters; your very life belongs to him; he has taken all, even to +the heart of her you love. Is not this true? Will you trust me now?" + +Don Torribio had listened with mingled pain and anger to the +revelations of the singular being who had accosted him. + +"Yes," said he, clenching his hand with rage, "yes, you are well +informed. I care not whether you have gleaned your knowledge from +heaven or hell; it is accurate. This man is my evil genius, always +and forever crossing my path, and overthrowing, as if in wantonness, +my most cherished aspirations. I would sacrifice my whole fortune to +avenge myself on him--to hold him, panting and despairing, in my power." + +"I thought we should end by coming to an understanding." + +"Do not mock me, señor; my soul is deeply troubled. I could have +forgiven this man his insolent good luck, his success in the world, +where he thrives at my expense, the heaps of gold he wins with such +proud indifference,--I say, I could have forgiven him all this, if +he had not destroyed my sweetest hopes in tearing from me the heart +of her I love; for although I have no tangible proof to corroborate +my suspicions, I have tonight acquired a moral certainty impossible +to controvert. A lover's heart does not deceive him; jealousy is +sharp-sighted. On the appearance of Don Fernando at Don Pedro de +Luna's, I found in him a rival, and a rival who is preferred to me." + +"If you choose, I will rid you of Don Fernando, and deliver Doña +Hermosa into your hands." + +"You will do that?" cried Don Torribio, beside himself with joy. + +"I will do it," briefly responded the stranger. "Before two days are +over, you shall have your revenge on both. But it all depends upon your +own will." + +"Ah! If that is all," said the other, with an indescribable expression +of rage, "I will do all you ask, I will agree to all your demands, to +the utmost of my power." + +"Take heed, Don Torribio; we are about to enter into a compact--a +compact, the conditions of which you must fulfil at all hazards." + +"Whatever they may be, I will fulfil them, if you secure my twofold +revenge." + +"Good! Swear to me, by all you hold most sacred in this world, +that, whatever may happen, whatever determination you may arrive at +hereafter, you will never divulge what is going to pass between us." + +"I swear to you, _a fe de_ caballero," (on the honour of a gentleman), +"señor. Speak with all confidence." + +"Just now you asked me who I am: I am the Tigercat!" + +Don Torribio shuddered involuntarily on hearing this redoubtable name, +but recovered himself immediately. + +"Very good," said he; "the name you reveal is a guarantee of success to +my vengeance." + +"Yes," said the bandit, chuckling, "I dare say it is; my reputation has +been established a long time on the frontiers. In the meantime, this is +what I exact of you. Ponder well what you are about to hear--reflect +seriously on what I am going to propose--before you answer; for, I +repeat once more, I will compel you to act up to the conditions when +once you have accepted them." + +"Speak," he replied impatiently; "have I not told you I am longing for +revenge?" + +"Hear me, then, and remember your oath. I am at this moment preparing +an expedition against San Lucar, of which I intend to gain possession +at any price. For certain reasons, which need not be mentioned, I have +assembled several tribes of the Apaches and a considerable number of +_vaqueros_, who are concealed not far from hence, and only await my +signal to fall, like tigers thirsting for blood, upon the _pueblo_, as +it is gorged with wealth. An active and intelligent ally, upon whom I +counted to execute this bold _coup-de-main_, has deserted me at the +last moment. You alone can replace him: will you do so?" + +"What is this?" exclaimed Don Torribio, shuddering; "It is treason you +propose!" + +"No," replied the other, in a deep voice, "it is revenge!--consummate +vengeance, by which I shall confound your enemies, and those who have +applauded their success, while they laughed in scorn at each of your +disasters." + +"What! I, Don Torribio Quiroga, belonging to one of the oldest families +in the country; I am to associate--" + +He hesitated and paused. The Tigercat laughed with disdain. + +"With bandits and redskins, you would say, and wage war on your own +countrymen. Why hesitate to pronounce the words? As for me, those +qualifications have no value. I offer you revenge on your countrymen, +who have become your enemies in siding with your adversary. You are +about to engage in a duel. In a duel, all feints to kill your opponent +are lawful. But these are my conditions, and I will not alter them a +tittle. I will give you twenty-four hours for consideration." + +A long silence ensued between the two men. + +The night was dark; the wind howled mournfully through the branches of +the trees; nameless noises passed them by, borne on the wings of the +breeze. + +At last Don Torribio answered in husky tones: + +"You have given me twenty-four hours; I demand forty-eight to come to +my determination. I will make one more attempt with her I love. You +see, I am frank with you. The line of conduct I adopt will depend upon +the result of the experiment." + +"Be it so," said the Tigercat; "it is better thus. Your cooperation +will be more efficacious, and your will firmer, when your last allusion +has been torn from you. Go, then! For my part, I shall not be idle." + +"Thanks! In case I want to communicate to you my resolve, where shall I +find you?" + +"I will await you at the Barranca del Fraile" (the Friar's inn). + +"Agreed! God grant," he added, with a sigh, "that fate may not force me +to be there!" + +The Tigercat laughed aloud; and, without replying, spurred his horse, +and disappeared in the darkness. + +We have already related how the old freebooter acted to keep his +promise to Don Torribio. + +The desertion among the Apaches, brought about by the influence of the +_amantzin_, on the night when the Tigercat left them to repair to the +rendezvous arranged with Stoneheart, had not been as successful as the +sorcerer had hoped. The sudden return of the old chief sufficed to +restore his authority among the Apaches, who had long been accustomed +to obey him, and whose raids against the frontier had always been +productive of booty when he commanded them. + +The Tigercat had not even taken the trouble to punish the _amantzin_ +himself--the Zopilote had taken care of that; and the summary execution +had produced an excellent effect upon those rugged and savage minds, +which brute force alone can tame. + +Nevertheless, he had no wish to damp the renewed devotion shown him +by the redskins; and, although his final dispositions were not yet +made, and the defection of Stoneheart was a serious hindrance to his +plans, he comprehended the necessity of hurrying on his expedition, +even at the risk of seeing it fail, calculating on turning to his own +profit the hatred of Don Torribio, whose high standing in the province +might be very useful to him. He assembled all the Indians able to +bear arms of whom he could dispose, crossed the Rio Grande del Norte; +and these vultures fell like a devastating hurricane on the luckless +Indian frontier,--burning, pillaging, slaughtering, and passing like +a horrible plague over those magnificent plains which they left behind +them a desert. + +Don Torribio Quiroga was one of the first to learn the tidings of the +Indian invasion. The news gave him an indescribable feeling of mingled +joy and regret. He guessed that the Tigercat wished to give him a proof +of the sincerity of his intentions towards him, and of the manner in +which he meant to keep the promise he had given. + +Up to that time a prey to a thousand conflicting feelings, he now +resolved to settle his doubts at once, and to learn positively what +he had to hope or fear from Doña Hermosa and her father. Towards nine +o'clock in the morning, he called for his horse, and, in spite of the +danger he would certainly incur in the short space between the presidio +and the hacienda, he managed to leave San Lucar, on which the Indians +were rapidly moving, and rode at full speed towards El Cormillo. + +About half way to the hacienda his horse started at several dead bodies +lying across the road, riddled with wounds; but he was too preoccupied +by his own thoughts to pay much attention to the ominous reencounter. +As he rode past, he cast a careless look at the corpses, and continued +his road without further thought of the incident. + +Either designedly, or because they knew the futility of an attack on +the hacienda, the Apaches had deviated from their furious course, so as +not to approach it. When Don Torribio arrived, he found it in a perfect +state of defence: the gates shut and barricaded with care, the windows +blocked and loopholed; and he saw the bayonets of the numerous garrison +gleaming above the walls in the sunshine. + +The sentries placed at the principal entrance gave admittance to Don +Torribio, but not before they had questioned and recognised him. A +_peon_ received and conducted him to the drawing room. He found three +persons there: Don Pedro de Luna, Ña Manuela, and Don Estevan Diaz, +who, pale and bloody, was lying upon a sofa, apparently asleep. His +mother, seated beside him, watched his slumbers with that tender +solicitude which belongs to mothers only. Don Torribio took a few +hesitating steps forward, and stopped in surprise when he perceived +that no one seemed to notice his presence. At last Don Pedro raised his +eyes, and looking at him coldly, said, "Oh! Is it you, cousin? How +does it happen that you are here today?" + +"Had I no other motive," replied Don Torribio, troubled by a reception +he had not anticipated, and foreseeing a storm, "the lively interest I +take in your family would have made it my duty to be here now." + +"I thank you, cousin," said Don Pedro still more coldly, "for the +proof of sympathy you are kind enough to give us. But you might have +remembered that El Cormillo is in a perfect state of defence, and that +we run no danger behind these walls, before you exposed yourself to +be assassinated on the road, as has nearly happened to our poor Don +Estevan." + +"Has he been set upon?" asked Don Torribio. + +"Yes," dryly replied the hacendero; "he and another person, who, less +lucky than Estevan, is most likely dead. Did you not know it?" + +"I!" Exclaimed Don Torribio, with an accent of truth there was no +mistaking; "How should I know?" + +"Excuse me, cousin; I am so troubled at what has occurred, that I +hardly know what I am saying." + +Don Torribio bowed, and then replied: + +"May I not have the pleasure of offering my homage to my charming +cousin?" + +"You must excuse her; she has retired to her room. The poor child is so +distracted by the late extraordinary events, that she is unable to see +any one--not even you." + +"I am the more grieved at this indisposition, as I wished to have some +conversation with her on a matter of moment." + +"So much the worse, cousin; so much the worse. The time is ill chosen +to speak of business, as you must allow, when the Indians are at our +gates, devastating our fields and burning our dwellings." + +"True, cousin; I acknowledge the justice of your remark. Unfortunately, +I find myself placed by chance in such extraordinary circumstances, +that if I might persist--" + +"It would be useless, my dear Don Torribio," said Don Pedro, +interrupting him, and exhibiting a certain degree of stiffness. "I have +the honour to tell you that my daughter cannot have the pleasure of +seeing you today." + +"Then pray, cousin, excuse my inopportune intrusion. Perhaps I shall be +more lucky another day." + +"That is it; some other day, when we have got rid of these cursed +pagans, and have no longer a horrible death in perspective." + +"And now," said Don Torribio, with ill-suppressed rage, "as I perceive +that, owing to your abstraction doubtless, you have not even offered me +a seat, cousin, I have no more to do than offer my good wishes for your +safety, and take my leave of you." + +The hacendero did not seem to observe the tone of ill humour in which +these words were uttered. + +"Good-bye, then, Don Torribio," said he, "and a lucky journey. Above +all things, be prudent, and do not travel with your eyes shut. The +roads are infested by brigands, and I should be in despair if you met +with mishap." + +"I thank you for your advice, and will follow it," he replied, turning +to leave the room. + +Just at this moment Don Estevan--who, as we have said, appeared to +be sleeping--opened his eyes, and perceived Don Torribio. His look +brightened. + +"Mother," said he in a feeble voice, "and you, Don Pedro, do me the +favour to leave me alone with this caballero for a short time. I have a +few words to say to him in private." + +"To me, señor?" asked Don Torribio, in a tone so haughty it sounded +like disdain. + +"To yourself, Señor Don Torribio Quiroga," replied the wounded man, +whose voice grew stronger under the excitement of his feelings. + +"You are very weak, my son, for a conversation with any one," said +Manuela. + +"Perhaps, my friend," said Don Pedro, "it would be more prudent to +defer it for a few days." + +"No," was the reply; "it must be today--must be this instant." + +"Just as you please, headstrong!" said Don Pedro. "We will go into the +anteroom, where we shall be within call. Come, Manuela." + +Don Estevan kept his eyes fixed on the door till it closed behind them; +then he turned to Don Torribio, who was still standing in the centre of +the room. + +"Come nearer, señor, that you may be better able to hear what I have to +say to you." + +"I am listening to you, señor; but, at the same time, must beg you not +to delay your communication." + +"You shall have it. I warn you, that I tore the mask from one of the +bandits who attacked us, and recognised him." + +"I am at a loss to understand," said Don Torribio. + +"Oh! You do not understand, señor! It is the answer I expected. +I suppose, likewise, you do not know the name of the person who +accompanied me, and on whom the _vaqueros_ fell with such indescribable +fury?" + +"I am perfectly ignorant as to who he was," said Don Torribio, quite +unmoved. + +"Better and better! Learn, then, that it was Don Fernando Carril who +was killed." And he cast a look pregnant with irony at the man standing +beside him. + +"Don Fernando Carril!--killed!" exclaimed the latter, stupefied. + +Don Estevan smiled disdainfully. + +"Listen once more to this," he continued in threatening tones. "If Don +Fernando is not brought to this hacienda within twenty-four hours, I +will reveal to Don Pedro and his daughter the name of his assassin. I +think you understand me this time?" And, overcome with grief, he sank +half fainting on his couch. + +Don Torribio remained a moment, annihilated with the words he had +heard; but, immediately recovering his presence of mind, he quickly +left the hacienda, and galloped into the plains, muttering as he rode: + +"The Tigercat was right: there is nothing left for me but to seek the +Barranca del Fraile." + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE PRISONER. + + +We must now explain to our readers what happened after the fall of Don +Fernando Carril, when he was made the victim of an ambuscade. + +When his hand was no longer able to raise his sword, and he had fallen +by the side of his companion, the men in masks--who had been chary of +approaching too near him, out of respect for the blade he wielded so +well, as proved by the bodies of four bandits lying on the sand beside +him? rushed all at once upon him. + +Don Fernando Carril lay on his back showing no signs of life. A deadly, +pallor overspread his noble features; his half-opened lips disclosed +his clenched teeth; blood was flowing in torrents from the many wounds +he had received; and his hand still clasped the weapon with which he +had so long held his assailants at bay. + +"_¡Caspita!_" cried one, looking at him attentively; "Here is a young +gentleman who is seriously hurt. What will the master say?" + +"What would you have him say, Señor Carlocho?" said another; "He +defended himself like a lion. It is his own fault. He ought to have let +himself be taken nicely, and all this would not have happened. Look! we +have lost four men." + +"A pretty loss indeed, those four fellows there! I would rather he had +killed six than be in the state he is now." + +"The devil!" muttered the other bandit; "That is no compliment to us, +you know." + +"That will do; that will do. Help me to bind up his wounds as well as +we can, and lose no time about it. This is no wholesome place for us; +besides we are expected elsewhere; so be quick." + +Without further discussion, the bandits hastened to obey the orders +of Carlocho. Don Fernando's wounds were bound up somehow; he was +thrown across the horse of the _guacho_, who seemed to be leader of +the expedition, and the party set off at full gallop, without further +heed of those who had fallen in the struggle, and whose bodies were +abandoned to the beasts of prey. + +After a very rapid ride of two hours, they reached an abandoned +_rancho_. + +Two men were awaiting their arrival with impatience. + +These two men were Tigercat and Don Torribio. + +"Well!" shouted the former, as soon as he saw them. + +"It is done!" said Carlocho laconically, as he dismounted, took Don +Fernando in his arms, and carried him to a bed of leaves. + +The latter showed no signs of life. + +"Is he dead?" asked the Tigercat. + +Carlocho shook his head. + +"He is hardly better than dead," he replied. + +"Wretch!" cried the Indian chief in a fury; "Is it thus you execute my +orders? Did I not command you to take him alive?" + +"Hm!" said Carlocho; "I only wish you had been there to see! An +incarnate demon, who, armed only with a thin rapier, withstood us for +more than twenty minutes, and only gave in after killing four of our +bravest!" + +The Tigercat smiled disdainfully. + +"You are all cowards," he said. + +And turning his back on the _vaquero_, he went up to Don Fernando. + +Don Torribio was already at his side. + +"Is he dead?" he asked. + +"No," replied the Mexican; "but nearly so." + +"So much the worse," muttered the old chief, "I would give a good deal +for his recovery." + +Don Torribio looked at him with astonishment. + +"Of what importance is the life of this man to us?" he said. "Was he +not your enemy?" + +"The very reason why I do not wish him to die." + +"I do not understand you." + +"I have devoted my life to the accomplishment of an idea; therefore +I no longer belong to myself, and am bound to offer up my hate and +friendship to my idea." + +"I admit that, up to a certain point: but how is it, then, that you +have laid a trap for this man, who, according to your own account, is a +traitor." + +"Are men always to be harshly judged, even by those who are most +intimate with them?" said the old chief, with a bitter smile. "What is +it to me that the man may be a traitor? By putting him out of the way, +without touching his life, I should have gained the end I had before +me when I sought your alliance. After keeping him a prisoner for a +few days, to prevent his counteracting your plans, and hindering your +marriage with Doña Hermosa, I should have restored him to freedom. +Unluckily, it is too late now: what is done cannot be undone. The death +of this man, obscurely slain in ambuscade, will do more to frustrate +my plans than you imagine. His blood be upon your head! It is you who +ordered this murder." + +"I!" replied Don Torribio. "You are mad!" + +The Tigercat looked at his new ally with a stare of surprise, shrugged +his shoulders, and whistled a Mexican _seguidilla_. It was evident that +Don Torribio had not understood a word of what had been uttered by +this singular man, whose sole delight had hitherto been in slaughter. + +"Pooh!" said he; "What does one, more or less, signify?" + +The Indian chief stooped over the body of the wounded man, and examined +it carefully. The eyes were closed, and the features had the paleness +and rigidity of death. Two or three _vaqueros_, aided by Carlocho, +rubbed his temples and chest incessantly with rum. + +After looking at the body attentively, the old chief drew a knife +from his girdle, held the blade for two or three minutes across the +mouth, withdrew it again, and examined it. He thought it was slightly +tarnished; then he knelt down by Don Fernando, seized his left arm, +ripped up the sleeve, and, having felt for the vein, pricked it with +the delicate point of his knife. + +Then followed an instant of anxious suspense. The looks of all were +fixed on the wounded man. This attempt would be the last; if it did not +succeed, all was over: he knew of no other means to recall him to life. +The _vaqueros_ continued the friction. + +At the puncture made by the chief's knife, there appeared at last a +dark speck; little by little it increased in size, till it grew into a +black point, which finally became a bead of jet: this trembled for a +moment, and then fell rolling down the arm, pressed forward by another +which succeeded it, and immediately made room for a third; then the +blood grew less black and less thick, and finally gushed out in a long +vermillion stream. + +The Tigercat could not repress a shout of triumph; Don Fernando was +saved. In fact, after the lapse of a minute, the latter moved slightly +and uttered a deep sigh. + +The Indian chief rose, after binding up Don Fernando's arm and signed +to Pablito to follow him into another compartment of the _rancho_, +requesting Don Torribio to remain for a time where he was. + +Without waiting for the question which the _vaquero_ was about to ask, +and which he saw playing about his finely chiselled lips, the chief +began to speak with a feverish haste, betraying the secret agitation of +his mind. + +"You see what has happened," he said. + +"But you yourself willed it so!" said Pablito, utterly surprised. + +"Yes, I did will it; and I thank God for having spared me this odious +crime!" + +"If you are satisfied, all will go well." + +"But here is another matter. Remember this: Don Torribio must be kept +in the dark. To all the world, and to this man in particular, Don +Fernando is dead." + +"Speak on; I think I understand you." + +"Don Fernando's wounds, though many, are not severe. The loss of blood, +and the speed with which he was brought hither, are the sole causes of +the lethargy into which he has fallen, and out of which he will soon +awake." + +"Good; Now, what am I to do?" + +"He must not see me." + +"Very good; nothing can be easier." + +"Nor must he recognise you." + +"That will be more difficult; he knows me well." + +"It is most important." + +"I will try." + +"And now, this is what you have to do." + +"I am all attention." + +"I must leave this place immediately; my presence is required +elsewhere. As for you, you will have Don Fernando carried to the +_presidio_, without his learning who has taken him thither." + +"To the _presidio_?" exclaimed Pablito, astonished. + +"Yes; it is the safest place," said the chief, drawing forth a paper +cut to a certain shape; "you will take him to my house. He must not +leave it on any pretence: above all, he must not know he is at the +_presidio_." + +"Is that all?" + +"It is. Only, remember, you are answerable to me for him." + +"Very well. At your orders I will produce him, alive or dead." + +"Alive! His life is precious to me." + +"Then I will do my best." + +"And now, Pablito, be honest with me. Can I trust you?" + +"Well," said Pablito, "since you are so much concerned about such a +wretched affair, I will answer for your prisoner." + +"Then farewell, and thanks," said the Tigercat; "above all, remember +to report to me tonight, in Don Torribio's presence, that his enemy is +dead." + +"Rely upon me for that." + +"No, no," muttered the old chief to himself; "he must not die: his life +is too necessary for the accomplishment of my revenge." + +He rejoined Don Torribio, who had grown impatient. Without exchanging +a word, the two mounted the magnificent mustangs that were waiting for +them, and disappeared amongst the foliage. + +Pablito, twisting his moustache in ill humour, returned to the wounded +man; the office intrusted to him was evidently unpalatable. However, +as the _vaquero_ was an honest man enough, after his own fashion, and +prided himself, among the numerous other good qualities he fancied he +possessed, most especially on his adherence to his word, the thought of +breaking it never entered his mind. + +"How is he?" he asked Carlocho in a whisper. + +"A great deal better," replied the latter. "It is astonishing how much +good the bleeding has done him; he has already opened his eyes twice +and tried to speak." + +"Hm! Then we have no time to lose. Put a bandage round the eyes of this +fellow, and then, lest he should use his hands to remove it, tie them +down to his sides. But, as this is only to be done for prudence' sake, +I recommend you to use as much gentleness and delicacy as your nature +is capable of. Do you understand perfectly?" + +"Yes, _¡canarios!_ One need not be a wizard to do that!" + +"Well, make haste! I give you five minutes to obey my orders: in ten we +shall be gone." + +The wounded man had indeed recovered a good deal of his strength. As +the chief had declared, his wounds were not severe, and the loss of +blood alone had occasioned the prostration in which he was lying. + +Little by little he had recovered his senses sufficiently to know +into whose hands he had fallen; and although too feeble to offer the +slightest opposition whatever to the bandits at his side, his presence +of mind had returned in a degree to enable him to comprehend that the +greatest circumspection was necessary, to avoid arousing the suspicions +as to his state in people who would not for a moment hesitate to +sacrifice him to their safety. + +So, when Carlocho, according to the injunctions of Pablito, passed a +folded handkerchief over his eyes, and bound his hands, he feigned +entire insensibility, and allowed them to do as they pleased with him, +secretly rejoiced at these precautions, which indicated that his life +was safe for the present. + +"Now, what is to be done?" asked Carlocho. + +"Two or three of you take up the wounded man, and carry him carefully +to the boat I have in waiting close by. And pay particular attention to +him, you fellows; for, at the first jolt, I will blow your brains out." + +"_Caray!_" was all the _vaquero_ could utter, for surprise. + +"Ah!" said Pablito, with a shrug of his shoulders; "As you were fools +enough not to kill him when you might have done so, so much the worse +for you: now you shall mount guard over him. That shall teach you to +introduce courtesy, or, if you like it better, clumsiness, into an +ambuscade the next time." + +Carlocho opened his eyes wide at this rodomontade, which he could not +understand, but hastened to obey the order. + +Don Fernando was carried thus into a boat by Pablito, Carlocho, and a +third _vaquero;_ while the remainder went off by land, taking their +comrades' horses with them. Three hours later, the prisoner, to whom +his keepers had not spoken a word during the journey, was carried into +the _presidio_, and shut up in a house lately hired by the Tigercat in +a fictitious name--a circumstance of which Don Fernando knew nothing. + +The bandage was taken from his eyes, his hands were freed; but a man in +a mask, mute as a tomb, was placed in his chamber, and never left him. + +The wounded man, harassed by the journey, and weakened by the blood he +had lost, resolved, for the present, to trust to chance for relief from +his annoying and incomprehensible situation. He gave that apparently +listless but all-observant glance around him which is peculiar to +prisoners, and dropped off into a deep sleep, lasting many hours, and +restoring to his mind all its coolness and original clearness. + +The people who served him, though masked and dumb, took the greatest +care of him, and seemed to vie with each other in their endeavours to +comply with his wishes, and satisfy his most capricious whims. In +point of fact, his position was tolerable; at bottom, there was a spice +of originality about it; and Don Fernando, convinced, at the end of two +days' experience, that no attempt would be made on his life, but that, +on the contrary, every effort was made to heal his wounds as quickly +as possible, concluded to bear his lot bravely, in the expectation of +better times. + +The third day of his captivity, Don Fernando, whose wounds were only +sword cuts, and now nearly cicatrised, rose from his bed, partly to try +his strength, and partly to look out and discover where he was: it was +requisite to know the locality, in order to mature the scheme of escape +he was already secretly planning. + +The weather was magnificent; the hot sunlight shone cheerfully in at +the windows, tracing the bars on the floor of the chamber which served +as his prison. It made him feel quite refreshed, and he tried to walk +a few steps, still carefully watched by his inevitable guard, whose +flaming eyes were never off him. Suddenly a terrible clamour arose, and +a round of artillery shook the panes. + +"What is that?" asked Don Fernando. + +His keeper shrugged his shoulders, but did not reply. + +The sharp cracking of muskets was now mingled with the roar of the +guns; and it became evident that a hard fight was going on somewhere +in the neighbourhood. His keeper, imperturbable as ever, closed the +windows. + +Don Fernando went up to him. The two men stared at each other for a +moment. Many a time had the wounded man addressed a question to this +stolid sentry without eliciting an answer, and now he hesitated a +little before making a fresh attempt. + +"Friend," said he, at last, in a gentle voice, "what is going on out of +doors?" + +The man remained mute. + +"Answer me, in the name of Heaven!" continued the querist; "I ask but +little. Surely you would not overstep your instructions by telling me +thus much?" + +Just then the clamour seemed to draw nearer; hurried steps, mingled +with outcries, sounded close at hand. His keeper rose uneasily, drew +his machete (knife) from its sheath, pulled a pistol from his belt, and +went towards the door; but on a sudden it was violently opened, and a +man rushed into the room, his face blanched with terror. + +"Up! On your guard;" cried he; "we are lost!" + +His keeper made a sign for Don Fernando to keep back, and placed +himself resolutely in front of the door, where four men, masked and +armed to the teeth, had just made their appearance. + +"Back!" cried the keeper; "No one enters here without a watchword!" + +"Here you have it," answered one of the men at the door, as, with a +pistol, he blew out the keeper's brains. + +The four men stepped over his body, seized and bound his comrade, who +had crouched down in the farthest corner of the room, and advanced to +Don Fernando, who was wondering at the strange scene. + +"You are at liberty, caballero," said one of the four. "Come, you must +leave this house at once." + +"First of all, who are you?" replied Don Fernando; "Who are you, who +proclaim yourselves my liberators?" + +"We have no time for explanations," answered the man in the mask. "Make +haste and follow us." + +"Not before I know who you are." + +The other gave an impatient stamp, and, stooping down, whispered in his +ear: + +"Madman! Have you no wish to see Doña Hermosa again?" + +Don Fernando reddened with pleasure. + +"I follow you," said he. + +"Here," said the mask, "take these pistols and this sword; we have not +done our work yet. We may still have fighting before us." + +"Yes!" exclaimed Don Fernando joyfully; "I now see that you are really +sent to save me. I will follow wherever you may lead." And he seized +the weapons, and placed them in his girdle. + +They hastily left the house. + +"What!" cried Don Fernando, as he put his foot out of doors, "Am I at +the _presidio_ of San Lucar?" + +"Did you not know it?" asked his guide. + +"How was it possible? I was brought here with my eyes bandaged." + +In the court several horses, ready saddled, were tied to rings in the +wall. + +"Could you keep your saddle?" said the stranger. + +"I hope so," replied Don Fernando. + +"You must," said the stranger peremptorily. + +"Then I will, even if I die in it." + +"Good: let us mount and be gone." + +At the very moment they were issuing into the street, a troop of ten or +twelve mounted men were coming up at full gallop: they were not more +than twenty paces off. + +"Here are the enemy," said the stranger in deep and low tones; "we must +charge and ride over them, or die." + +The five men formed in line, and rushed like a thunderbolt upon the +newcomers, at whom they discharged their pistols point-blank, and then +cut their way with the sword. + +"_¡Caray!_" screamed Pablito, in a fury--for it was he who commanded +the troop--"My prisoner is escaping." + +Spurring his horse, he dashed at Don Fernando. But the latter, without +drawing bridle, fired a pistol; and the _vaquero's_ horse, struck by a +ball in the forehead, rolled to the ground, bearing his rider with him. + +Pablito rose, half killed by the fall. The men who had attacked him so +briskly had disappeared. + +"Never mind; I shall find them again," he cried. + +In the meantime, the fugitives had reached the bank of the river, and +found a boat waiting for them. + +"We must part here," said the stranger, taking off his mask. + +"Estevan!" cried Don Fernando. + +"Myself," replied the _mayor domo_. "This boat will take you to the +Hacienda del Cormillo. Go there without delay, and," he added, as he +placed in his hands a paper folded into four, "read this attentively; +perhaps you will have to come to the rescue in your turn." + +"Be assured on that score: I have my revenge to take." + +"Farewell, my friend." + +"Shall I see Doña Hermosa?" + +"I am forbidden to talk on the subject." + +"Another question, then. Do you know who kept me prisoner?" + +"Yes; there were two--the Tigercat and Don Torribio." + +"Indeed!" said Don Fernando, frowning. "I will not forget them. Once +more, thanks Estevan." + +He sat down in the boat, and gave a sign to the rowers. They were soon +in rapid motion, and speedily lost in the shadows of the darkening +night. + +Three persons remained on the bank anxiously watching the course of the +frail boat. These three persons were Estevan Diaz, Doña Hermosa, and Ña +Manuela. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +THE CAMP OF THE REDSKINS. + + +The extreme care of Don Pedro and his daughter soon restored Don +Estevan to perfect health. + +His first care was to reveal to the hacendero, in accordance with his +threat to Don Torribio, the name of the man who had originated the +dastardly attack on Don Fernando, and into whose hands he had fallen. + +After that communication, Don Torribio was a lost man in the estimation +of Don Pedro and his daughter. + +Having accomplished this piece of revenge, the _mayor domo_ undertook +the duty of discovering tidings of his friend. Chance favoured him by +throwing El Zapote in his way. The worthy and conscientious _vaquero_ +was just then in the best humour for giving all the information +required, in consequence of having that very morning, by a ruinous +run of ill luck which fastened upon him been utterly cleaned out at +_monte_, and left without an _ochavo_ (a farthing). By the help of +a few ounces of gold, the _mayor domo_ contrived to learn, in the +minutest detail, all that had passed, and the place where Don Fernando +was concealed. + +As soon as he had learned all he wanted, Don Estevan left the +_vaquero_, and hastened his return to the hacienda. + +Doña Hermosa was no ordinary woman. She was gifted with much energy, +and, moreover, loved Don Fernando. She resolved to set him free; but +held her tongue, in the fear of making Don Pedro uneasy. She merely +expressed a wish to spend a day or two at the hacienda of Las Norias; +to which Don Pedro consented, on condition of her taking with her a +strong escort of resolute and well-armed _peones_. + +Instead of going to the hacienda, the girl went to the _presidio_, into +which she managed to find her way unnoticed by the Indians. + +Once in the _presidio_, she revealed her project to Don Estevan. + +The _mayor domo_ was astounded at her coolness as she detailed the +plan she had conceived--a plan in which not only herself, but also Don +Estevan's mother, was to act a part. + +All his efforts to make her renounce her project were futile; willing +or unwilling, he was forced to obey. + +When they could no longer see the boat with Don Fernando, her foster +brother turned to Doña Hermosa. + +"Now, señorita, what are you going to do next?" + +She answered succinctly: + +"I am going to visit the camp of the Apaches and see Don Torribio." + +The _mayor domo_ shuddered. + +"Dishonour and death await you there," said he in a hoarse, low voice. + +"No," she replied firmly; "only revenge." + +"You wish for revenge?" + +"I demand it." + +"Very well," he replied; "I will obey you. Go and get ready; I myself +will escort you to the camp of the redskins." + +The three returned to Don Pedro's house without exchanging a syllable. + +Night had now fairly set in. The streets were deserted: a deathlike +silence pervaded the town, which for two days the Indians had been +sacking; and their diabolical figures could be perceived, as they +passed and repassed among the still flaming ruins. + +When they arrived at the house, Don Estevan stopped short in the court. + +"Ponder well what you are about to do, señorita," said he. "Why must +you avenge yourself? Have you not secured the safety of him you love?" + +"Yes; but he has barely escaped death. The first atrocious attempt has +failed; the second may succeed. Don Torribio has wounded me in my most +cherished affections. My resolve is taken; he shall feel a woman's +vengeance." + +"Can nothing change your resolve?" + +"Nothing," said she, coldly. + +"Then make your preparations, señorita; I will wait for you here." + +The two women entered the house together, while Don Estevan seated +himself on one of the steps of the porch. + +His watching was not long: in ten minutes they returned. + +Both were clothed in the Apache dress; the paint smeared upon their +faces completed the illusion, and secured them from recognition. The +transformation was so perfect, that Don Estevan could not repress his +admiration. + +"Nothing could be better," he exclaimed; "you are Indian women indeed." + +"Do you think," said Doña Hermosa bitterly, "that Don Torribio has the +sole right of deception and assuming any character at his pleasure?" + +"Who can strive against a woman?" said the _mayor domo_, with a shrug. +"And now, what are your orders?" + +"Very simple; your escort as far as the first Indian lines." + +"And after that?" + +"The rest of the affair is our work." + +"But are you really dreaming of remaining alone in the midst of these +pagans?" + +"It is no dream; it is my immovable resolve to stay there." + +"And you, mother?" said her son sadly; "Are you, too, determined to +throw yourself into the hands of the savages?" + +"Be comforted, my son," replied the dame; "I run no danger." + +"And yet--" + +"Estevan," said Doña Hermosa, interrupting him, "I will answer for your +mother's safety." + +The _mayor domo_ was thoroughly discouraged. + +"Then," said he, "I can only commend you to Heaven." + +"Let us go," said Doña Hermosa, wrapping the folds of her cloak around +her. + +Don Estevan led the way. + +The night was dark. Here and there the dying watch fires in the +_presidio_, round which the besieged were sleeping, threw a pale and +uncertain glimmer over the surrounding objects, without affording +sufficient light to guide them through the increasing obscurity. + +A mournful silence brooded over the town, interrupted at intervals +by the hoarse cries of the vultures, _urubus_, and prairie wolves, +quarrelling over the corpses of the slain, and dragging hither and +thither morsels of bleeding flesh. + +The three pushed resolutely forward amidst the ruins, stumbling over +fragments of fallen walls, striding over dead bodies, and disturbing +the horrid feast of the birds of prey, that flew off uttering screams +of anger. + +Thus they traversed the whole length of the town, and arrived at last, +with desperate difficulty, and after making many circuits, at one of +the barriers opposite the camp of the redskins, from which numberless +fires were glancing, and shouts and songs were heard. + +The sentries, after exchanging a few words with their guide, allowed +the three to pass, a few paces farther on, Don Estevan halted, and +stopped his companions. + +"Look, Doña Hermosa," said he in a whisper; "there is the camp of +the redskins before you. If I went farther with you, my escort would +prove fatal. I must stop here: only a few steps separate you from your +object." + +"Thanks!" said the girl, stretching out her hand. Don Estevan retained +it between his own. + +"Señorita, one word more." + +"Speak, dear friend." + +"I conjure you, in the name of all you hold dear in the world, to +renounce your project. Trust to my experience while it is yet time: +return to the Hacienda del Cormillo; you know not the danger to which +you expose yourself." + +"Estevan," replied the girl firmly, "whatever be the danger, I will +brave it: nothing can change my resolve. Farewell! I shall soon see you +again." + +"Farewell!" repeated the _mayor domo_. + +Doña Hermosa turned away in the direction of the Indian camp. Ña +Manuela hesitated a moment, and then threw herself into the arms of her +son. + +"Alas!" cried he, excited by the emotions terrible to witness in such a +man; "Stay with me, mother, I implore you!" + +"What!" said the noble woman, pointing to Doña Hermosa, "Shall I leave +her to sacrifice herself alone?" + +Don Estevan was unable to reply. + +Manuela embraced him once more, then tore herself with a violent +effort from the arms of her son, who vainly strove to restrain her, and +hurried to join Hermosa. + +The _mayor domo_ followed them with his eyes as long as he could +distinguish them in the obscurity; than, uttering a heart-felt sigh, he +retraced his steps, muttering as he went: + +"If I can only get there in time--if it has only not yet reached Don +José de Kalbris!" + +Just as Don Estevan arrived at the fort, the governor was leaving it, +in company with Don Torribio Quiroga. But the Mexican, absorbed in the +ideas which were harassing his brain, did not notice them, although +they passed so close to him that he might have touched them. + +This fatal accident was the cause of irreparable misfortune. + +Having left Don Estevan, the two women wandered about at a venture, +directing their steps towards the fires in front of them. + +On getting within a certain distance, they, stopped to recruit their +spirits, and to calm the throbbing of their hearts, which beat almost +to bursting. + +They were now within a few paces of the Indian _toldos_ (huts); the +rash and hazardous nature of their undertaking presented itself in all +its force, and the poor women felt their courage gradually oozing +away, in spite of the resolution which had animated them. Their hearts +turned to stone at the thought of the horrible drama in which they were +going to act the principal characters. + +Strange to say, it was Manuela who restored her companion to the +firmness which was abandoning her. + +"Señorita," she said to her, "it is now my turn to act as guide; if you +will only consent to follow my council, I hope to be able to avoid all +the danger with which we are threatened." + +"Speak, nurse; let me hear what you propose." + +"We must first drop these cloaks, which hide our dress, and betray that +we are whites." + +In saying this she threw off her mantle, and cast it away. Doña Hermosa +followed her example. + +"Now walk by my side; show no fear, whatever may happen; and, above +all, do not utter a single word, unless we are hopelessly lost." + +"I obey you," said Hermosa. + +"We are to be two Indian women," continued Manuela, "who have made a +vow to Wacondah for the recovery of their wounded father; and once +again, no words from your mouth." + +"Let us go on. May God protect us!" + +"Amen!" said Manuela, devoutly crossing herself. + +They continued their journey, and, five minutes afterwards, entered the +camp of the redskins. + +The Indians, intoxicated with the easy triumph they had gained over the +Mexicans, were giving vent to their joy. There were nothing but singing +and dancing everywhere. Some casks of _aguardiente_, discovered in the +old _presidio_ and in the pillaged _haciendas_, had been dragged into +camp, and staved. + +On this account, unexampled disorder and a nameless hubbub prevailed +among the Indians, whom drunkenness makes raving mad, and excites to +the most hideous excesses. + +The power of the _sachems_ was disowned: moreover, the greater number +of them were in the same state as the warriors; and there can be no +doubt that, if the inhabitants of San Lucar had been in sufficient +force to attempt a surprise, they might have made a frightful massacre +of the savages, brutalised as they were by strong liquors, and +incapable of defending themselves. + +Profiting by the disorder, the two women climbed over the ramparts of +the camp without being observed. Then, their hearts palpitating with +terror, and with shivering limbs, they glided like serpents between the +knots of Indians, passing unnoticed through the midst of the drinkers; +seeking at haphazard, and trusting to Providence or their good angel +to find among the scattered _toldos_ the hovel which served as a +habitation to the great paleface. + +They had already been some time roaming about in this manner, without +lighting on any unpleasant adventure. Emboldened by success, their +fears nearly dissipated, they were exchanging looks of encouragement, +when suddenly an Indian of athletic stature seized Doña Hermosa round +the waist, and, lifting her from the ground, gave her a boisterous kiss +on the neck. + +At this unexpected insult, she uttered a shriek of terror, and making +a superhuman effort, freed herself from his arms, pushing him from her +with all her strength. The savage staggered backwards, and, too drunk +to keep his legs, dropped to the ground, giving vent to a cry of rage; +but, springing up in an instant, he rushed like a jaguar on Hermosa. + +Ña Manuela threw herself hastily before her. + +"Back!" said she, resolutely placing her hand on the Indian's chest; +"This girl is my sister." + +"El Zopilote is a brave who never puts up with an insult," replied the +savage, frowning, and unsheathing his knife. + +"Will you kill her?" exclaimed Manuela in terror. + +"Yes, I will kill her, unless she consents to follow me to my _toldo_. +She shall be the wife of a chief." + +"You are mad," said Manuela. "Your _toldo_ is full, and there is no +room for another fire." + +"There is room for two," replied the Indian, grinning. "Since you are +her sister, you shall go with her." + +The noise collected a crowd of Indians round the two women, who were +thus the centre of a circle it would have been impossible to break +through. + +Manuela instantly comprehended the danger of their situation; she saw +they were all but lost. + +"Well," continued El Zopilote, seizing in his left hand Hermosa's hair, +and twisting it round his wrist, at the same time brandishing his scalp +knife, "will you and your sister follow me to my _toldo?_" + +The poor girl cowered down; half recumbent upon the ground, she awaited +the mortal blow. + +Manuela drew herself up to her full height; her eyes flashed fire; she +arrested the arm of El Zopilote, and addressed him thus: + +"Since thou wilt have it so, dog, let thy destiny be fulfilled! Behold, +the Wacondah allows not his servants to be insulted with impunity." + +Hitherto Manuela had contrived to keep herself in such a position that +her face was shaded as much as possible, and no one had remarked her +features; now she turned her head towards the full light of the fires. +On seeing the fantastic lines of paint, the Indians gave utterance to a +cry of surprise, and recoiled in terror. + +Manuela smiled at her triumph: she resolved to complete it. + +"The power of the Wacondah is boundless," she cried; "woe to him who +would oppose his schemes: he it is who sends me. Back, all!" + +Grasping the arm of Doña Hermosa, who had scarcely recovered from her +terrible emotion, she advanced to the edge of the circle. The Indians +hesitated. Manuela extended her arm in an attitude of supreme command; +the outwitted savages opened to right and left, and gave them passage. + +"I shall die," faintly whispered Doña Hermosa. + +"Courage!" replied Manuela, "We are saved." + +"_Wagh!_" said a jeering voice; "What is passing here?" + +And a man placed himself before the two women. + +"The _amantzin!_" muttered the Indians; and taking fresh courage, they +again crowded round their prisoners. + +Manuela shuddered, overcome with despair at seeing her hopes +annihilated; still the resolute woman determined to make one more +effort. + +"The Wacondah loves the Indians," she said; "it is he who sends me the +_amantzin_ of the Apache braves." + +"Indeed!" said the sorcerer, with a sneer; "And what does he want with +me?" + +"None but yourself may hear." + +"_Wagh!_" said the _amantzin_, placing his hand on her shoulder, and +looking at her attentively; "What proof can you give me of the mission +with which the all-powerful Spirit has charged you?" + +"Will you save me?" said Manuela, whispering rapidly in his ear. + +"That depends on her," answered the sorcerer, fixing his glittering +eyes on the girl. + +"See!" said Manuela, presenting to him the rich bracelets of gold and +pearls she took from her arms. + +"_Wagh!_" replied the sorcerer, hiding them in his bosom; "They are +beautiful! What does my mother require?" + +"First of all, to be freed from these men." + +"And afterwards?" + +"Deliver us first." + +"It shall be as you will." + +The Indians had remained motionless, impassive spectators of the scene. +They had heard nothing of this short conversation. The _amantzin_ +turned towards them, exhibiting a countenance distorted with fear. + +"Fly!" said he in terrible accents; "This woman brings misfortune! The +Wacondah is angry! Fly, all; fly!" + +The Indians, who had only been restored to confidence by the advent +of their sorcerer, seeing him a prey to a terror they could not +comprehend, first crowded together, and then dispersed, without asking +further questions. + +As soon as they had disappeared behind the _toldos_, the sorcerer +turned to the two women. + +"Am I able to protect you?" he asked. + +"Yes," replied Manuela; "and I thank my father, who is as powerful as +he is wise." + +A smile of gratified pride just formed itself on the lips of the +cautious Indian. + +"I am powerful to avenge myself on those who deceive me," said he. + +"Therefore I shall not attempt to deceive my father." + +"Whence comes my white daughter," he asked. + +"From the ark of the first man," replied Manuela, looking him steadily +in the face. + +The _amantzin_ blushed. + +"My daughter has the forked tongue of the _congouar_," he said. "Does +she take me for a lizard, that one can entrap like an old woman?" + +"Here is a necklace," she replied, offering a rich string of pearls to +the Indian; "the Wacondah gave it me for the wise man of the Apaches." + +"_Wagh!_" said the _amantzin;_ "My mother cannot lie; she is wise. +What more can I do for her?" And he slipped the necklace into the same +receptacle with the bracelets. + +"My father must lead me to the _toldo_ of the great white chief who +fights in the ranks of the Apache warriors." + +"My daughter would speak to the white chief?" + +"I would." + +"The white chief is a wise man; will he admit women?" + +"Let not that trouble my father; tonight I must speak with the white +chief." + +"Good; my mother shall speak to him. But this woman?" And he pointed to +Doña Hermosa. + +"That woman," answered Manuela, "is a friend of the Tigercat. She too +is charged with a mission to the _sachem._" + +The sorcerer shook his head. + +"The warriors must spin the vicuña wool," said he, "since women make +war, and sit at the council fire." + +"My father errs; the _sachem_ loves my sister." + +"No," replied the Indian. + +"Let us see if my father will refuse to lead me to the _toldo_ of +the great chief," said Manuela, impatient at the tergiversations of +the _amantzin_, and dreading the return of her persecutors. "Let him +beware, the great chief expects us." + +The sorcerer cast a piercing look at her, which Manuela bore without +casting down her eyes. + +"Good," said he; "my mother does not lie. Follow me." + +Grasping each of the women by a wrist, he placed himself between them, +and began to guide them through the labyrinthine confusion of the camp. + +The Indians they met on their road avoided them with unequivocal signs +of terror. + +The _amantzin_ was by no means displeased with what had happened: he +was radiant with joy; for, besides the profit derived from meeting the +women, the incident which occurred in consequence had tended to confirm +his power in the eyes of the credulous and superstitious Indians, who +believed him to be really inspired by the Wacondah. + +A quarter of an hour's difficult walking brought them to the _toldo_, +in front of which the totem (standard) of the assembled tribes was +planted, surrounded by lances fringed with scarlet, and guarded by four +warriors. + +"This is the place," said the sorcerer to Manuela. + +"Good; let my father give orders that we enter alone." + +"Am I to leave you?" + +"Yes; my father can wait for us outside," + +"I will wait," briefly replied he, casting a suspicious look on them. + +At a sign from the _amantzin_, the sentries placed before the _toldo_ +made way for the women. They entered with trepidation: the dwelling was +unoccupied. + +They were unable to repress a sigh of satisfaction. The absence of Don +Torribio gave them time to prepare for the interview Doña Hermosa so +greatly desired. + +The _amantzin_ remained standing at the entrance to the _toldo_. +This man, lately raised to the dignity through the influence of the +Tigercat, was his tool, and acted as his spy. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +THE RENEGADE. + + +Don Torribio Quiroga and Don José Kalbris urged on their horses, in +order to get beyond the defences of the _presidio_ as soon as possible. + +The governor was rejoicing at the reinforcement the general commanding +in the province had sent him. He knew it would be an easy task to +compel the Indians to raise the siege of the _presidio_ when once the +troops marching up had joined him. Indeed, he counted upon profiting +by the opportunity to give the Apaches--those untiring ravagers of the +Mexican frontiers--such a rude lesson, that it would be long before +they again attempted an inroad into the territory of the Confederation. + +They now arrived at one of the barriers, guarded by a strong detachment +of _vaqueros_ and townspeople. + +"We must pass through here," said Don Torribio to the governor. "The +night is dark, bands of these Indian vagabonds are prowling about all +over the country, and we shall most probably have to ride a league or +two before we meet our men. I think it will be scarcely prudent for us +to venture forth without an escort." + +"A very just remark," said Don José. + +"You must recollect that you are the governor of the _presidio,_" +continued Don Torribio, with a strange smile. "The consequences would +be very serious for the town if the Indians were to attack us, and take +us prisoners. I do not mention this on my own account, but on yours: I +should be a prize of little value to the savages; but with you it is a +very different matter. I beg you to consider this carefully, before we +go any farther." + +"By heaven! You are quite right colonel; it would be an unpardonable +imprudence. So I think the best thing we can do is to take an escort." + +"I think it would be advantageous," said Don Torribio. "How many men +will you take?" + +"Oh, a dozen, at the most." + +"No; take a score. We cannot tell whom we may fall in with on our road +at this time of night. Suppose we were to be set upon by a couple of +hundred Indians! We ought to be able to show them a front." + +"Let it be a score, then, if you like," answered Don José, with perfect +indifference; "and be good enough to choose them yourself." + +"Make your mind easy," said Torribio. + +With that he rode up to the guard, who had turned out on the governor's +arrival, and picked out twenty horseman, whom he ordered to form behind +them. + +"Now," said he to the governor, "we are ready to march." + +"Then let us go," said the latter, giving his horse his head. + +The escort put itself in motion, and followed Don José Kalbris and +Colonel Torribio Quiroga at about twenty paces' interval. + +All went well for nearly an hour, when the governor began to grow +restless, in spite of Don Torribio's lively conversation. The latter +kept up a constant fire of jokes and sparkling repartees, laying +himself out to amuse Don José, and had never before proved so agreeable +a companion. + +"Excuse me, colonel," said the governor, coming to a halt; "but is it +not extraordinary that we see no signs of the troops we are going to +meet?" + +"Not at all, señor; perhaps the officer in command is waiting for +my return, before he leads his men into roads with which he is +unacquainted." + +"It is just possible," said the governor, after a minute's reflection. + +"I think it highly probable," said Don Torribio; "and, in that case, we +have nearly another league before we can meet him." + +"Then we had better push on." + +They resumed their march, but without renewing their conversation. Both +of them seemed absorbed in meditation. At times Don Torribio raised his +head, and looked carefully about him. All of a sudden they heard the +distant neigh of a horse. + +"What is that?" said Don Torribio. + +"Most likely the troops we are looking for," replied the governor. + +"Perhaps," answered the other; "but we had better be cautious." + +Requesting the governor to stop where he was, he set spurs to his +horse, and riding forward was soon lost in the darkness. Having ridden +a short distance, he dismounted, applied his ear to the ground, and +listened. + +"_¡Demonios!_" he exclaimed, hastily rising and throwing himself into +the saddle; "They are pursuing us! Can that vagabond, Don Estevan, have +recognised me? There is not a moment to lose!" + +"Well, what is it?" asked the governor, as Don Torribio rode back to +him. + +"Nothing," said Don Torribio shortly; "nothing of interest to you." + +"Then--" + +"Then," retorted the other, laying his hand on the governor's left arm, +"Don José Kalbris, surrender; you are my prisoner." + +"What do you say?" replied the astounded veteran. "Are you mad, Don +Torribio?" + +"Call me no longer Don Torribio: I am a nameless, homeless wretch, whom +the thirst for vengeance has driven amongst the Apaches." + +"Treason!" exclaimed the governor. "To the rescue, men! Defend your +colonel!" + +"These men will not help you, Don José; they are in my pay. Surrender, +I say!" + +"I will not surrender," said the governor resolutely. "Don Torribio, or +whatever else you may call yourself, you are a coward!" + +He gave his horse the spur, shook off Don Torribio's hold, and drew his +sword. At the same time, the rapid approach of horsemen was heard in +the distance. + +"Aha!" said the governor, cocking a pistol; "Here comes aid!" + +"Yes," replied Don Torribio; "but it comes too late." + +And he ordered the _vaqueros_ to surround Don José, and attack him. A +couple of shots from the governor's pistol laid two of them in the +dust; and a terrible combat began. + +Don José, knowing all hope of safety to be gone, determined to sell his +life dearly, and did wonders. An accomplished horseman, he parried the +blows aimed at him, and struck fiercely into the men crowding upon him +with savage vociferations. In the meantime, the thundering gallop of +the approaching horsemen grew louder. Don Torribio saw it was time to +make a finish, and shot the governor's horse through the head. + +Don José came violently to the ground, but was up again in a moment, +and aimed a blow at the renegade, which the latter avoided by a +dexterous movement. Then the gallant old soldier put the muzzle of his +pistol to his own forehead. + +"A man like me," said he, "never surrenders to dogs like you; here, +curs, quarrel over my body!" + +With these words he blew his brains out. + +Just then several shots were fired, and a troop of horsemen fell, like +a whirlwind, upon the _vaqueros_. Don Estevan and Major Barnum led the +assailants. + +The conflict did not last long. Don Torribio gave a loud whistle, +and the _vaqueros_ went to the right-about, and, scattering in all +directions, were soon lost sight of. + +Seven or eight remained dead on the field. + +"What is to be done?" said Major Barnum. + +"Nothing!" replied Don Estevan sorrowfully; "We are too late. Don José +has killed himself rather than submit to be carried off by these dogs." + +"He was a noble soldier!" said the major; "But how can we get at the +rascals again?" + +"We will let them alone, major: they are in camp by this time. Trust +me, we shall soon learn to read this riddle." + +The _mayor domo_ dismounted, and cut with his _machete_ a branch of the +resinous pinewood, which grows so abundantly through all the country. +He struck a light, and in a minute or two a torch was ready. + +By its ruddy and flickering flame, he and the major began to examine +the bodies on the ground. They soon found the governor, lying on his +back, with his head horribly crushed. His hand still retained the fatal +weapon; and his features wore an expression of haughty disdain and +indomitable courage. + +"Look at him!" said Don Estevan. + +The major could not repress the tear that rolled silently down his +swarthy cheek. + +"Yes," he said; "he has died like a soldier, with his face to the foe. +But, alas! he has fallen a victim to treachery--killed by a white man. +My poor old friend! Was this to be your end?" + +"It was God's will," answered Don Estevan. + +"It was," said the major: "may we do our duty as he has done his!" + +Reverently they lifted the body, put it upon a horse, and marched back +in sadness to the _presidio_. + +In the meanwhile, Don Torribio was greatly disconcerted. His plans +had failed. He had not wished the governor to lose his life, for his +death would be no benefit, but, on the contrary, prejudicial, by +inspiring the Mexicans with the desire for revenge, and strengthening +their determination to resist to the last, and bury themselves under +the ruins of the _presidio_, rather than surrender to such ferocious +enemies. His intention had been to seize Don José, keep him prisoner, +and to make his own terms with the Mexicans. + +But the old soldier's energetic resistance, and resolve to blow out his +own brains rather than surrender, had upset these plans. So he returned +to the camp, cast down and discontented, while his companions looked +upon the cause of his dejection as a triumphant success. + +Manuela and Doña Hermosa had profited by his absence to throw off their +disguise, and resume their usual dress. + +As soon as Don Torribio reached his _toldo_, the sorcerer, who had +never quitted it since he had led the two women to the spot, came +forward to meet him. + +"What do you want?" said Don Torribio. + +"Let my father look with a favourable eye upon me," replied the +_amantzin;_ "two women have entered the camp tonight." + +"And what is that to me?" said the chief impatiently. + +"These females, although dressed like Indians, are white," answered the +sorcerer, laying stress on the last two words. + +"What then? They are most likely wives of some of the _vaqueros_." + +"Not so," said the sorcerer; "their hands are too white, and their feet +too small." + +"Indeed!" replied the other, in whom the tale began to excite some +interest; "Who has taken them prisoner?" + +"No one; they are here alone, of their own accord." + +"Alone?" + +"They said they had important revelations to make to my father." + +"They did?" said the chief, scanning the man narrowly; "And how does my +father know that?" + +"Because I rescued them, and brought them to my father's _toldo_." + +"Then they are in here?" + +"This hour or more." + +Don Torribio drew from his pocket a few ounces, and handed them to the +sorcerer. "I thank my brother," said he; "he has done well." + +The _amantzin_ grinned, and pocketed the bribe. + +Don Torribio rushed to the _toldo_, and raised the curtain. A cry of +joy and astonishment escaped him when he recognised Doña Hermosa. + +The latter smiled; while he bowed gracefully, asking himself the while +what the meaning of this could be. + +Doña Hermosa could not resist admiring the man. His rich uniform became +him; it exhibited all his handsome proportions, and increased his +attractions. + +"What rank shall I give you?" she said, beckoning to him to sit down by +her side. + +"Give me any name you like best, señorita. If you speak to the +Spaniard, call me Don Torribio; if you address yourself to the Indian, +the name by which I am known among the Apaches is 'the Accursed.'" + +"Why have they given you this dreadful name?" said she. + +There was no answer to her question: and the two gazed at each other in +silence. + +Doña Hermosa was thinking of the manner in which she should tell him +the object of her visit; he was pondering over the reasons which could +have brought her there. He was the first to speak. + +"Have you really come here inquest of me señorita?" + +"Of whom else?" she replied. + +"Excuse my frankness," said he; "but this seems to me so extraordinary, +that although I see and hear you, I cannot believe in such great good +fortune. I feel as if I were in a dream, and dread the awakening." + +This piece of flattery was pronounced in the tone which Don Torribio +Quiroga would have employed had he been at Don Pedro's hacienda; a tone +adding to the strangeness of the scene, it was so little in accord with +the circumstances and the place where it was uttered. + +"Good sir," replied Doña Hermosa, in the same easy tone he had used +towards her, "I will relieve your trouble, and hasten to dispel the +witchery to which you would attribute my presence in your _toldo._" + +"You will still remain an enchantress in my eyes," said he, smiling. + +"You flatter me. If there is any enchantment at all in the matter, poor +Estevan is the wizard He knew my fixed determination to see you, and +told me where I should find you. So, if you are determined to raise +somebody to the rank of sorcerer, let Estevan be the victim." + +"I will not forget him when the opportunity occurs," said Don Torribio, +his face darkly clouding over. "But let us not wander from our own two +selves. I have the happiness to see you here: will it offend you if I +ask why you come?" + +"The reason is quite simple," replied Doña Hermosa, eyeing him +steadfastly. "A girl of my age, and particularly of my rank"--and she +laid great emphasis on the latter word--"does not take a step so--let +us say, so singular, without a strong motive." + +"I am sure of it." + +"What motive could be strong enough to induce a woman to lay aside the +instinctive modesty of her sex, and risk her good name? I know but one. +When her heart is in question, when her love is involved? Am I speaking +clearly, Don Torribio? Do you begin to understand me." + +"I begin to comprehend, señorita." + +"The last time we met, my father received you coldly,--you, my +betrothed. Mad with jealousy, furious with him and myself, believing +our marriage broken off, you rushed from us, and left the hacienda with +rage and hatred boiling in your breast." + +"Cousin, I swear to you?" + +"I am a woman, Don Torribio; and we women possess an instinct which +never deceives us. Can you think for a moment that I, on the verge of +marriage with you, did not know the love you felt for me?" + +Don Torribio gazed at her with an indefinable expression. + +"A few days later," she continued, "Don Fernando Carril fell into an +ambush, and was left for dead on the spot. Why did you do this, Don +Torribio?" + +"I will not attempt to deny, señorita, that I wished to avenge myself +on one I considered a rival; but I swear I gave no orders to kill him." + +"I know it!" she replied; "You need not attempt to exculpate yourself." + +Don Torribio looked at her without understanding her words. + +"The man whom you imagined to be your rival was no favoured suitor," +she continued, with a sweet smile. "You had scarcely left the hacienda, +before I confessed to my father that you were my only love, and that I +would never consent to marry another." + +"Is it possible?" cried Don Torribio, rising in his excitement. "Oh! +Had I but known it!" + +"Calm yourself; the evil you have done is partly repaired. Don +Fernando, rescued by my orders from the clutches of Pablito, is now at +Las Norias, whence he will shortly depart for Mexico. My father, who +can never refuse me anything, has given me permission to choose him I +love most." + +As she said this, she darted at Don Torribio a look full of unutterable +affection. + +He was thunderstruck. A crowd of opposing feelings jostled in his +breast: he did not dare to put full credence in the girl's words; a +cruel doubt would insinuate itself. Was she mocking him? + +"Is it indeed true," he said, "that you could still love me?" + +"Is not my presence here an answer? Why should I have come? What should +induce me?" + +"It is true!" said he, falling on his knees before her. "Forgive me, +señorita; I am mad, and know not what I say. It is too much happiness." + +A smile of triumph lighted up her face. + +"If I did not love you," she said, "could I not have chosen Don +Fernando, who is now at the hacienda?" + +"Yes, yes; you are a thousand times right! O woman! Adorable woman! Who +is able to fathom thy heart?" + +Doña Hermosa smiled bitterly: she had brought the lion captive to her +feet; she had vanquished man in his pride. Now she was sure of her +revenge. + +"What answer shall I give my father?" she said. + +He drew himself up to his full height; his eyes flashed, his features +grew radiant, and he answered in a low tone: + +"Señorita, my happiness is immeasurable. Say to your father, that the +devotion of a whole life cannot repay the bliss of this interview. As +soon as the _presidio_ of San Lucar is taken, I shall present myself at +the hacienda of Don Pedro de Luna." + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +WOMAN'S WILL. + + +Every extreme situation, as soon as it reaches its culminating point, +must necessarily subside into a reaction of an opposite tendency. This +was exactly what happened after the scene we described in the last +chapter. + +Don Torribio, beside himself with joy, could not accept Doña Hermosa's +protestations of love without a certain degree of mistrust. Yet the +improbability of her having taken this decided step from other motives +than the one she professed, had materially aided her in the successful +attempt to hoodwink her admirer. + +Intelligence of a high class is often accompanied by a weakness +detrimental to its possessors: they cannot bring themselves to believe, +that those who fawn upon them and flatter their propensities are +sufficiently acute to deceive them. And so it happened in this case. +How could he fail to believe a girl, still almost a child, whose manner +seemed so guileless, whose looks were fraught with love, and who avowed +her affection so frankly? + +What could she gain by deceiving him, now Don Fernando was alive? What +object could she have in coming thus to put herself into his hands, +without the possibility of escaping from him? + +All this appeared absurd: and was so, in fact, up to a certain point. + +It only proved that Don Torribio, preeminently a statesman, endowed +with admirable talent, and whose sole aim through life had been the +accomplishment of his dreams of ambition, was so entirely absorbed in +farfetched political calculations, that he had no time to study that +amalgam of archness, grace, and perfidy we call woman, and knew nothing +about her nature. + +A woman South American woman especially--never forgives an injury to +her lover; he is the holy ark which none may touch. + +Moreover, we must say, Doña Hermosa was the first, the only love of Don +Torribio. His love was to him a creed, a faith; and all doubt vanished +from before his eyes at the proof she had just given of her affection. + +"And now," she said to him, "can I remain in the camp till my father +comes, without risking insult?" + +"You have but to command!" he replied: "All here are your slaves." + +"The woman, under whose protection I was able to reach you will go back +to the _hacienda_ of Las Norias." + +Don Torribio strode to the curtain of the _toldo,_ and clapped his +hands twice. + +An Indian warrior appeared. + +"Let a _toldo_ be prepared for me; I cede this to the two paleface +women," he said, in the Apache language; "a body of chosen braves, whom +my brother will command, will watch incessantly over their safety. Woe +to him who fails in the profoundest respect! These women are sacred; +free to come and go, and to receive whomsoever they choose. Does my +brother understand?" + +The warrior bowed his head without reply. + +"Let my brother have two horses ready." + +The Indian disappeared. + +"You see, señorita," he continued, turning towards her, "you are queen +here." + +"I thank you!" said Doña Hermosa, drawing from her bosom an open +letter she had prepared for the occasion; "I felt sure of the result +of my interview with you: you see, I have announced it to my father, +even before I met you. Take this, Don Torribio, and read what I have +written." + +She held it out to him with a charming smile, but an inward misgiving. + +"Señorita," he replied, motioning the letter away, "what a daughter +writes to her father should be sacred; no one but himself should read +it." + +Doña Hermosa folded up the letter, without evincing the least emotion +at the terrible risk she had just run, and gave it to Manuela. + +"Mother," she said, "you will give this letter to my father, and +explain to him what I have not been able to write." + +"Allow me to retire," exclaimed Don Torribio; "I must not listen to the +instructions you are about to give to your attendant." + +"I object," she replied; "I must have no secrets from you; henceforth +you must know all my inmost thoughts." + +Don Torribio glowed with delight. Just then they brought the horses. +Doña Hermosa profited by the opportunity afforded by his speaking to +the Apache to say rapidly to Manuela: "Your son must be here in an +hour, if that be possible." + +Manuela made a sign of acquiescence, and Don Torribio reentered the +_toldo_. + +"I myself will accompany Ña Manuela as far as the defences of the +_presidio_; this will insure her from incurring any danger." + +"Thanks, once more," replied Doña Hermosa. + +The two women threw themselves into each other's arms, and embraced as +if they were never to meet again. + +"Do not forget!" whispered Doña Hermosa. + +"Trust in me," replied Manuela. + +"This is now your home," said Don Torribio "no one will dare to enter +without your permission." + +Doña Hermosa smiled her thanks, and accompanied them to the entrance of +the _toldo_; Manuela and her escort mounted and departed. + +The young Mexican followed them with her eyes till the sound of their +horses' feet was lost amid the other noises in the camp, when she +returned to the _toldo_, murmuring: "The first steps are taken: now to +discover his intentions!" + +A quarter of an hour later, Manuela and her guide arrived within a +hundred yards of the _pueblo_. They had not exchanged a word. + +"You have now no further need of me," said Don Torribio. "Keep the +horse; he may be useful to you. May God preserve you!" + +Without another word, he turned his horse, and rode back to the camp, +leaving Manuela alone. + +The latter looked about her to discover whereabouts she was, and then +rode resolutely towards the town, which was looming in a dark mass +before her. She had only gone a few paces, when a rude hand seized her +reins, a pistol was presented at her head, and a rough voice exclaimed, +in Spanish: + +"Who goes there?" + +"Friend," she replied, attempting to conceal her trepidation. + +"Mother!" cried a joyful voice. + +"Estevan, my darling child," she exclaimed, throwing herself on his +breast, to which she was clasped in the most affectionate embrace. + +"How did you come here, and whence?" he asked, after a time. + +"From the camp of the redskins." + +"Already!" said he, in astonishment. + +"Yes; my mistress sends me to you." + +"And who was the man with you, mother?" + +"Don Torribio himself." + +"Malediction!" exclaimed the _mayor domo_; "I have let him escape, when +I had covered him for five minutes with my rifle. But we will not stay +here. Come with me. As soon as I have placed you in safety, you shall +relate what your mistress has charged you to communicate to me." + +When they got into the _presidio_, Don Estevan made his mother recount +the incidents of their expedition. + +"Ah!" said he more than once; "Women are imps of cunning; men are but +fools beside them!" + +When Manuela had quite finished her tale, he said: "Mother, there is +not a moment to lose: Don Pedro must get the letter this very night. +The poor father must be in a state of dreadful anxiety." + +"I am going to him myself," said Manuela. + +"No!" he replied "you have need of rest. I have a man here who will +acquit himself well of this commission." + +"As you please, Estevan," said she, giving him the letter. + +"Yes, I think this will be the best way. Come into this house; the good +woman to whom it belongs knows me, and will take every care of you." + +"Are you going to Doña Hermosa?" + +"By Heavens! Do you think I intend to leave the poor girl there, in the +midst of those infidels? Besides, what she has got to say to me may +concern us all narrowly." + +"Devoted as ever, Estevan! How like you that is?" + +"What can I do, mother?" he replied, with a laugh. "Devotion seems to +be my vocation." + +He led his mother into the house, where he confided her to its +mistress, and then went in search of his emissary to Don Pedro de Luna. + +Round a bright fire burning in the centre of the street several men +were lying, wrapped in their cloaks. Don Estevan roughly shook one of +the sleepers. + +"Wake, Tonillo!" he said; "Get up, _muchacho:_ you must be off for the +Hacienda de las Norias." + +"But I only came thence a quarter of an hour ago!" replied the +_lepero_, rubbing his eyes, and still half asleep. + +"I know it; and that is the reason why I send you; you ought to know +the road well. Besides, it is for Doña Hermosa's sake." + +"For Doña Hermosa's sake!" cried the _lepero_, whom the sound of the +name seemed to awaken thoroughly; "What are her orders?" + +"Now you are as you should be," said the _mayor domo._ "Mount directly, +and carry this letter to Don Pedro: to say it is from his daughter, is +to tell you it is of importance." + +"Very well; I will go this minute." + +"I have no need to tell you that no one must take this paper from you." + +"I can see that, _canarios_." + +"You will let yourself be killed sooner than give it up?" + +"Yes, yes; make yourself easy, _mayor domo_." + +"And even after death they must not find it." + +"I will sooner eat it; _Rayo de Dios!_" El Zapote was galloping +towards the hacienda a quarter of an hour later. + +"It is my turn now," said the _mayor domo_ to himself, as soon as he +was alone; "but how am I to get to Doña Hermosa?" + +It seemed as if a little consideration had enlightened him as to the +means, for he banished the frown from his forehead, and gaily took the +road to the fort. + +After a conference with Major Barnum, who, since the death of the +governor, had assumed the command of the town, Estevan disguised +himself as an Indian, and went to the camp of the redskins. Shortly +before sunrise he was in the town again. + +"Well!" said his mother. + +"All is for the best," he replied. "_¡Vive Dios!_ I think Doña Hermosa +will make that incarnate demon pay dearly for kidnapping Don Fernando." + +"Am I to rejoin her?" + +"No; it is not necessary." + +Without entering into any details, Don Estevan who was sinking from +fatigue, retired to snatch a few hours' repose. + +Several days passed without the Indians attacking the _pueblo_. They +contented themselves with investing it more closely, without attempting +an assault. Their plan seemed to be to starve out the inhabitants, and +force them to surrender from famine. + +The blockade was kept so strictly, that it was impossible for the +besieged to stir beyond their lines: all their communications were cut +off, and provisions began to fail. The cattle which had been collected +at the commencement of the siege had all been killed, and the Mexicans +were now driven to the necessity of consuming the hides. + +The plan would doubtless have succeeded; and the Mexicans, reduced to +the last extremity, would soon have been obliged to surrender without +striking a blow; but a project of Don Estevan's, communicated to Major +Barnum, and executed without delay, suddenly defeated the Tigercat's +plans, and obliged him to make the assault, in order to hinder the +revolt of the tribes who followed him. The Mexicans, whom the pangs of +famine were driving to despair, were eagerly longing for the assault. + +Don Estevan ordered a hundred and fifty loaves to be made of wheat +saturated with arsenic. These were packed on a few mules, still left +in the fort, in company with twenty-four kegs of brandy mixed with +vitriol. With ten trusty fellows, he escorted this formidable freight +to within a short distance of the redskin intrenchments. + +Everything happened as he had foreseen. The Indians, who are +extravagantly fond of brandy, were allured by the sight of the kegs, +and rushed upon the convoy in the hopes of capturing it. + +Don Estevan lost no time. Casting loaves and kegs upon the sand, and +retreating at full speed, he brought off his men and mules in the +_pueblo_. + +The Indians, dragging their booty into their camp, knocked in the heads +of the barrels, and an orgy commenced which lasted till bread and +brandy had disappeared. + +More than a thousand Indians perished through this ingenious device of +the _mayor domo's_[1] the others, smitten with terror, began to disband +in all directions. + +The exasperated savages, in their first moments of excitement, and +in spite of the efforts of their leader, ruthlessly massacred under +horrible tortures all the men, women, and children who had fallen into +their power at the commencement of the war, and had been kept prisoners +in the camp up to the time. + +Doña Hermosa herself, notwithstanding the respect with which she had +been treated, and the extreme care she took never to leave the _toldo_, +was in great danger of falling a victim to the fury of the Indians. +Chance alone saved her. + +The great chief resolved to finish the war at once. He despatched El +Zopilote to order all the _sachems_ to assemble in his _toldo_. As soon +as they arrived, he announced to them that at the _endic'ha_ (daybreak) +on the morrow the _presidio_ would be attacked on all sides at once. + +Don Torribio, in his quality of chief, was present at the council. As +soon as it was over he hastened to Doña Hermosa's _toldo_, and demanded +an interview. + +Since her arrival in the camp, although the Tigercat was perfectly +aware of all that was going on between her and Don Torribio, he had +purposely avoided meeting her, contenting himself with congratulating +the latter on the affection the girl manifested for him. Nevertheless, +an acute observer might have easily perceived that the Tigercat +harboured some sinister purpose in his mind. Don Torribio, on the +contrary, was too much blinded by his passion to attempt to read the +countenance of the old bandit. + +The intensity of his love, and the zest with which he gave himself +up to it, diverted his thoughts from the shame and remorse which +stung him when he thought of the infamy attached to his name by his +treacherous desertion of his own people to become a member of the +ferocious and sanguinary tribes of the Apaches. + +Doña Hermosa, on hearing that Don Torribio wished to see her, gave +orders for his instant admittance. She was talking at the time with her +father. Don Pedro de Luna had hastened to join his daughter the instant +he received her letter, and had already been some days in the camp. + +The interior of the _toldo_ was greatly changed. Don Torribio had +ordered it to be embellished with divers pieces of elegant furniture, +stolen by the Indians from different haciendas. Partitions had been +constructed, closets contrived, so that the metamorphosis was complete; +and, although the exterior remained as it had been before, the inside, +in consequence of the alterations, assumed the appearance of a European +residence. + +Manuela, Doña Hermosa's nurse, had also returned with Don Pedro--a +circumstance extremely agreeable to the girl; first, on account of the +great confidence she reposed in her; and again, because Manuela was +indispensable for all those little services and attentions to which +women of rank are accustomed. Besides, the presence of the nurse, who +never left Doña Hermosa's side in her interviews with Don Torribio, +prevented any exuberant outbreak of passion on his part, and confined +him to the limits of a respectful decorum. + +Whatever astonishment the redskins might have felt at the alterations +in the _toldo_ undertaken by Don Torribio, the veneration and devotion +they professed for the Tigercat were so great, that, with the delicacy +which seems innate in their race, they pretended to see none of them, +especially as the latter had taken no offence at the conduct of the +paleface chief. Moreover, as, under all circumstances, the latter +rendered them energetic cooperation, being always the foremost in +battle and the last to retreat, they thought it right to leave him +to arrange his own affairs as he judged best, without any attempt to +oppose him. + +"Well," said Doña Hermosa, when he entered, "has the Tigercat succeeded +in subduing the exasperation of the tribes?" + +"Thank Heaven! He has, señorita; but the atrocious crime committed by +Major Barnum is unworthy of a man, and more the deed of a savage brute +than of a civilized being." + +"Perhaps the major is not the author of the crime." + +"The whites are accustomed to treat the Indians thus. Have I not heard +them assert a thousand times that the redskins are not human beings? +All weapons that kill them are lawful, and poison is one of the surest. +This crime alone is sufficient to justify me in having quitted the +ranks of the monsters." + +"Speak no more on this subject, I beseech you; you make me shudder. +I am obliged to confess that reason is on your side. When we witness +such horrors, we begin to regret that we belong to a race capable of +inventing them." + +"What is the decision of the council?" asked Don Pedro, in order to +turn the conversation. + +"Tomorrow, at daybreak, a general assault will be delivered on the +_presidio_." + +"Tomorrow!" exclaimed Doña Hermosa, in a fright. + +"Yes," he replied; "tomorrow I hope to revenge myself on those who were +my brothers, and have forced me to repudiate them. Tomorrow I shall +conquer or die." + +"God protect the good cause!" said she ambiguously. + +"Thanks, cousin," replied Don Torribio, mistaking the meaning of her +exclamation. + +Don Pedro with difficulty repressed a sigh. + +"The action tomorrow will be severe," Don Torribio continued. "I +conjure you, señorita, not to leave the _toldo_. Should we meet with a +reverse, no one can tell to what extremes the rage of the Apaches may +carry them. I will leave twenty resolute men, _vaqueros_ on whom I can +rely, to defend you. As soon as the affair is over, I will send you +word." + +"Are you going already, Don Torribio?" said she, as she saw him move +for the purpose. + +"I must, señorita; I am one of the chiefs of the Indian army. In that +quality, I have duties to fulfil, and must make preparations for the +morrow. I entreat you to let me go." + +"Farewell, then, if it must be so." + +Bowing respectfully to her and her father, Don Torribio retired. + +"All is lost," said Don Pedro; "the Mexicans will never be able to +withstand the assault." + +Doña Hermosa looked at him with a strange expression, and then +whispered in his ear: + +"Father, have you read your Bible?" + +"Why do you ask, little madcap?" + +"Because," said she, with a coaxing smile, "you seem to have forgotten +the story of Delilah." + +"What!" he exclaimed, more astonished than ever; "Do you intend to cut +off his hair?" + +"_¿Quién sabe?_" she answered, shaking her head knowingly, and with a +delicious assumption of bravado; while at the same time she put one of +her fingers on her rosy lips. + +Don Pedro gave the shrug of a man who is utterly at a loss to +understand, and who gives up an inexplicable enigma. + + +[1] A fact. An identical occurrence took place at the Carmen of +Patagonia, daring an attack by the Indians. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +PALEFACE _VERSUS_ REDSKIN. + + +The redskins in general, and the Apaches in particular, exhibit a +surprising degree of craftiness when on the warpath, or preparing for +a hazardous expedition. The best troops of the civilized world cannot +compete with them in subtlety and wariness, such pains do they take to +conceal and dissemble their movements. + +Towards three o'clock in the morning, just as the first pearly notes +issued from the throats of the _mawkawis_[1] nestled among the leaves, +the Tigercat and Don Torribio rose from their beds, armed themselves +for the fight, and issued forth from their toldos, followed by several +Apache braves, directing their silent and rapid steps towards the +centre of the camp, where the _sachems_ of the tribes, crouched on +their haunches around an immense brasier, smoked the war calumet while +waiting for the great chief. + +When the Tigercat appeared, the Indians rose in a body to reverence +their leader. + +The Tigercat, returning their salute, made them a sign to be seated, +and turning to the _amantzin,_ or sorcerer, who stood by his side. +"Will the Master of life remain neutral?" he asked. "Will the Wacondah +be propitious to the Apache braves? Or will he be adverse to the war +his Indian sons, united before the stone _atepelt_ (village) of the +palefaces, are going to wage this day against their oppressors?" + +"At the bidding of the chiefs," replied the _amantzin_, "I will +question the Master of life." + +Then, drawing himself up to his full height, he wrapped his bison robe +about him, and thrice paced round the fire, marching from left to +right, and muttering words unintelligible to all, and which yet seemed +to have a mysterious meaning. At the third round, he poured a _coui_ (a +small vessel) of water, sweetened with _smilax_, into a cup of reeds, +plaited so closely that not a drop escaped. Next, having dipped a sprig +of wormwood in the _coui_, he sprinkled the assembled _sachems_, and +emptied the water in three separate portions towards the rising sun. + +Then, bending his body forward, with outstretched head and expanded +arms, he appeared to listen to sounds perceptible to him alone. + +At the end of a few seconds the _mawkawis_ lifted up his song again, +on the right of his sorcerer. Immediately his face contorted itself, +and grew horrible to look at; his bloodshot eyes seemed ready to +start from their orbits; a whitish foam oozed from the corners of his +compressed lips; a livid pallor overspread his features; his limbs were +convulsed, and his body was agitated by violent distortions. + +"The Spirit comes! The Spirit comes!" muttered the Indians, in +superstitious terror. + +"Silence!" cried the Tigercat; "The wise man is about to speak." + +In fact, a painful hissing issued from the distorted mouth of the +_amantzin_, which changed by slow degrees into words, unintelligible at +first, but soon pronounced sufficiently distinctly to be understood by +all. + +"The spirit comes!" he exclaimed; "He has unbound his long locks, which +float abroad on the winds. His breath brings annihilation; the heaven +are red with blood. Victims will not be wanting for the Wacondah, the +spirit of evil. Who can resist him? He alone is master. The knives of +the Apaches shall find a sheath in the breasts of the palefaces. The +vultures and _urubus_ are glad; they snuff the ample repast. Shout the +war cry! Courage, warriors! the Wacondah himself will lead you. Death +is nothing; glory is all!" + +The _amantzin_, having uttered a few other unintelligible words, +dropped to the ground, a prey to frightful convulsions. + +Strange to relate, the men who had up to this time hung suspended on +his lips, listening with strained anxiety to his utterances, had now +no look or word of pity or interest for him as he lay writhing on the +ground, but left him there, without further thought about him. It was +because the man rash enough to touch a sorcerer while possessed by the +spirit would fall a lifeless corpse: such is the Indian belief. + +As soon as the _amantzin_ had ceased speaking, the Tigercat took up the +word in his turn. + +"Great chiefs of the Apache tribes," said he in a deep voice, "you see +that the God of your fathers smiles on our attempt, and encourages +it. Let us not hesitate, warriors! Let us confound with one last blow +the pride of our oppressors. Our lands are now free; one single spot +is still in the power of our tyrants. Let us conquer it today, and at +sunset let the Spanish flag, whose fatal shadow has so long been the +omen of misery and death, be lowered on our frontiers forever. Courage, +brothers! Your ancestors, hunting in the happy prairies, will joyfully +welcome those who fall in the battle. Let each repair to the post I +have assigned him; the hoarse cry of the _urubu_, thrice repeated at +equal intervals, will give the signal for the assault." + +The chiefs, with deep reverence, took their departure, and dispersed in +various directions. The Tigercat remained alone, absorbed in profound +meditation. + +An awful stillness reigned over the scene. There was not a breath of +wind, nor a cloud in the sky. The limpid and transparent atmosphere +permitted objects to be seen at a vast distance. The dark blue heavens +were studded with a multitude of sparkling stars; the moon was pouring +forth her silver rays in profusion; no sound disturbed the impressive +silence, except, at intervals, that low murmuring which, coming we know +not whence, seems the awful breathing of slumbering nature. + +The white chief, on the point of making his mightiest effort to +enfranchise the Indian nations, and pave the way for the triumph of +his mysterious combinations, yielded with delight to the tumultuous +thoughts busying themselves in his brain. Communing with his soul, +he scrutinised his own conduct, and fervently entreated Him who is +almighty, and whose eye searches the heart, not to abandon him, if the +cause for which he fought was righteous. + +A hand was laid heavily on his shoulder. + +Thus rudely recalled to himself, the Tigercat started. He passed his +hand over his damp brow, and turned to the intruder. The sorcerer stood +there, gazing at him with his perfidious eyes, and grinning an evil +smile. + +"What brings you here?" said the chief abruptly. + +"Is my father satisfied with me?" replied the _amantzin;_ "Has the +Wacondah spoken well to the _sachems?_" + +"Yes," said the Tigercat, with a gesture of disgust; "my brother has +done well: he may go." + +"My father is great and generous! The spirit that possesses me tore me +grievously." + +The chief snatched a string of pearls from his neck, and threw it to +the wretch, who caught it with a shout of delight. + +"Go!" said the Tigercat, turning haughtily away. + +The _amantzin_ retired. He had got all he wanted. + +Don Torribio had left the scene of the incantation with the other +chiefs, to repair to his post; but after proceeding a little way, he +looked up to the sky, and mentally calculated the hour by the position +of the stars. + +"I shall have time," he muttered to himself. + +So he hastily directed his steps towards the _toldo_ of Doña Hermosa; +numerous guards surrounded it. + +"She sleeps," said he; "sleeps, lulled by sweet childish fancies. +O God! Who knowest the extent of my love, and the sacrifice I have +offered at its shrine, grant she may be happy!" + +He went up to one of the _vaqueros_, who, leaning against a tree, was +silently smoking his cigarette, his eyes fixed on the _toldo_. + +"_Verado,_" said he, with emotion he could not repress, "twice have I +saved your life at the risk of my own. Do you remember?" + +"I remember," said the _vaquero_ briefly. + +"Today it is I who come to ask a service. Can I rely on you?" + +"Speak, Don Torribio; I will do all a man can do, to do you a service." + +"Thanks, comrade! My life, my soul, all I hold dear in the world, is +contained in this _toldo_. I confide her to you. Swear to defend her, +whatever may happen!" + +"I swear it, Don Torribio. The _toldo_ is sacred; neither friend nor +enemy shall enter. I and the men you have placed under my command will +die on the spot before injury shall happen to those you love." + +"I thank you," said the chief, extending his hand to the _vaquero_. + +The latter seized the bottom of his leader's cloak, and kissed it +reverently. + +Don Torribio cast one more look of affection at the _toldo_, which +concealed, as he had said, all he loved in this world, and then went +his way with rapid strides. + +"Now," said he, "let me be a man! They are bold men we have to contend +with." + +As soon as the chief had ordered the sachems to their posts, where the +warriors were anxiously expecting the word to let them loose upon the +foe, they proceeded to the different stations where their respective +tribes were posted. + +The men then commenced one of those incredible marches which Indians +alone can perform--crawling on their bellies over the ground. Creeping +and gliding along like snakes, they managed to station themselves, +in less than an hour, and without attracting notice, immediately at +the foot of the ramparts held by the Mexicans. This movement had been +executed with so much precision and success, that no sound had been +heard in the prairie, and nothing appeared to have stirred in the camp, +where all seemed plunged into the deepest repose. + +Nevertheless, a few minutes before the _sachems_ had received the final +orders of the Tigercat, a man in Apache dress had quitted the camp in +advance of the others, and crept towards the fort on hands and knees. + +When he arrived at the barricade, another man who, leaning over it, had +been listening with intense anxiety, reached out his hand, and helped +him inside the town. + +"Well, Estevan?" + +"We shall be attacked before an hour is over, major," said the _mayor +domo_. + +"Will the attack be serious?" + +"An assault. The Indians are determined to finish the game at once; +they are afraid of being all poisoned if they wait longer." + +"What is to be done?" grumbled the officer. + +"Let ourselves be killed," was the reply. + +"By Heavens! A comfortable piece of advice! We can but do that at the +last extremity." + +"We might try something else." + +"But what? Speak, in Heaven's name!" + +"Is everything prepared as we agreed?" + +"It is. But what do you propose?" + +"Give me twenty-five _vaqueros_, whom you can trust." + +"Take them; you will lead them?" + +"That is my affair, major. I will not answer for success; for these red +devils are numberless as the sands; but you may depend on my thinning +their ranks." + +"That will do us no harm. But the women and children?" + +"I have got them all safely to Las Norias." + +"God be praised! Now we can fight like men; our dear ones are in +safety." + +"For a time they are." + +"What do you mean? What is there else to fear?" + +"Only that when the Indians have taken the _presidio_, they will most +probably attack the hacienda." + +"You are out of your wits, Estevan," said the major, smiling; "and Doña +Hermosa--" + +"True," replied the _mayor domo_ gaily; "I had forgotten her." + +"Is that all you have to report?" + +"No, major," he said quickly; "one thing more." + +"Out with it then; for time presses." + +"The signal for the attack is to be three screams of the _urubu_, at +equal intervals." + +"Good! I will be ready for them: they will attack before daybreak." + +The major and Don Estevan separated, to visit the posts in succession, +to arouse the guards, and prepare them for the event. + +The preceding evening, Major Barnum had assembled all the townspeople, +and, in a brief and energetic speech, and with the greatest frankness, +apprised them of the precarious situation of the _pueblo;_ had +explained his plan of defence; and finished by telling them that boats +were ready moored under the guns of the fort, to receive the women, +children, old men, and all those country people who declined to join +in his desperate resistance; adding, that all who embarked would be +conveyed at nightfall to the Hacienda of Las Norias, where they would +be kindly received. + +We are bound to say, that a few of the people in the town, dismayed +by the energetic proceedings of the major, had recoiled from the idea +of taking part in them, and had gone to the hacienda. There remained, +therefore, in the town only resolute men, determined to sell their +lives dearly, and on whom he could rely with confidence. + +Thus when, on being aroused, the immediate attack of the Apaches was +made known to them, they manned the barriers confidently, with eyes and +ears on the watch, ready to give fire at the first signal. + +One hour passed over without any occurrence to break the stillness of +the night. The Mexicans began to imagine that they had been summoned +to the walls by a false alarm, as had already happened on several +occasions, when suddenly the hoarse and ominous scream of the _urubu_ +arose. + +Again it broke through the silence, and a cold shudder ran through the +frames of the besieged, who recognised their death cry, and knew how +little chance of escape existed. + +A third time the scream of the _urubu_ arose, louder and hoarser than +before. Ere it was well ended, the dreadful war whoop broke forth on +all sides, and the Indians threw themselves in swarms on the exterior +defences, and attempted to carry them by escalade. The Mexicans +received them firmly, like men who knew their last hour was come, and +were resolved to fall amidst a hecatomb of foes. The Indians fell back +in dismay, astounded at the vigorous resistance. Their measures had +been taken so secretly, that they felt certain of surprising the town. +As soon as they were in the open, showers of grape swept them down, and +scattered death and disorder among their masses. + +Don Estevan, profiting by the panic, threw himself, at the head of +his _vaqueros_, on the thunderstricken redskins, and cut them down +indiscriminately. Twice he renewed the charge with the courage of a +lion, and twice the Indians recoiled before him. + +As long as the darkness lasted, the Apaches could not perceive the +smallness of the force opposed to them, and the combat was greatly +favourable to the palefaces, who, sheltered behind the barricades, kept +up a deadly fire on the dense masses of the enemy. + +But after about two hours of this obstinate resistance the sun rose, +and lighted up the field of battle with the glorious splendour of his +rays. The Indians hailed his appearance with clamorous shouts, and +precipitated themselves with renewed fury on the intrenchments from +which they had just been driven. Their shock was irresistible. + +The whites, after an amount of resistance determined on beforehand, +abandoned a position they could no longer hold. The Indians, at the +top of their speed, rushed in pursuit. But at that moment a frightful +explosion was heard, the ground burst under their feet, and the mangled +wretches, hurled into the air, were cast in all directions. + +The interior of the defences had been undermined, and the major had +just issued the order to fire the train. The effects of the explosion +were horrible. The panic-stricken redskins began to fly on all sides, +and, yielding to the impulse of their terror, were deaf to the orders +of their _sachems_, and refused to renew the fight. + +For a moment the palefaces thought themselves saved. But the Tigercat, +mounted on a magnificent jet black mustang, and unfolding to the breeze +the sacred _totem_ of the allied tribes, rushed to the front, braving +in his single person the shots the Mexicans aimed at him, and cried in +a terrible voice: "Cowards! As you will not conquer, see how a brave +man can die!" + +His voice conveyed the bitterest reproach to the ears of the redskins; +the most cowardly were ashamed to abandon the chief who was thus +generously sacrificing himself; they faced about, and returned to the +assault with redoubled ardour. + +The Tigercat seemed invulnerable. He made his horse bound into the +thickest of the fight, parrying the blows aimed at him with the staff +of the _totem_, which he held displayed above his head to encourage his +men. + +The Apaches, electrified by the audacity of their great chief, crowded +around him, undismayed even in death, and shouted: + +"The Tigercat! The Tigercat! Let us die for the great chief!" + +"Look there!" cried he enthusiastically, pointing to the morning +star; "Look there! Your Father is smiling upon your deeds! Forwards! +Forwards!" + +"Forwards!" repeated the redskins, advancing with fresh fury. + +But the major knew this horrible struggle could not last much longer. +The redskins had carried all the barricades; the town swarmed with +them. The Mexicans disputed it house by house, only leaving one to +throw themselves into another when dislodged by main force. The +redskins formed into a solid mass, led by Don Torribio, charged up the +steep street leading to the old _presidio_ and the fort which commands +it. In spite of the ravages caused in their ranks by the grape from the +guns of the fort, they advanced without wavering; for they saw, after +each of the discharges which showered death amongst them, the Tigercat +ten paces in advance, bestriding his black charger, and brandishing the +_totem_, with Don Torribio at his side waving his sword. + +"Come," said the major gravely to Don Estevan; "the time has arrived to +execute the orders I gave you." + +"You insist upon them, major?" replied the latter. + +"I do Estevan." + +"Enough, major; they shall not say I disobeyed your last orders. +Farewell! Or rather, may we soon meet in heaven; for I shall fall as +well as you." + +"_¿Quién sabe?_ Farewell, farewell!" + +"Let us still hope," answered the _mayor domo_ in a stifled voice. + +The two men silently clasped each other's hands in a final pressure; +for they knew that, without a miracle, they should never meet again. + +After this leave-taking, Don Estevan collected some forty horsemen, +formed them into a compact body, and, in the interval between two +volleys from the fort, threw himself at full speed on the advancing +redskins. The Apaches could not resist the impetuosity of the charge, +and fled into the houses on either hand. When they recovered from their +panic, the horsemen who had so rudely handled them had got on board +two large boats, and were rowing swiftly towards the Hacienda de las +Norias. Don Estevan and the whole of his followers were saved, with +the exception of three or four who fell in the charge. The major had +profited by the diversion to throw himself, with the remaining whites, +into the fort, the gates of which were instantly closed behind him. +Don Torribio ordered the redskins to halt, and advanced alone to the +fortress. + +"Major," cried he in a loud voice, "surrender! The lives of yourself +and the garrison shall be respected." + +"You are a traitor, a coward, and a dog!" replied the major, appearing +on the walls. "You murdered my friend, who trusted to your loyalty. No +surrender!" + +"It is death to you and all with you; for the sake of humanity, +surrender! Defence is impossible." + +"You are a coward!" cried the major again; "here is my answer." + +"Back, all of you! Back!" shouted the Tigercat, driving both spurs into +his horse, which bounded into the air, and flew off with the speed of +an arrow. + +The Indians precipitated themselves from the top to the base of the +rampart, seized with an indescribable panic; but not speedily enough to +avoid the fate that threatened them. The major had fired the magazines +in the fort. A terrific explosion ensued. The gigantic edifice +oscillated for a second or two on its foundations, like a tottering +mastodon; then, suddenly torn from the ground, rose into the air, +and burst like an elephantine shell. Amidst the last cries of "Long +live the Republic!" from the besieged, a storm of stones and bodies, +horribly mutilated, hailed down upon the redskins, aghast at the +horrible catastrophe--and all was over, the Tigercat was master of the +Presidio de San Lucar; but, as Major Barnum had sworn, he was only in +possession of a pile of ruins. + +With tears of rage, Don Torribio planted the _totem_ of the Apaches on +a strip of tottering wall--the sole remnant to mark the spot where, +ten minutes ago, rose the magnificent fort of San Lucar. + + +[1] A Mexican songbird. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +THE CATASTROPHE. + + +Several days had elapsed since the fall of the _presidio_ of San +Lucar. The pueblo had been given up to pillage, with refinements of +barbarity impossible to describe. Only the principal buildings had been +spared, thanks to the measures employed by the Tigercat, who to save +the immense treasures they contained, had allotted them to the most +powerful _sachems_ of the tribes who followed him. + +The old freebooter had established his headquarters in the former +dwelling of Don Torribio Quiroga, which the latter had gracefully ceded +to him. Doña Hermosa and her father had resumed possession of their own +mansion. + +The town, with none but Indians for inhabitants, had a mournful aspect: +no more commerce; no more cheerful songs; nothing left of the careless +spirit of gaiety which formerly animated the Mexican colony. Here and +there in the open streets lay corpses, battled for by the birds of +prey, festering, and infecting the atmosphere. In a word, the whole +scene afforded the spectacle of that desolation which accompanies a war +of extermination between two races who have been foes for centuries. + +About a week after the events we have described in the preceding +chapter, three persons were assembled, about ten o'clock in the +morning, in a room in Don Pedro de Luna's house, and were talking in +low tones. These three persons were, Don Pedro himself, Doña Hermosa, +and the worthy _capataz_ Luciano Pedralva, who, huddled up in the +fantastical costume of a _vaquero_, looked like a monstrous robber, +exciting bursts of laughter from Ña Manuela, who was seated, on the +watch, at a window. Every time she looked at him, she broke into +a fresh laugh, to the indignation of the _capataz_, who voted his +disguise at the devil. + +"Well as we have agreed," said Don Pedro, "you must put on your pumps, +Luciano, and prepare for the dance." + +"And it is to take place today?" + +"It must, my good friend. It seems to me that we live in singular +times, and in a very singular country. I have seen many revolutions, +but this beats them all." + +"As for me," said Doña Hermosa, "it seems consistent enough from an +Indian point of view." + +"Very possible, my dear. I am not going to enter into a discussion with +you; but you must confess that a month ago we were far from expecting +such a prompt re-establishment of the Apache power on these frontiers." + +"You know, Don Pedro, I understand none of these matters; only it +appears to me that the Tigercat is not very magnanimous for a man about +to become a sovereign." + +"What do you mean by that, Luciano?" + +"I mean what everyone ought to mean. The letter he sent Don Fernando +the day before yesterday is explicit enough; for in it he tells him, +shortly and sharply, that if he is found in the colony five days after +its receipt, he will have him hanged." + +"If he can catch him!" said Doña Hermosa hastily. + +"That is understood," replied the _capataz_. + +"What is there in that to astonish you, Luciano?" said Don Pedro. "By +Heavens! What extraordinary things I have witnessed in my life! I +myself know a score of people to whom the same threats have been made, +and who are yet alive and well." + +"It is all one; but, in spite of that, I do not like it." + +"But this is all foreign to our matter. You will return to the +hacienda, Don Luciano; and remember my advice." + +"Trust to me, señor. But I have something else to say." + +"Say what you will, my good friend; but lose no time." + +"I am dreadfully anxious about Don Estevan," replied the _capataz_, in +a voice so low that it could not reach Ña Manuela's ears; "for six days +he has disappeared, and we hear no tidings of him." + +Doña Hermosa smiled slyly. "Estevan is not the man to lose himself +without leaving a trail," said she. "Tranquilize yourself: at the +proper time you will see him again." + +"So much the better, señorita; for he is a man to be relied on." + +"Don Torribio!" suddenly exclaimed Manuela. + +"Indeed!" said the _capataz_; "Then it is time for me to vanish." + +"Follow me quickly;" cried the _mayor domo's_ mother. + +The _capataz_ bent reverently before Doña Hermosa and Don Pedro, and +left the room with Manuela. + +The door by which they went out had hardly closed upon them, when +another opened, and Don Torribio entered. He wore a superb Indian +dress; his forehead was lined with care, and his looks were sad. He +bowed to Doña Hermosa, cordially grasped the hand of Don Pedro, and +took his seat at a mute sign from the lady. + +After the interchange of a few common-place words, the daughter of the +hacendero, whom Don Torribio's downcast demeanour disquieted more than +she liked to evince, turned gracefully towards him, and said, with an +assumption of interest which was admirably acted: + +"What ails you, Don Torribio? You look sad. What bad news have you +received?" + +"None, señorita; though I thank you for the interest you take in +my affairs. Were I ambitious, I should feel content; for all my +aspirations have been realised. In receiving your hand, a few days +hence, the dream of my whole life will be fulfilled. You see, +señorita," he added, with a mournful smile, "that I allow you to peer +into the depths of my heart." + +"I am thankful for what you say; but, Don Torribio, you were not thus a +few days ago. Something must have--" + +"Nothing personal, I assure you. But the nearer the time comes for the +ceremony of taking possession of the territories we have won back, +the greater discouragement masters me. I can by no means approve the +determination of the Tigercat to have himself officially declared an +independent sovereign; it is a folly I cannot comprehend. The Tigercat +knows better than any one how impossible it is to maintain himself +here. The Apaches, brave as they are, will never be able to hold their +own against the disciplined force the Mexican Government will despatch +against us, as soon as they hear of this outbreak." + +"Is it impossible to induce the Tigercat to change his purpose?" + +"It is. I have tried every means to show him the insanity of his +project. He will listen to nothing. The man has an object in view known +to himself alone; the wish he loudly proclaims--to regenerate the race +of redskins--is a mere pretext." + +"You shock me, Don Torribio! If this is the case, why not give him up?" + +"Can I do so? Am I not already a renegade? Shall I confess to you, +señorita? Although every thing seems prosperous,--although the future +seems to have nothing but smiles for me,--yet, for the last few days, +an invincible despondency has crept over me. Everything looks dark, and +I feel world worn. In a word, I have a foreboding that I am on the eve +of a terrible misfortune." + +Doña Hermosa cast a piercing glance at him, which he did not observe. +"Banish these mournful thoughts," said she, with emphasis; "henceforth +your fate is settled; nothing can alter it." + +"I believe so; but, you know, señorita, mischance may come between the +cup and the lip." + +"Come, come, Don Torribio!" said Don Pedro gaily; "Let us to breakfast. +It is the last repast you will share with us before the ceremony of +taking possession. Is it still to be today?" + +"It is!" replied Don Torribio, offering his hand to Doña Hermosa, to +lead her into another room, where a splendid meal was prepared. + +At first they were very silent; the guests seemed ill at ease; but +by degrees the efforts of Doña Hermosa and her father to cheer Don +Torribio succeeded in breaking the ice, and the conversation became +more lively. Yet it was easily seen that Don Torribio had a hard +struggle to repel the thoughts that rose to his lips, and to condemn +them to silence. + +Towards the close of the repast, the chief turned to Doña Hermosa. + +"Señorita," he said, "tonight my future will be settled. In taking +part, as an Indian chief, in the ceremony of today, I shall throw down +the gauntlet to my countrymen, by giving them to understand that I +openly join the cause of the redskins; and that what they at first +supposed to be an Indian raid grew, thanks to the Tigercat and me, into +the rising of a whole nation. I know the pride of the whites! Unable +to utilise the immense territories they possess, they will still never +leave us in peaceful enjoyment of the heritage we have carved out for +ourselves at the point of our lances. The Mexican Government will wage +a war of destruction upon us. Can I depend upon you?" + +"Before answering, Don Torribio, I must demand a clearer explanation." + +"And you shall have it. Reprisals are what the Spaniards most dread in +an Indian insurrection; that is to say, a massacre of the whites. My +carriage with a Mexican would be a gage of peace from us to them--a +pledge for the future security of their commerce, and the observance +of the relations to be established between us. Our path is marked out, +however the chiefs of the tribes may object. Neither the Tigercat nor I +will deviate from it a hair's breadth. Señorita, I address this frank +and loyal question to you: Will you grant me your hand?" + +"Why should you press so grave a matter at such a moment, Don +Torribio?" was her answer "Are you not sure of me?" + +Don Torribio Quiroga frowned. "Always the same reply," he said. "Child, +you are playing with the lion! If I had not been your shield these ten +days past, you would have been slain ere now. Do you fancy me ignorant +of your petty machinations, or ensnared by your childish calculations? +You are playing for life or death, silly one; you are caught yourself +in the net you spread for me. You are in my power! It is for me to +dictate my conditions. Tomorrow you will espouse me; the heads of your +father and of Don Fernando shall answer for your compliance!" Seizing +a crystal vase of water, he filled his glass, and emptied it at a +draught; while Doña Hermosa gazed at him with a strange expression in +her eyes. "In an hour," said he, dashing the glass to pieces on the +table, "you will attend the ceremony. You shall be beside me. I will it +so!" + +"I will be there!" she said quietly. + +"Farewell!" he exclaimed, in a husky voice; and, casting another glance +at her, he left the room. The girl rose hastily, seized the vase, and +emptied its contents, murmuring: "Don Torribio! Don Torribio! thou hast +thyself told me, that between cup and lip stood death!" + +"Now for the finishing stroke!" said Don Pedro + +At a sign from his daughter, he went out upon the terrace, and placed +two stands, filled with flowers, close to the balustrade. This appeared +to be a signal; for they had hardly been moved a minute, when Manuela +hastily entered the room, saying, "He is here!" + +"Let him come!" said Don Pedro and his daughter. + +Don Estevan made his appearance. + +The hacendero, having charged Manuela to be on the watch, carefully +closed the doors, seated himself close to the _mayor domo_, and said in +a whisper, "What news have you brought, Estevan?" + + * * * * * + +The grand square of the _pueblo_ presented an unusual spectacle that +day; a large stage, covered with a crimson velvet carpet, had been +erected in the centre. On the stage stood a mahogany _butaca_; another +armchair, lower and less decorated, was placed on the right, and +several forms were arranged in a semicircle behind the two seats. + +At twelve o'clock precisely, when the sun at its zenith was pouring +down its vertical rays, five shots, fired from a gun at regular +intervals, thundered through the _pueblo_. Instantly the different +Apache tribes, constituting the Tigercat's army, debouched by the +several approaches to the square, headed by the principal _sachems_ in +their robes of ceremony. + +These warriors were few in number, forming an effective force of +fifteen hundred men; for, according to Indian custom, the booty, +immediately after the fall of the _presidio_, had been sent under a +strong escort to the villages, and the greater number of the redskins +had dispersed, to return to their _atepelts_. Those who stayed behind +were tried and faithful braves, devoted heart and soul to the Tigercat. +The latter, after the total defeat of the Mexicans, deemed it useless +to retain a larger force about him, particularly as the first signal +would bring back the others to his standard. + +As fast as the tribes reached the square, they ranged themselves in +good order on three of its sides, leaving the fourth open, which was +presently occupied by a body of two hundred _vaqueros_, who, like the +redskins, halted motionless on the spot assigned to them--with this +difference: that the Indians were on foot, and without arms, except the +_machetes_ at their girdles; while the _vaqueros_ were mounted, and +armed to the teeth. + +A very few lookers-on, English, French, or Germans, who had remained +in the town after its occupation, showed their pale and frightened +faces at the windows of the houses in the square. Indian women, +huddled together in disorder behind the warriors, stretched their heads +inquisitively over the shoulders of the latter, in order to catch a +glimpse of the proceedings. The centre of the square remained void. + +In front of the stage, and at the foot of a rude altar, shaped like a +table, with a deep groove in it, and surmounted by an image of the sun, +stood the great _amantzin_ of the Apaches, surrounded by five sorcerers +of inferior grade. All had their arms crossed on their breasts, and +their eyes cast on the ground. + +When everyone had fallen into his place, five more guns were fired. +Then a brilliant cavalcade came curveting into the square. At its head +rode the Tigercat, with haughty air and fiery eye, holding in his hand +the _totem_, and having on his right Don Torribio, who carried the +sacred calumet. Behind followed Don Pedro, his daughter, and several of +the principal townspeople. + +The Tigercat dismounted, ascended the stage, and placed himself in +front of the principal seat, but did not sit down. Don Torribio, having +assisted Doña Hermosa from her horse, took his place before the second +chair. The features of the former, usually so pale, were now inflamed, +and his hollow eyes seemed red with incessant vigils. He ceaselessly +wiped the moisture from his brow, and appeared a prey to agitating +emotions, which would break forth in spite of his efforts to control +them. + +Doña Hermosa had placed herself behind her father, at a short distance +from the stage. She, too, seemed to suffer from secret agitation. She +was pale, her lips were contracted, and occasionally a nervous tremor +made her limbs tremble, and a feverish flush passed over her face, +which, however, soon resumed its former pallor. She kept her eyes +resolutely fixed on Don Torribio. + +The Apache _sachems_ grouped themselves at the foot of the platform, +which they surrounded completely. + +A third time the cannon roared. Then the sorcerers stepped to one side, +disclosing to the view a man firmly bound, who lay on the ground in the +midst of them. + +The _amantzin_ addressed the multitude: "Listen to me, all you who +hear me. You know why we are here assembled: our great father, the +Sun, has smiled at our success. The Wacondah has fought on our side, +according to the promise of our illustrious chief. This _atepelt_ is +now ours. The chief elected by ourselves to command and defend us is +the Tigercat. In his name and our own we now offer to the Master of +life the sacrifice most agreeable to him, in order that he may still +continue his almighty protection. Sorcerers, bring hither the victim!" + +The _amantzins_ seized the unhappy wretch they guarded, and laid him +upon the altar. He was a Mexican, taken prisoner at the capture of the +old _presidio_. The pulquero, in whose house one of the first scenes of +this story was laid, had, from avarice, refused to quit his miserable +_pulquería_, and had fallen into the hands of the redskins. + +In the meantime, Don Torribio felt his strength gradually deserting +him. His eyes grew more bloodshot, his ears were stunned, his temples +throbbed violently, and he was obliged to support himself by one of the +arms of his seat. + +"What ails you?" said Doña Hermosa. + +"I know not," he replied; "the heat--agitation, perhaps: I am choking. +But it is nothing." + +The _pulquero_, extended on the altar, had been stripped of his +garments. The wretch uttered shouts of terror. The _amantzin_ +approached him, brandishing his knife. + +"It is horrible," cried Doña Hermosa, hiding her face in her hands. + +"Silence!" said Don Torribio; "the sacrifice must be completed." + +The sorcerer, heedless of the cries of the victim coolly examined him +to find the right place for the blow; while the miserable prisoner, +with eyes unnaturally distended, gazed at him with an expression of +fear impossible to describe. Suddenly the _amantzin_ raised the knife, +and, thrusting it into the chest of his victim, laid it open the whole +length of the ribs. The wretched man uttered a horrible cry. Then +the sorcerer plunged his hand into the gaping breast of the victim, +and tore out the palpitating heart; while his assistants carefully +collected the blood that was flowing in torrents. The sufferer writhed +in agony, still making superhuman efforts to break his bonds. + +While this was doing, the _sachems_ in a body ascended the stage, and +seating the Tigercat on the _butaca_, raised him on their shoulders, +shouting enthusiastically "Long live the conqueror of the palefaces, +the great _sachem_ of the Apaches!" + +The sorcerers meanwhile sprinkled the crowd with the blood of the +sacrifice; and the redskins, frenzied with excitement, rent the air +with deafening clamour. + +"At last," said the Tigercat proudly, "I have kept my promise: I have +driven the palefaces from this country for ever." + +"Not yet," exclaimed Don Pedro, in cutting tones; "look hither." + +A sudden change had indeed come over the scene. The _vaqueros_, up to +this time impassive spectators, suddenly charged, the unarmed Indians: +Mexican troops fell upon them from all the entrances to the square: and +all the windows were manned by whites armed with muskets, who poured +down a pitiless fire on the redskins. + +In the centre of the square were Don Fernando Carril, Luciano Pedralva, +and Don Estevan, who mercilessly rode in upon the Indians, shouting: +"Down with them! Down with them! Slay! Slay!" + +"_¡Caray!_" exclaimed Don Torribio, waving the _totem;_ "What horrible +treachery is this?" He rushed forward to fly to the side of the +redskins; but he tottered--a dark veil obstructed his sight--and he +sank on his knees. "God!" cried he, "What has happened to me?" + +"You are dying," whispered Don Estevan in his ear; "that is what is +happening." And he seized him fiercely by the arm. + +"You lie, dog!" said Don Torribio, trying to release himself. "I will +go and help my brothers." + +"Your brothers are slain, as you intended to have slain tomorrow Don +Pedro, Doña Hermosa, Don Fernando, and myself. Die, wretch, with rage +at seeing your treachery meet its reward! I have given you _leche de +palio_[1] to drink; you are poisoned." + +"Ah!" said he despairingly, and dragging himself on his knees to the +edge of the platform; "Woe to me; woe; God is just." + +In the square the Mexicans were making a horrible carnage. "Remember +Don José de Kalbris," they cried; "revenge Major Barnum!" + +It was no battle; it was a fearful butchery. Several of the chiefs, +flying before Don Fernando, Luciano, and Don Estevan, threw themselves +upon the stage as a last place of refuge. + +"Ha!" shouted Don Torribio, with a bound like a jaguar, seizing Don +Fernando by the throat; "At least I shall not die unavenged." A moment +of terrible anxiety ensued. "No," he continued, quitting his grasp on +his foe, and falling backwards, "it would be the act of a coward. My +life belongs to this man; he won it from me." + +The bystanders could not repress a cry of admiration. Don Fernando +coolly raised his rifle to his shoulder, and discharged its contents +point-blank into the breast of the man stretched at his feet. + +"Thus perish all traitors!" he cried. + +"Great God!" freely exclaimed Don Torribio, by a supreme effort rising +to his knees, and looking up to heaven with an expression of sublime +hope irradiating his features,--"Great God, I thank Thee! Thou hast +forgiven me!" One last smile of unutterable happiness glided over his +face; he fell back and expired. + +Meanwhile Doña Hermosa had disappeared. When the Tigercat, who had been +fighting like a lion in the midst of the fray, perceived that all was +lost, and nothing but flight could save him from the fate to which the +Mexicans had doomed him, should he fall into their hands, he rallied +around him a handful of his bravest warriors, seized Doña Hermosa, +regardless of her cries and prayers, threw her across his saddle, +spurred his horse into the thickest of the _mêlée_, cut his passage +through, and, followed by his faithful braves, succeeded in getting out +of the town and gaining the prairie. + +It was too late for pursuit when the Mexicans became aware of his +flight; the old freebooter was already beyond their reach, carrying his +prey with him, like an eagle bearing a lamb in his talons. + + +[1] Literally, milk from a pall; poison. + + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +ONE MONTH LATER. + + +It was about four o'clock in the afternoon. The rays of the sun, +falling more and more obliquely, were gradually lengthening the shadows +of the trees; the birds were flying to their roosts, and nestling as +they could under the foliage, with deafening cries and pipings. A +few bands of prairie wolves were showing themselves here and there, +snuffing the breeze, and preparing for their nocturnal chase among the +tall grasses. At intervals, the lofty antlers of elks and antelopes +were suddenly rising from amidst the herbage, the animals quickly +throwing back their heads, and commencing a giddy flight into the +distance. The sun, close on the verge of the horizon, looked like a +globe of red fire behind the trunks of the stately trees. Everything +announced the rapid approach of night. + +In the virgin forest, about two hundred miles from the _presidio_ of +San Lucar, where the last terrible episodes of our story occurred, and +in the centre of a vast clearing, two men, habited like the Mexican +_gambucinos_, were sitting on buffalo skulls, beside a clear fire which +gave forth no smoke. They were Don Estevan Diaz the _mayor domo_, and +Luciano Pedralva the _capataz_. They held their rifles across their +knees, ready for an emergency, and smoked their maize _pajillos_ in +silence. Several _peones_ and _arrieros_ were lying about a few paces +off, and baggage mules were greedily munching the rations of Indian +corn laid on mats before them. Eight or ten horses were tethered, to +prevent their straying, close to a _jacal_ (hut) of branches, the +entrance to which was closed with a _zarapé_. A _peon_, standing +motionless with cocked rifle on the borders of a little brook which +meandered round the extremity of the clearing, watched over the common +safety. + +It was easy to perceive, from the fragments of all sorts which littered +the ground, whence every vestige of grass had disappeared, and from +the quarters of venison suspended from the boughs of a mahogany tree, +that the encampment we have described was not one of those temporary +resting places which the backwoodsmen choose for a night and quit at +sunrise, but one of those more substantial camps which the hunters +often establish as places of rendezvous for the trapping season. + +The _zarapé_ at the entrance to the _jacal_ was lifted, and Don +Pedro made his appearance on the scene. His features were pale, his +expression was sad and pensive. He looked carefully around, went up to +the two men seated by the fire, and spoke: "No news as yet?" + +"None whatever," replied Don Estevan. + +"This absence is incomprehensible; Don Fernando has never before stayed +away from us so long." + +"True," said the _capataz;_ "it is more than thirty hours since he left +us. Pray God, no misfortune may have happened." + +"No," answered Don Estevan; "Don Fernando is too well acquainted with +the desert to incur much danger." + +"But think whereabouts we are," put in Don Pedro; "the country round +about is infested by the most dangerous serpents; wild beasts swarm in +every place." + +"What does that matter, Don Pedro?" boldly answered Don Estevan; "You +forget that Don Fernando and Stoneheart are one and the same; that in +this region the greater part of his life was spent; that it is here, +for long years, he was a bee-hunter, and gathered the cascarilla bark." + +"But how do you explain his protracted absence?" + +"You recollect, Don Pedro, with what disinterestedness our friend +offered us his cooperation when, in despair at the sudden disappearance +of Doña Hermosa, mad with grief, and impotent to act, we knew not +what step to take to recover the lost one. We have been led from the +_presidio_ to this spot, following a trail invisible to all eyes save +Don Fernando's, who, accustomed to reap the sublime lines of the +wilderness, recognised it with singular ease and exactitude. The trail +has suddenly vanished here--vanished in spite of the most minute and +patient research. We have been eight days encamped in this place; and +every morning, at sunrise, Don Fernando--whom obstacles seem to excite, +rather than subdue--mounts and begins his search afresh. Hitherto his +labour has been in vain. Yesterday he left us, as usual, at daybreak. +Well, suppose the reason of his protracted absence, which makes you so +restless, should be the finding, at some spot leagues away perchance, +the signs we have sought for so long and unavailing?" + +"God grant it, my good friend! Your idea glads my heart. But what +traces could we find, after the painful exertions we have already made?" + +"You forget, Don Pedro, that we have to deal with the Apaches, the most +astute savages in the wilderness, the most acute of all the redskins +in hiding their trail." + +"Holloa!" exclaimed the _capataz;_ "I hear the tread of a horse." + +"Is it possible?" said Don Pedro joyfully. + +"Yes," said Don Estevan; "I, too, hear a noise, but it is not the sound +of one horse; there are two or three." + +"Yet Don Fernando left the camp alone." + +"He has probably encountered someone on the road," replied Don Estevan, +laughing. + +"You are wrong to joke with us in our circumstances; it is almost an +insult to my sorrow." + +"Heaven preserve me from such an intention, Don Pedro! The sound is +coming nearer. We shall soon see what we have to do. I should not be at +all surprised if Don Fernando has laid hands upon some Indian marauder, +at the very moment when, concealed by the underwood, he was watching +our camp, and spying out our movements." + +"_¡Canarios!_ It is he himself!" cried the _capataz_. + +In fact, the clear and sonorous voice of Don Fernando replied to the +challenge of the sentry, and two horsemen pushed through the thick +underwood which surrounded the clearing and formed a kind of natural +rampart. + +Don Fernando brought with him a man whom he had firmly bound to a +horse to prevent his escape. As to the prisoner, he seemed to bear his +capture lightly. He swayed himself comfortably in his saddle, comported +himself with an air of assurance, and looked altogether as impudent as +possible. On reaching the fire, where our personages were assembled, he +saluted them with a grimace, unabashed by the looks of the standers-by. + +He was no other than our friend Tonillo el Zapote, whom we have +presented to our readers on several occasions. + +Don Fernando was very warmly and heartily greeted. His friends burnt +with impatience to question him; and their curiosity was the more +excited, as the frank and almost joyful expression of his features +led them to suppose he was the bearer of good news. Don Fernando +dismounted, embraced his friends, and unbuckled the girth which +strapped the prisoner's legs under the belly of his horse, thus giving +him the use of his limbs. + +"Good," said the _vaquero_, "many thanks, Don Fernando. I have had +quite enough of it. My legs are tingling as if a million of pins were +stuck in them." He sprang to the ground; but he had spoken truly; his +benumbed limbs could not support the weight of his body, and he fell +heavily. The _capataz_ hastened to raise him. "It is a mere nothing," +said the _vaquero_, honouring him with a gracious smile; "yet I thank +you, caballero. In five minutes the circulation will be restored, and +no harm done. But if it is the same to you, Don Fernando, pray do not +pull the buckle so tight another time." + +"It will depend upon yourself, Zapote. Swear you will make no attempt +at escape, and I will set you free." + +"If that is all," cried the _vaquero_, gaily, "we shall soon strike a +bargain. I swear, by all my hopes of Paradise, not to slip away." + +"Enough! I will trust you." + +"An honest man sticks to his word," answered El Zapote; "you will have +no cause of complaint against me. I am the bond-slave of my word." + +"It will be all the better for you if that is the truth. But I am +doubtful about it, particularly after your late conduct towards me, in +spite of the protestations and offers of service you made me." + +The _vaquero_ showed no signs of embarrassment at this straightforward +thrust. "Men endowed with certain good qualities are sure to be +misunderstood," he replied in a wheedling tone; "I never broke the +promise I made you." + +"Not when, after introducing Indians and other rascals of your own kind +into the _presidio_, you laid an infamous snare for me, and led me into +an ambuscade?" + +"Yes, Señor Don Fernando; I was faithful even under the circumstances +you mention." + +"_¡Rayo de Dios!_" impatiently exclaimed the latter; "I should be glad +to learn how you can prove your fidelity there." + +"Good Heavens, señor! I was faithful after my own fashion." + +This answer was so extraordinary and unexpected, that the bystanders +could not refrain from laughing. El Zapote bowed gravely, with the +proud humility common to men of doubtful talent, who in their inmost +soul consider themselves unappreciated geniuses. + +"After all," said Don Fernando, carelessly shrugging his shoulders, "we +shall soon see. I know pretty well the extent of this elastic fidelity." + +El Zapote returned no answer; he merely raised his eyes to heaven, as +if to invoke it as a witness of the injustice done to him, and crossed +his arms on his breast. + +"Before telling you anything, let me have something to eat," said Don +Fernando, "I am fainting from inanition; I have neither eaten or drank +since I left the camp." + +Don Estevan hastened to place provisions before him, to which he +and his prisoner did great honour. However, the meal was short. Don +Fernando's appetite was soon appeased; he gave a sigh of satisfaction, +after slaking his thirst in the limpid brook, came and sat down beside +the others, and, without putting their curiosity to further torture, +began to explain the causes of his prolonged absence in all their +details. Don Estevan had judged correctly; Don Fernando had really +discovered the trail so long fruitlessly sought for. The trail took a +south-west direction, towards the most unexplored regions of the Far +West. He had followed it with a trapper's indomitable patience for +several hours, in order to be well assured that it was the true trail, +and not an Indian artifice to turn his steps astray. + +The redskins, when they fear pursuit, and cannot hide their trail, +entangle so skilfully the many tracks they purposely make, and throw +them all into such hopeless confusion, that it is generally impossible +to distinguish the right one. On this occasion they had used a similar +artifice with such dexterity and success, that they would have managed +to outwit and lead astray any hunter less adroit than Stoneheart. But +he, accustomed from childhood to their wiles, did not suffer himself +to be hoodwinked, particularly as he thought he had recognised some +peculiar signs, which would have escaped the observation of a less +experienced woodman. Don Fernando, delighted with his discovery, had +rapidly commenced his return to the camp, without neglecting any of the +prudential measures requisite in a country where every bush may conceal +a foe, when it struck him that the grass in a certain spot was waving +in a manner not wholly natural. He dropped quietly from his horse, and, +without other arms than the knife he carried in an iron ring at his +girdle, and a pistol, crept towards the suspected spot, crawling on +hands and knees with the speed and silence of a snake gliding through +grass. + +After a quarter of an hour's work, he reached the place, and with +difficulty repressed a cry of joy on seeing El Zapote comfortably +seated on the ground, the bridle of his horse passed over his left arm, +and finishing a copious meal. + +Don Fernando drew a few paces nearer, in order to be sure of his man; +then, having carefully measured the distance, with a spring like a +jaguar he seized the _vaquero_ by the throat, and had him bound beyond +the possibility of resistance before El Zapote had recovered from his +astonishment. "Aha!" said he, seating himself beside his prisoner, +"what a singular chance! How are you, Zapote?" + +"You are very kind, caballero; I cough a little." And he put his hand +to his threat. + +"Poor fellow! I hope it is of no consequence." + +"I hope, too, that no evil consequences may ensue, señor; nevertheless, +I am not quite easy about it." + +"Pooh! Cast aside your anxiety. I will cure you." + +"Do you know a remedy, caballero?" + +"Yes; an excellent one, which I propose to apply to you." + +"A thousand thanks, señor! But perhaps that would give you too much +trouble?" + +"None in the world. Judge for yourself. I propose to knock out your +brains with the butt end of a pistol." + +The _vaquero_ shuddered when the words were uttered; but he would not +give in. "You really think that remedy would cure me?" said he. + +"Radically, I am convinced." + +"It may seem very odd, caballero; but, with all due deference, I am +obliged to observe, that I am of a totally different opinion." + +"You are wrong," replied Don Fernando, coolly cocking a pistol; "you +will soon find how efficacious it is." + +"And you really think, señor, there is no other remedy?" + +"By my faith, I see no other." + +"But it seems to me a little too violent." + +"You only think so. I tell you again, you are Wrong." + +"Possibly so. I would not take the liberty of contradicting you, +caballero. Have you any great wish to administer the remedy on this +particular spot?" + +"I? Not at all! Do you know any more fitting place?" + +"I think I do, señor." + +"And whereabouts is the place, comrade?" + +"Good heavens! caballero, I may be mistaken; but still, I think it +would be a pity so marvellous a secret as this remedy should be lost, +for want of an eyewitness to its efficacy. Consequently, I wish you to +take me where we can find one." + +"Very well! I suppose you know of such a place, not very far hence?" + +"Yes, caballero; I even fancy you would be charmed to see those to whom +I wish to present you." + +"That depends upon who they are." + +"You know them very well, señor: one of them is the Tigercat--a most +amiable caballero." + +"And you will undertake to lead me to him?" + +"Whenever you please: this very instant if you like." + +Don Fernando replaced the pistol in his belt. "Not directly. No," he +said; "we must first report ourselves at the camp, where my friends +expect me. I find you are not quite so ill as I thought; and I need not +administer my remedy just now. We can always fall back upon it some +other time, if it is necessary." + +"I can assure you, there is no hurry at all," replied the _vaquero_, +trying an engaging smile. + +Thus the business was concluded between the two men, who, knowing each +other for a long time were perfectly aware of what each could expect +from the other. Don Fernando put no faith in Tonillo; so he took +good care to remove all temptation to stray from his side, by leaving +him bound as he was--a proceeding against which the _vaquero_ did not +remonstrate. + +But as night had fallen while they were talking, they made such +arrangements as they could for sleeping where they were, giving up all +idea of rejoining the camp until the morrow. Two or three times in the +course of the night the _vaquero_ surreptitiously tried to free himself +from the bonds in which he lay; but each time he endeavoured to put his +project into execution, he saw the large blue eyes of the hunter fixed +steadfastly upon him. + +"Do you still feel indisposed?" he asked, the last time the prisoner +made his attempt. + +"Not at all!" replied the _vaquero_ hastily; "Not at all." + +"I am glad to hear it; but," added he slowly, and emphatically, "your +inability to sleep made me anxious about you." + +The _vaquero_ took the hint, shut his eyes without another word, and +did not open them again till daylight. + +Don Fernando was already alert, and had saddled the horses. "Aha! Awake +at last?" said he. + +"Have you slept well?" + +"Capitally; only I feel a little numb. Gentle exercise would soon +restore the circulation." + +"The effects of the dew," said the hunter imperturbably; "the nights +are cold." + +"The devil!" said the _vaquero_, grinning. "I hope I shall not catch +the rheumatism." + +"I think not. The ride will do you good." + +While he said this, Don Fernando had hoisted his companion on his +shoulders, and thrown him across one of the horses. But on second +thoughts, he freed his legs, and set him upright in the saddle; +reflecting that useless cruelty would only harden the man against +him, who could give such precious information when the proper moment +arrived. The _vaquero_, who feared he was about to make the journey +slung over the horse like a bale of merchandise, felt grateful for the +half-liberty allowed him, and made no objection when Don Fernando took +the precaution of buckling his legs together under his horse's belly. + +In this manner the two men rode to the camp, talking on different +matters, and apparently the best friends in the world. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +PREPARATIONS FOR THE CHASE. + + +All the time Don Fernando was telling his story, El Zapote had assumed +the _nonchalant_ attitude of a man perfectly satisfied with himself; +nodding his head affirmatively at certain passages, and smiling at +others with an air of modest gratification. When the former ceased +speaking, he thought it time to put in his word also. + +"You see, señores, I made no objection whatever to following this +estimable caballero; which means to say, that I am ready to obey all +commands you may please to lay on me." + +"Here is a compliment," said Don Fernando, with a malicious smile, +"which would evidently have been addressed to others, but for the +surprise of yesterday!" + +"Oh, fie, caballero!" retorted the _vaquero_, assuming a look of +indignant denial. + +"But," continued Stoneheart, "I will not vex you on that score; your +secret feelings towards me affect me in nowise. I thought I had given +you ample proof a long while ago how little I dread you in any way. I +will content myself with remarking, that, more generous than you, I +have several times held your life in my hands, and never abused the +power." + +"On that account I am deeply grateful to you, señor." + +"Pooh, pooh, Señor Zapote!" replied Stoneheart, shrugging his +shoulders; "You have quite mistaken your man. I have no more belief in +your gratitude than in your good feelings towards me, and I have only +refreshed your memory in this respect to induce you to reflect that, if +I have hitherto condescended to pardon you, the amount of courtesy I +could afford to expend on you is at length exhausted, and on the next +occasion matters will end very differently between us." + +"I perfectly understand your meaning, señor; but, please God, such an +occasion, I am quite sure, will never present itself. I repeat, once +for all, that I have given you my word, and, you know, an honest man +sticks--" + +"No more!" broke in Stoneheart. "I wish it may be so, for your own +sake. However that may be, listen attentively." + +"I am all ears, señor; I will not lose a word." + +"Although I am still young, Señor Tonillo, I know one important truth +not very creditable to humanity. If one wishes to attract a man, and +insure his fidelity, one must not attempt to act upon his virtues, but +make sure of him through his vices. You are more richly endowed with +these last than most men I know." + +The _vaquero_ made a modest bow in acknowledgment of the compliment. +"Señor," he said, "you cover me with confusion; such praise--" + +"Is richly deserved," continued Stoneheart. "I have seen few men in +possession of such a formidable assortment of vices as you, my friend. +Yours are so many, that I was at a loss which to select. But among +these vices are a few more prominent than the rest: for instance, your +avarice has acquired a prodigious development; I am going to appeal to +your avarice." + +The _vaquero's_ eyes sparkled with greed. "What do you want me to do?" +said he. + +"First, let me tell you what I will give you; after that, I will +explain what I require." + +The leering, cunning face of the bandit instantly grew serious; and, +leaning his elbows on his knees, he stretched out his head to listen to +Stoneheart's words. + +"You know I am rich, and can have no doubt that I am able to fulfil +any engagement with you into which I may enter. However, to save time, +and deprive you of any pretext to betray me, I will immediately place +in your hands three diamonds, each worth two thousand five hundred +piastres You are so well acquainted with precious stones, that a single +glance will convince you of their value. These diamonds are yours. I +make you a present of them. Nevertheless, if you prefer it, I engage to +pay you what they are worth; that is to say, to forward seven thousand +five hundred piastres on your first demand, after our return to San +Lucar, in exchange for the jewels." + +"And you have got the diamonds about you?" said the _vaquero_, in a +voice half stifled with emotion. + +"Here they are!" replied Stoneheart, drawing from his bosom a small +deerskin bag, and taking out three good-sized jewels, which he placed +in the _vaquero's_ hands. + +The latter clutched them with a glee he did not attempt to conceal, +looked at them for a moment with eyes sparkling with triumph, and hid +them carefully in his bosom. + +"Wait a moment!" said Stoneheart, with a curious smile; "I have not yet +told you the conditions." + +"Whatever they may be, I accept them, señor. _¡Caspita!_ seven +thousand five hundred piastres! It is a fortune to a poor devil like +me! No _navajada_ will ever bring me in as much, however well they pay +me!" + +"Then you want no time for consideration?" + +"_¡Canarios!_ I should think not! Whom am I to kill?" + +"No one," briefly answered Stoneheart. "Listen to me: all you have to +do is to lead me to the place where the Tigercat has taken refuge." + +The _vaquero_ shook his head discontentedly at this proposal. "I cannot +do it, caballero. By all my hopes hereafter, it is impossible!" + +"Very well," said Stoneheart. "I forgot to mention another little +thing." + +"What is it, señor?" asked the _vaquero_, in great trouble at the turn +the conversation was taking. + +"A very trifling matter. If you do not accept my proposal, I will +instantly blow out your brains." + +El Zapote examined the speaker's face most carefully; with a rascal's +intuitive perception, he felt that the time for pleasantry was over, +and matters were threatening to become serious. "At least give me leave +to explain, señor," said he. + +"I ask no better," said Stoneheart coldly. "I am in no hurry." + +"I cannot lead you to the Tigercat's hiding place--I swear so; but I +can direct you to it, and tell you its name." + +"That is something. Go on; we have already made some progress. I see +we shall come to an understanding. I am in despair at finding myself +obliged to use extreme measures; it is so disagreeable." + +"Unhappily, señor, I have told you all. This is what happened: the +Tigercat, after his flight from the _presidio_, collected some score +of resolute men, of whom I was one, who comprehended that for some +time to come the Mexican Confederation would be too hot to hold them, +and resolved to plunge into the wilderness, in order to give the storm +time to blow over. All went well for a little while, when the Tigercat +suddenly changed his route; and, instead of leading us to overrun the +country of the Apaches, took us to the district of the bee-hunters and +cascarilla gatherers." + +"He has done that?" exclaimed Stoneheart, starting with surprise and +terror. + +"Yes, señor. You can understand how little I cared for a game of +life and death, in regions infested by the fiercest beasts of prey, +and, worse than that, by serpents whose bite is mortal. Seeing that +the Tigercat was seriously bent upon taking refuge in this horrible +country, I confess, señor, I got terribly frightened; and at the risk +of dying with hunger, or being scalped by the redskins in the desert, I +quietly dropped to the rear, and profited by the first opportunity to +give the Tigercat the slip." + +Stoneheart fixed on the _vaquero_ a gaze which seemed to search his +inmost soul; the latter bore it manfully. + +"It is well," he said, "I see you have not lied. How long is it since +you left the Tigercat?" + +"Only four days, señor. As I do not know this part of the wilderness, I +was wandering about at a venture, when I had the good fortune to fall +in with you." + +"Indeed! Now, what is the name of the place to which the Tigercat +intended to lead you?" + +"El Voladero de las Ánimas," answered the _vaquero_, without hesitation. + +Stoneheart instantly grew pale as death at this information; and yet he +had almost expected it, from the cruel and implacable character of his +former teacher. + +"Alas!" cried he; "The unfortunate girl is lost! This wretch has +carried her into a very nest of serpents!" + +The bystanders were dreadfully agitated. + +"What is this horrible place?" said Don Pedro. + +"Alas! El Voladero de las Ánimas is an accursed region, into which +the hardiest bee-hunters and boldest _cascarilleros_ scarcely dare to +enter. The Voladero is a lofty mountain, which frowns over an immense +expanse of swamps swarming with cobras, coral snakes, and others, whose +slightest bite kills the strongest man in ten minutes. For ten leagues +around this dread mountain, the country is alive with reptiles and +venomous insects, against which how shall man defend himself!" + +"Great God!" cried Don Pedro, in despair; "And it is to this hell they +have carried my darling child!" + +"Calm yourself," said Stoneheart, who perceived the necessity of +restoring a little courage to the poor father; "the Tigercat knows +this accursed place too well to enter it without taking the needful +precautions. The swamps alone are to be dreaded; the Voladero is free +from these noxious animals; the air is too pure, and its elevation too +great for them to live there. Not one attempts to scale it. Courage, +then! If your daughter, as I hope, has reached the Voladero alive, she +is in safety." + +"But, alas!" replied Don Pedro, "How are we to cross this impassable +barrier; how reach my daughter, without encountering certain death?" + +An indefinable smile illumined the features of Don Fernando. "I will +reach her, Don Pedro," he exclaimed, in firm and resolute tones. "Have +you forgotten that I am Stoneheart, the most renowned bee-hunter of the +prairies? The Tigercat confided all his secrets to me when we were not +only bee-hunters but _cascarilleros_. Courage, I say; all is not yet +lost." + +If a man who is struck down with some dire and and unexpected calamity +has a friend beside him, whose stout heart and cheering words bid him +hope, his prostrate courage revives, however faint and problematical +the hope may be, and, confiding in the prospect held out to him, he +gathers fresh energy for the approaching struggle. This was exactly +what happened to Don Pedro. The speech of Stoneheart, who, for weeks +past, had worked hard for him,--whom he had learned to love, and in +whom he had entire confidence,--revived his hope and courage as if by +magic. + +"And now," said Stoneheart, addressing the _vaquero_, "tell me how the +Tigercat treated his prisoners. You remained with him long enough to +give me reliable information on this point." + +"As far as that goes, señor, I can answer without hesitation, that his +attention to the señorita's welfare was unceasing; he watched over +her with anxious care, often shortening the day's march for fear of +overtiring her." + +His hearers breathed more freely. This solicitude on the part of one +who respected neither God nor man seemed to indicate better intentions +than they had a right to expect. + +Stoneheart continued his interrogations. "Do you know the nature of the +Tigercat's conversations with Doña Hermosa?" + +"I overheard one, señor. The poor señorita was very sad: she dared not +weep openly, for fear of offending the chief; but her eyes were always +filled with tears, and her breast heaved with stifled sobs. One day, +during a halt, she was sitting apart at the foot of a tree, her eyes +fixed on the road we had just travelled, and large tears coursing down +her cheeks. The Tigercat advanced towards her, looked at her for a +moment with mingled pity and displeasure, and addressed her in nearly +the following words: 'Child, it is useless to look back; those you +expect will not come. No one shall tear you from my hands till the time +comes when I shall think fit to restore you to freedom. To you alone +I owe the ruin of my projects, and the massacre of my friends at San +Lucar. I know it well. Therefore I carried you off, for vengeance' +sake. But this I will tell you, for your consolation and encouragement: +my revenge shall not be harsh; within a month I will give you to him +you love.' The señorita looked at him incredulously; he perceived it, +and continued, in a tone of implacable malice: 'My most earnest wish +is to see you some day the bride of Don Fernando Carril: I have never +lost sight of this. Take courage, then; dry those useless tears, which +only disfigure you,--for I swear to you I will carry out my resolve, +the very day and hour I have appointed.' Having said this, he left +her, without waiting for the answer Doña Hermosa was about to make. +I happened to be lying on the grass, a few paces from the lady. The +Tigercat either did not notice me, or thought me asleep. That is how +I overheard their conversation. To the best of my belief, that is the +only time the chief ever conversed with his prisoner, although he +continued to treat her well." + +When the _vaquero_ ceased, a long silence ensued, caused by the +strangeness of this revelation. Stoneheart racked his brains in vain +endeavours to discover a motive for the Tigercat's conduct. He recalled +the words the chief had once uttered in his presence,--words which +agreed with what he had just heard; for even at that time the old man +seemed to take delight in the project. But Stoneheart vainly tried to +find a solution to the question, why he should act thus. + +In the meanwhile the sun had gone down, and night set in with the +rapidity peculiar to intertropical climates, in which there is no +twilight. It was one of those delicious nights of Southern America +which are replete with sweet odours and airy melody. The dark blue sky +was enamelled with a countless number of golden stars. The moon, now +at the full, showered down a flood of soft and glorious light; and the +transparent atmosphere made distant objects seem close at hand. The +night wind tempered the oppressive heat of the day; and the men seated +in front of the _jacal_ inhaled with delight the refreshing breeze that +whispered among the foliage, surrendering themselves to the influence +of the night, which stole upon them with all its seductive languor. + +When Don Pedro and his two confidential agents first set out on their +search for Doña Hermosa, under the auspices of Stoneheart, Ña Manuela, +that devoted pure-hearted woman, refused to leave her master and her +son. She had loudly claimed her share in the risks and perils they +were about to encounter, asserting her right to accompany them in +her quality of Doña Hermosa's nurse. The good woman had persisted +so obstinately, that Don Pedro and Don Estevan, touched by her +self-abnegation, could no longer resist her entreaties, and she had +come with them. Ña Manuela had charge of the commissariat of the camp. +As soon as night had completely closed in, she issued from the _jacal_, +bearing refreshments, which she distributed with strict impartiality to +all present, master and man. Unseen, the worthy woman had listened to +the queries put to the _vaquero_. Her heart failed her at El Zapote's +story; but she dissembled her grief, for fear of augmenting Don Pedro's +anguish; and she appeared amongst the travellers with dry eyes and a +smiling countenance. + +However, time passed on; the hour for rest had come; one after another +the _peones_ rolled themselves in their _zarapés_, and slumbered +peacefully, with the exception of the sentries posted to watch over +the safety of the camp. Stoneheart, plunged in deep meditation, was +reclining, with his head supported by his right arm; his companions +now and then exchanged a few words, uttered in a low tone, that they +might not disturb him. The _vaquero_, with characteristic carelessness, +stretched himself out on the ground, indifferent to what was passing +around him. His eyelids grew heavy; he was already in a state of +semi--somnolence, when he was thoroughly roused to consciousness by +Don Fernando, who shook him rudely. + +"Holloa, señor! What is the matter?" said he, sitting up, and rubbing +his eyes. + +"Is it possible to trust you?" + +"A question you asked once before, señor. I replied, 'Yes, if you pay +me well.' Now, you have paid me royally. There was but one man in the +world to whom I could attach myself sooner than to you--Don Torribio +Quiroga. He is dead; you take his place. No dog would obey your +slightest sign more faithfully than I." + +"I am not now going to put your new fledged fidelity to any rude proof; +I shall content myself with leaving you here. But remember to deal +frankly with me, and without reservation; for as surely as I have not +hesitated to pay you in advance in the bargain I have concluded with +you, so surely will I not hesitate to kill you on the spot if you +betray me. And take this to your soul: if you deceive me, no hiding +place, however secret or remote, shall save you from my vengeance." + +The _vaquero_ bent his head, and answered unhesitatingly: "Señor Don +Fernando, I swear, by the Cross of our Lord, who died for the remission +of our sins, that I will be faithful to you unto the death." + +"Good," said Stoneheart; "I believe you, Zapote. Sleep now, if you are +able." + +The _vaquero_ did not wait for a repetition of the words, but rolled +over, and was soon fast asleep. + +"Señores," said Stoneheart, turning to his friends, "it is time for +you to rest. As for me, I must watch a while. Be of good courage, Don +Pedro; our position is far from desperate. The more I reflect, the +surer I am we shall tear from the Tigercat the prey he holds in his +grasp and longs to devour. Be not too anxious; and if you should not +see me tomorrow, do not on any pretext leave this encampment till my +return: my absence will not be long. Good night to all!" Having said +this, Stoneheart crossed his arms on his breast, and returned to his +sombre meditations. + +His friends, respecting his wish to be alone, withdrew; and ten minutes +later all the inmates in the camp, except Stoneheart and the sentinels, +were asleep, or seemed to sleep. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +THE CHASE. + + +Deep silence prevailed through the wilderness, broken only at long +intervals by the growling of the jaguar at the spring, or the barking +of the prairie dog in his burrow. Stoneheart had not moved after his +friends left him; he was so motionless, one would have thought him +asleep, but for the occasional glitter of his eye through the darkness. +Suddenly a hand was laid on his shoulder. He started up in an instant. +Don Estevan stood beside him. Stoneheart greeted him with a smile. "You +have something to tell me?" said he. + +"I have," replied Don Estevan, seating himself at his side. "I waited +till all were asleep before sought you out. You are meditating some +daring exploit--perhaps an expedition to the camp of the Tigercat?" + +Stoneheart replied by a smile. + +"Have I guessed aright?" said the _mayor domo_. + +"Perhaps you have, Estevan; but how does that concern you?" + +"More than you think, Fernando. Such an expedition is as dangerous +as can be imagined; you yourself said so. I will not let you commit +so great a folly as to attempt it alone. Remember that, from our +first meeting, we have been irresistibly attracted to each other; we +are bound together by ties of friendship which nothing can sever. +Everything ought to be in common between us. Who can tell the danger +to which you would be exposed in the expedition you are about to +undertake! This is what I have come to tell you: half of that danger is +mine; I come to claim the share you have no right to withhold from me." + +"Brother," replied Stoneheart, much moved, "I feared this would happen; +I dreaded the demand you have just made. Alas! You have guessed truly; +the expedition is indeed desperate, and who can say whether I shall +succeed? But why link yourself to my evil fate? Has not my whole life +been one long sorrow? It will make me happy to sacrifice it for the +poor father, pining for the child who has been torn from him. Every +man has a destiny in this world; mine is to be wretched. Let me fulfil +it. Your destiny smiles upon you; you have a mother whom you cherish, +and who adores you. I am alone. If I perish, none save yourself will +regret me. Should you fall by my side, you leave me a lifelong sorrow +for having caused your death. No length of life could obliterate my +remorse." + +"Fernando, my determination is irrevocable. Whatever you may say, I +shall follow you. Fidelity is an heirloom in our family; and I must do +this day what my father did not hesitate to do long ago for the family +to whom we are attached. I repeat once more, Fernando, my duty compels +me to be with you." + +"Think no more of it, Estevan; think of your mother, and her grief." + +"I think of nothing but what honour bids me." + +"Estevan, I cannot consent to what you wish. Again I say, think of your +mother's grief if she should lose you." + +"My mother, Fernando, would be the first to bid me go, were she here." + +"Spoken like a man!" said a gentle voice behind them. They turned, and +saw Ña Manuela. "I have heard all," she said. "Thanks, Don Fernando, +for speaking as you did; I will never forget your words. But Estevan is +right: duty compels him to follow you. You lose your time in trying to +dissuade him. He springs from a race who never tamper with their duty. +Let him go with you. If he falls, I shall weep,--perhaps I shall die; +but I shall die blessing him, for he will fall in the service of those +whom, through five generations, we have sworn to serve faithfully." + +Stoneheart gazed with admiration at the mother who did not hesitate to +sacrifice her son to her sense of duty, regardless of the boundless +love she bore him. He felt himself a weakling, compared with this +self-denial. Words failed him, and he could only manifest by signs his +acquiescence in a wish so energetically expressed. + +"Go, my sons," she continued, raising her eyes to heaven with an +expression of holy fervour; "God, who sees all, sees your devotedness. +He will reward you. The rule of the wicked on earth is short; the +protection of the Almighty will be with you--will defend you in +every danger. Go without fear; He tells me you will prosper in your +undertaking. Farewell!" + +"Farewell, mother," replied the two men, moved even to tears. + +The noble woman pressed them to her heart, but could not part from them +without an effort. "Remember this law," she said,--"it is the basis of +honour: do your duty, whatever may happen. Farewell, farewell!" She +turned, and hastily entered the _jacal_ for, in spite of herself, tears +were regaining the mastery, and she would weaken their resolution. The +others were silent for a time, looking steadfastly at the _jacal_. + +"You see," said Don Estevan, at last, "my mother herself orders me to +follow you." + +"Be it as you will, then," said Stoneheart, with a sigh; "I will no +longer oppose your wishes." + +"Thank Heaven!" exclaimed the _mayor domo_. + +Stoneheart carefully examined the heavens. "It is two o'clock," he +said; "at half past three it will be daylight. We must go." + +Don Estevan left him, to bring up the horses. They were soon saddled. +The men left the camp, gave their horses the spur, and dashed into the +desert. By sunrise they had ridden six leagues. They were following the +course of one of those nameless rivers which traverse the wilderness in +every direction, and ultimately fall into some larger stream. + +"Let us halt here a while," said Stoneheart; "first to breathe our +horses, and then to take a few precautions indispensable to our +success." + +Dismounting, they took the bits from the horses' mouths, leaving them +at liberty to crop the luxuriant grass on the banks of the river. + +"The time has come, Estevan," said Don Fernando, "when I must teach +you something, without which it would be impossible to avoid the +dangers we are about to encounter; I must reveal a secret known only +to us, 'the bee-hunters.' Hardly two leagues farther on, we shall have +to enter the swamps, swarming with serpents, and we must take the +requisite precautions against their fatal bite, for every reptile we +shall meet on the road will be of the most venomous species." + +"The devil!" ejaculated Don Estevan, turning somewhat pale. + +"I will give you a lesson. When we have once put on our armour, we can +trample with impunity on the heads of the most dangerous." + +"_¡Caray!_" replied Don Estevan; "your secret is worth knowing." + +"You shall prove it soon. Come with me. Of course you are acquainted +with the _guaco?_" + +"Certainly. I have often helped it in his battles with snakes." + +"Very well. I dare say you are ignorant of the means this intelligent +bird employs to heal the wounds in the mortal combats which always +terminate in the destruction of the reptile?" + +"I confess, Fernando, that I have never attempted to fathom the +mystery." + +"Then it is lucky, Estevan, that I have thought for both. Come, close +at hand I see several stems of the _mikania_ twisting round the cork +trees: That is what we want. We will take a supply of the leaves of the +guaco creeper." + +Don Estevan, without troubling his head concerning his friend's +intentions, set about collecting the leaves of the creeper he had +pointed out. By dint of exertion, a goodly number were soon heaped upon +the ground. When Stoneheart deemed the quantity sufficient, he gathered +them up in his _zarapé_, and returned to the spot where they had left +their horses. Without further explanation, he began to pound the leaves +on a flat stone he brought from the edge of the water. Don Estevan, +taking great interest in the mysterious operation, occupied himself in +collecting in a _coui_ (or gourd) the juice which ran from the leaves +as Stoneheart crushed them. The work lasted an hour, by which time the +_coui_ was filled to the brim with a greenish liquid. + +"What are we to do now?" said Don Estevan, puzzled more and more. + +"That is a delicate question, my friend," replied Stoneheart, with +a laugh. "We must undress; then, with the point of the _navaja_, we +will make longitudinal incisions in our breasts, our arms, thighs, and +between the fingers and toes, just deep enough to cause blood to flow. +Afterwards, we will carefully inject the liquid we have collected into +these incisions. Have you sufficient courage to inoculate yourself with +the _mikania_juice?" + +"Certainly, Fernando, though the operation will be painful. But what +good will it do us?" + +"Only the least in the world! We shall be invulnerable. We shall be +able to trample thousands of snakes under our feet; and their bites +shall do us no more harm than the prick of a pin." Stoneheart said no +more, but undressed himself, and coolly began to make incisions in +his body. Don Estevan followed his example. After slicing themselves +in this fashion, they rubbed the cuts with the juice of the creeper, +leaving the liquid time to dry in before they resumed their dress. + +"Well, that is done," said Stoneheart. "We need not keep our horses: +the poor brutes would infallibly perish, for we cannot insure them from +the serpents. We will leave them here, and pick them up when we return; +only let us hobble them well, for fear they should stray too far." + +The saddles were carefully hidden under some bushes, and the two hardy +adventurers commenced their journey on foot, trailing their rifles, +and holding in one hand a slender but tough twig of mesquite, to cut +the reptiles in two which might dispute their passage. They marched +rapidly, one behind the other, shaking the grasses on right and left +with their rods, to dislodge the snakes, and following a track left by +a numerous body of horsemen. + +Suddenly they saw a dead body before them horribly swollen and +putrified, over which they were obliged to step. + +"Ah!" said Stoneheart, "Here lies a poor wretch, who probably did not +know the uses of the guaco creeper." + +Just at that moment, a sharp hissing was heard, and a beautiful little +snake, about as thick as the little finger, and seven or eight inches +long, crept from under the corpse, raised itself upon its tail, and, +darting with wonderful rapidity, fixed itself on Stoneheart's right leg. + +"Your pardon, my good fellow," said he coolly; "you have made a +mistake!" and, seizing it by the tail, he swung it round, and crushed +its head on the ground. "It is a ribbon snake," he added; "bitten by +him, you have just eleven minutes to live. You grow first yellow, then +green; then you begin to swell, and all is over--with this exception: +you have the consolation of changing colour once more, this time from +green to black. It is odd, is it not, Estevan?" + +"_¡Caray!_" replied the latter, who could not help shuddering; "Yours +was a lucky thought, Fernando." + +"Do you think so, Estevan?" + +"By heavens! It is self-evident. Ha! Crush that coral snake coiling +round your leg!" + +"Why, really, so he is! Well, he is a gentleman who takes liberties!" +Saying this, he seized the reptile, and crushed him. "It is a lovely +country," he continued. "It is quite diverting to travel here. Halloa! +more bodies!--This time a man and horse. They have died together. Poor +brute!" + +And thus they went on all day. The farther they advanced, the more +numerous were the snakes; they met them by threes and fours together. +At intervals they found more bodies stretched across their path, +proving that they were still on the right trail, and that the Tigercat +had left the greater number of his companions on the road. With all +their courage, they could not refrain from shuddering at the frightful +spectacles they had witnessed in passing through this dreadful place. + +Suddenly Stoneheart stopped, bent his body forward, made a sign to his +friend to be still, and listened anxiously. "If I am not mistaken," he +whispered, "somebody is coming this way." + +"Someone!" exclaimed the astonished Estevan. "Impossible!" + +"And why so? We are here, and why not others?" + +"Quite right: but who can it be?" + +"We shall soon see;" and he dragged his companion behind a thick bush, +where they crouched for concealment. + +"Cock your rifle, Estevan. Who can tell whom we may have to meet?" + +The _mayor domo_ obeyed. Both kept motionless, expecting the arrival of +the individual, whose steps were now clearly distinguishable. + +During the last hour, the path our adventurers were pursuing had +gradually begun to rise, with frequent turnings--a sure proof that they +were quitting the swamps, and approaching the region which was free +from reptiles. + +Stoneheart soon saw a shadow thrown across an angle in the path, and +immediately afterwards a man appeared. Stoneheart recognised him +directly by his tall stature and long white beard. It was the Tigercat. +Stoneheart whispered a few words in his companion's ear, and, drawing +himself together, bounded at one spring into the middle of the path. +The Tigercat showed no surprise at this sudden apparition. "I was +coming to look for you," he said calmly, as he halted. + +"Then your task is finished," said Stoneheart, "for here I am." + +"No, it is not ended; for, while you show yourself in my camp, I shall +go to yours." + +"You think so?" said Stoneheart, with a mocking laugh. + +"Certainly. Do you think to bar my passage?" + +"Why not? Is it not mine to settle affairs between us?" + +"For my part, I see no reason. You are not looking for me, I suppose?" + +"You are wrong, Tigercat! I came here on purpose to seek you." + +"Me, and another person." + +"You, first of all; for we have a long account to settle." + +"We are losing time," said the Tigercat impatiently. "Listen, and try +to understand me. Doña Hermosa is close by; she expects you, for I +have promised to bring you together. She has charged me with certain +messages to her father; and on that account I must go to your camp. But +first, I will lead you to mine--a sad one: of all my followers, but +four are left; the rest are dead." + +"I know; I saw their bodies on the road. It is you who have slain +them. Why did you lead them here?" + +"Never mind. What is done cannot be undone. But time presses; will you +follow me? I wish to deal openly with you." + +"No! I do not trust you. Why have you come into this fearful place?" + +"Did you not guess, my son? Merely to be sure that my prisoner was +safe." + +"You made a mistake, for I am here." + +"Perhaps I did. But enough of this. Here, take my rifle. Tell your +friend, the barrel of whose rifle I see gleaming through the branches, +to come from behind his bush. Perchance you will not be afraid to +follow me now, when I am unarmed, and you two to one." + +Stoneheart reflected for a moment, and then said: "Come forth, Estevan!" + +His friend was at his side in a moment. + +"Keep your rifle," said Stoneheart to the Tigercat; "no one must travel +in the wilderness without weapons." + +"Thanks, Fernando," replied the old chief; "I see you have not +forgotten the old rule: a backwoodsman never quits his rifle." + +The Tigercat turned and led the way to his camp, the two others +following exactly in his footsteps. In about an hour they reached it, +pitched halfway up the Voladero, in a spacious cavern. The chief had +told the truth--only four out of all his men survived. + +"Before going farther," he said, when they got there, "I have a +condition to exact." + +"To exact!" said Stoneheart ironically, emphasizing the words. + +The Tigercat shrugged his shoulders. "At a sign from me, those men will +stab Doña Hermosa to the heart without hesitation; you see, I have the +power to exact." + +"Speak, then," said Stoneheart, trembling for her sake. + +"I will leave you here alone with Doña Hermosa. I, your friend, and my +four comrades, will leave the Voladero at once. In two days, and not +before, you will quit the mountain, and come to your camp, where you +will find me." + +"Why do you impose this condition?" + +"You have nothing to do with that: is it so hard, that you will not +submit to it? But, briefly, I do not choose to explain; answer--yes or +no. Except on this condition you shall not see Doña Hermosa." + +"How do I know whether she is still alive?" + +"What good would it have done me to kill her?" + +Stoneheart hesitated for a moment. "I accept the conditions," said he +at last; "I will stay here two days." + +"Good! Now go to her; as for us we will leave you." + +"One instant longer! My friend--will you be answerable for his safety? +I know I can trust your word." + +"I swear to you, I will look upon him as my own friend as long as he +remains with me, and you shall find him safe and sound in the camp." + +"Enough. Farewell, Estevan; console Don Pedro, and tell him on what +conditions his daughter has been restored." + +"I will tell them to him myself," said the Tigercat, his mouth +contorted with a strange expression. + +Stoneheart and Don Estevan bade each other farewell; then the former +rapidly approached the cavern, while the Tigercat, his four followers, +and the _mayor domo_, went down the path into the plains. On reaching +the nearest trees, the Tigercat halted for a moment, and turned to the +cavern into which Stoneheart had just entered. "Aha!" he exclaimed, +with a sinister smile, and rubbing his hands with delight; "At last I +am sure of my revenge!" + +He followed his companion, and they were soon lost to sight, behind the +intervening foliage. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +EL VOLADERO DE LAS ÁNIMAS. + + +We have already said that Don Fernando Carril, or Stoneheart, had +passed the greater part of his life in the wilderness. Brought up +by the Tigercat in the perilous calling of a bee-hunter, chance had +occasionally brought him, most unwillingly we confess, to the district +in which he now found himself. Thus he was well acquainted with the +Voladero de las Ánimas, even to its inmost recesses. He had often +sought shelter in the cavern where Doña Hermosa was now a prisoner, and +found it again without difficulty, although the access to it was so +well masked by certain features of the mountain, that any other would +have been some time in discovering it. The cavern, one of the greatest +curiosities of this part of the country; contains several chambers, +extending far into the hill, and two broad passages, which terminate +in two apertures, like gigantic windows, exactly under the peak of +the Voladero, where they hang at a height of a thousand feet over +the plain; the conformation of the mountain being so singular that, +looking down from them, nothing is to be seen but the tops of the trees +below. + +Stoneheart entered the cavern, which by another remarkable peculiarity, +was lighted throughout its whole extent by innumerable fissures in the +rock, admitting sufficient daylight to enable objects to be perceived +at a distance of twenty or twenty-five paces. He was very restless; +the conditions imposed by Tigercat depressed his spirit to a degree +he could not shake off. He could not help asking himself why the old +chief had insisted on his remaining two days with Doña Hermosa on the +mountain before he rejoined the camp. He suspected some treachery in +these conditions; but of what kind? That was the riddle he could not +solve. + +He walked slowly through the cavern, looking right and left in the +hope of finding her; and, for more than half an hour, could see no +indications of her presence. + +The sun was already disappearing below the horizon when Stoneheart had +issued from the forest; the cavern, sombre enough in the daytime, was +at this hour in almost total darkness; so he retraced his steps, to +obtain a light for the purpose of resuming a search which otherwise +the obscurity rendered impossible. On reaching the entrance to the +cavern, he availed himself of the last gleam of daylight to look about +him. Some torches of ocote wood were carefully arranged close to the +entrance. Producing flint and steel, he speedily procured a light; and, +arming himself with a kindled torch, again made his way into the cave. +He traversed several chambers without success: and had begun to suspect +that the Tigercat had duped him, when he perceived a faint glimmer at +some distance in advance of him, which gradually approached, until its +light was sufficient to reveal the form of Doña Hermosa. + +She too held a torch in her hand. She was walking with a slow and +unsteady step, her head sunk on her breast, in an attitude of poignant +sorrow. Doña Hermosa came nearer and nearer, till she was within fifty +paces of Stoneheart. Uncertain how to attract her attention, he was +on the point of calling to her, when she chanced to raise her head. +On seeing a man before her, she stopped, and haughtily demanded: "Why +have you entered this corridor? Have you forgotten that your chief has +forbidden anyone to enter it and annoy me?" + +"Forgive me, señorita," replied Stoneheart gently; "the order was +unknown to me." + +"Heavens!" cried she; "That voice! Is it a a dream?" She dropped +her torch, and hastened to approach Stoneheart, who likewise rushed +towards her. "Don Fernando!" she exclaimed; "Don Fernando here, in +this horrible den! Great God! what further evil is at hand? Have I not +suffered enough yet?" + +Overcome by emotion, she lost all consciousness, and sank, fainting, +into the arms of Stoneheart. Alarmed at the occurrence, and not knowing +how to recall her to her senses, he hurried her back to the entrance to +the cavern, hoping that the fresh air might restore her. He placed her +carefully on a heap of dry leaves, and left her to herself. Stoneheart +was a man whose courage reached the verge of temerity. A hundred times +he had looked death in the face with a smile; but when he saw the girl +lying before him, her features rigid, and pale as death, he trembled +like a child; a cold sweat broke out over his forehead, and tears--the +first he had ever shed--rolled down his face. + +"My God, my God!" he exclaimed; "I have killed her!" + +"Who speaks?" said Doña Hermosa in feeble accents, the current of air +rushing into the cave having somewhat revived her. "Do I really hear +Don Fernando? Can it be he?" + +"It is I; it is indeed I, Hermosa. Collect yourself, and forgive me +for causing this sudden fright." + +"I am not alarmed," she answered; "on the contrary, your presence +relieves me, Don Fernando, if your appearance in this dreadful place +augurs no new misfortune." + +"Calm yourself, señorita," he said, drawing gently near her; "I am no +omen of evil; I bring good tidings." + +"Why seek to deceive me, my friend? Are not you too a prisoner of the +monster in human shape who has kept me captive so long?" She rose; the +colour returned to her cheeks. She extended her hand to Stoneheart, +who, kneeling, clasped it in both his own, and covered it with kisses. +"Now we shall no longer be alone; we shall suffer together," she said, +fixing an earnest look upon him. + +"Dearest Hermosa, your sufferings are at an end; I do indeed bring you +good tidings." + +"What is it you say, Don Fernando? Your words are incomprehensible. How +can you talk of good tidings, while we are both in the power of the +Tigercat." + +"No, señorita; you are no longer in his power." + +"Free!" she exclaimed in ecstasy; "Is it possible O my father! My +father! I shall see you once more!" + +"You shall see him very soon, Hermosa. Your father is not far hence, +with all you love--Don Estevan and Ña Manuela." + +Doña Hermosa fell on her knees, with an expression on her face +impossible to describe. Lifting her clasped hands to heaven, she +uttered a long, silent, and fervent prayer. + +Stoneheart gazed upon her with reverential admiration. The sudden +transition from sorrow and despair to this excess of joy excited him +infinitely. He felt intensely happy--happier than he had ever known +himself before. + +When Doña Hermosa rose from her knees, she had regained her calmness. +"And now, Don Fernando," she said in gentle accents, "as we are really +free, let us sit down outside the cave. Tell me all that has happened +since I was torn away from my father." + +They left the cavern, and sat down, side by side, on the green turf, +canopied by the night, which hung cool and odorous above them; and +Stoneheart began his story. It lasted a long time; for Doña Hermosa +frequently interrupted him, to make him repeat details concerning Don +Pedro, and night had sped away before the recital ended. "It is your +turn, señorita," said Stoneheart, as soon as he had finished. "You +have now to relate what has happened to you." + +"As for me," she replied, with a charming smile, "the month has passed +in sorrowful thoughts of those from whom I was torn. But I must be +just enough to confess, that the man who bore me away treated me +with respect--nay, on several occasions he sought to console me and +alleviate my grief, by holding out hopes of my soon seeing those whom I +love so dearly." + +"The Tigercat's conduct is incomprehensible," said Stoneheart +thoughtfully. "Why did he carry you off, when he has restored you to us +again with so little demur?" + +"It is strange," said she; "what could his object be? But I am tree! +Thank Heaven, I shall see my father again!" + +"Tomorrow we will go to him." + +Doña Hermosa looked at him in surprise. + +"Tomorrow!" she exclaimed; "Why not today? Why not at once?" + +"Alas!" said he, "I have sworn not to leave this place until tomorrow! +The Tigercat would only restore you to liberty on this condition." + +"How singular! Why should that man wish to keep us here?" + +"I will tell you the reason!" cried Don Estevan, suddenly appearing +before them. + +"Estevan!" they exclaimed, rushing towards him. + +"What happy chance brings you here?" asked Stoneheart. + +"It is no chance, brother. God has permitted me to overhear words +spoken by the Tigercat, which have given me as clear an insight into +his plans as if he himself had revealed them." + +"Explain your words, Estevan?" + +"Yesterday, when I left you, Fernando, you turned your steps to the +cavern, while we retraced ours to the forest. I know not why, but my +heart was heavy, and I felt loth to quit you. I could not help fancying +that the Tigercat's urbanity covered some deadly purpose against you. +So I went slowly down the hill. I happened to turn when I reached the +forest, and saw that the chief had ceased to follow us. He had halted a +few paces from me. He was rubbing his hands with ferocious delight; his +eyes were earnestly fixed on the cave, and I distinctly heard him utter +these words: 'At last I am sure of my revenge!' It was like a sudden +gleam of light; the diabolical plan the monster had conceived started +forth in all its hideousness. Don Fernando, you remember how we became +acquainted?" + +"I do, Estevan; the remembrance is too near for me to forget it." + +"You recollect your conversation on the island with the Tigercat, which +I overheard? The insinuations of the man? The implacable hatred to Don +Pedro he openly avowed?" + +"I recollect it all, Estevan; but to what does it lead?" + +"To this, Fernando: the Tigercat, despairing to reach Don Pedro +himself, endeavours to strike him through his daughter. Hence the +long-concocted plan in which he has made you an involuntary accomplice. +You love Doña Hermosa; you have done everything to save her; he +proposes to restore her to you on the simple condition of remaining two +days here in her company: do you understand me now?" + +"It is frightful!" indignantly exclaimed Stoneheart. + +Doña Hermosa covered her face with her hands to conceal her tears. + +"Forgive the pain I have caused you," continued Estevan. "I wished to +save you from yourselves; and I could only do so by bluntly laying +his machinations open before you. The question is now, whence this +inveterate hatred to Don Pedro? Satan alone can tell. But let us not +mind that; his plans are unmasked; we have nothing to fear from him." + +"Thanks, Estevan," said Doña Hermosa, holding out her hand. + +"But how were you able to return?" cried Stoneheart. + +"Easily enough. I had nothing to do but to tell the Tigercat plainly +that I did not choose to travel in his company any longer. Our man was +thunderstruck at my deliberate desertion; but found no words to oppose +me. As for me, I had nothing more to say, so, at the first turn of the +road, I left him." + +"It was a capital idea, Estevan, and I thank you heartily. But now, +what are we to do? I have given my word." + +"Nonsense, Fernando! You must be mad. Are we obliged to keep promises +which have only been extorted from us to do us harm? If you take my +advice, you will leave this place instantly, to thwart any new plots +this man may brew." + +"True, true!" cried Doña Hermosa. "Estevan, you are right. We will +follow your counsel, and go." + +"Let us go," said Stoneheart, "since you wish it. As for me, there is +nothing I should like better than to leave this accursed cavern. But +how are we to get Doña Hermosa through the forest?" + +"In the same way I crossed it before," she said firmly. + +"How was that?" cried Estevan. + +"On a kind of litter, which ought to be here still. It was carried on +men's shoulders. You know, the snakes do not spring very high." + +"And we will wrap you in a buffalo hide, so that you will be safe from +all danger." + +Don Estevan went in search of the litter, and soon found it, while +Stoneheart got the buffalo hide ready. All was prepared in a few +minutes. + +"We have not broken the conditions of the treaty," said Estevan to his +friend. + +"How so?" + +"Did you not agree to meet the chief at the camp today, and not before?" + +"I did; and it would have been impossible to do so, had we remained +here the stated time." + +"Well, who knows whether the Tigercat did not take that into account +too?" replied Estevan. + +This observation gave our three personages ample food for reflection; +and they began their journey without any further attempt at +conversation. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +THE HAND OF GOD. + + +We will now return to the hacendero and the Mexican encampment. When +Don Pedro awoke in the morning, Ña Manuela reported Stoneheart's +departure in company with her son. + +"I feared something of the sort," said Don Pedro sighing; "Don Fernando +was so preoccupied last night. I am glad your son has gone with him, +Manuela, for it is a perilous expedition. God grant they may bring me +back my daughter! Yet I cannot help thinking it would have been better +to have consulted me before they left. We have here twenty bold men, +who would certainly have been able to do more than two unsupported men, +however brave they may be." + +"I am of a different opinion," replied Ña Manuela. "Surprises are +the chief element of wars in the wilderness, and two men can often +succeed by means of their apparent weakness, which allows them to pass +unnoticed, when numbers would fail. However, they will not be long +absent, and we shall have certain news of the _niña_." + +"Please God they be good! Manuela, if I should lose my daughter, in +addition to my former woes, I could not survive it." + +"Drive away these sombre thoughts, señor; Providence watches over us +all. I hope we shall not be abandoned in our affliction." + +"After all," said Don Pedro, "as we are forced to remain inactive, we +must exert our patience till our stragglers return." + +The day passed without any incident worthy of record. El Zapote, who +had gone hunting at daybreak, returned with an elk. + +The next day, about ten in the morning, an unarmed Indian presented +himself before the sentries, demanding speech of Don Pedro. The latter +ordered him to be brought forward. The redskin was an Apache, of +cunning features and reckless manner. Brought into the presence of the +hacendero, who at that moment was talking to the _capataz,_ he stood +motionless and with downcast eyes, waiting with the cold impassiveness +characteristic of his race, till they should speak to him. The +hacendero scrutinised him attentively. The Indian was perfectly +indifferent to the scrutiny. + +"What does my brother want? What is his name?" asked don Pedro. + +"El Zopilote is an Apache brave," replied the redskin; "the _sachem_ of +his tribe sends him to the chief of the palefaces." + +"I am the chief of the palefaces. Tell your mission to me." + +"Hear what the Tigercat says," replied the immoveable Apache. + +"The Tigercat!" exclaimed Don Pedro greatly astonished; "What can he +want of me?" + +"If my father will listen, El Zopilote will tell him." + +"I will listen. Speak Zopilote." + +"Thus says the Tigercat: a cloud has arisen between the Tigercat and +the chief of the palefaces, who have come into the hunting grounds of +my tribe. As the beneficent rays of the sun disperse the clouds that +obscure the heavens, so, if wise paleface will smoke the calumet of +peace with the Tigercat, the cloud between them will disappear, and the +war hatchet be buried so deep, that it shall not be found again for a +thousand moons and ten. I have said: I await the answer of my father +with the beard of snow." + +"Indian!" replied Don Pedro, in accents of sadness, "Your chief has +done me much harm, yet I know not the cause of his hatred to me. But +Heaven forbid I should reject his proposal, if he entertains the wish +to end the difference existing between us. Bid him come; and say I am +ready to offer reparation for injury I may have done him without my +will or knowledge." + +The Apache listened with evident attention to the words of the +hacendero. When the latter ceased, he answered: "_Wagh!_ My father has +spoken well. Wisdom has taken up her abode in him. The chief will come; +but who will insure his safety when in the camp of the palefaces,--he +alone, with twenty _Yarri_ (Spanish) braves around him!" + +"My word of honour, redskin; my word of honour,--which is worth more +than all your chief could give me," said Don Pedro haughtily. + +"My father's word is good; his tongue is not forked. The Tigercat asks +no more; he will come." + +Having uttered these words with Indian emphasis, the Apache warrior +bowed profoundly, and retired with the same quiet step which marked his +coming. + +"What do you think of that Luciano?" said Don Pedro, as soon as they +were alone. + +"By Heavens, señor! I think it conceals some Indian devilry. I fear the +white who changes his colour, and turns redskin, a hundred times words +than the true Indian. I never liked chameleons." + +"Right, Luciano! But we are placed in a difficult position. Before +all things I must have my daughter; for her sake I must overlook many +things." + +"True, señor! Nevertheless, you know as well as I, that the Tigercat is +a miscreant without faith or honour. Do not trust him too far." + +"I am obliged to trust him. Have I not given my word?" + +"You have," growled the _capataz;_ "but I have not given mine!" + +"Be cautious, Luciano; and, above all things, do not excite his +suspicions." + +"Make yourself easy on that score, señor. Your honour is as dear to me +as my own; but I dare not leave you without means of defence, though it +please you to trust yourself with a wretch as determined as he." + +With these words, the _capataz_ cut short the conversation, and left +the _jacal_, to prevent further remarks from his master. "Ha!" said he, +as he met El Zapote; "You are the very man I want, my friend!" + +"Me, _capataz!_ That is capital! What is to be done?" + +"Come with me a while," replied the _capataz;_ "I must tell you the +matter where we cannot be overheard." + +An hour later,--that is to say, a little after eleven in the +morning,--the Tigercat arrived at the camp, as El Zopilote had +asserted. The chief was dressed as a _gambucino_, and carried no +weapons--at least, none were visible. + +As soon as the sentinels recognised him, they allowed him to pass, and +led him to the _capataz_, who was walking backwards and forwards. The +Tigercat cast a scrutinising look around him the moment he entered the +camp. Everything seemed in its usual state, and the chief saw nothing +to excite suspicion. He approached the _capataz_. + +"What do you want here?" asked Don Luciano roughly. + +"I wish to speak to Don Pedro de Luna," quickly replied the Tigercat. + +"Good! Follow me; he expects you." + +Without further ceremony, the _capataz_ led him to the _jacal_. +"Enter," said he; "you will find Don Pedro there." + +"Who is there?" said a voice from within. + +"Señor," replied the _capataz_, "it is the Indian who asked the favour +of a conversation with the chief. Come, enter!" he added, addressing +the Tigercat. + +The latter made no observation, but went into the _jacal_ with the +_capataz_. + +"You asked to speak with me," began Don Pedro. + +"I did," said the chief in a gloomy tone; "but with you alone." + +"This man is one of my oldest servants; he has my entire confidence." + +"What I have to say must be told to no other ears than yours." + +"Retire, Luciano," said don Pedro; "but remain near at hand." + +The _capataz_ cast a look of rage at the Tigercat, and left the _jacal_ +grumbling. + +"Now that we are alone," said Don Pedro, "you can speak openly to me." + +"I intend to do so," said the chief in harsh accents. + +"Are you come to speak of my daughter?" + +"Of her and others," replied the Tigercat in the same tone. + +"All this is a mystery, chief; explain!" + +"It will not be long before I do so; for I have longed, panted for the +opportunity to meet you face to face. Look at me well, Don Pedro; do +you not recognise me?" + +"I believe I never saw you before you received me as a guest in the +_teocali_." + +The chief laughed savagely. "Have years changed me so much? Has the +name of Tigercat obliterated my own so thoroughly that that too is +forgotten? As Don Guzman de Ribera became Don Pedro de Luna, why should +not Don Leoncio de Ribera become the Tigercat, brother?" + +"What words are these?" exclaimed Don Pedro, rising in terror. "What +name have you uttered?" + +"I have said that which is," coldly answered the chief. "The name I +utter is mine." + +Don Pedro gazed at him with pitiful regret. "Unhappy man!" he sighed; +"How have you fallen so low?" + +"You are wrong, brother," replied the Tigercat, with a sneer; "on the +contrary, I have risen to be the _sachem_ of an Indian tribe. Long, +long have I waited for my revenge! Twenty years I have watched; but +today I have it--today it is complete!" + +"Your revenge, miserable man!" answered Don Pedro indignantly; "What +revenge would you against me?--you, who attempted to seduce my wife; +you, who sought to slay me; and who, lastly, to crown your infamy, have +borne away my daughter!" + +"You forget to name your son, whom I also carried away,--your sin, Don +Fernando Carril, in whom I have contrived to excite a passion for his +sister, and who has been these two days alone with her at the Voladero +de las Ánimas. Aha! Don Guzman, what say you to that revenge?" + +"Woe, woe!" exclaimed Don Pedro, wringing his hands in his despair. + +"Brother and sister in love with each other; licensed by you, Don +Guzman, and married by me! Aha!" and he burst into a horrid laugh, that +sounded like the howl of the hyena. + +"It is too horrible," cried Don Pedro, in the depths of despair. "It +is a lie, wretch! Bandit as you are, you dare not meditate a crime so +terrible! You are but a boasting miscreant! Your tale cannot be true; +to believe it, would be to doubt the justice of Heaven!" + +"You do not believe my words, brother?" replied the Tigercat in a +sarcastic tone. "As you please. Here come your children; I hear them +entering the camp; ask them." + +Don Pedro, half-mad with grief, was rushing out of the _jacal_ when +Stoneheart, Doña Hermosa, and Don Estevan appeared at the entrance: the +unhappy father was stopped by the shock. + +"Look!" said the Tigercat, with his usual sneer; "Look how he receives +his children! Is that his love?" + +Doña Hermosa had thrown herself into her father's arms, and tearfully +embraced him; without seeing the Tigercat. "My father, my father!" she +cried; "God be praised that I see you once more!" + +"Who speaks of God here?" said Don Pedro in a hollow voice, and shaking +off his daughter, who tottered from him. + +Doña Hermosa looked round in affright. Pale and trembling, she would +have fallen, if Stoneheart had not hastened to support her. + +"Look, how they love each other!" sneered the Tigercat. "It is +touching! Don Fernando, throw your arms around your father;" and he +pointed to Don Pedro. + +"He my father!" cried Stoneheart, overjoyed; "Oh, it would be too much +happiness!" + +"Yes," said the Tigercat; "Don Pedro is your father, and here is your +sister!" As he said this, he pointed to Doña Hermosa and again burst +into a diabolical laugh. + +The two young people were thunderstruck. Don Pedro, whose nervous +system had received a violent shock from the first revelation, felt his +reason deserting him. He seemed neither to see nor hear, and to take no +notice of the strange scene enacting around him. The Tigercat exulted +in his triumph. Don Estevan, alarmed at the hacendero's state, thought +it high time to interfere. "Don Pedro," said he in a loud voice and +forcibly laying his hand on the old man's shoulder, "collect yourself; +this miscreant is a liar! Your children are worthy of your name. I was +with them at the Voladero." + +Don Pedro seemed to make a mighty effort to resume his grasp on +the senses which were leaving him. His body underwent a terrible +convulsion. He turned his face towards Stoneheart, and a heavy sigh +burst from his heart; then tears flowed down his venerable cheeks, and +he cried in feeble accents, as he fell on the breast of his son, "Yours +is the truth, Estevan; the truth, the truth!" + +"I swear it, Don Pedro!" was the solemn reply. + +"Thanks, thanks! I knew the miscreant lied. My children--" + +The two young people threw themselves into his arms, and loaded him +with caresses. + +The Tigercat, with his arms crossed on his chest, looked on with his +sardonic leer, and said ironically: "They love each other, brother; let +them marry." + +"They have a right to do so!" exclaimed a ringing voice. All turned in +amazement. Ña Manuela had entered the _jacal_. "Yes," said she, turning +with an air of mockery to the Tigercat, who stood appalled, he knew not +why, at the sudden apparition; "the day of judgment has come at last! +I have waited for it patiently; but justice shall be done, and it is I +whom God has chosen to manifest his power!" + +All present gazed with admiration and respect at the woman, who seemed +completely transfigured. Her face was radiant; her eyes flashed +lightning. With calm and imposing steps, she approached the hacendero. +"Don Pedro! my much-loved master," said she in a voice scarcely +intelligible from emotion; "forgive me! I have made you suffer, oh, +how long! But God inspired me! It is He, and only He, who dictated my +conduct. Don Fernando is not your son; he is mine! Your son"--and she +brought forward Don Estevan--"is here!" + +"Don Estevan!" cried all present. + +"A lie!" howled the Tigercat + +"It is the truth," briefly replied Ña Manuela. "Hatred is blind, Don +Leoncio. You took away the poor nurse's child when you thought you had +stolen your brother's. Look at Estevan, all you who knew his mother, +and deny, if you dare, that he is her son." + +In truth, the likeness was striking. Up to the time, Estevan's position +had blinded their eyes; there was no reason to seek for a resemblance +to anyone: but now, when the veil had fallen, they recognised whence he +sprung. + +"But you will always be my mother!" cried Estevan, with much feeling. + +"Mother!" exclaimed Fernando, throwing himself into her arms. + +Don Pedro's joy knew no bounds. + +The Tigercat, forced to confess himself foiled, uttered a howl like a +wild beast. "Aha!" cried he, beside himself with rage, "Is it to be +thus? But it is not over yet!" He drew a poniard from his garments, and +threw himself with all his force on Don Pedro, who, in his joy, had +forgotten his presence. + +But an eye watched him. Don Luciano had stolen into the _jacal_, and +noiselessly placed himself behind the bandit, whose every movement he +carefully watched. As the Tigercat made his spring, he threw his arms +around him, and pinioned him, in spite of the desperate efforts made +by the miserable wretch. At the same moment, the _vaquero_ bounded +into the _jacal_, knife in hand, and, before anyone could arrest him, +plunged it up to the hilt in his throat. "Not bad;" he exclaimed. "The +opportunity was too good to lose! My _navajada_ was never given so +fairly! I hope this blow will gain me pardon for the others." + +The Tigercat remained standing a moment, swaying hither and thither, +like a half-uprooted oak tottering to its fall. He rolled his eyes +around him, in which rage still strove with the agony that made them +haggard. He made one last effort to pronounce a terrible malediction, +but his mouth contracted horribly; a stream of dark blood spouted from +his yawning throat; he fell at his full length on the ground, where +he writhed for a moment like a crushed reptile, to the inconceivable +horror of the spectators. Then all was still: he was dead; but on his +face, distorted by the death pang, unutterable hatred survived the life +which had just quitted him. + +"Justice is done," said Manuela, with trembling accents. "It is the +hand of God!" + +"Let us pray for him," said Don Pedro, falling on his knees. + +All present, impressed by this noble and simple action, followed his +example, and knelt by his side. + +The _vaquero_, having finished his part in the scene, thought +it prudent to disappear, but not without exchanging a glance of +intelligence with the _capataz_, who smiled grimly under his gray +moustache. + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44399 *** diff --git a/44399-h/44399-h.htm b/44399-h/44399-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c45edd4 --- /dev/null +++ b/44399-h/44399-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,8490 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Stoneheart, by Gustave Aimard</title> + <style type="text/css"> + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; +} + +p { + margin-top: .51em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .49em; +} + +.p2 {margin-top: 2em;} +.p4 {margin-top: 4em;} +.p6 {margin-top: 6em;} + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; +} + +hr.tb {width: 45%;} +hr.chap {width: 65%} +hr.full {width: 95%;} + +hr.r5 {width: 5%; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;} +hr.r65 {width: 65%; margin-top: 3em; margin-bottom: 3em;} + +table { + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; +} + + .tdl {text-align: left;} + .tdr {text-align: right;} + .tdc {text-align: center;} + +.blockquot { + margin-left: 5%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + +a:link {color: #800000; text-decoration: none; } + +v:link {color: #800000; text-decoration: none; } + +.center {text-align: center;} + +.right {text-align: right;} + +.caption {font-weight: bold;} + +/* Footnotes */ +.footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + +.footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + +.footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + +.fnanchor { + vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: + none; +} + + hr.pg { width: 100%; + margin-top: 3em; + margin-bottom: 0em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + height: 4px; + border-width: 4px 0 0 0; /* remove all borders except the top one */ + border-style: solid; + border-color: #000000; + clear: both; } + </style> +</head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44399 ***</div> +<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, Stoneheart, by Gustave Aimard, Translated by +Lascelles Wraxall</h1> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<table border="0" style="background-color: #ccccff;margin: 0 auto;" cellpadding="10"> + <tr> + <td valign="top"> + Note: + </td> + <td> + Images of the original pages are available through + the Bodleian Libraries, Univerity of Oxford. See + <a href="http://dbooks.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/books/PDFs/600061818.pdf"> + http://dbooks.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/books/PDFs/600061818.pdf</a> + </td> + </tr> +</table> +<p> </p> +<hr class="pg" /> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<h1>STONEHEART</h1> + +<h3>BY</h3> + +<h2>GUSTAVE AIMARD</h2> + +<h4>AUTHOR OF "BEE-HUNTERS," "SMUGGLER CHIEF," ETC., ETC.</h4> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<h5>LONDON,</h5> + +<h5>CHARLES HENRY CLARKE, 13 PATERNOSTER ROW.</h5> + +<h5>1874</h5> + + + +<hr class="full" /> +<h5>CONTENTS.</h5> + +<div class="center" style="font-size: 0.8em;"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="right">I.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">SYMPATHY</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="right">II.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">THE VIRGIN FOREST</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="right">III.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">DON TORRIBIO QUIROGA</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="right">IV.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">LA TERTULIA (THE PARTY)</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="right">V.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">THE AMBUSH</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="right">VI.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">SAN LUCAR</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="right">VII.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">THE ATTACK ON THE PRESIDIO</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="right">VIII.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">DISGRACE</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="right">IX.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">THE PRISONER</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="right">X.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">THE CAMP OF THE REDSKINS</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="right">XI.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">THE RENEGADE</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="right">XII.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">WOMAN'S WILL</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="right">XIII.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">PALEFACE VERSUS REDSKIN</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="right">XIV.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">THE CATASTROPHE</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="right">XV.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">ONE MONTH LATER</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="right">XVI.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">PREPARATIONS FOR THE CHASE</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="right">XVII.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">THE CHASE</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="right">XVIII.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">EL VOLADERO DE LAS ÁNIMAS</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="right">XIX.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">THE HAND OF GOD</a></td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h4><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I.</a></h4> + +<h3>SYMPATHY.</h3> +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p>Sympathy is a feeling admitting neither analyzation nor discussion. +It masters us, whether we will or no. Persons we meet unconsciously +attract or repel us at first sight. And why? It is a question +impossible to answer, but the fact is indubitable. An irresistible +magnetic influence draws us towards people whom, if we listened to the +promptings of self-interest, we ought to shun; while, on the other +hand, the same influence compels us to avoid others, in whom this very +interest should induce us to confide.</p> + +<p>And it is an extraordinary fact, well worthy of remark, that this +intuition, acting in opposition to our reasoning powers, seldom if ever +misleads us. Sooner or later we are forced to acknowledge as right +what to the prejudiced eyes of the world appeared erroneous, and find +that our sympathy, far from deceiving, has only led us to the truth.</p> + +<p>The result of this sympathy and antipathy are so palpable, so many +persons have experienced the effects of this mysterious influence, that +it would be superfluous for us to linger longer over the topic.</p> + +<p>Don Estevan and Stoneheart had become acquainted under circumstances +which might have induced enmity between them, or, at all events, made +them indifferent to each other: the reputation of the bee-hunter, +and the singular life he led, were ample reasons why the young +and straightforward <i>mayor domo</i> of Don Pedro de Luna should feel +himself repelled by them; and yet a diametrically opposite effect was +produced without the two young men knowing why, and they suddenly +felt themselves friends, bound together, not by one of those vapid +sentimentalities so common in civilised life in Europe, where the +word "friend" means no more than a mere acquaintance, and is one of +the titles most easily and constantly profaned, but by the strong, +true feeling, admitting neither limit nor reasoning, which shoots up +so strongly in a few hours that it engrosses an immense part of the +existence of those of whom it has taken possession.</p> + +<p>They had never seen each other before their casual encounter in the +road to San Lucar, and yet they seemed to have known each other for +ages, and now only to have met again after a long parting.</p> + +<p>Singular to say, the same effect was produced on both at the same +moment, without calculation or reservation.</p> + +<p>What we have asserted is so true, that Don Estevan, notwithstanding +the innate prudence of his character, had not hesitated to confide to +Stoneheart, on the spur of the moment, the history of his master, or, +to speak more correctly, his benefactor. He had recounted this history +in all its details, without disguising anything, or omitting a title, +induced to act as he did by the secret presentiment which apprised him +that he had found a man worthy of sharing the burden of this important +secret.</p> + +<p>The course of this tale will furnish us with still stronger proofs of +the singular confidence these two men had instantly felt for each other.</p> + +<p>The sun was setting in a flood of purple and gold behind the snowy +crests of the lofty and jagged mountains of the Sierra Madre, when Don +Estevan ceased speaking.</p> + +<p>The landscape assumed that garb of placid melancholy in which it +clothes itself at the approach of eve; the birds came flying in +countless flocks, to nestle, twittering, under the leafy boughs of the +grand old trees. <i>Vaqueros</i> and <i>peones</i>, galloping in all directions, +mustered the cattle, and drove them towards the <i>hacienda</i>; and in the +distance appeared a camp of <i>arrieros</i>, whose watch fires already began +to tinge the rapidly darkening sky with a ruddy glow.</p> + +<p>"And now," resumed Don Estevan, "having acquired as intimate a +knowledge as my own of the secrets of the family with whom chance has +brought you into contact, what do you intend to do?"</p> + +<p>"First, and before all a single word," answered Stoneheart.</p> + +<p>"Say on; you must indeed have many things to confide to me in your +turn."</p> + +<p>"Not so many as you think. You already know as much of my life as I do +myself; that is to say, almost nothing. But that is not the question +between us at present."</p> + +<p>"What can it be, then?" said Don Estevan, unable to repress his +curiosity.</p> + +<p>"I am about to tell you. Surely you have not told me this long and +interesting tale with the sole purpose of satisfying a curiosity I +never exhibited; there must be some other motive in your thoughts, +and I think I have guessed it. Don Estevan Diaz, two bold men, bound +to each other as closely as the ivy and the oak, with thoughts running +in the same channel, with but one will between them,—two such men +are mighty; for the one forms the complement to the other, and what +each alone would not dare to essay, the two will undertake without +hesitation, and be almost certain to succeed, however hazardous and +rash their projects may seem. Are you of the same way of thinking?"</p> + +<p>"Most surely, Don Fernando; I am entirely of the same opinion."</p> + +<p>A flash of joy illumined the face of the bee-hunter. "Good!" said he, +stretching out his arm; "Here is my hand, Don Estevan; it belongs to a +man who, with his hand, offers you a loyal and honest heart, whatever +may be said to the contrary: will you accept them?"</p> + +<p>"<i>¡Vive Dios!</i>" eagerly exclaimed the <i>mayor domo</i>, heartily pressing +in his own the hand so frankly tendered; "I accept both one and the +other. Thanks, brother! I was on the point of making the same offer to +you; we are now one for life or death. I am yours, as the handle is to +the blade."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said Don Fernando, with a sigh of pleasure, "At last I have a +friend. I shall no longer wander through life alone: joy and sorrow, +grief and happiness,—I shall have one to whom I can confide them all."</p> + +<p>"You shall have more than one to sympathise with you, brother; you +shall have a mother too. Mine shall be yours also. Come, let us mount; +it grows late. We have still many things to talk of."</p> + +<p>"Let us go," was all the hunter answered.</p> + +<p>The horses had not strayed from the neighbourhood of the <i>rancho</i>, near +which they found abundant pasturage: the men easily <i>lassoed</i> them, and +five minutes later the friends rode side by side in the direction of +Don Estevan's dwelling.</p> + +<p>Ña Manuela was awaiting them at the entrance. She was smiling.</p> + +<p>"Make haste!" she cried, as soon as she perceived them; "the <i>angelus</i> +has rung an hour ago. It is supper time."</p> + +<p>"Which means to say, mother, that we are dying with hunger," replied +her son, dismounting; "so, if you have not prepared an ample meal, you +run great risk of leaving our appetites unappeased."</p> + +<p>"No fear of that, Estevan. I thought you would arrive in some such +condition; so I took my precautions."</p> + +<p>"Can you forgive me, madam," said the bee-hunter, "for making this +fresh inroad on your hospitality?"</p> + +<p>The mistress of the house smiled kindly.</p> + +<p>"I am so ready to forgive you, señor," said she, "that, feeling +convinced we should have you a long time with us, I have myself +arranged your <i>cuarto</i> (quarters)."</p> + +<p>Don Fernando did not reply at once: a lively blush overspread his +features; he dismounted, and approaching the old lady:</p> + +<p>"Señora," said he, much affected, "I know not how to thank you; you +have guessed the dearest wish of my heart. Your son calls me brother: +would you deign to permit me to call you mother? How happy it would +make me!"</p> + +<p>Ña Manuela fixed upon him a long and steadfast gaze: her face exhibited +tokens of vivid emotion; two tears coursed slowly down her pallid +cheeks. Then, stretching out her hand to the hunter, she said:</p> + +<p>"Be it so! Instead of one, I have now two children. Come, my sons, +supper is waiting."</p> + +<p>"My name is Fernando, mother."</p> + +<p>"I will not forget it," was her smiling answer. They entered the +dwelling, while some <i>peones</i> led away the horses to the <i>corral</i>.</p> + +<p>Don Fernando had not deceived his friend; he had in truth given him a +mother.</p> + +<p>The meal proceeded with the cheerfulness to be expected from three +persons who, although strangers three days before, had suddenly +understood and appreciated each other: that is to say, it was gay and +cordial. No allusion was made to the impromptu band which had linked +them together so intimately and unexpectedly.</p> + +<p>As soon as the <i>peones</i> had retired, and their masters found themselves +alone, they left the table, and betook themselves, as on the previous +day, to an inner room, where, sheltered from prying eyes and ears, they +ran no risk of having their conversation overheard, commented on, and +perhaps reported.</p> + +<p>"Shut the door," said Don Estevan to Don Fernando, who was the last to +enter.</p> + +<p>"Not so," replied the latter; "we will leave it open: by this means we +shall both see and hear anyone who may come near us. Take this as a +general rule: never close the door when you have secrets to tell."</p> + +<p>Don Estevan drew forward some <i>butacas</i> (seats), sat down, lit his +cigarette, and turning to the hunter, said:</p> + +<p>"Now for our talk!"</p> + +<p>There are certain situations in life where the most insignificant word +becomes of the greatest importance. So, when Don Estevan said, "Now for +our talk!" each of the three felt that the conversation to ensue would +not be confined to the limits of pleasant chat, but would almost assume +the proportions of a congress with closed doors, so extremely grave +were the matters which would be propounded.</p> + +<p>It was Don Fernando who first commenced the conversation in the decided +and clear manner which was habitual to him.</p> + +<p>"My friend, I have pondered deeply on what you told me today: you would +never have intrusted such an important secret to me, if grave reasons +had not induced you. I think I have divined your reasons; they are +these: the tranquillity which Don Pedro has enjoyed since he lived here +is menaced; you dread evil to Doña Hermosa. Are these your motives, or +am I mistaken?"</p> + +<p>"You are not. In fact, I have for some time past been oppressed by +a vague fear, a secret apprehension, I cannot subdue; I feel, as it +were, the approach of some misfortune, without knowing whence or how it +will come. Doubtless you know better than I can tell you, that in all +men's lives certain dark hours occur, in which the brave man trembles +without apparent cause, like a child afraid of its own shadow. All +things alarm, all things excite suspicion. Well, my friend, for the +last two months I have lived these dark hours: an invincible sadness +overpowers me. In a word, I am living in fear, without knowing why; +for all around me takes its usual course: Don Pedro is as calm, Doña +Hermosa as gay, as lively, and as free from care as ever; we live +in this out-of-the-way corner of the world entirely ignorant of its +doings; the rumours of society die without an echo on our threshold. +What have we, then, to fear? Who is the enemy that lies in wait for +us, and whose savage eye watches us night and day? I know not; but I +repeat, I feel him; I see him, as it were, without being really able to +discover him."</p> + +<p>"You know your enemy now, as well as I do. It is the Tigercat. The +conversation you overheard last night between him and myself must have +enlightened you as to his intention, if not as to his plans."</p> + +<p>"True; but, nevertheless, my mind refuses to admit that this man can +really be our enemy. As there can be no effects without causes, so +there can be no hate without a reason. Since Don Pedro's arrival in +this country, he has never come in contact with this man at home or +abroad, for good or for evil. Why, then, should he wish ill to my +master?"</p> + +<p>"Why! Why!" repeated the hunter, with feverish impatience. "Why does +day follow night? Why are there good and bad men? Why rascals and +honest people? The inquiry would lead you too far, my good friend. +I know as well as you that none of you have ever come in contact +with the Tigercat. It is impossible to doubt it; but what does that +signify? This man is a gloomy miscreant, the greater portion of whose +life is spent in doing evil for mere evil's sake. Don Pedro is loved +and honoured by all who know him; Doña Hermosa is respected even by +the Apaches,—the most ferocious redskins of the prairie; hence, most +likely, the hatred he bears to the family of the <i>hacendero</i>. In +such a man's eyes, no one has the right to be good and honest with +impunity; it is an obvious necessity that all loyal hearts should be +his natural enemies. A man, however low he may have fallen, can never +forget his frightful downfall, or the position from which his crimes +have hurled him; he cannot forgive the world his own abasement; but as +he cannot avenge himself upon it in the mass, he wages war upon it in +detail, attacking all those within his reach, and taking his revenge +on them for fault she has himself committed. Here lies the sole cause +of Tigercat's hatred of Don Pedro; seek no further reason; no other +exists."</p> + +<p>"Yes; you are right," answered Don Estevan uneasily; "it must be as you +say."</p> + +<p>"Of course it is! Trust in me, who have known the monster so long, as +it is he who brought me up. But enough of this: what do you intend to +do, now we have clearly ascertained our position?"</p> + +<p>"I confess I find myself greatly embarrassed, and know not how to +extricate myself from the dilemma—how to upset plans the aim of which +is beyond my ken; how to thwart projects tending to an unknown end. +There lies the difficulty for me."</p> + +<p>"I think it would be by far the best course to leave the family in +complete ignorance of our suspicions," said Ña Manuela.</p> + +<p>"Say rather our conviction, señora," replied Don Fernando. "But in +this matter I am quite of your opinion: it will be easy for us to +guard Don Pedro and his daughter so secretly that they shall not dream +of the danger which threatens them. Then, if the position grows too +complicated, we shall not be in want of pretexts to oblige them to keep +watch over their own safety."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes!" exclaimed Don Estevan excitedly;</p> + +<p>"It is most important that they should entertain no suspicion, +particularly Doña Hermosa, who is so sensitive. Poor child; if our +fears prove true, she will learn to know misfortune too soon. Come, +Fernando, counsel us; you are the only one who can aid us in this +trying emergency."</p> + +<p>"I will do all a man can do to save those you love."</p> + +<p>"Thanks. But why not save those whom you love yourself? You have +already rendered them an inestimable service."</p> + +<p>"Alas, my friend!" said the hunter, with a sigh; "What am I, the +miserable adventurer, that I should lift my thoughts so high? I am +nothing more; and can only play the part of the honest watchdog, who +saves his master and dies at his feet."</p> + +<p>He spoke these words in accents of so much sadness and humility, that +Don Estevan and his mother, moved to tears, with one accord seized his +hands, and pressed them affectionately.</p> + +<p>"Do not speak thus, brother," exclaimed the <i>mayor domo</i>; "you do not +know Doña Hermosa as we do: a more upright heart, a purer or nobler +soul, does not exist: she loves you."</p> + +<p>"Ah," said Don Fernando with emotion, "do not utter the word. Doña +Hermosa—love me—me! It is impossible."</p> + +<p>"Doña Hermosa is a woman, my good friend; you saved her life. I do not +positively know the nature of her sentiments towards you,—it is very +likely they are inexplicable to herself,—but I am convinced of her +gratitude to you; and in a young girl gratitude soon merges into love."</p> + +<p>"Silence, Estevan!" cried the old lady, interrupting him; "Such words +must not be used when speaking of your master's daughter."</p> + +<p>"Very true, mother; forgive me; I was wrong. But had you heard Doña +Hermosa speaking of our friend as I did, and exacting from me a promise +to search for and bring him to her,—<i>¡vive Dios!</i> you would not know +what to think."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps so; but, at all events, I should not have poured oil upon +the flame, and, for my own sake and that of my friend, should have +prudently locked up my thoughts at the bottom of my heart."</p> + +<p>"Do not think me so mad, señora," exclaimed Don Fernando, "as to attach +more importance than they deserve to your son's words. I know too well +what I am—I have too complete a conviction of my inferiority—to dare +to raise my venturous eyes to her whom honour compels me to respect as +one of the angels."</p> + +<p>"Well said, Don Fernando, and spoken as a man should speak," broke +in Ña Manuela; "but let us drop the subject, and occupy ourselves in +finding the means of escape from the dilemma we are in."</p> + +<p>"I think," replied the hunter, with some hesitation—"I think I can +show you the means, if you cannot contrive something better."</p> + +<p>Mother and son eagerly drew their <i>butacas</i> nearer to him, in order to +listen more attentively.</p> + +<p>"Speak, brother, speak," cried Don Estevan; "let us have no further +delay. These means, what are they?"</p> + +<p>"You must excuse me," resumed Don Fernando, "if the plan I am about to +submit to you should not be exactly compatible with the strict laws of +honour as they are understood in the civilised world; but I entreat you +to recollect that I have been brought up as a redskin; that the man +with whom we are about to enter into mortal strife is more than half +an Indian; and the war he intends to wage with you will be an Apache +war, full of treachery and ambuscades; that, in order to meet him with +advantage, we too, whatever repugnance we may feel, must employ the +same measures,—must turn his own weapons against himself; must repel +treachery by treachery, and knavery by knavery; for if, adhering to +a false idea of honour, we persist in an open and honest warfare, we +shall play the part of fools indeed, and he will outwit us."</p> + +<p>"What you say, Fernando," replied the <i>mayor domo</i>, "is unfortunately +but too true. The proverb is right, 'Cap a knave with a knave.' I +perfectly understand the bearing and the justice of your reasoning, yet +I confess that it is hard for an honest man, accustomed to look his +enemies in the face, to be forced to wrap himself in a fox's hide, and +condescend to stratagem when his heart leads him to attack openly."</p> + +<p>"But what can we do? This is one of the sad necessities of our +position. If we do not act in this wise, we may as well submit to our +foe as attempt to thwart his measures; for we should fail."</p> + +<p>"Let it be as you wish, since there is no other method; but now for +your plan."</p> + +<p>"It is this: notwithstanding the disagreement between myself and the +Tigercat, he has allowed me to dive too deep into his confidence—too +many of his secrets are known to me—for him to exhibit any rancour +against me, whatever anger he may feel. Accustomed for a number of +years to mould me to his will, and rule over me as he pleased, he +thinks he knows my character thoroughly, and is persuaded that my +dispute with him was only an outbreak of temper, and that nothing would +please me more than to place myself once again under his guidance. +Finally, like all men who have through long years cherished a chimera, +the Tigercat—who, I am convinced, has only fostered me and suffered me +in his presence for the sake of making me useful in one of his infernal +plots—will allow himself, shrewd as he is, to be overreached by me, if +I choose to take the trouble."</p> + +<p>"All this sounds plausible enough," observed Don Estevan.</p> + +<p>"I think it does. Well, then, listen to my proposal. At daybreak +tomorrow you and I will leave for the <i>presidio</i>, where I will put you +into communication with a certain rogue of my acquaintance, who is as +much devoted to me as people of his sort can be. This <i>pícaro</i> will +serve you as an agent: through him we shall learn all the Tigercat is +doing at San Lucar with the <i>leperos</i> he is enrolling for some sinister +purpose. We will then part: you to return quietly to this place; I to +rejoin the Tigercat in the prairies. In this way, whatever happens will +reach our ears. This is my project; what do you think of it?"</p> + +<p>"It is capital, Fernando; you have thought of everything."</p> + +<p>"But remember three things: first of all, whatever I may do or say, +whatever measures you may see me try, do not take offence at them; +leave me complete master of my actions, and never for a moment suspect +that I intend to betray you."</p> + +<p>"Have no uneasiness on that score; I will put no faith in the testimony +of my eyes or ears: my confidence in you shall be unalterable. And now +for your next remark."</p> + +<p>"You will instantly comprehend its importance. As soon as we have left +the <i>presidio</i>, we must be as strangers; we must know nothing of each +other."</p> + +<p>"It is indeed an important piece of advice, and I will take care to +follow it; the consequences of a single mistake would be incalculably +disastrous to us."</p> + +<p>"Lastly, be ready to act at the first signal, be it by night or day. +Never mind what you may be doing; leave everything instantly to assume +the offensive the moment the signal is given."</p> + +<p>"Good. After tomorrow, on the pretence of having certain urgent work +to be carried out at the <i>hacienda</i>, I will quietly enlist a score of +<i>leperos</i>,—hairbrained fellows,—who for gold will obey me blindly +and recoil before no danger."</p> + +<p>"The very thing! You can easily employ them here in doing nothing till +the time comes for the use of knife and rifle."</p> + +<p>"I will be answerable that no one shall make a single inquiry +concerning them. But what sort of token will you send me, and through +whom will you send it?"</p> + +<p>"The token will be a white eagle's plume broken into three pieces, and +with the quill painted red. He who brings the plume will only say the +words, 'My two piastres.' You will give them to him without remark, and +send him away again."</p> + +<p>"But who is the man, Fernando?"</p> + +<p>"He will be a stranger; most likely the first man I happen to meet. +It is requisite that the messenger should not suspect the importance +of the message he conveys, should he chance to fall into the enemy's +hands."</p> + +<p>"Well reasoned! Come, come, I think we shall get through this business +successfully."</p> + +<p>"As for me, I am sure of it," exclaimed Don Fernando, "if you will only +follow my instructions to the letter."</p> + +<p>"Do not be anxious on that score, brother; I will answer for my +accuracy."</p> + +<p>Everything having been thus arranged and decided on by our three +personages, they separated and retired to rest, for it was already +late, and the two men were to mount at daybreak to take the road to the +<i>presidio</i> of San Lucar.</p> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h4><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II.</a></h4> + +<h3>THE VIRGIN FOREST.</h3> +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p>Don Torribio Quiroga, with whom we have now to do, was a young man of +twenty-eight, with a refined and intellectual countenance, an elegant +figure, and possessing in the highest degree the manners of the best +society.</p> + +<p>He belonged to one of the richest and most considerable families in +the province of Chihuahua: the death of his parents had put him in +possession of an income of more than five hundred thousand piastres, or +about ninety thousand pounds sterling; for money is plentiful in that +country.</p> + +<p>A man in this position, and gifted with all the mental and physical +advantages enjoyed by Don Torribio, had a right to very high +pretensions; for, a certain amount of fortune once reached, obstacles +no longer exist, or, at least, are only an excitement instead of an +impediment.</p> + +<p>Don Torribio had succeeded in all his undertakings, with one exception: +his struggle against Don Fernando,—a struggle in which the latter had +always come off victorious.</p> + +<p>Thus the hatred the rich <i>hacendero</i> felt for the bee-hunter, and which +was originally based upon puerile motives, had insensibly increased +with each successive mortification, and ended at last by assuming the +alarming proportions of real Mexican hate, which only the death of its +object can appease.</p> + +<p>After the meeting with Don Fernando Carril, which resulted so +unfavourably for him, Don Torribio Quiroga remained a prey to that cold +and concentrated rage which slowly eats into the soul till it explodes +with terrific violence.</p> + +<p>As soon as he lost sight of his lucky adversary, he had started at full +speed. His spurs mangled the flanks of his luckless horse, who snorted +with pain, and redoubled his furious pace.</p> + +<p>Now, where was Don Torribio going, with distorted features and hair +streaming to the wind?</p> + +<p>He did not know himself; moreover, he did not care.</p> + +<p>He saw nothing, heard nothing. Revolving sinister projects in his +brain, he crossed torrents and ravines without checking his horse's +career.</p> + +<p>Hatred was crying aloud in his heart; nothing cooled his burning +forehead; his temples beat as if they would burst, and nervous +agitation shook him in every limb.</p> + +<p>This state of overexcitement lasted many hours. His steed still +continued to fly. At last the noble animal, worn out with fatigue, +suddenly stopped and dropped upon the sand.</p> + +<p>Don Torribio rose, and looked around him with a bewildered air.</p> + +<p>A shock like this rude fall was necessary to restore order to his +ideas, and recall him to reality. Another hour of such continued +anguish would have made him raving mad, or ended in sudden apoplexy.</p> + +<p>It was night. Thick darkness covered the earth; a mournful silence +reigned over the wilderness to which chance had brought him.</p> + +<p>"Where am I?" he exclaimed, endeavouring to make out his position.</p> + +<p>But the moon, hidden by clouds, gave forth no ray; the wind began to +roar like thunder; the branches of the trees crashed against each +other, and, from the depths of the wilderness, the growlings of the +wild beast began to mingle their deep notes with the sharper howling of +the wild cats.</p> + +<p>Don Torribio strained his eyes in vain efforts to penetrate the +darkness around him. At last he approached his horse, which was +stretched on the ground, and drawing its breath with difficulty. Moved +with pity for the faithful companion of so many adventures, he stooped +down, removed his pistols from the holsters to his belt, and taking +from the saddle, where it was slung, a gourd filled with rum, began +to wash the eyes, nostrils, and mouth of the panting animal. Half an +hour's persistence seemed to restore life to the horse. He got on his +legs, and, with his natural instinct, soon discovered a neighbouring +rill, at which he slaked his thirst.</p> + +<p>"All is not yet lost," muttered Don Torribio; "after all, I may make my +escape hence."</p> + +<p>But a deep roar resounded at a short distance, repeated immediately +afterwards in four different directions.</p> + +<p>The horse's coat stood on end; and Don Torribio felt a cold shudder run +through his veins.</p> + +<p>"Curse upon it!" he exclaimed; "I have stumbled upon a drinking place +for panthers! What is to be done?"</p> + +<p>He stooped, and found the confirmation of his fears in the footprints +stamped in the muddy borders of the rill.</p> + +<p>Just at this moment he saw, at ten paces from him, two eyes, glimmering +like burning coals, fixed upon him with strange intensity.</p> + +<p>Don Torribio was a man of well-tried courage. Many a time, before the +eyes of his comrades, he had performed deeds of wonderful temerity; but +now, alone in the darkness, and surrounded by savage animals, he felt +himself overcome by deadly terror: his chest heaved, and his breath +came and went with difficulty through his set teeth; a cold sweat broke +out on his limbs, and he was on the point of dropping.</p> + +<p>But this fit of terror did not last above a minute. By a violent effort +of his will, he collected himself, and calling all his energy to his +aid, prepared for a desperate struggle, in which he knew he must +succumb; yet, preserving that instinct of self-preservation and hope +which is seldom utterly extinguished in man, he determined to defend +his life to the last moment.</p> + +<p>Just then his horse, with a snort of horrible fear, bounded away, and +made his escape on to the plain.</p> + +<p>"So much the better," muttered Don Torribio; "perhaps the poor brute's +speed may save him."</p> + +<p>A frightful concert of yells and howling broke out in all parts +of the forest at the flight of the horse, and mighty shadows, +indistinguishable in the darkness, bounded past Don Torribio.</p> + +<p>He smiled bitterly.</p> + +<p>"Aha!" said he; "Shall I stand here to be devoured, without attempting +to escape? <i>¡Vive Dios!</i> It would be the act of a fool! Come, I am not +eaten yet: I will go."</p> + +<p>A violent gust of wind here cleared the heaven of clouds, and for some +minutes the wan light of the moon lit up the wild spot, in which Don +Torribio found himself.</p> + +<p>A few paces off, the Rio del Norte ran between two steep banks; on all +sides, and far away in the distance, the dense masses of the virgin +forest extended themselves. A chaos of rocks piled on each other in +inextricable confusion, from whose fissures rose clumps of trees +overgrown with entangled creepers drooping in fantastic garlands, +pushed its ramifications to the verge of the river; the soil, composed +of sand and the detritus always abounding in the forests of America, +crumbled under the footstep.</p> + +<p>Then Don Torribio knew where he was: at least fifteen leagues from +the nearest inhabited spot. He was entangled in the first spurs of an +immense forest—the only one throughout the country of the Apaches +which the hardy pioneers of civilization had not yet dared to explore, +such mysterious horrors seemed concealed in its dark recesses.</p> + +<p>Don Torribio took no pains to inquire how his headlong course had +brought him to this dreaded region. Danger so frightful that it claimed +the exertion of all his powers, hung too directly over his head for him +to waste time in speculating on anything save the manner of extricating +himself.</p> + +<p>At this side, the limpid steam we have mentioned issued from a rock; +its banks, impressed with numberless footprints of wild beasts, clearly +indicating that the spot was a favourite drinking place, when, at +sunset, they left their lairs to seek their food and quench their +thirst. And as a further living proof of the fact, two magnificent +jaguars, male and female, had at that very moment stopped at its +border, and were watching with restless eyes the gambols of their young.</p> + +<p>"So," said Don Torribio to himself, "here are pleasant neighbours;" and +he mechanically cast his eyes on the other side.</p> + +<p>An immense panther, crouched on a rock in the attitude of a cat on the +watch, had fixed on him two eyeballs glowing like carbuncle.</p> + +<p>Don Torribio, according to the custom in South America, never left home +without his weapons. His carbine, of great price, was of remarkable +accuracy, and by a providential chance, had not been broken when he +fell with his horse. He had placed it as he rose against a rock beside +him: he stretched out his arm, and seized it.</p> + +<p>"Good!" said he, with a grim smile; "The struggle will cost them dear, +at all events."</p> + +<p>He shouldered the weapon; but at the moment he was about to fire, a +plaintive caterwauling causing him to raise his eyes, he saw a dozen of +catamounts and tiger cats of immense size perched in the branches above +him, while a number of wolves crept stealthily up and dropped down in +the bushes behind him. Poised on the summits of the surrounding rocks, +a tribe of vultures, bald buzzards, and <i>urubus</i>, with half closed +eyes, seemed to be expecting the moment to seize their share of the +quarry.</p> + +<p>With one bound, Don Torribio threw himself on to an angle of the rock, +and from thence, by aid of his hands and knees, he contrived, in the +course of a minute or two, to drag himself with enormous difficulty, +to a kind of terrace, about twenty feet above the ground. Here he felt +himself in comparative security for a time.</p> + +<p>The horrible concert performed by the denizens of the forest, attracted +one after another by the keenness of their scent, increased in volume +with every minute, and had now reached such a pitch, that it drowned +the roar of the wind which was raging through the ravines and +clearings.</p> + +<p>The moon had disappeared behind the clouds, and Don Torribio was once +more enveloped in darkness. But if he could no longer distinguish the +wild beasts, he knew they were there: he smelt their odour; he saw +their eyes flashing through the obscurity; and their yells, nearing him +more and more, made him feel that the last spark of hope would soon be +extinguished for ever.</p> + +<p>Firmly planting his feet on the ground and leaning a little forward +to secure his aim, he drew a revolver, and fired six shots in rapid +succession at the tiger cats. Six howls of agony, and the noise +produced by falling from branch to branch, immediately followed. Six of +the beasts were killed or wounded.</p> + +<p>Nothing more horrible can be conceived than the uproar caused by this +unexpected onslaught. The wolves threw themselves yelling on the +victims, which they began to devour eagerly, disputing their booty with +the vultures and <i>zopilotes</i>, who also claimed their share.</p> + +<p>Suddenly there was a strange rustling amongst the leaves and branches +of the trees. A body, of indistinguishable shape, shot through the air, +and alighted growling on the platform. Don Torribio, clutching his +rifle, dealt the animal a terrific blow with the butt on the skull, and +the brute rolled howling from the top of the rock to the bottom.</p> + +<p>And now his ears were stunned by the uproar arising from a dreadful +combat, a few feet below him, between the jaguars and tiger cats on +one side, and the panther which had attacked them. Fascinated by the +terrible danger to which he was exposed, Don Torribio, forgetful of the +evil consequences to him that might ensue, fired two pistol shots into +the mass of foes tearing and rushing at each other's throats at his +feet.</p> + +<p>Thereupon a strange thing occurred: all these animals, natural enemies +to each other, seemed to comprehend that it would be better to unite +against man, their common foe, than waste their strength in strife +among themselves. Suddenly ceasing from the terrible combat in which +they were engaged, and abandoning, with one accord, the bloody and +half-devoured bodies of the victims, they turned their rage in the +direction of the rock on which Don Torribio seemed to set them at +defiance, and attacked it in concert with terrific energy—leaping upon +its excrescences, striving to hold on to them, and trying to escalade +it on all sides at once.</p> + +<p>The situation grew more and more critical. Several tiger cats had +already bounded on to the platform. As fast as Don Torribio knocked +them over, others took their place. The number of his enemies increased +with every minute; his own strength and energy were gradually deserting +him.</p> + +<p>This strife of one man against a host of ferocious brutes had something +grand and striking about it. Don Torribio, like one with the nightmare, +strove in vain to beat back the constantly renewed crowds of his +assailants: he felt close to him the hot and fetid breath of the tiger +cats and panthers; the roaring of the jaguars, and mocking moans of the +panthers, poured into his ears a frightful song, that deafened and made +him giddy; the eyes of thousands of his invisible foes flashed through +the obscurity, and fascinated his own gaze; and sometimes the heavy +wing of the vulture or <i>zopilote</i> brushed his cheek, from which the +cold sweat exuded.</p> + +<p>An accurate perception of his own existence had vanished from his soul; +he no longer thought: his life, if we may still use the expression, had +grown mechanical; his motions and gestures were those of a machine, and +his arm rose and fell with the dull regularity of a pendulum.</p> + +<p>Talons had already torn his flesh; several catamounts, rushing upon +him, had fastened on his throat, and he had been obliged to seize them +bodily to force them to quit their hold. His blood was streaming from +twenty wounds, superficial, it is true; but the moment was close at +hand when the energy which alone sustained him would be worn out, and +he would fall from the rock, to be torn in pieces by the brutes who +were ever pressing more madly upon him.</p> + +<p>At this solemn moment, when strength and courage were alike failing, +a last cry issued from his breast—a cry of agony, a cry of horrible +expression, which was repeated far and wide by the echoes: the last, +the final protest of a bold man, who owns himself vanquished, and +instinctively calls on his kind for succour before he falls.</p> + +<p>Wonderful to relate, a cry answered his own!</p> + +<p>Don Torribio, astonished, and not daring to believe that a miracle +was to take place in a wilderness where none before himself had dared +to penetrate, fancied his ears had deceived him; yet, confessing to +himself how little strength was still left him, and feeling hope +faintly reviving in his soul, he uttered a second cry, more poignant, +more help-seeking than the former.</p> + +<p>As soon as the echoes of the forest were silent after their repetition +of the cry, a single word, weak as a sigh, was borne to his listening +ears on the wings of the breeze: "Hope!"</p> + +<p>Don Torribio recovered himself. Electrified by the word, he seemed +to regain new life and strength, and redoubled his strokes on his +numberless assailants.</p> + +<p>Suddenly the gallop of many horses was heard in the distance, several +discharges of firearms illumined the darkness with their transient +splendour, and some men, or rather demons, rushed unexpectedly into the +thickest crowd of wild beasts, making a horrible slaughter.</p> + +<p>At this moment Don Torribio, attacked by two tiger cats, rolled upon +the platform struggling with both.</p> + +<p>In a very short time the brutes were put to flight by the newcomers, +who hastened to light fires to keep them at bay for the rest of the +night.</p> + +<p>Two of the men armed with burning torches of ocote wood, set themselves +to search for the man whose cries of distress had brought them to his +aid.</p> + +<p>They were not long in finding him stretched out on the platform, +surrounded by ten or twelve dead tiger cats, and clutching in his +stiffened hands the throat of a strangled catamount.</p> + +<p>"Well, Carlocho," exclaimed a voice, "have you found him?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied the other; "but he seems dead."</p> + +<p>"<i>¡Caray!</i>" resumed Pablito; "It would be a pity; for he was a bold +fellow. Where is he?"</p> + +<p>"There; on the rock opposite you."</p> + +<p>"Can you let him down with the <i>verado's</i> help?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing easier; he is as still as a log."</p> + +<p>"Make haste, then, in the name of heaven!" said Pablito; "Every +minute's delay may be a year's life stolen from him!"</p> + +<p>Carlocho and the <i>verado</i> lifted Don Torribio by the feet and +shoulders, and with infinite precaution carried him from the improvised +fortress he had defended so bravely to one of the fires, and laid him +on a bed of leaves prepared by El Zapote; for the four <i>vaqueros</i> were, +by a strange chance, reunited in this spot.</p> + +<p>"<i>¡Canarios!</i>" cried Pablito, at sight of the miserable man; "Poor +devil! How they have mauled him! It was high time for help."</p> + +<p>"Do you think he will recover?" asked Carlocho, with great interest.</p> + +<p>"There is always hope," said Pablito dogmatically, "when the vital +organs are uninjured. Let us look at him."</p> + +<p>He bent over the body of Don Torribio, unsheathed his poniard, and put +the blade to his lips.</p> + +<p>"Not a sign of breath!". and he shook his head.</p> + +<p>"Are his wounds serious?" asked the <i>verado</i>.</p> + +<p>"I think not: he has fallen from fatigue and overexcitement."</p> + +<p>"But in that case he may come round again?"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps he may; perhaps he may not: all depends upon the greater or +less violence of the shock to his nervous system."</p> + +<p>"Ha!" exclaimed the <i>verado</i> joyfully; "Look here! He breathes. <i>¡Vive +Dios!</i> He has tried to open his eyes!"</p> + +<p>"Then he is saved!" replied Pablito; "He will soon come to his senses. +This man has a constitution of iron. He will be able to be in the +saddle in a quarter of an hour, if he likes; but we must attend to his +wounds."</p> + +<p>The <i>vaqueros</i>, like the backwoodsmen, live far from inhabited places; +and are obliged to be their own doctors; hence they acquire a certain +practical knowledge of surgery, and are adepts in the collection and +application of the herbs in use among the Indians.</p> + +<p>Pablito, aided by Carlocho and the <i>verado</i>, bathed the wounds of Don +Torribio, first with water, then with rum, and blew tobacco smoke into +his nostrils.</p> + +<p>The latter, after some minutes of this strange treatment, uttered a +scarcely perceptible sigh, moved his lips slightly, and at last opened +his eyes, which as yet had no consciousness in them.</p> + +<p>"He is saved!" repeated Pablito; "Now let us leave nature to work: she +is the best doctor I know."</p> + +<p>Don Torribio raised himself up, supporting himself on one elbow, and +passed his hand across his forehead, as if to recall his thoughts.</p> + +<p>"Who are you?" he said in a feeble tone.</p> + +<p>"Friends, señor; fear nothing."</p> + +<p>"I am killed; my limbs are all broken."</p> + +<p>"It is nothing to signify, señor; it is only fatigue: you are as well +as we are?"</p> + +<p>Don Torribio sat up and looked attentively at the men who surrounded +him.</p> + +<p>"I must be mistaken," said he; "I never expected to find you here. By +what miracle did you reach me in time to save me?—you, whom I promised +to meet at a rendezvous so far from the spot where we are?"</p> + +<p>"It was your horse performed the miracle, señor," said the <i>verado</i>.</p> + +<p>"How is that?" asked Don Torribio, whose voice grew stronger every +moment, and who had already managed to stand up.</p> + +<p>"The case is very simple. We were skirting the forest, on our road +to the place you had pointed out to us, when suddenly a horse passed +across us at a giddy speed, a pack of wolves at his heels. We soon +relieved him from his incarnate foes. Then, as we thought it unlikely +for a saddled horse to be all alone in a forest into which none dare +venture, we set out in search of his rider. Your cry was our pilot."</p> + +<p>"Thanks!" replied Don Torribio; "I shall know how to repay the debt I +have contracted with you."</p> + +<p>"Nonsense! That is not worth speaking of. Come! here is your horse; we +can go as soon as you like."</p> + +<p>Don Torribio held up his hand.</p> + +<p>"Stay here," said he; "we shall find no more suitable place than this +to discuss what we have got to say to each other."</p> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h4><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III.</a></h4> + +<h3>DON TORRIBIO QUIROGA.</h3> +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p>There was a long silence after these words of Don Torribio. The +<i>vaqueros</i>, with their eyes fixed on him, endeavoured to guess his +thoughts from the play of his features. But Don Torribio's face, cold +and rigid as a block of marble, gave no signs of the thoughts within. +At last, after casting a glance of suspicion around, more from habit +than from any fear of being overheard, he rolled a cigarette, lit it +with the greatest coolness, and began to speak in a careless tone.</p> + +<p>"My good <i>verado</i>, I am truly sorry that you have taken these +honourable <i>caballeros</i> from their vocations, and put yourself to +inconvenience, in order to repair to the place I had appointed."</p> + +<p>"Why so, señor?" asked the <i>verado</i>, perfectly puzzled by this +commencement.</p> + +<p>"For a very simple reason, señor,—because the motives no longer exist +which induced me to wish to confer with you."</p> + +<p>"What!" cried all the rogues together; "Can that be possible?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes!" he replied coolly; "All things considered, Don Fernando +Carril is a charming <i>caballero</i>. I should be in despair if I caused +him the slightest inconvenience."</p> + +<p>"<i>Diablo!</i> not quite so charming!" observed the verado; "The fellow who +ordered Carlocho to kill me quietly!"</p> + +<p>"It was not to me, dear friend," said Carlocho, with great suavity, +"but to Don Pablito here, that Señor Don Fernando gave the order."</p> + +<p>"You are right; I made a mistake. Accept my excuses, señor."</p> + +<p>After this exchange of courtesy, the two bandits again grew silent.</p> + +<p>"An honest man sticks to his word," said Tonillo; "and if Don Torribio +has changed his mind, we have nothing more to say. That reminds me," he +added, with a smothered sigh, "that I must refund to you two hundred +piastres, which you advanced to—"</p> + +<p>"Keep the trifle, dear señor," said Don Torribio; "the money cannot be +in better hands than yours."</p> + +<p>The <i>vaquero</i>, who had pulled the coins from his pocket with evident +reluctance, thrust them back again with a celerity that evinced the +greatest satisfaction.</p> + +<p>"It is all the same," said he; "I do not consider myself quits with +you, señor. I am an honest man, and you may rely upon me."</p> + +<p>"On us all!" exclaimed the others in one voice.</p> + +<p>"I thank you for your devotion, señores, and appreciate it highly. +Unfortunately, as I say once more, it is of no use to me."</p> + +<p>"It is unfortunate," said the <i>verado</i>; "one does not find such patrons +as you every day, señor."</p> + +<p>"Pooh!" said he gaily; "Now you are free, what prevents your placing +yourselves under the orders of Don Fernando? He is very generous; a +<i>caballero</i> to the tips of his fingers: I am sure he will pay you well."</p> + +<p>"I suppose it will have to be so, señor," said Pablito; "moreover, we +can now confess that we have already been thinking of it, and—"</p> + +<p>"Have already taken service with him," said Don Torribio carelessly. "I +was aware of it."</p> + +<p>"You know it?" cried the bandits, struck with astonishment.</p> + +<p>"And are not vexed at it?" continued Pablito.</p> + +<p>"Why should I be? On the contrary, I am delighted. It is a strange +chance; but perhaps you will be even better able to serve me by the +change."</p> + +<p>"Indeed!" said they, becoming very attentive.</p> + +<p>"Certainly you may. So you really are devoted to me?"</p> + +<p>"To the last drop of our blood!" shouted the <i>vaqueros</i> in touching +unison.</p> + +<p>"You do not despise money?"</p> + +<p>"Money can never hurt those who have none," replied the sententious +Pablito.</p> + +<p>"When it is earned honourably," added Tonillo with a grin like a monkey.</p> + +<p>"I agree with you," said Don Torribio; "particularly when it is a +question of a hundred ounces or so," (about three hundred and forty +pounds sterling).</p> + +<p>The bandits trembled with joy, and their wild eyes sparkled. They +exchanged looks of promise to themselves for the future, which did not +escape Don Torribio's observation.</p> + +<p>"<i>¡Caray!</i>" they muttered, hugging themselves with joy.</p> + +<p>"So that would suit you, I suppose?"</p> + +<p>"<i>Rayo de Dios!</i> a hundred ounces! I should think so," said Pablito.</p> + +<p>"There may be more," observed Don Torribio.</p> + +<p>"But doubtless it will be a difficult job," the <i>verado</i> ventured to +say.</p> + +<p>"<i>¡Dame!</i> You know, things are going wrong at present."</p> + +<p>"No need to tell us that, señor; the misery is frightful."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps there may be a man to kill?" insinuated Carlocho.</p> + +<p>"That might happen!" roundly replied Don Torribio.</p> + +<p>"So much the worse for him," muttered Pablito.</p> + +<p>"Then the offer is agreeable to you, even in that case?"</p> + +<p>"More so than ever," growled Tonillo.</p> + +<p>"Since that is your opinion, <i>caballeros</i>, listen attentively," said +Don Torribio, drawing himself up; "I have pledged my honour," he began, +"to make no attempts against Don Fernando Carril, either directly or +indirectly."</p> + +<p>"An honest man sticks to his word," said Tonillo.</p> + +<p>"And I intend to keep mine scrupulously, as regards Don Fernando."</p> + +<p>The <i>vaqueros</i> made signs of approbation.</p> + +<p>"But," continued the speaker, "you know as well as I do that Don +Fernando is a man made of mysteries, whose life lies hidden under an +impenetrable veil."</p> + +<p>"Alas, yes!" piteously sighed Tonillo.</p> + +<p>"No one knows what becomes of him for the greater part of his time: he +disappears for months together, to start up again at the moment when +one least expects him."</p> + +<p>"It is but too true," said Pablito; "the life of the <i>caballero</i> is +most extraordinary."</p> + +<p>"To how many dangers he must expose himself," continued Don Torribio, +"in those perilous adventures, of which no one knows the object, nor +the direction in which he seeks them!"</p> + +<p>"It is terrible even to think of them," said Carlocho, with an air of +conviction.</p> + +<p>"One so easily meets with mishap in the wilderness," added the <i>verado</i>.</p> + +<p>"Without going further, only look what might have happened to yourself +tonight, señor!" said Tonillo, looking interested.</p> + +<p>"It is dreadful," exclaimed Pablito.</p> + +<p>"You will clearly understand, señores," resumed Don Torribio, "that I +can by no means be responsible for the numberless accidents to which +Don Fernando's manner of life exposes him at every step."</p> + +<p>"This is incontestable," cried the others.</p> + +<p>"Chance seems to take malignant pleasure in deranging and upsetting +the best conceived plans; and it is impossible for me to save him from +chance, even with the lively interest I take in his safety."</p> + +<p>"There can be no doubt on that head," said Pablito, dogmatically; "and +certainly not a soul would have the right to utter a word of reproach +against you, señor, should poor Don Fernando be killed in one of his +perilous adventures."</p> + +<p>"Exactly what I think; but as I am now no longer the enemy, but the +friend of Don Fernando, and in that capacity take the greatest interest +in knowing all that may happen to him, so that I might fly to his aid +if necessary—"</p> + +<p>"Or avenge him, if ill luck should have it that he should be killed," +said Carlocho, interrupting him.</p> + +<p>"I should like," continued Don Torribio, "to be constantly apprised of +whatever may happen to him."</p> + +<p>"Oh, holy friendship!" exclaimed Tonillo, raising his eyes to heaven +with a sanctified air; "Thou art not a mere idle word!"</p> + +<p>"<i>Caballeros</i>, you could not be in a better position for giving me +information; and as all trouble should have its reward, you shall +receive at least one hundred ounces to share amongst you, or two +hundred, according to the news you may bring me. You understand?"</p> + +<p>"Perfectly, señor," replied Carlocho, with imperturbable composure, in +the name of his deeply touched companions; "the office you confide to +us is most honourable. You may rely on our carrying out your views to +your utmost satisfaction."</p> + +<p>"Well, that is settled, señores; I rely upon the accuracy of your +information, for you must perceive the ridiculous position in which +a false report would place me in the eyes of Don Fernando's numerous +friends, whom I should be loth to disturb without good cause."</p> + +<p>"Trust entirely to us, señor; we will confirm our information by +irrefragable proof."</p> + +<p>"Good! I see we understand each other; it is useless to pursue the +matter further."</p> + +<p>"Perfectly useless, señor; we are men of quick comprehension."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Don Torribio, smiling; "but, as your memories may be short, +do me the honour of dividing these ten ounces amongst you,—not as the +earnest—money of a bargain, for there is no bargain between us, but +as a return for the service you have just done me, and as a means of +imprinting our conversation on your brains."</p> + +<p>The <i>vaqueros</i>, without waiting to be pressed, extended their hands, +and, with smiling faces, pocketed the ounces so liberally bestowed.</p> + +<p>"Now, one word more, <i>caballeros:</i> where are we?"</p> + +<p>"In the Selva Negra, señor," answered Pablito; "not more than four +leagues from the Hacienda del Cormillo, where Don Pedro de Luna and his +family are at present residing."</p> + +<p>Don Torribio started in astonishment.</p> + +<p>"What! Has Don Pedro left Las Norias de San Antonio?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, señor; since yesterday."</p> + +<p>"What a singular thing! El Cormillo is on the extreme verge of the +wilderness, in the midst of the Apaches: it is impossible to understand +it."</p> + +<p>"They say it was Doña Hermosa who wished for this change, of which +scarcely anybody has yet heard."</p> + +<p>"What an extraordinary whim! After the dangers to which she was exposed +only a few days ago, to come and brave the redskins on their own +territory!"</p> + +<p>"The <i>hacienda</i> is strong, and perfectly safe from sudden assault."</p> + +<p>"True: yet the change of residence seems very incomprehensible. At +sunrise, I should be happy if you would do me the honour of serving me +as guides till I get within sight of the <i>hacienda</i>. It is important +that I should see Don Pedro without delay."</p> + +<p>"We shall be at your orders, señor, as soon as you please to depart," +answered Carlocho.</p> + +<p>The night was fleeting; and Don Torribio had need of repose to restore +his strength, exhausted by his late struggle for life. He rolled +himself in his <i>zarapé</i>, stretched out his feet towards the fire, and +was soon asleep, in spite of the trouble that racked his mind.</p> + +<p>The <i>vaqueros</i> followed his example, after drawing lots amongst +themselves as to who should watch over the common safety.</p> + +<p>The post fell to Carlocho: the others closed their eyes; and the +silence of the wilderness, which had just been so terribly disturbed, +resumed its empire.</p> + +<p>Night passed, without anything occurring to disturb the rest of these +guests of the forest.</p> + +<p>At sunrise the <i>vaqueros</i> were up. After feeding and watering their +horses, they saddled them, and roused Don Torribio, announcing that the +hour of departure had arrived.</p> + +<p>The latter rose at once; and, after a short prayer uttered by them all, +the five men mounted, and left the clearing which had nearly proved so +fatal to one of them.</p> + +<p>The Hacienda del Cormillo may be looked upon as the advanced sentinel +of the <i>presidio</i> of San Lucar; it is, without contradiction, the +richest and strongest position on the whole Indian frontier. It rises +on a kind of peninsula, three leagues in circumference, on which an +incalculable number of cattle pasture at liberty. We will not expatiate +much on the description of a dwelling in which only a few scenes of our +story are laid; we will confine ourselves to saying, that in the middle +of the <i>hacienda</i> properly speaking, and perfectly secured behind the +massive fortifications, loopholed and bastioned, of the fortress (for +El Cormillo was certainly such), there stood a white house, small +indeed, but admirably arranged, pleasant and cheerful looking. At a +distance, the roof was half concealed by the branches of the trees +which covered it with their verdant foliage; from its windows, the eye +roamed on one side over the wilderness, on the other over the Rio del +Norte, which unrolled itself in the plain like a silver band, and was +lost to view in the blue distance of the horizon.</p> + +<p>The <i>vaqueros</i>, in company with Don Torribio, had struck into the +forest. For three hours their route led them along the banks of the Rio +Bravo del Norte, till they were opposite the Hacienda del Cormillo, +which dimly showed itself in the centre of one of those charming +oases created by the deposit of the river, and covered with groups of +willows, nopals, mesquites, orange and citron trees, and jasmines in +full flower, amongst the branches of which a whole host of birds of +varied plumage warbled unceasingly.</p> + +<p>Don Torribio halted, and turning towards his companions, who had +likewise stopped, addressed them:</p> + +<p>"I must leave you here; I thank you for the escort you have done me +the honour to give me. Your help is no longer needed. Return to your +avocations, señores; you know our agreement, and I reckon on your +punctuality."</p> + +<p>"Farewell, <i>caballero</i>," they replied, bowing ceremoniously to him; +"cast aside all anxiety as to the measures we are about to take."</p> + +<p>They turned the heads of their horses, made them enter the river as +if they intended to cross it, and soon vanished behind a rise in the +ground. Don Torribio remained alone.</p> + +<p>The families of Don Torribio and Don Pedro de Luna, both originally +Spanish, and connected by various ties in old times, had always lived +on a footing of great intimacy. The young man and the girl had almost +been brought up together. So, when her handsome cousin had come to bid +her adieu, and announce his departure for Europe, where he was to stay +a few years, in order to complete his education and acquire the manners +of the fashionable world, Doña Hermosa, then about twelve years old, +had felt sorry to lose him. They had loved each other from infancy, +unwittingly obeying the secret impulses of childhood, which is always +seeking for happiness.</p> + +<p>Don Torribio had left her, carrying his own love with him, and never +doubting that Doña Hermosa was preserving hers for him.</p> + +<p>On his return to Veracruz, after visiting the most celebrated places of +the civilized world, he had hastened to put his affairs in order, and +set out for San Lucar, burning with desire to meet her whom he loved +so dearly, and whom he had not seen for three years—his Hermosa, that +pretty child, who by this time, must have grown into a beautiful and +accomplished woman.</p> + +<p>The surprise and joy of Don Pedro and his daughter were extreme. +Hermosa was particularly happy, for, we must confess, she had thought +all day long of Don Torribio, and looked at him through the medium of +her recollections of childhood; yet at the same time she felt her heart +disturbed by mingled sensations of pain and pleasure.</p> + +<p>Don Torribio perceived it: he understood, or thought he understood, +that she still loved him; and his happiness was complete.</p> + +<p>"Come, children," the smiling father had said, "embrace each other; you +have my permission."</p> + +<p>Doña Hermosa, with many blushes, bent forward her forehead to Don +Torribio, who respectfully touched it with his lips.</p> + +<p>"Is that what you call kissing?" cried Don Pedro. "Come, come, no +hypocrisy; embrace each other frankly. Do not play the coquette, +Hermosa, because you are a pretty girl and he is a handsome fellow; and +you, Torribio, who have come upon us like a thunderbolt, without giving +warning, do you think to make me believe you have ridden many hundred +leagues, as fast as your horse could carry you, to see me? I know for +whom you come all the way from Veracruz to San Lucar! You love each +other. Give each other an honest kiss, like betrothed lovers as you +are; and if you are wise, you will be married offhand."</p> + +<p>The young people, melted by his kind words and pleasant humour, threw +themselves into the arms of the venerable man, to hide the depth of +their emotion.</p> + +<p>In consequence of this reception, Don Torribio had been formally +acknowledged as having a claim to the hand of Doña Hermosa, and in that +capacity was received by her.</p> + +<p>We must do the girl the justice to say, that she sincerely believed she +loved her cousin. The ties of relationship, their childish friendship, +and the long separation, which had increased the warmth of their +feelings, disposed her to think favourably of the marriage proposed by +her father. She awaited the day fixed for her espousals without any +degree of impatience, and looked forward with a kind of pleasurable +hope to the time when she would be indissolubly united to him.</p> + +<p>Although such an assertion will most likely make many of our readers +cry "Fie!" upon us, we will nevertheless maintain that a young girl's +first passion is rarely genuine love. Her second love originates in +the heart; the first only in the brain A young girl who begins to +experience the first emotions of her heart naturally allows herself +to be attracted by the man who, from circumstances and his relations +towards her, has long ago obtained her confidence and excited her +interest. This kind of love, then, is only friendship, fortified by +habit and magnified by the secret influence exercised by the as yet +vague and undecided thoughts which crop up in the brains of sixteen; +and lastly, and more than all, by the want of opportunities for +comparing her lover with others, and the fact that the marriage is +already settled, and she thinks it impossible to recede.</p> + +<p>This was the position in which Doña Hermosa, without at all suspecting +it, stood towards her cousin. The marriage had been retarded, up to +the day about which we are now writing, for divers reasons of age and +convenience, although Don Pedro attached immense importance to it, +either on account of his intended son-in-law's enormous wealth, or +because he was persuaded the union would make his daughter happy.</p> + +<p>Matters had proceeded thus between the young people, without any +remarkable incident occurring to trouble the calm of their relations to +each other, up to the time when the events we have narrated in another +place happened to Doña Hermosa in the prairie. But at the first visit +Don Torribio paid his betrothed after her return to the Hacienda de +las Norias, he perceived, with the clear-sightedness of love, that +Doña Hermosa did not receive him with the freedom or the frankness of +speech and manner to which he had been accustomed.</p> + +<p>The girl seemed sad and dreamy; she scarcely answered the questions he +addressed to her, and did not appear to understand the hints he threw +out about their approaching marriage.</p> + +<p>Don Torribio at first attributed the change to one of those nervous +influences to which young girls are subject, without suspecting it. He +fancied she was unwell, and left her, without dreaming that another +filled the place in the heart of his betrothed which he believed +himself alone to occupy.</p> + +<p>Moreover, upon whom could his suspicions fall, if he entertained any? +Don Pedro lived in great retirement, only receiving at long intervals +his old friends, most of them married, or long past the age for +marrying.</p> + +<p>It was impossible to suppose that, in the two days Doña Hermosa spent +in the prairie among the redskins, she could have met with a man whose +appearance and manners could have touched her affections.</p> + +<p>However, Don Torribio was soon compelled to acknowledge in spite +of himself, that what he had at first taken for a girlish whim was +a confirmed resolve; or, in one word, that if Doña Hermosa still +preserved for him the friendship to which he had a right, as the +companion of her childhood, her love, if she had ever felt it for him, +had vanished for ever.</p> + +<p>When once convinced of this certainty, he became seriously uneasy. The +love he felt for his cousin was profound and sincere; he had let it +grow into his heart too deeply to be easily eradicated. He saw all his +plans of happiness in the future crumble together, and, his hopes once +shipwrecked, resolved to have the indispensable explanation from the +girl which should tell him how much he had to hope or fear.</p> + +<p>It was with the intention of demanding this explanation from Doña +Hermosa that, instead of returning to San Lucar, where he lived, he +had desired the <i>vaqueros</i> to show him the way to the Hacienda del +Cormillo. But as soon as his guides left him, and he found himself +alone in front of the <i>hacienda</i>, his courage nearly evaporated. +Foreseeing the result of the step he was about to take, he hesitated to +enter the dwelling; for, like all lovers, in spite of the pain caused +by the girl's indifference, he would have preferred to go on cheating +himself with futile expectations, rather than learn a truth which would +break his heart, by robbing him of all hope.</p> + +<p>The struggle lasted a long time; more than once he made as if he would +ride back; but at last reason conquered passion. He comprehended how +difficult the position would be, both for Doña Hermosa and himself. +Happen what might, he resolved to end it; and digging his spurs into +the flanks of his horse, he galloped towards the <i>hacienda</i>, rightly +fearing that, if he lingered longer, he would find no strength to +accomplish the project he had formed.</p> + +<p>When he arrived at El Cormillo, he was informed that Don Pedro and his +daughter had gone hunting at sunrise, and would not return before the +<i>oración</i> (time for mass).</p> + +<p>"So much the better," muttered Don Torribio between his teeth, and +with a sigh of satisfaction at the respite chance had so opportunely +afforded him.</p> + +<p>Without stopping for the refreshments offered him, he turned his +horse's head in the direction of San Lucar, and galloped off, +congratulating himself that the explanation he both dreaded and desired +had been thus providentially delayed.</p> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h4><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV.</a></h4> + +<h3>LA TERTULIA (THE PARTY).</h3> +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p>We must now introduce our readers to the Hacienda del Cormillo, two +days later than the event we have just narrated.</p> + +<p>Towards eight o'clock in the evening, two persons were seated in the +drawing room of the <i>hacienda</i>, close to a <i>brasero</i> (brasier); for the +nights were still cold.</p> + +<p>A stranger opening the doors of this room could have fancied himself +transported to the Faubourg St. Germain, it was so elegantly +furnished in the French fashion. Parisian luxury was exhibited in the +carpets, Parisian taste in the choice of the furniture. Nothing was +forgotten,—not even a pianoforte by Erard, on which lay the scores +of Parisian operas, nor a magnificent harmonium from the workshops of +Alexandre; and as if to prove that glory travels far, and genius has +wings, the novels and poems in fashion at Paris strewed a round table +by Boule. Everything put you in mind of France and Paris, with the +exception of the silver <i>brasero</i>, which, with its glowing knots of +olive wood, showed that you were in Spanish America. This magnificent +withdrawing room was lighted up by candles of rose-coloured wax, in +handsome chandeliers.</p> + +<p>It was Don Pedro and his daughter who was seated by the <i>brasero</i>. Doña +Hermosa was clad in a dress of the greatest simplicity, which made her +look still more charming. She was smoking a tiny cigarette, rolled in a +maize leaf, which did not interrupt the flow of her conversation with +her father.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said she, "the most lovely birds in the world have been brought +to the <i>presidio</i>."</p> + +<p>"Well, <i>querida chica?</i>" (my darling).</p> + +<p>"It appears to me that my dearest father is not quite as gallant as +usual tonight," she said, pouting a little, like a spoilt child.</p> + +<p>"What do you know about that, señorita?" answered Don Pedro, laughing.</p> + +<p>"What! Is it the truth?" she exclaimed, as she jumped from her seat, +and clapped her hands together; "You have thought—"</p> + +<p>"Of buying you the birds. Tomorrow you will see your feathered +subjects, and your aviary stocked with parakeets, love birds, Bengalis, +hummingbirds, and Heaven knows how many others. There are at least four +hundred of them, you little ingrate!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, how kind you are! And how I love you!" replied the girl, throwing +herself into her father's arms, and kissing him a thousand times.</p> + +<p>"That will do, that will do, little monkey! Do you want to stifle me +with kisses?"</p> + +<p>"What shall I do to show my gratitude for such kind forethought?"</p> + +<p>"Poor little dear!" said he sadly; "I have only yourself to love now."</p> + +<p>"Say to adore, my dearest father; for it is adoration you feel for me; +and I too love you with all the strength of love which God has given +me."</p> + +<p>"And yet," said Don Pedro, in tones of gentle reproach, "you are not +afraid of causing me uneasiness."</p> + +<p>"I!" said Hermosa, beginning to tremble.</p> + +<p>"Yes, you," he replied, threatening her with uplifted finger; "you are +concealing something from me."</p> + +<p>"Father!" she murmured softly.</p> + +<p>"Daughter, a father's eye can pierce to the bottom of the heart of a +girl of sixteen. Some extraordinary change has taken place in you these +last few days: your thoughts are strangely preoccupied."</p> + +<p>"You are right, father," she replied with a good deal of firmness.</p> + +<p>"And what are you dreaming about, little girl?" asked Don Pedro, +smiling to conceal his anxiety.</p> + +<p>"About Don Torribio de Quiroga, father."</p> + +<p>"Aha!" replied he, "Because you love him, I suppose?"</p> + +<p>Doña Hermosa drew herself up, and assumed a serious expression.</p> + +<p>"I!" said she, placing her hand on her bosom, "No! I deceived myself +until today. I do not love Don Torribio, and yet I cannot help thinking +of him, although I do not know why. Since his return from Europe, a +change has come over him for which I cannot account. It seems to me, +that he is not the same person who was brought up with me. His look +pains, yet fascinates me; his voice raises a feeling of undefinable +sorrow. Certainly, the man is handsome; his manners are noble, and his +bearing that of a highbred gentleman: yet there is something nameless +about him which chills me, and inspires invincible repugnance."</p> + +<p>"How romantic!" said Don Pedro, laughing.</p> + +<p>"Laugh at me! Mock me!" she replied, her voice trembling. "Shall I +confess everything, father?"</p> + +<p>"Speak confidently, dearest child."</p> + +<p>"I will. I believe this man, whom I thought I loved, will bring evil +upon me."</p> + +<p>"Child," replied Don Pedro, kissing her forehead, "what ill could he do +you?"</p> + +<p>"Father, I cannot tell; but I dread it."</p> + +<p>"Do you wish me to break with him, and not to admit him again?"</p> + +<p>"Heaven forbid! It would certainly hasten the misfortune that threatens +me."</p> + +<p>"Pooh! you are a spoilt child! You grow whimsical, and amuse yourself +by creating phantoms. All these fears and imaginary presentiments +spring from your love for your cousin. The only way to restore your +tranquillity is to marry you to him as soon as possible; and be sure, +my dear, that is what I intend to do."</p> + +<p>Doña Hermosa shook her head sorrowfully, and cast down her eyes, +but she made no reply: she felt that her father had completely +misunderstood her meaning, and that any attempt to bring him over to +her wishes would be vain.</p> + +<p>Just at that moment a <i>peon</i> announced Don Torribio, who entered the +room.</p> + +<p>He was dressed in the latest Paris fashion; and the glare of the +candles lighted up his handsome face.</p> + +<p>Father and daughter both trembled; the one perhaps with joy, the other +certainly with fear.</p> + +<p>Don Torribio, after gracefully saluting Doña Hermosa, approached her +and respectfully offered her a superb bouquet of exotic flowers. She +took them with a forced smile, and, without looking at them, placed +them on the table.</p> + +<p>Soon after, other persons were announced: the governor, Don José +Kalbris, and his staff; two or three other families—in all, about +twenty people; and lastly, Don Estevan Dias, and Don Fernando Carril.</p> + +<p>It was certainly impossible to recognise the hardy backwoodsman, the +redoubtable bee-hunter, who a few days before had done Don Pedro and +his daughter such signal service, in the elegant caballero who arrived +in the company of the <i>mayor domo</i> of the hacienda. His irreproachable +bearing, his distinguished manner, in short, all about him, banished +suspicion, or rather prevented comparison.</p> + +<p>We have already said that Don Fernando Carril, although his life was +wrapped in impenetrable mystery, was superficially known to all the +best society in the provinces, and, thanks to the easy-going manners +of the Mexicans, received in the best families. His presence at the +hacienda was, therefore, nothing extraordinary. Nevertheless, his +appearance excited lively curiosity in the guests; for it was a long +time since Don Fernando had been seen at any entertainment.</p> + +<p>Like Don Torribio, the hunter, when he entered the room, approached +Doña Hermosa, bowed profoundly to her, and respectfully offered her a +flower he held in his hand.</p> + +<p>"Señorita," said he, in a voice full of suppressed emotion, "deign to +accept this modest flower; it grows only in the desert," he added, +significantly.</p> + +<p>Doña Hermosa trembled at the sound of his voice, which she thought she +had recognised; a lively blush rose to her cheeks; and dropping her +eyes under the ardent gaze fixed upon her, she took the flower and +placed it in her bosom, as she answered inarticulately:</p> + +<p>"Everything that comes from the desert will be dear to me henceforth."</p> + +<p>The conversation of the guests had by this time grown animated. The +little incident passed without remark, except from one person, who, +with that kind of intuition which springs from love and jealousy, had +divined in Don Fernando one who, if not an openly declared rival, was, +at least, preferred in secret.</p> + +<p>This person was Don Torribio Quiroga.</p> + +<p>Leaning towards Don Estevan, who chanced to be near him, he said, in +a voice low indeed but perfectly distinct and audible to all: "What +golden key does this man possess, whom nobody knows, by which he +introduces himself into honourable families, where his presence is +neither desired nor invited?"</p> + +<p>"Ask him yourself, señor," said Don Estevan dryly; "he will most likely +be able to explain his conduct satisfactorily."</p> + +<p>"I shall follow your advice this instant, señor," answered Don Torribio +haughtily.</p> + +<p>"It is unnecessary, caballero; I heard your words perfectly," said Don +Fernando.</p> + +<p>His voice was calm, and he made a courteous bow to Don Torribio, while +an ironical smile curled his lips for a moment.</p> + +<p>All conversation had been suddenly broken off; a profound silence +reigned over those present, and the looks of all were turned in +curiosity towards the two men.</p> + +<p>Doña Hermosa, pale and trembling, cast a look of entreaty on her father.</p> + +<p>Don Pedro walked resolutely into the middle, of the room, and placed +himself between the two caballeros.</p> + +<p>"What does this mean, señores?" said he. "Is this the idea of propriety +you have brought back from your travels in Europe, Don Torribio? Do +you dare to turn my drawing room into lists wherein to break your lance +in personal quarrels? What right have you to cavil at Don Fernando's +presence here? You are not my son-in-law yet, as far as I know. I am +master here, and can receive whom I think fit."</p> + +<p>"Even cutthroats and <i>salteadores</i> (highwaymen), cousin, if such is +your good pleasure," replied the young man, with an ironical bow.</p> + +<p>Don Fernando looked as if he were going to rush upon the man who had +thus insulted him, but managed to contain himself.</p> + +<p>"Will Don Torribio deign to explain himself," he said calmly, "and not +speak in enigmas?"</p> + +<p>"And whose fault is it, caballero, if I speak in enigmas? Are you not +the cause of the mystery?"</p> + +<p>"Enough, caballeros!" exclaimed Don Pedro; "He who utters another word +on this subject, makes me his mortal enemy."</p> + +<p>The two men bowed respectfully to the hacendero and separated, but not +without having exchanged looks of terrible expression.</p> + +<p>"Well, colonel," continued Don Pedro, addressing the governor, in the +hopes of glossing over the lamentable altercation, "What news from La +Ciudad? Is Mexico still tranquil?"</p> + +<p>"Our great Santa Anna," replied the colonel, who was choking in his +uniform, "has once more soundly beaten the audacious general who has +dared to issue a <i>pronunciamiento</i> (manifesto) against him."</p> + +<p>"Thank God! Perhaps this victory will procure us the tranquillity of +which commerce stands so much in need."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said a rich hacendero, a neighbour of Don Pedro. "Communication +has been so difficult of late, that we can forward nothing."</p> + +<p>"Are the redskins at work?" asked a merchant, whom these words had +troubled.</p> + +<p>"No," said the governor; "there is no danger from them. The last lesson +they got was a rude one, and they will not forget it. For a long time +they have not dared to invade our frontiers."</p> + +<p>An almost imperceptible smile curled the lips of Don Fernando. "You +forget the Tigercat and his adherents," said he.</p> + +<p>"Oh! the Tigercat is only a bandit," said the governor hastily. +"Besides, Government is at this moment preparing an expedition against +him, so as to finish, once and for all, with his band of brigands."</p> + +<p>"It is an admirable idea," said Don Torribio, with a sarcastic sneer. +"It is time this frontier should be cleared of the host of fellows, +with more than equivocal habits, who infest it."</p> + +<p>"I am quite of the same opinion; it seems a most sensible measure," +said Don Fernando quietly, but giving back to his adversary a smile as +bitter as his own.</p> + +<p>"In case of invasion, do you think the Indians able to give the +province much trouble?" asked the merchant.</p> + +<p>"H'm!" said Don José, with a patronising air; "People entertain +exaggerated ideas of these redskins; in fact, they are but miserable +wretches."</p> + +<p>Don Fernando smiled again; but this time the smile was savage and +sinister.</p> + +<p>"Señor <i>gobernador</i>," said he, "you are not quite right. To judge by +the news you were good enough to communicate, I believe the Indians +will keep quite peaceably at home, unless they are determined to tempt +ill luck."</p> + +<p>"<i>¡Rayo de Dios!</i> I should think so," replied the governor.</p> + +<p>"Ah! Señorita," said Don Torribio, gracefully turning to Doña Hermosa, +"may I pray of your kindness to let us hear that delicious song from +the <i>Domino Noir</i>, which you sang to such perfection a few days ago?"</p> + +<p>Doña Hermosa, darted a look from under her long lashes at Don +Fernando. The latter's eyes conveyed a mute prayer of entreaty. Without +further hesitation, she placed herself at the piano, and, in a pure and +feeling voice, sang the romance in the third act.</p> + +<p>"I remember having heard that delicious romance sung in Paris by Madame +Demareau, that nightingale who flew away too soon," said Don Torribio, +bowing gallantly to Doña Hermosa. "I know not whether you or she sang +it with most taste and spirit."</p> + +<p>She answered: "Cousin, you have lived too long in France."</p> + +<p>"How so, señorita?"</p> + +<p>"Because," she replied, with a smile as cold and keen as the point of a +poniard, "France has made you a detestable flatterer."</p> + +<p>"<i>¡Bravo!</i>" chuckled the fat governor, whose cheeks shook with delight. +"You see Don Torribio, our creoles rival the Parisian ladies in the +smartness of their repartee."</p> + +<p>"Incontestably, colonel," answered Don Torribio. "But I can take my own +part," he added in an undefinable tone; "I shall soon have my revenge." +And he cast a glance at Don Fernando and Doña Hermosa, who were seated +close to each other, which made the girl shudder with fear.</p> + +<p>"Don Fernando, and you other caballeros, here present," said the +governor, addressing the guests, "I hope that tomorrow you will attend +the <i>Te Deum</i> to be sung in honour of our glorious Santa Anna."</p> + +<p>"I shall have the honour," said Don Fernando. The others made a similar +response.</p> + +<p>"As for me," said Don Torribio, "you must excuse me, colonel; for +business compels me to leave tonight."</p> + +<p>"What!" cried Don Pedro, in astonishment; "You are going to travel +tonight, cousin?"</p> + +<p>"I am indeed, Señor Don Pedro; I am obliged to leave you, even though I +have but just arrived."</p> + +<p>"Well, that is a singular and most unforeseen resolution. Where are you +going?"</p> + +<p>"Excuse me if I keep the object of my expedition secret. Certain +persons must not have the sole right of making mysterious excursions."</p> + +<p>"Indeed!" said Don Pedro peevishly. "And do you intend to stay away +long?"</p> + +<p>"I hope not, but dare not say I am sure."</p> + +<p>"So much the better. Come back to us as soon as you can; for," said he +significantly, "your return will please all of us here."</p> + +<p>"<i>¿Quién sabe?</i>" (who knows?) muttered Don Torribio, with a sinister +expression.</p> + +<p>Doña Hermosa, who overheard these two words, could no longer master her +fears.</p> + +<p>While Don Pedro and his cousin were exchanging these words, the girl +Whispered to Don Estevan:</p> + +<p>"Brother, tomorrow, after mass, I want to speak to you at my nurse's."</p> + +<p>"To me, or to my friend?" said Don Estevan softly.</p> + +<p>"To both," she answered, with feverish agitation.</p> + +<p>Don Estevan and Don Fernando now retired with joyful hearts. The latter +was sure that Doña Hermosa had recognised him.</p> + +<p>The other visitors also gradually departed, till Don Torribio de +Quiroga was left alone with his host.</p> + +<p>"Cousin," said he, in a low and broken voice, as he bent down to the +lady to bid her farewell, "I am about to begin a journey in which I +shall incur considerable danger. May I hope you will remember the +traveller in your prayers?"</p> + +<p>Hermosa looked him in the face for an instant, and replied with an +austerity unusual in her:</p> + +<p>"Cousin, I cannot pray for the success of a journey the purport of +which I do not know."</p> + +<p>"Thanks for your frankness, señorita," he replied, without exhibiting +emotion; "I shall not forget your words."</p> + +<p>"So you are really going, Don Torribio?" said Don Pedro, who joined +them at the moment.</p> + +<p>"This very instant, cousin: all is ready for my departure."</p> + +<p>"Then I wish you luck! I hope we shall soon hear from you?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," he replied, with a singular expression; "you shall soon hear of +me. Farewell!"</p> + +<p>"What is the matter with your cousin, <i>niña?</i>" asked Don Pedro, when he +found himself alone with his daughter: "His conduct tonight has been +very strange."</p> + +<p>Before she could answer, the door opened. "The <i>capataz</i> of the +Hacienda de las Norias," said a <i>peon</i> who had entered, "wishes to +speak to Señor Don Pedro de Luna on affairs of consequence."</p> + +<p>"Admit him instantly," replied Don Pedro to the domestic who had +announced the arrival of the <i>capataz</i> so pompously.</p> + + +<p>Don Torribio was terribly agitated when he left the house. He looked +back, and cast a venomous eye on the windows of the room, on which he +could see the graceful shadow of Doña Hermosa.</p> + +<p>"Proud girl," said he in a terrible voice, "I hate you with all the +power of the love I once felt for you! Soon, very soon, I will punish +you for your disdain."</p> + +<p>Then, wrapping his cloak around him, he rapidly took the direction of +the nearest <i>patio</i> (out-buildings), where he hoped to find his horse. +Indeed, he found him there; a <i>peon</i> holding the bridle. Don Torribio +seized the reins, threw the <i>peon</i> a piastre, flung himself into the +saddle, and rode off at a gallop.</p> + +<p>"<i>Wagh!</i>" said the Indian, picking up the money; "What ails the young +master? One would think him mad. How he scampered off!"</p> + +<p>In the meantime Don Torribio had left the hacienda behind him, and was +making all haste on the road to San Lucar.</p> + +<p>But he had not ridden more than a quarter of an hour, when suddenly, at +a turn of the road, his horse gave a start of terror, reared, and flew +round, with his ears laid close to his head. Don Torribio looked to see +what had alarmed the animal.</p> + +<p>A man of tall stature, mounted on a strong black horse, held the middle +of the road four or five paces in advance of him, and completely barred +his passage.</p> + +<p>Don Torribio cocked a pistol.</p> + +<p>"Holloa, caballero!" he cried in a sharp tone; "Move to the right or +the left."</p> + +<p>"Neither to one nor the other, Don Torribio de Quiroga. I want to speak +to you."</p> + +<p>"It is a singular demand at this time of night, and in such a place."</p> + +<p>"I did not choose either time or place. Did you not receive a note +without a signature today?"</p> + +<p>"I did," said Don Torribio, striking his forehead; "and the note +proposed—"</p> + +<p>"To teach you things," hastily interrupted the stranger, "which it is +important you should know at once."</p> + +<p>"Those were the words contained in the note."</p> + +<p>"It was I who sent it."</p> + +<p>"Indeed?" said Don Torribio, surprised; "was it you?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; and I am ready to satisfy you; but to do that, you must follow +me."</p> + +<p>"But what good will it do me to know these matters? Perhaps it would be +better to leave them untold."</p> + +<p>"As you please; I do not force you to listen to me. Everyone is free +to act as he chooses. If you prefer to sit down under insult without +avenging yourself, I have no objection."</p> + +<p>These words were uttered with such a sneer, that Don Torribio could not +help shuddering.</p> + +<p>"Do you in truth offer me revenge?" he asked in a voice half stifled +with the rage surging at his heart.</p> + +<p>"You shall judge, if you will follow me."</p> + +<p>"Demon!" cried Don Torribio, "Whoever thou may'st be, lead on, since it +must be so! I will follow thee, even unto hell."</p> + +<p>"Amen," said the stranger, with a sinister chuckle.</p> + +<p>The two riders dashed into the darkness, and the sound of their furious +pace was soon merged in profound silence.</p> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h4><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V.</a></h4> + +<h3>THE AMBUSH.</h3> +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p>Don Fernando and his friend, as we have related, left the hacienda a +little before Don Torribio. They had made all haste to reach their +dwelling. The <i>tertulia</i> had ended at nine o'clock; and by eleven they +were at the <i>rancho</i>.</p> + +<p>Doña Manuela was expecting them. In a few words they reported to her +all that had happened at the <i>tertulia</i>, and hastened to their couches; +for they were obliged to leave again at daybreak, if they wished to +arrive in good time at San Lucar without over-fatigueing Doña Manuela, +who was to accompany them. In fact, according to agreement, they +mounted their horses a little before four in the morning.</p> + +<p>In Mexico, on account of the intense heat of the day, people generally +travel by night; that is to say, from four in the morning till eleven, +and from six in the evening till midnight. Nine o'clock struck as the +three entered the <i>presidio</i>. Don Fernando left his friend and the +mother to find their way to the house he possessed in San Lucar, which +he had placed at their disposal, while he himself repaired to the +governor's house, whither affairs of grave importance called him.</p> + +<p>The worthy governor overwhelmed the visitor with civilities,—for +the latter had, on more than one occasion, rendered him important +service,—and seemed unable to show him sufficient courtesy But, in +spite of the efforts of his host, Don Fernando perceived that Don José +Kalbris was a prey to anxiety, which all his sense of the attentions +due to his guest did not enable him wholly to conceal.</p> + +<p>Don José Kalbris was a brave and worthy soldier, true as his own +steel, to whom the Mexican government had given the charge of the +<i>presidio</i> as a recompense for his valiant services during the War +of Independence. For fifteen years the colonel had governed the +<i>presidio</i>, and, thanks to a certain degree of severity tempered by +justice, and to his undoubted courage, had managed to keep it in a +state of comparative tranquillity, in spite of the evil passions of +the <i>vaqueros</i>—a set of rascals, three or four of whom he was obliged +to garrote annually, in order to overawe the rest—and the continual +raids of the Indians, who pushed up under the guns of the fort in their +attempts to carry off cattle and make prisoners, the latter being +their favourite booty, especially women.</p> + +<p>Don José, endowed with moderate intelligence, but rich in experience, +and warmly supported by the better classes, who had entire confidence +in him, had contrived to maintain peace in his province without much +difficulty up to the time of which we are now speaking. This denoted +a certain strength of character in the old soldier, who was without +education, and had made his own career, particularly when one takes +into consideration the difficulty of his receiving support from his +government; so that he was thrown on his own resources, and obliged to +take the initiative, and act on his own responsibility, in all cases +where he thought fit to exercise the strong arm of the law.</p> + +<p>In person the governor was a tall, stout man with a purple and bloated +face, perfectly self-satisfied, fond of hearing himself talk, and who +laid great stress on every syllable he uttered.</p> + +<p>Don Fernando, well acquainted with the colonel's character, and holding +him in great esteem, was astounded at the uneasiness he displayed, and +the change from his usual placidity of manner. Fancying that want of +money might be at the bottom of his embarrassment, he resolved to sound +him, and come to his aid, if that were necessary.</p> + +<p>"Holloa!" said the colonel, "What good wind blows you to the <i>presidio</i> +so early, Don Fernando?"</p> + +<p>"The wish to see you," replied the latter, pressing the hand the +colonel extended.</p> + +<p>"It is very kind of you. You will breakfast with me, of course?"</p> + +<p>"I came to invite myself."</p> + +<p>"That is right," said the colonel, striking a bell.</p> + +<p>A domestic entered.</p> + +<p>"This caballero will do me the honour to breakfast with me."</p> + +<p>The servant, a well-trained soldier, disappeared.</p> + +<p>"By the bye, Don Fernando, I have a heap of papers here addressed to +you."</p> + +<p>"Thank Heaven! I was afraid they had been delayed. I want them +particularly, for certain reasons."</p> + +<p>"So much the better, then," said the colonel, producing the papers, +which Don Fernando put into his pocket.</p> + +<p>"Breakfast is ready," said the same man who had appeared an instant +before.</p> + +<p>The governor and his guest proceeded to the breakfast room, where they +found a third person waiting for them. This was a Major Barnum, an +old Englishman, tall, dry, thin, and formal; as brave a soldier as +ever existed; for twenty years in the service of the Mexican Republic; +devoted heart and soul to the country of his adoption; and second in +command in the <i>presidio</i> of San Lucar.</p> + +<p>He and Don José had seen much service together, and were attached to +each other like two brothers; resuscitating in this out of the way +corner of the world the fables of Castor and Pollux Damon and Pythias, +and all the other heroes of ancient friendship.</p> + +<p>Don Fernando and Major Barnum were slightly acquainted with each other, +and glad of the meeting; for the Englishman was an excellent fellow, +and hid a warm and loyal heart under his rather cold manner.</p> + +<p>After the usual greetings, all three placed themselves at table, and +commenced a vigorous attack on the delicacies with which the board was +abundantly supplied.</p> + +<p>When the first keen relish of appetite had been appeased, the +conversation became more lively, and at the close of the meal grew +quite amicable and confidential.</p> + +<p>"By the bye, what is the matter with you, Don José?" said Don Fernando. +"There is something odd about you today, which I have never seen +before."</p> + +<p>"Right," said the governor, draining a glass of <i>Jerez de la Frontera</i> +(sherry); "I feel sad."</p> + +<p>"You sad! You astonish me. If I had not noticed your appetite at +breakfast, I should think you were ill."</p> + +<p>"Well," said the soldier, with a sigh, "my appetite is good."</p> + +<p>"Then what is there to vex you?"</p> + +<p>"I have a presentiment of evil," said the governor, seriously.</p> + +<p>"A presentiment of evil!" echoed the major. "I know that at first +sight it seems ridiculous for old soldiers like ourselves to attach +importance to such folly, which is only, at the best, the result of +a diseased imagination. Nevertheless, I too feel like the colonel: I +am uneasy without knowing why; I expect every moment to receive evil +tidings. In two words, I am firmly convinced some great danger is +impending. I feel it, I know it, without being able to guess whence it +is to come."</p> + +<p>"Ah," said the governor, "the major has just described my own +sensations. Long as my career as a soldier has been, I have never +felt so anxious and oppressed as now. I have been in this state of +excitement a whole week, and am astonished nothing has happened to +justify my forebodings. Don Fernando, God does give warnings of danger +to man."</p> + +<p>"I do not deny the truth of what you propound. I know you too well to +have the least intention to question your conviction. But still, how is +it to be accounted for? You and Major Barnum are not men to be afraid +of a shadow, or easily scared; you have proved that a thousand times. +Has nothing occurred to confirm your presentiment?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing as yet," replied the governor; "but I momentarily expect bad +news."</p> + +<p>"Come, come, Don José!" said Don Fernando gravely; "you are suffering +from an attack of a malady very common in the major's country, where +they call it 'the blue devils.' It is a kind of spleen, caused by the +fogs in England. Listen to me: get yourself bled—do not spare the wine +cup; and in a couple of days you will be the first to laugh at the +trick your fancy has played you. Do you not think so, major?"</p> + +<p>"I wish it were so," said that officer, shaking his head.</p> + +<p>"Pooh!" said Don Fernando; "Life is short enough already. What is the +use of creating bugbears to frighten ourselves? And besides, who is +there to give you trouble?"</p> + +<p>"<i>¿Quién sabe?</i> We are never sure of anything on the frontiers."</p> + +<p>"Nonsense! The Indians have grown as quiet as lambs."</p> + +<p>Just then a servant opened the door, and beckoned to the governor.</p> + +<p>"What do you want?" said the latter.</p> + +<p>"Señor," replied the servant, "a <i>vaquero</i>, just arrived in all haste, +requests an audience. He is the bearer of important intelligence."</p> + +<p>This announcement fell like a sheet of ice on the three caballeros, and +thoroughly stopped the flow of their fictitious gaiety.</p> + +<p>"Let him come in," said the colonel.</p> + +<p>Then casting a look of inconceivable sadness on Don Fernando, he added:</p> + +<p>"It is fate herself who undertakes to answer you!"</p> + +<p>"We shall see!" replied Don Fernando with a forced smile.</p> + +<p>Heavy footsteps were heard in the adjacent apartments, and the +<i>vaquero</i> entered.</p> + +<p>It was Pablito.</p> + +<p>The man had indeed the look of one who brings bad news. He seemed to +have just left the battlefield—to have escaped from a massacre. His +clothes hung in rags, stained with mud and gore; his face, pale as +death, had an expression of sadness very strange in such a man. It was +with difficulty he held himself upright, so dreadfully jaded he seemed +by the struggle he had had to reach the <i>presidio</i>. His spurs left a +bloody mark on the floor at every step; and he was forced to support +himself on his rifle.</p> + +<p>The three men looked at him with mingled fear and pity.</p> + +<p>"Here," said Don Fernando, pouring out a tumbler of wine; "drink this; +it will restore you."</p> + +<p>"No!" said Pablito, thrusting back the glass; "I thirst for blood, not +wine!"</p> + +<p>These words were uttered in such a tone of hatred and despair, that the +listeners involuntarily turned pale, and shuddered with horror.</p> + +<p>"What has happened?" said the colonel, in deep anxiety.</p> + +<p>The <i>vaquero</i> wiped the cold sweat from his brow with the back of his +hand, and said, in short, sharp accents, which struck terror into his +hearers:</p> + +<p>"The Indians are upon us!"</p> + +<p>"Have you seen them?" asked the major.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said he abruptly; "I have seen them."</p> + +<p>"When was that—today?"</p> + +<p>"This very morning, colonel."</p> + +<p>"Far from hence?"</p> + +<p>"About twenty leagues. They have already crossed the Rio del Norte."</p> + +<p>"Already! How many are there? Do you know."</p> + +<p>"Count the sand grains in the desert, and you will know."</p> + +<p>"God!" said the colonel; "it is impossible. The Indians cannot assemble +in such numbers in the course of a day. Your fears have deceived you."</p> + +<p>"Fears!" said Pablito, laughing derisively. "Fear is very well for +you who live in towns; in the wilderness we have no time to make her +acquaintance."</p> + +<p>"Well, then, how are they coming?"</p> + +<p>"Like a tornado, burning and pillaging as they come."</p> + +<p>"Is it their intention to attack the <i>presidio</i>?"</p> + +<p>"They have formed an immense half moon, the two horns of which are +nearing you every moment."</p> + +<p>"Are they still a good way off?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; for they are acting on a preconceived plan, establishing +themselves firmly in places capable of defence, and apparently not +governed by the sole instinct of pillage; but, as it would seem, +obeying the directions of a chief who understands the art of war, and +whose influence is felt in all their movements."</p> + +<p>"This looks serious," said the governor.</p> + +<p>The major shook his head.</p> + +<p>"Why have you waited so long before you warned us?" said he.</p> + +<p>"This morning, at daybreak, my comrades and I were surrounded by more +than two hundred of these demons, who seemed to rise out of the ground. +We defended ourselves like lions: one is dead; two of us are wounded, +but we managed to escape; and here I am."</p> + +<p>"Get back to your post as soon as possible; they shall give you a fresh +horse."</p> + +<p>"I will be off directly, colonel."</p> + +<p>The <i>vaquero</i> saluted and left them. Five minutes later, they heard his +horse's hoofs clattering over the stony road.</p> + +<p>"Well," said the colonel, looking at the two others; "what did I tell +you? Did my forebodings lie?"</p> + +<p>Don Fernando rose.</p> + +<p>"Where are you going?" asked the colonel.</p> + +<p>"Back to the Hacienda del Cormillo."</p> + +<p>"At once! Without finishing your breakfast?"</p> + +<p>"This instant. I am torn by indescribable anxiety. The Indians may +attack the hacienda; and God knows what may happen."</p> + +<p>"El Cormillo is fortified, and cannot be taken by a <i>coup-de-main</i>. +However, I think Doña Hermosa would be safer here. Try, if there is +time, to induce Don Pedro to return: no one can foresee the issue of +an invasion undertaken on such a scale; and one cannot take too many +precautions. I should be glad to see Don Pedro and his daughter safe +among us."</p> + +<p>"Thank you, colonel; your advice is excellent. I will use every effort +to induce Don Pedro to follow it. Good-bye. I venture to flatter myself +that an energetic demonstration on your part will rid us of these +ferocious foes, whose tactics are always to attempt a surprise, and who +disappear as suddenly as they came the moment they find their plans +have been discovered."</p> + +<p>"God grant it! But I scarcely hope as much." "Farewell, caballeros, +and good luck!" said Don Fernando, pressing the hands of the two old +soldiers.</p> + +<p>Don Estevan was waiting for him in the court, and joined him as soon as +he appeared.</p> + +<p>"Well," said the <i>mayor domo</i>, "you have heard the news? The Indians +are coming like the locusts."</p> + +<p>"Yes; I have heard so."</p> + +<p>"What do you intend to do?"</p> + +<p>"To return to the hacienda at once."</p> + +<p>"H'm! That would be scarcely prudent. You know how speedily these +demons spread themselves over all the country; we should most likely +meet some of them."</p> + +<p>"Well! We will ride over their corpses."</p> + +<p>"<i>¡Canarios!</i> I dare say. But you may be killed."</p> + +<p>"Pooh! Doña Hermosa expects me; and I am not killed yet."</p> + +<p>"True; but you may be."</p> + +<p>"Well, we shall see."</p> + +<p>"Probably so. However, as I foresaw the objections you would make, +I have arranged everything to go. The horses are ready saddled, the +<i>peones</i> in waiting: we will set off as soon as you choose."</p> + +<p>"Thanks, Estevan; you are really a friend."</p> + +<p>"I know it," said the latter, with a gay smile. Estevan Diaz whistled +shrilly, and the <i>peones</i> entered the court, leading two horses by +their bridles.</p> + +<p>"Let us be off," said Don Fernando, springing into the saddle.</p> + +<p>"Let us be off," repeated Don Estevan.</p> + +<p>They gave the horses their heads, and began to push their way slowly +through the crowd of idlers assembled before the gates of the fortress +to learn the latest news, and trotted down the steep incline leading +from the fort to the old <i>presidio</i>, replying, as well as they could, +to the questions with which they were assailed on all sides. As soon as +they had threaded the town, they increased their speed along the road +to the Hacienda del Cormillo, without noticing the repeated signals of +several more than suspicious-looking individuals, carefully wrapped in +thick cloaks, who had followed them at a distance since they left the +fort, talking eagerly the while to each other.</p> + +<p>It was a stormy day. The sky was gray and lowering; the birds wheeled +screaming around; and the wind, blowing in squalls, roared in the deep +defiles of the road, filling the air with clouds of impalpable dust.</p> + +<p>The two <i>peones</i> who had brought the news of the Indians' march upon +the <i>presidio</i> rode twenty paces in advance, and scanned the country +on each side of the road with startled looks, expecting every instant +to see the redskins make their appearance, and to hear the dreaded +war whoop. Don Fernando and Don Estevan rode side by side, without +exchanging a syllable, each sufficiently occupied by his own thoughts.</p> + +<p>In the meanwhile, the nearer the travellers got to the river, the +more the storm increased in intensity. The rain fell in torrents, +the lightning flashed incessantly, and the peals of thunder rolled +majestically among the high cliffs, from which enormous crags were +constantly detached, and hurled crashing into the river.</p> + +<p>The storm had reached such a pitch of fury, that the riders had the +greatest difficulty in making progress, and were in constant danger of +falling with their horses, which were plunging wildly in their fright +at the tempest. The ground, soaked with rain, afforded no foothold +for the poor brutes: they slipped and stumbled at every step, snorted +violently, and threatened to break down.</p> + +<p>"It is impossible to get farther," said the <i>mayor domo</i>, picking up +his horse from a plunge which had nearly unseated him.</p> + +<p>"But what is to be done?" asked Don Fernando, looking about him with +great anxiety.</p> + +<p>"I think we had better take shelter under this clump of trees for a +while: the storm grows worse and worse. It is folly to pursue our +journey while it lasts."</p> + +<p>"Let us go, if we must," said Don Fernando resignedly.</p> + +<p>Accordingly they turned towards a small copse on one side of the road, +which seemed to offer some little shelter from the intensity of the +storm.</p> + +<p>They were only a few paces from it, when four men, their faces covered +with black masks, rushed out of the wood, and dashed at the travellers, +whom they attacked without uttering a word. The <i>peones</i> fell from +their saddles, knocked over by two shots from the masked strangers, and +rolled on the ground in convulsive agony, uttering the most piteous +cries.</p> + +<p>Don Fernando and Don Estevan, astonished at this sudden attack by men +who could not be Indians,—for they were dressed like <i>vaqueros</i>, and +their hands were white,—instantly dismounted, and, placing themselves +behind their horses, awaited their assailants' onset with cocked rifles.</p> + +<p>The latter, after making sure of the death of the <i>peones</i>, turned +their horses' heads to attack the two Spaniards. Shots were again +exchanged, and a terrible combat began,—a dreadful struggle of two +men against four—in which no word was spoken, and which was intended +to end in the death of those who had been so treacherously set upon. +However, the combat was sustained with a semblance of equality which +discouraged the assailants, of whom one had already fallen, cut down +to the teeth; while a second was retreating, with his chest pierced +through by the good blade of Don Fernando.</p> + +<p>"Aha! my masters," exclaimed the latter; "have you had enough, or do +you wish to make further acquaintance with my blade? Fools that you +are! You should have set at least ten to assassinate us."</p> + +<p>"What!" added the <i>mayor domo</i>, "Are you already satisfied? You are not +clever enough for highwaymen; the man who pays you might have made a +better choice."</p> + +<p>In fact, the two remaining men in masks had withdrawn a few paces, and +held themselves on the defensive.</p> + +<p>Suddenly four other masked men appeared, and all six rushed upon the +Spaniards, who awaited them firmly.</p> + +<p>"The devil! I wronged you by my suspicion," said Don Estevan. "I see +you are up to your work;" and he discharged a pistol point-blank into +the midst of his adversaries.</p> + +<p>The latter, still without a word, answered his fire, and the struggle +was renewed with fresh fury.</p> + +<p>But the two brave Spaniards could not defend themselves much longer: +they were exhausted with fatigue; and it was not long before they, in +their turn, fell on the dead bodies of two more of their assailants, +whom they had sacrificed to their fury before they fell.</p> + +<p>When they saw Don Fernando and Don Estevan stretched on the ground, +the strangers uttered a shout of triumph. Without troubling themselves +about the <i>mayor domo</i>, they seized the body of Don Fernando, threw it +over the neck of one of their horses, and rapidly vanished amongst the +manifold complications of the road.</p> + +<p>The tempest continued to rage with fury. A lugubrious silence reigned +in the spot where this tragedy had been acted, and where seven corpses +were now lying, round which the vultures and hideous <i>zopilotes</i>, +uttering their hoarse cries, began to sail in narrowing circles.</p> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h4><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI.</a></h4> + +<h3>SAN LUCAR.</h3> +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p>When Don Fernando left them, the governor and the major remained +perfectly mute a while, overcome by the gravity of the news they had +just received. But a state of prostration so much at variance with the +character of the two veterans, whose life had been spent in active +service, could not last long. They soon recovered their animation, like +two noble steeds who prick up their ears at the signal for the charge; +their features resumed their usual expression of imperturbability; and, +having exchanged a shake of the hand; they left the apartment.</p> + +<p>"The shock has been a rude one, and I was far from expecting it," said +the colonel; "but, <i>¡vive Dios!</i> the pagans shall find out whom they +have to deal with. Major, have the officers' call sounded we will hold +a council of war, to concert measures of defence."</p> + +<p>"That is right," replied the major; "just what you ought to do. I had +rather see you thus—proud, resolute, and stern—than troubled and +anxious, as you have looked these last few days. <i>Caray!</i> you are +yourself again, now, my good friend."</p> + +<p>"Well," said the governor, smiling, "you ought not to be astonished +at the change, my dear Barnum. For some time past I have been sadly +oppressed by vague forebodings, and the ill they threatened seemed the +greater, because I could not divine what it might be. Now the stroke +has fallen, I know what I have to do. I have not the least doubt that +the danger which menaces us is immense, but we know what the result +will be."</p> + +<p>"Quite true," said the major, leaving him to obey the orders he had +received from his chief.</p> + +<p>The officers of the garrison were soon assembled around the governor; +there were six of them, without counting the major and colonel. Don +José Kalbris invited them to be seated, and then addressed them:</p> + +<p>"<i>Caballeros</i>, you are aware why I have sent for you: the Indians +threaten us once more. I have just got the information from one of our +bravest scouts—in fact, the most faithful and intelligent of them all. +It is a grave case, señores; for the Indians have leagued themselves +together, and are marching against us in great force. I have caused +you to meet here, in order to organise a vigorous defence, and to +endeavour to discover the means of giving these savages so sharp a +lesson, that it will be a long time before they dream of invading our +territories again. But, first of all, let us see what means are at our +disposal."</p> + +<p>"We have plenty of arms and ammunition," said the major. "We have +two hundred thousand pounds of powder, abundance of muskets, sabres, +lances, and pistols; and the guns are in good condition, and amply +supplied with round shot and grape."</p> + +<p>"A capital account," said the colonel, rubbing his hands for joy.</p> + +<p>"Unfortunately," continued the major, "although we have plenty of arms, +we have very few men fit for service."</p> + +<p>"How many men have we?"</p> + +<p>"The effective state should be two hundred and seventy; but, unluckily, +disease, death, and desertion have reduced them to a hundred and +twenty."</p> + +<p>"The deuce!" said the colonel, shaking his head; "But I think we +might manage to increase the number. We are in one of those critical +positions where the end sanctifies the means: we must not be nice in +our choice. Besides, the common safety is in question. I trust to meet +with no opposition to the execution of a plan which I hope will save us +all."</p> + +<p>"What is it? We all go hand and hand with you."</p> + +<p>"I know that very well. I do not allude to you, señores, but to the +inhabitants of the town, who will reject it, and with whom we shall +be obliged to have recourse to forcible measures. It is of the last +importance to make an imposing show of men on the walls. Now, this is +what I propose: all the <i>peones</i> of the <i>haciendas</i> shall be enrolled, +and formed into companies; the merchants shall form another corps; the +haciendas, well mounted and armed, shall defend the approaches, and +patrol the plain. By these means, we shall muster an effective force +of about eleven hundred men,—a number quite sufficient to hold the +savages in check, and force them to retreat precipitately to their +villages."</p> + +<p>"You must recollect, colonel, that the greater number of the <i>vaqueros</i> +here are criminals, to whom any disturbance is a pretext for plunder."</p> + +<p>"For that reason, I have appointed them the exterior defence of the +place. They shall encamp outside the <i>presidio</i>, into which they shall +not enter on any pretence. To lessen the chance of a mutiny amongst +them, they shall be formed into two divisions—one of which shall be +constantly employed in scouring the neighbourhood, while the other +remains in camp. Thus, by keeping them always at work, we shall have +nothing to fear from them."</p> + +<p>"As for the creoles, and the strangers at present in the <i>presidio</i>," +said the major, "I think you had better order them to assemble in the +fort every night: we shall be able to use them in case of necessity."</p> + +<p>"Very good. You will also double the number of scouts, the better +to avoid a surprise. You will also have the entrances to the place +barricaded, to check the tremendous charges the Indians make when they +attack a position."</p> + +<p>"Permit me to propose, colonel, that a man to be depended upon should +be despatched to put the hacenderos on their guard, and warn them to +take refuge in the fort at the signal of three guns, to announce the +approach of the Indians."</p> + +<p>"It shall be done, major; or these poor fellows would be all massacred +by the pagans. The inhabitants of the town must also be warned to +retire—the women into the fort—as soon as the Indians are visible, +or they may be carried off. The savages are partial to white women, +and in the last inroad carried off three hundred: such a piece of +misfortune must not happen again. I think, señores, we have taken every +precaution against the threatened danger; we have now only to do our +duty as brave men. Our fate is in the hands of God, who will surely not +abandon us in circumstances of such great peril."</p> + +<p>The officers rose, and were preparing to take leave of their chief, +when another <i>vaquero</i> was announced as bringing reports to the +governor.</p> + +<p>Don José made signs to his officers to retain their seats, and ordered +the scout to be introduced.</p> + +<p>It was Tonillo el Zapote, Pablito's friend. He had left the place where +they had hidden themselves to watch the movements of the Indians four +hours after his comrade, and yet had arrived at the <i>presidio</i> only an +hour later,—sure proof of the importance of the news he bore.</p> + +<p>He looked as impudent and sneering as ever. His face was pale, and +smeared with blood and powder; his dress was torn in many places; while +the bandage round his head, one arm in a sling, and, more than all, +three or four scalps which hung bleeding from his girdle, showed that +he had had a hard tussle with the Indians, and been obliged to cut his +way through them to reach the <i>presidio</i>.</p> + +<p>"Zapote!" said the governor; "your comrade, Pablito, has just left me."</p> + +<p>"I know, colonel," answered the <i>vaquero</i>.</p> + +<p>"Have you brought us worse tidings than his?"</p> + +<p>"That depends upon the light in which you look upon them, señores."</p> + +<p>"What do your words imply?"</p> + +<p>"Oh!" was the reply, while the speaker swayed himself carelessly from +side to side; "If you love your ease, it is very probable it would +be troubled before long, and, in that case, the news I bring cannot +be very pleasant to you; but if you are fond of mounting to meet the +redskins, you can easily gratify your whim, and all I have to tell you +will be very acceptable."</p> + +<p>Notwithstanding the gravity of the situation and the anxiety they felt, +the governor and his officers could not help smiling at the singular +logic of the <i>vaquero</i>.</p> + +<p>"Explain, Zapote," said Don José; "we shall then know what to think of +your tidings."</p> + +<p>"Hardly ten minutes after my comrade left me, I was rummaging in the +bushes, which seemed to me to have an odd kind of motion, when I +discovered a <i>peon</i>, whose terror was so great, that it took me a +good half hour to get him to describe the dangers from which he had +escaped. The fellow belonged to a poor old man called Ignacio Rayal, +one of the two solitary individuals who escaped from the massacre +of the inhabitants of the peninsula of San-José by the Apaches in +the last invasion, twenty years ago. The <i>peon</i> and his master were +looking for firewood, without dreaming of danger, when the Indians +suddenly started up close by. The former had time to hide himself in +a drain; but the old man, too feeble to save himself, fell into the +hands of the savages, who butchered him with all the refinements of +their horrid barbarity. His body was riddled with wounds, till his own +mother would not have known him; he had received twenty lance thrusts; +and his head was smashed to atoms with tomahawks. I left the <i>peon</i> to +watch in our ambuscade, after I had restored his courage as well as I +could, and, proceeding in the direction he pointed out, was not long +in seeing a host of Indians driving before them a multitude of cattle +and prisoners. These fellows put everything to sack and fire on their +route; they were marching rapidly on the <i>presidio</i>, and detached +parties at intervals to destroy the haciendas on their road. The +haciendas of Piedra Rosa and San Blas are no longer standing; they are +now a heap of ashes, under which their unfortunate owners lie buried. +These are my tidings; make what you like out of them, señores."</p> + +<p>"And these scalps?" said the governor, pointing to the bloody trophies +hanging at the <i>vaquero's</i> girdle.</p> + +<p>"Oh! These are nothing," he replied, with a smile of triumph; "as I had +got too near the Indians, in the hope of getting a better idea of their +force and intentions, they saw me, and naturally wanted to lay hands on +me; so we had a bit of a skirmish."</p> + +<p>"I presume these Indians are a party of pillagers from the wilderness, +who want to steal cattle, and will retire when they have collected +enough booty."</p> + +<p>"Hm!" said Tonillo, shaking his head; "I am not sure of that. There are +too many of them; they are too well equipped. Colonel, these fellows +have another object: unless I am greatly mistaken, they intend to wage +war to the knife against us."</p> + +<p>The governor exchanged looks with his officers.</p> + +<p>"Thank you, Zapote," said he; "I am pleased with you. Your conduct +has been that of a loyal Mexican. Return to your post, and be doubly +vigilant."</p> + +<p>"You may rely on my comrades and me, colonel. You know, we do not +exactly love the Indians," said Tonillo, who saluted and left them.</p> + +<p>"You see, señores," said the governor, "that the situation grows more +critical every minute. We will lose no more time in deliberation. You +may go."</p> + +<p>"One moment," said the major; "I have a piece of advice to give before +we separate."</p> + +<p>"Let us hear it, old friend."</p> + +<p>"No precaution must be omitted in the perilous circumstances which +surround us. We are here in an out-of-the-way place, far from any +speedy and efficacious support. We may have to sustain a siege in the +<i>presidio</i>, and run the risk of being starved out. I propose that a +vessel be immediately despatched to the governor general of the state, +to apprise him of our critical position, and to request reinforcements; +for it is impossible, with our scanty forces, to hold out long against +the invasion."</p> + +<p>A profound and solemn silence followed this speech.</p> + +<p>"What do you think of Major Barnum's advice?" said the colonel to his +officers.</p> + +<p>"We agree to it," said one of them, speaking in the name of the others; +"and we think it ought to be put into execution without delay."</p> + +<p>"I am of the same opinion," said Don José; "let it be so. Caballeros, +you may retire."</p> + +<p>And now they began to organise the defence with an energy inconceivable +to those acquainted with the Spanish character, and the profound +laziness which is one of its principal failings.</p> + +<p>The terrible danger menacing them made all the inhabitants of the +<i>presidio</i> responsible for each other; it seemed to give courage to +those who had none, and redouble the ardour of the others.</p> + +<p>Two hours later, troops of cattle were driven in and parked in the +town, the streets barricaded, the guns supplied with ammunition, and +the women and children shut up in the buildings within the fort.</p> + +<p>A vessel had been despatched to the capital of the state, as had been +agreed on in council; and a hundred and fifty resolute men intrenched +themselves in the old <i>presidio</i>, the houses of which they loopholed, +in order to make head against the Indians when they appeared.</p> + +<p>The governor and Major Barnum seemed to multiply themselves; they were +ubiquitous; encouraging the newly enlisted, helping the workmen, and +speaking hope to all.</p> + +<p>About three o'clock in the afternoon, a strong wind arose, bringing +with it from the south-west volumes of thick smoke, obstructing the +view of objects at a distance. It was caused by the conflagration +throughout the country. The anxiety of the inhabitants increased +tenfold, as the direction from which it came proved that it could only +arise from the doings of the Indians.</p> + +<p>The Indian tribes always have recourse to this measure when they intend +to invade the territories of the whites; an excellent aid to their +system of attack by surprise, for, by shrouding the country in smoke, +they prevent the scouts discovering them from afar, and are more easily +able to conceal their numbers and motions.</p> + +<p>On the day in question, the Indians, unhappily for the Mexicans, +succeeded better than their wont; for the wind drove the smoke across +the open, and one could scarcely distinguish objects at ten paces off.</p> + +<p>It must be allowed, that in a country so uniformly level as the +prairies, which afford no points to mask a march, and where nothing +is easier than to find out the enemy's whole strength, the stratagem +employed by the Indians is as simple as it is ingenious.</p> + +<p>The scouts came galloping in one after the other, to report to +the governor the approach of the enemy, who, according to their +calculations, would reach the <i>presidio</i> of San Lucar that same night.</p> + +<p>The masses of Indians increased every moment. Their hordes covered +the open; they marched with inconceivable rapidity, and seemed to +concentrate all their forces on the luckless <i>pueblo</i>.</p> + +<p>The governor ordered the three alarm-guns to be fired. Immediately +one saw the poor <i>rancheros</i> (cottagers) of the plain trooping in +crowds into the town, bringing with them their cattle and furniture, +and shedding tears of rage and despair at the sight of their harvests +blazing in all directions.</p> + +<p>The poor men encamped as they best could in the squares of the +<i>pueblo;</i> and after sending their women and children into the fort, all +able to bear arms rushed to the barricades, resolved to make those pay +dearly who had been the cause of their ruin.</p> + +<p>Terror and consternation reigned throughout the town: nothing was +heard but sighs and lamentation; and night came, to add horror to the +situation by enveloping the earth in darkness.</p> + +<p>Strong patrols paraded the streets incessantly; and at times hardy +<i>vaqueros</i>, gliding like serpents through the obscurity, ventured two +or three hundred paces from the walls, to assure themselves that no +immediate danger threatened the <i>presidio</i>.</p> + +<p>Things remained in this state till about two in the morning, when, in +the midst of the mournful silence brooding over the town, a slight +noise, scarcely perceptible at first, was heard. It grew louder every +moment, and all of a sudden, as if by enchantment, and without any +one being able to guess how they got there, the Apaches crowned the +barricades of the <i>presidio</i>, brandishing flaming torches and uttering +the war whoop.</p> + +<p>For a moment the inhabitants thought the town was taken; but Major +Barnum, who commanded at this post, was too old a soldier, and too +accustomed to Indian warfare, to be deceived by their stratagem. At the +moment the Apaches were about to cross the barricades, a well-sustained +fire opened suddenly upon them, and drove them from the intrenchments +much faster than they had scaled them.</p> + +<p>The Mexicans charged with the bayonet: for one moment there was a +frightful <i>mêlée</i>, from the midst of which rose cries of agony, +maledictions, and the sharp clang of steel crossing steel; then the +whites regained their position; the Indians disappeared; the town, +illumined for so short a time by the blaze of the torches, was again +enveloped in darkness; and the silence, broken by the few minutes of +onslaught, was once more complete.</p> + +<p>This was the only attempt that night. The Indians were up to their +work; having failed in their bold <i>coup-de-main</i>, they would, in +all probability, convert the attack into a blockade, if they were +determined to take the town; or they might retreat altogether, if their +miscarriage had led them to despair of mastering it.</p> + +<p>But at daybreak this latter illusion vanished; the Indians seemed to +have no inclination to beat a retreat.</p> + +<p>The country presented a most afflicting spectacle; everything was +burnt down, and the disorder frightful. In one place a band of mounted +Apaches were driving before them the horses and cattle they had stolen; +in another, nearer the town, and facing towards it, a strong body of +warriors, with poised lances, watched the movements of the inhabitants +of the <i>presidio</i>, with the intention of repelling any sortie that +might be attempted; behind them, women and children were chasing the +cattle, which were lowing with anger at being forced to quit the +pastures; here and there prisoners, men, women, and children, driven on +by blows of the lance, lifted their hands in vain supplication, and +painfully dragged themselves forward amidst their captors. Lastly, +as far as the eye could see, long files of Indians were hastening up +on every side, while others drove in the pickets, or built <i>callis</i> +(huts); and the town was completely surrounded.</p> + +<p>Then an unheard-of circumstance occurred—a circumstance which the +most experienced soldiers in the fort had never witnessed in all their +previous encounters with the Indians, viz. the order that ruled through +all this disorder; that is to say, the manner in which the <i>callis</i> +were grouped, the serried and disciplined march of the infantry, the +precision of their movements; and, what particularly upset all the +arrangements of the colonel and major, the drawing of a parallel about +the place, and throwing up an earthwork with immense rapidity, so as to +shelter the Apaches from the fire of the guns.</p> + +<p>"<i>¡Sangre de Dios!</i>" exclaimed the colonel, with an angry stamp; "those +wretches have a traitor among them; they have never made war in this +fashion before."</p> + +<p>"Hem!" said the major, pulling at his moustache; "We shall have to tilt +against rude jousters."</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied the colonel; "and if succour does not arrive from the +city, I do not exactly see how this is to end."</p> + +<p>"Badly, colonel. <i>¡Caray!</i> I am afraid we shall lose our hides here. +Look! There are more than three thousand of them, without counting +those who are still coming and blackening the plain on all sides. But +what is the meaning of this noise?" he added, as he turned in the +direction whence the notes of a trumpet proceeded.</p> + +<p>Four sachems, dressed in white, and preceded by an Indian bearing a +white flag, had halted at half-gunshot from the first barricade at the +old <i>presidio</i>.</p> + +<p>"What can this mean?" said the colonel; "They seem to demand a parley. +Do they think I am fool enough to fall into the snare? Major, a hatful +of grape for that group of pagans! We'll teach them to take us for +dolts!"</p> + +<p>"I think you are wrong, colonel, and that it would be better to parley +with them; in that way we shall learn their intentions."</p> + +<p>"You may be right, my good friend; but who will be fool enough to risk +his life among these lawless bandits?"</p> + +<p>"I, if you will permit me," answered the major.</p> + +<p>"You!" cried Don José, in astonishment.</p> + +<p>"Yes; is it not our duty to suffer no means to escape us by which we +may save the wretched people confided to our honour? I am only one +man; my life is of little importance to the defence of the <i>presidio</i>, +and the step I am about to take may save it."</p> + +<p>The colonel stifled a sigh, pressed his old friend's hand +affectionately, and exclaimed, in a voice half choked with the emotion +he vainly endeavoured to suppress:</p> + +<p>"Go, since you insist upon it."</p> + +<p>"Thanks," said the major joyfully. And he turned with a firm step in +the direction of the barricade.</p> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h4><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII.</a></h4> + +<h3>THE ATTACK ON THE PRESIDIO.</h3> +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p>Major Barnum was unarmed; he was offering up his life, and would not +take his sword, that he might have no pretext for defending himself +should a conflict ensue, as would probably be the case.</p> + +<p>When he had got within earshot, he halted. As in his former campaign he +had often had occasion to confer with the Apaches, he had learnt enough +of their language to need no interpreter.</p> + +<p>"What do you require, chiefs? Have you crossed the Rio Grande del +Norte, and invaded our frontiers, in breach of the peace existing +between us?"</p> + +<p>He said this in a loud voice, and saluting them with his hat, which he +immediately replaced after this act of courtesy.</p> + +<p>"Are you the man whom the palefaces call Don José Kalbris?" asked one +of the chiefs; "The man to whom they give the title of governor?"</p> + +<p>"No; according to our laws, the governor may not quit his post. I am +Major Barnum, second in command, deputed to represent him; so you may +report to me what brings you hither."</p> + +<p>The chiefs conferred together for an instant; then, planting their long +lances in the sand, they dashed forward on their horses till beside the +major.</p> + +<p>The latter, who had never taken his eyes off them, had divined their +purpose, but remained motionless, and testified no surprise at seeing +them at his side.</p> + +<p>The Indians, who had intended by the suddenness of their action to +throw off his guard and perhaps intimidate the major, were secretly +annoyed at his coolness, which they could not help admiring.</p> + +<p>"My father is brave," said the one who was spokesman.</p> + +<p>"At my age," replied the veteran, "one does not fear death; one often +looks upon it as a blessing."</p> + +<p>"My father bears on his head the snows of many winters; he must be one +of the wisest chiefs of his nation. The young men listen to him with +respect around the council fire."</p> + +<p>The major bowed modestly.</p> + +<p>"Do not talk of me," he said; "we have met to discuss graver matters. +Why have you demanded this interview?"</p> + +<p>"Will not my father lead us to the council fire of his nation?" said +the warrior in insinuating tones. "Is it proper for great <i>sachems</i>, +renowned warriors, to treat of important affairs on horseback, between +two armies ready to come to blows?"</p> + +<p>"I understand your meaning, chief; but cannot comply with your desires. +When a town is invested, no leader of the enemy can be admitted as flag +of truce."</p> + +<p>"Does my father fear that we four should take the town?" said the +Apache, laughing, but secretly vexed at the abortion of his plan to +communicate with the friends he undoubtedly had in the place.</p> + +<p>"It is not my custom to fear anything," replied the major; "I tell you +a fact of which you were ignorant, that is all. And now, if you wish +to use this pretext to break off the interview, you can do so; I have +nothing more to do than to go back."</p> + +<p>"Oho! My father is hasty for his age. Why break off the interview, when +we have not even mentioned the object of it?"</p> + +<p>"Speak then, and tell me what brings you here."</p> + +<p>The <i>sachems</i> looked at each other, and exchanged a few words in a +whisper. Then the chief took up the word:</p> + +<p>"My father has seen the great army of the Apaches, and the nations +their allies?"</p> + +<p>"I have," replied the major carelessly.</p> + +<p>"And has my father, who is a learned paleface, counted the warriors who +compose it?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, as far as it was possible."</p> + +<p>"Ah! And how many are there, according to my father's counting?"</p> + +<p>"Upon my word, chief," replied the major, with an unconcern that was +admirably counterfeited, "I must confess that, as for us, we do not +care how many of them there are."</p> + +<p>"But still," persisted the Indian, "at how many does my father count +them?"</p> + +<p>"How can I know? Eight or ten thousand I dare say."</p> + +<p>The chiefs were astounded at the indifference the major displayed for +numbers thrice their force; and the Apache warrior replied:</p> + +<p>"And my father is not frightened at the number of warriors united under +one chief?"</p> + +<p>The wonder of the <i>sachems</i> had not escaped the major.</p> + +<p>"Why should I be frightened? Has not my nation conquered greater +numbers?"</p> + +<p>"It is possible," said the chief, biting his lips; "but this time you +will not conquer."</p> + +<p>"Who can tell? Is that what you came to parley about, chief? If so, you +might have spared yourself the trouble."</p> + +<p>"No; it is not that. Let my father be patient."</p> + +<p>"Speak, then, and have done with it. One never knows how to get on with +all your Indian circumlocutions."</p> + +<p>"The army of the great nations is camped before the <i>presidio</i> to +obtain satisfaction for all the wrongs the palefaces have done the +Indians, since they first set foot on the red man's territory."</p> + +<p>"What are you talking about? Explain yourself clearly; and, first of +all, what is your pretext for thus invading our frontiers, without +previously declaring war? Have we broken the treaties we made with +you? Have we not always been generous to the Indians who claimed our +protection? Answer!"</p> + +<p>"Why does my father pretend to be ignorant of our just reasons for war +with the palefaces?" replied the Apache, feigning to be discontented +with the major's speech. "My father knows that we have for centuries +been at war with the Long Knives,<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> who dwell on the other side of the +mountains. Why has my father's nation, which assumes to be at peace +with us, made treaties with them?"</p> + +<p>"Chief, you are only seeking a quarrel; but that does not signify. I +would rather you had told me frankly that your wish was to pillage +and steal our horses and cattle, than give me a reason without common +sense. We should be at war with the Comanches, if you really meant what +you say. Therefore, chief, mock me no more, but proceed to facts. What +is it you demand?"</p> + +<p>The chief burst out laughing.</p> + +<p>"My father is cunning," he said. "Listen; thus say the chiefs: 'This +land belongs to us: we will have it.' The white ancestors of my father +had no right to establish themselves in it."</p> + +<p>"That pretext is, at all events, specious; for my ancestors bought this +land from one of your <i>sachems</i>."</p> + +<p>"The chiefs in assembly round, the tree of the Master of life have +determined to return to the great white chief, without reserve, all the +articles formerly given to the <i>sachem</i> in exchange for the land, and +to resume the country belonging to them, in which they will no longer +have the palefaces."</p> + +<p>"Is that all you were deputed to tell me?"</p> + +<p>"It is all," said the chief, bending his head.</p> + +<p>"And how much time," answered the major, "do the chiefs allow the +governor of the <i>presidio</i> to discuss these proposals?"</p> + +<p>"Two hours."</p> + +<p>"Very well," said the major coolly. "And if the governor refuses, what +will my brothers do?"</p> + +<p>"The <i>sachems</i>," replied the Apache, emphatically, "have determined to +resume the ownership of their territory. If the palefaces refuse to +restore it, their village shall be burnt, their warriors put to death, +their wives and children carried away as slaves."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said the major; "Before you obtain that result, all the whites +in the <i>presidio</i> will have been killed in its defence. But it is not +for me to discuss the matter with you. I will carry your demands to the +governor, precisely as you have made them; and tomorrow, at sunrise, +you shall have your answer. Hostilities must be suspended until then."</p> + +<p>"No; it is for you to stop them. We cannot stay here inactive; so be on +your guard."</p> + +<p>"Thanks for your frankness, chief," replied the major. "I am happy +at meeting an Indian who is not altogether a rascal. Good-bye, till +tomorrow."</p> + +<p>"Farewell," said the chiefs courteously.</p> + +<p>All were struck with admiration at the coolness of the veteran.</p> + +<p>The major retired as slowly as he had come, without manifesting +apprehension.</p> + +<p>The colonel awaited him at the barricade with the greatest anxiety. The +long interview had filled him with uneasiness. He had prepared himself +to avenge any insult that might be offered to his envoy. When the major +reached the barricade, he hastened to join him.</p> + +<p>"Well?" said he impatiently.</p> + +<p>"They are only seeking to gain time, in order to execute one of their +devilries."</p> + +<p>"What is the sum of their demands?"</p> + +<p>"Their pretensions are absurd, and they know it; for they sneered when +they laid them before me. They pretend that the <i>sachem</i> who ceded the +territory to the Spaniards, two hundred years ago, had no right to sell +it. They demand that we should surrender it to them in twenty-four +hours; if not—then follow the usual threats. Ah!" said the major, with +an ironical smile, "I forgot to tell you, colonel, that they pretend to +be ready to restore everything the <i>sachem</i> received for the land he +sold. That is all I am commissioned to report."</p> + +<p>The colonel shrugged his shoulders in disdain.</p> + +<p>"The demons are mad," said he, "or else they are trying to lull us into +security, so as to surprise us the more easily."</p> + +<p>"What do you think of doing?" asked the major.</p> + +<p>"Redouble my vigilance, my good friend; for I have no doubt we shall +soon come to blows with them again. I am specially uneasy about the old +<i>presidio</i>."</p> + +<p>"You go back to the fort; I will take the command of the advanced post. +It is most important, in case of a check, that our communication should +not be cut off, and that we may be able to retreat into the place +without too great loss."</p> + +<p>"I will leave you at liberty to act, my dear major; I am sure you will +do your best."</p> + +<p>The two veterans separated, after shaking hands warmly. The colonel +returned to the fort, while the major actively bestirred himself to put +the post confided to him in safety against a surprise.</p> + +<p>The garrison of the old <i>presidio</i> consisted chiefly of <i>vaqueros</i> and +<i>leperos</i>,—people, we confess, on whose fidelity the major could only +moderately rely. But the stout old soldier locked the apprehensions +that tormented him up in his heart, and feigned entire confidence in +these fellows, whom he more than suspected.</p> + +<p>The day passed over quietly enough. The Apaches, buried like moles +behind their intrenchments, seemed determined not to quit them. The +sentinels watched vigilantly at the barriers and barricades which +closed the suburb. The major, reassured by this apparent tranquillity, +hoped that the Indians would not assume the offensive before the term +proposed for the receipt of the governor's answer; and, overwhelmed +with fatigue from the numerous operations he had been obliged to +superintend in providing for the defence in its minutest details, he +retired to a house close to the barricade, to snatch a few minutes of +necessary repose.</p> + +<p>Certain of our old acquaintances were amongst the defenders of +the suburb: Pablito, El Verado, Tonillo, and Carlocho. The worthy +<i>vaqueros</i>, since the appearance of the Indians, had given such +undeniable proofs of fidelity, that the major, at their request, and as +a reward for their good conduct, had confided to them the most advanced +barricade, which was, in fact, the key of the suburb.</p> + +<p>A few minutes after sunset, these four men were together at the foot of +the barricade, and talking in whispers. A dozen more rascals of their +own stamp, grouped a few paces off were evidently awaiting the result +of their mysterious council.</p> + +<p>At last they rose, and their colloquy terminated.</p> + +<p>"Well, then," said Carlocho, by way of wind-up, "it is settled for ten +o'clock?"</p> + +<p>"For ten o'clock," peremptorily replied El Zapote; "a man can only +stick to his word. We have been nobly paid, and must fulfil our +promise, especially as we have received half the amount."</p> + +<p>"True," said the others, thoroughly convinced; "the loss would be too +great."</p> + +<p>"I should think so!" exclaimed El Zapote; "Only think, <i>queridos</i> (my +boys); five-and-twenty ounces a piece!"</p> + +<p>The bandits grinned like hyenas which scent a corpse, and their eyes +glistened with greed.</p> + +<p>The major, lying half upright on a <i>butaca</i>, slept the restless sleep +of a man whose mind is preoccupied by affairs of great moment; when +all of a sudden he felt himself rudely shaken, and a voice, half +unintelligible from emotion, shouted into his ears:</p> + +<p>"Rise, major, rise! We are betrayed! The <i>vaqueros</i> have given up the +barricade to the Apaches, and the Indians are in the place."</p> + +<p>The officer bounded to his feet, seized his sword, and rushed out of +doors without answering, followed by the man—a Mexican soldier—who +had so rudely awakened him.</p> + +<p>At a single glance, the major recognised the truth of the disastrous +news reported to him. El Zapote and his comrades had not only +surrendered the barrier to the Apaches, but had even joined them, +followed by the few wretches we mentioned above.</p> + +<p>The situation was very critical. The Mexicans, disheartened by the +shameful defection of the <i>vaqueros</i>, fought without energy or order, +dreading further treachery, and on that account not daring to make good +head against the enemy.</p> + +<p>The Apaches and the <i>vaqueros</i> howled like demons, and charged +furiously on the demoralised defenders of the <i>presidio</i>, whom they +slaughtered pitilessly.</p> + +<p>It was a horrid spectacle to witness, this homicidal strife, illumined +by the lurid reflection of the houses fired by the Indians to light up +their victory. The war whoop of the Apaches mingled with the cries of +agony of the Mexicans they were massacring and the awful roaring of the +flames, fanned by the frequent squalls.</p> + +<p>The major threw himself resolutely into the thickest of the fight, +calling the garrison around him, and exciting them by voice and +gesture, to a desperate resistance.</p> + +<p>The appearance of the commandant of the <i>presidio</i> produced an +electrical effect on the Mexicans. Animated by his example, they +formed around him, and replied by a well-directed fire to the attacks +of their ferocious foes.</p> + +<p>The <i>vaqueros</i>, brought to a stand by the point of the bayonet, +ignominiously fled, pursued by a shower of balls.</p> + +<p>Thanks to the energetic action of the major, the fight was fairly +renewed; but Barnum was a soldier of too much experience to allow +himself to be deceived by a factitious success. He felt that any +attempt to hold the suburb would be madness; he therefore only thought +how to make good his retreat in the best possible order, and to bring +off the women and children.</p> + +<p>Calling his boldest and most resolute men about him, he formed them +into a body to hold the Indians in check, while the non-combatants +embarked and crossed the river. The Apaches perceived big project, and +doubled their efforts to hinder its execution.</p> + +<p>The <i>mêlée</i> grew still more frightful. A desperate hand-to-hand combat +ensued between whites and redskins; the former fighting for the safety +of their families, the latter in the hope of an immense booty.</p> + +<p>But the Mexicans, encouraged by the heroic devotion of their commander, +only retreated step by step, resisting with the energy of that despair +which performs prodigies, and in desperate circumstances trebles the +strength of man.</p> + +<p>This handful of brave men, scarcely numbering a hundred and fifty, kept +in check for three hours, and without allowing themselves to be broken, +nearly two thousand Indians, falling one after the other at their +allotted posts, in order to save their wives and children.</p> + +<p>At last the final boats full of wounded and non-combatants quitted +the suburb; the Mexicans uttered a shout of joy, charged the Apaches +once more, and, under the orders of the major,—who, like an old +wounded lion, seemed to abandon the fight with regret,—commenced their +retreat, continually harassed by the Apaches.</p> + +<p>They soon reached the river. Here the savages were constrained to fall +back in their turn, being decimated by the showers of grape poured upon +their dense ranks by the guns of the fortress.</p> + +<p>This successful diversion permitted the scanty survivors of the +heroic Mexican phalanx to enter the boats, and retire without further +molestation, carrying with them two or three prisoners they had +contrived to secure. The fight was at an end, after having lasted five +hours. The Apaches had only conquered through the treachery of the +<i>vaqueros</i>.</p> + +<p>The colonel received his friend at the landing place, and congratulated +him on his admirable defence, which, in his eyes, was as good as a +victory, on account of the enormous losses it had caused the enemy.</p> + +<p>Then, without losing time, the two officers took measures to complete +the defence of the place, by ordering the construction of strong +intrenchments on the bank of the river, and the erection of two +flanking batteries, of six guns each.</p> + +<p>The capture of the old <i>presidio</i> by the Indians, through the +treachery of the <i>vaqueros</i>, was an immense loss to the Mexicans, +whose communications with the numerous haciendas on that bank were cut +off. Luckily, the colonel, foreseeing a result almost inevitable from +the want of troops at his disposal, had withdrawn the whole of the +population of the suburb into San Lucar. The houses had been gutted, +horses and cattle carried off, and the boats moored under the batteries +of the fort, where they were in safety—at least for the present.</p> + +<p>It is true the Indians were masters of the suburb; but the success had +cost them greater losses than the possession of it was worth. After +all, the Mexicans had only lost an insignificant piece of ground, +scarcely worth defence; for the old <i>presidio</i> was not the key of the +place, of which it was only a questionable dependency, and from which +it was separated by the breadth of the river.</p> + +<p>Thus the effect of the battle on the two camps was exactly the reverse +of what the reader might suppose.</p> + +<p>The Mexicans almost congratulated themselves on the loss of a position +nearly useless to them in the present state of affairs, and the defence +of which could only cost them many valuable lives; while the Apaches +asked each other sadly what good the conquest of the suburb had done +them, in return for the loss of more than five hundred of their bravest +warriors who had fallen.</p> + +<p>Two <i>vaqueros</i>, who had been thrown from their horses, had been taken +prisoners by the Mexicans during their retreat.</p> + +<p>The colonel ordered a court martial to assemble, commanded two high +gibbets to be erected a little in advance of the new intrenchments +along the river, and had them hung in the sight of the whole +population, and of their companions, who had clustered together on the +opposite bank of the river, and uttered shouts of impotent rage at +seeing them executed.</p> + +<p>Don José Kalbris was not naturally cruel; but in this case he justly +thought he ought to make an example, in order to intimidate such as +might have the inclination to imitate them. A <i>bando</i> (an edict), fixed +to the foot of each gibbet, announced that the same fate awaited every +revolted <i>vaquero</i> who fell into the hands of the Mexicans.</p> + +<p>While this was doing, evening closed in; and the Indians, to annoy +the whites, amused themselves by setting fire to the suburb they had +taken the night before. The immense volume of flame produced by the +conflagration threw fantastic shadows over the camp of the Apaches and +the town of San Lucar, whose miserable inhabitants, plunged in the +stupor of grief, knew they had no mercy to expect from foes like these.</p> + +<p>The colonel seemed made of iron: he did not take a moment's rest, but +visited the posts continually, and sought by every means to strengthen +the defences of the town.</p> + +<p>He and the major had just entered the fort, after making a final round. +The night had passed, and the Indians had retreated to their camp, +after making a futile attempt to surprise the <i>presidio</i>.</p> + +<p>"Well, major," said the colonel, "you see how it is; there is no use in +our trying to blind each other. It is only a question of time for us; +whether we shall be taken tomorrow or in a week, no one can say: but +everyone can see what the result must be."</p> + +<p>"Hm!" said the major; "When the last moment has come, we shall always +have the resource of shutting ourselves up in the fort, and blowing it +and ourselves to the devil."</p> + +<p>"Unluckily, we have not even that resource."</p> + +<p>"How so?"</p> + +<p>"Why, we old soldiers might blow ourselves up easily and ought to do +it; but we cannot condemn the women and children shut up with us to +such a cruel fate."</p> + +<p>"True; but I have it! Although we cannot blow ourselves up, I can +always blow out my brains."</p> + +<p>"You have not even that consolation, my good friend. Is it not our duty +to set an example to the poor people cooped up here, and protect them +while we can? Is it not our duty to be in the breach to the last?"</p> + +<p>The major made no reply to this argument, which he inwardly +acknowledged to be unanswerable.</p> + +<p>"But," said he, after a pause, "how is it we have received no news from +the capital of the state?"</p> + +<p>"Ah, my friend! Out there they have probably other things than us to +think of."</p> + +<p>"I will not believe it."</p> + +<p>At this moment a servant opened the door, and announced:</p> + +<p>"Don Torribio Quiroga!"</p> + +<p>The two men shuddered, without being able to account for their emotion.</p> + +<p>Don Torribio entered. He wore the magnificent uniform of a colonel +in the Mexican service, and on his left arm the ribbons of an +aide-de-camp. He bowed respectfully to the two officers.</p> + +<p>"Is that you, Don Torribio?" said the colonel.</p> + +<p>"I suppose it is," said the former smiling.</p> + +<p>"When I last saw you, you were about to undertake a long journey."</p> + +<p>"From which I have just returned."</p> + +<p>"But the uniform you wear?"</p> + +<p>"Good heavens, caballeros! I was tired of being treated in the +provinces as a nobody, a kind of useless ninny. I threw off everything +of that sort, and have become a man of the world like others."</p> + +<p>"Then you are—?" asked Don José.</p> + +<p>"An officer like yourself, colonel,—of the same rank; and moreover, +aide-de-camp to the governor of the state."</p> + +<p>"It is wonderful!" said the colonel.</p> + +<p>"Why so? Nothing could be more simple."</p> + +<p>The major had taken no part in this conversation. When Don Torribio +entered, a strange suspicion had seized him.</p> + +<p>"I confess," said the colonel, "that I was a thousand miles from +thinking—"</p> + +<p>"What, pray? That I should turn officer? You see, you were wrong; +and so much the more so, since I have been deputed by the general +commanding the province to bring you a message, which I am sure will be +of great service to you in the present conjuncture."</p> + +<p>He drew forth a large folded paper, sealed with the Mexican arms, and +presented it to the colonel.</p> + +<p>Don José hastened to take it.</p> + +<p>"With your permission," said he, and hurriedly broke the seal, and read +the missive.</p> + +<p>"Aha!" he exclaimed; "Four hundred and fifty men! I did not expect so +strong a reinforcement."</p> + +<p>"The general feels greatly concerned for the <i>presidio</i>," said Don +Torribio; "he will spare no sacrifice to retain it."</p> + +<p>"<i>¡Vive Dios!</i> caballero, with such help I care as much for the Indians +as for a bundle of straw."</p> + +<p>"It seems to me that they will not arrive a whit too soon," said Don +Torribio, with a sneer.</p> + +<p>"<i>¡Canarios!</i> It is just in time; but now we shall have some fun."</p> + +<p>"I hope so," said the other, while an indescribable smile curled his +lips.</p> + +<p>"And your men?" asked the governor.</p> + +<p>"Will be here in an hour, at the latest."</p> + +<p>"To what corps do they belong?"</p> + +<p>"To none in particular; they are <i>guerilleros</i>" (irregular troops).</p> + +<p>"Hm!" said the colonel, showing a little disappointment; "I should have +preferred other troops. But never mind; if you like, we will go out to +meet them."</p> + +<p>"I am at your orders, colonel."</p> + +<p>"Shall I go with you?" asked the major.</p> + +<p>"Nothing could be better," said Don Torribio hastily.</p> + +<p>The colonel hesitated a moment.</p> + +<p>"No," said he, at last; "remain here. One cannot tell what may happen, +and somebody must be here to act for me in my absence. Come, Don +Torribio."</p> + +<p>With a sigh of satisfaction, the major threw himself back again on the +sofa from which he had risen.</p> + +<p>The two men went out. Just as they were mounting, they encountered a +horseman, who came up at full speed.</p> + +<p>"Estevan Diaz!" muttered Don Torribio to himself; "Please Heaven he has +not recognized me."</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 inhabitants of the United States.</p></div> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h4><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII.</a></h4> + +<h3>DISGRACE.</h3> +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p>As we have already said, Don Torribio had rapidly quitted the Hacienda +del Cormillo in company with the mysterious stranger whom he had met in +such an extraordinary manner.</p> + +<p>Their journey was not long. At the close of a quarter of an hour, the +stranger pulled up his horse, saying, in a sharp tone:</p> + +<p>"It is useless to take you farther before I know what I have to expect +from you."</p> + +<p>Don Torribio had halted at the same time as the unknown.</p> + +<p>"I think you are making a mistake, caballero," said he dryly.</p> + +<p>"In what way, if you please, señor?" said the other in a sneering tone.</p> + +<p>"I am going to put you in possession of a few facts, which will put us +on a level with each other."</p> + +<p>"Let us hear them, caballero; I am all attention."</p> + +<p>"In the first place," said Don Torribio firmly, "before we go any +farther, let me give you a piece of advice."</p> + +<p>"Advice is always useful: if yours is good, I shall profit by it; of +that be certain."</p> + +<p>"You will be right. I am unaware whether you know me, but be sure of +this: I am not easily frightened; and if, for some unknown reason, you +have led me into an ambush, I warn you that, at the first suspicious +movement you make, I will blow your brains out; for I neither know you, +nor what your intentions are."</p> + +<p>"Good! You are a man after my own heart, I see clearly we shall come to +an understanding."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps so. But as it is not I who have come to seek you out,—as +I have not claimed your aid in any way,—I demand, in the first +place, that you give me a clear explanation, without prevarication or +circumlocution."</p> + +<p>The stranger shrugged his shoulders.</p> + +<p>"Is it not enough for you to know that I am in a position to serve you +effectually in the plans of vengeance you meditate?"</p> + +<p>"I neither understand what you say, nor to what you allude," said Don +Torribio haughtily.</p> + +<p>"Aha!" said the other, laughing grimly; "Is that the way you answer +me?"</p> + +<p>"Why should I give you a different answer? What right have you to my +confidence? On what plea, supposing I have a secret, do you pretend to +search into it?"</p> + +<p>"Because your enemy is mine also; because, in avenging you, I avenge +myself. Do you understand me now?"</p> + +<p>"No more than I did before. If you have nothing else to say, we had +better break off our conference and part."</p> + +<p>The stranger made a gesture of impatience: he had not expected to meet +with so much inflexibility.</p> + +<p>"One word more, Don Torribio Quiroga. The man whom you hate, whose +death you have already plotted, is called Don Fernando Carril. That man +who for a long time has crossed your path at every turn, counteracting +your plans and ruining your hopes, has overthrown you in all your +reencounters; your very life belongs to him; he has taken all, even to +the heart of her you love. Is not this true? Will you trust me now?"</p> + +<p>Don Torribio had listened with mingled pain and anger to the +revelations of the singular being who had accosted him.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said he, clenching his hand with rage, "yes, you are well +informed. I care not whether you have gleaned your knowledge from +heaven or hell; it is accurate. This man is my evil genius, always +and forever crossing my path, and overthrowing, as if in wantonness, +my most cherished aspirations. I would sacrifice my whole fortune to +avenge myself on him—to hold him, panting and despairing, in my power."</p> + +<p>"I thought we should end by coming to an understanding."</p> + +<p>"Do not mock me, señor; my soul is deeply troubled. I could have +forgiven this man his insolent good luck, his success in the world, +where he thrives at my expense, the heaps of gold he wins with such +proud indifference,—I say, I could have forgiven him all this, if +he had not destroyed my sweetest hopes in tearing from me the heart +of her I love; for although I have no tangible proof to corroborate +my suspicions, I have tonight acquired a moral certainty impossible +to controvert. A lover's heart does not deceive him; jealousy is +sharp-sighted. On the appearance of Don Fernando at Don Pedro de +Luna's, I found in him a rival, and a rival who is preferred to me."</p> + +<p>"If you choose, I will rid you of Don Fernando, and deliver Doña +Hermosa into your hands."</p> + +<p>"You will do that?" cried Don Torribio, beside himself with joy.</p> + +<p>"I will do it," briefly responded the stranger. "Before two days are +over, you shall have your revenge on both. But it all depends upon your +own will."</p> + +<p>"Ah! If that is all," said the other, with an indescribable expression +of rage, "I will do all you ask, I will agree to all your demands, to +the utmost of my power."</p> + +<p>"Take heed, Don Torribio; we are about to enter into a compact—a +compact, the conditions of which you must fulfil at all hazards."</p> + +<p>"Whatever they may be, I will fulfil them, if you secure my twofold +revenge."</p> + +<p>"Good! Swear to me, by all you hold most sacred in this world, +that, whatever may happen, whatever determination you may arrive at +hereafter, you will never divulge what is going to pass between us."</p> + +<p>"I swear to you, <i>a fe de</i> caballero," (on the honour of a gentleman), +"señor. Speak with all confidence."</p> + +<p>"Just now you asked me who I am: I am the Tigercat!"</p> + +<p>Don Torribio shuddered involuntarily on hearing this redoubtable name, +but recovered himself immediately.</p> + +<p>"Very good," said he; "the name you reveal is a guarantee of success to +my vengeance."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said the bandit, chuckling, "I dare say it is; my reputation has +been established a long time on the frontiers. In the meantime, this is +what I exact of you. Ponder well what you are about to hear—reflect +seriously on what I am going to propose—before you answer; for, I +repeat once more, I will compel you to act up to the conditions when +once you have accepted them."</p> + +<p>"Speak," he replied impatiently; "have I not told you I am longing for +revenge?"</p> + +<p>"Hear me, then, and remember your oath. I am at this moment preparing +an expedition against San Lucar, of which I intend to gain possession +at any price. For certain reasons, which need not be mentioned, I have +assembled several tribes of the Apaches and a considerable number of +<i>vaqueros</i>, who are concealed not far from hence, and only await my +signal to fall, like tigers thirsting for blood, upon the <i>pueblo</i>, as +it is gorged with wealth. An active and intelligent ally, upon whom I +counted to execute this bold <i>coup-de-main</i>, has deserted me at the +last moment. You alone can replace him: will you do so?"</p> + +<p>"What is this?" exclaimed Don Torribio, shuddering; "It is treason you +propose!"</p> + +<p>"No," replied the other, in a deep voice, "it is revenge!—consummate +vengeance, by which I shall confound your enemies, and those who have +applauded their success, while they laughed in scorn at each of your +disasters."</p> + +<p>"What! I, Don Torribio Quiroga, belonging to one of the oldest families +in the country; I am to associate—"</p> + +<p>He hesitated and paused. The Tigercat laughed with disdain.</p> + +<p>"With bandits and redskins, you would say, and wage war on your own +countrymen. Why hesitate to pronounce the words? As for me, those +qualifications have no value. I offer you revenge on your countrymen, +who have become your enemies in siding with your adversary. You are +about to engage in a duel. In a duel, all feints to kill your opponent +are lawful. But these are my conditions, and I will not alter them a +tittle. I will give you twenty-four hours for consideration."</p> + +<p>A long silence ensued between the two men.</p> + +<p>The night was dark; the wind howled mournfully through the branches of +the trees; nameless noises passed them by, borne on the wings of the +breeze.</p> + +<p>At last Don Torribio answered in husky tones:</p> + +<p>"You have given me twenty-four hours; I demand forty-eight to come to +my determination. I will make one more attempt with her I love. You +see, I am frank with you. The line of conduct I adopt will depend upon +the result of the experiment."</p> + +<p>"Be it so," said the Tigercat; "it is better thus. Your cooperation +will be more efficacious, and your will firmer, when your last allusion +has been torn from you. Go, then! For my part, I shall not be idle."</p> + +<p>"Thanks! In case I want to communicate to you my resolve, where shall I +find you?"</p> + +<p>"I will await you at the Barranca del Fraile" (the Friar's inn).</p> + +<p>"Agreed! God grant," he added, with a sigh, "that fate may not force me +to be there!"</p> + +<p>The Tigercat laughed aloud; and, without replying, spurred his horse, +and disappeared in the darkness.</p> + +<p>We have already related how the old freebooter acted to keep his +promise to Don Torribio.</p> + +<p>The desertion among the Apaches, brought about by the influence of the +<i>amantzin</i>, on the night when the Tigercat left them to repair to the +rendezvous arranged with Stoneheart, had not been as successful as the +sorcerer had hoped. The sudden return of the old chief sufficed to +restore his authority among the Apaches, who had long been accustomed +to obey him, and whose raids against the frontier had always been +productive of booty when he commanded them.</p> + +<p>The Tigercat had not even taken the trouble to punish the <i>amantzin</i> +himself—the Zopilote had taken care of that; and the summary execution +had produced an excellent effect upon those rugged and savage minds, +which brute force alone can tame.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, he had no wish to damp the renewed devotion shown him +by the redskins; and, although his final dispositions were not yet +made, and the defection of Stoneheart was a serious hindrance to his +plans, he comprehended the necessity of hurrying on his expedition, +even at the risk of seeing it fail, calculating on turning to his own +profit the hatred of Don Torribio, whose high standing in the province +might be very useful to him. He assembled all the Indians able to +bear arms of whom he could dispose, crossed the Rio Grande del Norte; +and these vultures fell like a devastating hurricane on the luckless +Indian frontier,—burning, pillaging, slaughtering, and passing like +a horrible plague over those magnificent plains which they left behind +them a desert.</p> + +<p>Don Torribio Quiroga was one of the first to learn the tidings of the +Indian invasion. The news gave him an indescribable feeling of mingled +joy and regret. He guessed that the Tigercat wished to give him a proof +of the sincerity of his intentions towards him, and of the manner in +which he meant to keep the promise he had given.</p> + +<p>Up to that time a prey to a thousand conflicting feelings, he now +resolved to settle his doubts at once, and to learn positively what +he had to hope or fear from Doña Hermosa and her father. Towards nine +o'clock in the morning, he called for his horse, and, in spite of the +danger he would certainly incur in the short space between the presidio +and the hacienda, he managed to leave San Lucar, on which the Indians +were rapidly moving, and rode at full speed towards El Cormillo.</p> + +<p>About half way to the hacienda his horse started at several dead bodies +lying across the road, riddled with wounds; but he was too preoccupied +by his own thoughts to pay much attention to the ominous reencounter. +As he rode past, he cast a careless look at the corpses, and continued +his road without further thought of the incident.</p> + +<p>Either designedly, or because they knew the futility of an attack on +the hacienda, the Apaches had deviated from their furious course, so as +not to approach it. When Don Torribio arrived, he found it in a perfect +state of defence: the gates shut and barricaded with care, the windows +blocked and loopholed; and he saw the bayonets of the numerous garrison +gleaming above the walls in the sunshine.</p> + +<p>The sentries placed at the principal entrance gave admittance to Don +Torribio, but not before they had questioned and recognised him. A +<i>peon</i> received and conducted him to the drawing room. He found three +persons there: Don Pedro de Luna, Ña Manuela, and Don Estevan Diaz, +who, pale and bloody, was lying upon a sofa, apparently asleep. His +mother, seated beside him, watched his slumbers with that tender +solicitude which belongs to mothers only. Don Torribio took a few +hesitating steps forward, and stopped in surprise when he perceived +that no one seemed to notice his presence. At last Don Pedro raised his +eyes, and looking at him coldly, said, "Oh! Is it you, cousin? How +does it happen that you are here today?"</p> + +<p>"Had I no other motive," replied Don Torribio, troubled by a reception +he had not anticipated, and foreseeing a storm, "the lively interest I +take in your family would have made it my duty to be here now."</p> + +<p>"I thank you, cousin," said Don Pedro still more coldly, "for the +proof of sympathy you are kind enough to give us. But you might have +remembered that El Cormillo is in a perfect state of defence, and that +we run no danger behind these walls, before you exposed yourself to +be assassinated on the road, as has nearly happened to our poor Don +Estevan."</p> + +<p>"Has he been set upon?" asked Don Torribio.</p> + +<p>"Yes," dryly replied the hacendero; "he and another person, who, less +lucky than Estevan, is most likely dead. Did you not know it?"</p> + +<p>"I!" Exclaimed Don Torribio, with an accent of truth there was no +mistaking; "How should I know?"</p> + +<p>"Excuse me, cousin; I am so troubled at what has occurred, that I +hardly know what I am saying."</p> + +<p>Don Torribio bowed, and then replied:</p> + +<p>"May I not have the pleasure of offering my homage to my charming +cousin?"</p> + +<p>"You must excuse her; she has retired to her room. The poor child is so +distracted by the late extraordinary events, that she is unable to see +any one—not even you."</p> + +<p>"I am the more grieved at this indisposition, as I wished to have some +conversation with her on a matter of moment."</p> + +<p>"So much the worse, cousin; so much the worse. The time is ill chosen +to speak of business, as you must allow, when the Indians are at our +gates, devastating our fields and burning our dwellings."</p> + +<p>"True, cousin; I acknowledge the justice of your remark. Unfortunately, +I find myself placed by chance in such extraordinary circumstances, +that if I might persist—"</p> + +<p>"It would be useless, my dear Don Torribio," said Don Pedro, +interrupting him, and exhibiting a certain degree of stiffness. "I have +the honour to tell you that my daughter cannot have the pleasure of +seeing you today."</p> + +<p>"Then pray, cousin, excuse my inopportune intrusion. Perhaps I shall be +more lucky another day."</p> + +<p>"That is it; some other day, when we have got rid of these cursed +pagans, and have no longer a horrible death in perspective."</p> + +<p>"And now," said Don Torribio, with ill-suppressed rage, "as I perceive +that, owing to your abstraction doubtless, you have not even offered me +a seat, cousin, I have no more to do than offer my good wishes for your +safety, and take my leave of you."</p> + +<p>The hacendero did not seem to observe the tone of ill humour in which +these words were uttered.</p> + +<p>"Good-bye, then, Don Torribio," said he, "and a lucky journey. Above +all things, be prudent, and do not travel with your eyes shut. The +roads are infested by brigands, and I should be in despair if you met +with mishap."</p> + +<p>"I thank you for your advice, and will follow it," he replied, turning +to leave the room.</p> + +<p>Just at this moment Don Estevan—who, as we have said, appeared to +be sleeping—opened his eyes, and perceived Don Torribio. His look +brightened.</p> + +<p>"Mother," said he in a feeble voice, "and you, Don Pedro, do me the +favour to leave me alone with this caballero for a short time. I have a +few words to say to him in private."</p> + +<p>"To me, señor?" asked Don Torribio, in a tone so haughty it sounded +like disdain.</p> + +<p>"To yourself, Señor Don Torribio Quiroga," replied the wounded man, +whose voice grew stronger under the excitement of his feelings.</p> + +<p>"You are very weak, my son, for a conversation with any one," said +Manuela.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps, my friend," said Don Pedro, "it would be more prudent to +defer it for a few days."</p> + +<p>"No," was the reply; "it must be today—must be this instant."</p> + +<p>"Just as you please, headstrong!" said Don Pedro. "We will go into the +anteroom, where we shall be within call. Come, Manuela."</p> + +<p>Don Estevan kept his eyes fixed on the door till it closed behind them; +then he turned to Don Torribio, who was still standing in the centre of +the room.</p> + +<p>"Come nearer, señor, that you may be better able to hear what I have to +say to you."</p> + +<p>"I am listening to you, señor; but, at the same time, must beg you not +to delay your communication."</p> + +<p>"You shall have it. I warn you, that I tore the mask from one of the +bandits who attacked us, and recognised him."</p> + +<p>"I am at a loss to understand," said Don Torribio.</p> + +<p>"Oh! You do not understand, señor! It is the answer I expected. +I suppose, likewise, you do not know the name of the person who +accompanied me, and on whom the <i>vaqueros</i> fell with such indescribable +fury?"</p> + +<p>"I am perfectly ignorant as to who he was," said Don Torribio, quite +unmoved.</p> + +<p>"Better and better! Learn, then, that it was Don Fernando Carril who +was killed." And he cast a look pregnant with irony at the man standing +beside him.</p> + +<p>"Don Fernando Carril!—killed!" exclaimed the latter, stupefied.</p> + +<p>Don Estevan smiled disdainfully.</p> + +<p>"Listen once more to this," he continued in threatening tones. "If Don +Fernando is not brought to this hacienda within twenty-four hours, I +will reveal to Don Pedro and his daughter the name of his assassin. I +think you understand me this time?" And, overcome with grief, he sank +half fainting on his couch.</p> + +<p>Don Torribio remained a moment, annihilated with the words he had +heard; but, immediately recovering his presence of mind, he quickly +left the hacienda, and galloped into the plains, muttering as he rode:</p> + +<p>"The Tigercat was right: there is nothing left for me but to seek the +Barranca del Fraile."</p> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h4><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX.</a></h4> + +<h3>THE PRISONER.</h3> +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p>We must now explain to our readers what happened after the fall of Don +Fernando Carril, when he was made the victim of an ambuscade.</p> + +<p>When his hand was no longer able to raise his sword, and he had fallen +by the side of his companion, the men in masks—who had been chary of +approaching too near him, out of respect for the blade he wielded so +well, as proved by the bodies of four bandits lying on the sand beside +him? rushed all at once upon him.</p> + +<p>Don Fernando Carril lay on his back showing no signs of life. A deadly, +pallor overspread his noble features; his half-opened lips disclosed +his clenched teeth; blood was flowing in torrents from the many wounds +he had received; and his hand still clasped the weapon with which he +had so long held his assailants at bay.</p> + +<p>"<i>¡Caspita!</i>" cried one, looking at him attentively; "Here is a young +gentleman who is seriously hurt. What will the master say?"</p> + +<p>"What would you have him say, Señor Carlocho?" said another; "He +defended himself like a lion. It is his own fault. He ought to have let +himself be taken nicely, and all this would not have happened. Look! we +have lost four men."</p> + +<p>"A pretty loss indeed, those four fellows there! I would rather he had +killed six than be in the state he is now."</p> + +<p>"The devil!" muttered the other bandit; "That is no compliment to us, +you know."</p> + +<p>"That will do; that will do. Help me to bind up his wounds as well as +we can, and lose no time about it. This is no wholesome place for us; +besides we are expected elsewhere; so be quick."</p> + +<p>Without further discussion, the bandits hastened to obey the orders +of Carlocho. Don Fernando's wounds were bound up somehow; he was +thrown across the horse of the <i>guacho</i>, who seemed to be leader of +the expedition, and the party set off at full gallop, without further +heed of those who had fallen in the struggle, and whose bodies were +abandoned to the beasts of prey.</p> + +<p>After a very rapid ride of two hours, they reached an abandoned +<i>rancho</i>.</p> + +<p>Two men were awaiting their arrival with impatience.</p> + +<p>These two men were Tigercat and Don Torribio.</p> + +<p>"Well!" shouted the former, as soon as he saw them.</p> + +<p>"It is done!" said Carlocho laconically, as he dismounted, took Don +Fernando in his arms, and carried him to a bed of leaves.</p> + +<p>The latter showed no signs of life.</p> + +<p>"Is he dead?" asked the Tigercat.</p> + +<p>Carlocho shook his head.</p> + +<p>"He is hardly better than dead," he replied.</p> + +<p>"Wretch!" cried the Indian chief in a fury; "Is it thus you execute my +orders? Did I not command you to take him alive?"</p> + +<p>"Hm!" said Carlocho; "I only wish you had been there to see! An +incarnate demon, who, armed only with a thin rapier, withstood us for +more than twenty minutes, and only gave in after killing four of our +bravest!"</p> + +<p>The Tigercat smiled disdainfully.</p> + +<p>"You are all cowards," he said.</p> + +<p>And turning his back on the <i>vaquero</i>, he went up to Don Fernando.</p> + +<p>Don Torribio was already at his side.</p> + +<p>"Is he dead?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"No," replied the Mexican; "but nearly so."</p> + +<p>"So much the worse," muttered the old chief, "I would give a good deal +for his recovery."</p> + +<p>Don Torribio looked at him with astonishment.</p> + +<p>"Of what importance is the life of this man to us?" he said. "Was he +not your enemy?"</p> + +<p>"The very reason why I do not wish him to die."</p> + +<p>"I do not understand you."</p> + +<p>"I have devoted my life to the accomplishment of an idea; therefore +I no longer belong to myself, and am bound to offer up my hate and +friendship to my idea."</p> + +<p>"I admit that, up to a certain point: but how is it, then, that you +have laid a trap for this man, who, according to your own account, is a +traitor."</p> + +<p>"Are men always to be harshly judged, even by those who are most +intimate with them?" said the old chief, with a bitter smile. "What is +it to me that the man may be a traitor? By putting him out of the way, +without touching his life, I should have gained the end I had before +me when I sought your alliance. After keeping him a prisoner for a +few days, to prevent his counteracting your plans, and hindering your +marriage with Doña Hermosa, I should have restored him to freedom. +Unluckily, it is too late now: what is done cannot be undone. The death +of this man, obscurely slain in ambuscade, will do more to frustrate +my plans than you imagine. His blood be upon your head! It is you who +ordered this murder."</p> + +<p>"I!" replied Don Torribio. "You are mad!"</p> + +<p>The Tigercat looked at his new ally with a stare of surprise, shrugged +his shoulders, and whistled a Mexican <i>seguidilla</i>. It was evident that +Don Torribio had not understood a word of what had been uttered by +this singular man, whose sole delight had hitherto been in slaughter.</p> + +<p>"Pooh!" said he; "What does one, more or less, signify?"</p> + +<p>The Indian chief stooped over the body of the wounded man, and examined +it carefully. The eyes were closed, and the features had the paleness +and rigidity of death. Two or three <i>vaqueros</i>, aided by Carlocho, +rubbed his temples and chest incessantly with rum.</p> + +<p>After looking at the body attentively, the old chief drew a knife +from his girdle, held the blade for two or three minutes across the +mouth, withdrew it again, and examined it. He thought it was slightly +tarnished; then he knelt down by Don Fernando, seized his left arm, +ripped up the sleeve, and, having felt for the vein, pricked it with +the delicate point of his knife.</p> + +<p>Then followed an instant of anxious suspense. The looks of all were +fixed on the wounded man. This attempt would be the last; if it did not +succeed, all was over: he knew of no other means to recall him to life. +The <i>vaqueros</i> continued the friction.</p> + +<p>At the puncture made by the chief's knife, there appeared at last a +dark speck; little by little it increased in size, till it grew into a +black point, which finally became a bead of jet: this trembled for a +moment, and then fell rolling down the arm, pressed forward by another +which succeeded it, and immediately made room for a third; then the +blood grew less black and less thick, and finally gushed out in a long +vermillion stream.</p> + +<p>The Tigercat could not repress a shout of triumph; Don Fernando was +saved. In fact, after the lapse of a minute, the latter moved slightly +and uttered a deep sigh.</p> + +<p>The Indian chief rose, after binding up Don Fernando's arm and signed +to Pablito to follow him into another compartment of the <i>rancho</i>, +requesting Don Torribio to remain for a time where he was.</p> + +<p>Without waiting for the question which the <i>vaquero</i> was about to ask, +and which he saw playing about his finely chiselled lips, the chief +began to speak with a feverish haste, betraying the secret agitation of +his mind.</p> + +<p>"You see what has happened," he said.</p> + +<p>"But you yourself willed it so!" said Pablito, utterly surprised.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I did will it; and I thank God for having spared me this odious +crime!"</p> + +<p>"If you are satisfied, all will go well."</p> + +<p>"But here is another matter. Remember this: Don Torribio must be kept +in the dark. To all the world, and to this man in particular, Don +Fernando is dead."</p> + +<p>"Speak on; I think I understand you."</p> + +<p>"Don Fernando's wounds, though many, are not severe. The loss of blood, +and the speed with which he was brought hither, are the sole causes of +the lethargy into which he has fallen, and out of which he will soon +awake."</p> + +<p>"Good; Now, what am I to do?"</p> + +<p>"He must not see me."</p> + +<p>"Very good; nothing can be easier."</p> + +<p>"Nor must he recognise you."</p> + +<p>"That will be more difficult; he knows me well."</p> + +<p>"It is most important."</p> + +<p>"I will try."</p> + +<p>"And now, this is what you have to do."</p> + +<p>"I am all attention."</p> + +<p>"I must leave this place immediately; my presence is required +elsewhere. As for you, you will have Don Fernando carried to the +<i>presidio</i>, without his learning who has taken him thither."</p> + +<p>"To the <i>presidio</i>?" exclaimed Pablito, astonished.</p> + +<p>"Yes; it is the safest place," said the chief, drawing forth a paper +cut to a certain shape; "you will take him to my house. He must not +leave it on any pretence: above all, he must not know he is at the +<i>presidio</i>."</p> + +<p>"Is that all?"</p> + +<p>"It is. Only, remember, you are answerable to me for him."</p> + +<p>"Very well. At your orders I will produce him, alive or dead."</p> + +<p>"Alive! His life is precious to me."</p> + +<p>"Then I will do my best."</p> + +<p>"And now, Pablito, be honest with me. Can I trust you?"</p> + +<p>"Well," said Pablito, "since you are so much concerned about such a +wretched affair, I will answer for your prisoner."</p> + +<p>"Then farewell, and thanks," said the Tigercat; "above all, remember +to report to me tonight, in Don Torribio's presence, that his enemy is +dead."</p> + +<p>"Rely upon me for that."</p> + +<p>"No, no," muttered the old chief to himself; "he must not die: his life +is too necessary for the accomplishment of my revenge."</p> + +<p>He rejoined Don Torribio, who had grown impatient. Without exchanging +a word, the two mounted the magnificent mustangs that were waiting for +them, and disappeared amongst the foliage.</p> + +<p>Pablito, twisting his moustache in ill humour, returned to the wounded +man; the office intrusted to him was evidently unpalatable. However, +as the <i>vaquero</i> was an honest man enough, after his own fashion, and +prided himself, among the numerous other good qualities he fancied he +possessed, most especially on his adherence to his word, the thought of +breaking it never entered his mind.</p> + +<p>"How is he?" he asked Carlocho in a whisper.</p> + +<p>"A great deal better," replied the latter. "It is astonishing how much +good the bleeding has done him; he has already opened his eyes twice +and tried to speak."</p> + +<p>"Hm! Then we have no time to lose. Put a bandage round the eyes of this +fellow, and then, lest he should use his hands to remove it, tie them +down to his sides. But, as this is only to be done for prudence' sake, +I recommend you to use as much gentleness and delicacy as your nature +is capable of. Do you understand perfectly?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, <i>¡canarios!</i> One need not be a wizard to do that!"</p> + +<p>"Well, make haste! I give you five minutes to obey my orders: in ten we +shall be gone."</p> + +<p>The wounded man had indeed recovered a good deal of his strength. As +the chief had declared, his wounds were not severe, and the loss of +blood alone had occasioned the prostration in which he was lying.</p> + +<p>Little by little he had recovered his senses sufficiently to know +into whose hands he had fallen; and although too feeble to offer the +slightest opposition whatever to the bandits at his side, his presence +of mind had returned in a degree to enable him to comprehend that the +greatest circumspection was necessary, to avoid arousing the suspicions +as to his state in people who would not for a moment hesitate to +sacrifice him to their safety.</p> + +<p>So, when Carlocho, according to the injunctions of Pablito, passed a +folded handkerchief over his eyes, and bound his hands, he feigned +entire insensibility, and allowed them to do as they pleased with him, +secretly rejoiced at these precautions, which indicated that his life +was safe for the present.</p> + +<p>"Now, what is to be done?" asked Carlocho.</p> + +<p>"Two or three of you take up the wounded man, and carry him carefully +to the boat I have in waiting close by. And pay particular attention to +him, you fellows; for, at the first jolt, I will blow your brains out."</p> + +<p>"<i>Caray!</i>" was all the <i>vaquero</i> could utter, for surprise.</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said Pablito, with a shrug of his shoulders; "As you were fools +enough not to kill him when you might have done so, so much the worse +for you: now you shall mount guard over him. That shall teach you to +introduce courtesy, or, if you like it better, clumsiness, into an +ambuscade the next time."</p> + +<p>Carlocho opened his eyes wide at this rodomontade, which he could not +understand, but hastened to obey the order.</p> + +<p>Don Fernando was carried thus into a boat by Pablito, Carlocho, and a +third <i>vaquero;</i> while the remainder went off by land, taking their +comrades' horses with them. Three hours later, the prisoner, to whom +his keepers had not spoken a word during the journey, was carried into +the <i>presidio</i>, and shut up in a house lately hired by the Tigercat in +a fictitious name—a circumstance of which Don Fernando knew nothing.</p> + +<p>The bandage was taken from his eyes, his hands were freed; but a man in +a mask, mute as a tomb, was placed in his chamber, and never left him.</p> + +<p>The wounded man, harassed by the journey, and weakened by the blood he +had lost, resolved, for the present, to trust to chance for relief from +his annoying and incomprehensible situation. He gave that apparently +listless but all-observant glance around him which is peculiar to +prisoners, and dropped off into a deep sleep, lasting many hours, and +restoring to his mind all its coolness and original clearness.</p> + +<p>The people who served him, though masked and dumb, took the greatest +care of him, and seemed to vie with each other in their endeavours to +comply with his wishes, and satisfy his most capricious whims. In +point of fact, his position was tolerable; at bottom, there was a spice +of originality about it; and Don Fernando, convinced, at the end of two +days' experience, that no attempt would be made on his life, but that, +on the contrary, every effort was made to heal his wounds as quickly +as possible, concluded to bear his lot bravely, in the expectation of +better times.</p> + +<p>The third day of his captivity, Don Fernando, whose wounds were only +sword cuts, and now nearly cicatrised, rose from his bed, partly to try +his strength, and partly to look out and discover where he was: it was +requisite to know the locality, in order to mature the scheme of escape +he was already secretly planning.</p> + +<p>The weather was magnificent; the hot sunlight shone cheerfully in at +the windows, tracing the bars on the floor of the chamber which served +as his prison. It made him feel quite refreshed, and he tried to walk +a few steps, still carefully watched by his inevitable guard, whose +flaming eyes were never off him. Suddenly a terrible clamour arose, and +a round of artillery shook the panes.</p> + +<p>"What is that?" asked Don Fernando.</p> + +<p>His keeper shrugged his shoulders, but did not reply.</p> + +<p>The sharp cracking of muskets was now mingled with the roar of the +guns; and it became evident that a hard fight was going on somewhere +in the neighbourhood. His keeper, imperturbable as ever, closed the +windows.</p> + +<p>Don Fernando went up to him. The two men stared at each other for a +moment. Many a time had the wounded man addressed a question to this +stolid sentry without eliciting an answer, and now he hesitated a +little before making a fresh attempt.</p> + +<p>"Friend," said he, at last, in a gentle voice, "what is going on out of +doors?"</p> + +<p>The man remained mute.</p> + +<p>"Answer me, in the name of Heaven!" continued the querist; "I ask but +little. Surely you would not overstep your instructions by telling me +thus much?"</p> + +<p>Just then the clamour seemed to draw nearer; hurried steps, mingled +with outcries, sounded close at hand. His keeper rose uneasily, drew +his machete (knife) from its sheath, pulled a pistol from his belt, and +went towards the door; but on a sudden it was violently opened, and a +man rushed into the room, his face blanched with terror.</p> + +<p>"Up! On your guard;" cried he; "we are lost!"</p> + +<p>His keeper made a sign for Don Fernando to keep back, and placed +himself resolutely in front of the door, where four men, masked and +armed to the teeth, had just made their appearance.</p> + +<p>"Back!" cried the keeper; "No one enters here without a watchword!"</p> + +<p>"Here you have it," answered one of the men at the door, as, with a +pistol, he blew out the keeper's brains.</p> + +<p>The four men stepped over his body, seized and bound his comrade, who +had crouched down in the farthest corner of the room, and advanced to +Don Fernando, who was wondering at the strange scene.</p> + +<p>"You are at liberty, caballero," said one of the four. "Come, you must +leave this house at once."</p> + +<p>"First of all, who are you?" replied Don Fernando; "Who are you, who +proclaim yourselves my liberators?"</p> + +<p>"We have no time for explanations," answered the man in the mask. "Make +haste and follow us."</p> + +<p>"Not before I know who you are."</p> + +<p>The other gave an impatient stamp, and, stooping down, whispered in his +ear:</p> + +<p>"Madman! Have you no wish to see Doña Hermosa again?"</p> + +<p>Don Fernando reddened with pleasure.</p> + +<p>"I follow you," said he.</p> + +<p>"Here," said the mask, "take these pistols and this sword; we have not +done our work yet. We may still have fighting before us."</p> + +<p>"Yes!" exclaimed Don Fernando joyfully; "I now see that you are really +sent to save me. I will follow wherever you may lead." And he seized +the weapons, and placed them in his girdle.</p> + +<p>They hastily left the house.</p> + +<p>"What!" cried Don Fernando, as he put his foot out of doors, "Am I at +the <i>presidio</i> of San Lucar?"</p> + +<p>"Did you not know it?" asked his guide.</p> + +<p>"How was it possible? I was brought here with my eyes bandaged."</p> + +<p>In the court several horses, ready saddled, were tied to rings in the +wall.</p> + +<p>"Could you keep your saddle?" said the stranger.</p> + +<p>"I hope so," replied Don Fernando.</p> + +<p>"You must," said the stranger peremptorily.</p> + +<p>"Then I will, even if I die in it."</p> + +<p>"Good: let us mount and be gone."</p> + +<p>At the very moment they were issuing into the street, a troop of ten or +twelve mounted men were coming up at full gallop: they were not more +than twenty paces off.</p> + +<p>"Here are the enemy," said the stranger in deep and low tones; "we must +charge and ride over them, or die."</p> + +<p>The five men formed in line, and rushed like a thunderbolt upon the +newcomers, at whom they discharged their pistols point-blank, and then +cut their way with the sword.</p> + +<p>"<i>¡Caray!</i>" screamed Pablito, in a fury—for it was he who commanded +the troop—"My prisoner is escaping."</p> + +<p>Spurring his horse, he dashed at Don Fernando. But the latter, without +drawing bridle, fired a pistol; and the <i>vaquero's</i> horse, struck by a +ball in the forehead, rolled to the ground, bearing his rider with him.</p> + +<p>Pablito rose, half killed by the fall. The men who had attacked him so +briskly had disappeared.</p> + +<p>"Never mind; I shall find them again," he cried.</p> + +<p>In the meantime, the fugitives had reached the bank of the river, and +found a boat waiting for them.</p> + +<p>"We must part here," said the stranger, taking off his mask.</p> + +<p>"Estevan!" cried Don Fernando.</p> + +<p>"Myself," replied the <i>mayor domo</i>. "This boat will take you to the +Hacienda del Cormillo. Go there without delay, and," he added, as he +placed in his hands a paper folded into four, "read this attentively; +perhaps you will have to come to the rescue in your turn."</p> + +<p>"Be assured on that score: I have my revenge to take."</p> + +<p>"Farewell, my friend."</p> + +<p>"Shall I see Doña Hermosa?"</p> + +<p>"I am forbidden to talk on the subject."</p> + +<p>"Another question, then. Do you know who kept me prisoner?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; there were two—the Tigercat and Don Torribio."</p> + +<p>"Indeed!" said Don Fernando, frowning. "I will not forget them. Once +more, thanks Estevan."</p> + +<p>He sat down in the boat, and gave a sign to the rowers. They were soon +in rapid motion, and speedily lost in the shadows of the darkening +night.</p> + +<p>Three persons remained on the bank anxiously watching the course of the +frail boat. These three persons were Estevan Diaz, Doña Hermosa, and Ña +Manuela.</p> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h4><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X.</a></h4> + +<h3>THE CAMP OF THE REDSKINS.</h3> +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p>The extreme care of Don Pedro and his daughter soon restored Don +Estevan to perfect health.</p> + +<p>His first care was to reveal to the hacendero, in accordance with his +threat to Don Torribio, the name of the man who had originated the +dastardly attack on Don Fernando, and into whose hands he had fallen.</p> + +<p>After that communication, Don Torribio was a lost man in the estimation +of Don Pedro and his daughter.</p> + +<p>Having accomplished this piece of revenge, the <i>mayor domo</i> undertook +the duty of discovering tidings of his friend. Chance favoured him by +throwing El Zapote in his way. The worthy and conscientious <i>vaquero</i> +was just then in the best humour for giving all the information +required, in consequence of having that very morning, by a ruinous +run of ill luck which fastened upon him been utterly cleaned out at +<i>monte</i>, and left without an <i>ochavo</i> (a farthing). By the help of +a few ounces of gold, the <i>mayor domo</i> contrived to learn, in the +minutest detail, all that had passed, and the place where Don Fernando +was concealed.</p> + +<p>As soon as he had learned all he wanted, Don Estevan left the +<i>vaquero</i>, and hastened his return to the hacienda.</p> + +<p>Doña Hermosa was no ordinary woman. She was gifted with much energy, +and, moreover, loved Don Fernando. She resolved to set him free; but +held her tongue, in the fear of making Don Pedro uneasy. She merely +expressed a wish to spend a day or two at the hacienda of Las Norias; +to which Don Pedro consented, on condition of her taking with her a +strong escort of resolute and well-armed <i>peones</i>.</p> + +<p>Instead of going to the hacienda, the girl went to the <i>presidio</i>, into +which she managed to find her way unnoticed by the Indians.</p> + +<p>Once in the <i>presidio</i>, she revealed her project to Don Estevan.</p> + +<p>The <i>mayor domo</i> was astounded at her coolness as she detailed the +plan she had conceived—a plan in which not only herself, but also Don +Estevan's mother, was to act a part.</p> + +<p>All his efforts to make her renounce her project were futile; willing +or unwilling, he was forced to obey.</p> + +<p>When they could no longer see the boat with Don Fernando, her foster +brother turned to Doña Hermosa.</p> + +<p>"Now, señorita, what are you going to do next?"</p> + +<p>She answered succinctly:</p> + +<p>"I am going to visit the camp of the Apaches and see Don Torribio."</p> + +<p>The <i>mayor domo</i> shuddered.</p> + +<p>"Dishonour and death await you there," said he in a hoarse, low voice.</p> + +<p>"No," she replied firmly; "only revenge."</p> + +<p>"You wish for revenge?"</p> + +<p>"I demand it."</p> + +<p>"Very well," he replied; "I will obey you. Go and get ready; I myself +will escort you to the camp of the redskins."</p> + +<p>The three returned to Don Pedro's house without exchanging a syllable.</p> + +<p>Night had now fairly set in. The streets were deserted: a deathlike +silence pervaded the town, which for two days the Indians had been +sacking; and their diabolical figures could be perceived, as they +passed and repassed among the still flaming ruins.</p> + +<p>When they arrived at the house, Don Estevan stopped short in the court.</p> + +<p>"Ponder well what you are about to do, señorita," said he. "Why must +you avenge yourself? Have you not secured the safety of him you love?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; but he has barely escaped death. The first atrocious attempt has +failed; the second may succeed. Don Torribio has wounded me in my most +cherished affections. My resolve is taken; he shall feel a woman's +vengeance."</p> + +<p>"Can nothing change your resolve?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing," said she, coldly.</p> + +<p>"Then make your preparations, señorita; I will wait for you here."</p> + +<p>The two women entered the house together, while Don Estevan seated +himself on one of the steps of the porch.</p> + +<p>His watching was not long: in ten minutes they returned.</p> + +<p>Both were clothed in the Apache dress; the paint smeared upon their +faces completed the illusion, and secured them from recognition. The +transformation was so perfect, that Don Estevan could not repress his +admiration.</p> + +<p>"Nothing could be better," he exclaimed; "you are Indian women indeed."</p> + +<p>"Do you think," said Doña Hermosa bitterly, "that Don Torribio has the +sole right of deception and assuming any character at his pleasure?"</p> + +<p>"Who can strive against a woman?" said the <i>mayor domo</i>, with a shrug. +"And now, what are your orders?"</p> + +<p>"Very simple; your escort as far as the first Indian lines."</p> + +<p>"And after that?"</p> + +<p>"The rest of the affair is our work."</p> + +<p>"But are you really dreaming of remaining alone in the midst of these +pagans?"</p> + +<p>"It is no dream; it is my immovable resolve to stay there."</p> + +<p>"And you, mother?" said her son sadly; "Are you, too, determined to +throw yourself into the hands of the savages?"</p> + +<p>"Be comforted, my son," replied the dame; "I run no danger."</p> + +<p>"And yet—"</p> + +<p>"Estevan," said Doña Hermosa, interrupting him, "I will answer for your +mother's safety."</p> + +<p>The <i>mayor domo</i> was thoroughly discouraged.</p> + +<p>"Then," said he, "I can only commend you to Heaven."</p> + +<p>"Let us go," said Doña Hermosa, wrapping the folds of her cloak around +her.</p> + +<p>Don Estevan led the way.</p> + +<p>The night was dark. Here and there the dying watch fires in the +<i>presidio</i>, round which the besieged were sleeping, threw a pale and +uncertain glimmer over the surrounding objects, without affording +sufficient light to guide them through the increasing obscurity.</p> + +<p>A mournful silence brooded over the town, interrupted at intervals +by the hoarse cries of the vultures, <i>urubus</i>, and prairie wolves, +quarrelling over the corpses of the slain, and dragging hither and +thither morsels of bleeding flesh.</p> + +<p>The three pushed resolutely forward amidst the ruins, stumbling over +fragments of fallen walls, striding over dead bodies, and disturbing +the horrid feast of the birds of prey, that flew off uttering screams +of anger.</p> + +<p>Thus they traversed the whole length of the town, and arrived at last, +with desperate difficulty, and after making many circuits, at one of +the barriers opposite the camp of the redskins, from which numberless +fires were glancing, and shouts and songs were heard.</p> + +<p>The sentries, after exchanging a few words with their guide, allowed +the three to pass, a few paces farther on, Don Estevan halted, and +stopped his companions.</p> + +<p>"Look, Doña Hermosa," said he in a whisper; "there is the camp of +the redskins before you. If I went farther with you, my escort would +prove fatal. I must stop here: only a few steps separate you from your +object."</p> + +<p>"Thanks!" said the girl, stretching out her hand. Don Estevan retained +it between his own.</p> + +<p>"Señorita, one word more."</p> + +<p>"Speak, dear friend."</p> + +<p>"I conjure you, in the name of all you hold dear in the world, to +renounce your project. Trust to my experience while it is yet time: +return to the Hacienda del Cormillo; you know not the danger to which +you expose yourself."</p> + +<p>"Estevan," replied the girl firmly, "whatever be the danger, I will +brave it: nothing can change my resolve. Farewell! I shall soon see you +again."</p> + +<p>"Farewell!" repeated the <i>mayor domo</i>.</p> + +<p>Doña Hermosa turned away in the direction of the Indian camp. Ña +Manuela hesitated a moment, and then threw herself into the arms of her +son.</p> + +<p>"Alas!" cried he, excited by the emotions terrible to witness in such a +man; "Stay with me, mother, I implore you!"</p> + +<p>"What!" said the noble woman, pointing to Doña Hermosa, "Shall I leave +her to sacrifice herself alone?"</p> + +<p>Don Estevan was unable to reply.</p> + +<p>Manuela embraced him once more, then tore herself with a violent +effort from the arms of her son, who vainly strove to restrain her, and +hurried to join Hermosa.</p> + +<p>The <i>mayor domo</i> followed them with his eyes as long as he could +distinguish them in the obscurity; than, uttering a heart-felt sigh, he +retraced his steps, muttering as he went:</p> + +<p>"If I can only get there in time—if it has only not yet reached Don +José de Kalbris!"</p> + +<p>Just as Don Estevan arrived at the fort, the governor was leaving it, +in company with Don Torribio Quiroga. But the Mexican, absorbed in the +ideas which were harassing his brain, did not notice them, although +they passed so close to him that he might have touched them.</p> + +<p>This fatal accident was the cause of irreparable misfortune.</p> + +<p>Having left Don Estevan, the two women wandered about at a venture, +directing their steps towards the fires in front of them.</p> + +<p>On getting within a certain distance, they, stopped to recruit their +spirits, and to calm the throbbing of their hearts, which beat almost +to bursting.</p> + +<p>They were now within a few paces of the Indian <i>toldos</i> (huts); the +rash and hazardous nature of their undertaking presented itself in all +its force, and the poor women felt their courage gradually oozing +away, in spite of the resolution which had animated them. Their hearts +turned to stone at the thought of the horrible drama in which they were +going to act the principal characters.</p> + +<p>Strange to say, it was Manuela who restored her companion to the +firmness which was abandoning her.</p> + +<p>"Señorita," she said to her, "it is now my turn to act as guide; if you +will only consent to follow my council, I hope to be able to avoid all +the danger with which we are threatened."</p> + +<p>"Speak, nurse; let me hear what you propose."</p> + +<p>"We must first drop these cloaks, which hide our dress, and betray that +we are whites."</p> + +<p>In saying this she threw off her mantle, and cast it away. Doña Hermosa +followed her example.</p> + +<p>"Now walk by my side; show no fear, whatever may happen; and, above +all, do not utter a single word, unless we are hopelessly lost."</p> + +<p>"I obey you," said Hermosa.</p> + +<p>"We are to be two Indian women," continued Manuela, "who have made a +vow to Wacondah for the recovery of their wounded father; and once +again, no words from your mouth."</p> + +<p>"Let us go on. May God protect us!"</p> + +<p>"Amen!" said Manuela, devoutly crossing herself.</p> + +<p>They continued their journey, and, five minutes afterwards, entered the +camp of the redskins.</p> + +<p>The Indians, intoxicated with the easy triumph they had gained over the +Mexicans, were giving vent to their joy. There were nothing but singing +and dancing everywhere. Some casks of <i>aguardiente</i>, discovered in the +old <i>presidio</i> and in the pillaged <i>haciendas</i>, had been dragged into +camp, and staved.</p> + +<p>On this account, unexampled disorder and a nameless hubbub prevailed +among the Indians, whom drunkenness makes raving mad, and excites to +the most hideous excesses.</p> + +<p>The power of the <i>sachems</i> was disowned: moreover, the greater number +of them were in the same state as the warriors; and there can be no +doubt that, if the inhabitants of San Lucar had been in sufficient +force to attempt a surprise, they might have made a frightful massacre +of the savages, brutalised as they were by strong liquors, and +incapable of defending themselves.</p> + +<p>Profiting by the disorder, the two women climbed over the ramparts of +the camp without being observed. Then, their hearts palpitating with +terror, and with shivering limbs, they glided like serpents between the +knots of Indians, passing unnoticed through the midst of the drinkers; +seeking at haphazard, and trusting to Providence or their good angel +to find among the scattered <i>toldos</i> the hovel which served as a +habitation to the great paleface.</p> + +<p>They had already been some time roaming about in this manner, without +lighting on any unpleasant adventure. Emboldened by success, their +fears nearly dissipated, they were exchanging looks of encouragement, +when suddenly an Indian of athletic stature seized Doña Hermosa round +the waist, and, lifting her from the ground, gave her a boisterous kiss +on the neck.</p> + +<p>At this unexpected insult, she uttered a shriek of terror, and making +a superhuman effort, freed herself from his arms, pushing him from her +with all her strength. The savage staggered backwards, and, too drunk +to keep his legs, dropped to the ground, giving vent to a cry of rage; +but, springing up in an instant, he rushed like a jaguar on Hermosa.</p> + +<p>Ña Manuela threw herself hastily before her.</p> + +<p>"Back!" said she, resolutely placing her hand on the Indian's chest; +"This girl is my sister."</p> + +<p>"El Zopilote is a brave who never puts up with an insult," replied the +savage, frowning, and unsheathing his knife.</p> + +<p>"Will you kill her?" exclaimed Manuela in terror.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I will kill her, unless she consents to follow me to my <i>toldo</i>. +She shall be the wife of a chief."</p> + +<p>"You are mad," said Manuela. "Your <i>toldo</i> is full, and there is no +room for another fire."</p> + +<p>"There is room for two," replied the Indian, grinning. "Since you are +her sister, you shall go with her."</p> + +<p>The noise collected a crowd of Indians round the two women, who were +thus the centre of a circle it would have been impossible to break +through.</p> + +<p>Manuela instantly comprehended the danger of their situation; she saw +they were all but lost.</p> + +<p>"Well," continued El Zopilote, seizing in his left hand Hermosa's hair, +and twisting it round his wrist, at the same time brandishing his scalp +knife, "will you and your sister follow me to my <i>toldo?</i>"</p> + +<p>The poor girl cowered down; half recumbent upon the ground, she awaited +the mortal blow.</p> + +<p>Manuela drew herself up to her full height; her eyes flashed fire; she +arrested the arm of El Zopilote, and addressed him thus:</p> + +<p>"Since thou wilt have it so, dog, let thy destiny be fulfilled! Behold, +the Wacondah allows not his servants to be insulted with impunity."</p> + +<p>Hitherto Manuela had contrived to keep herself in such a position that +her face was shaded as much as possible, and no one had remarked her +features; now she turned her head towards the full light of the fires. +On seeing the fantastic lines of paint, the Indians gave utterance to a +cry of surprise, and recoiled in terror.</p> + +<p>Manuela smiled at her triumph: she resolved to complete it.</p> + +<p>"The power of the Wacondah is boundless," she cried; "woe to him who +would oppose his schemes: he it is who sends me. Back, all!"</p> + +<p>Grasping the arm of Doña Hermosa, who had scarcely recovered from her +terrible emotion, she advanced to the edge of the circle. The Indians +hesitated. Manuela extended her arm in an attitude of supreme command; +the outwitted savages opened to right and left, and gave them passage.</p> + +<p>"I shall die," faintly whispered Doña Hermosa.</p> + +<p>"Courage!" replied Manuela, "We are saved."</p> + +<p>"<i>Wagh!</i>" said a jeering voice; "What is passing here?"</p> + +<p>And a man placed himself before the two women.</p> + +<p>"The <i>amantzin!</i>" muttered the Indians; and taking fresh courage, they +again crowded round their prisoners.</p> + +<p>Manuela shuddered, overcome with despair at seeing her hopes +annihilated; still the resolute woman determined to make one more +effort.</p> + +<p>"The Wacondah loves the Indians," she said; "it is he who sends me the +<i>amantzin</i> of the Apache braves."</p> + +<p>"Indeed!" said the sorcerer, with a sneer; "And what does he want with +me?"</p> + +<p>"None but yourself may hear."</p> + +<p>"<i>Wagh!</i>" said the <i>amantzin</i>, placing his hand on her shoulder, and +looking at her attentively; "What proof can you give me of the mission +with which the all-powerful Spirit has charged you?"</p> + +<p>"Will you save me?" said Manuela, whispering rapidly in his ear.</p> + +<p>"That depends on her," answered the sorcerer, fixing his glittering +eyes on the girl.</p> + +<p>"See!" said Manuela, presenting to him the rich bracelets of gold and +pearls she took from her arms.</p> + +<p>"<i>Wagh!</i>" replied the sorcerer, hiding them in his bosom; "They are +beautiful! What does my mother require?"</p> + +<p>"First of all, to be freed from these men."</p> + +<p>"And afterwards?"</p> + +<p>"Deliver us first."</p> + +<p>"It shall be as you will."</p> + +<p>The Indians had remained motionless, impassive spectators of the scene. +They had heard nothing of this short conversation. The <i>amantzin</i> +turned towards them, exhibiting a countenance distorted with fear.</p> + +<p>"Fly!" said he in terrible accents; "This woman brings misfortune! The +Wacondah is angry! Fly, all; fly!"</p> + +<p>The Indians, who had only been restored to confidence by the advent +of their sorcerer, seeing him a prey to a terror they could not +comprehend, first crowded together, and then dispersed, without asking +further questions.</p> + +<p>As soon as they had disappeared behind the <i>toldos</i>, the sorcerer +turned to the two women.</p> + +<p>"Am I able to protect you?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied Manuela; "and I thank my father, who is as powerful as +he is wise."</p> + +<p>A smile of gratified pride just formed itself on the lips of the +cautious Indian.</p> + +<p>"I am powerful to avenge myself on those who deceive me," said he.</p> + +<p>"Therefore I shall not attempt to deceive my father."</p> + +<p>"Whence comes my white daughter," he asked.</p> + +<p>"From the ark of the first man," replied Manuela, looking him steadily +in the face.</p> + +<p>The <i>amantzin</i> blushed.</p> + +<p>"My daughter has the forked tongue of the <i>congouar</i>," he said. "Does +she take me for a lizard, that one can entrap like an old woman?"</p> + +<p>"Here is a necklace," she replied, offering a rich string of pearls to +the Indian; "the Wacondah gave it me for the wise man of the Apaches."</p> + +<p>"<i>Wagh!</i>" said the <i>amantzin;</i> "My mother cannot lie; she is wise. +What more can I do for her?" And he slipped the necklace into the same +receptacle with the bracelets.</p> + +<p>"My father must lead me to the <i>toldo</i> of the great white chief who +fights in the ranks of the Apache warriors."</p> + +<p>"My daughter would speak to the white chief?"</p> + +<p>"I would."</p> + +<p>"The white chief is a wise man; will he admit women?"</p> + +<p>"Let not that trouble my father; tonight I must speak with the white +chief."</p> + +<p>"Good; my mother shall speak to him. But this woman?" And he pointed to +Doña Hermosa.</p> + +<p>"That woman," answered Manuela, "is a friend of the Tigercat. She too +is charged with a mission to the <i>sachem.</i>"</p> + +<p>The sorcerer shook his head.</p> + +<p>"The warriors must spin the vicuña wool," said he, "since women make +war, and sit at the council fire."</p> + +<p>"My father errs; the <i>sachem</i> loves my sister."</p> + +<p>"No," replied the Indian.</p> + +<p>"Let us see if my father will refuse to lead me to the <i>toldo</i> of +the great chief," said Manuela, impatient at the tergiversations of +the <i>amantzin</i>, and dreading the return of her persecutors. "Let him +beware, the great chief expects us."</p> + +<p>The sorcerer cast a piercing look at her, which Manuela bore without +casting down her eyes.</p> + +<p>"Good," said he; "my mother does not lie. Follow me."</p> + +<p>Grasping each of the women by a wrist, he placed himself between them, +and began to guide them through the labyrinthine confusion of the camp.</p> + +<p>The Indians they met on their road avoided them with unequivocal signs +of terror.</p> + +<p>The <i>amantzin</i> was by no means displeased with what had happened: he +was radiant with joy; for, besides the profit derived from meeting the +women, the incident which occurred in consequence had tended to confirm +his power in the eyes of the credulous and superstitious Indians, who +believed him to be really inspired by the Wacondah.</p> + +<p>A quarter of an hour's difficult walking brought them to the <i>toldo</i>, +in front of which the totem (standard) of the assembled tribes was +planted, surrounded by lances fringed with scarlet, and guarded by four +warriors.</p> + +<p>"This is the place," said the sorcerer to Manuela.</p> + +<p>"Good; let my father give orders that we enter alone."</p> + +<p>"Am I to leave you?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; my father can wait for us outside,"</p> + +<p>"I will wait," briefly replied he, casting a suspicious look on them.</p> + +<p>At a sign from the <i>amantzin</i>, the sentries placed before the <i>toldo</i> +made way for the women. They entered with trepidation: the dwelling was +unoccupied.</p> + +<p>They were unable to repress a sigh of satisfaction. The absence of Don +Torribio gave them time to prepare for the interview Doña Hermosa so +greatly desired.</p> + +<p>The <i>amantzin</i> remained standing at the entrance to the <i>toldo</i>. +This man, lately raised to the dignity through the influence of the +Tigercat, was his tool, and acted as his spy.</p> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI.</a></h4> + +<h3>THE RENEGADE.</h3> +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p>Don Torribio Quiroga and Don José Kalbris urged on their horses, in +order to get beyond the defences of the <i>presidio</i> as soon as possible.</p> + +<p>The governor was rejoicing at the reinforcement the general commanding +in the province had sent him. He knew it would be an easy task to +compel the Indians to raise the siege of the <i>presidio</i> when once the +troops marching up had joined him. Indeed, he counted upon profiting +by the opportunity to give the Apaches—those untiring ravagers of the +Mexican frontiers—such a rude lesson, that it would be long before +they again attempted an inroad into the territory of the Confederation.</p> + +<p>They now arrived at one of the barriers, guarded by a strong detachment +of <i>vaqueros</i> and townspeople.</p> + +<p>"We must pass through here," said Don Torribio to the governor. "The +night is dark, bands of these Indian vagabonds are prowling about all +over the country, and we shall most probably have to ride a league or +two before we meet our men. I think it will be scarcely prudent for us +to venture forth without an escort."</p> + +<p>"A very just remark," said Don José.</p> + +<p>"You must recollect that you are the governor of the <i>presidio,</i>" +continued Don Torribio, with a strange smile. "The consequences would +be very serious for the town if the Indians were to attack us, and take +us prisoners. I do not mention this on my own account, but on yours: I +should be a prize of little value to the savages; but with you it is a +very different matter. I beg you to consider this carefully, before we +go any farther."</p> + +<p>"By heaven! You are quite right colonel; it would be an unpardonable +imprudence. So I think the best thing we can do is to take an escort."</p> + +<p>"I think it would be advantageous," said Don Torribio. "How many men +will you take?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, a dozen, at the most."</p> + +<p>"No; take a score. We cannot tell whom we may fall in with on our road +at this time of night. Suppose we were to be set upon by a couple of +hundred Indians! We ought to be able to show them a front."</p> + +<p>"Let it be a score, then, if you like," answered Don José, with perfect +indifference; "and be good enough to choose them yourself."</p> + +<p>"Make your mind easy," said Torribio.</p> + +<p>With that he rode up to the guard, who had turned out on the governor's +arrival, and picked out twenty horseman, whom he ordered to form behind +them.</p> + +<p>"Now," said he to the governor, "we are ready to march."</p> + +<p>"Then let us go," said the latter, giving his horse his head.</p> + +<p>The escort put itself in motion, and followed Don José Kalbris and +Colonel Torribio Quiroga at about twenty paces' interval.</p> + +<p>All went well for nearly an hour, when the governor began to grow +restless, in spite of Don Torribio's lively conversation. The latter +kept up a constant fire of jokes and sparkling repartees, laying +himself out to amuse Don José, and had never before proved so agreeable +a companion.</p> + +<p>"Excuse me, colonel," said the governor, coming to a halt; "but is it +not extraordinary that we see no signs of the troops we are going to +meet?"</p> + +<p>"Not at all, señor; perhaps the officer in command is waiting for +my return, before he leads his men into roads with which he is +unacquainted."</p> + +<p>"It is just possible," said the governor, after a minute's reflection.</p> + +<p>"I think it highly probable," said Don Torribio; "and, in that case, we +have nearly another league before we can meet him."</p> + +<p>"Then we had better push on."</p> + +<p>They resumed their march, but without renewing their conversation. Both +of them seemed absorbed in meditation. At times Don Torribio raised his +head, and looked carefully about him. All of a sudden they heard the +distant neigh of a horse.</p> + +<p>"What is that?" said Don Torribio.</p> + +<p>"Most likely the troops we are looking for," replied the governor.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps," answered the other; "but we had better be cautious."</p> + +<p>Requesting the governor to stop where he was, he set spurs to his +horse, and riding forward was soon lost in the darkness. Having ridden +a short distance, he dismounted, applied his ear to the ground, and +listened.</p> + +<p>"<i>¡Demonios!</i>" he exclaimed, hastily rising and throwing himself into +the saddle; "They are pursuing us! Can that vagabond, Don Estevan, have +recognised me? There is not a moment to lose!"</p> + +<p>"Well, what is it?" asked the governor, as Don Torribio rode back to +him.</p> + +<p>"Nothing," said Don Torribio shortly; "nothing of interest to you."</p> + +<p>"Then—"</p> + +<p>"Then," retorted the other, laying his hand on the governor's left arm, +"Don José Kalbris, surrender; you are my prisoner."</p> + +<p>"What do you say?" replied the astounded veteran. "Are you mad, Don +Torribio?"</p> + +<p>"Call me no longer Don Torribio: I am a nameless, homeless wretch, whom +the thirst for vengeance has driven amongst the Apaches."</p> + +<p>"Treason!" exclaimed the governor. "To the rescue, men! Defend your +colonel!"</p> + +<p>"These men will not help you, Don José; they are in my pay. Surrender, +I say!"</p> + +<p>"I will not surrender," said the governor resolutely. "Don Torribio, or +whatever else you may call yourself, you are a coward!"</p> + +<p>He gave his horse the spur, shook off Don Torribio's hold, and drew his +sword. At the same time, the rapid approach of horsemen was heard in +the distance.</p> + +<p>"Aha!" said the governor, cocking a pistol; "Here comes aid!"</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied Don Torribio; "but it comes too late."</p> + +<p>And he ordered the <i>vaqueros</i> to surround Don José, and attack him. A +couple of shots from the governor's pistol laid two of them in the +dust; and a terrible combat began.</p> + +<p>Don José, knowing all hope of safety to be gone, determined to sell his +life dearly, and did wonders. An accomplished horseman, he parried the +blows aimed at him, and struck fiercely into the men crowding upon him +with savage vociferations. In the meantime, the thundering gallop of +the approaching horsemen grew louder. Don Torribio saw it was time to +make a finish, and shot the governor's horse through the head.</p> + +<p>Don José came violently to the ground, but was up again in a moment, +and aimed a blow at the renegade, which the latter avoided by a +dexterous movement. Then the gallant old soldier put the muzzle of his +pistol to his own forehead.</p> + +<p>"A man like me," said he, "never surrenders to dogs like you; here, +curs, quarrel over my body!"</p> + +<p>With these words he blew his brains out.</p> + +<p>Just then several shots were fired, and a troop of horsemen fell, like +a whirlwind, upon the <i>vaqueros</i>. Don Estevan and Major Barnum led the +assailants.</p> + +<p>The conflict did not last long. Don Torribio gave a loud whistle, +and the <i>vaqueros</i> went to the right-about, and, scattering in all +directions, were soon lost sight of.</p> + +<p>Seven or eight remained dead on the field.</p> + +<p>"What is to be done?" said Major Barnum.</p> + +<p>"Nothing!" replied Don Estevan sorrowfully; "We are too late. Don José +has killed himself rather than submit to be carried off by these dogs."</p> + +<p>"He was a noble soldier!" said the major; "But how can we get at the +rascals again?"</p> + +<p>"We will let them alone, major: they are in camp by this time. Trust +me, we shall soon learn to read this riddle."</p> + +<p>The <i>mayor domo</i> dismounted, and cut with his <i>machete</i> a branch of the +resinous pinewood, which grows so abundantly through all the country. +He struck a light, and in a minute or two a torch was ready.</p> + +<p>By its ruddy and flickering flame, he and the major began to examine +the bodies on the ground. They soon found the governor, lying on his +back, with his head horribly crushed. His hand still retained the fatal +weapon; and his features wore an expression of haughty disdain and +indomitable courage.</p> + +<p>"Look at him!" said Don Estevan.</p> + +<p>The major could not repress the tear that rolled silently down his +swarthy cheek.</p> + +<p>"Yes," he said; "he has died like a soldier, with his face to the foe. +But, alas! he has fallen a victim to treachery—killed by a white man. +My poor old friend! Was this to be your end?"</p> + +<p>"It was God's will," answered Don Estevan.</p> + +<p>"It was," said the major: "may we do our duty as he has done his!"</p> + +<p>Reverently they lifted the body, put it upon a horse, and marched back +in sadness to the <i>presidio</i>.</p> + +<p>In the meanwhile, Don Torribio was greatly disconcerted. His plans +had failed. He had not wished the governor to lose his life, for his +death would be no benefit, but, on the contrary, prejudicial, by +inspiring the Mexicans with the desire for revenge, and strengthening +their determination to resist to the last, and bury themselves under +the ruins of the <i>presidio</i>, rather than surrender to such ferocious +enemies. His intention had been to seize Don José, keep him prisoner, +and to make his own terms with the Mexicans.</p> + +<p>But the old soldier's energetic resistance, and resolve to blow out his +own brains rather than surrender, had upset these plans. So he returned +to the camp, cast down and discontented, while his companions looked +upon the cause of his dejection as a triumphant success.</p> + +<p>Manuela and Doña Hermosa had profited by his absence to throw off their +disguise, and resume their usual dress.</p> + +<p>As soon as Don Torribio reached his <i>toldo</i>, the sorcerer, who had +never quitted it since he had led the two women to the spot, came +forward to meet him.</p> + +<p>"What do you want?" said Don Torribio.</p> + +<p>"Let my father look with a favourable eye upon me," replied the +<i>amantzin;</i> "two women have entered the camp tonight."</p> + +<p>"And what is that to me?" said the chief impatiently.</p> + +<p>"These females, although dressed like Indians, are white," answered the +sorcerer, laying stress on the last two words.</p> + +<p>"What then? They are most likely wives of some of the <i>vaqueros</i>."</p> + +<p>"Not so," said the sorcerer; "their hands are too white, and their feet +too small."</p> + +<p>"Indeed!" replied the other, in whom the tale began to excite some +interest; "Who has taken them prisoner?"</p> + +<p>"No one; they are here alone, of their own accord."</p> + +<p>"Alone?"</p> + +<p>"They said they had important revelations to make to my father."</p> + +<p>"They did?" said the chief, scanning the man narrowly; "And how does my +father know that?"</p> + +<p>"Because I rescued them, and brought them to my father's <i>toldo</i>."</p> + +<p>"Then they are in here?"</p> + +<p>"This hour or more."</p> + +<p>Don Torribio drew from his pocket a few ounces, and handed them to the +sorcerer. "I thank my brother," said he; "he has done well."</p> + +<p>The <i>amantzin</i> grinned, and pocketed the bribe.</p> + +<p>Don Torribio rushed to the <i>toldo</i>, and raised the curtain. A cry of +joy and astonishment escaped him when he recognised Doña Hermosa.</p> + +<p>The latter smiled; while he bowed gracefully, asking himself the while +what the meaning of this could be.</p> + +<p>Doña Hermosa could not resist admiring the man. His rich uniform became +him; it exhibited all his handsome proportions, and increased his +attractions.</p> + +<p>"What rank shall I give you?" she said, beckoning to him to sit down by +her side.</p> + +<p>"Give me any name you like best, señorita. If you speak to the +Spaniard, call me Don Torribio; if you address yourself to the Indian, +the name by which I am known among the Apaches is 'the Accursed.'"</p> + +<p>"Why have they given you this dreadful name?" said she.</p> + +<p>There was no answer to her question: and the two gazed at each other in +silence.</p> + +<p>Doña Hermosa was thinking of the manner in which she should tell him +the object of her visit; he was pondering over the reasons which could +have brought her there. He was the first to speak.</p> + +<p>"Have you really come here inquest of me señorita?"</p> + +<p>"Of whom else?" she replied.</p> + +<p>"Excuse my frankness," said he; "but this seems to me so extraordinary, +that although I see and hear you, I cannot believe in such great good +fortune. I feel as if I were in a dream, and dread the awakening."</p> + +<p>This piece of flattery was pronounced in the tone which Don Torribio +Quiroga would have employed had he been at Don Pedro's hacienda; a tone +adding to the strangeness of the scene, it was so little in accord with +the circumstances and the place where it was uttered.</p> + +<p>"Good sir," replied Doña Hermosa, in the same easy tone he had used +towards her, "I will relieve your trouble, and hasten to dispel the +witchery to which you would attribute my presence in your <i>toldo.</i>"</p> + +<p>"You will still remain an enchantress in my eyes," said he, smiling.</p> + +<p>"You flatter me. If there is any enchantment at all in the matter, poor +Estevan is the wizard He knew my fixed determination to see you, and +told me where I should find you. So, if you are determined to raise +somebody to the rank of sorcerer, let Estevan be the victim."</p> + +<p>"I will not forget him when the opportunity occurs," said Don Torribio, +his face darkly clouding over. "But let us not wander from our own two +selves. I have the happiness to see you here: will it offend you if I +ask why you come?"</p> + +<p>"The reason is quite simple," replied Doña Hermosa, eyeing him +steadfastly. "A girl of my age, and particularly of my rank"—and she +laid great emphasis on the latter word—"does not take a step so—let +us say, so singular, without a strong motive."</p> + +<p>"I am sure of it."</p> + +<p>"What motive could be strong enough to induce a woman to lay aside the +instinctive modesty of her sex, and risk her good name? I know but one. +When her heart is in question, when her love is involved? Am I speaking +clearly, Don Torribio? Do you begin to understand me."</p> + +<p>"I begin to comprehend, señorita."</p> + +<p>"The last time we met, my father received you coldly,—you, my +betrothed. Mad with jealousy, furious with him and myself, believing +our marriage broken off, you rushed from us, and left the hacienda with +rage and hatred boiling in your breast."</p> + +<p>"Cousin, I swear to you?"</p> + +<p>"I am a woman, Don Torribio; and we women possess an instinct which +never deceives us. Can you think for a moment that I, on the verge of +marriage with you, did not know the love you felt for me?"</p> + +<p>Don Torribio gazed at her with an indefinable expression.</p> + +<p>"A few days later," she continued, "Don Fernando Carril fell into an +ambush, and was left for dead on the spot. Why did you do this, Don +Torribio?"</p> + +<p>"I will not attempt to deny, señorita, that I wished to avenge myself +on one I considered a rival; but I swear I gave no orders to kill him."</p> + +<p>"I know it!" she replied; "You need not attempt to exculpate yourself."</p> + +<p>Don Torribio looked at her without understanding her words.</p> + +<p>"The man whom you imagined to be your rival was no favoured suitor," +she continued, with a sweet smile. "You had scarcely left the hacienda, +before I confessed to my father that you were my only love, and that I +would never consent to marry another."</p> + +<p>"Is it possible?" cried Don Torribio, rising in his excitement. "Oh! +Had I but known it!"</p> + +<p>"Calm yourself; the evil you have done is partly repaired. Don +Fernando, rescued by my orders from the clutches of Pablito, is now at +Las Norias, whence he will shortly depart for Mexico. My father, who +can never refuse me anything, has given me permission to choose him I +love most."</p> + +<p>As she said this, she darted at Don Torribio a look full of unutterable +affection.</p> + +<p>He was thunderstruck. A crowd of opposing feelings jostled in his +breast: he did not dare to put full credence in the girl's words; a +cruel doubt would insinuate itself. Was she mocking him?</p> + +<p>"Is it indeed true," he said, "that you could still love me?"</p> + +<p>"Is not my presence here an answer? Why should I have come? What should +induce me?"</p> + +<p>"It is true!" said he, falling on his knees before her. "Forgive me, +señorita; I am mad, and know not what I say. It is too much happiness."</p> + +<p>A smile of triumph lighted up her face.</p> + +<p>"If I did not love you," she said, "could I not have chosen Don +Fernando, who is now at the hacienda?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes; you are a thousand times right! O woman! Adorable woman! Who +is able to fathom thy heart?"</p> + +<p>Doña Hermosa smiled bitterly: she had brought the lion captive to her +feet; she had vanquished man in his pride. Now she was sure of her +revenge.</p> + +<p>"What answer shall I give my father?" she said.</p> + +<p>He drew himself up to his full height; his eyes flashed, his features +grew radiant, and he answered in a low tone:</p> + +<p>"Señorita, my happiness is immeasurable. Say to your father, that the +devotion of a whole life cannot repay the bliss of this interview. As +soon as the <i>presidio</i> of San Lucar is taken, I shall present myself at +the hacienda of Don Pedro de Luna."</p> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII.</a></h4> + +<h3>WOMAN'S WILL.</h3> +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p>Every extreme situation, as soon as it reaches its culminating point, +must necessarily subside into a reaction of an opposite tendency. This +was exactly what happened after the scene we described in the last +chapter.</p> + +<p>Don Torribio, beside himself with joy, could not accept Doña Hermosa's +protestations of love without a certain degree of mistrust. Yet the +improbability of her having taken this decided step from other motives +than the one she professed, had materially aided her in the successful +attempt to hoodwink her admirer.</p> + +<p>Intelligence of a high class is often accompanied by a weakness +detrimental to its possessors: they cannot bring themselves to believe, +that those who fawn upon them and flatter their propensities are +sufficiently acute to deceive them. And so it happened in this case. +How could he fail to believe a girl, still almost a child, whose manner +seemed so guileless, whose looks were fraught with love, and who avowed +her affection so frankly?</p> + +<p>What could she gain by deceiving him, now Don Fernando was alive? What +object could she have in coming thus to put herself into his hands, +without the possibility of escaping from him?</p> + +<p>All this appeared absurd: and was so, in fact, up to a certain point.</p> + +<p>It only proved that Don Torribio, preeminently a statesman, endowed +with admirable talent, and whose sole aim through life had been the +accomplishment of his dreams of ambition, was so entirely absorbed in +farfetched political calculations, that he had no time to study that +amalgam of archness, grace, and perfidy we call woman, and knew nothing +about her nature.</p> + +<p>A woman South American woman especially—never forgives an injury to +her lover; he is the holy ark which none may touch.</p> + +<p>Moreover, we must say, Doña Hermosa was the first, the only love of Don +Torribio. His love was to him a creed, a faith; and all doubt vanished +from before his eyes at the proof she had just given of her affection.</p> + +<p>"And now," she said to him, "can I remain in the camp till my father +comes, without risking insult?"</p> + +<p>"You have but to command!" he replied: "All here are your slaves."</p> + +<p>"The woman, under whose protection I was able to reach you will go back +to the <i>hacienda</i> of Las Norias."</p> + +<p>Don Torribio strode to the curtain of the <i>toldo,</i> and clapped his +hands twice.</p> + +<p>An Indian warrior appeared.</p> + +<p>"Let a <i>toldo</i> be prepared for me; I cede this to the two paleface +women," he said, in the Apache language; "a body of chosen braves, whom +my brother will command, will watch incessantly over their safety. Woe +to him who fails in the profoundest respect! These women are sacred; +free to come and go, and to receive whomsoever they choose. Does my +brother understand?"</p> + +<p>The warrior bowed his head without reply.</p> + +<p>"Let my brother have two horses ready."</p> + +<p>The Indian disappeared.</p> + +<p>"You see, señorita," he continued, turning towards her, "you are queen +here."</p> + +<p>"I thank you!" said Doña Hermosa, drawing from her bosom an open +letter she had prepared for the occasion; "I felt sure of the result +of my interview with you: you see, I have announced it to my father, +even before I met you. Take this, Don Torribio, and read what I have +written."</p> + +<p>She held it out to him with a charming smile, but an inward misgiving.</p> + +<p>"Señorita," he replied, motioning the letter away, "what a daughter +writes to her father should be sacred; no one but himself should read +it."</p> + +<p>Doña Hermosa folded up the letter, without evincing the least emotion +at the terrible risk she had just run, and gave it to Manuela.</p> + +<p>"Mother," she said, "you will give this letter to my father, and +explain to him what I have not been able to write."</p> + +<p>"Allow me to retire," exclaimed Don Torribio; "I must not listen to the +instructions you are about to give to your attendant."</p> + +<p>"I object," she replied; "I must have no secrets from you; henceforth +you must know all my inmost thoughts."</p> + +<p>Don Torribio glowed with delight. Just then they brought the horses. +Doña Hermosa profited by the opportunity afforded by his speaking to +the Apache to say rapidly to Manuela: "Your son must be here in an +hour, if that be possible."</p> + +<p>Manuela made a sign of acquiescence, and Don Torribio reentered the +<i>toldo</i>.</p> + +<p>"I myself will accompany Ña Manuela as far as the defences of the +<i>presidio</i>; this will insure her from incurring any danger."</p> + +<p>"Thanks, once more," replied Doña Hermosa.</p> + +<p>The two women threw themselves into each other's arms, and embraced as +if they were never to meet again.</p> + +<p>"Do not forget!" whispered Doña Hermosa.</p> + +<p>"Trust in me," replied Manuela.</p> + +<p>"This is now your home," said Don Torribio "no one will dare to enter +without your permission."</p> + +<p>Doña Hermosa smiled her thanks, and accompanied them to the entrance of +the <i>toldo</i>; Manuela and her escort mounted and departed.</p> + +<p>The young Mexican followed them with her eyes till the sound of their +horses' feet was lost amid the other noises in the camp, when she +returned to the <i>toldo</i>, murmuring: "The first steps are taken: now to +discover his intentions!"</p> + +<p>A quarter of an hour later, Manuela and her guide arrived within a +hundred yards of the <i>pueblo</i>. They had not exchanged a word.</p> + +<p>"You have now no further need of me," said Don Torribio. "Keep the +horse; he may be useful to you. May God preserve you!"</p> + +<p>Without another word, he turned his horse, and rode back to the camp, +leaving Manuela alone.</p> + +<p>The latter looked about her to discover whereabouts she was, and then +rode resolutely towards the town, which was looming in a dark mass +before her. She had only gone a few paces, when a rude hand seized her +reins, a pistol was presented at her head, and a rough voice exclaimed, +in Spanish:</p> + +<p>"Who goes there?"</p> + +<p>"Friend," she replied, attempting to conceal her trepidation.</p> + +<p>"Mother!" cried a joyful voice.</p> + +<p>"Estevan, my darling child," she exclaimed, throwing herself on his +breast, to which she was clasped in the most affectionate embrace.</p> + +<p>"How did you come here, and whence?" he asked, after a time.</p> + +<p>"From the camp of the redskins."</p> + +<p>"Already!" said he, in astonishment.</p> + +<p>"Yes; my mistress sends me to you."</p> + +<p>"And who was the man with you, mother?"</p> + +<p>"Don Torribio himself."</p> + +<p>"Malediction!" exclaimed the <i>mayor domo</i>; "I have let him escape, when +I had covered him for five minutes with my rifle. But we will not stay +here. Come with me. As soon as I have placed you in safety, you shall +relate what your mistress has charged you to communicate to me."</p> + +<p>When they got into the <i>presidio</i>, Don Estevan made his mother recount +the incidents of their expedition.</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said he more than once; "Women are imps of cunning; men are but +fools beside them!"</p> + +<p>When Manuela had quite finished her tale, he said: "Mother, there is +not a moment to lose: Don Pedro must get the letter this very night. +The poor father must be in a state of dreadful anxiety."</p> + +<p>"I am going to him myself," said Manuela.</p> + +<p>"No!" he replied "you have need of rest. I have a man here who will +acquit himself well of this commission."</p> + +<p>"As you please, Estevan," said she, giving him the letter.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I think this will be the best way. Come into this house; the good +woman to whom it belongs knows me, and will take every care of you."</p> + +<p>"Are you going to Doña Hermosa?"</p> + +<p>"By Heavens! Do you think I intend to leave the poor girl there, in the +midst of those infidels? Besides, what she has got to say to me may +concern us all narrowly."</p> + +<p>"Devoted as ever, Estevan! How like you that is?"</p> + +<p>"What can I do, mother?" he replied, with a laugh. "Devotion seems to +be my vocation."</p> + +<p>He led his mother into the house, where he confided her to its +mistress, and then went in search of his emissary to Don Pedro de Luna.</p> + +<p>Round a bright fire burning in the centre of the street several men +were lying, wrapped in their cloaks. Don Estevan roughly shook one of +the sleepers.</p> + +<p>"Wake, Tonillo!" he said; "Get up, <i>muchacho:</i> you must be off for the +Hacienda de las Norias."</p> + +<p>"But I only came thence a quarter of an hour ago!" replied the +<i>lepero</i>, rubbing his eyes, and still half asleep.</p> + +<p>"I know it; and that is the reason why I send you; you ought to know +the road well. Besides, it is for Doña Hermosa's sake."</p> + +<p>"For Doña Hermosa's sake!" cried the <i>lepero</i>, whom the sound of the +name seemed to awaken thoroughly; "What are her orders?"</p> + +<p>"Now you are as you should be," said the <i>mayor domo.</i> "Mount directly, +and carry this letter to Don Pedro: to say it is from his daughter, is +to tell you it is of importance."</p> + +<p>"Very well; I will go this minute."</p> + +<p>"I have no need to tell you that no one must take this paper from you."</p> + +<p>"I can see that, <i>canarios</i>."</p> + +<p>"You will let yourself be killed sooner than give it up?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes; make yourself easy, <i>mayor domo</i>."</p> + +<p>"And even after death they must not find it."</p> + +<p>"I will sooner eat it; <i>Rayo de Dios!</i>" El Zapote was galloping +towards the hacienda a quarter of an hour later.</p> + +<p>"It is my turn now," said the <i>mayor domo</i> to himself, as soon as he +was alone; "but how am I to get to Doña Hermosa?"</p> + +<p>It seemed as if a little consideration had enlightened him as to the +means, for he banished the frown from his forehead, and gaily took the +road to the fort.</p> + +<p>After a conference with Major Barnum, who, since the death of the +governor, had assumed the command of the town, Estevan disguised +himself as an Indian, and went to the camp of the redskins. Shortly +before sunrise he was in the town again.</p> + +<p>"Well!" said his mother.</p> + +<p>"All is for the best," he replied. "<i>¡Vive Dios!</i> I think Doña Hermosa +will make that incarnate demon pay dearly for kidnapping Don Fernando."</p> + +<p>"Am I to rejoin her?"</p> + +<p>"No; it is not necessary."</p> + +<p>Without entering into any details, Don Estevan who was sinking from +fatigue, retired to snatch a few hours' repose.</p> + +<p>Several days passed without the Indians attacking the <i>pueblo</i>. They +contented themselves with investing it more closely, without attempting +an assault. Their plan seemed to be to starve out the inhabitants, and +force them to surrender from famine.</p> + +<p>The blockade was kept so strictly, that it was impossible for the +besieged to stir beyond their lines: all their communications were cut +off, and provisions began to fail. The cattle which had been collected +at the commencement of the siege had all been killed, and the Mexicans +were now driven to the necessity of consuming the hides.</p> + +<p>The plan would doubtless have succeeded; and the Mexicans, reduced to +the last extremity, would soon have been obliged to surrender without +striking a blow; but a project of Don Estevan's, communicated to Major +Barnum, and executed without delay, suddenly defeated the Tigercat's +plans, and obliged him to make the assault, in order to hinder the +revolt of the tribes who followed him. The Mexicans, whom the pangs of +famine were driving to despair, were eagerly longing for the assault.</p> + +<p>Don Estevan ordered a hundred and fifty loaves to be made of wheat +saturated with arsenic. These were packed on a few mules, still left +in the fort, in company with twenty-four kegs of brandy mixed with +vitriol. With ten trusty fellows, he escorted this formidable freight +to within a short distance of the redskin intrenchments.</p> + +<p>Everything happened as he had foreseen. The Indians, who are +extravagantly fond of brandy, were allured by the sight of the kegs, +and rushed upon the convoy in the hopes of capturing it.</p> + +<p>Don Estevan lost no time. Casting loaves and kegs upon the sand, and +retreating at full speed, he brought off his men and mules in the +<i>pueblo</i>.</p> + +<p>The Indians, dragging their booty into their camp, knocked in the heads +of the barrels, and an orgy commenced which lasted till bread and +brandy had disappeared.</p> + +<p>More than a thousand Indians perished through this ingenious device of +the <i>mayor domo's</i><a name="FNanchor_1_2" id="FNanchor_1_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_2" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> the others, smitten with terror, began to disband +in all directions.</p> + +<p>The exasperated savages, in their first moments of excitement, and +in spite of the efforts of their leader, ruthlessly massacred under +horrible tortures all the men, women, and children who had fallen into +their power at the commencement of the war, and had been kept prisoners +in the camp up to the time.</p> + +<p>Doña Hermosa herself, notwithstanding the respect with which she had +been treated, and the extreme care she took never to leave the <i>toldo</i>, +was in great danger of falling a victim to the fury of the Indians. +Chance alone saved her.</p> + +<p>The great chief resolved to finish the war at once. He despatched El +Zopilote to order all the <i>sachems</i> to assemble in his <i>toldo</i>. As soon +as they arrived, he announced to them that at the <i>endic'ha</i> (daybreak) +on the morrow the <i>presidio</i> would be attacked on all sides at once.</p> + +<p>Don Torribio, in his quality of chief, was present at the council. As +soon as it was over he hastened to Doña Hermosa's <i>toldo</i>, and demanded +an interview.</p> + +<p>Since her arrival in the camp, although the Tigercat was perfectly +aware of all that was going on between her and Don Torribio, he had +purposely avoided meeting her, contenting himself with congratulating +the latter on the affection the girl manifested for him. Nevertheless, +an acute observer might have easily perceived that the Tigercat +harboured some sinister purpose in his mind. Don Torribio, on the +contrary, was too much blinded by his passion to attempt to read the +countenance of the old bandit.</p> + +<p>The intensity of his love, and the zest with which he gave himself +up to it, diverted his thoughts from the shame and remorse which +stung him when he thought of the infamy attached to his name by his +treacherous desertion of his own people to become a member of the +ferocious and sanguinary tribes of the Apaches.</p> + +<p>Doña Hermosa, on hearing that Don Torribio wished to see her, gave +orders for his instant admittance. She was talking at the time with her +father. Don Pedro de Luna had hastened to join his daughter the instant +he received her letter, and had already been some days in the camp.</p> + +<p>The interior of the <i>toldo</i> was greatly changed. Don Torribio had +ordered it to be embellished with divers pieces of elegant furniture, +stolen by the Indians from different haciendas. Partitions had been +constructed, closets contrived, so that the metamorphosis was complete; +and, although the exterior remained as it had been before, the inside, +in consequence of the alterations, assumed the appearance of a European +residence.</p> + +<p>Manuela, Doña Hermosa's nurse, had also returned with Don Pedro—a +circumstance extremely agreeable to the girl; first, on account of the +great confidence she reposed in her; and again, because Manuela was +indispensable for all those little services and attentions to which +women of rank are accustomed. Besides, the presence of the nurse, who +never left Doña Hermosa's side in her interviews with Don Torribio, +prevented any exuberant outbreak of passion on his part, and confined +him to the limits of a respectful decorum.</p> + +<p>Whatever astonishment the redskins might have felt at the alterations +in the <i>toldo</i> undertaken by Don Torribio, the veneration and devotion +they professed for the Tigercat were so great, that, with the delicacy +which seems innate in their race, they pretended to see none of them, +especially as the latter had taken no offence at the conduct of the +paleface chief. Moreover, as, under all circumstances, the latter +rendered them energetic cooperation, being always the foremost in +battle and the last to retreat, they thought it right to leave him +to arrange his own affairs as he judged best, without any attempt to +oppose him.</p> + +<p>"Well," said Doña Hermosa, when he entered, "has the Tigercat succeeded +in subduing the exasperation of the tribes?"</p> + +<p>"Thank Heaven! He has, señorita; but the atrocious crime committed by +Major Barnum is unworthy of a man, and more the deed of a savage brute +than of a civilized being."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps the major is not the author of the crime."</p> + +<p>"The whites are accustomed to treat the Indians thus. Have I not heard +them assert a thousand times that the redskins are not human beings? +All weapons that kill them are lawful, and poison is one of the surest. +This crime alone is sufficient to justify me in having quitted the +ranks of the monsters."</p> + +<p>"Speak no more on this subject, I beseech you; you make me shudder. +I am obliged to confess that reason is on your side. When we witness +such horrors, we begin to regret that we belong to a race capable of +inventing them."</p> + +<p>"What is the decision of the council?" asked Don Pedro, in order to +turn the conversation.</p> + +<p>"Tomorrow, at daybreak, a general assault will be delivered on the +<i>presidio</i>."</p> + +<p>"Tomorrow!" exclaimed Doña Hermosa, in a fright.</p> + +<p>"Yes," he replied; "tomorrow I hope to revenge myself on those who were +my brothers, and have forced me to repudiate them. Tomorrow I shall +conquer or die."</p> + +<p>"God protect the good cause!" said she ambiguously.</p> + +<p>"Thanks, cousin," replied Don Torribio, mistaking the meaning of her +exclamation.</p> + +<p>Don Pedro with difficulty repressed a sigh.</p> + +<p>"The action tomorrow will be severe," Don Torribio continued. "I +conjure you, señorita, not to leave the <i>toldo</i>. Should we meet with a +reverse, no one can tell to what extremes the rage of the Apaches may +carry them. I will leave twenty resolute men, <i>vaqueros</i> on whom I can +rely, to defend you. As soon as the affair is over, I will send you +word."</p> + +<p>"Are you going already, Don Torribio?" said she, as she saw him move +for the purpose.</p> + +<p>"I must, señorita; I am one of the chiefs of the Indian army. In that +quality, I have duties to fulfil, and must make preparations for the +morrow. I entreat you to let me go."</p> + +<p>"Farewell, then, if it must be so."</p> + +<p>Bowing respectfully to her and her father, Don Torribio retired.</p> + +<p>"All is lost," said Don Pedro; "the Mexicans will never be able to +withstand the assault."</p> + +<p>Doña Hermosa looked at him with a strange expression, and then +whispered in his ear:</p> + +<p>"Father, have you read your Bible?"</p> + +<p>"Why do you ask, little madcap?"</p> + +<p>"Because," said she, with a coaxing smile, "you seem to have forgotten +the story of Delilah."</p> + +<p>"What!" he exclaimed, more astonished than ever; "Do you intend to cut +off his hair?"</p> + +<p>"<i>¿Quién sabe?</i>" she answered, shaking her head knowingly, and with a +delicious assumption of bravado; while at the same time she put one of +her fingers on her rosy lips.</p> + +<p>Don Pedro gave the shrug of a man who is utterly at a loss to +understand, and who gives up an inexplicable enigma.</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> A fact. An identical occurrence took place at the Carmen +of Patagonia, daring an attack by the Indians.</p></div> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII.</a></h4> + +<h3>PALEFACE <i>VERSUS</i> REDSKIN.</h3> +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p>The redskins in general, and the Apaches in particular, exhibit a +surprising degree of craftiness when on the warpath, or preparing for +a hazardous expedition. The best troops of the civilized world cannot +compete with them in subtlety and wariness, such pains do they take to +conceal and dissemble their movements.</p> + +<p>Towards three o'clock in the morning, just as the first pearly notes +issued from the throats of the <i>mawkawis</i><a name="FNanchor_1_3" id="FNanchor_1_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_3" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> nestled among the leaves, +the Tigercat and Don Torribio rose from their beds, armed themselves +for the fight, and issued forth from their toldos, followed by several +Apache braves, directing their silent and rapid steps towards the +centre of the camp, where the <i>sachems</i> of the tribes, crouched on +their haunches around an immense brasier, smoked the war calumet while +waiting for the great chief.</p> + +<p>When the Tigercat appeared, the Indians rose in a body to reverence +their leader.</p> + +<p>The Tigercat, returning their salute, made them a sign to be seated, +and turning to the <i>amantzin,</i> or sorcerer, who stood by his side. +"Will the Master of life remain neutral?" he asked. "Will the Wacondah +be propitious to the Apache braves? Or will he be adverse to the war +his Indian sons, united before the stone <i>atepelt</i> (village) of the +palefaces, are going to wage this day against their oppressors?"</p> + +<p>"At the bidding of the chiefs," replied the <i>amantzin</i>, "I will +question the Master of life."</p> + +<p>Then, drawing himself up to his full height, he wrapped his bison robe +about him, and thrice paced round the fire, marching from left to +right, and muttering words unintelligible to all, and which yet seemed +to have a mysterious meaning. At the third round, he poured a <i>coui</i> (a +small vessel) of water, sweetened with <i>smilax</i>, into a cup of reeds, +plaited so closely that not a drop escaped. Next, having dipped a sprig +of wormwood in the <i>coui</i>, he sprinkled the assembled <i>sachems</i>, and +emptied the water in three separate portions towards the rising sun.</p> + +<p>Then, bending his body forward, with outstretched head and expanded +arms, he appeared to listen to sounds perceptible to him alone.</p> + +<p>At the end of a few seconds the <i>mawkawis</i> lifted up his song again, +on the right of his sorcerer. Immediately his face contorted itself, +and grew horrible to look at; his bloodshot eyes seemed ready to +start from their orbits; a whitish foam oozed from the corners of his +compressed lips; a livid pallor overspread his features; his limbs were +convulsed, and his body was agitated by violent distortions.</p> + +<p>"The Spirit comes! The Spirit comes!" muttered the Indians, in +superstitious terror.</p> + +<p>"Silence!" cried the Tigercat; "The wise man is about to speak."</p> + +<p>In fact, a painful hissing issued from the distorted mouth of the +<i>amantzin</i>, which changed by slow degrees into words, unintelligible at +first, but soon pronounced sufficiently distinctly to be understood by +all.</p> + +<p>"The spirit comes!" he exclaimed; "He has unbound his long locks, which +float abroad on the winds. His breath brings annihilation; the heaven +are red with blood. Victims will not be wanting for the Wacondah, the +spirit of evil. Who can resist him? He alone is master. The knives of +the Apaches shall find a sheath in the breasts of the palefaces. The +vultures and <i>urubus</i> are glad; they snuff the ample repast. Shout the +war cry! Courage, warriors! the Wacondah himself will lead you. Death +is nothing; glory is all!"</p> + +<p>The <i>amantzin</i>, having uttered a few other unintelligible words, +dropped to the ground, a prey to frightful convulsions.</p> + +<p>Strange to relate, the men who had up to this time hung suspended on +his lips, listening with strained anxiety to his utterances, had now +no look or word of pity or interest for him as he lay writhing on the +ground, but left him there, without further thought about him. It was +because the man rash enough to touch a sorcerer while possessed by the +spirit would fall a lifeless corpse: such is the Indian belief.</p> + +<p>As soon as the <i>amantzin</i> had ceased speaking, the Tigercat took up the +word in his turn.</p> + +<p>"Great chiefs of the Apache tribes," said he in a deep voice, "you see +that the God of your fathers smiles on our attempt, and encourages +it. Let us not hesitate, warriors! Let us confound with one last blow +the pride of our oppressors. Our lands are now free; one single spot +is still in the power of our tyrants. Let us conquer it today, and at +sunset let the Spanish flag, whose fatal shadow has so long been the +omen of misery and death, be lowered on our frontiers forever. Courage, +brothers! Your ancestors, hunting in the happy prairies, will joyfully +welcome those who fall in the battle. Let each repair to the post I +have assigned him; the hoarse cry of the <i>urubu</i>, thrice repeated at +equal intervals, will give the signal for the assault."</p> + +<p>The chiefs, with deep reverence, took their departure, and dispersed in +various directions. The Tigercat remained alone, absorbed in profound +meditation.</p> + +<p>An awful stillness reigned over the scene. There was not a breath of +wind, nor a cloud in the sky. The limpid and transparent atmosphere +permitted objects to be seen at a vast distance. The dark blue heavens +were studded with a multitude of sparkling stars; the moon was pouring +forth her silver rays in profusion; no sound disturbed the impressive +silence, except, at intervals, that low murmuring which, coming we know +not whence, seems the awful breathing of slumbering nature.</p> + +<p>The white chief, on the point of making his mightiest effort to +enfranchise the Indian nations, and pave the way for the triumph of +his mysterious combinations, yielded with delight to the tumultuous +thoughts busying themselves in his brain. Communing with his soul, +he scrutinised his own conduct, and fervently entreated Him who is +almighty, and whose eye searches the heart, not to abandon him, if the +cause for which he fought was righteous.</p> + +<p>A hand was laid heavily on his shoulder.</p> + +<p>Thus rudely recalled to himself, the Tigercat started. He passed his +hand over his damp brow, and turned to the intruder. The sorcerer stood +there, gazing at him with his perfidious eyes, and grinning an evil +smile.</p> + +<p>"What brings you here?" said the chief abruptly.</p> + +<p>"Is my father satisfied with me?" replied the <i>amantzin;</i> "Has the +Wacondah spoken well to the <i>sachems?</i>"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said the Tigercat, with a gesture of disgust; "my brother has +done well: he may go."</p> + +<p>"My father is great and generous! The spirit that possesses me tore me +grievously."</p> + +<p>The chief snatched a string of pearls from his neck, and threw it to +the wretch, who caught it with a shout of delight.</p> + +<p>"Go!" said the Tigercat, turning haughtily away.</p> + +<p>The <i>amantzin</i> retired. He had got all he wanted.</p> + +<p>Don Torribio had left the scene of the incantation with the other +chiefs, to repair to his post; but after proceeding a little way, he +looked up to the sky, and mentally calculated the hour by the position +of the stars.</p> + +<p>"I shall have time," he muttered to himself.</p> + +<p>So he hastily directed his steps towards the <i>toldo</i> of Doña Hermosa; +numerous guards surrounded it.</p> + +<p>"She sleeps," said he; "sleeps, lulled by sweet childish fancies. +O God! Who knowest the extent of my love, and the sacrifice I have +offered at its shrine, grant she may be happy!"</p> + +<p>He went up to one of the <i>vaqueros</i>, who, leaning against a tree, was +silently smoking his cigarette, his eyes fixed on the <i>toldo</i>.</p> + +<p>"<i>Verado,</i>" said he, with emotion he could not repress, "twice have I +saved your life at the risk of my own. Do you remember?"</p> + +<p>"I remember," said the <i>vaquero</i> briefly.</p> + +<p>"Today it is I who come to ask a service. Can I rely on you?"</p> + +<p>"Speak, Don Torribio; I will do all a man can do, to do you a service."</p> + +<p>"Thanks, comrade! My life, my soul, all I hold dear in the world, is +contained in this <i>toldo</i>. I confide her to you. Swear to defend her, +whatever may happen!"</p> + +<p>"I swear it, Don Torribio. The <i>toldo</i> is sacred; neither friend nor +enemy shall enter. I and the men you have placed under my command will +die on the spot before injury shall happen to those you love."</p> + +<p>"I thank you," said the chief, extending his hand to the <i>vaquero</i>.</p> + +<p>The latter seized the bottom of his leader's cloak, and kissed it +reverently.</p> + +<p>Don Torribio cast one more look of affection at the <i>toldo</i>, which +concealed, as he had said, all he loved in this world, and then went +his way with rapid strides.</p> + +<p>"Now," said he, "let me be a man! They are bold men we have to contend +with."</p> + +<p>As soon as the chief had ordered the sachems to their posts, where the +warriors were anxiously expecting the word to let them loose upon the +foe, they proceeded to the different stations where their respective +tribes were posted.</p> + +<p>The men then commenced one of those incredible marches which Indians +alone can perform—crawling on their bellies over the ground. Creeping +and gliding along like snakes, they managed to station themselves, +in less than an hour, and without attracting notice, immediately at +the foot of the ramparts held by the Mexicans. This movement had been +executed with so much precision and success, that no sound had been +heard in the prairie, and nothing appeared to have stirred in the camp, +where all seemed plunged into the deepest repose.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, a few minutes before the <i>sachems</i> had received the final +orders of the Tigercat, a man in Apache dress had quitted the camp in +advance of the others, and crept towards the fort on hands and knees.</p> + +<p>When he arrived at the barricade, another man who, leaning over it, had +been listening with intense anxiety, reached out his hand, and helped +him inside the town.</p> + +<p>"Well, Estevan?"</p> + +<p>"We shall be attacked before an hour is over, major," said the <i>mayor +domo</i>.</p> + +<p>"Will the attack be serious?"</p> + +<p>"An assault. The Indians are determined to finish the game at once; +they are afraid of being all poisoned if they wait longer."</p> + +<p>"What is to be done?" grumbled the officer.</p> + +<p>"Let ourselves be killed," was the reply.</p> + +<p>"By Heavens! A comfortable piece of advice! We can but do that at the +last extremity."</p> + +<p>"We might try something else."</p> + +<p>"But what? Speak, in Heaven's name!"</p> + +<p>"Is everything prepared as we agreed?"</p> + +<p>"It is. But what do you propose?"</p> + +<p>"Give me twenty-five <i>vaqueros</i>, whom you can trust."</p> + +<p>"Take them; you will lead them?"</p> + +<p>"That is my affair, major. I will not answer for success; for these red +devils are numberless as the sands; but you may depend on my thinning +their ranks."</p> + +<p>"That will do us no harm. But the women and children?"</p> + +<p>"I have got them all safely to Las Norias."</p> + +<p>"God be praised! Now we can fight like men; our dear ones are in +safety."</p> + +<p>"For a time they are."</p> + +<p>"What do you mean? What is there else to fear?"</p> + +<p>"Only that when the Indians have taken the <i>presidio</i>, they will most +probably attack the hacienda."</p> + +<p>"You are out of your wits, Estevan," said the major, smiling; "and Doña +Hermosa—"</p> + +<p>"True," replied the <i>mayor domo</i> gaily; "I had forgotten her."</p> + +<p>"Is that all you have to report?"</p> + +<p>"No, major," he said quickly; "one thing more."</p> + +<p>"Out with it then; for time presses."</p> + +<p>"The signal for the attack is to be three screams of the <i>urubu</i>, at +equal intervals."</p> + +<p>"Good! I will be ready for them: they will attack before daybreak."</p> + +<p>The major and Don Estevan separated, to visit the posts in succession, +to arouse the guards, and prepare them for the event.</p> + +<p>The preceding evening, Major Barnum had assembled all the townspeople, +and, in a brief and energetic speech, and with the greatest frankness, +apprised them of the precarious situation of the <i>pueblo;</i> had +explained his plan of defence; and finished by telling them that boats +were ready moored under the guns of the fort, to receive the women, +children, old men, and all those country people who declined to join +in his desperate resistance; adding, that all who embarked would be +conveyed at nightfall to the Hacienda of Las Norias, where they would +be kindly received.</p> + +<p>We are bound to say, that a few of the people in the town, dismayed +by the energetic proceedings of the major, had recoiled from the idea +of taking part in them, and had gone to the hacienda. There remained, +therefore, in the town only resolute men, determined to sell their +lives dearly, and on whom he could rely with confidence.</p> + +<p>Thus when, on being aroused, the immediate attack of the Apaches was +made known to them, they manned the barriers confidently, with eyes and +ears on the watch, ready to give fire at the first signal.</p> + +<p>One hour passed over without any occurrence to break the stillness of +the night. The Mexicans began to imagine that they had been summoned +to the walls by a false alarm, as had already happened on several +occasions, when suddenly the hoarse and ominous scream of the <i>urubu</i> +arose.</p> + +<p>Again it broke through the silence, and a cold shudder ran through the +frames of the besieged, who recognised their death cry, and knew how +little chance of escape existed.</p> + +<p>A third time the scream of the <i>urubu</i> arose, louder and hoarser than +before. Ere it was well ended, the dreadful war whoop broke forth on +all sides, and the Indians threw themselves in swarms on the exterior +defences, and attempted to carry them by escalade. The Mexicans +received them firmly, like men who knew their last hour was come, and +were resolved to fall amidst a hecatomb of foes. The Indians fell back +in dismay, astounded at the vigorous resistance. Their measures had +been taken so secretly, that they felt certain of surprising the town. +As soon as they were in the open, showers of grape swept them down, and +scattered death and disorder among their masses.</p> + +<p>Don Estevan, profiting by the panic, threw himself, at the head of +his <i>vaqueros</i>, on the thunderstricken redskins, and cut them down +indiscriminately. Twice he renewed the charge with the courage of a +lion, and twice the Indians recoiled before him.</p> + +<p>As long as the darkness lasted, the Apaches could not perceive the +smallness of the force opposed to them, and the combat was greatly +favourable to the palefaces, who, sheltered behind the barricades, kept +up a deadly fire on the dense masses of the enemy.</p> + +<p>But after about two hours of this obstinate resistance the sun rose, +and lighted up the field of battle with the glorious splendour of his +rays. The Indians hailed his appearance with clamorous shouts, and +precipitated themselves with renewed fury on the intrenchments from +which they had just been driven. Their shock was irresistible.</p> + +<p>The whites, after an amount of resistance determined on beforehand, +abandoned a position they could no longer hold. The Indians, at the +top of their speed, rushed in pursuit. But at that moment a frightful +explosion was heard, the ground burst under their feet, and the mangled +wretches, hurled into the air, were cast in all directions.</p> + +<p>The interior of the defences had been undermined, and the major had +just issued the order to fire the train. The effects of the explosion +were horrible. The panic-stricken redskins began to fly on all sides, +and, yielding to the impulse of their terror, were deaf to the orders +of their <i>sachems</i>, and refused to renew the fight.</p> + +<p>For a moment the palefaces thought themselves saved. But the Tigercat, +mounted on a magnificent jet black mustang, and unfolding to the breeze +the sacred <i>totem</i> of the allied tribes, rushed to the front, braving +in his single person the shots the Mexicans aimed at him, and cried in +a terrible voice: "Cowards! As you will not conquer, see how a brave +man can die!"</p> + +<p>His voice conveyed the bitterest reproach to the ears of the redskins; +the most cowardly were ashamed to abandon the chief who was thus +generously sacrificing himself; they faced about, and returned to the +assault with redoubled ardour.</p> + +<p>The Tigercat seemed invulnerable. He made his horse bound into the +thickest of the fight, parrying the blows aimed at him with the staff +of the <i>totem</i>, which he held displayed above his head to encourage his +men.</p> + +<p>The Apaches, electrified by the audacity of their great chief, crowded +around him, undismayed even in death, and shouted:</p> + +<p>"The Tigercat! The Tigercat! Let us die for the great chief!"</p> + +<p>"Look there!" cried he enthusiastically, pointing to the morning +star; "Look there! Your Father is smiling upon your deeds! Forwards! +Forwards!"</p> + +<p>"Forwards!" repeated the redskins, advancing with fresh fury.</p> + +<p>But the major knew this horrible struggle could not last much longer. +The redskins had carried all the barricades; the town swarmed with +them. The Mexicans disputed it house by house, only leaving one to +throw themselves into another when dislodged by main force. The +redskins formed into a solid mass, led by Don Torribio, charged up the +steep street leading to the old <i>presidio</i> and the fort which commands +it. In spite of the ravages caused in their ranks by the grape from the +guns of the fort, they advanced without wavering; for they saw, after +each of the discharges which showered death amongst them, the Tigercat +ten paces in advance, bestriding his black charger, and brandishing the +<i>totem</i>, with Don Torribio at his side waving his sword.</p> + +<p>"Come," said the major gravely to Don Estevan; "the time has arrived to +execute the orders I gave you."</p> + +<p>"You insist upon them, major?" replied the latter.</p> + +<p>"I do Estevan."</p> + +<p>"Enough, major; they shall not say I disobeyed your last orders. +Farewell! Or rather, may we soon meet in heaven; for I shall fall as +well as you."</p> + +<p>"<i>¿Quién sabe?</i> Farewell, farewell!"</p> + +<p>"Let us still hope," answered the <i>mayor domo</i> in a stifled voice.</p> + +<p>The two men silently clasped each other's hands in a final pressure; +for they knew that, without a miracle, they should never meet again.</p> + +<p>After this leave-taking, Don Estevan collected some forty horsemen, +formed them into a compact body, and, in the interval between two +volleys from the fort, threw himself at full speed on the advancing +redskins. The Apaches could not resist the impetuosity of the charge, +and fled into the houses on either hand. When they recovered from their +panic, the horsemen who had so rudely handled them had got on board +two large boats, and were rowing swiftly towards the Hacienda de las +Norias. Don Estevan and the whole of his followers were saved, with +the exception of three or four who fell in the charge. The major had +profited by the diversion to throw himself, with the remaining whites, +into the fort, the gates of which were instantly closed behind him. +Don Torribio ordered the redskins to halt, and advanced alone to the +fortress.</p> + +<p>"Major," cried he in a loud voice, "surrender! The lives of yourself +and the garrison shall be respected."</p> + +<p>"You are a traitor, a coward, and a dog!" replied the major, appearing +on the walls. "You murdered my friend, who trusted to your loyalty. No +surrender!"</p> + +<p>"It is death to you and all with you; for the sake of humanity, +surrender! Defence is impossible."</p> + +<p>"You are a coward!" cried the major again; "here is my answer."</p> + +<p>"Back, all of you! Back!" shouted the Tigercat, driving both spurs into +his horse, which bounded into the air, and flew off with the speed of +an arrow.</p> + +<p>The Indians precipitated themselves from the top to the base of the +rampart, seized with an indescribable panic; but not speedily enough to +avoid the fate that threatened them. The major had fired the magazines +in the fort. A terrific explosion ensued. The gigantic edifice +oscillated for a second or two on its foundations, like a tottering +mastodon; then, suddenly torn from the ground, rose into the air, +and burst like an elephantine shell. Amidst the last cries of "Long +live the Republic!" from the besieged, a storm of stones and bodies, +horribly mutilated, hailed down upon the redskins, aghast at the +horrible catastrophe—and all was over, the Tigercat was master of the +Presidio de San Lucar; but, as Major Barnum had sworn, he was only in +possession of a pile of ruins.</p> + +<p>With tears of rage, Don Torribio planted the <i>totem</i> of the Apaches on +a strip of tottering wall—the sole remnant to mark the spot where, +ten minutes ago, rose the magnificent fort of San Lucar.</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> A Mexican songbird.</p></div> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV.</a></h4> + +<h3>THE CATASTROPHE.</h3> +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p>Several days had elapsed since the fall of the <i>presidio</i> of San +Lucar. The pueblo had been given up to pillage, with refinements of +barbarity impossible to describe. Only the principal buildings had been +spared, thanks to the measures employed by the Tigercat, who to save +the immense treasures they contained, had allotted them to the most +powerful <i>sachems</i> of the tribes who followed him.</p> + +<p>The old freebooter had established his headquarters in the former +dwelling of Don Torribio Quiroga, which the latter had gracefully ceded +to him. Doña Hermosa and her father had resumed possession of their own +mansion.</p> + +<p>The town, with none but Indians for inhabitants, had a mournful aspect: +no more commerce; no more cheerful songs; nothing left of the careless +spirit of gaiety which formerly animated the Mexican colony. Here and +there in the open streets lay corpses, battled for by the birds of +prey, festering, and infecting the atmosphere. In a word, the whole +scene afforded the spectacle of that desolation which accompanies a war +of extermination between two races who have been foes for centuries.</p> + +<p>About a week after the events we have described in the preceding +chapter, three persons were assembled, about ten o'clock in the +morning, in a room in Don Pedro de Luna's house, and were talking in +low tones. These three persons were, Don Pedro himself, Doña Hermosa, +and the worthy <i>capataz</i> Luciano Pedralva, who, huddled up in the +fantastical costume of a <i>vaquero</i>, looked like a monstrous robber, +exciting bursts of laughter from Ña Manuela, who was seated, on the +watch, at a window. Every time she looked at him, she broke into +a fresh laugh, to the indignation of the <i>capataz</i>, who voted his +disguise at the devil.</p> + +<p>"Well as we have agreed," said Don Pedro, "you must put on your pumps, +Luciano, and prepare for the dance."</p> + +<p>"And it is to take place today?"</p> + +<p>"It must, my good friend. It seems to me that we live in singular +times, and in a very singular country. I have seen many revolutions, +but this beats them all."</p> + +<p>"As for me," said Doña Hermosa, "it seems consistent enough from an +Indian point of view."</p> + +<p>"Very possible, my dear. I am not going to enter into a discussion with +you; but you must confess that a month ago we were far from expecting +such a prompt re-establishment of the Apache power on these frontiers."</p> + +<p>"You know, Don Pedro, I understand none of these matters; only it +appears to me that the Tigercat is not very magnanimous for a man about +to become a sovereign."</p> + +<p>"What do you mean by that, Luciano?"</p> + +<p>"I mean what everyone ought to mean. The letter he sent Don Fernando +the day before yesterday is explicit enough; for in it he tells him, +shortly and sharply, that if he is found in the colony five days after +its receipt, he will have him hanged."</p> + +<p>"If he can catch him!" said Doña Hermosa hastily.</p> + +<p>"That is understood," replied the <i>capataz</i>.</p> + +<p>"What is there in that to astonish you, Luciano?" said Don Pedro. "By +Heavens! What extraordinary things I have witnessed in my life! I +myself know a score of people to whom the same threats have been made, +and who are yet alive and well."</p> + +<p>"It is all one; but, in spite of that, I do not like it."</p> + +<p>"But this is all foreign to our matter. You will return to the +hacienda, Don Luciano; and remember my advice."</p> + +<p>"Trust to me, señor. But I have something else to say."</p> + +<p>"Say what you will, my good friend; but lose no time."</p> + +<p>"I am dreadfully anxious about Don Estevan," replied the <i>capataz</i>, in +a voice so low that it could not reach Ña Manuela's ears; "for six days +he has disappeared, and we hear no tidings of him."</p> + +<p>Doña Hermosa smiled slyly. "Estevan is not the man to lose himself +without leaving a trail," said she. "Tranquilize yourself: at the +proper time you will see him again."</p> + +<p>"So much the better, señorita; for he is a man to be relied on."</p> + +<p>"Don Torribio!" suddenly exclaimed Manuela.</p> + +<p>"Indeed!" said the <i>capataz</i>; "Then it is time for me to vanish."</p> + +<p>"Follow me quickly;" cried the <i>mayor domo's</i> mother.</p> + +<p>The <i>capataz</i> bent reverently before Doña Hermosa and Don Pedro, and +left the room with Manuela.</p> + +<p>The door by which they went out had hardly closed upon them, when +another opened, and Don Torribio entered. He wore a superb Indian +dress; his forehead was lined with care, and his looks were sad. He +bowed to Doña Hermosa, cordially grasped the hand of Don Pedro, and +took his seat at a mute sign from the lady.</p> + +<p>After the interchange of a few common-place words, the daughter of the +hacendero, whom Don Torribio's downcast demeanour disquieted more than +she liked to evince, turned gracefully towards him, and said, with an +assumption of interest which was admirably acted:</p> + +<p>"What ails you, Don Torribio? You look sad. What bad news have you +received?"</p> + +<p>"None, señorita; though I thank you for the interest you take in +my affairs. Were I ambitious, I should feel content; for all my +aspirations have been realised. In receiving your hand, a few days +hence, the dream of my whole life will be fulfilled. You see, +señorita," he added, with a mournful smile, "that I allow you to peer +into the depths of my heart."</p> + +<p>"I am thankful for what you say; but, Don Torribio, you were not thus a +few days ago. Something must have—"</p> + +<p>"Nothing personal, I assure you. But the nearer the time comes for the +ceremony of taking possession of the territories we have won back, +the greater discouragement masters me. I can by no means approve the +determination of the Tigercat to have himself officially declared an +independent sovereign; it is a folly I cannot comprehend. The Tigercat +knows better than any one how impossible it is to maintain himself +here. The Apaches, brave as they are, will never be able to hold their +own against the disciplined force the Mexican Government will despatch +against us, as soon as they hear of this outbreak."</p> + +<p>"Is it impossible to induce the Tigercat to change his purpose?"</p> + +<p>"It is. I have tried every means to show him the insanity of his +project. He will listen to nothing. The man has an object in view known +to himself alone; the wish he loudly proclaims—to regenerate the race +of redskins—is a mere pretext."</p> + +<p>"You shock me, Don Torribio! If this is the case, why not give him up?"</p> + +<p>"Can I do so? Am I not already a renegade? Shall I confess to you, +señorita? Although every thing seems prosperous,—although the future +seems to have nothing but smiles for me,—yet, for the last few days, +an invincible despondency has crept over me. Everything looks dark, and +I feel world worn. In a word, I have a foreboding that I am on the eve +of a terrible misfortune."</p> + +<p>Doña Hermosa cast a piercing glance at him, which he did not observe. +"Banish these mournful thoughts," said she, with emphasis; "henceforth +your fate is settled; nothing can alter it."</p> + +<p>"I believe so; but, you know, señorita, mischance may come between the +cup and the lip."</p> + +<p>"Come, come, Don Torribio!" said Don Pedro gaily; "Let us to breakfast. +It is the last repast you will share with us before the ceremony of +taking possession. Is it still to be today?"</p> + +<p>"It is!" replied Don Torribio, offering his hand to Doña Hermosa, to +lead her into another room, where a splendid meal was prepared.</p> + +<p>At first they were very silent; the guests seemed ill at ease; but +by degrees the efforts of Doña Hermosa and her father to cheer Don +Torribio succeeded in breaking the ice, and the conversation became +more lively. Yet it was easily seen that Don Torribio had a hard +struggle to repel the thoughts that rose to his lips, and to condemn +them to silence.</p> + +<p>Towards the close of the repast, the chief turned to Doña Hermosa.</p> + +<p>"Señorita," he said, "tonight my future will be settled. In taking +part, as an Indian chief, in the ceremony of today, I shall throw down +the gauntlet to my countrymen, by giving them to understand that I +openly join the cause of the redskins; and that what they at first +supposed to be an Indian raid grew, thanks to the Tigercat and me, into +the rising of a whole nation. I know the pride of the whites! Unable +to utilise the immense territories they possess, they will still never +leave us in peaceful enjoyment of the heritage we have carved out for +ourselves at the point of our lances. The Mexican Government will wage +a war of destruction upon us. Can I depend upon you?"</p> + +<p>"Before answering, Don Torribio, I must demand a clearer explanation."</p> + +<p>"And you shall have it. Reprisals are what the Spaniards most dread in +an Indian insurrection; that is to say, a massacre of the whites. My +carriage with a Mexican would be a gage of peace from us to them—a +pledge for the future security of their commerce, and the observance +of the relations to be established between us. Our path is marked out, +however the chiefs of the tribes may object. Neither the Tigercat nor I +will deviate from it a hair's breadth. Señorita, I address this frank +and loyal question to you: Will you grant me your hand?"</p> + +<p>"Why should you press so grave a matter at such a moment, Don +Torribio?" was her answer "Are you not sure of me?"</p> + +<p>Don Torribio Quiroga frowned. "Always the same reply," he said. "Child, +you are playing with the lion! If I had not been your shield these ten +days past, you would have been slain ere now. Do you fancy me ignorant +of your petty machinations, or ensnared by your childish calculations? +You are playing for life or death, silly one; you are caught yourself +in the net you spread for me. You are in my power! It is for me to +dictate my conditions. Tomorrow you will espouse me; the heads of your +father and of Don Fernando shall answer for your compliance!" Seizing +a crystal vase of water, he filled his glass, and emptied it at a +draught; while Doña Hermosa gazed at him with a strange expression in +her eyes. "In an hour," said he, dashing the glass to pieces on the +table, "you will attend the ceremony. You shall be beside me. I will it +so!"</p> + +<p>"I will be there!" she said quietly.</p> + +<p>"Farewell!" he exclaimed, in a husky voice; and, casting another glance +at her, he left the room. The girl rose hastily, seized the vase, and +emptied its contents, murmuring: "Don Torribio! Don Torribio! thou hast +thyself told me, that between cup and lip stood death!"</p> + +<p>"Now for the finishing stroke!" said Don Pedro</p> + +<p>At a sign from his daughter, he went out upon the terrace, and placed +two stands, filled with flowers, close to the balustrade. This appeared +to be a signal; for they had hardly been moved a minute, when Manuela +hastily entered the room, saying, "He is here!"</p> + +<p>"Let him come!" said Don Pedro and his daughter.</p> + +<p>Don Estevan made his appearance.</p> + +<p>The hacendero, having charged Manuela to be on the watch, carefully +closed the doors, seated himself close to the <i>mayor domo</i>, and said in +a whisper, "What news have you brought, Estevan?"</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>The grand square of the <i>pueblo</i> presented an unusual spectacle that +day; a large stage, covered with a crimson velvet carpet, had been +erected in the centre. On the stage stood a mahogany <i>butaca</i>; another +armchair, lower and less decorated, was placed on the right, and +several forms were arranged in a semicircle behind the two seats.</p> + +<p>At twelve o'clock precisely, when the sun at its zenith was pouring +down its vertical rays, five shots, fired from a gun at regular +intervals, thundered through the <i>pueblo</i>. Instantly the different +Apache tribes, constituting the Tigercat's army, debouched by the +several approaches to the square, headed by the principal <i>sachems</i> in +their robes of ceremony.</p> + +<p>These warriors were few in number, forming an effective force of +fifteen hundred men; for, according to Indian custom, the booty, +immediately after the fall of the <i>presidio</i>, had been sent under a +strong escort to the villages, and the greater number of the redskins +had dispersed, to return to their <i>atepelts</i>. Those who stayed behind +were tried and faithful braves, devoted heart and soul to the Tigercat. +The latter, after the total defeat of the Mexicans, deemed it useless +to retain a larger force about him, particularly as the first signal +would bring back the others to his standard.</p> + +<p>As fast as the tribes reached the square, they ranged themselves in +good order on three of its sides, leaving the fourth open, which was +presently occupied by a body of two hundred <i>vaqueros</i>, who, like the +redskins, halted motionless on the spot assigned to them—with this +difference: that the Indians were on foot, and without arms, except the +<i>machetes</i> at their girdles; while the <i>vaqueros</i> were mounted, and +armed to the teeth.</p> + +<p>A very few lookers-on, English, French, or Germans, who had remained +in the town after its occupation, showed their pale and frightened +faces at the windows of the houses in the square. Indian women, +huddled together in disorder behind the warriors, stretched their heads +inquisitively over the shoulders of the latter, in order to catch a +glimpse of the proceedings. The centre of the square remained void.</p> + +<p>In front of the stage, and at the foot of a rude altar, shaped like a +table, with a deep groove in it, and surmounted by an image of the sun, +stood the great <i>amantzin</i> of the Apaches, surrounded by five sorcerers +of inferior grade. All had their arms crossed on their breasts, and +their eyes cast on the ground.</p> + +<p>When everyone had fallen into his place, five more guns were fired. +Then a brilliant cavalcade came curveting into the square. At its head +rode the Tigercat, with haughty air and fiery eye, holding in his hand +the <i>totem</i>, and having on his right Don Torribio, who carried the +sacred calumet. Behind followed Don Pedro, his daughter, and several of +the principal townspeople.</p> + +<p>The Tigercat dismounted, ascended the stage, and placed himself in +front of the principal seat, but did not sit down. Don Torribio, having +assisted Doña Hermosa from her horse, took his place before the second +chair. The features of the former, usually so pale, were now inflamed, +and his hollow eyes seemed red with incessant vigils. He ceaselessly +wiped the moisture from his brow, and appeared a prey to agitating +emotions, which would break forth in spite of his efforts to control +them.</p> + +<p>Doña Hermosa had placed herself behind her father, at a short distance +from the stage. She, too, seemed to suffer from secret agitation. She +was pale, her lips were contracted, and occasionally a nervous tremor +made her limbs tremble, and a feverish flush passed over her face, +which, however, soon resumed its former pallor. She kept her eyes +resolutely fixed on Don Torribio.</p> + +<p>The Apache <i>sachems</i> grouped themselves at the foot of the platform, +which they surrounded completely.</p> + +<p>A third time the cannon roared. Then the sorcerers stepped to one side, +disclosing to the view a man firmly bound, who lay on the ground in the +midst of them.</p> + +<p>The <i>amantzin</i> addressed the multitude: "Listen to me, all you who +hear me. You know why we are here assembled: our great father, the +Sun, has smiled at our success. The Wacondah has fought on our side, +according to the promise of our illustrious chief. This <i>atepelt</i> is +now ours. The chief elected by ourselves to command and defend us is +the Tigercat. In his name and our own we now offer to the Master of +life the sacrifice most agreeable to him, in order that he may still +continue his almighty protection. Sorcerers, bring hither the victim!"</p> + +<p>The <i>amantzins</i> seized the unhappy wretch they guarded, and laid him +upon the altar. He was a Mexican, taken prisoner at the capture of the +old <i>presidio</i>. The pulquero, in whose house one of the first scenes of +this story was laid, had, from avarice, refused to quit his miserable +<i>pulquería</i>, and had fallen into the hands of the redskins.</p> + +<p>In the meantime, Don Torribio felt his strength gradually deserting +him. His eyes grew more bloodshot, his ears were stunned, his temples +throbbed violently, and he was obliged to support himself by one of the +arms of his seat.</p> + +<p>"What ails you?" said Doña Hermosa.</p> + +<p>"I know not," he replied; "the heat—agitation, perhaps: I am choking. +But it is nothing."</p> + +<p>The <i>pulquero</i>, extended on the altar, had been stripped of his +garments. The wretch uttered shouts of terror. The <i>amantzin</i> +approached him, brandishing his knife.</p> + +<p>"It is horrible," cried Doña Hermosa, hiding her face in her hands.</p> + +<p>"Silence!" said Don Torribio; "the sacrifice must be completed."</p> + +<p>The sorcerer, heedless of the cries of the victim coolly examined him +to find the right place for the blow; while the miserable prisoner, +with eyes unnaturally distended, gazed at him with an expression of +fear impossible to describe. Suddenly the <i>amantzin</i> raised the knife, +and, thrusting it into the chest of his victim, laid it open the whole +length of the ribs. The wretched man uttered a horrible cry. Then +the sorcerer plunged his hand into the gaping breast of the victim, +and tore out the palpitating heart; while his assistants carefully +collected the blood that was flowing in torrents. The sufferer writhed +in agony, still making superhuman efforts to break his bonds.</p> + +<p>While this was doing, the <i>sachems</i> in a body ascended the stage, and +seating the Tigercat on the <i>butaca</i>, raised him on their shoulders, +shouting enthusiastically "Long live the conqueror of the palefaces, +the great <i>sachem</i> of the Apaches!"</p> + +<p>The sorcerers meanwhile sprinkled the crowd with the blood of the +sacrifice; and the redskins, frenzied with excitement, rent the air +with deafening clamour.</p> + +<p>"At last," said the Tigercat proudly, "I have kept my promise: I have +driven the palefaces from this country for ever."</p> + +<p>"Not yet," exclaimed Don Pedro, in cutting tones; "look hither."</p> + +<p>A sudden change had indeed come over the scene. The <i>vaqueros</i>, up to +this time impassive spectators, suddenly charged, the unarmed Indians: +Mexican troops fell upon them from all the entrances to the square: and +all the windows were manned by whites armed with muskets, who poured +down a pitiless fire on the redskins.</p> + +<p>In the centre of the square were Don Fernando Carril, Luciano Pedralva, +and Don Estevan, who mercilessly rode in upon the Indians, shouting: +"Down with them! Down with them! Slay! Slay!"</p> + +<p>"<i>¡Caray!</i>" exclaimed Don Torribio, waving the <i>totem;</i> "What horrible +treachery is this?" He rushed forward to fly to the side of the +redskins; but he tottered—a dark veil obstructed his sight—and he +sank on his knees. "God!" cried he, "What has happened to me?"</p> + +<p>"You are dying," whispered Don Estevan in his ear; "that is what is +happening." And he seized him fiercely by the arm.</p> + +<p>"You lie, dog!" said Don Torribio, trying to release himself. "I will +go and help my brothers."</p> + +<p>"Your brothers are slain, as you intended to have slain tomorrow Don +Pedro, Doña Hermosa, Don Fernando, and myself. Die, wretch, with rage +at seeing your treachery meet its reward! I have given you <i>leche de +palio</i><a name="FNanchor_1_4" id="FNanchor_1_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_4" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> to drink; you are poisoned."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said he despairingly, and dragging himself on his knees to the +edge of the platform; "Woe to me; woe; God is just."</p> + +<p>In the square the Mexicans were making a horrible carnage. "Remember +Don José de Kalbris," they cried; "revenge Major Barnum!"</p> + +<p>It was no battle; it was a fearful butchery. Several of the chiefs, +flying before Don Fernando, Luciano, and Don Estevan, threw themselves +upon the stage as a last place of refuge.</p> + +<p>"Ha!" shouted Don Torribio, with a bound like a jaguar, seizing Don +Fernando by the throat; "At least I shall not die unavenged." A moment +of terrible anxiety ensued. "No," he continued, quitting his grasp on +his foe, and falling backwards, "it would be the act of a coward. My +life belongs to this man; he won it from me."</p> + +<p>The bystanders could not repress a cry of admiration. Don Fernando +coolly raised his rifle to his shoulder, and discharged its contents +point-blank into the breast of the man stretched at his feet.</p> + +<p>"Thus perish all traitors!" he cried.</p> + +<p>"Great God!" freely exclaimed Don Torribio, by a supreme effort rising +to his knees, and looking up to heaven with an expression of sublime +hope irradiating his features,—"Great God, I thank Thee! Thou hast +forgiven me!" One last smile of unutterable happiness glided over his +face; he fell back and expired.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Doña Hermosa had disappeared. When the Tigercat, who had been +fighting like a lion in the midst of the fray, perceived that all was +lost, and nothing but flight could save him from the fate to which the +Mexicans had doomed him, should he fall into their hands, he rallied +around him a handful of his bravest warriors, seized Doña Hermosa, +regardless of her cries and prayers, threw her across his saddle, +spurred his horse into the thickest of the <i>mêlée</i>, cut his passage +through, and, followed by his faithful braves, succeeded in getting out +of the town and gaining the prairie.</p> + +<p>It was too late for pursuit when the Mexicans became aware of his +flight; the old freebooter was already beyond their reach, carrying his +prey with him, like an eagle bearing a lamb in his talons.</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> Literally, milk from a pall; poison.</p></div> + + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV.</a></h4> + +<h3>ONE MONTH LATER.</h3> +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p>It was about four o'clock in the afternoon. The rays of the sun, +falling more and more obliquely, were gradually lengthening the shadows +of the trees; the birds were flying to their roosts, and nestling as +they could under the foliage, with deafening cries and pipings. A +few bands of prairie wolves were showing themselves here and there, +snuffing the breeze, and preparing for their nocturnal chase among the +tall grasses. At intervals, the lofty antlers of elks and antelopes +were suddenly rising from amidst the herbage, the animals quickly +throwing back their heads, and commencing a giddy flight into the +distance. The sun, close on the verge of the horizon, looked like a +globe of red fire behind the trunks of the stately trees. Everything +announced the rapid approach of night.</p> + +<p>In the virgin forest, about two hundred miles from the <i>presidio</i> of +San Lucar, where the last terrible episodes of our story occurred, and +in the centre of a vast clearing, two men, habited like the Mexican +<i>gambucinos</i>, were sitting on buffalo skulls, beside a clear fire which +gave forth no smoke. They were Don Estevan Diaz the <i>mayor domo</i>, and +Luciano Pedralva the <i>capataz</i>. They held their rifles across their +knees, ready for an emergency, and smoked their maize <i>pajillos</i> in +silence. Several <i>peones</i> and <i>arrieros</i> were lying about a few paces +off, and baggage mules were greedily munching the rations of Indian +corn laid on mats before them. Eight or ten horses were tethered, to +prevent their straying, close to a <i>jacal</i> (hut) of branches, the +entrance to which was closed with a <i>zarapé</i>. A <i>peon</i>, standing +motionless with cocked rifle on the borders of a little brook which +meandered round the extremity of the clearing, watched over the common +safety.</p> + +<p>It was easy to perceive, from the fragments of all sorts which littered +the ground, whence every vestige of grass had disappeared, and from +the quarters of venison suspended from the boughs of a mahogany tree, +that the encampment we have described was not one of those temporary +resting places which the backwoodsmen choose for a night and quit at +sunrise, but one of those more substantial camps which the hunters +often establish as places of rendezvous for the trapping season.</p> + +<p>The <i>zarapé</i> at the entrance to the <i>jacal</i> was lifted, and Don +Pedro made his appearance on the scene. His features were pale, his +expression was sad and pensive. He looked carefully around, went up to +the two men seated by the fire, and spoke: "No news as yet?"</p> + +<p>"None whatever," replied Don Estevan.</p> + +<p>"This absence is incomprehensible; Don Fernando has never before stayed +away from us so long."</p> + +<p>"True," said the <i>capataz;</i> "it is more than thirty hours since he left +us. Pray God, no misfortune may have happened."</p> + +<p>"No," answered Don Estevan; "Don Fernando is too well acquainted with +the desert to incur much danger."</p> + +<p>"But think whereabouts we are," put in Don Pedro; "the country round +about is infested by the most dangerous serpents; wild beasts swarm in +every place."</p> + +<p>"What does that matter, Don Pedro?" boldly answered Don Estevan; "You +forget that Don Fernando and Stoneheart are one and the same; that in +this region the greater part of his life was spent; that it is here, +for long years, he was a bee-hunter, and gathered the cascarilla bark."</p> + +<p>"But how do you explain his protracted absence?"</p> + +<p>"You recollect, Don Pedro, with what disinterestedness our friend +offered us his cooperation when, in despair at the sudden disappearance +of Doña Hermosa, mad with grief, and impotent to act, we knew not +what step to take to recover the lost one. We have been led from the +<i>presidio</i> to this spot, following a trail invisible to all eyes save +Don Fernando's, who, accustomed to reap the sublime lines of the +wilderness, recognised it with singular ease and exactitude. The trail +has suddenly vanished here—vanished in spite of the most minute and +patient research. We have been eight days encamped in this place; and +every morning, at sunrise, Don Fernando—whom obstacles seem to excite, +rather than subdue—mounts and begins his search afresh. Hitherto his +labour has been in vain. Yesterday he left us, as usual, at daybreak. +Well, suppose the reason of his protracted absence, which makes you so +restless, should be the finding, at some spot leagues away perchance, +the signs we have sought for so long and unavailing?"</p> + +<p>"God grant it, my good friend! Your idea glads my heart. But what +traces could we find, after the painful exertions we have already made?"</p> + +<p>"You forget, Don Pedro, that we have to deal with the Apaches, the most +astute savages in the wilderness, the most acute of all the redskins +in hiding their trail."</p> + +<p>"Holloa!" exclaimed the <i>capataz;</i> "I hear the tread of a horse."</p> + +<p>"Is it possible?" said Don Pedro joyfully.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Don Estevan; "I, too, hear a noise, but it is not the sound +of one horse; there are two or three."</p> + +<p>"Yet Don Fernando left the camp alone."</p> + +<p>"He has probably encountered someone on the road," replied Don Estevan, +laughing.</p> + +<p>"You are wrong to joke with us in our circumstances; it is almost an +insult to my sorrow."</p> + +<p>"Heaven preserve me from such an intention, Don Pedro! The sound is +coming nearer. We shall soon see what we have to do. I should not be at +all surprised if Don Fernando has laid hands upon some Indian marauder, +at the very moment when, concealed by the underwood, he was watching +our camp, and spying out our movements."</p> + +<p>"<i>¡Canarios!</i> It is he himself!" cried the <i>capataz</i>.</p> + +<p>In fact, the clear and sonorous voice of Don Fernando replied to the +challenge of the sentry, and two horsemen pushed through the thick +underwood which surrounded the clearing and formed a kind of natural +rampart.</p> + +<p>Don Fernando brought with him a man whom he had firmly bound to a +horse to prevent his escape. As to the prisoner, he seemed to bear his +capture lightly. He swayed himself comfortably in his saddle, comported +himself with an air of assurance, and looked altogether as impudent as +possible. On reaching the fire, where our personages were assembled, he +saluted them with a grimace, unabashed by the looks of the standers-by.</p> + +<p>He was no other than our friend Tonillo el Zapote, whom we have +presented to our readers on several occasions.</p> + +<p>Don Fernando was very warmly and heartily greeted. His friends burnt +with impatience to question him; and their curiosity was the more +excited, as the frank and almost joyful expression of his features +led them to suppose he was the bearer of good news. Don Fernando +dismounted, embraced his friends, and unbuckled the girth which +strapped the prisoner's legs under the belly of his horse, thus giving +him the use of his limbs.</p> + +<p>"Good," said the <i>vaquero</i>, "many thanks, Don Fernando. I have had +quite enough of it. My legs are tingling as if a million of pins were +stuck in them." He sprang to the ground; but he had spoken truly; his +benumbed limbs could not support the weight of his body, and he fell +heavily. The <i>capataz</i> hastened to raise him. "It is a mere nothing," +said the <i>vaquero</i>, honouring him with a gracious smile; "yet I thank +you, caballero. In five minutes the circulation will be restored, and +no harm done. But if it is the same to you, Don Fernando, pray do not +pull the buckle so tight another time."</p> + +<p>"It will depend upon yourself, Zapote. Swear you will make no attempt +at escape, and I will set you free."</p> + +<p>"If that is all," cried the <i>vaquero</i>, gaily, "we shall soon strike a +bargain. I swear, by all my hopes of Paradise, not to slip away."</p> + +<p>"Enough! I will trust you."</p> + +<p>"An honest man sticks to his word," answered El Zapote; "you will have +no cause of complaint against me. I am the bond-slave of my word."</p> + +<p>"It will be all the better for you if that is the truth. But I am +doubtful about it, particularly after your late conduct towards me, in +spite of the protestations and offers of service you made me."</p> + +<p>The <i>vaquero</i> showed no signs of embarrassment at this straightforward +thrust. "Men endowed with certain good qualities are sure to be +misunderstood," he replied in a wheedling tone; "I never broke the +promise I made you."</p> + +<p>"Not when, after introducing Indians and other rascals of your own kind +into the <i>presidio</i>, you laid an infamous snare for me, and led me into +an ambuscade?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, Señor Don Fernando; I was faithful even under the circumstances +you mention."</p> + +<p>"<i>¡Rayo de Dios!</i>" impatiently exclaimed the latter; "I should be glad +to learn how you can prove your fidelity there."</p> + +<p>"Good Heavens, señor! I was faithful after my own fashion."</p> + +<p>This answer was so extraordinary and unexpected, that the bystanders +could not refrain from laughing. El Zapote bowed gravely, with the +proud humility common to men of doubtful talent, who in their inmost +soul consider themselves unappreciated geniuses.</p> + +<p>"After all," said Don Fernando, carelessly shrugging his shoulders, "we +shall soon see. I know pretty well the extent of this elastic fidelity."</p> + +<p>El Zapote returned no answer; he merely raised his eyes to heaven, as +if to invoke it as a witness of the injustice done to him, and crossed +his arms on his breast.</p> + +<p>"Before telling you anything, let me have something to eat," said Don +Fernando, "I am fainting from inanition; I have neither eaten or drank +since I left the camp."</p> + +<p>Don Estevan hastened to place provisions before him, to which he +and his prisoner did great honour. However, the meal was short. Don +Fernando's appetite was soon appeased; he gave a sigh of satisfaction, +after slaking his thirst in the limpid brook, came and sat down beside +the others, and, without putting their curiosity to further torture, +began to explain the causes of his prolonged absence in all their +details. Don Estevan had judged correctly; Don Fernando had really +discovered the trail so long fruitlessly sought for. The trail took a +south-west direction, towards the most unexplored regions of the Far +West. He had followed it with a trapper's indomitable patience for +several hours, in order to be well assured that it was the true trail, +and not an Indian artifice to turn his steps astray.</p> + +<p>The redskins, when they fear pursuit, and cannot hide their trail, +entangle so skilfully the many tracks they purposely make, and throw +them all into such hopeless confusion, that it is generally impossible +to distinguish the right one. On this occasion they had used a similar +artifice with such dexterity and success, that they would have managed +to outwit and lead astray any hunter less adroit than Stoneheart. But +he, accustomed from childhood to their wiles, did not suffer himself +to be hoodwinked, particularly as he thought he had recognised some +peculiar signs, which would have escaped the observation of a less +experienced woodman. Don Fernando, delighted with his discovery, had +rapidly commenced his return to the camp, without neglecting any of the +prudential measures requisite in a country where every bush may conceal +a foe, when it struck him that the grass in a certain spot was waving +in a manner not wholly natural. He dropped quietly from his horse, and, +without other arms than the knife he carried in an iron ring at his +girdle, and a pistol, crept towards the suspected spot, crawling on +hands and knees with the speed and silence of a snake gliding through +grass.</p> + +<p>After a quarter of an hour's work, he reached the place, and with +difficulty repressed a cry of joy on seeing El Zapote comfortably +seated on the ground, the bridle of his horse passed over his left arm, +and finishing a copious meal.</p> + +<p>Don Fernando drew a few paces nearer, in order to be sure of his man; +then, having carefully measured the distance, with a spring like a +jaguar he seized the <i>vaquero</i> by the throat, and had him bound beyond +the possibility of resistance before El Zapote had recovered from his +astonishment. "Aha!" said he, seating himself beside his prisoner, +"what a singular chance! How are you, Zapote?"</p> + +<p>"You are very kind, caballero; I cough a little." And he put his hand +to his threat.</p> + +<p>"Poor fellow! I hope it is of no consequence."</p> + +<p>"I hope, too, that no evil consequences may ensue, señor; nevertheless, +I am not quite easy about it."</p> + +<p>"Pooh! Cast aside your anxiety. I will cure you."</p> + +<p>"Do you know a remedy, caballero?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; an excellent one, which I propose to apply to you."</p> + +<p>"A thousand thanks, señor! But perhaps that would give you too much +trouble?"</p> + +<p>"None in the world. Judge for yourself. I propose to knock out your +brains with the butt end of a pistol."</p> + +<p>The <i>vaquero</i> shuddered when the words were uttered; but he would not +give in. "You really think that remedy would cure me?" said he.</p> + +<p>"Radically, I am convinced."</p> + +<p>"It may seem very odd, caballero; but, with all due deference, I am +obliged to observe, that I am of a totally different opinion."</p> + +<p>"You are wrong," replied Don Fernando, coolly cocking a pistol; "you +will soon find how efficacious it is."</p> + +<p>"And you really think, señor, there is no other remedy?"</p> + +<p>"By my faith, I see no other."</p> + +<p>"But it seems to me a little too violent."</p> + +<p>"You only think so. I tell you again, you are Wrong."</p> + +<p>"Possibly so. I would not take the liberty of contradicting you, +caballero. Have you any great wish to administer the remedy on this +particular spot?"</p> + +<p>"I? Not at all! Do you know any more fitting place?"</p> + +<p>"I think I do, señor."</p> + +<p>"And whereabouts is the place, comrade?"</p> + +<p>"Good heavens! caballero, I may be mistaken; but still, I think it +would be a pity so marvellous a secret as this remedy should be lost, +for want of an eyewitness to its efficacy. Consequently, I wish you to +take me where we can find one."</p> + +<p>"Very well! I suppose you know of such a place, not very far hence?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, caballero; I even fancy you would be charmed to see those to whom +I wish to present you."</p> + +<p>"That depends upon who they are."</p> + +<p>"You know them very well, señor: one of them is the Tigercat—a most +amiable caballero."</p> + +<p>"And you will undertake to lead me to him?"</p> + +<p>"Whenever you please: this very instant if you like."</p> + +<p>Don Fernando replaced the pistol in his belt. "Not directly. No," he +said; "we must first report ourselves at the camp, where my friends +expect me. I find you are not quite so ill as I thought; and I need not +administer my remedy just now. We can always fall back upon it some +other time, if it is necessary."</p> + +<p>"I can assure you, there is no hurry at all," replied the <i>vaquero</i>, +trying an engaging smile.</p> + +<p>Thus the business was concluded between the two men, who, knowing each +other for a long time were perfectly aware of what each could expect +from the other. Don Fernando put no faith in Tonillo; so he took +good care to remove all temptation to stray from his side, by leaving +him bound as he was—a proceeding against which the <i>vaquero</i> did not +remonstrate.</p> + +<p>But as night had fallen while they were talking, they made such +arrangements as they could for sleeping where they were, giving up all +idea of rejoining the camp until the morrow. Two or three times in the +course of the night the <i>vaquero</i> surreptitiously tried to free himself +from the bonds in which he lay; but each time he endeavoured to put his +project into execution, he saw the large blue eyes of the hunter fixed +steadfastly upon him.</p> + +<p>"Do you still feel indisposed?" he asked, the last time the prisoner +made his attempt.</p> + +<p>"Not at all!" replied the <i>vaquero</i> hastily; "Not at all."</p> + +<p>"I am glad to hear it; but," added he slowly, and emphatically, "your +inability to sleep made me anxious about you."</p> + +<p>The <i>vaquero</i> took the hint, shut his eyes without another word, and +did not open them again till daylight.</p> + +<p>Don Fernando was already alert, and had saddled the horses. "Aha! Awake +at last?" said he.</p> + +<p>"Have you slept well?"</p> + +<p>"Capitally; only I feel a little numb. Gentle exercise would soon +restore the circulation."</p> + +<p>"The effects of the dew," said the hunter imperturbably; "the nights +are cold."</p> + +<p>"The devil!" said the <i>vaquero</i>, grinning. "I hope I shall not catch +the rheumatism."</p> + +<p>"I think not. The ride will do you good."</p> + +<p>While he said this, Don Fernando had hoisted his companion on his +shoulders, and thrown him across one of the horses. But on second +thoughts, he freed his legs, and set him upright in the saddle; +reflecting that useless cruelty would only harden the man against +him, who could give such precious information when the proper moment +arrived. The <i>vaquero</i>, who feared he was about to make the journey +slung over the horse like a bale of merchandise, felt grateful for the +half-liberty allowed him, and made no objection when Don Fernando took +the precaution of buckling his legs together under his horse's belly.</p> + +<p>In this manner the two men rode to the camp, talking on different +matters, and apparently the best friends in the world.</p> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI.</a></h4> + +<h3>PREPARATIONS FOR THE CHASE.</h3> +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p>All the time Don Fernando was telling his story, El Zapote had assumed +the <i>nonchalant</i> attitude of a man perfectly satisfied with himself; +nodding his head affirmatively at certain passages, and smiling at +others with an air of modest gratification. When the former ceased +speaking, he thought it time to put in his word also.</p> + +<p>"You see, señores, I made no objection whatever to following this +estimable caballero; which means to say, that I am ready to obey all +commands you may please to lay on me."</p> + +<p>"Here is a compliment," said Don Fernando, with a malicious smile, +"which would evidently have been addressed to others, but for the +surprise of yesterday!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, fie, caballero!" retorted the <i>vaquero</i>, assuming a look of +indignant denial.</p> + +<p>"But," continued Stoneheart, "I will not vex you on that score; your +secret feelings towards me affect me in nowise. I thought I had given +you ample proof a long while ago how little I dread you in any way. I +will content myself with remarking, that, more generous than you, I +have several times held your life in my hands, and never abused the +power."</p> + +<p>"On that account I am deeply grateful to you, señor."</p> + +<p>"Pooh, pooh, Señor Zapote!" replied Stoneheart, shrugging his +shoulders; "You have quite mistaken your man. I have no more belief in +your gratitude than in your good feelings towards me, and I have only +refreshed your memory in this respect to induce you to reflect that, if +I have hitherto condescended to pardon you, the amount of courtesy I +could afford to expend on you is at length exhausted, and on the next +occasion matters will end very differently between us."</p> + +<p>"I perfectly understand your meaning, señor; but, please God, such an +occasion, I am quite sure, will never present itself. I repeat, once +for all, that I have given you my word, and, you know, an honest man +sticks—"</p> + +<p>"No more!" broke in Stoneheart. "I wish it may be so, for your own +sake. However that may be, listen attentively."</p> + +<p>"I am all ears, señor; I will not lose a word."</p> + +<p>"Although I am still young, Señor Tonillo, I know one important truth +not very creditable to humanity. If one wishes to attract a man, and +insure his fidelity, one must not attempt to act upon his virtues, but +make sure of him through his vices. You are more richly endowed with +these last than most men I know."</p> + +<p>The <i>vaquero</i> made a modest bow in acknowledgment of the compliment. +"Señor," he said, "you cover me with confusion; such praise—"</p> + +<p>"Is richly deserved," continued Stoneheart. "I have seen few men in +possession of such a formidable assortment of vices as you, my friend. +Yours are so many, that I was at a loss which to select. But among +these vices are a few more prominent than the rest: for instance, your +avarice has acquired a prodigious development; I am going to appeal to +your avarice."</p> + +<p>The <i>vaquero's</i> eyes sparkled with greed. "What do you want me to do?" +said he.</p> + +<p>"First, let me tell you what I will give you; after that, I will +explain what I require."</p> + +<p>The leering, cunning face of the bandit instantly grew serious; and, +leaning his elbows on his knees, he stretched out his head to listen to +Stoneheart's words.</p> + +<p>"You know I am rich, and can have no doubt that I am able to fulfil +any engagement with you into which I may enter. However, to save time, +and deprive you of any pretext to betray me, I will immediately place +in your hands three diamonds, each worth two thousand five hundred +piastres You are so well acquainted with precious stones, that a single +glance will convince you of their value. These diamonds are yours. I +make you a present of them. Nevertheless, if you prefer it, I engage to +pay you what they are worth; that is to say, to forward seven thousand +five hundred piastres on your first demand, after our return to San +Lucar, in exchange for the jewels."</p> + +<p>"And you have got the diamonds about you?" said the <i>vaquero</i>, in a +voice half stifled with emotion.</p> + +<p>"Here they are!" replied Stoneheart, drawing from his bosom a small +deerskin bag, and taking out three good-sized jewels, which he placed +in the <i>vaquero's</i> hands.</p> + +<p>The latter clutched them with a glee he did not attempt to conceal, +looked at them for a moment with eyes sparkling with triumph, and hid +them carefully in his bosom.</p> + +<p>"Wait a moment!" said Stoneheart, with a curious smile; "I have not yet +told you the conditions."</p> + +<p>"Whatever they may be, I accept them, señor. <i>¡Caspita!</i> seven +thousand five hundred piastres! It is a fortune to a poor devil like +me! No <i>navajada</i> will ever bring me in as much, however well they pay +me!"</p> + +<p>"Then you want no time for consideration?"</p> + +<p>"<i>¡Canarios!</i> I should think not! Whom am I to kill?"</p> + +<p>"No one," briefly answered Stoneheart. "Listen to me: all you have to +do is to lead me to the place where the Tigercat has taken refuge."</p> + +<p>The <i>vaquero</i> shook his head discontentedly at this proposal. "I cannot +do it, caballero. By all my hopes hereafter, it is impossible!"</p> + +<p>"Very well," said Stoneheart. "I forgot to mention another little +thing."</p> + +<p>"What is it, señor?" asked the <i>vaquero</i>, in great trouble at the turn +the conversation was taking.</p> + +<p>"A very trifling matter. If you do not accept my proposal, I will +instantly blow out your brains."</p> + +<p>El Zapote examined the speaker's face most carefully; with a rascal's +intuitive perception, he felt that the time for pleasantry was over, +and matters were threatening to become serious. "At least give me leave +to explain, señor," said he.</p> + +<p>"I ask no better," said Stoneheart coldly. "I am in no hurry."</p> + +<p>"I cannot lead you to the Tigercat's hiding place—I swear so; but I +can direct you to it, and tell you its name."</p> + +<p>"That is something. Go on; we have already made some progress. I see +we shall come to an understanding. I am in despair at finding myself +obliged to use extreme measures; it is so disagreeable."</p> + +<p>"Unhappily, señor, I have told you all. This is what happened: the +Tigercat, after his flight from the <i>presidio</i>, collected some score +of resolute men, of whom I was one, who comprehended that for some +time to come the Mexican Confederation would be too hot to hold them, +and resolved to plunge into the wilderness, in order to give the storm +time to blow over. All went well for a little while, when the Tigercat +suddenly changed his route; and, instead of leading us to overrun the +country of the Apaches, took us to the district of the bee-hunters and +cascarilla gatherers."</p> + +<p>"He has done that?" exclaimed Stoneheart, starting with surprise and +terror.</p> + +<p>"Yes, señor. You can understand how little I cared for a game of +life and death, in regions infested by the fiercest beasts of prey, +and, worse than that, by serpents whose bite is mortal. Seeing that +the Tigercat was seriously bent upon taking refuge in this horrible +country, I confess, señor, I got terribly frightened; and at the risk +of dying with hunger, or being scalped by the redskins in the desert, I +quietly dropped to the rear, and profited by the first opportunity to +give the Tigercat the slip."</p> + +<p>Stoneheart fixed on the <i>vaquero</i> a gaze which seemed to search his +inmost soul; the latter bore it manfully.</p> + +<p>"It is well," he said, "I see you have not lied. How long is it since +you left the Tigercat?"</p> + +<p>"Only four days, señor. As I do not know this part of the wilderness, I +was wandering about at a venture, when I had the good fortune to fall +in with you."</p> + +<p>"Indeed! Now, what is the name of the place to which the Tigercat +intended to lead you?"</p> + +<p>"El Voladero de las Ánimas," answered the <i>vaquero</i>, without hesitation.</p> + +<p>Stoneheart instantly grew pale as death at this information; and yet he +had almost expected it, from the cruel and implacable character of his +former teacher.</p> + +<p>"Alas!" cried he; "The unfortunate girl is lost! This wretch has +carried her into a very nest of serpents!"</p> + +<p>The bystanders were dreadfully agitated.</p> + +<p>"What is this horrible place?" said Don Pedro.</p> + +<p>"Alas! El Voladero de las Ánimas is an accursed region, into which +the hardiest bee-hunters and boldest <i>cascarilleros</i> scarcely dare to +enter. The Voladero is a lofty mountain, which frowns over an immense +expanse of swamps swarming with cobras, coral snakes, and others, whose +slightest bite kills the strongest man in ten minutes. For ten leagues +around this dread mountain, the country is alive with reptiles and +venomous insects, against which how shall man defend himself!"</p> + +<p>"Great God!" cried Don Pedro, in despair; "And it is to this hell they +have carried my darling child!"</p> + +<p>"Calm yourself," said Stoneheart, who perceived the necessity of +restoring a little courage to the poor father; "the Tigercat knows +this accursed place too well to enter it without taking the needful +precautions. The swamps alone are to be dreaded; the Voladero is free +from these noxious animals; the air is too pure, and its elevation too +great for them to live there. Not one attempts to scale it. Courage, +then! If your daughter, as I hope, has reached the Voladero alive, she +is in safety."</p> + +<p>"But, alas!" replied Don Pedro, "How are we to cross this impassable +barrier; how reach my daughter, without encountering certain death?"</p> + +<p>An indefinable smile illumined the features of Don Fernando. "I will +reach her, Don Pedro," he exclaimed, in firm and resolute tones. "Have +you forgotten that I am Stoneheart, the most renowned bee-hunter of the +prairies? The Tigercat confided all his secrets to me when we were not +only bee-hunters but <i>cascarilleros</i>. Courage, I say; all is not yet +lost."</p> + +<p>If a man who is struck down with some dire and and unexpected calamity +has a friend beside him, whose stout heart and cheering words bid him +hope, his prostrate courage revives, however faint and problematical +the hope may be, and, confiding in the prospect held out to him, he +gathers fresh energy for the approaching struggle. This was exactly +what happened to Don Pedro. The speech of Stoneheart, who, for weeks +past, had worked hard for him,—whom he had learned to love, and in +whom he had entire confidence,—revived his hope and courage as if by +magic.</p> + +<p>"And now," said Stoneheart, addressing the <i>vaquero</i>, "tell me how the +Tigercat treated his prisoners. You remained with him long enough to +give me reliable information on this point."</p> + +<p>"As far as that goes, señor, I can answer without hesitation, that his +attention to the señorita's welfare was unceasing; he watched over +her with anxious care, often shortening the day's march for fear of +overtiring her."</p> + +<p>His hearers breathed more freely. This solicitude on the part of one +who respected neither God nor man seemed to indicate better intentions +than they had a right to expect.</p> + +<p>Stoneheart continued his interrogations. "Do you know the nature of the +Tigercat's conversations with Doña Hermosa?"</p> + +<p>"I overheard one, señor. The poor señorita was very sad: she dared not +weep openly, for fear of offending the chief; but her eyes were always +filled with tears, and her breast heaved with stifled sobs. One day, +during a halt, she was sitting apart at the foot of a tree, her eyes +fixed on the road we had just travelled, and large tears coursing down +her cheeks. The Tigercat advanced towards her, looked at her for a +moment with mingled pity and displeasure, and addressed her in nearly +the following words: 'Child, it is useless to look back; those you +expect will not come. No one shall tear you from my hands till the time +comes when I shall think fit to restore you to freedom. To you alone +I owe the ruin of my projects, and the massacre of my friends at San +Lucar. I know it well. Therefore I carried you off, for vengeance' +sake. But this I will tell you, for your consolation and encouragement: +my revenge shall not be harsh; within a month I will give you to him +you love.' The señorita looked at him incredulously; he perceived it, +and continued, in a tone of implacable malice: 'My most earnest wish +is to see you some day the bride of Don Fernando Carril: I have never +lost sight of this. Take courage, then; dry those useless tears, which +only disfigure you,—for I swear to you I will carry out my resolve, +the very day and hour I have appointed.' Having said this, he left +her, without waiting for the answer Doña Hermosa was about to make. +I happened to be lying on the grass, a few paces from the lady. The +Tigercat either did not notice me, or thought me asleep. That is how +I overheard their conversation. To the best of my belief, that is the +only time the chief ever conversed with his prisoner, although he +continued to treat her well."</p> + +<p>When the <i>vaquero</i> ceased, a long silence ensued, caused by the +strangeness of this revelation. Stoneheart racked his brains in vain +endeavours to discover a motive for the Tigercat's conduct. He recalled +the words the chief had once uttered in his presence,—words which +agreed with what he had just heard; for even at that time the old man +seemed to take delight in the project. But Stoneheart vainly tried to +find a solution to the question, why he should act thus.</p> + +<p>In the meanwhile the sun had gone down, and night set in with the +rapidity peculiar to intertropical climates, in which there is no +twilight. It was one of those delicious nights of Southern America +which are replete with sweet odours and airy melody. The dark blue sky +was enamelled with a countless number of golden stars. The moon, now +at the full, showered down a flood of soft and glorious light; and the +transparent atmosphere made distant objects seem close at hand. The +night wind tempered the oppressive heat of the day; and the men seated +in front of the <i>jacal</i> inhaled with delight the refreshing breeze that +whispered among the foliage, surrendering themselves to the influence +of the night, which stole upon them with all its seductive languor.</p> + +<p>When Don Pedro and his two confidential agents first set out on their +search for Doña Hermosa, under the auspices of Stoneheart, Ña Manuela, +that devoted pure-hearted woman, refused to leave her master and her +son. She had loudly claimed her share in the risks and perils they +were about to encounter, asserting her right to accompany them in +her quality of Doña Hermosa's nurse. The good woman had persisted +so obstinately, that Don Pedro and Don Estevan, touched by her +self-abnegation, could no longer resist her entreaties, and she had +come with them. Ña Manuela had charge of the commissariat of the camp. +As soon as night had completely closed in, she issued from the <i>jacal</i>, +bearing refreshments, which she distributed with strict impartiality to +all present, master and man. Unseen, the worthy woman had listened to +the queries put to the <i>vaquero</i>. Her heart failed her at El Zapote's +story; but she dissembled her grief, for fear of augmenting Don Pedro's +anguish; and she appeared amongst the travellers with dry eyes and a +smiling countenance.</p> + +<p>However, time passed on; the hour for rest had come; one after another +the <i>peones</i> rolled themselves in their <i>zarapés</i>, and slumbered +peacefully, with the exception of the sentries posted to watch over +the safety of the camp. Stoneheart, plunged in deep meditation, was +reclining, with his head supported by his right arm; his companions +now and then exchanged a few words, uttered in a low tone, that they +might not disturb him. The <i>vaquero</i>, with characteristic carelessness, +stretched himself out on the ground, indifferent to what was passing +around him. His eyelids grew heavy; he was already in a state of +semi—somnolence, when he was thoroughly roused to consciousness by +Don Fernando, who shook him rudely.</p> + +<p>"Holloa, señor! What is the matter?" said he, sitting up, and rubbing +his eyes.</p> + +<p>"Is it possible to trust you?"</p> + +<p>"A question you asked once before, señor. I replied, 'Yes, if you pay +me well.' Now, you have paid me royally. There was but one man in the +world to whom I could attach myself sooner than to you—Don Torribio +Quiroga. He is dead; you take his place. No dog would obey your +slightest sign more faithfully than I."</p> + +<p>"I am not now going to put your new fledged fidelity to any rude proof; +I shall content myself with leaving you here. But remember to deal +frankly with me, and without reservation; for as surely as I have not +hesitated to pay you in advance in the bargain I have concluded with +you, so surely will I not hesitate to kill you on the spot if you +betray me. And take this to your soul: if you deceive me, no hiding +place, however secret or remote, shall save you from my vengeance."</p> + +<p>The <i>vaquero</i> bent his head, and answered unhesitatingly: "Señor Don +Fernando, I swear, by the Cross of our Lord, who died for the remission +of our sins, that I will be faithful to you unto the death."</p> + +<p>"Good," said Stoneheart; "I believe you, Zapote. Sleep now, if you are +able."</p> + +<p>The <i>vaquero</i> did not wait for a repetition of the words, but rolled +over, and was soon fast asleep.</p> + +<p>"Señores," said Stoneheart, turning to his friends, "it is time for +you to rest. As for me, I must watch a while. Be of good courage, Don +Pedro; our position is far from desperate. The more I reflect, the +surer I am we shall tear from the Tigercat the prey he holds in his +grasp and longs to devour. Be not too anxious; and if you should not +see me tomorrow, do not on any pretext leave this encampment till my +return: my absence will not be long. Good night to all!" Having said +this, Stoneheart crossed his arms on his breast, and returned to his +sombre meditations.</p> + +<p>His friends, respecting his wish to be alone, withdrew; and ten minutes +later all the inmates in the camp, except Stoneheart and the sentinels, +were asleep, or seemed to sleep.</p> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII">CHAPTER XVII.</a></h4> + +<h3>THE CHASE.</h3> +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p>Deep silence prevailed through the wilderness, broken only at long +intervals by the growling of the jaguar at the spring, or the barking +of the prairie dog in his burrow. Stoneheart had not moved after his +friends left him; he was so motionless, one would have thought him +asleep, but for the occasional glitter of his eye through the darkness. +Suddenly a hand was laid on his shoulder. He started up in an instant. +Don Estevan stood beside him. Stoneheart greeted him with a smile. "You +have something to tell me?" said he.</p> + +<p>"I have," replied Don Estevan, seating himself at his side. "I waited +till all were asleep before sought you out. You are meditating some +daring exploit—perhaps an expedition to the camp of the Tigercat?"</p> + +<p>Stoneheart replied by a smile.</p> + +<p>"Have I guessed aright?" said the <i>mayor domo</i>.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps you have, Estevan; but how does that concern you?"</p> + +<p>"More than you think, Fernando. Such an expedition is as dangerous +as can be imagined; you yourself said so. I will not let you commit +so great a folly as to attempt it alone. Remember that, from our +first meeting, we have been irresistibly attracted to each other; we +are bound together by ties of friendship which nothing can sever. +Everything ought to be in common between us. Who can tell the danger +to which you would be exposed in the expedition you are about to +undertake! This is what I have come to tell you: half of that danger is +mine; I come to claim the share you have no right to withhold from me."</p> + +<p>"Brother," replied Stoneheart, much moved, "I feared this would happen; +I dreaded the demand you have just made. Alas! You have guessed truly; +the expedition is indeed desperate, and who can say whether I shall +succeed? But why link yourself to my evil fate? Has not my whole life +been one long sorrow? It will make me happy to sacrifice it for the +poor father, pining for the child who has been torn from him. Every +man has a destiny in this world; mine is to be wretched. Let me fulfil +it. Your destiny smiles upon you; you have a mother whom you cherish, +and who adores you. I am alone. If I perish, none save yourself will +regret me. Should you fall by my side, you leave me a lifelong sorrow +for having caused your death. No length of life could obliterate my +remorse."</p> + +<p>"Fernando, my determination is irrevocable. Whatever you may say, I +shall follow you. Fidelity is an heirloom in our family; and I must do +this day what my father did not hesitate to do long ago for the family +to whom we are attached. I repeat once more, Fernando, my duty compels +me to be with you."</p> + +<p>"Think no more of it, Estevan; think of your mother, and her grief."</p> + +<p>"I think of nothing but what honour bids me."</p> + +<p>"Estevan, I cannot consent to what you wish. Again I say, think of your +mother's grief if she should lose you."</p> + +<p>"My mother, Fernando, would be the first to bid me go, were she here."</p> + +<p>"Spoken like a man!" said a gentle voice behind them. They turned, and +saw Ña Manuela. "I have heard all," she said. "Thanks, Don Fernando, +for speaking as you did; I will never forget your words. But Estevan is +right: duty compels him to follow you. You lose your time in trying to +dissuade him. He springs from a race who never tamper with their duty. +Let him go with you. If he falls, I shall weep,—perhaps I shall die; +but I shall die blessing him, for he will fall in the service of those +whom, through five generations, we have sworn to serve faithfully."</p> + +<p>Stoneheart gazed with admiration at the mother who did not hesitate to +sacrifice her son to her sense of duty, regardless of the boundless +love she bore him. He felt himself a weakling, compared with this +self-denial. Words failed him, and he could only manifest by signs his +acquiescence in a wish so energetically expressed.</p> + +<p>"Go, my sons," she continued, raising her eyes to heaven with an +expression of holy fervour; "God, who sees all, sees your devotedness. +He will reward you. The rule of the wicked on earth is short; the +protection of the Almighty will be with you—will defend you in +every danger. Go without fear; He tells me you will prosper in your +undertaking. Farewell!"</p> + +<p>"Farewell, mother," replied the two men, moved even to tears.</p> + +<p>The noble woman pressed them to her heart, but could not part from them +without an effort. "Remember this law," she said,—"it is the basis of +honour: do your duty, whatever may happen. Farewell, farewell!" She +turned, and hastily entered the <i>jacal</i> for, in spite of herself, tears +were regaining the mastery, and she would weaken their resolution. The +others were silent for a time, looking steadfastly at the <i>jacal</i>.</p> + +<p>"You see," said Don Estevan, at last, "my mother herself orders me to +follow you."</p> + +<p>"Be it as you will, then," said Stoneheart, with a sigh; "I will no +longer oppose your wishes."</p> + +<p>"Thank Heaven!" exclaimed the <i>mayor domo</i>.</p> + +<p>Stoneheart carefully examined the heavens. "It is two o'clock," he +said; "at half past three it will be daylight. We must go."</p> + +<p>Don Estevan left him, to bring up the horses. They were soon saddled. +The men left the camp, gave their horses the spur, and dashed into the +desert. By sunrise they had ridden six leagues. They were following the +course of one of those nameless rivers which traverse the wilderness in +every direction, and ultimately fall into some larger stream.</p> + +<p>"Let us halt here a while," said Stoneheart; "first to breathe our +horses, and then to take a few precautions indispensable to our +success."</p> + +<p>Dismounting, they took the bits from the horses' mouths, leaving them +at liberty to crop the luxuriant grass on the banks of the river.</p> + +<p>"The time has come, Estevan," said Don Fernando, "when I must teach +you something, without which it would be impossible to avoid the +dangers we are about to encounter; I must reveal a secret known only +to us, 'the bee-hunters.' Hardly two leagues farther on, we shall have +to enter the swamps, swarming with serpents, and we must take the +requisite precautions against their fatal bite, for every reptile we +shall meet on the road will be of the most venomous species."</p> + +<p>"The devil!" ejaculated Don Estevan, turning somewhat pale.</p> + +<p>"I will give you a lesson. When we have once put on our armour, we can +trample with impunity on the heads of the most dangerous."</p> + +<p>"<i>¡Caray!</i>" replied Don Estevan; "your secret is worth knowing."</p> + +<p>"You shall prove it soon. Come with me. Of course you are acquainted +with the <i>guaco?</i>"</p> + +<p>"Certainly. I have often helped it in his battles with snakes."</p> + +<p>"Very well. I dare say you are ignorant of the means this intelligent +bird employs to heal the wounds in the mortal combats which always +terminate in the destruction of the reptile?"</p> + +<p>"I confess, Fernando, that I have never attempted to fathom the +mystery."</p> + +<p>"Then it is lucky, Estevan, that I have thought for both. Come, close +at hand I see several stems of the <i>mikania</i> twisting round the cork +trees: That is what we want. We will take a supply of the leaves of the +guaco creeper."</p> + +<p>Don Estevan, without troubling his head concerning his friend's +intentions, set about collecting the leaves of the creeper he had +pointed out. By dint of exertion, a goodly number were soon heaped upon +the ground. When Stoneheart deemed the quantity sufficient, he gathered +them up in his <i>zarapé</i>, and returned to the spot where they had left +their horses. Without further explanation, he began to pound the leaves +on a flat stone he brought from the edge of the water. Don Estevan, +taking great interest in the mysterious operation, occupied himself in +collecting in a <i>coui</i> (or gourd) the juice which ran from the leaves +as Stoneheart crushed them. The work lasted an hour, by which time the +<i>coui</i> was filled to the brim with a greenish liquid.</p> + +<p>"What are we to do now?" said Don Estevan, puzzled more and more.</p> + +<p>"That is a delicate question, my friend," replied Stoneheart, with +a laugh. "We must undress; then, with the point of the <i>navaja</i>, we +will make longitudinal incisions in our breasts, our arms, thighs, and +between the fingers and toes, just deep enough to cause blood to flow. +Afterwards, we will carefully inject the liquid we have collected into +these incisions. Have you sufficient courage to inoculate yourself with +the <i>mikania</i>juice?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly, Fernando, though the operation will be painful. But what +good will it do us?"</p> + +<p>"Only the least in the world! We shall be invulnerable. We shall be +able to trample thousands of snakes under our feet; and their bites +shall do us no more harm than the prick of a pin." Stoneheart said no +more, but undressed himself, and coolly began to make incisions in +his body. Don Estevan followed his example. After slicing themselves +in this fashion, they rubbed the cuts with the juice of the creeper, +leaving the liquid time to dry in before they resumed their dress.</p> + +<p>"Well, that is done," said Stoneheart. "We need not keep our horses: +the poor brutes would infallibly perish, for we cannot insure them from +the serpents. We will leave them here, and pick them up when we return; +only let us hobble them well, for fear they should stray too far."</p> + +<p>The saddles were carefully hidden under some bushes, and the two hardy +adventurers commenced their journey on foot, trailing their rifles, +and holding in one hand a slender but tough twig of mesquite, to cut +the reptiles in two which might dispute their passage. They marched +rapidly, one behind the other, shaking the grasses on right and left +with their rods, to dislodge the snakes, and following a track left by +a numerous body of horsemen.</p> + +<p>Suddenly they saw a dead body before them horribly swollen and +putrified, over which they were obliged to step.</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said Stoneheart, "Here lies a poor wretch, who probably did not +know the uses of the guaco creeper."</p> + +<p>Just at that moment, a sharp hissing was heard, and a beautiful little +snake, about as thick as the little finger, and seven or eight inches +long, crept from under the corpse, raised itself upon its tail, and, +darting with wonderful rapidity, fixed itself on Stoneheart's right leg.</p> + +<p>"Your pardon, my good fellow," said he coolly; "you have made a +mistake!" and, seizing it by the tail, he swung it round, and crushed +its head on the ground. "It is a ribbon snake," he added; "bitten by +him, you have just eleven minutes to live. You grow first yellow, then +green; then you begin to swell, and all is over—with this exception: +you have the consolation of changing colour once more, this time from +green to black. It is odd, is it not, Estevan?"</p> + +<p>"<i>¡Caray!</i>" replied the latter, who could not help shuddering; "Yours +was a lucky thought, Fernando."</p> + +<p>"Do you think so, Estevan?"</p> + +<p>"By heavens! It is self-evident. Ha! Crush that coral snake coiling +round your leg!"</p> + +<p>"Why, really, so he is! Well, he is a gentleman who takes liberties!" +Saying this, he seized the reptile, and crushed him. "It is a lovely +country," he continued. "It is quite diverting to travel here. Halloa! +more bodies!—This time a man and horse. They have died together. Poor +brute!"</p> + +<p>And thus they went on all day. The farther they advanced, the more +numerous were the snakes; they met them by threes and fours together. +At intervals they found more bodies stretched across their path, +proving that they were still on the right trail, and that the Tigercat +had left the greater number of his companions on the road. With all +their courage, they could not refrain from shuddering at the frightful +spectacles they had witnessed in passing through this dreadful place.</p> + +<p>Suddenly Stoneheart stopped, bent his body forward, made a sign to his +friend to be still, and listened anxiously. "If I am not mistaken," he +whispered, "somebody is coming this way."</p> + +<p>"Someone!" exclaimed the astonished Estevan. "Impossible!"</p> + +<p>"And why so? We are here, and why not others?"</p> + +<p>"Quite right: but who can it be?"</p> + +<p>"We shall soon see;" and he dragged his companion behind a thick bush, +where they crouched for concealment.</p> + +<p>"Cock your rifle, Estevan. Who can tell whom we may have to meet?"</p> + +<p>The <i>mayor domo</i> obeyed. Both kept motionless, expecting the arrival of +the individual, whose steps were now clearly distinguishable.</p> + +<p>During the last hour, the path our adventurers were pursuing had +gradually begun to rise, with frequent turnings—a sure proof that they +were quitting the swamps, and approaching the region which was free +from reptiles.</p> + +<p>Stoneheart soon saw a shadow thrown across an angle in the path, and +immediately afterwards a man appeared. Stoneheart recognised him +directly by his tall stature and long white beard. It was the Tigercat. +Stoneheart whispered a few words in his companion's ear, and, drawing +himself together, bounded at one spring into the middle of the path. +The Tigercat showed no surprise at this sudden apparition. "I was +coming to look for you," he said calmly, as he halted.</p> + +<p>"Then your task is finished," said Stoneheart, "for here I am."</p> + +<p>"No, it is not ended; for, while you show yourself in my camp, I shall +go to yours."</p> + +<p>"You think so?" said Stoneheart, with a mocking laugh.</p> + +<p>"Certainly. Do you think to bar my passage?"</p> + +<p>"Why not? Is it not mine to settle affairs between us?"</p> + +<p>"For my part, I see no reason. You are not looking for me, I suppose?"</p> + +<p>"You are wrong, Tigercat! I came here on purpose to seek you."</p> + +<p>"Me, and another person."</p> + +<p>"You, first of all; for we have a long account to settle."</p> + +<p>"We are losing time," said the Tigercat impatiently. "Listen, and try +to understand me. Doña Hermosa is close by; she expects you, for I +have promised to bring you together. She has charged me with certain +messages to her father; and on that account I must go to your camp. But +first, I will lead you to mine—a sad one: of all my followers, but +four are left; the rest are dead."</p> + +<p>"I know; I saw their bodies on the road. It is you who have slain +them. Why did you lead them here?"</p> + +<p>"Never mind. What is done cannot be undone. But time presses; will you +follow me? I wish to deal openly with you."</p> + +<p>"No! I do not trust you. Why have you come into this fearful place?"</p> + +<p>"Did you not guess, my son? Merely to be sure that my prisoner was +safe."</p> + +<p>"You made a mistake, for I am here."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps I did. But enough of this. Here, take my rifle. Tell your +friend, the barrel of whose rifle I see gleaming through the branches, +to come from behind his bush. Perchance you will not be afraid to +follow me now, when I am unarmed, and you two to one."</p> + +<p>Stoneheart reflected for a moment, and then said: "Come forth, Estevan!"</p> + +<p>His friend was at his side in a moment.</p> + +<p>"Keep your rifle," said Stoneheart to the Tigercat; "no one must travel +in the wilderness without weapons."</p> + +<p>"Thanks, Fernando," replied the old chief; "I see you have not +forgotten the old rule: a backwoodsman never quits his rifle."</p> + +<p>The Tigercat turned and led the way to his camp, the two others +following exactly in his footsteps. In about an hour they reached it, +pitched halfway up the Voladero, in a spacious cavern. The chief had +told the truth—only four out of all his men survived.</p> + +<p>"Before going farther," he said, when they got there, "I have a +condition to exact."</p> + +<p>"To exact!" said Stoneheart ironically, emphasizing the words.</p> + +<p>The Tigercat shrugged his shoulders. "At a sign from me, those men will +stab Doña Hermosa to the heart without hesitation; you see, I have the +power to exact."</p> + +<p>"Speak, then," said Stoneheart, trembling for her sake.</p> + +<p>"I will leave you here alone with Doña Hermosa. I, your friend, and my +four comrades, will leave the Voladero at once. In two days, and not +before, you will quit the mountain, and come to your camp, where you +will find me."</p> + +<p>"Why do you impose this condition?"</p> + +<p>"You have nothing to do with that: is it so hard, that you will not +submit to it? But, briefly, I do not choose to explain; answer—yes or +no. Except on this condition you shall not see Doña Hermosa."</p> + +<p>"How do I know whether she is still alive?"</p> + +<p>"What good would it have done me to kill her?"</p> + +<p>Stoneheart hesitated for a moment. "I accept the conditions," said he +at last; "I will stay here two days."</p> + +<p>"Good! Now go to her; as for us we will leave you."</p> + +<p>"One instant longer! My friend—will you be answerable for his safety? +I know I can trust your word."</p> + +<p>"I swear to you, I will look upon him as my own friend as long as he +remains with me, and you shall find him safe and sound in the camp."</p> + +<p>"Enough. Farewell, Estevan; console Don Pedro, and tell him on what +conditions his daughter has been restored."</p> + +<p>"I will tell them to him myself," said the Tigercat, his mouth +contorted with a strange expression.</p> + +<p>Stoneheart and Don Estevan bade each other farewell; then the former +rapidly approached the cavern, while the Tigercat, his four followers, +and the <i>mayor domo</i>, went down the path into the plains. On reaching +the nearest trees, the Tigercat halted for a moment, and turned to the +cavern into which Stoneheart had just entered. "Aha!" he exclaimed, +with a sinister smile, and rubbing his hands with delight; "At last I +am sure of my revenge!"</p> + +<p>He followed his companion, and they were soon lost to sight, behind the +intervening foliage.</p> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII">CHAPTER XVIII.</a></h4> + +<h3>EL VOLADERO DE LAS ÁNIMAS.</h3> +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p>We have already said that Don Fernando Carril, or Stoneheart, had +passed the greater part of his life in the wilderness. Brought up +by the Tigercat in the perilous calling of a bee-hunter, chance had +occasionally brought him, most unwillingly we confess, to the district +in which he now found himself. Thus he was well acquainted with the +Voladero de las Ánimas, even to its inmost recesses. He had often +sought shelter in the cavern where Doña Hermosa was now a prisoner, and +found it again without difficulty, although the access to it was so +well masked by certain features of the mountain, that any other would +have been some time in discovering it. The cavern, one of the greatest +curiosities of this part of the country; contains several chambers, +extending far into the hill, and two broad passages, which terminate +in two apertures, like gigantic windows, exactly under the peak of +the Voladero, where they hang at a height of a thousand feet over +the plain; the conformation of the mountain being so singular that, +looking down from them, nothing is to be seen but the tops of the trees +below.</p> + +<p>Stoneheart entered the cavern, which by another remarkable peculiarity, +was lighted throughout its whole extent by innumerable fissures in the +rock, admitting sufficient daylight to enable objects to be perceived +at a distance of twenty or twenty-five paces. He was very restless; +the conditions imposed by Tigercat depressed his spirit to a degree +he could not shake off. He could not help asking himself why the old +chief had insisted on his remaining two days with Doña Hermosa on the +mountain before he rejoined the camp. He suspected some treachery in +these conditions; but of what kind? That was the riddle he could not +solve.</p> + +<p>He walked slowly through the cavern, looking right and left in the +hope of finding her; and, for more than half an hour, could see no +indications of her presence.</p> + +<p>The sun was already disappearing below the horizon when Stoneheart had +issued from the forest; the cavern, sombre enough in the daytime, was +at this hour in almost total darkness; so he retraced his steps, to +obtain a light for the purpose of resuming a search which otherwise +the obscurity rendered impossible. On reaching the entrance to the +cavern, he availed himself of the last gleam of daylight to look about +him. Some torches of ocote wood were carefully arranged close to the +entrance. Producing flint and steel, he speedily procured a light; and, +arming himself with a kindled torch, again made his way into the cave. +He traversed several chambers without success: and had begun to suspect +that the Tigercat had duped him, when he perceived a faint glimmer at +some distance in advance of him, which gradually approached, until its +light was sufficient to reveal the form of Doña Hermosa.</p> + +<p>She too held a torch in her hand. She was walking with a slow and +unsteady step, her head sunk on her breast, in an attitude of poignant +sorrow. Doña Hermosa came nearer and nearer, till she was within fifty +paces of Stoneheart. Uncertain how to attract her attention, he was +on the point of calling to her, when she chanced to raise her head. +On seeing a man before her, she stopped, and haughtily demanded: "Why +have you entered this corridor? Have you forgotten that your chief has +forbidden anyone to enter it and annoy me?"</p> + +<p>"Forgive me, señorita," replied Stoneheart gently; "the order was +unknown to me."</p> + +<p>"Heavens!" cried she; "That voice! Is it a a dream?" She dropped +her torch, and hastened to approach Stoneheart, who likewise rushed +towards her. "Don Fernando!" she exclaimed; "Don Fernando here, in +this horrible den! Great God! what further evil is at hand? Have I not +suffered enough yet?"</p> + +<p>Overcome by emotion, she lost all consciousness, and sank, fainting, +into the arms of Stoneheart. Alarmed at the occurrence, and not knowing +how to recall her to her senses, he hurried her back to the entrance to +the cavern, hoping that the fresh air might restore her. He placed her +carefully on a heap of dry leaves, and left her to herself. Stoneheart +was a man whose courage reached the verge of temerity. A hundred times +he had looked death in the face with a smile; but when he saw the girl +lying before him, her features rigid, and pale as death, he trembled +like a child; a cold sweat broke out over his forehead, and tears—the +first he had ever shed—rolled down his face.</p> + +<p>"My God, my God!" he exclaimed; "I have killed her!"</p> + +<p>"Who speaks?" said Doña Hermosa in feeble accents, the current of air +rushing into the cave having somewhat revived her. "Do I really hear +Don Fernando? Can it be he?"</p> + +<p>"It is I; it is indeed I, Hermosa. Collect yourself, and forgive me +for causing this sudden fright."</p> + +<p>"I am not alarmed," she answered; "on the contrary, your presence +relieves me, Don Fernando, if your appearance in this dreadful place +augurs no new misfortune."</p> + +<p>"Calm yourself, señorita," he said, drawing gently near her; "I am no +omen of evil; I bring good tidings."</p> + +<p>"Why seek to deceive me, my friend? Are not you too a prisoner of the +monster in human shape who has kept me captive so long?" She rose; the +colour returned to her cheeks. She extended her hand to Stoneheart, +who, kneeling, clasped it in both his own, and covered it with kisses. +"Now we shall no longer be alone; we shall suffer together," she said, +fixing an earnest look upon him.</p> + +<p>"Dearest Hermosa, your sufferings are at an end; I do indeed bring you +good tidings."</p> + +<p>"What is it you say, Don Fernando? Your words are incomprehensible. How +can you talk of good tidings, while we are both in the power of the +Tigercat."</p> + +<p>"No, señorita; you are no longer in his power."</p> + +<p>"Free!" she exclaimed in ecstasy; "Is it possible O my father! My +father! I shall see you once more!"</p> + +<p>"You shall see him very soon, Hermosa. Your father is not far hence, +with all you love—Don Estevan and Ña Manuela."</p> + +<p>Doña Hermosa fell on her knees, with an expression on her face +impossible to describe. Lifting her clasped hands to heaven, she +uttered a long, silent, and fervent prayer.</p> + +<p>Stoneheart gazed upon her with reverential admiration. The sudden +transition from sorrow and despair to this excess of joy excited him +infinitely. He felt intensely happy—happier than he had ever known +himself before.</p> + +<p>When Doña Hermosa rose from her knees, she had regained her calmness. +"And now, Don Fernando," she said in gentle accents, "as we are really +free, let us sit down outside the cave. Tell me all that has happened +since I was torn away from my father."</p> + +<p>They left the cavern, and sat down, side by side, on the green turf, +canopied by the night, which hung cool and odorous above them; and +Stoneheart began his story. It lasted a long time; for Doña Hermosa +frequently interrupted him, to make him repeat details concerning Don +Pedro, and night had sped away before the recital ended. "It is your +turn, señorita," said Stoneheart, as soon as he had finished. "You +have now to relate what has happened to you."</p> + +<p>"As for me," she replied, with a charming smile, "the month has passed +in sorrowful thoughts of those from whom I was torn. But I must be +just enough to confess, that the man who bore me away treated me +with respect—nay, on several occasions he sought to console me and +alleviate my grief, by holding out hopes of my soon seeing those whom I +love so dearly."</p> + +<p>"The Tigercat's conduct is incomprehensible," said Stoneheart +thoughtfully. "Why did he carry you off, when he has restored you to us +again with so little demur?"</p> + +<p>"It is strange," said she; "what could his object be? But I am tree! +Thank Heaven, I shall see my father again!"</p> + +<p>"Tomorrow we will go to him."</p> + +<p>Doña Hermosa looked at him in surprise.</p> + +<p>"Tomorrow!" she exclaimed; "Why not today? Why not at once?"</p> + +<p>"Alas!" said he, "I have sworn not to leave this place until tomorrow! +The Tigercat would only restore you to liberty on this condition."</p> + +<p>"How singular! Why should that man wish to keep us here?"</p> + +<p>"I will tell you the reason!" cried Don Estevan, suddenly appearing +before them.</p> + +<p>"Estevan!" they exclaimed, rushing towards him.</p> + +<p>"What happy chance brings you here?" asked Stoneheart.</p> + +<p>"It is no chance, brother. God has permitted me to overhear words +spoken by the Tigercat, which have given me as clear an insight into +his plans as if he himself had revealed them."</p> + +<p>"Explain your words, Estevan?"</p> + +<p>"Yesterday, when I left you, Fernando, you turned your steps to the +cavern, while we retraced ours to the forest. I know not why, but my +heart was heavy, and I felt loth to quit you. I could not help fancying +that the Tigercat's urbanity covered some deadly purpose against you. +So I went slowly down the hill. I happened to turn when I reached the +forest, and saw that the chief had ceased to follow us. He had halted a +few paces from me. He was rubbing his hands with ferocious delight; his +eyes were earnestly fixed on the cave, and I distinctly heard him utter +these words: 'At last I am sure of my revenge!' It was like a sudden +gleam of light; the diabolical plan the monster had conceived started +forth in all its hideousness. Don Fernando, you remember how we became +acquainted?"</p> + +<p>"I do, Estevan; the remembrance is too near for me to forget it."</p> + +<p>"You recollect your conversation on the island with the Tigercat, which +I overheard? The insinuations of the man? The implacable hatred to Don +Pedro he openly avowed?"</p> + +<p>"I recollect it all, Estevan; but to what does it lead?"</p> + +<p>"To this, Fernando: the Tigercat, despairing to reach Don Pedro +himself, endeavours to strike him through his daughter. Hence the +long-concocted plan in which he has made you an involuntary accomplice. +You love Doña Hermosa; you have done everything to save her; he +proposes to restore her to you on the simple condition of remaining two +days here in her company: do you understand me now?"</p> + +<p>"It is frightful!" indignantly exclaimed Stoneheart.</p> + +<p>Doña Hermosa covered her face with her hands to conceal her tears.</p> + +<p>"Forgive the pain I have caused you," continued Estevan. "I wished to +save you from yourselves; and I could only do so by bluntly laying +his machinations open before you. The question is now, whence this +inveterate hatred to Don Pedro? Satan alone can tell. But let us not +mind that; his plans are unmasked; we have nothing to fear from him."</p> + +<p>"Thanks, Estevan," said Doña Hermosa, holding out her hand.</p> + +<p>"But how were you able to return?" cried Stoneheart.</p> + +<p>"Easily enough. I had nothing to do but to tell the Tigercat plainly +that I did not choose to travel in his company any longer. Our man was +thunderstruck at my deliberate desertion; but found no words to oppose +me. As for me, I had nothing more to say, so, at the first turn of the +road, I left him."</p> + +<p>"It was a capital idea, Estevan, and I thank you heartily. But now, +what are we to do? I have given my word."</p> + +<p>"Nonsense, Fernando! You must be mad. Are we obliged to keep promises +which have only been extorted from us to do us harm? If you take my +advice, you will leave this place instantly, to thwart any new plots +this man may brew."</p> + +<p>"True, true!" cried Doña Hermosa. "Estevan, you are right. We will +follow your counsel, and go."</p> + +<p>"Let us go," said Stoneheart, "since you wish it. As for me, there is +nothing I should like better than to leave this accursed cavern. But +how are we to get Doña Hermosa through the forest?"</p> + +<p>"In the same way I crossed it before," she said firmly.</p> + +<p>"How was that?" cried Estevan.</p> + +<p>"On a kind of litter, which ought to be here still. It was carried on +men's shoulders. You know, the snakes do not spring very high."</p> + +<p>"And we will wrap you in a buffalo hide, so that you will be safe from +all danger."</p> + +<p>Don Estevan went in search of the litter, and soon found it, while +Stoneheart got the buffalo hide ready. All was prepared in a few +minutes.</p> + +<p>"We have not broken the conditions of the treaty," said Estevan to his +friend.</p> + +<p>"How so?"</p> + +<p>"Did you not agree to meet the chief at the camp today, and not before?"</p> + +<p>"I did; and it would have been impossible to do so, had we remained +here the stated time."</p> + +<p>"Well, who knows whether the Tigercat did not take that into account +too?" replied Estevan.</p> + +<p>This observation gave our three personages ample food for reflection; +and they began their journey without any further attempt at +conversation.</p> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX">CHAPTER XIX.</a></h4> + +<h3>THE HAND OF GOD.</h3> +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p>We will now return to the hacendero and the Mexican encampment. When +Don Pedro awoke in the morning, Ña Manuela reported Stoneheart's +departure in company with her son.</p> + +<p>"I feared something of the sort," said Don Pedro sighing; "Don Fernando +was so preoccupied last night. I am glad your son has gone with him, +Manuela, for it is a perilous expedition. God grant they may bring me +back my daughter! Yet I cannot help thinking it would have been better +to have consulted me before they left. We have here twenty bold men, +who would certainly have been able to do more than two unsupported men, +however brave they may be."</p> + +<p>"I am of a different opinion," replied Ña Manuela. "Surprises are +the chief element of wars in the wilderness, and two men can often +succeed by means of their apparent weakness, which allows them to pass +unnoticed, when numbers would fail. However, they will not be long +absent, and we shall have certain news of the <i>niña</i>."</p> + +<p>"Please God they be good! Manuela, if I should lose my daughter, in +addition to my former woes, I could not survive it."</p> + +<p>"Drive away these sombre thoughts, señor; Providence watches over us +all. I hope we shall not be abandoned in our affliction."</p> + +<p>"After all," said Don Pedro, "as we are forced to remain inactive, we +must exert our patience till our stragglers return."</p> + +<p>The day passed without any incident worthy of record. El Zapote, who +had gone hunting at daybreak, returned with an elk.</p> + +<p>The next day, about ten in the morning, an unarmed Indian presented +himself before the sentries, demanding speech of Don Pedro. The latter +ordered him to be brought forward. The redskin was an Apache, of +cunning features and reckless manner. Brought into the presence of the +hacendero, who at that moment was talking to the <i>capataz,</i> he stood +motionless and with downcast eyes, waiting with the cold impassiveness +characteristic of his race, till they should speak to him. The +hacendero scrutinised him attentively. The Indian was perfectly +indifferent to the scrutiny.</p> + +<p>"What does my brother want? What is his name?" asked don Pedro.</p> + +<p>"El Zopilote is an Apache brave," replied the redskin; "the <i>sachem</i> of +his tribe sends him to the chief of the palefaces."</p> + +<p>"I am the chief of the palefaces. Tell your mission to me."</p> + +<p>"Hear what the Tigercat says," replied the immoveable Apache.</p> + +<p>"The Tigercat!" exclaimed Don Pedro greatly astonished; "What can he +want of me?"</p> + +<p>"If my father will listen, El Zopilote will tell him."</p> + +<p>"I will listen. Speak Zopilote."</p> + +<p>"Thus says the Tigercat: a cloud has arisen between the Tigercat and +the chief of the palefaces, who have come into the hunting grounds of +my tribe. As the beneficent rays of the sun disperse the clouds that +obscure the heavens, so, if wise paleface will smoke the calumet of +peace with the Tigercat, the cloud between them will disappear, and the +war hatchet be buried so deep, that it shall not be found again for a +thousand moons and ten. I have said: I await the answer of my father +with the beard of snow."</p> + +<p>"Indian!" replied Don Pedro, in accents of sadness, "Your chief has +done me much harm, yet I know not the cause of his hatred to me. But +Heaven forbid I should reject his proposal, if he entertains the wish +to end the difference existing between us. Bid him come; and say I am +ready to offer reparation for injury I may have done him without my +will or knowledge."</p> + +<p>The Apache listened with evident attention to the words of the +hacendero. When the latter ceased, he answered: "<i>Wagh!</i> My father has +spoken well. Wisdom has taken up her abode in him. The chief will come; +but who will insure his safety when in the camp of the palefaces,—he +alone, with twenty <i>Yarri</i> (Spanish) braves around him!"</p> + +<p>"My word of honour, redskin; my word of honour,—which is worth more +than all your chief could give me," said Don Pedro haughtily.</p> + +<p>"My father's word is good; his tongue is not forked. The Tigercat asks +no more; he will come."</p> + +<p>Having uttered these words with Indian emphasis, the Apache warrior +bowed profoundly, and retired with the same quiet step which marked his +coming.</p> + +<p>"What do you think of that Luciano?" said Don Pedro, as soon as they +were alone.</p> + +<p>"By Heavens, señor! I think it conceals some Indian devilry. I fear the +white who changes his colour, and turns redskin, a hundred times words +than the true Indian. I never liked chameleons."</p> + +<p>"Right, Luciano! But we are placed in a difficult position. Before +all things I must have my daughter; for her sake I must overlook many +things."</p> + +<p>"True, señor! Nevertheless, you know as well as I, that the Tigercat is +a miscreant without faith or honour. Do not trust him too far."</p> + +<p>"I am obliged to trust him. Have I not given my word?"</p> + +<p>"You have," growled the <i>capataz;</i> "but I have not given mine!"</p> + +<p>"Be cautious, Luciano; and, above all things, do not excite his +suspicions."</p> + +<p>"Make yourself easy on that score, señor. Your honour is as dear to me +as my own; but I dare not leave you without means of defence, though it +please you to trust yourself with a wretch as determined as he."</p> + +<p>With these words, the <i>capataz</i> cut short the conversation, and left +the <i>jacal</i>, to prevent further remarks from his master. "Ha!" said he, +as he met El Zapote; "You are the very man I want, my friend!"</p> + +<p>"Me, <i>capataz!</i> That is capital! What is to be done?"</p> + +<p>"Come with me a while," replied the <i>capataz;</i> "I must tell you the +matter where we cannot be overheard."</p> + +<p>An hour later,—that is to say, a little after eleven in the +morning,—the Tigercat arrived at the camp, as El Zopilote had +asserted. The chief was dressed as a <i>gambucino</i>, and carried no +weapons—at least, none were visible.</p> + +<p>As soon as the sentinels recognised him, they allowed him to pass, and +led him to the <i>capataz</i>, who was walking backwards and forwards. The +Tigercat cast a scrutinising look around him the moment he entered the +camp. Everything seemed in its usual state, and the chief saw nothing +to excite suspicion. He approached the <i>capataz</i>.</p> + +<p>"What do you want here?" asked Don Luciano roughly.</p> + +<p>"I wish to speak to Don Pedro de Luna," quickly replied the Tigercat.</p> + +<p>"Good! Follow me; he expects you."</p> + +<p>Without further ceremony, the <i>capataz</i> led him to the <i>jacal</i>. +"Enter," said he; "you will find Don Pedro there."</p> + +<p>"Who is there?" said a voice from within.</p> + +<p>"Señor," replied the <i>capataz</i>, "it is the Indian who asked the favour +of a conversation with the chief. Come, enter!" he added, addressing +the Tigercat.</p> + +<p>The latter made no observation, but went into the <i>jacal</i> with the +<i>capataz</i>.</p> + +<p>"You asked to speak with me," began Don Pedro.</p> + +<p>"I did," said the chief in a gloomy tone; "but with you alone."</p> + +<p>"This man is one of my oldest servants; he has my entire confidence."</p> + +<p>"What I have to say must be told to no other ears than yours."</p> + +<p>"Retire, Luciano," said don Pedro; "but remain near at hand."</p> + +<p>The <i>capataz</i> cast a look of rage at the Tigercat, and left the <i>jacal</i> +grumbling.</p> + +<p>"Now that we are alone," said Don Pedro, "you can speak openly to me."</p> + +<p>"I intend to do so," said the chief in harsh accents.</p> + +<p>"Are you come to speak of my daughter?"</p> + +<p>"Of her and others," replied the Tigercat in the same tone.</p> + +<p>"All this is a mystery, chief; explain!"</p> + +<p>"It will not be long before I do so; for I have longed, panted for the +opportunity to meet you face to face. Look at me well, Don Pedro; do +you not recognise me?"</p> + +<p>"I believe I never saw you before you received me as a guest in the +<i>teocali</i>."</p> + +<p>The chief laughed savagely. "Have years changed me so much? Has the +name of Tigercat obliterated my own so thoroughly that that too is +forgotten? As Don Guzman de Ribera became Don Pedro de Luna, why should +not Don Leoncio de Ribera become the Tigercat, brother?"</p> + +<p>"What words are these?" exclaimed Don Pedro, rising in terror. "What +name have you uttered?"</p> + +<p>"I have said that which is," coldly answered the chief. "The name I +utter is mine."</p> + +<p>Don Pedro gazed at him with pitiful regret. "Unhappy man!" he sighed; +"How have you fallen so low?"</p> + +<p>"You are wrong, brother," replied the Tigercat, with a sneer; "on the +contrary, I have risen to be the <i>sachem</i> of an Indian tribe. Long, +long have I waited for my revenge! Twenty years I have watched; but +today I have it—today it is complete!"</p> + +<p>"Your revenge, miserable man!" answered Don Pedro indignantly; "What +revenge would you against me?—you, who attempted to seduce my wife; +you, who sought to slay me; and who, lastly, to crown your infamy, have +borne away my daughter!"</p> + +<p>"You forget to name your son, whom I also carried away,—your sin, Don +Fernando Carril, in whom I have contrived to excite a passion for his +sister, and who has been these two days alone with her at the Voladero +de las Ánimas. Aha! Don Guzman, what say you to that revenge?"</p> + +<p>"Woe, woe!" exclaimed Don Pedro, wringing his hands in his despair.</p> + +<p>"Brother and sister in love with each other; licensed by you, Don +Guzman, and married by me! Aha!" and he burst into a horrid laugh, that +sounded like the howl of the hyena.</p> + +<p>"It is too horrible," cried Don Pedro, in the depths of despair. "It +is a lie, wretch! Bandit as you are, you dare not meditate a crime so +terrible! You are but a boasting miscreant! Your tale cannot be true; +to believe it, would be to doubt the justice of Heaven!"</p> + +<p>"You do not believe my words, brother?" replied the Tigercat in a +sarcastic tone. "As you please. Here come your children; I hear them +entering the camp; ask them."</p> + +<p>Don Pedro, half-mad with grief, was rushing out of the <i>jacal</i> when +Stoneheart, Doña Hermosa, and Don Estevan appeared at the entrance: the +unhappy father was stopped by the shock.</p> + +<p>"Look!" said the Tigercat, with his usual sneer; "Look how he receives +his children! Is that his love?"</p> + +<p>Doña Hermosa had thrown herself into her father's arms, and tearfully +embraced him; without seeing the Tigercat. "My father, my father!" she +cried; "God be praised that I see you once more!"</p> + +<p>"Who speaks of God here?" said Don Pedro in a hollow voice, and shaking +off his daughter, who tottered from him.</p> + +<p>Doña Hermosa looked round in affright. Pale and trembling, she would +have fallen, if Stoneheart had not hastened to support her.</p> + +<p>"Look, how they love each other!" sneered the Tigercat. "It is +touching! Don Fernando, throw your arms around your father;" and he +pointed to Don Pedro.</p> + +<p>"He my father!" cried Stoneheart, overjoyed; "Oh, it would be too much +happiness!"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said the Tigercat; "Don Pedro is your father, and here is your +sister!" As he said this, he pointed to Doña Hermosa and again burst +into a diabolical laugh.</p> + +<p>The two young people were thunderstruck. Don Pedro, whose nervous +system had received a violent shock from the first revelation, felt his +reason deserting him. He seemed neither to see nor hear, and to take no +notice of the strange scene enacting around him. The Tigercat exulted +in his triumph. Don Estevan, alarmed at the hacendero's state, thought +it high time to interfere. "Don Pedro," said he in a loud voice and +forcibly laying his hand on the old man's shoulder, "collect yourself; +this miscreant is a liar! Your children are worthy of your name. I was +with them at the Voladero."</p> + +<p>Don Pedro seemed to make a mighty effort to resume his grasp on +the senses which were leaving him. His body underwent a terrible +convulsion. He turned his face towards Stoneheart, and a heavy sigh +burst from his heart; then tears flowed down his venerable cheeks, and +he cried in feeble accents, as he fell on the breast of his son, "Yours +is the truth, Estevan; the truth, the truth!"</p> + +<p>"I swear it, Don Pedro!" was the solemn reply.</p> + +<p>"Thanks, thanks! I knew the miscreant lied. My children—"</p> + +<p>The two young people threw themselves into his arms, and loaded him +with caresses.</p> + +<p>The Tigercat, with his arms crossed on his chest, looked on with his +sardonic leer, and said ironically: "They love each other, brother; let +them marry."</p> + +<p>"They have a right to do so!" exclaimed a ringing voice. All turned in +amazement. Ña Manuela had entered the <i>jacal</i>. "Yes," said she, turning +with an air of mockery to the Tigercat, who stood appalled, he knew not +why, at the sudden apparition; "the day of judgment has come at last! +I have waited for it patiently; but justice shall be done, and it is I +whom God has chosen to manifest his power!"</p> + +<p>All present gazed with admiration and respect at the woman, who seemed +completely transfigured. Her face was radiant; her eyes flashed +lightning. With calm and imposing steps, she approached the hacendero. +"Don Pedro! my much-loved master," said she in a voice scarcely +intelligible from emotion; "forgive me! I have made you suffer, oh, +how long! But God inspired me! It is He, and only He, who dictated my +conduct. Don Fernando is not your son; he is mine! Your son"—and she +brought forward Don Estevan—"is here!"</p> + +<p>"Don Estevan!" cried all present.</p> + +<p>"A lie!" howled the Tigercat</p> + +<p>"It is the truth," briefly replied Ña Manuela. "Hatred is blind, Don +Leoncio. You took away the poor nurse's child when you thought you had +stolen your brother's. Look at Estevan, all you who knew his mother, +and deny, if you dare, that he is her son."</p> + +<p>In truth, the likeness was striking. Up to the time, Estevan's position +had blinded their eyes; there was no reason to seek for a resemblance +to anyone: but now, when the veil had fallen, they recognised whence he +sprung.</p> + +<p>"But you will always be my mother!" cried Estevan, with much feeling.</p> + +<p>"Mother!" exclaimed Fernando, throwing himself into her arms.</p> + +<p>Don Pedro's joy knew no bounds.</p> + +<p>The Tigercat, forced to confess himself foiled, uttered a howl like a +wild beast. "Aha!" cried he, beside himself with rage, "Is it to be +thus? But it is not over yet!" He drew a poniard from his garments, and +threw himself with all his force on Don Pedro, who, in his joy, had +forgotten his presence.</p> + +<p>But an eye watched him. Don Luciano had stolen into the <i>jacal</i>, and +noiselessly placed himself behind the bandit, whose every movement he +carefully watched. As the Tigercat made his spring, he threw his arms +around him, and pinioned him, in spite of the desperate efforts made +by the miserable wretch. At the same moment, the <i>vaquero</i> bounded +into the <i>jacal</i>, knife in hand, and, before anyone could arrest him, +plunged it up to the hilt in his throat. "Not bad;" he exclaimed. "The +opportunity was too good to lose! My <i>navajada</i> was never given so +fairly! I hope this blow will gain me pardon for the others."</p> + +<p>The Tigercat remained standing a moment, swaying hither and thither, +like a half-uprooted oak tottering to its fall. He rolled his eyes +around him, in which rage still strove with the agony that made them +haggard. He made one last effort to pronounce a terrible malediction, +but his mouth contracted horribly; a stream of dark blood spouted from +his yawning throat; he fell at his full length on the ground, where +he writhed for a moment like a crushed reptile, to the inconceivable +horror of the spectators. Then all was still: he was dead; but on his +face, distorted by the death pang, unutterable hatred survived the life +which had just quitted him.</p> + +<p>"Justice is done," said Manuela, with trembling accents. "It is the +hand of God!"</p> + +<p>"Let us pray for him," said Don Pedro, falling on his knees.</p> + +<p>All present, impressed by this noble and simple action, followed his +example, and knelt by his side.</p> + +<p>The <i>vaquero</i>, having finished his part in the scene, thought +it prudent to disappear, but not without exchanging a glance of +intelligence with the <i>capataz</i>, who smiled grimly under his gray +moustache.</p> + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44399 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..08fc1da --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #44399 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/44399) diff --git a/old/44399-8.txt b/old/44399-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a32bb31 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/44399-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8764 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Stoneheart, by Gustave Aimard, Translated by +Lascelles Wraxall + + +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 + + + + + +Title: Stoneheart + A Romance + + +Author: Gustave Aimard + + + +Release Date: December 9, 2013 [eBook #44399] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STONEHEART*** + + +E-text prepared by Camille Bernard and Marc D'Hooghe +(http://www.freeliterature.org) from page images generously made available +by the Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford +(http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/home) + + + +Note: Images of the original pages are available through + the Bodleian Libraries, Univerity of Oxford. See + http://dbooks.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/books/PDFs/600061818.pdf + + + + + +STONEHEART + +by + +GUSTAVE AIMARD + +Author of "Bee-Hunters," "Smuggler Chief," etc., etc. + + + + + + + +London, +Charles Henry Clarke, 13 Paternoster Row. +1874 + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + I. SYMPATHY + II. THE VIRGIN FOREST + III. DON TORRIBIO QUIROGA + IV. LA TERTULIA (THE PARTY) + V. THE AMBUSH + VI. SAN LUCAR + VII. THE ATTACK ON THE PRESIDIO + VIII. DISGRACE + IX. THE PRISONER + X. THE CAMP OF THE REDSKINS + XI. THE RENEGADE + XII. WOMAN'S WILL + XIII. PALEFACE VERSUS REDSKIN + XIV. THE CATASTROPHE + XV. ONE MONTH LATER + XVI. PREPARATIONS FOR THE CHASE + XVII. THE CHASE + XVIII. EL VOLADERO DE LAS NIMAS + XIX. THE HAND OF GOD + + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +SYMPATHY. + + +Sympathy is a feeling admitting neither analyzation nor discussion. +It masters us, whether we will or no. Persons we meet unconsciously +attract or repel us at first sight. And why? It is a question +impossible to answer, but the fact is indubitable. An irresistible +magnetic influence draws us towards people whom, if we listened to the +promptings of self-interest, we ought to shun; while, on the other +hand, the same influence compels us to avoid others, in whom this very +interest should induce us to confide. + +And it is an extraordinary fact, well worthy of remark, that this +intuition, acting in opposition to our reasoning powers, seldom if ever +misleads us. Sooner or later we are forced to acknowledge as right +what to the prejudiced eyes of the world appeared erroneous, and find +that our sympathy, far from deceiving, has only led us to the truth. + +The result of this sympathy and antipathy are so palpable, so many +persons have experienced the effects of this mysterious influence, that +it would be superfluous for us to linger longer over the topic. + +Don Estevan and Stoneheart had become acquainted under circumstances +which might have induced enmity between them, or, at all events, made +them indifferent to each other: the reputation of the bee-hunter, +and the singular life he led, were ample reasons why the young +and straightforward _mayor domo_ of Don Pedro de Luna should feel +himself repelled by them; and yet a diametrically opposite effect was +produced without the two young men knowing why, and they suddenly +felt themselves friends, bound together, not by one of those vapid +sentimentalities so common in civilised life in Europe, where the +word "friend" means no more than a mere acquaintance, and is one of +the titles most easily and constantly profaned, but by the strong, +true feeling, admitting neither limit nor reasoning, which shoots up +so strongly in a few hours that it engrosses an immense part of the +existence of those of whom it has taken possession. + +They had never seen each other before their casual encounter in the +road to San Lucar, and yet they seemed to have known each other for +ages, and now only to have met again after a long parting. + +Singular to say, the same effect was produced on both at the same +moment, without calculation or reservation. + +What we have asserted is so true, that Don Estevan, notwithstanding +the innate prudence of his character, had not hesitated to confide to +Stoneheart, on the spur of the moment, the history of his master, or, +to speak more correctly, his benefactor. He had recounted this history +in all its details, without disguising anything, or omitting a title, +induced to act as he did by the secret presentiment which apprised him +that he had found a man worthy of sharing the burden of this important +secret. + +The course of this tale will furnish us with still stronger proofs of +the singular confidence these two men had instantly felt for each other. + +The sun was setting in a flood of purple and gold behind the snowy +crests of the lofty and jagged mountains of the Sierra Madre, when Don +Estevan ceased speaking. + +The landscape assumed that garb of placid melancholy in which it +clothes itself at the approach of eve; the birds came flying in +countless flocks, to nestle, twittering, under the leafy boughs of the +grand old trees. _Vaqueros_ and _peones_, galloping in all directions, +mustered the cattle, and drove them towards the _hacienda_; and in the +distance appeared a camp of _arrieros_, whose watch fires already began +to tinge the rapidly darkening sky with a ruddy glow. + +"And now," resumed Don Estevan, "having acquired as intimate a +knowledge as my own of the secrets of the family with whom chance has +brought you into contact, what do you intend to do?" + +"First, and before all a single word," answered Stoneheart. + +"Say on; you must indeed have many things to confide to me in your +turn." + +"Not so many as you think. You already know as much of my life as I do +myself; that is to say, almost nothing. But that is not the question +between us at present." + +"What can it be, then?" said Don Estevan, unable to repress his +curiosity. + +"I am about to tell you. Surely you have not told me this long and +interesting tale with the sole purpose of satisfying a curiosity I +never exhibited; there must be some other motive in your thoughts, +and I think I have guessed it. Don Estevan Diaz, two bold men, bound +to each other as closely as the ivy and the oak, with thoughts running +in the same channel, with but one will between them,--two such men +are mighty; for the one forms the complement to the other, and what +each alone would not dare to essay, the two will undertake without +hesitation, and be almost certain to succeed, however hazardous and +rash their projects may seem. Are you of the same way of thinking?" + +"Most surely, Don Fernando; I am entirely of the same opinion." + +A flash of joy illumined the face of the bee-hunter. "Good!" said he, +stretching out his arm; "Here is my hand, Don Estevan; it belongs to a +man who, with his hand, offers you a loyal and honest heart, whatever +may be said to the contrary: will you accept them?" + +"_Vive Dios!_" eagerly exclaimed the _mayor domo_, heartily pressing +in his own the hand so frankly tendered; "I accept both one and the +other. Thanks, brother! I was on the point of making the same offer to +you; we are now one for life or death. I am yours, as the handle is to +the blade." + +"Ah!" said Don Fernando, with a sigh of pleasure, "At last I have a +friend. I shall no longer wander through life alone: joy and sorrow, +grief and happiness,--I shall have one to whom I can confide them all." + +"You shall have more than one to sympathise with you, brother; you +shall have a mother too. Mine shall be yours also. Come, let us mount; +it grows late. We have still many things to talk of." + +"Let us go," was all the hunter answered. + +The horses had not strayed from the neighbourhood of the _rancho_, near +which they found abundant pasturage: the men easily _lassoed_ them, and +five minutes later the friends rode side by side in the direction of +Don Estevan's dwelling. + +a Manuela was awaiting them at the entrance. She was smiling. + +"Make haste!" she cried, as soon as she perceived them; "the _angelus_ +has rung an hour ago. It is supper time." + +"Which means to say, mother, that we are dying with hunger," replied +her son, dismounting; "so, if you have not prepared an ample meal, you +run great risk of leaving our appetites unappeased." + +"No fear of that, Estevan. I thought you would arrive in some such +condition; so I took my precautions." + +"Can you forgive me, madam," said the bee-hunter, "for making this +fresh inroad on your hospitality?" + +The mistress of the house smiled kindly. + +"I am so ready to forgive you, seor," said she, "that, feeling +convinced we should have you a long time with us, I have myself +arranged your _cuarto_ (quarters)." + +Don Fernando did not reply at once: a lively blush overspread his +features; he dismounted, and approaching the old lady: + +"Seora," said he, much affected, "I know not how to thank you; you +have guessed the dearest wish of my heart. Your son calls me brother: +would you deign to permit me to call you mother? How happy it would +make me!" + +a Manuela fixed upon him a long and steadfast gaze: her face exhibited +tokens of vivid emotion; two tears coursed slowly down her pallid +cheeks. Then, stretching out her hand to the hunter, she said: + +"Be it so! Instead of one, I have now two children. Come, my sons, +supper is waiting." + +"My name is Fernando, mother." + +"I will not forget it," was her smiling answer. They entered the +dwelling, while some _peones_ led away the horses to the _corral_. + +Don Fernando had not deceived his friend; he had in truth given him a +mother. + +The meal proceeded with the cheerfulness to be expected from three +persons who, although strangers three days before, had suddenly +understood and appreciated each other: that is to say, it was gay and +cordial. No allusion was made to the impromptu band which had linked +them together so intimately and unexpectedly. + +As soon as the _peones_ had retired, and their masters found themselves +alone, they left the table, and betook themselves, as on the previous +day, to an inner room, where, sheltered from prying eyes and ears, they +ran no risk of having their conversation overheard, commented on, and +perhaps reported. + +"Shut the door," said Don Estevan to Don Fernando, who was the last to +enter. + +"Not so," replied the latter; "we will leave it open: by this means we +shall both see and hear anyone who may come near us. Take this as a +general rule: never close the door when you have secrets to tell." + +Don Estevan drew forward some _butacas_ (seats), sat down, lit his +cigarette, and turning to the hunter, said: + +"Now for our talk!" + +There are certain situations in life where the most insignificant word +becomes of the greatest importance. So, when Don Estevan said, "Now for +our talk!" each of the three felt that the conversation to ensue would +not be confined to the limits of pleasant chat, but would almost assume +the proportions of a congress with closed doors, so extremely grave +were the matters which would be propounded. + +It was Don Fernando who first commenced the conversation in the decided +and clear manner which was habitual to him. + +"My friend, I have pondered deeply on what you told me today: you would +never have intrusted such an important secret to me, if grave reasons +had not induced you. I think I have divined your reasons; they are +these: the tranquillity which Don Pedro has enjoyed since he lived here +is menaced; you dread evil to Doa Hermosa. Are these your motives, or +am I mistaken?" + +"You are not. In fact, I have for some time past been oppressed by +a vague fear, a secret apprehension, I cannot subdue; I feel, as it +were, the approach of some misfortune, without knowing whence or how it +will come. Doubtless you know better than I can tell you, that in all +men's lives certain dark hours occur, in which the brave man trembles +without apparent cause, like a child afraid of its own shadow. All +things alarm, all things excite suspicion. Well, my friend, for the +last two months I have lived these dark hours: an invincible sadness +overpowers me. In a word, I am living in fear, without knowing why; +for all around me takes its usual course: Don Pedro is as calm, Doa +Hermosa as gay, as lively, and as free from care as ever; we live +in this out-of-the-way corner of the world entirely ignorant of its +doings; the rumours of society die without an echo on our threshold. +What have we, then, to fear? Who is the enemy that lies in wait for +us, and whose savage eye watches us night and day? I know not; but I +repeat, I feel him; I see him, as it were, without being really able to +discover him." + +"You know your enemy now, as well as I do. It is the Tigercat. The +conversation you overheard last night between him and myself must have +enlightened you as to his intention, if not as to his plans." + +"True; but, nevertheless, my mind refuses to admit that this man can +really be our enemy. As there can be no effects without causes, so +there can be no hate without a reason. Since Don Pedro's arrival in +this country, he has never come in contact with this man at home or +abroad, for good or for evil. Why, then, should he wish ill to my +master?" + +"Why! Why!" repeated the hunter, with feverish impatience. "Why does +day follow night? Why are there good and bad men? Why rascals and +honest people? The inquiry would lead you too far, my good friend. +I know as well as you that none of you have ever come in contact +with the Tigercat. It is impossible to doubt it; but what does that +signify? This man is a gloomy miscreant, the greater portion of whose +life is spent in doing evil for mere evil's sake. Don Pedro is loved +and honoured by all who know him; Doa Hermosa is respected even by +the Apaches,--the most ferocious redskins of the prairie; hence, most +likely, the hatred he bears to the family of the _hacendero_. In +such a man's eyes, no one has the right to be good and honest with +impunity; it is an obvious necessity that all loyal hearts should be +his natural enemies. A man, however low he may have fallen, can never +forget his frightful downfall, or the position from which his crimes +have hurled him; he cannot forgive the world his own abasement; but as +he cannot avenge himself upon it in the mass, he wages war upon it in +detail, attacking all those within his reach, and taking his revenge +on them for fault she has himself committed. Here lies the sole cause +of Tigercat's hatred of Don Pedro; seek no further reason; no other +exists." + +"Yes; you are right," answered Don Estevan uneasily; "it must be as you +say." + +"Of course it is! Trust in me, who have known the monster so long, as +it is he who brought me up. But enough of this: what do you intend to +do, now we have clearly ascertained our position?" + +"I confess I find myself greatly embarrassed, and know not how to +extricate myself from the dilemma--how to upset plans the aim of which +is beyond my ken; how to thwart projects tending to an unknown end. +There lies the difficulty for me." + +"I think it would be by far the best course to leave the family in +complete ignorance of our suspicions," said a Manuela. + +"Say rather our conviction, seora," replied Don Fernando. "But in +this matter I am quite of your opinion: it will be easy for us to +guard Don Pedro and his daughter so secretly that they shall not dream +of the danger which threatens them. Then, if the position grows too +complicated, we shall not be in want of pretexts to oblige them to keep +watch over their own safety." + +"Oh, yes!" exclaimed Don Estevan excitedly; + +"It is most important that they should entertain no suspicion, +particularly Doa Hermosa, who is so sensitive. Poor child; if our +fears prove true, she will learn to know misfortune too soon. Come, +Fernando, counsel us; you are the only one who can aid us in this +trying emergency." + +"I will do all a man can do to save those you love." + +"Thanks. But why not save those whom you love yourself? You have +already rendered them an inestimable service." + +"Alas, my friend!" said the hunter, with a sigh; "What am I, the +miserable adventurer, that I should lift my thoughts so high? I am +nothing more; and can only play the part of the honest watchdog, who +saves his master and dies at his feet." + +He spoke these words in accents of so much sadness and humility, that +Don Estevan and his mother, moved to tears, with one accord seized his +hands, and pressed them affectionately. + +"Do not speak thus, brother," exclaimed the _mayor domo_; "you do not +know Doa Hermosa as we do: a more upright heart, a purer or nobler +soul, does not exist: she loves you." + +"Ah," said Don Fernando with emotion, "do not utter the word. Doa +Hermosa--love me--me! It is impossible." + +"Doa Hermosa is a woman, my good friend; you saved her life. I do not +positively know the nature of her sentiments towards you,--it is very +likely they are inexplicable to herself,--but I am convinced of her +gratitude to you; and in a young girl gratitude soon merges into love." + +"Silence, Estevan!" cried the old lady, interrupting him; "Such words +must not be used when speaking of your master's daughter." + +"Very true, mother; forgive me; I was wrong. But had you heard Doa +Hermosa speaking of our friend as I did, and exacting from me a promise +to search for and bring him to her,--_vive Dios!_ you would not know +what to think." + +"Perhaps so; but, at all events, I should not have poured oil upon +the flame, and, for my own sake and that of my friend, should have +prudently locked up my thoughts at the bottom of my heart." + +"Do not think me so mad, seora," exclaimed Don Fernando, "as to attach +more importance than they deserve to your son's words. I know too well +what I am--I have too complete a conviction of my inferiority--to dare +to raise my venturous eyes to her whom honour compels me to respect as +one of the angels." + +"Well said, Don Fernando, and spoken as a man should speak," broke +in a Manuela; "but let us drop the subject, and occupy ourselves in +finding the means of escape from the dilemma we are in." + +"I think," replied the hunter, with some hesitation--"I think I can +show you the means, if you cannot contrive something better." + +Mother and son eagerly drew their _butacas_ nearer to him, in order to +listen more attentively. + +"Speak, brother, speak," cried Don Estevan; "let us have no further +delay. These means, what are they?" + +"You must excuse me," resumed Don Fernando, "if the plan I am about to +submit to you should not be exactly compatible with the strict laws of +honour as they are understood in the civilised world; but I entreat you +to recollect that I have been brought up as a redskin; that the man +with whom we are about to enter into mortal strife is more than half +an Indian; and the war he intends to wage with you will be an Apache +war, full of treachery and ambuscades; that, in order to meet him with +advantage, we too, whatever repugnance we may feel, must employ the +same measures,--must turn his own weapons against himself; must repel +treachery by treachery, and knavery by knavery; for if, adhering to +a false idea of honour, we persist in an open and honest warfare, we +shall play the part of fools indeed, and he will outwit us." + +"What you say, Fernando," replied the _mayor domo_, "is unfortunately +but too true. The proverb is right, 'Cap a knave with a knave.' I +perfectly understand the bearing and the justice of your reasoning, yet +I confess that it is hard for an honest man, accustomed to look his +enemies in the face, to be forced to wrap himself in a fox's hide, and +condescend to stratagem when his heart leads him to attack openly." + +"But what can we do? This is one of the sad necessities of our +position. If we do not act in this wise, we may as well submit to our +foe as attempt to thwart his measures; for we should fail." + +"Let it be as you wish, since there is no other method; but now for +your plan." + +"It is this: notwithstanding the disagreement between myself and the +Tigercat, he has allowed me to dive too deep into his confidence--too +many of his secrets are known to me--for him to exhibit any rancour +against me, whatever anger he may feel. Accustomed for a number of +years to mould me to his will, and rule over me as he pleased, he +thinks he knows my character thoroughly, and is persuaded that my +dispute with him was only an outbreak of temper, and that nothing would +please me more than to place myself once again under his guidance. +Finally, like all men who have through long years cherished a chimera, +the Tigercat--who, I am convinced, has only fostered me and suffered me +in his presence for the sake of making me useful in one of his infernal +plots--will allow himself, shrewd as he is, to be overreached by me, if +I choose to take the trouble." + +"All this sounds plausible enough," observed Don Estevan. + +"I think it does. Well, then, listen to my proposal. At daybreak +tomorrow you and I will leave for the _presidio_, where I will put you +into communication with a certain rogue of my acquaintance, who is as +much devoted to me as people of his sort can be. This _pcaro_ will +serve you as an agent: through him we shall learn all the Tigercat is +doing at San Lucar with the _leperos_ he is enrolling for some sinister +purpose. We will then part: you to return quietly to this place; I to +rejoin the Tigercat in the prairies. In this way, whatever happens will +reach our ears. This is my project; what do you think of it?" + +"It is capital, Fernando; you have thought of everything." + +"But remember three things: first of all, whatever I may do or say, +whatever measures you may see me try, do not take offence at them; +leave me complete master of my actions, and never for a moment suspect +that I intend to betray you." + +"Have no uneasiness on that score; I will put no faith in the testimony +of my eyes or ears: my confidence in you shall be unalterable. And now +for your next remark." + +"You will instantly comprehend its importance. As soon as we have left +the _presidio_, we must be as strangers; we must know nothing of each +other." + +"It is indeed an important piece of advice, and I will take care to +follow it; the consequences of a single mistake would be incalculably +disastrous to us." + +"Lastly, be ready to act at the first signal, be it by night or day. +Never mind what you may be doing; leave everything instantly to assume +the offensive the moment the signal is given." + +"Good. After tomorrow, on the pretence of having certain urgent work +to be carried out at the _hacienda_, I will quietly enlist a score of +_leperos_,--hairbrained fellows,--who for gold will obey me blindly +and recoil before no danger." + +"The very thing! You can easily employ them here in doing nothing till +the time comes for the use of knife and rifle." + +"I will be answerable that no one shall make a single inquiry +concerning them. But what sort of token will you send me, and through +whom will you send it?" + +"The token will be a white eagle's plume broken into three pieces, and +with the quill painted red. He who brings the plume will only say the +words, 'My two piastres.' You will give them to him without remark, and +send him away again." + +"But who is the man, Fernando?" + +"He will be a stranger; most likely the first man I happen to meet. +It is requisite that the messenger should not suspect the importance +of the message he conveys, should he chance to fall into the enemy's +hands." + +"Well reasoned! Come, come, I think we shall get through this business +successfully." + +"As for me, I am sure of it," exclaimed Don Fernando, "if you will only +follow my instructions to the letter." + +"Do not be anxious on that score, brother; I will answer for my +accuracy." + +Everything having been thus arranged and decided on by our three +personages, they separated and retired to rest, for it was already +late, and the two men were to mount at daybreak to take the road to the +_presidio_ of San Lucar. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE VIRGIN FOREST. + + +Don Torribio Quiroga, with whom we have now to do, was a young man of +twenty-eight, with a refined and intellectual countenance, an elegant +figure, and possessing in the highest degree the manners of the best +society. + +He belonged to one of the richest and most considerable families in +the province of Chihuahua: the death of his parents had put him in +possession of an income of more than five hundred thousand piastres, or +about ninety thousand pounds sterling; for money is plentiful in that +country. + +A man in this position, and gifted with all the mental and physical +advantages enjoyed by Don Torribio, had a right to very high +pretensions; for, a certain amount of fortune once reached, obstacles +no longer exist, or, at least, are only an excitement instead of an +impediment. + +Don Torribio had succeeded in all his undertakings, with one exception: +his struggle against Don Fernando,--a struggle in which the latter had +always come off victorious. + +Thus the hatred the rich _hacendero_ felt for the bee-hunter, and which +was originally based upon puerile motives, had insensibly increased +with each successive mortification, and ended at last by assuming the +alarming proportions of real Mexican hate, which only the death of its +object can appease. + +After the meeting with Don Fernando Carril, which resulted so +unfavourably for him, Don Torribio Quiroga remained a prey to that cold +and concentrated rage which slowly eats into the soul till it explodes +with terrific violence. + +As soon as he lost sight of his lucky adversary, he had started at full +speed. His spurs mangled the flanks of his luckless horse, who snorted +with pain, and redoubled his furious pace. + +Now, where was Don Torribio going, with distorted features and hair +streaming to the wind? + +He did not know himself; moreover, he did not care. + +He saw nothing, heard nothing. Revolving sinister projects in his +brain, he crossed torrents and ravines without checking his horse's +career. + +Hatred was crying aloud in his heart; nothing cooled his burning +forehead; his temples beat as if they would burst, and nervous +agitation shook him in every limb. + +This state of overexcitement lasted many hours. His steed still +continued to fly. At last the noble animal, worn out with fatigue, +suddenly stopped and dropped upon the sand. + +Don Torribio rose, and looked around him with a bewildered air. + +A shock like this rude fall was necessary to restore order to his +ideas, and recall him to reality. Another hour of such continued +anguish would have made him raving mad, or ended in sudden apoplexy. + +It was night. Thick darkness covered the earth; a mournful silence +reigned over the wilderness to which chance had brought him. + +"Where am I?" he exclaimed, endeavouring to make out his position. + +But the moon, hidden by clouds, gave forth no ray; the wind began to +roar like thunder; the branches of the trees crashed against each +other, and, from the depths of the wilderness, the growlings of the +wild beast began to mingle their deep notes with the sharper howling of +the wild cats. + +Don Torribio strained his eyes in vain efforts to penetrate the +darkness around him. At last he approached his horse, which was +stretched on the ground, and drawing its breath with difficulty. Moved +with pity for the faithful companion of so many adventures, he stooped +down, removed his pistols from the holsters to his belt, and taking +from the saddle, where it was slung, a gourd filled with rum, began +to wash the eyes, nostrils, and mouth of the panting animal. Half an +hour's persistence seemed to restore life to the horse. He got on his +legs, and, with his natural instinct, soon discovered a neighbouring +rill, at which he slaked his thirst. + +"All is not yet lost," muttered Don Torribio; "after all, I may make my +escape hence." + +But a deep roar resounded at a short distance, repeated immediately +afterwards in four different directions. + +The horse's coat stood on end; and Don Torribio felt a cold shudder run +through his veins. + +"Curse upon it!" he exclaimed; "I have stumbled upon a drinking place +for panthers! What is to be done?" + +He stooped, and found the confirmation of his fears in the footprints +stamped in the muddy borders of the rill. + +Just at this moment he saw, at ten paces from him, two eyes, glimmering +like burning coals, fixed upon him with strange intensity. + +Don Torribio was a man of well-tried courage. Many a time, before the +eyes of his comrades, he had performed deeds of wonderful temerity; but +now, alone in the darkness, and surrounded by savage animals, he felt +himself overcome by deadly terror: his chest heaved, and his breath +came and went with difficulty through his set teeth; a cold sweat broke +out on his limbs, and he was on the point of dropping. + +But this fit of terror did not last above a minute. By a violent effort +of his will, he collected himself, and calling all his energy to his +aid, prepared for a desperate struggle, in which he knew he must +succumb; yet, preserving that instinct of self-preservation and hope +which is seldom utterly extinguished in man, he determined to defend +his life to the last moment. + +Just then his horse, with a snort of horrible fear, bounded away, and +made his escape on to the plain. + +"So much the better," muttered Don Torribio; "perhaps the poor brute's +speed may save him." + +A frightful concert of yells and howling broke out in all parts +of the forest at the flight of the horse, and mighty shadows, +indistinguishable in the darkness, bounded past Don Torribio. + +He smiled bitterly. + +"Aha!" said he; "Shall I stand here to be devoured, without attempting +to escape? _Vive Dios!_ It would be the act of a fool! Come, I am not +eaten yet: I will go." + +A violent gust of wind here cleared the heaven of clouds, and for some +minutes the wan light of the moon lit up the wild spot, in which Don +Torribio found himself. + +A few paces off, the Rio del Norte ran between two steep banks; on all +sides, and far away in the distance, the dense masses of the virgin +forest extended themselves. A chaos of rocks piled on each other in +inextricable confusion, from whose fissures rose clumps of trees +overgrown with entangled creepers drooping in fantastic garlands, +pushed its ramifications to the verge of the river; the soil, composed +of sand and the detritus always abounding in the forests of America, +crumbled under the footstep. + +Then Don Torribio knew where he was: at least fifteen leagues from +the nearest inhabited spot. He was entangled in the first spurs of an +immense forest--the only one throughout the country of the Apaches +which the hardy pioneers of civilization had not yet dared to explore, +such mysterious horrors seemed concealed in its dark recesses. + +Don Torribio took no pains to inquire how his headlong course had +brought him to this dreaded region. Danger so frightful that it claimed +the exertion of all his powers, hung too directly over his head for him +to waste time in speculating on anything save the manner of extricating +himself. + +At this side, the limpid steam we have mentioned issued from a rock; +its banks, impressed with numberless footprints of wild beasts, clearly +indicating that the spot was a favourite drinking place, when, at +sunset, they left their lairs to seek their food and quench their +thirst. And as a further living proof of the fact, two magnificent +jaguars, male and female, had at that very moment stopped at its +border, and were watching with restless eyes the gambols of their young. + +"So," said Don Torribio to himself, "here are pleasant neighbours;" and +he mechanically cast his eyes on the other side. + +An immense panther, crouched on a rock in the attitude of a cat on the +watch, had fixed on him two eyeballs glowing like carbuncle. + +Don Torribio, according to the custom in South America, never left home +without his weapons. His carbine, of great price, was of remarkable +accuracy, and by a providential chance, had not been broken when he +fell with his horse. He had placed it as he rose against a rock beside +him: he stretched out his arm, and seized it. + +"Good!" said he, with a grim smile; "The struggle will cost them dear, +at all events." + +He shouldered the weapon; but at the moment he was about to fire, a +plaintive caterwauling causing him to raise his eyes, he saw a dozen of +catamounts and tiger cats of immense size perched in the branches above +him, while a number of wolves crept stealthily up and dropped down in +the bushes behind him. Poised on the summits of the surrounding rocks, +a tribe of vultures, bald buzzards, and _urubus_, with half closed +eyes, seemed to be expecting the moment to seize their share of the +quarry. + +With one bound, Don Torribio threw himself on to an angle of the rock, +and from thence, by aid of his hands and knees, he contrived, in the +course of a minute or two, to drag himself with enormous difficulty, +to a kind of terrace, about twenty feet above the ground. Here he felt +himself in comparative security for a time. + +The horrible concert performed by the denizens of the forest, attracted +one after another by the keenness of their scent, increased in volume +with every minute, and had now reached such a pitch, that it drowned +the roar of the wind which was raging through the ravines and +clearings. + +The moon had disappeared behind the clouds, and Don Torribio was once +more enveloped in darkness. But if he could no longer distinguish the +wild beasts, he knew they were there: he smelt their odour; he saw +their eyes flashing through the obscurity; and their yells, nearing him +more and more, made him feel that the last spark of hope would soon be +extinguished for ever. + +Firmly planting his feet on the ground and leaning a little forward +to secure his aim, he drew a revolver, and fired six shots in rapid +succession at the tiger cats. Six howls of agony, and the noise +produced by falling from branch to branch, immediately followed. Six of +the beasts were killed or wounded. + +Nothing more horrible can be conceived than the uproar caused by this +unexpected onslaught. The wolves threw themselves yelling on the +victims, which they began to devour eagerly, disputing their booty with +the vultures and _zopilotes_, who also claimed their share. + +Suddenly there was a strange rustling amongst the leaves and branches +of the trees. A body, of indistinguishable shape, shot through the air, +and alighted growling on the platform. Don Torribio, clutching his +rifle, dealt the animal a terrific blow with the butt on the skull, and +the brute rolled howling from the top of the rock to the bottom. + +And now his ears were stunned by the uproar arising from a dreadful +combat, a few feet below him, between the jaguars and tiger cats on +one side, and the panther which had attacked them. Fascinated by the +terrible danger to which he was exposed, Don Torribio, forgetful of the +evil consequences to him that might ensue, fired two pistol shots into +the mass of foes tearing and rushing at each other's throats at his +feet. + +Thereupon a strange thing occurred: all these animals, natural enemies +to each other, seemed to comprehend that it would be better to unite +against man, their common foe, than waste their strength in strife +among themselves. Suddenly ceasing from the terrible combat in which +they were engaged, and abandoning, with one accord, the bloody and +half-devoured bodies of the victims, they turned their rage in the +direction of the rock on which Don Torribio seemed to set them at +defiance, and attacked it in concert with terrific energy--leaping upon +its excrescences, striving to hold on to them, and trying to escalade +it on all sides at once. + +The situation grew more and more critical. Several tiger cats had +already bounded on to the platform. As fast as Don Torribio knocked +them over, others took their place. The number of his enemies increased +with every minute; his own strength and energy were gradually deserting +him. + +This strife of one man against a host of ferocious brutes had something +grand and striking about it. Don Torribio, like one with the nightmare, +strove in vain to beat back the constantly renewed crowds of his +assailants: he felt close to him the hot and fetid breath of the tiger +cats and panthers; the roaring of the jaguars, and mocking moans of the +panthers, poured into his ears a frightful song, that deafened and made +him giddy; the eyes of thousands of his invisible foes flashed through +the obscurity, and fascinated his own gaze; and sometimes the heavy +wing of the vulture or _zopilote_ brushed his cheek, from which the +cold sweat exuded. + +An accurate perception of his own existence had vanished from his soul; +he no longer thought: his life, if we may still use the expression, had +grown mechanical; his motions and gestures were those of a machine, and +his arm rose and fell with the dull regularity of a pendulum. + +Talons had already torn his flesh; several catamounts, rushing upon +him, had fastened on his throat, and he had been obliged to seize them +bodily to force them to quit their hold. His blood was streaming from +twenty wounds, superficial, it is true; but the moment was close at +hand when the energy which alone sustained him would be worn out, and +he would fall from the rock, to be torn in pieces by the brutes who +were ever pressing more madly upon him. + +At this solemn moment, when strength and courage were alike failing, +a last cry issued from his breast--a cry of agony, a cry of horrible +expression, which was repeated far and wide by the echoes: the last, +the final protest of a bold man, who owns himself vanquished, and +instinctively calls on his kind for succour before he falls. + +Wonderful to relate, a cry answered his own! + +Don Torribio, astonished, and not daring to believe that a miracle +was to take place in a wilderness where none before himself had dared +to penetrate, fancied his ears had deceived him; yet, confessing to +himself how little strength was still left him, and feeling hope +faintly reviving in his soul, he uttered a second cry, more poignant, +more help-seeking than the former. + +As soon as the echoes of the forest were silent after their repetition +of the cry, a single word, weak as a sigh, was borne to his listening +ears on the wings of the breeze: "Hope!" + +Don Torribio recovered himself. Electrified by the word, he seemed +to regain new life and strength, and redoubled his strokes on his +numberless assailants. + +Suddenly the gallop of many horses was heard in the distance, several +discharges of firearms illumined the darkness with their transient +splendour, and some men, or rather demons, rushed unexpectedly into the +thickest crowd of wild beasts, making a horrible slaughter. + +At this moment Don Torribio, attacked by two tiger cats, rolled upon +the platform struggling with both. + +In a very short time the brutes were put to flight by the newcomers, +who hastened to light fires to keep them at bay for the rest of the +night. + +Two of the men armed with burning torches of ocote wood, set themselves +to search for the man whose cries of distress had brought them to his +aid. + +They were not long in finding him stretched out on the platform, +surrounded by ten or twelve dead tiger cats, and clutching in his +stiffened hands the throat of a strangled catamount. + +"Well, Carlocho," exclaimed a voice, "have you found him?" + +"Yes," replied the other; "but he seems dead." + +"_Caray!_" resumed Pablito; "It would be a pity; for he was a bold +fellow. Where is he?" + +"There; on the rock opposite you." + +"Can you let him down with the _verado's_ help?" + +"Nothing easier; he is as still as a log." + +"Make haste, then, in the name of heaven!" said Pablito; "Every +minute's delay may be a year's life stolen from him!" + +Carlocho and the _verado_ lifted Don Torribio by the feet and +shoulders, and with infinite precaution carried him from the improvised +fortress he had defended so bravely to one of the fires, and laid him +on a bed of leaves prepared by El Zapote; for the four _vaqueros_ were, +by a strange chance, reunited in this spot. + +"_Canarios!_" cried Pablito, at sight of the miserable man; "Poor +devil! How they have mauled him! It was high time for help." + +"Do you think he will recover?" asked Carlocho, with great interest. + +"There is always hope," said Pablito dogmatically, "when the vital +organs are uninjured. Let us look at him." + +He bent over the body of Don Torribio, unsheathed his poniard, and put +the blade to his lips. + +"Not a sign of breath!". and he shook his head. + +"Are his wounds serious?" asked the _verado_. + +"I think not: he has fallen from fatigue and overexcitement." + +"But in that case he may come round again?" + +"Perhaps he may; perhaps he may not: all depends upon the greater or +less violence of the shock to his nervous system." + +"Ha!" exclaimed the _verado_ joyfully; "Look here! He breathes. _Vive +Dios!_ He has tried to open his eyes!" + +"Then he is saved!" replied Pablito; "He will soon come to his senses. +This man has a constitution of iron. He will be able to be in the +saddle in a quarter of an hour, if he likes; but we must attend to his +wounds." + +The _vaqueros_, like the backwoodsmen, live far from inhabited places; +and are obliged to be their own doctors; hence they acquire a certain +practical knowledge of surgery, and are adepts in the collection and +application of the herbs in use among the Indians. + +Pablito, aided by Carlocho and the _verado_, bathed the wounds of Don +Torribio, first with water, then with rum, and blew tobacco smoke into +his nostrils. + +The latter, after some minutes of this strange treatment, uttered a +scarcely perceptible sigh, moved his lips slightly, and at last opened +his eyes, which as yet had no consciousness in them. + +"He is saved!" repeated Pablito; "Now let us leave nature to work: she +is the best doctor I know." + +Don Torribio raised himself up, supporting himself on one elbow, and +passed his hand across his forehead, as if to recall his thoughts. + +"Who are you?" he said in a feeble tone. + +"Friends, seor; fear nothing." + +"I am killed; my limbs are all broken." + +"It is nothing to signify, seor; it is only fatigue: you are as well +as we are?" + +Don Torribio sat up and looked attentively at the men who surrounded +him. + +"I must be mistaken," said he; "I never expected to find you here. By +what miracle did you reach me in time to save me?--you, whom I promised +to meet at a rendezvous so far from the spot where we are?" + +"It was your horse performed the miracle, seor," said the _verado_. + +"How is that?" asked Don Torribio, whose voice grew stronger every +moment, and who had already managed to stand up. + +"The case is very simple. We were skirting the forest, on our road +to the place you had pointed out to us, when suddenly a horse passed +across us at a giddy speed, a pack of wolves at his heels. We soon +relieved him from his incarnate foes. Then, as we thought it unlikely +for a saddled horse to be all alone in a forest into which none dare +venture, we set out in search of his rider. Your cry was our pilot." + +"Thanks!" replied Don Torribio; "I shall know how to repay the debt I +have contracted with you." + +"Nonsense! That is not worth speaking of. Come! here is your horse; we +can go as soon as you like." + +Don Torribio held up his hand. + +"Stay here," said he; "we shall find no more suitable place than this +to discuss what we have got to say to each other." + + + + +Chapter III. + +DON TORRIBIO QUIROGA. + + +There was a long silence after these words of Don Torribio. The +_vaqueros_, with their eyes fixed on him, endeavoured to guess his +thoughts from the play of his features. But Don Torribio's face, cold +and rigid as a block of marble, gave no signs of the thoughts within. +At last, after casting a glance of suspicion around, more from habit +than from any fear of being overheard, he rolled a cigarette, lit it +with the greatest coolness, and began to speak in a careless tone. + +"My good _verado_, I am truly sorry that you have taken these +honourable _caballeros_ from their vocations, and put yourself to +inconvenience, in order to repair to the place I had appointed." + +"Why so, seor?" asked the _verado_, perfectly puzzled by this +commencement. + +"For a very simple reason, seor,--because the motives no longer exist +which induced me to wish to confer with you." + +"What!" cried all the rogues together; "Can that be possible?" + +"Oh, yes!" he replied coolly; "All things considered, Don Fernando +Carril is a charming _caballero_. I should be in despair if I caused +him the slightest inconvenience." + +"_Diablo!_ not quite so charming!" observed the verado; "The fellow who +ordered Carlocho to kill me quietly!" + +"It was not to me, dear friend," said Carlocho, with great suavity, +"but to Don Pablito here, that Seor Don Fernando gave the order." + +"You are right; I made a mistake. Accept my excuses, seor." + +After this exchange of courtesy, the two bandits again grew silent. + +"An honest man sticks to his word," said Tonillo; "and if Don Torribio +has changed his mind, we have nothing more to say. That reminds me," he +added, with a smothered sigh, "that I must refund to you two hundred +piastres, which you advanced to--" + +"Keep the trifle, dear seor," said Don Torribio; "the money cannot be +in better hands than yours." + +The _vaquero_, who had pulled the coins from his pocket with evident +reluctance, thrust them back again with a celerity that evinced the +greatest satisfaction. + +"It is all the same," said he; "I do not consider myself quits with +you, seor. I am an honest man, and you may rely upon me." + +"On us all!" exclaimed the others in one voice. + +"I thank you for your devotion, seores, and appreciate it highly. +Unfortunately, as I say once more, it is of no use to me." + +"It is unfortunate," said the _verado_; "one does not find such patrons +as you every day, seor." + +"Pooh!" said he gaily; "Now you are free, what prevents your placing +yourselves under the orders of Don Fernando? He is very generous; a +_caballero_ to the tips of his fingers: I am sure he will pay you well." + +"I suppose it will have to be so, seor," said Pablito; "moreover, we +can now confess that we have already been thinking of it, and--" + +"Have already taken service with him," said Don Torribio carelessly. "I +was aware of it." + +"You know it?" cried the bandits, struck with astonishment. + +"And are not vexed at it?" continued Pablito. + +"Why should I be? On the contrary, I am delighted. It is a strange +chance; but perhaps you will be even better able to serve me by the +change." + +"Indeed!" said they, becoming very attentive. + +"Certainly you may. So you really are devoted to me?" + +"To the last drop of our blood!" shouted the _vaqueros_ in touching +unison. + +"You do not despise money?" + +"Money can never hurt those who have none," replied the sententious +Pablito. + +"When it is earned honourably," added Tonillo with a grin like a monkey. + +"I agree with you," said Don Torribio; "particularly when it is a +question of a hundred ounces or so," (about three hundred and forty +pounds sterling). + +The bandits trembled with joy, and their wild eyes sparkled. They +exchanged looks of promise to themselves for the future, which did not +escape Don Torribio's observation. + +"_Caray!_" they muttered, hugging themselves with joy. + +"So that would suit you, I suppose?" + +"_Rayo de Dios!_ a hundred ounces! I should think so," said Pablito. + +"There may be more," observed Don Torribio. + +"But doubtless it will be a difficult job," the _verado_ ventured to +say. + +"_Dame!_ You know, things are going wrong at present." + +"No need to tell us that, seor; the misery is frightful." + +"Perhaps there may be a man to kill?" insinuated Carlocho. + +"That might happen!" roundly replied Don Torribio. + +"So much the worse for him," muttered Pablito. + +"Then the offer is agreeable to you, even in that case?" + +"More so than ever," growled Tonillo. + +"Since that is your opinion, _caballeros_, listen attentively," said +Don Torribio, drawing himself up; "I have pledged my honour," he began, +"to make no attempts against Don Fernando Carril, either directly or +indirectly." + +"An honest man sticks to his word," said Tonillo. + +"And I intend to keep mine scrupulously, as regards Don Fernando." + +The _vaqueros_ made signs of approbation. + +"But," continued the speaker, "you know as well as I do that Don +Fernando is a man made of mysteries, whose life lies hidden under an +impenetrable veil." + +"Alas, yes!" piteously sighed Tonillo. + +"No one knows what becomes of him for the greater part of his time: he +disappears for months together, to start up again at the moment when +one least expects him." + +"It is but too true," said Pablito; "the life of the _caballero_ is +most extraordinary." + +"To how many dangers he must expose himself," continued Don Torribio, +"in those perilous adventures, of which no one knows the object, nor +the direction in which he seeks them!" + +"It is terrible even to think of them," said Carlocho, with an air of +conviction. + +"One so easily meets with mishap in the wilderness," added the _verado_. + +"Without going further, only look what might have happened to yourself +tonight, seor!" said Tonillo, looking interested. + +"It is dreadful," exclaimed Pablito. + +"You will clearly understand, seores," resumed Don Torribio, "that I +can by no means be responsible for the numberless accidents to which +Don Fernando's manner of life exposes him at every step." + +"This is incontestable," cried the others. + +"Chance seems to take malignant pleasure in deranging and upsetting +the best conceived plans; and it is impossible for me to save him from +chance, even with the lively interest I take in his safety." + +"There can be no doubt on that head," said Pablito, dogmatically; "and +certainly not a soul would have the right to utter a word of reproach +against you, seor, should poor Don Fernando be killed in one of his +perilous adventures." + +"Exactly what I think; but as I am now no longer the enemy, but the +friend of Don Fernando, and in that capacity take the greatest interest +in knowing all that may happen to him, so that I might fly to his aid +if necessary--" + +"Or avenge him, if ill luck should have it that he should be killed," +said Carlocho, interrupting him. + +"I should like," continued Don Torribio, "to be constantly apprised of +whatever may happen to him." + +"Oh, holy friendship!" exclaimed Tonillo, raising his eyes to heaven +with a sanctified air; "Thou art not a mere idle word!" + +"_Caballeros_, you could not be in a better position for giving me +information; and as all trouble should have its reward, you shall +receive at least one hundred ounces to share amongst you, or two +hundred, according to the news you may bring me. You understand?" + +"Perfectly, seor," replied Carlocho, with imperturbable composure, in +the name of his deeply touched companions; "the office you confide to +us is most honourable. You may rely on our carrying out your views to +your utmost satisfaction." + +"Well, that is settled, seores; I rely upon the accuracy of your +information, for you must perceive the ridiculous position in which +a false report would place me in the eyes of Don Fernando's numerous +friends, whom I should be loth to disturb without good cause." + +"Trust entirely to us, seor; we will confirm our information by +irrefragable proof." + +"Good! I see we understand each other; it is useless to pursue the +matter further." + +"Perfectly useless, seor; we are men of quick comprehension." + +"Yes," said Don Torribio, smiling; "but, as your memories may be short, +do me the honour of dividing these ten ounces amongst you,--not as the +earnest--money of a bargain, for there is no bargain between us, but +as a return for the service you have just done me, and as a means of +imprinting our conversation on your brains." + +The _vaqueros_, without waiting to be pressed, extended their hands, +and, with smiling faces, pocketed the ounces so liberally bestowed. + +"Now, one word more, _caballeros:_ where are we?" + +"In the Selva Negra, seor," answered Pablito; "not more than four +leagues from the Hacienda del Cormillo, where Don Pedro de Luna and his +family are at present residing." + +Don Torribio started in astonishment. + +"What! Has Don Pedro left Las Norias de San Antonio?" + +"Yes, seor; since yesterday." + +"What a singular thing! El Cormillo is on the extreme verge of the +wilderness, in the midst of the Apaches: it is impossible to understand +it." + +"They say it was Doa Hermosa who wished for this change, of which +scarcely anybody has yet heard." + +"What an extraordinary whim! After the dangers to which she was exposed +only a few days ago, to come and brave the redskins on their own +territory!" + +"The _hacienda_ is strong, and perfectly safe from sudden assault." + +"True: yet the change of residence seems very incomprehensible. At +sunrise, I should be happy if you would do me the honour of serving me +as guides till I get within sight of the _hacienda_. It is important +that I should see Don Pedro without delay." + +"We shall be at your orders, seor, as soon as you please to depart," +answered Carlocho. + +The night was fleeting; and Don Torribio had need of repose to restore +his strength, exhausted by his late struggle for life. He rolled +himself in his _zarap_, stretched out his feet towards the fire, and +was soon asleep, in spite of the trouble that racked his mind. + +The _vaqueros_ followed his example, after drawing lots amongst +themselves as to who should watch over the common safety. + +The post fell to Carlocho: the others closed their eyes; and the +silence of the wilderness, which had just been so terribly disturbed, +resumed its empire. + +Night passed, without anything occurring to disturb the rest of these +guests of the forest. + +At sunrise the _vaqueros_ were up. After feeding and watering their +horses, they saddled them, and roused Don Torribio, announcing that the +hour of departure had arrived. + +The latter rose at once; and, after a short prayer uttered by them all, +the five men mounted, and left the clearing which had nearly proved so +fatal to one of them. + +The Hacienda del Cormillo may be looked upon as the advanced sentinel +of the _presidio_ of San Lucar; it is, without contradiction, the +richest and strongest position on the whole Indian frontier. It rises +on a kind of peninsula, three leagues in circumference, on which an +incalculable number of cattle pasture at liberty. We will not expatiate +much on the description of a dwelling in which only a few scenes of our +story are laid; we will confine ourselves to saying, that in the middle +of the _hacienda_ properly speaking, and perfectly secured behind the +massive fortifications, loopholed and bastioned, of the fortress (for +El Cormillo was certainly such), there stood a white house, small +indeed, but admirably arranged, pleasant and cheerful looking. At a +distance, the roof was half concealed by the branches of the trees +which covered it with their verdant foliage; from its windows, the eye +roamed on one side over the wilderness, on the other over the Rio del +Norte, which unrolled itself in the plain like a silver band, and was +lost to view in the blue distance of the horizon. + +The _vaqueros_, in company with Don Torribio, had struck into the +forest. For three hours their route led them along the banks of the Rio +Bravo del Norte, till they were opposite the Hacienda del Cormillo, +which dimly showed itself in the centre of one of those charming +oases created by the deposit of the river, and covered with groups of +willows, nopals, mesquites, orange and citron trees, and jasmines in +full flower, amongst the branches of which a whole host of birds of +varied plumage warbled unceasingly. + +Don Torribio halted, and turning towards his companions, who had +likewise stopped, addressed them: + +"I must leave you here; I thank you for the escort you have done me +the honour to give me. Your help is no longer needed. Return to your +avocations, seores; you know our agreement, and I reckon on your +punctuality." + +"Farewell, _caballero_," they replied, bowing ceremoniously to him; +"cast aside all anxiety as to the measures we are about to take." + +They turned the heads of their horses, made them enter the river as +if they intended to cross it, and soon vanished behind a rise in the +ground. Don Torribio remained alone. + +The families of Don Torribio and Don Pedro de Luna, both originally +Spanish, and connected by various ties in old times, had always lived +on a footing of great intimacy. The young man and the girl had almost +been brought up together. So, when her handsome cousin had come to bid +her adieu, and announce his departure for Europe, where he was to stay +a few years, in order to complete his education and acquire the manners +of the fashionable world, Doa Hermosa, then about twelve years old, +had felt sorry to lose him. They had loved each other from infancy, +unwittingly obeying the secret impulses of childhood, which is always +seeking for happiness. + +Don Torribio had left her, carrying his own love with him, and never +doubting that Doa Hermosa was preserving hers for him. + +On his return to Veracruz, after visiting the most celebrated places of +the civilized world, he had hastened to put his affairs in order, and +set out for San Lucar, burning with desire to meet her whom he loved +so dearly, and whom he had not seen for three years--his Hermosa, that +pretty child, who by this time, must have grown into a beautiful and +accomplished woman. + +The surprise and joy of Don Pedro and his daughter were extreme. +Hermosa was particularly happy, for, we must confess, she had thought +all day long of Don Torribio, and looked at him through the medium of +her recollections of childhood; yet at the same time she felt her heart +disturbed by mingled sensations of pain and pleasure. + +Don Torribio perceived it: he understood, or thought he understood, +that she still loved him; and his happiness was complete. + +"Come, children," the smiling father had said, "embrace each other; you +have my permission." + +Doa Hermosa, with many blushes, bent forward her forehead to Don +Torribio, who respectfully touched it with his lips. + +"Is that what you call kissing?" cried Don Pedro. "Come, come, no +hypocrisy; embrace each other frankly. Do not play the coquette, +Hermosa, because you are a pretty girl and he is a handsome fellow; and +you, Torribio, who have come upon us like a thunderbolt, without giving +warning, do you think to make me believe you have ridden many hundred +leagues, as fast as your horse could carry you, to see me? I know for +whom you come all the way from Veracruz to San Lucar! You love each +other. Give each other an honest kiss, like betrothed lovers as you +are; and if you are wise, you will be married offhand." + +The young people, melted by his kind words and pleasant humour, threw +themselves into the arms of the venerable man, to hide the depth of +their emotion. + +In consequence of this reception, Don Torribio had been formally +acknowledged as having a claim to the hand of Doa Hermosa, and in that +capacity was received by her. + +We must do the girl the justice to say, that she sincerely believed she +loved her cousin. The ties of relationship, their childish friendship, +and the long separation, which had increased the warmth of their +feelings, disposed her to think favourably of the marriage proposed by +her father. She awaited the day fixed for her espousals without any +degree of impatience, and looked forward with a kind of pleasurable +hope to the time when she would be indissolubly united to him. + +Although such an assertion will most likely make many of our readers +cry "Fie!" upon us, we will nevertheless maintain that a young girl's +first passion is rarely genuine love. Her second love originates in +the heart; the first only in the brain A young girl who begins to +experience the first emotions of her heart naturally allows herself +to be attracted by the man who, from circumstances and his relations +towards her, has long ago obtained her confidence and excited her +interest. This kind of love, then, is only friendship, fortified by +habit and magnified by the secret influence exercised by the as yet +vague and undecided thoughts which crop up in the brains of sixteen; +and lastly, and more than all, by the want of opportunities for +comparing her lover with others, and the fact that the marriage is +already settled, and she thinks it impossible to recede. + +This was the position in which Doa Hermosa, without at all suspecting +it, stood towards her cousin. The marriage had been retarded, up to +the day about which we are now writing, for divers reasons of age and +convenience, although Don Pedro attached immense importance to it, +either on account of his intended son-in-law's enormous wealth, or +because he was persuaded the union would make his daughter happy. + +Matters had proceeded thus between the young people, without any +remarkable incident occurring to trouble the calm of their relations to +each other, up to the time when the events we have narrated in another +place happened to Doa Hermosa in the prairie. But at the first visit +Don Torribio paid his betrothed after her return to the Hacienda de +las Norias, he perceived, with the clear-sightedness of love, that +Doa Hermosa did not receive him with the freedom or the frankness of +speech and manner to which he had been accustomed. + +The girl seemed sad and dreamy; she scarcely answered the questions he +addressed to her, and did not appear to understand the hints he threw +out about their approaching marriage. + +Don Torribio at first attributed the change to one of those nervous +influences to which young girls are subject, without suspecting it. He +fancied she was unwell, and left her, without dreaming that another +filled the place in the heart of his betrothed which he believed +himself alone to occupy. + +Moreover, upon whom could his suspicions fall, if he entertained any? +Don Pedro lived in great retirement, only receiving at long intervals +his old friends, most of them married, or long past the age for +marrying. + +It was impossible to suppose that, in the two days Doa Hermosa spent +in the prairie among the redskins, she could have met with a man whose +appearance and manners could have touched her affections. + +However, Don Torribio was soon compelled to acknowledge in spite +of himself, that what he had at first taken for a girlish whim was +a confirmed resolve; or, in one word, that if Doa Hermosa still +preserved for him the friendship to which he had a right, as the +companion of her childhood, her love, if she had ever felt it for him, +had vanished for ever. + +When once convinced of this certainty, he became seriously uneasy. The +love he felt for his cousin was profound and sincere; he had let it +grow into his heart too deeply to be easily eradicated. He saw all his +plans of happiness in the future crumble together, and, his hopes once +shipwrecked, resolved to have the indispensable explanation from the +girl which should tell him how much he had to hope or fear. + +It was with the intention of demanding this explanation from Doa +Hermosa that, instead of returning to San Lucar, where he lived, he +had desired the _vaqueros_ to show him the way to the Hacienda del +Cormillo. But as soon as his guides left him, and he found himself +alone in front of the _hacienda_, his courage nearly evaporated. +Foreseeing the result of the step he was about to take, he hesitated to +enter the dwelling; for, like all lovers, in spite of the pain caused +by the girl's indifference, he would have preferred to go on cheating +himself with futile expectations, rather than learn a truth which would +break his heart, by robbing him of all hope. + +The struggle lasted a long time; more than once he made as if he would +ride back; but at last reason conquered passion. He comprehended how +difficult the position would be, both for Doa Hermosa and himself. +Happen what might, he resolved to end it; and digging his spurs into +the flanks of his horse, he galloped towards the _hacienda_, rightly +fearing that, if he lingered longer, he would find no strength to +accomplish the project he had formed. + +When he arrived at El Cormillo, he was informed that Don Pedro and his +daughter had gone hunting at sunrise, and would not return before the +_oracin_ (time for mass). + +"So much the better," muttered Don Torribio between his teeth, and +with a sigh of satisfaction at the respite chance had so opportunely +afforded him. + +Without stopping for the refreshments offered him, he turned his +horse's head in the direction of San Lucar, and galloped off, +congratulating himself that the explanation he both dreaded and desired +had been thus providentially delayed. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +LA TERTULIA (THE PARTY). + + +We must now introduce our readers to the Hacienda del Cormillo, two +days later than the event we have just narrated. + +Towards eight o'clock in the evening, two persons were seated in the +drawing room of the _hacienda_, close to a _brasero_ (brasier); for the +nights were still cold. + +A stranger opening the doors of this room could have fancied himself +transported to the Faubourg St. Germain, it was so elegantly +furnished in the French fashion. Parisian luxury was exhibited in the +carpets, Parisian taste in the choice of the furniture. Nothing was +forgotten,--not even a pianoforte by Erard, on which lay the scores +of Parisian operas, nor a magnificent harmonium from the workshops of +Alexandre; and as if to prove that glory travels far, and genius has +wings, the novels and poems in fashion at Paris strewed a round table +by Boule. Everything put you in mind of France and Paris, with the +exception of the silver _brasero_, which, with its glowing knots of +olive wood, showed that you were in Spanish America. This magnificent +withdrawing room was lighted up by candles of rose-coloured wax, in +handsome chandeliers. + +It was Don Pedro and his daughter who was seated by the _brasero_. Doa +Hermosa was clad in a dress of the greatest simplicity, which made her +look still more charming. She was smoking a tiny cigarette, rolled in a +maize leaf, which did not interrupt the flow of her conversation with +her father. + +"Yes," said she, "the most lovely birds in the world have been brought +to the _presidio_." + +"Well, _querida chica?_" (my darling). + +"It appears to me that my dearest father is not quite as gallant as +usual tonight," she said, pouting a little, like a spoilt child. + +"What do you know about that, seorita?" answered Don Pedro, laughing. + +"What! Is it the truth?" she exclaimed, as she jumped from her seat, +and clapped her hands together; "You have thought--" + +"Of buying you the birds. Tomorrow you will see your feathered +subjects, and your aviary stocked with parakeets, love birds, Bengalis, +hummingbirds, and Heaven knows how many others. There are at least four +hundred of them, you little ingrate!" + +"Oh, how kind you are! And how I love you!" replied the girl, throwing +herself into her father's arms, and kissing him a thousand times. + +"That will do, that will do, little monkey! Do you want to stifle me +with kisses?" + +"What shall I do to show my gratitude for such kind forethought?" + +"Poor little dear!" said he sadly; "I have only yourself to love now." + +"Say to adore, my dearest father; for it is adoration you feel for me; +and I too love you with all the strength of love which God has given +me." + +"And yet," said Don Pedro, in tones of gentle reproach, "you are not +afraid of causing me uneasiness." + +"I!" said Hermosa, beginning to tremble. + +"Yes, you," he replied, threatening her with uplifted finger; "you are +concealing something from me." + +"Father!" she murmured softly. + +"Daughter, a father's eye can pierce to the bottom of the heart of a +girl of sixteen. Some extraordinary change has taken place in you these +last few days: your thoughts are strangely preoccupied." + +"You are right, father," she replied with a good deal of firmness. + +"And what are you dreaming about, little girl?" asked Don Pedro, +smiling to conceal his anxiety. + +"About Don Torribio de Quiroga, father." + +"Aha!" replied he, "Because you love him, I suppose?" + +Doa Hermosa drew herself up, and assumed a serious expression. + +"I!" said she, placing her hand on her bosom, "No! I deceived myself +until today. I do not love Don Torribio, and yet I cannot help thinking +of him, although I do not know why. Since his return from Europe, a +change has come over him for which I cannot account. It seems to me, +that he is not the same person who was brought up with me. His look +pains, yet fascinates me; his voice raises a feeling of undefinable +sorrow. Certainly, the man is handsome; his manners are noble, and his +bearing that of a highbred gentleman: yet there is something nameless +about him which chills me, and inspires invincible repugnance." + +"How romantic!" said Don Pedro, laughing. + +"Laugh at me! Mock me!" she replied, her voice trembling. "Shall I +confess everything, father?" + +"Speak confidently, dearest child." + +"I will. I believe this man, whom I thought I loved, will bring evil +upon me." + +"Child," replied Don Pedro, kissing her forehead, "what ill could he do +you?" + +"Father, I cannot tell; but I dread it." + +"Do you wish me to break with him, and not to admit him again?" + +"Heaven forbid! It would certainly hasten the misfortune that threatens +me." + +"Pooh! you are a spoilt child! You grow whimsical, and amuse yourself +by creating phantoms. All these fears and imaginary presentiments +spring from your love for your cousin. The only way to restore your +tranquillity is to marry you to him as soon as possible; and be sure, +my dear, that is what I intend to do." + +Doa Hermosa shook her head sorrowfully, and cast down her eyes, +but she made no reply: she felt that her father had completely +misunderstood her meaning, and that any attempt to bring him over to +her wishes would be vain. + +Just at that moment a _peon_ announced Don Torribio, who entered the +room. + +He was dressed in the latest Paris fashion; and the glare of the +candles lighted up his handsome face. + +Father and daughter both trembled; the one perhaps with joy, the other +certainly with fear. + +Don Torribio, after gracefully saluting Doa Hermosa, approached her +and respectfully offered her a superb bouquet of exotic flowers. She +took them with a forced smile, and, without looking at them, placed +them on the table. + +Soon after, other persons were announced: the governor, Don Jos +Kalbris, and his staff; two or three other families--in all, about +twenty people; and lastly, Don Estevan Dias, and Don Fernando Carril. + +It was certainly impossible to recognise the hardy backwoodsman, the +redoubtable bee-hunter, who a few days before had done Don Pedro and +his daughter such signal service, in the elegant caballero who arrived +in the company of the _mayor domo_ of the hacienda. His irreproachable +bearing, his distinguished manner, in short, all about him, banished +suspicion, or rather prevented comparison. + +We have already said that Don Fernando Carril, although his life was +wrapped in impenetrable mystery, was superficially known to all the +best society in the provinces, and, thanks to the easy-going manners +of the Mexicans, received in the best families. His presence at the +hacienda was, therefore, nothing extraordinary. Nevertheless, his +appearance excited lively curiosity in the guests; for it was a long +time since Don Fernando had been seen at any entertainment. + +Like Don Torribio, the hunter, when he entered the room, approached +Doa Hermosa, bowed profoundly to her, and respectfully offered her a +flower he held in his hand. + +"Seorita," said he, in a voice full of suppressed emotion, "deign to +accept this modest flower; it grows only in the desert," he added, +significantly. + +Doa Hermosa trembled at the sound of his voice, which she thought she +had recognised; a lively blush rose to her cheeks; and dropping her +eyes under the ardent gaze fixed upon her, she took the flower and +placed it in her bosom, as she answered inarticulately: + +"Everything that comes from the desert will be dear to me henceforth." + +The conversation of the guests had by this time grown animated. The +little incident passed without remark, except from one person, who, +with that kind of intuition which springs from love and jealousy, had +divined in Don Fernando one who, if not an openly declared rival, was, +at least, preferred in secret. + +This person was Don Torribio Quiroga. + +Leaning towards Don Estevan, who chanced to be near him, he said, in +a voice low indeed but perfectly distinct and audible to all: "What +golden key does this man possess, whom nobody knows, by which he +introduces himself into honourable families, where his presence is +neither desired nor invited?" + +"Ask him yourself, seor," said Don Estevan dryly; "he will most likely +be able to explain his conduct satisfactorily." + +"I shall follow your advice this instant, seor," answered Don Torribio +haughtily. + +"It is unnecessary, caballero; I heard your words perfectly," said Don +Fernando. + +His voice was calm, and he made a courteous bow to Don Torribio, while +an ironical smile curled his lips for a moment. + +All conversation had been suddenly broken off; a profound silence +reigned over those present, and the looks of all were turned in +curiosity towards the two men. + +Doa Hermosa, pale and trembling, cast a look of entreaty on her father. + +Don Pedro walked resolutely into the middle, of the room, and placed +himself between the two caballeros. + +"What does this mean, seores?" said he. "Is this the idea of propriety +you have brought back from your travels in Europe, Don Torribio? Do +you dare to turn my drawing room into lists wherein to break your lance +in personal quarrels? What right have you to cavil at Don Fernando's +presence here? You are not my son-in-law yet, as far as I know. I am +master here, and can receive whom I think fit." + +"Even cutthroats and _salteadores_ (highwaymen), cousin, if such is +your good pleasure," replied the young man, with an ironical bow. + +Don Fernando looked as if he were going to rush upon the man who had +thus insulted him, but managed to contain himself. + +"Will Don Torribio deign to explain himself," he said calmly, "and not +speak in enigmas?" + +"And whose fault is it, caballero, if I speak in enigmas? Are you not +the cause of the mystery?" + +"Enough, caballeros!" exclaimed Don Pedro; "He who utters another word +on this subject, makes me his mortal enemy." + +The two men bowed respectfully to the hacendero and separated, but not +without having exchanged looks of terrible expression. + +"Well, colonel," continued Don Pedro, addressing the governor, in the +hopes of glossing over the lamentable altercation, "What news from La +Ciudad? Is Mexico still tranquil?" + +"Our great Santa Anna," replied the colonel, who was choking in his +uniform, "has once more soundly beaten the audacious general who has +dared to issue a _pronunciamiento_ (manifesto) against him." + +"Thank God! Perhaps this victory will procure us the tranquillity of +which commerce stands so much in need." + +"Yes," said a rich hacendero, a neighbour of Don Pedro. "Communication +has been so difficult of late, that we can forward nothing." + +"Are the redskins at work?" asked a merchant, whom these words had +troubled. + +"No," said the governor; "there is no danger from them. The last lesson +they got was a rude one, and they will not forget it. For a long time +they have not dared to invade our frontiers." + +An almost imperceptible smile curled the lips of Don Fernando. "You +forget the Tigercat and his adherents," said he. + +"Oh! the Tigercat is only a bandit," said the governor hastily. +"Besides, Government is at this moment preparing an expedition against +him, so as to finish, once and for all, with his band of brigands." + +"It is an admirable idea," said Don Torribio, with a sarcastic sneer. +"It is time this frontier should be cleared of the host of fellows, +with more than equivocal habits, who infest it." + +"I am quite of the same opinion; it seems a most sensible measure," +said Don Fernando quietly, but giving back to his adversary a smile as +bitter as his own. + +"In case of invasion, do you think the Indians able to give the +province much trouble?" asked the merchant. + +"H'm!" said Don Jos, with a patronising air; "People entertain +exaggerated ideas of these redskins; in fact, they are but miserable +wretches." + +Don Fernando smiled again; but this time the smile was savage and +sinister. + +"Seor _gobernador_," said he, "you are not quite right. To judge by +the news you were good enough to communicate, I believe the Indians +will keep quite peaceably at home, unless they are determined to tempt +ill luck." + +"_Rayo de Dios!_ I should think so," replied the governor. + +"Ah! Seorita," said Don Torribio, gracefully turning to Doa Hermosa, +"may I pray of your kindness to let us hear that delicious song from +the _Domino Noir_, which you sang to such perfection a few days ago?" + +Doa Hermosa, darted a look from under her long lashes at Don +Fernando. The latter's eyes conveyed a mute prayer of entreaty. Without +further hesitation, she placed herself at the piano, and, in a pure and +feeling voice, sang the romance in the third act. + +"I remember having heard that delicious romance sung in Paris by Madame +Demareau, that nightingale who flew away too soon," said Don Torribio, +bowing gallantly to Doa Hermosa. "I know not whether you or she sang +it with most taste and spirit." + +She answered: "Cousin, you have lived too long in France." + +"How so, seorita?" + +"Because," she replied, with a smile as cold and keen as the point of a +poniard, "France has made you a detestable flatterer." + +"_Bravo!_" chuckled the fat governor, whose cheeks shook with delight. +"You see Don Torribio, our creoles rival the Parisian ladies in the +smartness of their repartee." + +"Incontestably, colonel," answered Don Torribio. "But I can take my own +part," he added in an undefinable tone; "I shall soon have my revenge." +And he cast a glance at Don Fernando and Doa Hermosa, who were seated +close to each other, which made the girl shudder with fear. + +"Don Fernando, and you other caballeros, here present," said the +governor, addressing the guests, "I hope that tomorrow you will attend +the _Te Deum_ to be sung in honour of our glorious Santa Anna." + +"I shall have the honour," said Don Fernando. The others made a similar +response. + +"As for me," said Don Torribio, "you must excuse me, colonel; for +business compels me to leave tonight." + +"What!" cried Don Pedro, in astonishment; "You are going to travel +tonight, cousin?" + +"I am indeed, Seor Don Pedro; I am obliged to leave you, even though I +have but just arrived." + +"Well, that is a singular and most unforeseen resolution. Where are you +going?" + +"Excuse me if I keep the object of my expedition secret. Certain +persons must not have the sole right of making mysterious excursions." + +"Indeed!" said Don Pedro peevishly. "And do you intend to stay away +long?" + +"I hope not, but dare not say I am sure." + +"So much the better. Come back to us as soon as you can; for," said he +significantly, "your return will please all of us here." + +"_Quin sabe?_" (who knows?) muttered Don Torribio, with a sinister +expression. + +Doa Hermosa, who overheard these two words, could no longer master her +fears. + +While Don Pedro and his cousin were exchanging these words, the girl +Whispered to Don Estevan: + +"Brother, tomorrow, after mass, I want to speak to you at my nurse's." + +"To me, or to my friend?" said Don Estevan softly. + +"To both," she answered, with feverish agitation. + +Don Estevan and Don Fernando now retired with joyful hearts. The latter +was sure that Doa Hermosa had recognised him. + +The other visitors also gradually departed, till Don Torribio de +Quiroga was left alone with his host. + +"Cousin," said he, in a low and broken voice, as he bent down to the +lady to bid her farewell, "I am about to begin a journey in which I +shall incur considerable danger. May I hope you will remember the +traveller in your prayers?" + +Hermosa looked him in the face for an instant, and replied with an +austerity unusual in her: + +"Cousin, I cannot pray for the success of a journey the purport of +which I do not know." + +"Thanks for your frankness, seorita," he replied, without exhibiting +emotion; "I shall not forget your words." + +"So you are really going, Don Torribio?" said Don Pedro, who joined +them at the moment. + +"This very instant, cousin: all is ready for my departure." + +"Then I wish you luck! I hope we shall soon hear from you?" + +"Yes," he replied, with a singular expression; "you shall soon hear of +me. Farewell!" + +"What is the matter with your cousin, _nia?_" asked Don Pedro, when he +found himself alone with his daughter: "His conduct tonight has been +very strange." + +Before she could answer, the door opened. "The _capataz_ of the +Hacienda de las Norias," said a _peon_ who had entered, "wishes to +speak to Seor Don Pedro de Luna on affairs of consequence." + +"Admit him instantly," replied Don Pedro to the domestic who had +announced the arrival of the _capataz_ so pompously. + + +Don Torribio was terribly agitated when he left the house. He looked +back, and cast a venomous eye on the windows of the room, on which he +could see the graceful shadow of Doa Hermosa. + +"Proud girl," said he in a terrible voice, "I hate you with all the +power of the love I once felt for you! Soon, very soon, I will punish +you for your disdain." + +Then, wrapping his cloak around him, he rapidly took the direction of +the nearest _patio_ (out-buildings), where he hoped to find his horse. +Indeed, he found him there; a _peon_ holding the bridle. Don Torribio +seized the reins, threw the _peon_ a piastre, flung himself into the +saddle, and rode off at a gallop. + +"_Wagh!_" said the Indian, picking up the money; "What ails the young +master? One would think him mad. How he scampered off!" + +In the meantime Don Torribio had left the hacienda behind him, and was +making all haste on the road to San Lucar. + +But he had not ridden more than a quarter of an hour, when suddenly, at +a turn of the road, his horse gave a start of terror, reared, and flew +round, with his ears laid close to his head. Don Torribio looked to see +what had alarmed the animal. + +A man of tall stature, mounted on a strong black horse, held the middle +of the road four or five paces in advance of him, and completely barred +his passage. + +Don Torribio cocked a pistol. + +"Holloa, caballero!" he cried in a sharp tone; "Move to the right or +the left." + +"Neither to one nor the other, Don Torribio de Quiroga. I want to speak +to you." + +"It is a singular demand at this time of night, and in such a place." + +"I did not choose either time or place. Did you not receive a note +without a signature today?" + +"I did," said Don Torribio, striking his forehead; "and the note +proposed--" + +"To teach you things," hastily interrupted the stranger, "which it is +important you should know at once." + +"Those were the words contained in the note." + +"It was I who sent it." + +"Indeed?" said Don Torribio, surprised; "was it you?" + +"Yes; and I am ready to satisfy you; but to do that, you must follow +me." + +"But what good will it do me to know these matters? Perhaps it would be +better to leave them untold." + +"As you please; I do not force you to listen to me. Everyone is free +to act as he chooses. If you prefer to sit down under insult without +avenging yourself, I have no objection." + +These words were uttered with such a sneer, that Don Torribio could not +help shuddering. + +"Do you in truth offer me revenge?" he asked in a voice half stifled +with the rage surging at his heart. + +"You shall judge, if you will follow me." + +"Demon!" cried Don Torribio, "Whoever thou may'st be, lead on, since it +must be so! I will follow thee, even unto hell." + +"Amen," said the stranger, with a sinister chuckle. + +The two riders dashed into the darkness, and the sound of their furious +pace was soon merged in profound silence. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE AMBUSH. + + +Don Fernando and his friend, as we have related, left the hacienda a +little before Don Torribio. They had made all haste to reach their +dwelling. The _tertulia_ had ended at nine o'clock; and by eleven they +were at the _rancho_. + +Doa Manuela was expecting them. In a few words they reported to her +all that had happened at the _tertulia_, and hastened to their couches; +for they were obliged to leave again at daybreak, if they wished to +arrive in good time at San Lucar without over-fatigueing Doa Manuela, +who was to accompany them. In fact, according to agreement, they +mounted their horses a little before four in the morning. + +In Mexico, on account of the intense heat of the day, people generally +travel by night; that is to say, from four in the morning till eleven, +and from six in the evening till midnight. Nine o'clock struck as the +three entered the _presidio_. Don Fernando left his friend and the +mother to find their way to the house he possessed in San Lucar, which +he had placed at their disposal, while he himself repaired to the +governor's house, whither affairs of grave importance called him. + +The worthy governor overwhelmed the visitor with civilities,--for +the latter had, on more than one occasion, rendered him important +service,--and seemed unable to show him sufficient courtesy But, in +spite of the efforts of his host, Don Fernando perceived that Don Jos +Kalbris was a prey to anxiety, which all his sense of the attentions +due to his guest did not enable him wholly to conceal. + +Don Jos Kalbris was a brave and worthy soldier, true as his own +steel, to whom the Mexican government had given the charge of the +_presidio_ as a recompense for his valiant services during the War +of Independence. For fifteen years the colonel had governed the +_presidio_, and, thanks to a certain degree of severity tempered by +justice, and to his undoubted courage, had managed to keep it in a +state of comparative tranquillity, in spite of the evil passions of +the _vaqueros_--a set of rascals, three or four of whom he was obliged +to garrote annually, in order to overawe the rest--and the continual +raids of the Indians, who pushed up under the guns of the fort in their +attempts to carry off cattle and make prisoners, the latter being +their favourite booty, especially women. + +Don Jos, endowed with moderate intelligence, but rich in experience, +and warmly supported by the better classes, who had entire confidence +in him, had contrived to maintain peace in his province without much +difficulty up to the time of which we are now speaking. This denoted +a certain strength of character in the old soldier, who was without +education, and had made his own career, particularly when one takes +into consideration the difficulty of his receiving support from his +government; so that he was thrown on his own resources, and obliged to +take the initiative, and act on his own responsibility, in all cases +where he thought fit to exercise the strong arm of the law. + +In person the governor was a tall, stout man with a purple and bloated +face, perfectly self-satisfied, fond of hearing himself talk, and who +laid great stress on every syllable he uttered. + +Don Fernando, well acquainted with the colonel's character, and holding +him in great esteem, was astounded at the uneasiness he displayed, and +the change from his usual placidity of manner. Fancying that want of +money might be at the bottom of his embarrassment, he resolved to sound +him, and come to his aid, if that were necessary. + +"Holloa!" said the colonel, "What good wind blows you to the _presidio_ +so early, Don Fernando?" + +"The wish to see you," replied the latter, pressing the hand the +colonel extended. + +"It is very kind of you. You will breakfast with me, of course?" + +"I came to invite myself." + +"That is right," said the colonel, striking a bell. + +A domestic entered. + +"This caballero will do me the honour to breakfast with me." + +The servant, a well-trained soldier, disappeared. + +"By the bye, Don Fernando, I have a heap of papers here addressed to +you." + +"Thank Heaven! I was afraid they had been delayed. I want them +particularly, for certain reasons." + +"So much the better, then," said the colonel, producing the papers, +which Don Fernando put into his pocket. + +"Breakfast is ready," said the same man who had appeared an instant +before. + +The governor and his guest proceeded to the breakfast room, where they +found a third person waiting for them. This was a Major Barnum, an +old Englishman, tall, dry, thin, and formal; as brave a soldier as +ever existed; for twenty years in the service of the Mexican Republic; +devoted heart and soul to the country of his adoption; and second in +command in the _presidio_ of San Lucar. + +He and Don Jos had seen much service together, and were attached to +each other like two brothers; resuscitating in this out of the way +corner of the world the fables of Castor and Pollux Damon and Pythias, +and all the other heroes of ancient friendship. + +Don Fernando and Major Barnum were slightly acquainted with each other, +and glad of the meeting; for the Englishman was an excellent fellow, +and hid a warm and loyal heart under his rather cold manner. + +After the usual greetings, all three placed themselves at table, and +commenced a vigorous attack on the delicacies with which the board was +abundantly supplied. + +When the first keen relish of appetite had been appeased, the +conversation became more lively, and at the close of the meal grew +quite amicable and confidential. + +"By the bye, what is the matter with you, Don Jos?" said Don Fernando. +"There is something odd about you today, which I have never seen +before." + +"Right," said the governor, draining a glass of _Jerez de la Frontera_ +(sherry); "I feel sad." + +"You sad! You astonish me. If I had not noticed your appetite at +breakfast, I should think you were ill." + +"Well," said the soldier, with a sigh, "my appetite is good." + +"Then what is there to vex you?" + +"I have a presentiment of evil," said the governor, seriously. + +"A presentiment of evil!" echoed the major. "I know that at first +sight it seems ridiculous for old soldiers like ourselves to attach +importance to such folly, which is only, at the best, the result of +a diseased imagination. Nevertheless, I too feel like the colonel: I +am uneasy without knowing why; I expect every moment to receive evil +tidings. In two words, I am firmly convinced some great danger is +impending. I feel it, I know it, without being able to guess whence it +is to come." + +"Ah," said the governor, "the major has just described my own +sensations. Long as my career as a soldier has been, I have never +felt so anxious and oppressed as now. I have been in this state of +excitement a whole week, and am astonished nothing has happened to +justify my forebodings. Don Fernando, God does give warnings of danger +to man." + +"I do not deny the truth of what you propound. I know you too well to +have the least intention to question your conviction. But still, how is +it to be accounted for? You and Major Barnum are not men to be afraid +of a shadow, or easily scared; you have proved that a thousand times. +Has nothing occurred to confirm your presentiment?" + +"Nothing as yet," replied the governor; "but I momentarily expect bad +news." + +"Come, come, Don Jos!" said Don Fernando gravely; "you are suffering +from an attack of a malady very common in the major's country, where +they call it 'the blue devils.' It is a kind of spleen, caused by the +fogs in England. Listen to me: get yourself bled--do not spare the wine +cup; and in a couple of days you will be the first to laugh at the +trick your fancy has played you. Do you not think so, major?" + +"I wish it were so," said that officer, shaking his head. + +"Pooh!" said Don Fernando; "Life is short enough already. What is the +use of creating bugbears to frighten ourselves? And besides, who is +there to give you trouble?" + +"_Quin sabe?_ We are never sure of anything on the frontiers." + +"Nonsense! The Indians have grown as quiet as lambs." + +Just then a servant opened the door, and beckoned to the governor. + +"What do you want?" said the latter. + +"Seor," replied the servant, "a _vaquero_, just arrived in all haste, +requests an audience. He is the bearer of important intelligence." + +This announcement fell like a sheet of ice on the three caballeros, and +thoroughly stopped the flow of their fictitious gaiety. + +"Let him come in," said the colonel. + +Then casting a look of inconceivable sadness on Don Fernando, he added: + +"It is fate herself who undertakes to answer you!" + +"We shall see!" replied Don Fernando with a forced smile. + +Heavy footsteps were heard in the adjacent apartments, and the +_vaquero_ entered. + +It was Pablito. + +The man had indeed the look of one who brings bad news. He seemed to +have just left the battlefield--to have escaped from a massacre. His +clothes hung in rags, stained with mud and gore; his face, pale as +death, had an expression of sadness very strange in such a man. It was +with difficulty he held himself upright, so dreadfully jaded he seemed +by the struggle he had had to reach the _presidio_. His spurs left a +bloody mark on the floor at every step; and he was forced to support +himself on his rifle. + +The three men looked at him with mingled fear and pity. + +"Here," said Don Fernando, pouring out a tumbler of wine; "drink this; +it will restore you." + +"No!" said Pablito, thrusting back the glass; "I thirst for blood, not +wine!" + +These words were uttered in such a tone of hatred and despair, that the +listeners involuntarily turned pale, and shuddered with horror. + +"What has happened?" said the colonel, in deep anxiety. + +The _vaquero_ wiped the cold sweat from his brow with the back of his +hand, and said, in short, sharp accents, which struck terror into his +hearers: + +"The Indians are upon us!" + +"Have you seen them?" asked the major. + +"Yes," said he abruptly; "I have seen them." + +"When was that--today?" + +"This very morning, colonel." + +"Far from hence?" + +"About twenty leagues. They have already crossed the Rio del Norte." + +"Already! How many are there? Do you know." + +"Count the sand grains in the desert, and you will know." + +"God!" said the colonel; "it is impossible. The Indians cannot assemble +in such numbers in the course of a day. Your fears have deceived you." + +"Fears!" said Pablito, laughing derisively. "Fear is very well for +you who live in towns; in the wilderness we have no time to make her +acquaintance." + +"Well, then, how are they coming?" + +"Like a tornado, burning and pillaging as they come." + +"Is it their intention to attack the _presidio_?" + +"They have formed an immense half moon, the two horns of which are +nearing you every moment." + +"Are they still a good way off?" + +"Yes; for they are acting on a preconceived plan, establishing +themselves firmly in places capable of defence, and apparently not +governed by the sole instinct of pillage; but, as it would seem, +obeying the directions of a chief who understands the art of war, and +whose influence is felt in all their movements." + +"This looks serious," said the governor. + +The major shook his head. + +"Why have you waited so long before you warned us?" said he. + +"This morning, at daybreak, my comrades and I were surrounded by more +than two hundred of these demons, who seemed to rise out of the ground. +We defended ourselves like lions: one is dead; two of us are wounded, +but we managed to escape; and here I am." + +"Get back to your post as soon as possible; they shall give you a fresh +horse." + +"I will be off directly, colonel." + +The _vaquero_ saluted and left them. Five minutes later, they heard his +horse's hoofs clattering over the stony road. + +"Well," said the colonel, looking at the two others; "what did I tell +you? Did my forebodings lie?" + +Don Fernando rose. + +"Where are you going?" asked the colonel. + +"Back to the Hacienda del Cormillo." + +"At once! Without finishing your breakfast?" + +"This instant. I am torn by indescribable anxiety. The Indians may +attack the hacienda; and God knows what may happen." + +"El Cormillo is fortified, and cannot be taken by a _coup-de-main_. +However, I think Doa Hermosa would be safer here. Try, if there is +time, to induce Don Pedro to return: no one can foresee the issue of +an invasion undertaken on such a scale; and one cannot take too many +precautions. I should be glad to see Don Pedro and his daughter safe +among us." + +"Thank you, colonel; your advice is excellent. I will use every effort +to induce Don Pedro to follow it. Good-bye. I venture to flatter myself +that an energetic demonstration on your part will rid us of these +ferocious foes, whose tactics are always to attempt a surprise, and who +disappear as suddenly as they came the moment they find their plans +have been discovered." + +"God grant it! But I scarcely hope as much." "Farewell, caballeros, +and good luck!" said Don Fernando, pressing the hands of the two old +soldiers. + +Don Estevan was waiting for him in the court, and joined him as soon as +he appeared. + +"Well," said the _mayor domo_, "you have heard the news? The Indians +are coming like the locusts." + +"Yes; I have heard so." + +"What do you intend to do?" + +"To return to the hacienda at once." + +"H'm! That would be scarcely prudent. You know how speedily these +demons spread themselves over all the country; we should most likely +meet some of them." + +"Well! We will ride over their corpses." + +"_Canarios!_ I dare say. But you may be killed." + +"Pooh! Doa Hermosa expects me; and I am not killed yet." + +"True; but you may be." + +"Well, we shall see." + +"Probably so. However, as I foresaw the objections you would make, +I have arranged everything to go. The horses are ready saddled, the +_peones_ in waiting: we will set off as soon as you choose." + +"Thanks, Estevan; you are really a friend." + +"I know it," said the latter, with a gay smile. Estevan Diaz whistled +shrilly, and the _peones_ entered the court, leading two horses by +their bridles. + +"Let us be off," said Don Fernando, springing into the saddle. + +"Let us be off," repeated Don Estevan. + +They gave the horses their heads, and began to push their way slowly +through the crowd of idlers assembled before the gates of the fortress +to learn the latest news, and trotted down the steep incline leading +from the fort to the old _presidio_, replying, as well as they could, +to the questions with which they were assailed on all sides. As soon as +they had threaded the town, they increased their speed along the road +to the Hacienda del Cormillo, without noticing the repeated signals of +several more than suspicious-looking individuals, carefully wrapped in +thick cloaks, who had followed them at a distance since they left the +fort, talking eagerly the while to each other. + +It was a stormy day. The sky was gray and lowering; the birds wheeled +screaming around; and the wind, blowing in squalls, roared in the deep +defiles of the road, filling the air with clouds of impalpable dust. + +The two _peones_ who had brought the news of the Indians' march upon +the _presidio_ rode twenty paces in advance, and scanned the country +on each side of the road with startled looks, expecting every instant +to see the redskins make their appearance, and to hear the dreaded +war whoop. Don Fernando and Don Estevan rode side by side, without +exchanging a syllable, each sufficiently occupied by his own thoughts. + +In the meanwhile, the nearer the travellers got to the river, the +more the storm increased in intensity. The rain fell in torrents, +the lightning flashed incessantly, and the peals of thunder rolled +majestically among the high cliffs, from which enormous crags were +constantly detached, and hurled crashing into the river. + +The storm had reached such a pitch of fury, that the riders had the +greatest difficulty in making progress, and were in constant danger of +falling with their horses, which were plunging wildly in their fright +at the tempest. The ground, soaked with rain, afforded no foothold +for the poor brutes: they slipped and stumbled at every step, snorted +violently, and threatened to break down. + +"It is impossible to get farther," said the _mayor domo_, picking up +his horse from a plunge which had nearly unseated him. + +"But what is to be done?" asked Don Fernando, looking about him with +great anxiety. + +"I think we had better take shelter under this clump of trees for a +while: the storm grows worse and worse. It is folly to pursue our +journey while it lasts." + +"Let us go, if we must," said Don Fernando resignedly. + +Accordingly they turned towards a small copse on one side of the road, +which seemed to offer some little shelter from the intensity of the +storm. + +They were only a few paces from it, when four men, their faces covered +with black masks, rushed out of the wood, and dashed at the travellers, +whom they attacked without uttering a word. The _peones_ fell from +their saddles, knocked over by two shots from the masked strangers, and +rolled on the ground in convulsive agony, uttering the most piteous +cries. + +Don Fernando and Don Estevan, astonished at this sudden attack by men +who could not be Indians,--for they were dressed like _vaqueros_, and +their hands were white,--instantly dismounted, and, placing themselves +behind their horses, awaited their assailants' onset with cocked rifles. + +The latter, after making sure of the death of the _peones_, turned +their horses' heads to attack the two Spaniards. Shots were again +exchanged, and a terrible combat began,--a dreadful struggle of two +men against four--in which no word was spoken, and which was intended +to end in the death of those who had been so treacherously set upon. +However, the combat was sustained with a semblance of equality which +discouraged the assailants, of whom one had already fallen, cut down +to the teeth; while a second was retreating, with his chest pierced +through by the good blade of Don Fernando. + +"Aha! my masters," exclaimed the latter; "have you had enough, or do +you wish to make further acquaintance with my blade? Fools that you +are! You should have set at least ten to assassinate us." + +"What!" added the _mayor domo_, "Are you already satisfied? You are not +clever enough for highwaymen; the man who pays you might have made a +better choice." + +In fact, the two remaining men in masks had withdrawn a few paces, and +held themselves on the defensive. + +Suddenly four other masked men appeared, and all six rushed upon the +Spaniards, who awaited them firmly. + +"The devil! I wronged you by my suspicion," said Don Estevan. "I see +you are up to your work;" and he discharged a pistol point-blank into +the midst of his adversaries. + +The latter, still without a word, answered his fire, and the struggle +was renewed with fresh fury. + +But the two brave Spaniards could not defend themselves much longer: +they were exhausted with fatigue; and it was not long before they, in +their turn, fell on the dead bodies of two more of their assailants, +whom they had sacrificed to their fury before they fell. + +When they saw Don Fernando and Don Estevan stretched on the ground, +the strangers uttered a shout of triumph. Without troubling themselves +about the _mayor domo_, they seized the body of Don Fernando, threw it +over the neck of one of their horses, and rapidly vanished amongst the +manifold complications of the road. + +The tempest continued to rage with fury. A lugubrious silence reigned +in the spot where this tragedy had been acted, and where seven corpses +were now lying, round which the vultures and hideous _zopilotes_, +uttering their hoarse cries, began to sail in narrowing circles. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +SAN LUCAR. + + +When Don Fernando left them, the governor and the major remained +perfectly mute a while, overcome by the gravity of the news they had +just received. But a state of prostration so much at variance with the +character of the two veterans, whose life had been spent in active +service, could not last long. They soon recovered their animation, like +two noble steeds who prick up their ears at the signal for the charge; +their features resumed their usual expression of imperturbability; and, +having exchanged a shake of the hand; they left the apartment. + +"The shock has been a rude one, and I was far from expecting it," said +the colonel; "but, _vive Dios!_ the pagans shall find out whom they +have to deal with. Major, have the officers' call sounded we will hold +a council of war, to concert measures of defence." + +"That is right," replied the major; "just what you ought to do. I had +rather see you thus--proud, resolute, and stern--than troubled and +anxious, as you have looked these last few days. _Caray!_ you are +yourself again, now, my good friend." + +"Well," said the governor, smiling, "you ought not to be astonished +at the change, my dear Barnum. For some time past I have been sadly +oppressed by vague forebodings, and the ill they threatened seemed the +greater, because I could not divine what it might be. Now the stroke +has fallen, I know what I have to do. I have not the least doubt that +the danger which menaces us is immense, but we know what the result +will be." + +"Quite true," said the major, leaving him to obey the orders he had +received from his chief. + +The officers of the garrison were soon assembled around the governor; +there were six of them, without counting the major and colonel. Don +Jos Kalbris invited them to be seated, and then addressed them: + +"_Caballeros_, you are aware why I have sent for you: the Indians +threaten us once more. I have just got the information from one of our +bravest scouts--in fact, the most faithful and intelligent of them all. +It is a grave case, seores; for the Indians have leagued themselves +together, and are marching against us in great force. I have caused +you to meet here, in order to organise a vigorous defence, and to +endeavour to discover the means of giving these savages so sharp a +lesson, that it will be a long time before they dream of invading our +territories again. But, first of all, let us see what means are at our +disposal." + +"We have plenty of arms and ammunition," said the major. "We have +two hundred thousand pounds of powder, abundance of muskets, sabres, +lances, and pistols; and the guns are in good condition, and amply +supplied with round shot and grape." + +"A capital account," said the colonel, rubbing his hands for joy. + +"Unfortunately," continued the major, "although we have plenty of arms, +we have very few men fit for service." + +"How many men have we?" + +"The effective state should be two hundred and seventy; but, unluckily, +disease, death, and desertion have reduced them to a hundred and +twenty." + +"The deuce!" said the colonel, shaking his head; "But I think we +might manage to increase the number. We are in one of those critical +positions where the end sanctifies the means: we must not be nice in +our choice. Besides, the common safety is in question. I trust to meet +with no opposition to the execution of a plan which I hope will save us +all." + +"What is it? We all go hand and hand with you." + +"I know that very well. I do not allude to you, seores, but to the +inhabitants of the town, who will reject it, and with whom we shall +be obliged to have recourse to forcible measures. It is of the last +importance to make an imposing show of men on the walls. Now, this is +what I propose: all the _peones_ of the _haciendas_ shall be enrolled, +and formed into companies; the merchants shall form another corps; the +haciendas, well mounted and armed, shall defend the approaches, and +patrol the plain. By these means, we shall muster an effective force +of about eleven hundred men,--a number quite sufficient to hold the +savages in check, and force them to retreat precipitately to their +villages." + +"You must recollect, colonel, that the greater number of the _vaqueros_ +here are criminals, to whom any disturbance is a pretext for plunder." + +"For that reason, I have appointed them the exterior defence of the +place. They shall encamp outside the _presidio_, into which they shall +not enter on any pretence. To lessen the chance of a mutiny amongst +them, they shall be formed into two divisions--one of which shall be +constantly employed in scouring the neighbourhood, while the other +remains in camp. Thus, by keeping them always at work, we shall have +nothing to fear from them." + +"As for the creoles, and the strangers at present in the _presidio_," +said the major, "I think you had better order them to assemble in the +fort every night: we shall be able to use them in case of necessity." + +"Very good. You will also double the number of scouts, the better +to avoid a surprise. You will also have the entrances to the place +barricaded, to check the tremendous charges the Indians make when they +attack a position." + +"Permit me to propose, colonel, that a man to be depended upon should +be despatched to put the hacenderos on their guard, and warn them to +take refuge in the fort at the signal of three guns, to announce the +approach of the Indians." + +"It shall be done, major; or these poor fellows would be all massacred +by the pagans. The inhabitants of the town must also be warned to +retire--the women into the fort--as soon as the Indians are visible, +or they may be carried off. The savages are partial to white women, +and in the last inroad carried off three hundred: such a piece of +misfortune must not happen again. I think, seores, we have taken every +precaution against the threatened danger; we have now only to do our +duty as brave men. Our fate is in the hands of God, who will surely not +abandon us in circumstances of such great peril." + +The officers rose, and were preparing to take leave of their chief, +when another _vaquero_ was announced as bringing reports to the +governor. + +Don Jos made signs to his officers to retain their seats, and ordered +the scout to be introduced. + +It was Tonillo el Zapote, Pablito's friend. He had left the place where +they had hidden themselves to watch the movements of the Indians four +hours after his comrade, and yet had arrived at the _presidio_ only an +hour later,--sure proof of the importance of the news he bore. + +He looked as impudent and sneering as ever. His face was pale, and +smeared with blood and powder; his dress was torn in many places; while +the bandage round his head, one arm in a sling, and, more than all, +three or four scalps which hung bleeding from his girdle, showed that +he had had a hard tussle with the Indians, and been obliged to cut his +way through them to reach the _presidio_. + +"Zapote!" said the governor; "your comrade, Pablito, has just left me." + +"I know, colonel," answered the _vaquero_. + +"Have you brought us worse tidings than his?" + +"That depends upon the light in which you look upon them, seores." + +"What do your words imply?" + +"Oh!" was the reply, while the speaker swayed himself carelessly from +side to side; "If you love your ease, it is very probable it would +be troubled before long, and, in that case, the news I bring cannot +be very pleasant to you; but if you are fond of mounting to meet the +redskins, you can easily gratify your whim, and all I have to tell you +will be very acceptable." + +Notwithstanding the gravity of the situation and the anxiety they felt, +the governor and his officers could not help smiling at the singular +logic of the _vaquero_. + +"Explain, Zapote," said Don Jos; "we shall then know what to think of +your tidings." + +"Hardly ten minutes after my comrade left me, I was rummaging in the +bushes, which seemed to me to have an odd kind of motion, when I +discovered a _peon_, whose terror was so great, that it took me a +good half hour to get him to describe the dangers from which he had +escaped. The fellow belonged to a poor old man called Ignacio Rayal, +one of the two solitary individuals who escaped from the massacre +of the inhabitants of the peninsula of San-Jos by the Apaches in +the last invasion, twenty years ago. The _peon_ and his master were +looking for firewood, without dreaming of danger, when the Indians +suddenly started up close by. The former had time to hide himself in +a drain; but the old man, too feeble to save himself, fell into the +hands of the savages, who butchered him with all the refinements of +their horrid barbarity. His body was riddled with wounds, till his own +mother would not have known him; he had received twenty lance thrusts; +and his head was smashed to atoms with tomahawks. I left the _peon_ to +watch in our ambuscade, after I had restored his courage as well as I +could, and, proceeding in the direction he pointed out, was not long +in seeing a host of Indians driving before them a multitude of cattle +and prisoners. These fellows put everything to sack and fire on their +route; they were marching rapidly on the _presidio_, and detached +parties at intervals to destroy the haciendas on their road. The +haciendas of Piedra Rosa and San Blas are no longer standing; they are +now a heap of ashes, under which their unfortunate owners lie buried. +These are my tidings; make what you like out of them, seores." + +"And these scalps?" said the governor, pointing to the bloody trophies +hanging at the _vaquero's_ girdle. + +"Oh! These are nothing," he replied, with a smile of triumph; "as I had +got too near the Indians, in the hope of getting a better idea of their +force and intentions, they saw me, and naturally wanted to lay hands on +me; so we had a bit of a skirmish." + +"I presume these Indians are a party of pillagers from the wilderness, +who want to steal cattle, and will retire when they have collected +enough booty." + +"Hm!" said Tonillo, shaking his head; "I am not sure of that. There are +too many of them; they are too well equipped. Colonel, these fellows +have another object: unless I am greatly mistaken, they intend to wage +war to the knife against us." + +The governor exchanged looks with his officers. + +"Thank you, Zapote," said he; "I am pleased with you. Your conduct +has been that of a loyal Mexican. Return to your post, and be doubly +vigilant." + +"You may rely on my comrades and me, colonel. You know, we do not +exactly love the Indians," said Tonillo, who saluted and left them. + +"You see, seores," said the governor, "that the situation grows more +critical every minute. We will lose no more time in deliberation. You +may go." + +"One moment," said the major; "I have a piece of advice to give before +we separate." + +"Let us hear it, old friend." + +"No precaution must be omitted in the perilous circumstances which +surround us. We are here in an out-of-the-way place, far from any +speedy and efficacious support. We may have to sustain a siege in the +_presidio_, and run the risk of being starved out. I propose that a +vessel be immediately despatched to the governor general of the state, +to apprise him of our critical position, and to request reinforcements; +for it is impossible, with our scanty forces, to hold out long against +the invasion." + +A profound and solemn silence followed this speech. + +"What do you think of Major Barnum's advice?" said the colonel to his +officers. + +"We agree to it," said one of them, speaking in the name of the others; +"and we think it ought to be put into execution without delay." + +"I am of the same opinion," said Don Jos; "let it be so. Caballeros, +you may retire." + +And now they began to organise the defence with an energy inconceivable +to those acquainted with the Spanish character, and the profound +laziness which is one of its principal failings. + +The terrible danger menacing them made all the inhabitants of the +_presidio_ responsible for each other; it seemed to give courage to +those who had none, and redouble the ardour of the others. + +Two hours later, troops of cattle were driven in and parked in the +town, the streets barricaded, the guns supplied with ammunition, and +the women and children shut up in the buildings within the fort. + +A vessel had been despatched to the capital of the state, as had been +agreed on in council; and a hundred and fifty resolute men intrenched +themselves in the old _presidio_, the houses of which they loopholed, +in order to make head against the Indians when they appeared. + +The governor and Major Barnum seemed to multiply themselves; they were +ubiquitous; encouraging the newly enlisted, helping the workmen, and +speaking hope to all. + +About three o'clock in the afternoon, a strong wind arose, bringing +with it from the south-west volumes of thick smoke, obstructing the +view of objects at a distance. It was caused by the conflagration +throughout the country. The anxiety of the inhabitants increased +tenfold, as the direction from which it came proved that it could only +arise from the doings of the Indians. + +The Indian tribes always have recourse to this measure when they intend +to invade the territories of the whites; an excellent aid to their +system of attack by surprise, for, by shrouding the country in smoke, +they prevent the scouts discovering them from afar, and are more easily +able to conceal their numbers and motions. + +On the day in question, the Indians, unhappily for the Mexicans, +succeeded better than their wont; for the wind drove the smoke across +the open, and one could scarcely distinguish objects at ten paces off. + +It must be allowed, that in a country so uniformly level as the +prairies, which afford no points to mask a march, and where nothing +is easier than to find out the enemy's whole strength, the stratagem +employed by the Indians is as simple as it is ingenious. + +The scouts came galloping in one after the other, to report to +the governor the approach of the enemy, who, according to their +calculations, would reach the _presidio_ of San Lucar that same night. + +The masses of Indians increased every moment. Their hordes covered +the open; they marched with inconceivable rapidity, and seemed to +concentrate all their forces on the luckless _pueblo_. + +The governor ordered the three alarm-guns to be fired. Immediately +one saw the poor _rancheros_ (cottagers) of the plain trooping in +crowds into the town, bringing with them their cattle and furniture, +and shedding tears of rage and despair at the sight of their harvests +blazing in all directions. + +The poor men encamped as they best could in the squares of the +_pueblo;_ and after sending their women and children into the fort, all +able to bear arms rushed to the barricades, resolved to make those pay +dearly who had been the cause of their ruin. + +Terror and consternation reigned throughout the town: nothing was +heard but sighs and lamentation; and night came, to add horror to the +situation by enveloping the earth in darkness. + +Strong patrols paraded the streets incessantly; and at times hardy +_vaqueros_, gliding like serpents through the obscurity, ventured two +or three hundred paces from the walls, to assure themselves that no +immediate danger threatened the _presidio_. + +Things remained in this state till about two in the morning, when, in +the midst of the mournful silence brooding over the town, a slight +noise, scarcely perceptible at first, was heard. It grew louder every +moment, and all of a sudden, as if by enchantment, and without any +one being able to guess how they got there, the Apaches crowned the +barricades of the _presidio_, brandishing flaming torches and uttering +the war whoop. + +For a moment the inhabitants thought the town was taken; but Major +Barnum, who commanded at this post, was too old a soldier, and too +accustomed to Indian warfare, to be deceived by their stratagem. At the +moment the Apaches were about to cross the barricades, a well-sustained +fire opened suddenly upon them, and drove them from the intrenchments +much faster than they had scaled them. + +The Mexicans charged with the bayonet: for one moment there was a +frightful _mle_, from the midst of which rose cries of agony, +maledictions, and the sharp clang of steel crossing steel; then the +whites regained their position; the Indians disappeared; the town, +illumined for so short a time by the blaze of the torches, was again +enveloped in darkness; and the silence, broken by the few minutes of +onslaught, was once more complete. + +This was the only attempt that night. The Indians were up to their +work; having failed in their bold _coup-de-main_, they would, in +all probability, convert the attack into a blockade, if they were +determined to take the town; or they might retreat altogether, if their +miscarriage had led them to despair of mastering it. + +But at daybreak this latter illusion vanished; the Indians seemed to +have no inclination to beat a retreat. + +The country presented a most afflicting spectacle; everything was +burnt down, and the disorder frightful. In one place a band of mounted +Apaches were driving before them the horses and cattle they had stolen; +in another, nearer the town, and facing towards it, a strong body of +warriors, with poised lances, watched the movements of the inhabitants +of the _presidio_, with the intention of repelling any sortie that +might be attempted; behind them, women and children were chasing the +cattle, which were lowing with anger at being forced to quit the +pastures; here and there prisoners, men, women, and children, driven on +by blows of the lance, lifted their hands in vain supplication, and +painfully dragged themselves forward amidst their captors. Lastly, +as far as the eye could see, long files of Indians were hastening up +on every side, while others drove in the pickets, or built _callis_ +(huts); and the town was completely surrounded. + +Then an unheard-of circumstance occurred--a circumstance which the +most experienced soldiers in the fort had never witnessed in all their +previous encounters with the Indians, viz. the order that ruled through +all this disorder; that is to say, the manner in which the _callis_ +were grouped, the serried and disciplined march of the infantry, the +precision of their movements; and, what particularly upset all the +arrangements of the colonel and major, the drawing of a parallel about +the place, and throwing up an earthwork with immense rapidity, so as to +shelter the Apaches from the fire of the guns. + +"_Sangre de Dios!_" exclaimed the colonel, with an angry stamp; "those +wretches have a traitor among them; they have never made war in this +fashion before." + +"Hem!" said the major, pulling at his moustache; "We shall have to tilt +against rude jousters." + +"Yes," replied the colonel; "and if succour does not arrive from the +city, I do not exactly see how this is to end." + +"Badly, colonel. _Caray!_ I am afraid we shall lose our hides here. +Look! There are more than three thousand of them, without counting +those who are still coming and blackening the plain on all sides. But +what is the meaning of this noise?" he added, as he turned in the +direction whence the notes of a trumpet proceeded. + +Four sachems, dressed in white, and preceded by an Indian bearing a +white flag, had halted at half-gunshot from the first barricade at the +old _presidio_. + +"What can this mean?" said the colonel; "They seem to demand a parley. +Do they think I am fool enough to fall into the snare? Major, a hatful +of grape for that group of pagans! We'll teach them to take us for +dolts!" + +"I think you are wrong, colonel, and that it would be better to parley +with them; in that way we shall learn their intentions." + +"You may be right, my good friend; but who will be fool enough to risk +his life among these lawless bandits?" + +"I, if you will permit me," answered the major. + +"You!" cried Don Jos, in astonishment. + +"Yes; is it not our duty to suffer no means to escape us by which we +may save the wretched people confided to our honour? I am only one +man; my life is of little importance to the defence of the _presidio_, +and the step I am about to take may save it." + +The colonel stifled a sigh, pressed his old friend's hand +affectionately, and exclaimed, in a voice half choked with the emotion +he vainly endeavoured to suppress: + +"Go, since you insist upon it." + +"Thanks," said the major joyfully. And he turned with a firm step in +the direction of the barricade. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE ATTACK ON THE PRESIDIO. + + +Major Barnum was unarmed; he was offering up his life, and would not +take his sword, that he might have no pretext for defending himself +should a conflict ensue, as would probably be the case. + +When he had got within earshot, he halted. As in his former campaign he +had often had occasion to confer with the Apaches, he had learnt enough +of their language to need no interpreter. + +"What do you require, chiefs? Have you crossed the Rio Grande del +Norte, and invaded our frontiers, in breach of the peace existing +between us?" + +He said this in a loud voice, and saluting them with his hat, which he +immediately replaced after this act of courtesy. + +"Are you the man whom the palefaces call Don Jos Kalbris?" asked one +of the chiefs; "The man to whom they give the title of governor?" + +"No; according to our laws, the governor may not quit his post. I am +Major Barnum, second in command, deputed to represent him; so you may +report to me what brings you hither." + +The chiefs conferred together for an instant; then, planting their long +lances in the sand, they dashed forward on their horses till beside the +major. + +The latter, who had never taken his eyes off them, had divined their +purpose, but remained motionless, and testified no surprise at seeing +them at his side. + +The Indians, who had intended by the suddenness of their action to +throw off his guard and perhaps intimidate the major, were secretly +annoyed at his coolness, which they could not help admiring. + +"My father is brave," said the one who was spokesman. + +"At my age," replied the veteran, "one does not fear death; one often +looks upon it as a blessing." + +"My father bears on his head the snows of many winters; he must be one +of the wisest chiefs of his nation. The young men listen to him with +respect around the council fire." + +The major bowed modestly. + +"Do not talk of me," he said; "we have met to discuss graver matters. +Why have you demanded this interview?" + +"Will not my father lead us to the council fire of his nation?" said +the warrior in insinuating tones. "Is it proper for great _sachems_, +renowned warriors, to treat of important affairs on horseback, between +two armies ready to come to blows?" + +"I understand your meaning, chief; but cannot comply with your desires. +When a town is invested, no leader of the enemy can be admitted as flag +of truce." + +"Does my father fear that we four should take the town?" said the +Apache, laughing, but secretly vexed at the abortion of his plan to +communicate with the friends he undoubtedly had in the place. + +"It is not my custom to fear anything," replied the major; "I tell you +a fact of which you were ignorant, that is all. And now, if you wish +to use this pretext to break off the interview, you can do so; I have +nothing more to do than to go back." + +"Oho! My father is hasty for his age. Why break off the interview, when +we have not even mentioned the object of it?" + +"Speak then, and tell me what brings you here." + +The _sachems_ looked at each other, and exchanged a few words in a +whisper. Then the chief took up the word: + +"My father has seen the great army of the Apaches, and the nations +their allies?" + +"I have," replied the major carelessly. + +"And has my father, who is a learned paleface, counted the warriors who +compose it?" + +"Yes, as far as it was possible." + +"Ah! And how many are there, according to my father's counting?" + +"Upon my word, chief," replied the major, with an unconcern that was +admirably counterfeited, "I must confess that, as for us, we do not +care how many of them there are." + +"But still," persisted the Indian, "at how many does my father count +them?" + +"How can I know? Eight or ten thousand I dare say." + +The chiefs were astounded at the indifference the major displayed for +numbers thrice their force; and the Apache warrior replied: + +"And my father is not frightened at the number of warriors united under +one chief?" + +The wonder of the _sachems_ had not escaped the major. + +"Why should I be frightened? Has not my nation conquered greater +numbers?" + +"It is possible," said the chief, biting his lips; "but this time you +will not conquer." + +"Who can tell? Is that what you came to parley about, chief? If so, you +might have spared yourself the trouble." + +"No; it is not that. Let my father be patient." + +"Speak, then, and have done with it. One never knows how to get on with +all your Indian circumlocutions." + +"The army of the great nations is camped before the _presidio_ to +obtain satisfaction for all the wrongs the palefaces have done the +Indians, since they first set foot on the red man's territory." + +"What are you talking about? Explain yourself clearly; and, first of +all, what is your pretext for thus invading our frontiers, without +previously declaring war? Have we broken the treaties we made with +you? Have we not always been generous to the Indians who claimed our +protection? Answer!" + +"Why does my father pretend to be ignorant of our just reasons for war +with the palefaces?" replied the Apache, feigning to be discontented +with the major's speech. "My father knows that we have for centuries +been at war with the Long Knives,[1] who dwell on the other side of the +mountains. Why has my father's nation, which assumes to be at peace +with us, made treaties with them?" + +"Chief, you are only seeking a quarrel; but that does not signify. I +would rather you had told me frankly that your wish was to pillage +and steal our horses and cattle, than give me a reason without common +sense. We should be at war with the Comanches, if you really meant what +you say. Therefore, chief, mock me no more, but proceed to facts. What +is it you demand?" + +The chief burst out laughing. + +"My father is cunning," he said. "Listen; thus say the chiefs: 'This +land belongs to us: we will have it.' The white ancestors of my father +had no right to establish themselves in it." + +"That pretext is, at all events, specious; for my ancestors bought this +land from one of your _sachems_." + +"The chiefs in assembly round, the tree of the Master of life have +determined to return to the great white chief, without reserve, all the +articles formerly given to the _sachem_ in exchange for the land, and +to resume the country belonging to them, in which they will no longer +have the palefaces." + +"Is that all you were deputed to tell me?" + +"It is all," said the chief, bending his head. + +"And how much time," answered the major, "do the chiefs allow the +governor of the _presidio_ to discuss these proposals?" + +"Two hours." + +"Very well," said the major coolly. "And if the governor refuses, what +will my brothers do?" + +"The _sachems_," replied the Apache, emphatically, "have determined to +resume the ownership of their territory. If the palefaces refuse to +restore it, their village shall be burnt, their warriors put to death, +their wives and children carried away as slaves." + +"Ah!" said the major; "Before you obtain that result, all the whites +in the _presidio_ will have been killed in its defence. But it is not +for me to discuss the matter with you. I will carry your demands to the +governor, precisely as you have made them; and tomorrow, at sunrise, +you shall have your answer. Hostilities must be suspended until then." + +"No; it is for you to stop them. We cannot stay here inactive; so be on +your guard." + +"Thanks for your frankness, chief," replied the major. "I am happy +at meeting an Indian who is not altogether a rascal. Good-bye, till +tomorrow." + +"Farewell," said the chiefs courteously. + +All were struck with admiration at the coolness of the veteran. + +The major retired as slowly as he had come, without manifesting +apprehension. + +The colonel awaited him at the barricade with the greatest anxiety. The +long interview had filled him with uneasiness. He had prepared himself +to avenge any insult that might be offered to his envoy. When the major +reached the barricade, he hastened to join him. + +"Well?" said he impatiently. + +"They are only seeking to gain time, in order to execute one of their +devilries." + +"What is the sum of their demands?" + +"Their pretensions are absurd, and they know it; for they sneered when +they laid them before me. They pretend that the _sachem_ who ceded the +territory to the Spaniards, two hundred years ago, had no right to sell +it. They demand that we should surrender it to them in twenty-four +hours; if not--then follow the usual threats. Ah!" said the major, with +an ironical smile, "I forgot to tell you, colonel, that they pretend to +be ready to restore everything the _sachem_ received for the land he +sold. That is all I am commissioned to report." + +The colonel shrugged his shoulders in disdain. + +"The demons are mad," said he, "or else they are trying to lull us into +security, so as to surprise us the more easily." + +"What do you think of doing?" asked the major. + +"Redouble my vigilance, my good friend; for I have no doubt we shall +soon come to blows with them again. I am specially uneasy about the old +_presidio_." + +"You go back to the fort; I will take the command of the advanced post. +It is most important, in case of a check, that our communication should +not be cut off, and that we may be able to retreat into the place +without too great loss." + +"I will leave you at liberty to act, my dear major; I am sure you will +do your best." + +The two veterans separated, after shaking hands warmly. The colonel +returned to the fort, while the major actively bestirred himself to put +the post confided to him in safety against a surprise. + +The garrison of the old _presidio_ consisted chiefly of _vaqueros_ and +_leperos_,--people, we confess, on whose fidelity the major could only +moderately rely. But the stout old soldier locked the apprehensions +that tormented him up in his heart, and feigned entire confidence in +these fellows, whom he more than suspected. + +The day passed over quietly enough. The Apaches, buried like moles +behind their intrenchments, seemed determined not to quit them. The +sentinels watched vigilantly at the barriers and barricades which +closed the suburb. The major, reassured by this apparent tranquillity, +hoped that the Indians would not assume the offensive before the term +proposed for the receipt of the governor's answer; and, overwhelmed +with fatigue from the numerous operations he had been obliged to +superintend in providing for the defence in its minutest details, he +retired to a house close to the barricade, to snatch a few minutes of +necessary repose. + +Certain of our old acquaintances were amongst the defenders of +the suburb: Pablito, El Verado, Tonillo, and Carlocho. The worthy +_vaqueros_, since the appearance of the Indians, had given such +undeniable proofs of fidelity, that the major, at their request, and as +a reward for their good conduct, had confided to them the most advanced +barricade, which was, in fact, the key of the suburb. + +A few minutes after sunset, these four men were together at the foot of +the barricade, and talking in whispers. A dozen more rascals of their +own stamp, grouped a few paces off were evidently awaiting the result +of their mysterious council. + +At last they rose, and their colloquy terminated. + +"Well, then," said Carlocho, by way of wind-up, "it is settled for ten +o'clock?" + +"For ten o'clock," peremptorily replied El Zapote; "a man can only +stick to his word. We have been nobly paid, and must fulfil our +promise, especially as we have received half the amount." + +"True," said the others, thoroughly convinced; "the loss would be too +great." + +"I should think so!" exclaimed El Zapote; "Only think, _queridos_ (my +boys); five-and-twenty ounces a piece!" + +The bandits grinned like hyenas which scent a corpse, and their eyes +glistened with greed. + +The major, lying half upright on a _butaca_, slept the restless sleep +of a man whose mind is preoccupied by affairs of great moment; when +all of a sudden he felt himself rudely shaken, and a voice, half +unintelligible from emotion, shouted into his ears: + +"Rise, major, rise! We are betrayed! The _vaqueros_ have given up the +barricade to the Apaches, and the Indians are in the place." + +The officer bounded to his feet, seized his sword, and rushed out of +doors without answering, followed by the man--a Mexican soldier--who +had so rudely awakened him. + +At a single glance, the major recognised the truth of the disastrous +news reported to him. El Zapote and his comrades had not only +surrendered the barrier to the Apaches, but had even joined them, +followed by the few wretches we mentioned above. + +The situation was very critical. The Mexicans, disheartened by the +shameful defection of the _vaqueros_, fought without energy or order, +dreading further treachery, and on that account not daring to make good +head against the enemy. + +The Apaches and the _vaqueros_ howled like demons, and charged +furiously on the demoralised defenders of the _presidio_, whom they +slaughtered pitilessly. + +It was a horrid spectacle to witness, this homicidal strife, illumined +by the lurid reflection of the houses fired by the Indians to light up +their victory. The war whoop of the Apaches mingled with the cries of +agony of the Mexicans they were massacring and the awful roaring of the +flames, fanned by the frequent squalls. + +The major threw himself resolutely into the thickest of the fight, +calling the garrison around him, and exciting them by voice and +gesture, to a desperate resistance. + +The appearance of the commandant of the _presidio_ produced an +electrical effect on the Mexicans. Animated by his example, they +formed around him, and replied by a well-directed fire to the attacks +of their ferocious foes. + +The _vaqueros_, brought to a stand by the point of the bayonet, +ignominiously fled, pursued by a shower of balls. + +Thanks to the energetic action of the major, the fight was fairly +renewed; but Barnum was a soldier of too much experience to allow +himself to be deceived by a factitious success. He felt that any +attempt to hold the suburb would be madness; he therefore only thought +how to make good his retreat in the best possible order, and to bring +off the women and children. + +Calling his boldest and most resolute men about him, he formed them +into a body to hold the Indians in check, while the non-combatants +embarked and crossed the river. The Apaches perceived big project, and +doubled their efforts to hinder its execution. + +The _mle_ grew still more frightful. A desperate hand-to-hand combat +ensued between whites and redskins; the former fighting for the safety +of their families, the latter in the hope of an immense booty. + +But the Mexicans, encouraged by the heroic devotion of their commander, +only retreated step by step, resisting with the energy of that despair +which performs prodigies, and in desperate circumstances trebles the +strength of man. + +This handful of brave men, scarcely numbering a hundred and fifty, kept +in check for three hours, and without allowing themselves to be broken, +nearly two thousand Indians, falling one after the other at their +allotted posts, in order to save their wives and children. + +At last the final boats full of wounded and non-combatants quitted +the suburb; the Mexicans uttered a shout of joy, charged the Apaches +once more, and, under the orders of the major,--who, like an old +wounded lion, seemed to abandon the fight with regret,--commenced their +retreat, continually harassed by the Apaches. + +They soon reached the river. Here the savages were constrained to fall +back in their turn, being decimated by the showers of grape poured upon +their dense ranks by the guns of the fortress. + +This successful diversion permitted the scanty survivors of the +heroic Mexican phalanx to enter the boats, and retire without further +molestation, carrying with them two or three prisoners they had +contrived to secure. The fight was at an end, after having lasted five +hours. The Apaches had only conquered through the treachery of the +_vaqueros_. + +The colonel received his friend at the landing place, and congratulated +him on his admirable defence, which, in his eyes, was as good as a +victory, on account of the enormous losses it had caused the enemy. + +Then, without losing time, the two officers took measures to complete +the defence of the place, by ordering the construction of strong +intrenchments on the bank of the river, and the erection of two +flanking batteries, of six guns each. + +The capture of the old _presidio_ by the Indians, through the +treachery of the _vaqueros_, was an immense loss to the Mexicans, +whose communications with the numerous haciendas on that bank were cut +off. Luckily, the colonel, foreseeing a result almost inevitable from +the want of troops at his disposal, had withdrawn the whole of the +population of the suburb into San Lucar. The houses had been gutted, +horses and cattle carried off, and the boats moored under the batteries +of the fort, where they were in safety--at least for the present. + +It is true the Indians were masters of the suburb; but the success had +cost them greater losses than the possession of it was worth. After +all, the Mexicans had only lost an insignificant piece of ground, +scarcely worth defence; for the old _presidio_ was not the key of the +place, of which it was only a questionable dependency, and from which +it was separated by the breadth of the river. + +Thus the effect of the battle on the two camps was exactly the reverse +of what the reader might suppose. + +The Mexicans almost congratulated themselves on the loss of a position +nearly useless to them in the present state of affairs, and the defence +of which could only cost them many valuable lives; while the Apaches +asked each other sadly what good the conquest of the suburb had done +them, in return for the loss of more than five hundred of their bravest +warriors who had fallen. + +Two _vaqueros_, who had been thrown from their horses, had been taken +prisoners by the Mexicans during their retreat. + +The colonel ordered a court martial to assemble, commanded two high +gibbets to be erected a little in advance of the new intrenchments +along the river, and had them hung in the sight of the whole +population, and of their companions, who had clustered together on the +opposite bank of the river, and uttered shouts of impotent rage at +seeing them executed. + +Don Jos Kalbris was not naturally cruel; but in this case he justly +thought he ought to make an example, in order to intimidate such as +might have the inclination to imitate them. A _bando_ (an edict), fixed +to the foot of each gibbet, announced that the same fate awaited every +revolted _vaquero_ who fell into the hands of the Mexicans. + +While this was doing, evening closed in; and the Indians, to annoy +the whites, amused themselves by setting fire to the suburb they had +taken the night before. The immense volume of flame produced by the +conflagration threw fantastic shadows over the camp of the Apaches and +the town of San Lucar, whose miserable inhabitants, plunged in the +stupor of grief, knew they had no mercy to expect from foes like these. + +The colonel seemed made of iron: he did not take a moment's rest, but +visited the posts continually, and sought by every means to strengthen +the defences of the town. + +He and the major had just entered the fort, after making a final round. +The night had passed, and the Indians had retreated to their camp, +after making a futile attempt to surprise the _presidio_. + +"Well, major," said the colonel, "you see how it is; there is no use in +our trying to blind each other. It is only a question of time for us; +whether we shall be taken tomorrow or in a week, no one can say: but +everyone can see what the result must be." + +"Hm!" said the major; "When the last moment has come, we shall always +have the resource of shutting ourselves up in the fort, and blowing it +and ourselves to the devil." + +"Unluckily, we have not even that resource." + +"How so?" + +"Why, we old soldiers might blow ourselves up easily and ought to do +it; but we cannot condemn the women and children shut up with us to +such a cruel fate." + +"True; but I have it! Although we cannot blow ourselves up, I can +always blow out my brains." + +"You have not even that consolation, my good friend. Is it not our duty +to set an example to the poor people cooped up here, and protect them +while we can? Is it not our duty to be in the breach to the last?" + +The major made no reply to this argument, which he inwardly +acknowledged to be unanswerable. + +"But," said he, after a pause, "how is it we have received no news from +the capital of the state?" + +"Ah, my friend! Out there they have probably other things than us to +think of." + +"I will not believe it." + +At this moment a servant opened the door, and announced: + +"Don Torribio Quiroga!" + +The two men shuddered, without being able to account for their emotion. + +Don Torribio entered. He wore the magnificent uniform of a colonel +in the Mexican service, and on his left arm the ribbons of an +aide-de-camp. He bowed respectfully to the two officers. + +"Is that you, Don Torribio?" said the colonel. + +"I suppose it is," said the former smiling. + +"When I last saw you, you were about to undertake a long journey." + +"From which I have just returned." + +"But the uniform you wear?" + +"Good heavens, caballeros! I was tired of being treated in the +provinces as a nobody, a kind of useless ninny. I threw off everything +of that sort, and have become a man of the world like others." + +"Then you are--?" asked Don Jos. + +"An officer like yourself, colonel,--of the same rank; and moreover, +aide-de-camp to the governor of the state." + +"It is wonderful!" said the colonel. + +"Why so? Nothing could be more simple." + +The major had taken no part in this conversation. When Don Torribio +entered, a strange suspicion had seized him. + +"I confess," said the colonel, "that I was a thousand miles from +thinking--" + +"What, pray? That I should turn officer? You see, you were wrong; +and so much the more so, since I have been deputed by the general +commanding the province to bring you a message, which I am sure will be +of great service to you in the present conjuncture." + +He drew forth a large folded paper, sealed with the Mexican arms, and +presented it to the colonel. + +Don Jos hastened to take it. + +"With your permission," said he, and hurriedly broke the seal, and read +the missive. + +"Aha!" he exclaimed; "Four hundred and fifty men! I did not expect so +strong a reinforcement." + +"The general feels greatly concerned for the _presidio_," said Don +Torribio; "he will spare no sacrifice to retain it." + +"_Vive Dios!_ caballero, with such help I care as much for the Indians +as for a bundle of straw." + +"It seems to me that they will not arrive a whit too soon," said Don +Torribio, with a sneer. + +"_Canarios!_ It is just in time; but now we shall have some fun." + +"I hope so," said the other, while an indescribable smile curled his +lips. + +"And your men?" asked the governor. + +"Will be here in an hour, at the latest." + +"To what corps do they belong?" + +"To none in particular; they are _guerilleros_" (irregular troops). + +"Hm!" said the colonel, showing a little disappointment; "I should have +preferred other troops. But never mind; if you like, we will go out to +meet them." + +"I am at your orders, colonel." + +"Shall I go with you?" asked the major. + +"Nothing could be better," said Don Torribio hastily. + +The colonel hesitated a moment. + +"No," said he, at last; "remain here. One cannot tell what may happen, +and somebody must be here to act for me in my absence. Come, Don +Torribio." + +With a sigh of satisfaction, the major threw himself back again on the +sofa from which he had risen. + +The two men went out. Just as they were mounting, they encountered a +horseman, who came up at full speed. + +"Estevan Diaz!" muttered Don Torribio to himself; "Please Heaven he has +not recognized me." + + +[1] The inhabitants of the United States. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +DISGRACE. + + +As we have already said, Don Torribio had rapidly quitted the Hacienda +del Cormillo in company with the mysterious stranger whom he had met in +such an extraordinary manner. + +Their journey was not long. At the close of a quarter of an hour, the +stranger pulled up his horse, saying, in a sharp tone: + +"It is useless to take you farther before I know what I have to expect +from you." + +Don Torribio had halted at the same time as the unknown. + +"I think you are making a mistake, caballero," said he dryly. + +"In what way, if you please, seor?" said the other in a sneering tone. + +"I am going to put you in possession of a few facts, which will put us +on a level with each other." + +"Let us hear them, caballero; I am all attention." + +"In the first place," said Don Torribio firmly, "before we go any +farther, let me give you a piece of advice." + +"Advice is always useful: if yours is good, I shall profit by it; of +that be certain." + +"You will be right. I am unaware whether you know me, but be sure of +this: I am not easily frightened; and if, for some unknown reason, you +have led me into an ambush, I warn you that, at the first suspicious +movement you make, I will blow your brains out; for I neither know you, +nor what your intentions are." + +"Good! You are a man after my own heart, I see clearly we shall come to +an understanding." + +"Perhaps so. But as it is not I who have come to seek you out,--as +I have not claimed your aid in any way,--I demand, in the first +place, that you give me a clear explanation, without prevarication or +circumlocution." + +The stranger shrugged his shoulders. + +"Is it not enough for you to know that I am in a position to serve you +effectually in the plans of vengeance you meditate?" + +"I neither understand what you say, nor to what you allude," said Don +Torribio haughtily. + +"Aha!" said the other, laughing grimly; "Is that the way you answer +me?" + +"Why should I give you a different answer? What right have you to my +confidence? On what plea, supposing I have a secret, do you pretend to +search into it?" + +"Because your enemy is mine also; because, in avenging you, I avenge +myself. Do you understand me now?" + +"No more than I did before. If you have nothing else to say, we had +better break off our conference and part." + +The stranger made a gesture of impatience: he had not expected to meet +with so much inflexibility. + +"One word more, Don Torribio Quiroga. The man whom you hate, whose +death you have already plotted, is called Don Fernando Carril. That man +who for a long time has crossed your path at every turn, counteracting +your plans and ruining your hopes, has overthrown you in all your +reencounters; your very life belongs to him; he has taken all, even to +the heart of her you love. Is not this true? Will you trust me now?" + +Don Torribio had listened with mingled pain and anger to the +revelations of the singular being who had accosted him. + +"Yes," said he, clenching his hand with rage, "yes, you are well +informed. I care not whether you have gleaned your knowledge from +heaven or hell; it is accurate. This man is my evil genius, always +and forever crossing my path, and overthrowing, as if in wantonness, +my most cherished aspirations. I would sacrifice my whole fortune to +avenge myself on him--to hold him, panting and despairing, in my power." + +"I thought we should end by coming to an understanding." + +"Do not mock me, seor; my soul is deeply troubled. I could have +forgiven this man his insolent good luck, his success in the world, +where he thrives at my expense, the heaps of gold he wins with such +proud indifference,--I say, I could have forgiven him all this, if +he had not destroyed my sweetest hopes in tearing from me the heart +of her I love; for although I have no tangible proof to corroborate +my suspicions, I have tonight acquired a moral certainty impossible +to controvert. A lover's heart does not deceive him; jealousy is +sharp-sighted. On the appearance of Don Fernando at Don Pedro de +Luna's, I found in him a rival, and a rival who is preferred to me." + +"If you choose, I will rid you of Don Fernando, and deliver Doa +Hermosa into your hands." + +"You will do that?" cried Don Torribio, beside himself with joy. + +"I will do it," briefly responded the stranger. "Before two days are +over, you shall have your revenge on both. But it all depends upon your +own will." + +"Ah! If that is all," said the other, with an indescribable expression +of rage, "I will do all you ask, I will agree to all your demands, to +the utmost of my power." + +"Take heed, Don Torribio; we are about to enter into a compact--a +compact, the conditions of which you must fulfil at all hazards." + +"Whatever they may be, I will fulfil them, if you secure my twofold +revenge." + +"Good! Swear to me, by all you hold most sacred in this world, +that, whatever may happen, whatever determination you may arrive at +hereafter, you will never divulge what is going to pass between us." + +"I swear to you, _a fe de_ caballero," (on the honour of a gentleman), +"seor. Speak with all confidence." + +"Just now you asked me who I am: I am the Tigercat!" + +Don Torribio shuddered involuntarily on hearing this redoubtable name, +but recovered himself immediately. + +"Very good," said he; "the name you reveal is a guarantee of success to +my vengeance." + +"Yes," said the bandit, chuckling, "I dare say it is; my reputation has +been established a long time on the frontiers. In the meantime, this is +what I exact of you. Ponder well what you are about to hear--reflect +seriously on what I am going to propose--before you answer; for, I +repeat once more, I will compel you to act up to the conditions when +once you have accepted them." + +"Speak," he replied impatiently; "have I not told you I am longing for +revenge?" + +"Hear me, then, and remember your oath. I am at this moment preparing +an expedition against San Lucar, of which I intend to gain possession +at any price. For certain reasons, which need not be mentioned, I have +assembled several tribes of the Apaches and a considerable number of +_vaqueros_, who are concealed not far from hence, and only await my +signal to fall, like tigers thirsting for blood, upon the _pueblo_, as +it is gorged with wealth. An active and intelligent ally, upon whom I +counted to execute this bold _coup-de-main_, has deserted me at the +last moment. You alone can replace him: will you do so?" + +"What is this?" exclaimed Don Torribio, shuddering; "It is treason you +propose!" + +"No," replied the other, in a deep voice, "it is revenge!--consummate +vengeance, by which I shall confound your enemies, and those who have +applauded their success, while they laughed in scorn at each of your +disasters." + +"What! I, Don Torribio Quiroga, belonging to one of the oldest families +in the country; I am to associate--" + +He hesitated and paused. The Tigercat laughed with disdain. + +"With bandits and redskins, you would say, and wage war on your own +countrymen. Why hesitate to pronounce the words? As for me, those +qualifications have no value. I offer you revenge on your countrymen, +who have become your enemies in siding with your adversary. You are +about to engage in a duel. In a duel, all feints to kill your opponent +are lawful. But these are my conditions, and I will not alter them a +tittle. I will give you twenty-four hours for consideration." + +A long silence ensued between the two men. + +The night was dark; the wind howled mournfully through the branches of +the trees; nameless noises passed them by, borne on the wings of the +breeze. + +At last Don Torribio answered in husky tones: + +"You have given me twenty-four hours; I demand forty-eight to come to +my determination. I will make one more attempt with her I love. You +see, I am frank with you. The line of conduct I adopt will depend upon +the result of the experiment." + +"Be it so," said the Tigercat; "it is better thus. Your cooperation +will be more efficacious, and your will firmer, when your last allusion +has been torn from you. Go, then! For my part, I shall not be idle." + +"Thanks! In case I want to communicate to you my resolve, where shall I +find you?" + +"I will await you at the Barranca del Fraile" (the Friar's inn). + +"Agreed! God grant," he added, with a sigh, "that fate may not force me +to be there!" + +The Tigercat laughed aloud; and, without replying, spurred his horse, +and disappeared in the darkness. + +We have already related how the old freebooter acted to keep his +promise to Don Torribio. + +The desertion among the Apaches, brought about by the influence of the +_amantzin_, on the night when the Tigercat left them to repair to the +rendezvous arranged with Stoneheart, had not been as successful as the +sorcerer had hoped. The sudden return of the old chief sufficed to +restore his authority among the Apaches, who had long been accustomed +to obey him, and whose raids against the frontier had always been +productive of booty when he commanded them. + +The Tigercat had not even taken the trouble to punish the _amantzin_ +himself--the Zopilote had taken care of that; and the summary execution +had produced an excellent effect upon those rugged and savage minds, +which brute force alone can tame. + +Nevertheless, he had no wish to damp the renewed devotion shown him +by the redskins; and, although his final dispositions were not yet +made, and the defection of Stoneheart was a serious hindrance to his +plans, he comprehended the necessity of hurrying on his expedition, +even at the risk of seeing it fail, calculating on turning to his own +profit the hatred of Don Torribio, whose high standing in the province +might be very useful to him. He assembled all the Indians able to +bear arms of whom he could dispose, crossed the Rio Grande del Norte; +and these vultures fell like a devastating hurricane on the luckless +Indian frontier,--burning, pillaging, slaughtering, and passing like +a horrible plague over those magnificent plains which they left behind +them a desert. + +Don Torribio Quiroga was one of the first to learn the tidings of the +Indian invasion. The news gave him an indescribable feeling of mingled +joy and regret. He guessed that the Tigercat wished to give him a proof +of the sincerity of his intentions towards him, and of the manner in +which he meant to keep the promise he had given. + +Up to that time a prey to a thousand conflicting feelings, he now +resolved to settle his doubts at once, and to learn positively what +he had to hope or fear from Doa Hermosa and her father. Towards nine +o'clock in the morning, he called for his horse, and, in spite of the +danger he would certainly incur in the short space between the presidio +and the hacienda, he managed to leave San Lucar, on which the Indians +were rapidly moving, and rode at full speed towards El Cormillo. + +About half way to the hacienda his horse started at several dead bodies +lying across the road, riddled with wounds; but he was too preoccupied +by his own thoughts to pay much attention to the ominous reencounter. +As he rode past, he cast a careless look at the corpses, and continued +his road without further thought of the incident. + +Either designedly, or because they knew the futility of an attack on +the hacienda, the Apaches had deviated from their furious course, so as +not to approach it. When Don Torribio arrived, he found it in a perfect +state of defence: the gates shut and barricaded with care, the windows +blocked and loopholed; and he saw the bayonets of the numerous garrison +gleaming above the walls in the sunshine. + +The sentries placed at the principal entrance gave admittance to Don +Torribio, but not before they had questioned and recognised him. A +_peon_ received and conducted him to the drawing room. He found three +persons there: Don Pedro de Luna, a Manuela, and Don Estevan Diaz, +who, pale and bloody, was lying upon a sofa, apparently asleep. His +mother, seated beside him, watched his slumbers with that tender +solicitude which belongs to mothers only. Don Torribio took a few +hesitating steps forward, and stopped in surprise when he perceived +that no one seemed to notice his presence. At last Don Pedro raised his +eyes, and looking at him coldly, said, "Oh! Is it you, cousin? How +does it happen that you are here today?" + +"Had I no other motive," replied Don Torribio, troubled by a reception +he had not anticipated, and foreseeing a storm, "the lively interest I +take in your family would have made it my duty to be here now." + +"I thank you, cousin," said Don Pedro still more coldly, "for the +proof of sympathy you are kind enough to give us. But you might have +remembered that El Cormillo is in a perfect state of defence, and that +we run no danger behind these walls, before you exposed yourself to +be assassinated on the road, as has nearly happened to our poor Don +Estevan." + +"Has he been set upon?" asked Don Torribio. + +"Yes," dryly replied the hacendero; "he and another person, who, less +lucky than Estevan, is most likely dead. Did you not know it?" + +"I!" Exclaimed Don Torribio, with an accent of truth there was no +mistaking; "How should I know?" + +"Excuse me, cousin; I am so troubled at what has occurred, that I +hardly know what I am saying." + +Don Torribio bowed, and then replied: + +"May I not have the pleasure of offering my homage to my charming +cousin?" + +"You must excuse her; she has retired to her room. The poor child is so +distracted by the late extraordinary events, that she is unable to see +any one--not even you." + +"I am the more grieved at this indisposition, as I wished to have some +conversation with her on a matter of moment." + +"So much the worse, cousin; so much the worse. The time is ill chosen +to speak of business, as you must allow, when the Indians are at our +gates, devastating our fields and burning our dwellings." + +"True, cousin; I acknowledge the justice of your remark. Unfortunately, +I find myself placed by chance in such extraordinary circumstances, +that if I might persist--" + +"It would be useless, my dear Don Torribio," said Don Pedro, +interrupting him, and exhibiting a certain degree of stiffness. "I have +the honour to tell you that my daughter cannot have the pleasure of +seeing you today." + +"Then pray, cousin, excuse my inopportune intrusion. Perhaps I shall be +more lucky another day." + +"That is it; some other day, when we have got rid of these cursed +pagans, and have no longer a horrible death in perspective." + +"And now," said Don Torribio, with ill-suppressed rage, "as I perceive +that, owing to your abstraction doubtless, you have not even offered me +a seat, cousin, I have no more to do than offer my good wishes for your +safety, and take my leave of you." + +The hacendero did not seem to observe the tone of ill humour in which +these words were uttered. + +"Good-bye, then, Don Torribio," said he, "and a lucky journey. Above +all things, be prudent, and do not travel with your eyes shut. The +roads are infested by brigands, and I should be in despair if you met +with mishap." + +"I thank you for your advice, and will follow it," he replied, turning +to leave the room. + +Just at this moment Don Estevan--who, as we have said, appeared to +be sleeping--opened his eyes, and perceived Don Torribio. His look +brightened. + +"Mother," said he in a feeble voice, "and you, Don Pedro, do me the +favour to leave me alone with this caballero for a short time. I have a +few words to say to him in private." + +"To me, seor?" asked Don Torribio, in a tone so haughty it sounded +like disdain. + +"To yourself, Seor Don Torribio Quiroga," replied the wounded man, +whose voice grew stronger under the excitement of his feelings. + +"You are very weak, my son, for a conversation with any one," said +Manuela. + +"Perhaps, my friend," said Don Pedro, "it would be more prudent to +defer it for a few days." + +"No," was the reply; "it must be today--must be this instant." + +"Just as you please, headstrong!" said Don Pedro. "We will go into the +anteroom, where we shall be within call. Come, Manuela." + +Don Estevan kept his eyes fixed on the door till it closed behind them; +then he turned to Don Torribio, who was still standing in the centre of +the room. + +"Come nearer, seor, that you may be better able to hear what I have to +say to you." + +"I am listening to you, seor; but, at the same time, must beg you not +to delay your communication." + +"You shall have it. I warn you, that I tore the mask from one of the +bandits who attacked us, and recognised him." + +"I am at a loss to understand," said Don Torribio. + +"Oh! You do not understand, seor! It is the answer I expected. +I suppose, likewise, you do not know the name of the person who +accompanied me, and on whom the _vaqueros_ fell with such indescribable +fury?" + +"I am perfectly ignorant as to who he was," said Don Torribio, quite +unmoved. + +"Better and better! Learn, then, that it was Don Fernando Carril who +was killed." And he cast a look pregnant with irony at the man standing +beside him. + +"Don Fernando Carril!--killed!" exclaimed the latter, stupefied. + +Don Estevan smiled disdainfully. + +"Listen once more to this," he continued in threatening tones. "If Don +Fernando is not brought to this hacienda within twenty-four hours, I +will reveal to Don Pedro and his daughter the name of his assassin. I +think you understand me this time?" And, overcome with grief, he sank +half fainting on his couch. + +Don Torribio remained a moment, annihilated with the words he had +heard; but, immediately recovering his presence of mind, he quickly +left the hacienda, and galloped into the plains, muttering as he rode: + +"The Tigercat was right: there is nothing left for me but to seek the +Barranca del Fraile." + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE PRISONER. + + +We must now explain to our readers what happened after the fall of Don +Fernando Carril, when he was made the victim of an ambuscade. + +When his hand was no longer able to raise his sword, and he had fallen +by the side of his companion, the men in masks--who had been chary of +approaching too near him, out of respect for the blade he wielded so +well, as proved by the bodies of four bandits lying on the sand beside +him? rushed all at once upon him. + +Don Fernando Carril lay on his back showing no signs of life. A deadly, +pallor overspread his noble features; his half-opened lips disclosed +his clenched teeth; blood was flowing in torrents from the many wounds +he had received; and his hand still clasped the weapon with which he +had so long held his assailants at bay. + +"_Caspita!_" cried one, looking at him attentively; "Here is a young +gentleman who is seriously hurt. What will the master say?" + +"What would you have him say, Seor Carlocho?" said another; "He +defended himself like a lion. It is his own fault. He ought to have let +himself be taken nicely, and all this would not have happened. Look! we +have lost four men." + +"A pretty loss indeed, those four fellows there! I would rather he had +killed six than be in the state he is now." + +"The devil!" muttered the other bandit; "That is no compliment to us, +you know." + +"That will do; that will do. Help me to bind up his wounds as well as +we can, and lose no time about it. This is no wholesome place for us; +besides we are expected elsewhere; so be quick." + +Without further discussion, the bandits hastened to obey the orders +of Carlocho. Don Fernando's wounds were bound up somehow; he was +thrown across the horse of the _guacho_, who seemed to be leader of +the expedition, and the party set off at full gallop, without further +heed of those who had fallen in the struggle, and whose bodies were +abandoned to the beasts of prey. + +After a very rapid ride of two hours, they reached an abandoned +_rancho_. + +Two men were awaiting their arrival with impatience. + +These two men were Tigercat and Don Torribio. + +"Well!" shouted the former, as soon as he saw them. + +"It is done!" said Carlocho laconically, as he dismounted, took Don +Fernando in his arms, and carried him to a bed of leaves. + +The latter showed no signs of life. + +"Is he dead?" asked the Tigercat. + +Carlocho shook his head. + +"He is hardly better than dead," he replied. + +"Wretch!" cried the Indian chief in a fury; "Is it thus you execute my +orders? Did I not command you to take him alive?" + +"Hm!" said Carlocho; "I only wish you had been there to see! An +incarnate demon, who, armed only with a thin rapier, withstood us for +more than twenty minutes, and only gave in after killing four of our +bravest!" + +The Tigercat smiled disdainfully. + +"You are all cowards," he said. + +And turning his back on the _vaquero_, he went up to Don Fernando. + +Don Torribio was already at his side. + +"Is he dead?" he asked. + +"No," replied the Mexican; "but nearly so." + +"So much the worse," muttered the old chief, "I would give a good deal +for his recovery." + +Don Torribio looked at him with astonishment. + +"Of what importance is the life of this man to us?" he said. "Was he +not your enemy?" + +"The very reason why I do not wish him to die." + +"I do not understand you." + +"I have devoted my life to the accomplishment of an idea; therefore +I no longer belong to myself, and am bound to offer up my hate and +friendship to my idea." + +"I admit that, up to a certain point: but how is it, then, that you +have laid a trap for this man, who, according to your own account, is a +traitor." + +"Are men always to be harshly judged, even by those who are most +intimate with them?" said the old chief, with a bitter smile. "What is +it to me that the man may be a traitor? By putting him out of the way, +without touching his life, I should have gained the end I had before +me when I sought your alliance. After keeping him a prisoner for a +few days, to prevent his counteracting your plans, and hindering your +marriage with Doa Hermosa, I should have restored him to freedom. +Unluckily, it is too late now: what is done cannot be undone. The death +of this man, obscurely slain in ambuscade, will do more to frustrate +my plans than you imagine. His blood be upon your head! It is you who +ordered this murder." + +"I!" replied Don Torribio. "You are mad!" + +The Tigercat looked at his new ally with a stare of surprise, shrugged +his shoulders, and whistled a Mexican _seguidilla_. It was evident that +Don Torribio had not understood a word of what had been uttered by +this singular man, whose sole delight had hitherto been in slaughter. + +"Pooh!" said he; "What does one, more or less, signify?" + +The Indian chief stooped over the body of the wounded man, and examined +it carefully. The eyes were closed, and the features had the paleness +and rigidity of death. Two or three _vaqueros_, aided by Carlocho, +rubbed his temples and chest incessantly with rum. + +After looking at the body attentively, the old chief drew a knife +from his girdle, held the blade for two or three minutes across the +mouth, withdrew it again, and examined it. He thought it was slightly +tarnished; then he knelt down by Don Fernando, seized his left arm, +ripped up the sleeve, and, having felt for the vein, pricked it with +the delicate point of his knife. + +Then followed an instant of anxious suspense. The looks of all were +fixed on the wounded man. This attempt would be the last; if it did not +succeed, all was over: he knew of no other means to recall him to life. +The _vaqueros_ continued the friction. + +At the puncture made by the chief's knife, there appeared at last a +dark speck; little by little it increased in size, till it grew into a +black point, which finally became a bead of jet: this trembled for a +moment, and then fell rolling down the arm, pressed forward by another +which succeeded it, and immediately made room for a third; then the +blood grew less black and less thick, and finally gushed out in a long +vermillion stream. + +The Tigercat could not repress a shout of triumph; Don Fernando was +saved. In fact, after the lapse of a minute, the latter moved slightly +and uttered a deep sigh. + +The Indian chief rose, after binding up Don Fernando's arm and signed +to Pablito to follow him into another compartment of the _rancho_, +requesting Don Torribio to remain for a time where he was. + +Without waiting for the question which the _vaquero_ was about to ask, +and which he saw playing about his finely chiselled lips, the chief +began to speak with a feverish haste, betraying the secret agitation of +his mind. + +"You see what has happened," he said. + +"But you yourself willed it so!" said Pablito, utterly surprised. + +"Yes, I did will it; and I thank God for having spared me this odious +crime!" + +"If you are satisfied, all will go well." + +"But here is another matter. Remember this: Don Torribio must be kept +in the dark. To all the world, and to this man in particular, Don +Fernando is dead." + +"Speak on; I think I understand you." + +"Don Fernando's wounds, though many, are not severe. The loss of blood, +and the speed with which he was brought hither, are the sole causes of +the lethargy into which he has fallen, and out of which he will soon +awake." + +"Good; Now, what am I to do?" + +"He must not see me." + +"Very good; nothing can be easier." + +"Nor must he recognise you." + +"That will be more difficult; he knows me well." + +"It is most important." + +"I will try." + +"And now, this is what you have to do." + +"I am all attention." + +"I must leave this place immediately; my presence is required +elsewhere. As for you, you will have Don Fernando carried to the +_presidio_, without his learning who has taken him thither." + +"To the _presidio_?" exclaimed Pablito, astonished. + +"Yes; it is the safest place," said the chief, drawing forth a paper +cut to a certain shape; "you will take him to my house. He must not +leave it on any pretence: above all, he must not know he is at the +_presidio_." + +"Is that all?" + +"It is. Only, remember, you are answerable to me for him." + +"Very well. At your orders I will produce him, alive or dead." + +"Alive! His life is precious to me." + +"Then I will do my best." + +"And now, Pablito, be honest with me. Can I trust you?" + +"Well," said Pablito, "since you are so much concerned about such a +wretched affair, I will answer for your prisoner." + +"Then farewell, and thanks," said the Tigercat; "above all, remember +to report to me tonight, in Don Torribio's presence, that his enemy is +dead." + +"Rely upon me for that." + +"No, no," muttered the old chief to himself; "he must not die: his life +is too necessary for the accomplishment of my revenge." + +He rejoined Don Torribio, who had grown impatient. Without exchanging +a word, the two mounted the magnificent mustangs that were waiting for +them, and disappeared amongst the foliage. + +Pablito, twisting his moustache in ill humour, returned to the wounded +man; the office intrusted to him was evidently unpalatable. However, +as the _vaquero_ was an honest man enough, after his own fashion, and +prided himself, among the numerous other good qualities he fancied he +possessed, most especially on his adherence to his word, the thought of +breaking it never entered his mind. + +"How is he?" he asked Carlocho in a whisper. + +"A great deal better," replied the latter. "It is astonishing how much +good the bleeding has done him; he has already opened his eyes twice +and tried to speak." + +"Hm! Then we have no time to lose. Put a bandage round the eyes of this +fellow, and then, lest he should use his hands to remove it, tie them +down to his sides. But, as this is only to be done for prudence' sake, +I recommend you to use as much gentleness and delicacy as your nature +is capable of. Do you understand perfectly?" + +"Yes, _canarios!_ One need not be a wizard to do that!" + +"Well, make haste! I give you five minutes to obey my orders: in ten we +shall be gone." + +The wounded man had indeed recovered a good deal of his strength. As +the chief had declared, his wounds were not severe, and the loss of +blood alone had occasioned the prostration in which he was lying. + +Little by little he had recovered his senses sufficiently to know +into whose hands he had fallen; and although too feeble to offer the +slightest opposition whatever to the bandits at his side, his presence +of mind had returned in a degree to enable him to comprehend that the +greatest circumspection was necessary, to avoid arousing the suspicions +as to his state in people who would not for a moment hesitate to +sacrifice him to their safety. + +So, when Carlocho, according to the injunctions of Pablito, passed a +folded handkerchief over his eyes, and bound his hands, he feigned +entire insensibility, and allowed them to do as they pleased with him, +secretly rejoiced at these precautions, which indicated that his life +was safe for the present. + +"Now, what is to be done?" asked Carlocho. + +"Two or three of you take up the wounded man, and carry him carefully +to the boat I have in waiting close by. And pay particular attention to +him, you fellows; for, at the first jolt, I will blow your brains out." + +"_Caray!_" was all the _vaquero_ could utter, for surprise. + +"Ah!" said Pablito, with a shrug of his shoulders; "As you were fools +enough not to kill him when you might have done so, so much the worse +for you: now you shall mount guard over him. That shall teach you to +introduce courtesy, or, if you like it better, clumsiness, into an +ambuscade the next time." + +Carlocho opened his eyes wide at this rodomontade, which he could not +understand, but hastened to obey the order. + +Don Fernando was carried thus into a boat by Pablito, Carlocho, and a +third _vaquero;_ while the remainder went off by land, taking their +comrades' horses with them. Three hours later, the prisoner, to whom +his keepers had not spoken a word during the journey, was carried into +the _presidio_, and shut up in a house lately hired by the Tigercat in +a fictitious name--a circumstance of which Don Fernando knew nothing. + +The bandage was taken from his eyes, his hands were freed; but a man in +a mask, mute as a tomb, was placed in his chamber, and never left him. + +The wounded man, harassed by the journey, and weakened by the blood he +had lost, resolved, for the present, to trust to chance for relief from +his annoying and incomprehensible situation. He gave that apparently +listless but all-observant glance around him which is peculiar to +prisoners, and dropped off into a deep sleep, lasting many hours, and +restoring to his mind all its coolness and original clearness. + +The people who served him, though masked and dumb, took the greatest +care of him, and seemed to vie with each other in their endeavours to +comply with his wishes, and satisfy his most capricious whims. In +point of fact, his position was tolerable; at bottom, there was a spice +of originality about it; and Don Fernando, convinced, at the end of two +days' experience, that no attempt would be made on his life, but that, +on the contrary, every effort was made to heal his wounds as quickly +as possible, concluded to bear his lot bravely, in the expectation of +better times. + +The third day of his captivity, Don Fernando, whose wounds were only +sword cuts, and now nearly cicatrised, rose from his bed, partly to try +his strength, and partly to look out and discover where he was: it was +requisite to know the locality, in order to mature the scheme of escape +he was already secretly planning. + +The weather was magnificent; the hot sunlight shone cheerfully in at +the windows, tracing the bars on the floor of the chamber which served +as his prison. It made him feel quite refreshed, and he tried to walk +a few steps, still carefully watched by his inevitable guard, whose +flaming eyes were never off him. Suddenly a terrible clamour arose, and +a round of artillery shook the panes. + +"What is that?" asked Don Fernando. + +His keeper shrugged his shoulders, but did not reply. + +The sharp cracking of muskets was now mingled with the roar of the +guns; and it became evident that a hard fight was going on somewhere +in the neighbourhood. His keeper, imperturbable as ever, closed the +windows. + +Don Fernando went up to him. The two men stared at each other for a +moment. Many a time had the wounded man addressed a question to this +stolid sentry without eliciting an answer, and now he hesitated a +little before making a fresh attempt. + +"Friend," said he, at last, in a gentle voice, "what is going on out of +doors?" + +The man remained mute. + +"Answer me, in the name of Heaven!" continued the querist; "I ask but +little. Surely you would not overstep your instructions by telling me +thus much?" + +Just then the clamour seemed to draw nearer; hurried steps, mingled +with outcries, sounded close at hand. His keeper rose uneasily, drew +his machete (knife) from its sheath, pulled a pistol from his belt, and +went towards the door; but on a sudden it was violently opened, and a +man rushed into the room, his face blanched with terror. + +"Up! On your guard;" cried he; "we are lost!" + +His keeper made a sign for Don Fernando to keep back, and placed +himself resolutely in front of the door, where four men, masked and +armed to the teeth, had just made their appearance. + +"Back!" cried the keeper; "No one enters here without a watchword!" + +"Here you have it," answered one of the men at the door, as, with a +pistol, he blew out the keeper's brains. + +The four men stepped over his body, seized and bound his comrade, who +had crouched down in the farthest corner of the room, and advanced to +Don Fernando, who was wondering at the strange scene. + +"You are at liberty, caballero," said one of the four. "Come, you must +leave this house at once." + +"First of all, who are you?" replied Don Fernando; "Who are you, who +proclaim yourselves my liberators?" + +"We have no time for explanations," answered the man in the mask. "Make +haste and follow us." + +"Not before I know who you are." + +The other gave an impatient stamp, and, stooping down, whispered in his +ear: + +"Madman! Have you no wish to see Doa Hermosa again?" + +Don Fernando reddened with pleasure. + +"I follow you," said he. + +"Here," said the mask, "take these pistols and this sword; we have not +done our work yet. We may still have fighting before us." + +"Yes!" exclaimed Don Fernando joyfully; "I now see that you are really +sent to save me. I will follow wherever you may lead." And he seized +the weapons, and placed them in his girdle. + +They hastily left the house. + +"What!" cried Don Fernando, as he put his foot out of doors, "Am I at +the _presidio_ of San Lucar?" + +"Did you not know it?" asked his guide. + +"How was it possible? I was brought here with my eyes bandaged." + +In the court several horses, ready saddled, were tied to rings in the +wall. + +"Could you keep your saddle?" said the stranger. + +"I hope so," replied Don Fernando. + +"You must," said the stranger peremptorily. + +"Then I will, even if I die in it." + +"Good: let us mount and be gone." + +At the very moment they were issuing into the street, a troop of ten or +twelve mounted men were coming up at full gallop: they were not more +than twenty paces off. + +"Here are the enemy," said the stranger in deep and low tones; "we must +charge and ride over them, or die." + +The five men formed in line, and rushed like a thunderbolt upon the +newcomers, at whom they discharged their pistols point-blank, and then +cut their way with the sword. + +"_Caray!_" screamed Pablito, in a fury--for it was he who commanded +the troop--"My prisoner is escaping." + +Spurring his horse, he dashed at Don Fernando. But the latter, without +drawing bridle, fired a pistol; and the _vaquero's_ horse, struck by a +ball in the forehead, rolled to the ground, bearing his rider with him. + +Pablito rose, half killed by the fall. The men who had attacked him so +briskly had disappeared. + +"Never mind; I shall find them again," he cried. + +In the meantime, the fugitives had reached the bank of the river, and +found a boat waiting for them. + +"We must part here," said the stranger, taking off his mask. + +"Estevan!" cried Don Fernando. + +"Myself," replied the _mayor domo_. "This boat will take you to the +Hacienda del Cormillo. Go there without delay, and," he added, as he +placed in his hands a paper folded into four, "read this attentively; +perhaps you will have to come to the rescue in your turn." + +"Be assured on that score: I have my revenge to take." + +"Farewell, my friend." + +"Shall I see Doa Hermosa?" + +"I am forbidden to talk on the subject." + +"Another question, then. Do you know who kept me prisoner?" + +"Yes; there were two--the Tigercat and Don Torribio." + +"Indeed!" said Don Fernando, frowning. "I will not forget them. Once +more, thanks Estevan." + +He sat down in the boat, and gave a sign to the rowers. They were soon +in rapid motion, and speedily lost in the shadows of the darkening +night. + +Three persons remained on the bank anxiously watching the course of the +frail boat. These three persons were Estevan Diaz, Doa Hermosa, and a +Manuela. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +THE CAMP OF THE REDSKINS. + + +The extreme care of Don Pedro and his daughter soon restored Don +Estevan to perfect health. + +His first care was to reveal to the hacendero, in accordance with his +threat to Don Torribio, the name of the man who had originated the +dastardly attack on Don Fernando, and into whose hands he had fallen. + +After that communication, Don Torribio was a lost man in the estimation +of Don Pedro and his daughter. + +Having accomplished this piece of revenge, the _mayor domo_ undertook +the duty of discovering tidings of his friend. Chance favoured him by +throwing El Zapote in his way. The worthy and conscientious _vaquero_ +was just then in the best humour for giving all the information +required, in consequence of having that very morning, by a ruinous +run of ill luck which fastened upon him been utterly cleaned out at +_monte_, and left without an _ochavo_ (a farthing). By the help of +a few ounces of gold, the _mayor domo_ contrived to learn, in the +minutest detail, all that had passed, and the place where Don Fernando +was concealed. + +As soon as he had learned all he wanted, Don Estevan left the +_vaquero_, and hastened his return to the hacienda. + +Doa Hermosa was no ordinary woman. She was gifted with much energy, +and, moreover, loved Don Fernando. She resolved to set him free; but +held her tongue, in the fear of making Don Pedro uneasy. She merely +expressed a wish to spend a day or two at the hacienda of Las Norias; +to which Don Pedro consented, on condition of her taking with her a +strong escort of resolute and well-armed _peones_. + +Instead of going to the hacienda, the girl went to the _presidio_, into +which she managed to find her way unnoticed by the Indians. + +Once in the _presidio_, she revealed her project to Don Estevan. + +The _mayor domo_ was astounded at her coolness as she detailed the +plan she had conceived--a plan in which not only herself, but also Don +Estevan's mother, was to act a part. + +All his efforts to make her renounce her project were futile; willing +or unwilling, he was forced to obey. + +When they could no longer see the boat with Don Fernando, her foster +brother turned to Doa Hermosa. + +"Now, seorita, what are you going to do next?" + +She answered succinctly: + +"I am going to visit the camp of the Apaches and see Don Torribio." + +The _mayor domo_ shuddered. + +"Dishonour and death await you there," said he in a hoarse, low voice. + +"No," she replied firmly; "only revenge." + +"You wish for revenge?" + +"I demand it." + +"Very well," he replied; "I will obey you. Go and get ready; I myself +will escort you to the camp of the redskins." + +The three returned to Don Pedro's house without exchanging a syllable. + +Night had now fairly set in. The streets were deserted: a deathlike +silence pervaded the town, which for two days the Indians had been +sacking; and their diabolical figures could be perceived, as they +passed and repassed among the still flaming ruins. + +When they arrived at the house, Don Estevan stopped short in the court. + +"Ponder well what you are about to do, seorita," said he. "Why must +you avenge yourself? Have you not secured the safety of him you love?" + +"Yes; but he has barely escaped death. The first atrocious attempt has +failed; the second may succeed. Don Torribio has wounded me in my most +cherished affections. My resolve is taken; he shall feel a woman's +vengeance." + +"Can nothing change your resolve?" + +"Nothing," said she, coldly. + +"Then make your preparations, seorita; I will wait for you here." + +The two women entered the house together, while Don Estevan seated +himself on one of the steps of the porch. + +His watching was not long: in ten minutes they returned. + +Both were clothed in the Apache dress; the paint smeared upon their +faces completed the illusion, and secured them from recognition. The +transformation was so perfect, that Don Estevan could not repress his +admiration. + +"Nothing could be better," he exclaimed; "you are Indian women indeed." + +"Do you think," said Doa Hermosa bitterly, "that Don Torribio has the +sole right of deception and assuming any character at his pleasure?" + +"Who can strive against a woman?" said the _mayor domo_, with a shrug. +"And now, what are your orders?" + +"Very simple; your escort as far as the first Indian lines." + +"And after that?" + +"The rest of the affair is our work." + +"But are you really dreaming of remaining alone in the midst of these +pagans?" + +"It is no dream; it is my immovable resolve to stay there." + +"And you, mother?" said her son sadly; "Are you, too, determined to +throw yourself into the hands of the savages?" + +"Be comforted, my son," replied the dame; "I run no danger." + +"And yet--" + +"Estevan," said Doa Hermosa, interrupting him, "I will answer for your +mother's safety." + +The _mayor domo_ was thoroughly discouraged. + +"Then," said he, "I can only commend you to Heaven." + +"Let us go," said Doa Hermosa, wrapping the folds of her cloak around +her. + +Don Estevan led the way. + +The night was dark. Here and there the dying watch fires in the +_presidio_, round which the besieged were sleeping, threw a pale and +uncertain glimmer over the surrounding objects, without affording +sufficient light to guide them through the increasing obscurity. + +A mournful silence brooded over the town, interrupted at intervals +by the hoarse cries of the vultures, _urubus_, and prairie wolves, +quarrelling over the corpses of the slain, and dragging hither and +thither morsels of bleeding flesh. + +The three pushed resolutely forward amidst the ruins, stumbling over +fragments of fallen walls, striding over dead bodies, and disturbing +the horrid feast of the birds of prey, that flew off uttering screams +of anger. + +Thus they traversed the whole length of the town, and arrived at last, +with desperate difficulty, and after making many circuits, at one of +the barriers opposite the camp of the redskins, from which numberless +fires were glancing, and shouts and songs were heard. + +The sentries, after exchanging a few words with their guide, allowed +the three to pass, a few paces farther on, Don Estevan halted, and +stopped his companions. + +"Look, Doa Hermosa," said he in a whisper; "there is the camp of +the redskins before you. If I went farther with you, my escort would +prove fatal. I must stop here: only a few steps separate you from your +object." + +"Thanks!" said the girl, stretching out her hand. Don Estevan retained +it between his own. + +"Seorita, one word more." + +"Speak, dear friend." + +"I conjure you, in the name of all you hold dear in the world, to +renounce your project. Trust to my experience while it is yet time: +return to the Hacienda del Cormillo; you know not the danger to which +you expose yourself." + +"Estevan," replied the girl firmly, "whatever be the danger, I will +brave it: nothing can change my resolve. Farewell! I shall soon see you +again." + +"Farewell!" repeated the _mayor domo_. + +Doa Hermosa turned away in the direction of the Indian camp. a +Manuela hesitated a moment, and then threw herself into the arms of her +son. + +"Alas!" cried he, excited by the emotions terrible to witness in such a +man; "Stay with me, mother, I implore you!" + +"What!" said the noble woman, pointing to Doa Hermosa, "Shall I leave +her to sacrifice herself alone?" + +Don Estevan was unable to reply. + +Manuela embraced him once more, then tore herself with a violent +effort from the arms of her son, who vainly strove to restrain her, and +hurried to join Hermosa. + +The _mayor domo_ followed them with his eyes as long as he could +distinguish them in the obscurity; than, uttering a heart-felt sigh, he +retraced his steps, muttering as he went: + +"If I can only get there in time--if it has only not yet reached Don +Jos de Kalbris!" + +Just as Don Estevan arrived at the fort, the governor was leaving it, +in company with Don Torribio Quiroga. But the Mexican, absorbed in the +ideas which were harassing his brain, did not notice them, although +they passed so close to him that he might have touched them. + +This fatal accident was the cause of irreparable misfortune. + +Having left Don Estevan, the two women wandered about at a venture, +directing their steps towards the fires in front of them. + +On getting within a certain distance, they, stopped to recruit their +spirits, and to calm the throbbing of their hearts, which beat almost +to bursting. + +They were now within a few paces of the Indian _toldos_ (huts); the +rash and hazardous nature of their undertaking presented itself in all +its force, and the poor women felt their courage gradually oozing +away, in spite of the resolution which had animated them. Their hearts +turned to stone at the thought of the horrible drama in which they were +going to act the principal characters. + +Strange to say, it was Manuela who restored her companion to the +firmness which was abandoning her. + +"Seorita," she said to her, "it is now my turn to act as guide; if you +will only consent to follow my council, I hope to be able to avoid all +the danger with which we are threatened." + +"Speak, nurse; let me hear what you propose." + +"We must first drop these cloaks, which hide our dress, and betray that +we are whites." + +In saying this she threw off her mantle, and cast it away. Doa Hermosa +followed her example. + +"Now walk by my side; show no fear, whatever may happen; and, above +all, do not utter a single word, unless we are hopelessly lost." + +"I obey you," said Hermosa. + +"We are to be two Indian women," continued Manuela, "who have made a +vow to Wacondah for the recovery of their wounded father; and once +again, no words from your mouth." + +"Let us go on. May God protect us!" + +"Amen!" said Manuela, devoutly crossing herself. + +They continued their journey, and, five minutes afterwards, entered the +camp of the redskins. + +The Indians, intoxicated with the easy triumph they had gained over the +Mexicans, were giving vent to their joy. There were nothing but singing +and dancing everywhere. Some casks of _aguardiente_, discovered in the +old _presidio_ and in the pillaged _haciendas_, had been dragged into +camp, and staved. + +On this account, unexampled disorder and a nameless hubbub prevailed +among the Indians, whom drunkenness makes raving mad, and excites to +the most hideous excesses. + +The power of the _sachems_ was disowned: moreover, the greater number +of them were in the same state as the warriors; and there can be no +doubt that, if the inhabitants of San Lucar had been in sufficient +force to attempt a surprise, they might have made a frightful massacre +of the savages, brutalised as they were by strong liquors, and +incapable of defending themselves. + +Profiting by the disorder, the two women climbed over the ramparts of +the camp without being observed. Then, their hearts palpitating with +terror, and with shivering limbs, they glided like serpents between the +knots of Indians, passing unnoticed through the midst of the drinkers; +seeking at haphazard, and trusting to Providence or their good angel +to find among the scattered _toldos_ the hovel which served as a +habitation to the great paleface. + +They had already been some time roaming about in this manner, without +lighting on any unpleasant adventure. Emboldened by success, their +fears nearly dissipated, they were exchanging looks of encouragement, +when suddenly an Indian of athletic stature seized Doa Hermosa round +the waist, and, lifting her from the ground, gave her a boisterous kiss +on the neck. + +At this unexpected insult, she uttered a shriek of terror, and making +a superhuman effort, freed herself from his arms, pushing him from her +with all her strength. The savage staggered backwards, and, too drunk +to keep his legs, dropped to the ground, giving vent to a cry of rage; +but, springing up in an instant, he rushed like a jaguar on Hermosa. + +a Manuela threw herself hastily before her. + +"Back!" said she, resolutely placing her hand on the Indian's chest; +"This girl is my sister." + +"El Zopilote is a brave who never puts up with an insult," replied the +savage, frowning, and unsheathing his knife. + +"Will you kill her?" exclaimed Manuela in terror. + +"Yes, I will kill her, unless she consents to follow me to my _toldo_. +She shall be the wife of a chief." + +"You are mad," said Manuela. "Your _toldo_ is full, and there is no +room for another fire." + +"There is room for two," replied the Indian, grinning. "Since you are +her sister, you shall go with her." + +The noise collected a crowd of Indians round the two women, who were +thus the centre of a circle it would have been impossible to break +through. + +Manuela instantly comprehended the danger of their situation; she saw +they were all but lost. + +"Well," continued El Zopilote, seizing in his left hand Hermosa's hair, +and twisting it round his wrist, at the same time brandishing his scalp +knife, "will you and your sister follow me to my _toldo?_" + +The poor girl cowered down; half recumbent upon the ground, she awaited +the mortal blow. + +Manuela drew herself up to her full height; her eyes flashed fire; she +arrested the arm of El Zopilote, and addressed him thus: + +"Since thou wilt have it so, dog, let thy destiny be fulfilled! Behold, +the Wacondah allows not his servants to be insulted with impunity." + +Hitherto Manuela had contrived to keep herself in such a position that +her face was shaded as much as possible, and no one had remarked her +features; now she turned her head towards the full light of the fires. +On seeing the fantastic lines of paint, the Indians gave utterance to a +cry of surprise, and recoiled in terror. + +Manuela smiled at her triumph: she resolved to complete it. + +"The power of the Wacondah is boundless," she cried; "woe to him who +would oppose his schemes: he it is who sends me. Back, all!" + +Grasping the arm of Doa Hermosa, who had scarcely recovered from her +terrible emotion, she advanced to the edge of the circle. The Indians +hesitated. Manuela extended her arm in an attitude of supreme command; +the outwitted savages opened to right and left, and gave them passage. + +"I shall die," faintly whispered Doa Hermosa. + +"Courage!" replied Manuela, "We are saved." + +"_Wagh!_" said a jeering voice; "What is passing here?" + +And a man placed himself before the two women. + +"The _amantzin!_" muttered the Indians; and taking fresh courage, they +again crowded round their prisoners. + +Manuela shuddered, overcome with despair at seeing her hopes +annihilated; still the resolute woman determined to make one more +effort. + +"The Wacondah loves the Indians," she said; "it is he who sends me the +_amantzin_ of the Apache braves." + +"Indeed!" said the sorcerer, with a sneer; "And what does he want with +me?" + +"None but yourself may hear." + +"_Wagh!_" said the _amantzin_, placing his hand on her shoulder, and +looking at her attentively; "What proof can you give me of the mission +with which the all-powerful Spirit has charged you?" + +"Will you save me?" said Manuela, whispering rapidly in his ear. + +"That depends on her," answered the sorcerer, fixing his glittering +eyes on the girl. + +"See!" said Manuela, presenting to him the rich bracelets of gold and +pearls she took from her arms. + +"_Wagh!_" replied the sorcerer, hiding them in his bosom; "They are +beautiful! What does my mother require?" + +"First of all, to be freed from these men." + +"And afterwards?" + +"Deliver us first." + +"It shall be as you will." + +The Indians had remained motionless, impassive spectators of the scene. +They had heard nothing of this short conversation. The _amantzin_ +turned towards them, exhibiting a countenance distorted with fear. + +"Fly!" said he in terrible accents; "This woman brings misfortune! The +Wacondah is angry! Fly, all; fly!" + +The Indians, who had only been restored to confidence by the advent +of their sorcerer, seeing him a prey to a terror they could not +comprehend, first crowded together, and then dispersed, without asking +further questions. + +As soon as they had disappeared behind the _toldos_, the sorcerer +turned to the two women. + +"Am I able to protect you?" he asked. + +"Yes," replied Manuela; "and I thank my father, who is as powerful as +he is wise." + +A smile of gratified pride just formed itself on the lips of the +cautious Indian. + +"I am powerful to avenge myself on those who deceive me," said he. + +"Therefore I shall not attempt to deceive my father." + +"Whence comes my white daughter," he asked. + +"From the ark of the first man," replied Manuela, looking him steadily +in the face. + +The _amantzin_ blushed. + +"My daughter has the forked tongue of the _congouar_," he said. "Does +she take me for a lizard, that one can entrap like an old woman?" + +"Here is a necklace," she replied, offering a rich string of pearls to +the Indian; "the Wacondah gave it me for the wise man of the Apaches." + +"_Wagh!_" said the _amantzin;_ "My mother cannot lie; she is wise. +What more can I do for her?" And he slipped the necklace into the same +receptacle with the bracelets. + +"My father must lead me to the _toldo_ of the great white chief who +fights in the ranks of the Apache warriors." + +"My daughter would speak to the white chief?" + +"I would." + +"The white chief is a wise man; will he admit women?" + +"Let not that trouble my father; tonight I must speak with the white +chief." + +"Good; my mother shall speak to him. But this woman?" And he pointed to +Doa Hermosa. + +"That woman," answered Manuela, "is a friend of the Tigercat. She too +is charged with a mission to the _sachem._" + +The sorcerer shook his head. + +"The warriors must spin the vicua wool," said he, "since women make +war, and sit at the council fire." + +"My father errs; the _sachem_ loves my sister." + +"No," replied the Indian. + +"Let us see if my father will refuse to lead me to the _toldo_ of +the great chief," said Manuela, impatient at the tergiversations of +the _amantzin_, and dreading the return of her persecutors. "Let him +beware, the great chief expects us." + +The sorcerer cast a piercing look at her, which Manuela bore without +casting down her eyes. + +"Good," said he; "my mother does not lie. Follow me." + +Grasping each of the women by a wrist, he placed himself between them, +and began to guide them through the labyrinthine confusion of the camp. + +The Indians they met on their road avoided them with unequivocal signs +of terror. + +The _amantzin_ was by no means displeased with what had happened: he +was radiant with joy; for, besides the profit derived from meeting the +women, the incident which occurred in consequence had tended to confirm +his power in the eyes of the credulous and superstitious Indians, who +believed him to be really inspired by the Wacondah. + +A quarter of an hour's difficult walking brought them to the _toldo_, +in front of which the totem (standard) of the assembled tribes was +planted, surrounded by lances fringed with scarlet, and guarded by four +warriors. + +"This is the place," said the sorcerer to Manuela. + +"Good; let my father give orders that we enter alone." + +"Am I to leave you?" + +"Yes; my father can wait for us outside," + +"I will wait," briefly replied he, casting a suspicious look on them. + +At a sign from the _amantzin_, the sentries placed before the _toldo_ +made way for the women. They entered with trepidation: the dwelling was +unoccupied. + +They were unable to repress a sigh of satisfaction. The absence of Don +Torribio gave them time to prepare for the interview Doa Hermosa so +greatly desired. + +The _amantzin_ remained standing at the entrance to the _toldo_. +This man, lately raised to the dignity through the influence of the +Tigercat, was his tool, and acted as his spy. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +THE RENEGADE. + + +Don Torribio Quiroga and Don Jos Kalbris urged on their horses, in +order to get beyond the defences of the _presidio_ as soon as possible. + +The governor was rejoicing at the reinforcement the general commanding +in the province had sent him. He knew it would be an easy task to +compel the Indians to raise the siege of the _presidio_ when once the +troops marching up had joined him. Indeed, he counted upon profiting +by the opportunity to give the Apaches--those untiring ravagers of the +Mexican frontiers--such a rude lesson, that it would be long before +they again attempted an inroad into the territory of the Confederation. + +They now arrived at one of the barriers, guarded by a strong detachment +of _vaqueros_ and townspeople. + +"We must pass through here," said Don Torribio to the governor. "The +night is dark, bands of these Indian vagabonds are prowling about all +over the country, and we shall most probably have to ride a league or +two before we meet our men. I think it will be scarcely prudent for us +to venture forth without an escort." + +"A very just remark," said Don Jos. + +"You must recollect that you are the governor of the _presidio,_" +continued Don Torribio, with a strange smile. "The consequences would +be very serious for the town if the Indians were to attack us, and take +us prisoners. I do not mention this on my own account, but on yours: I +should be a prize of little value to the savages; but with you it is a +very different matter. I beg you to consider this carefully, before we +go any farther." + +"By heaven! You are quite right colonel; it would be an unpardonable +imprudence. So I think the best thing we can do is to take an escort." + +"I think it would be advantageous," said Don Torribio. "How many men +will you take?" + +"Oh, a dozen, at the most." + +"No; take a score. We cannot tell whom we may fall in with on our road +at this time of night. Suppose we were to be set upon by a couple of +hundred Indians! We ought to be able to show them a front." + +"Let it be a score, then, if you like," answered Don Jos, with perfect +indifference; "and be good enough to choose them yourself." + +"Make your mind easy," said Torribio. + +With that he rode up to the guard, who had turned out on the governor's +arrival, and picked out twenty horseman, whom he ordered to form behind +them. + +"Now," said he to the governor, "we are ready to march." + +"Then let us go," said the latter, giving his horse his head. + +The escort put itself in motion, and followed Don Jos Kalbris and +Colonel Torribio Quiroga at about twenty paces' interval. + +All went well for nearly an hour, when the governor began to grow +restless, in spite of Don Torribio's lively conversation. The latter +kept up a constant fire of jokes and sparkling repartees, laying +himself out to amuse Don Jos, and had never before proved so agreeable +a companion. + +"Excuse me, colonel," said the governor, coming to a halt; "but is it +not extraordinary that we see no signs of the troops we are going to +meet?" + +"Not at all, seor; perhaps the officer in command is waiting for +my return, before he leads his men into roads with which he is +unacquainted." + +"It is just possible," said the governor, after a minute's reflection. + +"I think it highly probable," said Don Torribio; "and, in that case, we +have nearly another league before we can meet him." + +"Then we had better push on." + +They resumed their march, but without renewing their conversation. Both +of them seemed absorbed in meditation. At times Don Torribio raised his +head, and looked carefully about him. All of a sudden they heard the +distant neigh of a horse. + +"What is that?" said Don Torribio. + +"Most likely the troops we are looking for," replied the governor. + +"Perhaps," answered the other; "but we had better be cautious." + +Requesting the governor to stop where he was, he set spurs to his +horse, and riding forward was soon lost in the darkness. Having ridden +a short distance, he dismounted, applied his ear to the ground, and +listened. + +"_Demonios!_" he exclaimed, hastily rising and throwing himself into +the saddle; "They are pursuing us! Can that vagabond, Don Estevan, have +recognised me? There is not a moment to lose!" + +"Well, what is it?" asked the governor, as Don Torribio rode back to +him. + +"Nothing," said Don Torribio shortly; "nothing of interest to you." + +"Then--" + +"Then," retorted the other, laying his hand on the governor's left arm, +"Don Jos Kalbris, surrender; you are my prisoner." + +"What do you say?" replied the astounded veteran. "Are you mad, Don +Torribio?" + +"Call me no longer Don Torribio: I am a nameless, homeless wretch, whom +the thirst for vengeance has driven amongst the Apaches." + +"Treason!" exclaimed the governor. "To the rescue, men! Defend your +colonel!" + +"These men will not help you, Don Jos; they are in my pay. Surrender, +I say!" + +"I will not surrender," said the governor resolutely. "Don Torribio, or +whatever else you may call yourself, you are a coward!" + +He gave his horse the spur, shook off Don Torribio's hold, and drew his +sword. At the same time, the rapid approach of horsemen was heard in +the distance. + +"Aha!" said the governor, cocking a pistol; "Here comes aid!" + +"Yes," replied Don Torribio; "but it comes too late." + +And he ordered the _vaqueros_ to surround Don Jos, and attack him. A +couple of shots from the governor's pistol laid two of them in the +dust; and a terrible combat began. + +Don Jos, knowing all hope of safety to be gone, determined to sell his +life dearly, and did wonders. An accomplished horseman, he parried the +blows aimed at him, and struck fiercely into the men crowding upon him +with savage vociferations. In the meantime, the thundering gallop of +the approaching horsemen grew louder. Don Torribio saw it was time to +make a finish, and shot the governor's horse through the head. + +Don Jos came violently to the ground, but was up again in a moment, +and aimed a blow at the renegade, which the latter avoided by a +dexterous movement. Then the gallant old soldier put the muzzle of his +pistol to his own forehead. + +"A man like me," said he, "never surrenders to dogs like you; here, +curs, quarrel over my body!" + +With these words he blew his brains out. + +Just then several shots were fired, and a troop of horsemen fell, like +a whirlwind, upon the _vaqueros_. Don Estevan and Major Barnum led the +assailants. + +The conflict did not last long. Don Torribio gave a loud whistle, +and the _vaqueros_ went to the right-about, and, scattering in all +directions, were soon lost sight of. + +Seven or eight remained dead on the field. + +"What is to be done?" said Major Barnum. + +"Nothing!" replied Don Estevan sorrowfully; "We are too late. Don Jos +has killed himself rather than submit to be carried off by these dogs." + +"He was a noble soldier!" said the major; "But how can we get at the +rascals again?" + +"We will let them alone, major: they are in camp by this time. Trust +me, we shall soon learn to read this riddle." + +The _mayor domo_ dismounted, and cut with his _machete_ a branch of the +resinous pinewood, which grows so abundantly through all the country. +He struck a light, and in a minute or two a torch was ready. + +By its ruddy and flickering flame, he and the major began to examine +the bodies on the ground. They soon found the governor, lying on his +back, with his head horribly crushed. His hand still retained the fatal +weapon; and his features wore an expression of haughty disdain and +indomitable courage. + +"Look at him!" said Don Estevan. + +The major could not repress the tear that rolled silently down his +swarthy cheek. + +"Yes," he said; "he has died like a soldier, with his face to the foe. +But, alas! he has fallen a victim to treachery--killed by a white man. +My poor old friend! Was this to be your end?" + +"It was God's will," answered Don Estevan. + +"It was," said the major: "may we do our duty as he has done his!" + +Reverently they lifted the body, put it upon a horse, and marched back +in sadness to the _presidio_. + +In the meanwhile, Don Torribio was greatly disconcerted. His plans +had failed. He had not wished the governor to lose his life, for his +death would be no benefit, but, on the contrary, prejudicial, by +inspiring the Mexicans with the desire for revenge, and strengthening +their determination to resist to the last, and bury themselves under +the ruins of the _presidio_, rather than surrender to such ferocious +enemies. His intention had been to seize Don Jos, keep him prisoner, +and to make his own terms with the Mexicans. + +But the old soldier's energetic resistance, and resolve to blow out his +own brains rather than surrender, had upset these plans. So he returned +to the camp, cast down and discontented, while his companions looked +upon the cause of his dejection as a triumphant success. + +Manuela and Doa Hermosa had profited by his absence to throw off their +disguise, and resume their usual dress. + +As soon as Don Torribio reached his _toldo_, the sorcerer, who had +never quitted it since he had led the two women to the spot, came +forward to meet him. + +"What do you want?" said Don Torribio. + +"Let my father look with a favourable eye upon me," replied the +_amantzin;_ "two women have entered the camp tonight." + +"And what is that to me?" said the chief impatiently. + +"These females, although dressed like Indians, are white," answered the +sorcerer, laying stress on the last two words. + +"What then? They are most likely wives of some of the _vaqueros_." + +"Not so," said the sorcerer; "their hands are too white, and their feet +too small." + +"Indeed!" replied the other, in whom the tale began to excite some +interest; "Who has taken them prisoner?" + +"No one; they are here alone, of their own accord." + +"Alone?" + +"They said they had important revelations to make to my father." + +"They did?" said the chief, scanning the man narrowly; "And how does my +father know that?" + +"Because I rescued them, and brought them to my father's _toldo_." + +"Then they are in here?" + +"This hour or more." + +Don Torribio drew from his pocket a few ounces, and handed them to the +sorcerer. "I thank my brother," said he; "he has done well." + +The _amantzin_ grinned, and pocketed the bribe. + +Don Torribio rushed to the _toldo_, and raised the curtain. A cry of +joy and astonishment escaped him when he recognised Doa Hermosa. + +The latter smiled; while he bowed gracefully, asking himself the while +what the meaning of this could be. + +Doa Hermosa could not resist admiring the man. His rich uniform became +him; it exhibited all his handsome proportions, and increased his +attractions. + +"What rank shall I give you?" she said, beckoning to him to sit down by +her side. + +"Give me any name you like best, seorita. If you speak to the +Spaniard, call me Don Torribio; if you address yourself to the Indian, +the name by which I am known among the Apaches is 'the Accursed.'" + +"Why have they given you this dreadful name?" said she. + +There was no answer to her question: and the two gazed at each other in +silence. + +Doa Hermosa was thinking of the manner in which she should tell him +the object of her visit; he was pondering over the reasons which could +have brought her there. He was the first to speak. + +"Have you really come here inquest of me seorita?" + +"Of whom else?" she replied. + +"Excuse my frankness," said he; "but this seems to me so extraordinary, +that although I see and hear you, I cannot believe in such great good +fortune. I feel as if I were in a dream, and dread the awakening." + +This piece of flattery was pronounced in the tone which Don Torribio +Quiroga would have employed had he been at Don Pedro's hacienda; a tone +adding to the strangeness of the scene, it was so little in accord with +the circumstances and the place where it was uttered. + +"Good sir," replied Doa Hermosa, in the same easy tone he had used +towards her, "I will relieve your trouble, and hasten to dispel the +witchery to which you would attribute my presence in your _toldo._" + +"You will still remain an enchantress in my eyes," said he, smiling. + +"You flatter me. If there is any enchantment at all in the matter, poor +Estevan is the wizard He knew my fixed determination to see you, and +told me where I should find you. So, if you are determined to raise +somebody to the rank of sorcerer, let Estevan be the victim." + +"I will not forget him when the opportunity occurs," said Don Torribio, +his face darkly clouding over. "But let us not wander from our own two +selves. I have the happiness to see you here: will it offend you if I +ask why you come?" + +"The reason is quite simple," replied Doa Hermosa, eyeing him +steadfastly. "A girl of my age, and particularly of my rank"--and she +laid great emphasis on the latter word--"does not take a step so--let +us say, so singular, without a strong motive." + +"I am sure of it." + +"What motive could be strong enough to induce a woman to lay aside the +instinctive modesty of her sex, and risk her good name? I know but one. +When her heart is in question, when her love is involved? Am I speaking +clearly, Don Torribio? Do you begin to understand me." + +"I begin to comprehend, seorita." + +"The last time we met, my father received you coldly,--you, my +betrothed. Mad with jealousy, furious with him and myself, believing +our marriage broken off, you rushed from us, and left the hacienda with +rage and hatred boiling in your breast." + +"Cousin, I swear to you?" + +"I am a woman, Don Torribio; and we women possess an instinct which +never deceives us. Can you think for a moment that I, on the verge of +marriage with you, did not know the love you felt for me?" + +Don Torribio gazed at her with an indefinable expression. + +"A few days later," she continued, "Don Fernando Carril fell into an +ambush, and was left for dead on the spot. Why did you do this, Don +Torribio?" + +"I will not attempt to deny, seorita, that I wished to avenge myself +on one I considered a rival; but I swear I gave no orders to kill him." + +"I know it!" she replied; "You need not attempt to exculpate yourself." + +Don Torribio looked at her without understanding her words. + +"The man whom you imagined to be your rival was no favoured suitor," +she continued, with a sweet smile. "You had scarcely left the hacienda, +before I confessed to my father that you were my only love, and that I +would never consent to marry another." + +"Is it possible?" cried Don Torribio, rising in his excitement. "Oh! +Had I but known it!" + +"Calm yourself; the evil you have done is partly repaired. Don +Fernando, rescued by my orders from the clutches of Pablito, is now at +Las Norias, whence he will shortly depart for Mexico. My father, who +can never refuse me anything, has given me permission to choose him I +love most." + +As she said this, she darted at Don Torribio a look full of unutterable +affection. + +He was thunderstruck. A crowd of opposing feelings jostled in his +breast: he did not dare to put full credence in the girl's words; a +cruel doubt would insinuate itself. Was she mocking him? + +"Is it indeed true," he said, "that you could still love me?" + +"Is not my presence here an answer? Why should I have come? What should +induce me?" + +"It is true!" said he, falling on his knees before her. "Forgive me, +seorita; I am mad, and know not what I say. It is too much happiness." + +A smile of triumph lighted up her face. + +"If I did not love you," she said, "could I not have chosen Don +Fernando, who is now at the hacienda?" + +"Yes, yes; you are a thousand times right! O woman! Adorable woman! Who +is able to fathom thy heart?" + +Doa Hermosa smiled bitterly: she had brought the lion captive to her +feet; she had vanquished man in his pride. Now she was sure of her +revenge. + +"What answer shall I give my father?" she said. + +He drew himself up to his full height; his eyes flashed, his features +grew radiant, and he answered in a low tone: + +"Seorita, my happiness is immeasurable. Say to your father, that the +devotion of a whole life cannot repay the bliss of this interview. As +soon as the _presidio_ of San Lucar is taken, I shall present myself at +the hacienda of Don Pedro de Luna." + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +WOMAN'S WILL. + + +Every extreme situation, as soon as it reaches its culminating point, +must necessarily subside into a reaction of an opposite tendency. This +was exactly what happened after the scene we described in the last +chapter. + +Don Torribio, beside himself with joy, could not accept Doa Hermosa's +protestations of love without a certain degree of mistrust. Yet the +improbability of her having taken this decided step from other motives +than the one she professed, had materially aided her in the successful +attempt to hoodwink her admirer. + +Intelligence of a high class is often accompanied by a weakness +detrimental to its possessors: they cannot bring themselves to believe, +that those who fawn upon them and flatter their propensities are +sufficiently acute to deceive them. And so it happened in this case. +How could he fail to believe a girl, still almost a child, whose manner +seemed so guileless, whose looks were fraught with love, and who avowed +her affection so frankly? + +What could she gain by deceiving him, now Don Fernando was alive? What +object could she have in coming thus to put herself into his hands, +without the possibility of escaping from him? + +All this appeared absurd: and was so, in fact, up to a certain point. + +It only proved that Don Torribio, preeminently a statesman, endowed +with admirable talent, and whose sole aim through life had been the +accomplishment of his dreams of ambition, was so entirely absorbed in +farfetched political calculations, that he had no time to study that +amalgam of archness, grace, and perfidy we call woman, and knew nothing +about her nature. + +A woman South American woman especially--never forgives an injury to +her lover; he is the holy ark which none may touch. + +Moreover, we must say, Doa Hermosa was the first, the only love of Don +Torribio. His love was to him a creed, a faith; and all doubt vanished +from before his eyes at the proof she had just given of her affection. + +"And now," she said to him, "can I remain in the camp till my father +comes, without risking insult?" + +"You have but to command!" he replied: "All here are your slaves." + +"The woman, under whose protection I was able to reach you will go back +to the _hacienda_ of Las Norias." + +Don Torribio strode to the curtain of the _toldo,_ and clapped his +hands twice. + +An Indian warrior appeared. + +"Let a _toldo_ be prepared for me; I cede this to the two paleface +women," he said, in the Apache language; "a body of chosen braves, whom +my brother will command, will watch incessantly over their safety. Woe +to him who fails in the profoundest respect! These women are sacred; +free to come and go, and to receive whomsoever they choose. Does my +brother understand?" + +The warrior bowed his head without reply. + +"Let my brother have two horses ready." + +The Indian disappeared. + +"You see, seorita," he continued, turning towards her, "you are queen +here." + +"I thank you!" said Doa Hermosa, drawing from her bosom an open +letter she had prepared for the occasion; "I felt sure of the result +of my interview with you: you see, I have announced it to my father, +even before I met you. Take this, Don Torribio, and read what I have +written." + +She held it out to him with a charming smile, but an inward misgiving. + +"Seorita," he replied, motioning the letter away, "what a daughter +writes to her father should be sacred; no one but himself should read +it." + +Doa Hermosa folded up the letter, without evincing the least emotion +at the terrible risk she had just run, and gave it to Manuela. + +"Mother," she said, "you will give this letter to my father, and +explain to him what I have not been able to write." + +"Allow me to retire," exclaimed Don Torribio; "I must not listen to the +instructions you are about to give to your attendant." + +"I object," she replied; "I must have no secrets from you; henceforth +you must know all my inmost thoughts." + +Don Torribio glowed with delight. Just then they brought the horses. +Doa Hermosa profited by the opportunity afforded by his speaking to +the Apache to say rapidly to Manuela: "Your son must be here in an +hour, if that be possible." + +Manuela made a sign of acquiescence, and Don Torribio reentered the +_toldo_. + +"I myself will accompany a Manuela as far as the defences of the +_presidio_; this will insure her from incurring any danger." + +"Thanks, once more," replied Doa Hermosa. + +The two women threw themselves into each other's arms, and embraced as +if they were never to meet again. + +"Do not forget!" whispered Doa Hermosa. + +"Trust in me," replied Manuela. + +"This is now your home," said Don Torribio "no one will dare to enter +without your permission." + +Doa Hermosa smiled her thanks, and accompanied them to the entrance of +the _toldo_; Manuela and her escort mounted and departed. + +The young Mexican followed them with her eyes till the sound of their +horses' feet was lost amid the other noises in the camp, when she +returned to the _toldo_, murmuring: "The first steps are taken: now to +discover his intentions!" + +A quarter of an hour later, Manuela and her guide arrived within a +hundred yards of the _pueblo_. They had not exchanged a word. + +"You have now no further need of me," said Don Torribio. "Keep the +horse; he may be useful to you. May God preserve you!" + +Without another word, he turned his horse, and rode back to the camp, +leaving Manuela alone. + +The latter looked about her to discover whereabouts she was, and then +rode resolutely towards the town, which was looming in a dark mass +before her. She had only gone a few paces, when a rude hand seized her +reins, a pistol was presented at her head, and a rough voice exclaimed, +in Spanish: + +"Who goes there?" + +"Friend," she replied, attempting to conceal her trepidation. + +"Mother!" cried a joyful voice. + +"Estevan, my darling child," she exclaimed, throwing herself on his +breast, to which she was clasped in the most affectionate embrace. + +"How did you come here, and whence?" he asked, after a time. + +"From the camp of the redskins." + +"Already!" said he, in astonishment. + +"Yes; my mistress sends me to you." + +"And who was the man with you, mother?" + +"Don Torribio himself." + +"Malediction!" exclaimed the _mayor domo_; "I have let him escape, when +I had covered him for five minutes with my rifle. But we will not stay +here. Come with me. As soon as I have placed you in safety, you shall +relate what your mistress has charged you to communicate to me." + +When they got into the _presidio_, Don Estevan made his mother recount +the incidents of their expedition. + +"Ah!" said he more than once; "Women are imps of cunning; men are but +fools beside them!" + +When Manuela had quite finished her tale, he said: "Mother, there is +not a moment to lose: Don Pedro must get the letter this very night. +The poor father must be in a state of dreadful anxiety." + +"I am going to him myself," said Manuela. + +"No!" he replied "you have need of rest. I have a man here who will +acquit himself well of this commission." + +"As you please, Estevan," said she, giving him the letter. + +"Yes, I think this will be the best way. Come into this house; the good +woman to whom it belongs knows me, and will take every care of you." + +"Are you going to Doa Hermosa?" + +"By Heavens! Do you think I intend to leave the poor girl there, in the +midst of those infidels? Besides, what she has got to say to me may +concern us all narrowly." + +"Devoted as ever, Estevan! How like you that is?" + +"What can I do, mother?" he replied, with a laugh. "Devotion seems to +be my vocation." + +He led his mother into the house, where he confided her to its +mistress, and then went in search of his emissary to Don Pedro de Luna. + +Round a bright fire burning in the centre of the street several men +were lying, wrapped in their cloaks. Don Estevan roughly shook one of +the sleepers. + +"Wake, Tonillo!" he said; "Get up, _muchacho:_ you must be off for the +Hacienda de las Norias." + +"But I only came thence a quarter of an hour ago!" replied the +_lepero_, rubbing his eyes, and still half asleep. + +"I know it; and that is the reason why I send you; you ought to know +the road well. Besides, it is for Doa Hermosa's sake." + +"For Doa Hermosa's sake!" cried the _lepero_, whom the sound of the +name seemed to awaken thoroughly; "What are her orders?" + +"Now you are as you should be," said the _mayor domo._ "Mount directly, +and carry this letter to Don Pedro: to say it is from his daughter, is +to tell you it is of importance." + +"Very well; I will go this minute." + +"I have no need to tell you that no one must take this paper from you." + +"I can see that, _canarios_." + +"You will let yourself be killed sooner than give it up?" + +"Yes, yes; make yourself easy, _mayor domo_." + +"And even after death they must not find it." + +"I will sooner eat it; _Rayo de Dios!_" El Zapote was galloping +towards the hacienda a quarter of an hour later. + +"It is my turn now," said the _mayor domo_ to himself, as soon as he +was alone; "but how am I to get to Doa Hermosa?" + +It seemed as if a little consideration had enlightened him as to the +means, for he banished the frown from his forehead, and gaily took the +road to the fort. + +After a conference with Major Barnum, who, since the death of the +governor, had assumed the command of the town, Estevan disguised +himself as an Indian, and went to the camp of the redskins. Shortly +before sunrise he was in the town again. + +"Well!" said his mother. + +"All is for the best," he replied. "_Vive Dios!_ I think Doa Hermosa +will make that incarnate demon pay dearly for kidnapping Don Fernando." + +"Am I to rejoin her?" + +"No; it is not necessary." + +Without entering into any details, Don Estevan who was sinking from +fatigue, retired to snatch a few hours' repose. + +Several days passed without the Indians attacking the _pueblo_. They +contented themselves with investing it more closely, without attempting +an assault. Their plan seemed to be to starve out the inhabitants, and +force them to surrender from famine. + +The blockade was kept so strictly, that it was impossible for the +besieged to stir beyond their lines: all their communications were cut +off, and provisions began to fail. The cattle which had been collected +at the commencement of the siege had all been killed, and the Mexicans +were now driven to the necessity of consuming the hides. + +The plan would doubtless have succeeded; and the Mexicans, reduced to +the last extremity, would soon have been obliged to surrender without +striking a blow; but a project of Don Estevan's, communicated to Major +Barnum, and executed without delay, suddenly defeated the Tigercat's +plans, and obliged him to make the assault, in order to hinder the +revolt of the tribes who followed him. The Mexicans, whom the pangs of +famine were driving to despair, were eagerly longing for the assault. + +Don Estevan ordered a hundred and fifty loaves to be made of wheat +saturated with arsenic. These were packed on a few mules, still left +in the fort, in company with twenty-four kegs of brandy mixed with +vitriol. With ten trusty fellows, he escorted this formidable freight +to within a short distance of the redskin intrenchments. + +Everything happened as he had foreseen. The Indians, who are +extravagantly fond of brandy, were allured by the sight of the kegs, +and rushed upon the convoy in the hopes of capturing it. + +Don Estevan lost no time. Casting loaves and kegs upon the sand, and +retreating at full speed, he brought off his men and mules in the +_pueblo_. + +The Indians, dragging their booty into their camp, knocked in the heads +of the barrels, and an orgy commenced which lasted till bread and +brandy had disappeared. + +More than a thousand Indians perished through this ingenious device of +the _mayor domo's_[1] the others, smitten with terror, began to disband +in all directions. + +The exasperated savages, in their first moments of excitement, and +in spite of the efforts of their leader, ruthlessly massacred under +horrible tortures all the men, women, and children who had fallen into +their power at the commencement of the war, and had been kept prisoners +in the camp up to the time. + +Doa Hermosa herself, notwithstanding the respect with which she had +been treated, and the extreme care she took never to leave the _toldo_, +was in great danger of falling a victim to the fury of the Indians. +Chance alone saved her. + +The great chief resolved to finish the war at once. He despatched El +Zopilote to order all the _sachems_ to assemble in his _toldo_. As soon +as they arrived, he announced to them that at the _endic'ha_ (daybreak) +on the morrow the _presidio_ would be attacked on all sides at once. + +Don Torribio, in his quality of chief, was present at the council. As +soon as it was over he hastened to Doa Hermosa's _toldo_, and demanded +an interview. + +Since her arrival in the camp, although the Tigercat was perfectly +aware of all that was going on between her and Don Torribio, he had +purposely avoided meeting her, contenting himself with congratulating +the latter on the affection the girl manifested for him. Nevertheless, +an acute observer might have easily perceived that the Tigercat +harboured some sinister purpose in his mind. Don Torribio, on the +contrary, was too much blinded by his passion to attempt to read the +countenance of the old bandit. + +The intensity of his love, and the zest with which he gave himself +up to it, diverted his thoughts from the shame and remorse which +stung him when he thought of the infamy attached to his name by his +treacherous desertion of his own people to become a member of the +ferocious and sanguinary tribes of the Apaches. + +Doa Hermosa, on hearing that Don Torribio wished to see her, gave +orders for his instant admittance. She was talking at the time with her +father. Don Pedro de Luna had hastened to join his daughter the instant +he received her letter, and had already been some days in the camp. + +The interior of the _toldo_ was greatly changed. Don Torribio had +ordered it to be embellished with divers pieces of elegant furniture, +stolen by the Indians from different haciendas. Partitions had been +constructed, closets contrived, so that the metamorphosis was complete; +and, although the exterior remained as it had been before, the inside, +in consequence of the alterations, assumed the appearance of a European +residence. + +Manuela, Doa Hermosa's nurse, had also returned with Don Pedro--a +circumstance extremely agreeable to the girl; first, on account of the +great confidence she reposed in her; and again, because Manuela was +indispensable for all those little services and attentions to which +women of rank are accustomed. Besides, the presence of the nurse, who +never left Doa Hermosa's side in her interviews with Don Torribio, +prevented any exuberant outbreak of passion on his part, and confined +him to the limits of a respectful decorum. + +Whatever astonishment the redskins might have felt at the alterations +in the _toldo_ undertaken by Don Torribio, the veneration and devotion +they professed for the Tigercat were so great, that, with the delicacy +which seems innate in their race, they pretended to see none of them, +especially as the latter had taken no offence at the conduct of the +paleface chief. Moreover, as, under all circumstances, the latter +rendered them energetic cooperation, being always the foremost in +battle and the last to retreat, they thought it right to leave him +to arrange his own affairs as he judged best, without any attempt to +oppose him. + +"Well," said Doa Hermosa, when he entered, "has the Tigercat succeeded +in subduing the exasperation of the tribes?" + +"Thank Heaven! He has, seorita; but the atrocious crime committed by +Major Barnum is unworthy of a man, and more the deed of a savage brute +than of a civilized being." + +"Perhaps the major is not the author of the crime." + +"The whites are accustomed to treat the Indians thus. Have I not heard +them assert a thousand times that the redskins are not human beings? +All weapons that kill them are lawful, and poison is one of the surest. +This crime alone is sufficient to justify me in having quitted the +ranks of the monsters." + +"Speak no more on this subject, I beseech you; you make me shudder. +I am obliged to confess that reason is on your side. When we witness +such horrors, we begin to regret that we belong to a race capable of +inventing them." + +"What is the decision of the council?" asked Don Pedro, in order to +turn the conversation. + +"Tomorrow, at daybreak, a general assault will be delivered on the +_presidio_." + +"Tomorrow!" exclaimed Doa Hermosa, in a fright. + +"Yes," he replied; "tomorrow I hope to revenge myself on those who were +my brothers, and have forced me to repudiate them. Tomorrow I shall +conquer or die." + +"God protect the good cause!" said she ambiguously. + +"Thanks, cousin," replied Don Torribio, mistaking the meaning of her +exclamation. + +Don Pedro with difficulty repressed a sigh. + +"The action tomorrow will be severe," Don Torribio continued. "I +conjure you, seorita, not to leave the _toldo_. Should we meet with a +reverse, no one can tell to what extremes the rage of the Apaches may +carry them. I will leave twenty resolute men, _vaqueros_ on whom I can +rely, to defend you. As soon as the affair is over, I will send you +word." + +"Are you going already, Don Torribio?" said she, as she saw him move +for the purpose. + +"I must, seorita; I am one of the chiefs of the Indian army. In that +quality, I have duties to fulfil, and must make preparations for the +morrow. I entreat you to let me go." + +"Farewell, then, if it must be so." + +Bowing respectfully to her and her father, Don Torribio retired. + +"All is lost," said Don Pedro; "the Mexicans will never be able to +withstand the assault." + +Doa Hermosa looked at him with a strange expression, and then +whispered in his ear: + +"Father, have you read your Bible?" + +"Why do you ask, little madcap?" + +"Because," said she, with a coaxing smile, "you seem to have forgotten +the story of Delilah." + +"What!" he exclaimed, more astonished than ever; "Do you intend to cut +off his hair?" + +"_Quin sabe?_" she answered, shaking her head knowingly, and with a +delicious assumption of bravado; while at the same time she put one of +her fingers on her rosy lips. + +Don Pedro gave the shrug of a man who is utterly at a loss to +understand, and who gives up an inexplicable enigma. + + +[1] A fact. An identical occurrence took place at the Carmen of +Patagonia, daring an attack by the Indians. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +PALEFACE _VERSUS_ REDSKIN. + + +The redskins in general, and the Apaches in particular, exhibit a +surprising degree of craftiness when on the warpath, or preparing for +a hazardous expedition. The best troops of the civilized world cannot +compete with them in subtlety and wariness, such pains do they take to +conceal and dissemble their movements. + +Towards three o'clock in the morning, just as the first pearly notes +issued from the throats of the _mawkawis_[1] nestled among the leaves, +the Tigercat and Don Torribio rose from their beds, armed themselves +for the fight, and issued forth from their toldos, followed by several +Apache braves, directing their silent and rapid steps towards the +centre of the camp, where the _sachems_ of the tribes, crouched on +their haunches around an immense brasier, smoked the war calumet while +waiting for the great chief. + +When the Tigercat appeared, the Indians rose in a body to reverence +their leader. + +The Tigercat, returning their salute, made them a sign to be seated, +and turning to the _amantzin,_ or sorcerer, who stood by his side. +"Will the Master of life remain neutral?" he asked. "Will the Wacondah +be propitious to the Apache braves? Or will he be adverse to the war +his Indian sons, united before the stone _atepelt_ (village) of the +palefaces, are going to wage this day against their oppressors?" + +"At the bidding of the chiefs," replied the _amantzin_, "I will +question the Master of life." + +Then, drawing himself up to his full height, he wrapped his bison robe +about him, and thrice paced round the fire, marching from left to +right, and muttering words unintelligible to all, and which yet seemed +to have a mysterious meaning. At the third round, he poured a _coui_ (a +small vessel) of water, sweetened with _smilax_, into a cup of reeds, +plaited so closely that not a drop escaped. Next, having dipped a sprig +of wormwood in the _coui_, he sprinkled the assembled _sachems_, and +emptied the water in three separate portions towards the rising sun. + +Then, bending his body forward, with outstretched head and expanded +arms, he appeared to listen to sounds perceptible to him alone. + +At the end of a few seconds the _mawkawis_ lifted up his song again, +on the right of his sorcerer. Immediately his face contorted itself, +and grew horrible to look at; his bloodshot eyes seemed ready to +start from their orbits; a whitish foam oozed from the corners of his +compressed lips; a livid pallor overspread his features; his limbs were +convulsed, and his body was agitated by violent distortions. + +"The Spirit comes! The Spirit comes!" muttered the Indians, in +superstitious terror. + +"Silence!" cried the Tigercat; "The wise man is about to speak." + +In fact, a painful hissing issued from the distorted mouth of the +_amantzin_, which changed by slow degrees into words, unintelligible at +first, but soon pronounced sufficiently distinctly to be understood by +all. + +"The spirit comes!" he exclaimed; "He has unbound his long locks, which +float abroad on the winds. His breath brings annihilation; the heaven +are red with blood. Victims will not be wanting for the Wacondah, the +spirit of evil. Who can resist him? He alone is master. The knives of +the Apaches shall find a sheath in the breasts of the palefaces. The +vultures and _urubus_ are glad; they snuff the ample repast. Shout the +war cry! Courage, warriors! the Wacondah himself will lead you. Death +is nothing; glory is all!" + +The _amantzin_, having uttered a few other unintelligible words, +dropped to the ground, a prey to frightful convulsions. + +Strange to relate, the men who had up to this time hung suspended on +his lips, listening with strained anxiety to his utterances, had now +no look or word of pity or interest for him as he lay writhing on the +ground, but left him there, without further thought about him. It was +because the man rash enough to touch a sorcerer while possessed by the +spirit would fall a lifeless corpse: such is the Indian belief. + +As soon as the _amantzin_ had ceased speaking, the Tigercat took up the +word in his turn. + +"Great chiefs of the Apache tribes," said he in a deep voice, "you see +that the God of your fathers smiles on our attempt, and encourages +it. Let us not hesitate, warriors! Let us confound with one last blow +the pride of our oppressors. Our lands are now free; one single spot +is still in the power of our tyrants. Let us conquer it today, and at +sunset let the Spanish flag, whose fatal shadow has so long been the +omen of misery and death, be lowered on our frontiers forever. Courage, +brothers! Your ancestors, hunting in the happy prairies, will joyfully +welcome those who fall in the battle. Let each repair to the post I +have assigned him; the hoarse cry of the _urubu_, thrice repeated at +equal intervals, will give the signal for the assault." + +The chiefs, with deep reverence, took their departure, and dispersed in +various directions. The Tigercat remained alone, absorbed in profound +meditation. + +An awful stillness reigned over the scene. There was not a breath of +wind, nor a cloud in the sky. The limpid and transparent atmosphere +permitted objects to be seen at a vast distance. The dark blue heavens +were studded with a multitude of sparkling stars; the moon was pouring +forth her silver rays in profusion; no sound disturbed the impressive +silence, except, at intervals, that low murmuring which, coming we know +not whence, seems the awful breathing of slumbering nature. + +The white chief, on the point of making his mightiest effort to +enfranchise the Indian nations, and pave the way for the triumph of +his mysterious combinations, yielded with delight to the tumultuous +thoughts busying themselves in his brain. Communing with his soul, +he scrutinised his own conduct, and fervently entreated Him who is +almighty, and whose eye searches the heart, not to abandon him, if the +cause for which he fought was righteous. + +A hand was laid heavily on his shoulder. + +Thus rudely recalled to himself, the Tigercat started. He passed his +hand over his damp brow, and turned to the intruder. The sorcerer stood +there, gazing at him with his perfidious eyes, and grinning an evil +smile. + +"What brings you here?" said the chief abruptly. + +"Is my father satisfied with me?" replied the _amantzin;_ "Has the +Wacondah spoken well to the _sachems?_" + +"Yes," said the Tigercat, with a gesture of disgust; "my brother has +done well: he may go." + +"My father is great and generous! The spirit that possesses me tore me +grievously." + +The chief snatched a string of pearls from his neck, and threw it to +the wretch, who caught it with a shout of delight. + +"Go!" said the Tigercat, turning haughtily away. + +The _amantzin_ retired. He had got all he wanted. + +Don Torribio had left the scene of the incantation with the other +chiefs, to repair to his post; but after proceeding a little way, he +looked up to the sky, and mentally calculated the hour by the position +of the stars. + +"I shall have time," he muttered to himself. + +So he hastily directed his steps towards the _toldo_ of Doa Hermosa; +numerous guards surrounded it. + +"She sleeps," said he; "sleeps, lulled by sweet childish fancies. +O God! Who knowest the extent of my love, and the sacrifice I have +offered at its shrine, grant she may be happy!" + +He went up to one of the _vaqueros_, who, leaning against a tree, was +silently smoking his cigarette, his eyes fixed on the _toldo_. + +"_Verado,_" said he, with emotion he could not repress, "twice have I +saved your life at the risk of my own. Do you remember?" + +"I remember," said the _vaquero_ briefly. + +"Today it is I who come to ask a service. Can I rely on you?" + +"Speak, Don Torribio; I will do all a man can do, to do you a service." + +"Thanks, comrade! My life, my soul, all I hold dear in the world, is +contained in this _toldo_. I confide her to you. Swear to defend her, +whatever may happen!" + +"I swear it, Don Torribio. The _toldo_ is sacred; neither friend nor +enemy shall enter. I and the men you have placed under my command will +die on the spot before injury shall happen to those you love." + +"I thank you," said the chief, extending his hand to the _vaquero_. + +The latter seized the bottom of his leader's cloak, and kissed it +reverently. + +Don Torribio cast one more look of affection at the _toldo_, which +concealed, as he had said, all he loved in this world, and then went +his way with rapid strides. + +"Now," said he, "let me be a man! They are bold men we have to contend +with." + +As soon as the chief had ordered the sachems to their posts, where the +warriors were anxiously expecting the word to let them loose upon the +foe, they proceeded to the different stations where their respective +tribes were posted. + +The men then commenced one of those incredible marches which Indians +alone can perform--crawling on their bellies over the ground. Creeping +and gliding along like snakes, they managed to station themselves, +in less than an hour, and without attracting notice, immediately at +the foot of the ramparts held by the Mexicans. This movement had been +executed with so much precision and success, that no sound had been +heard in the prairie, and nothing appeared to have stirred in the camp, +where all seemed plunged into the deepest repose. + +Nevertheless, a few minutes before the _sachems_ had received the final +orders of the Tigercat, a man in Apache dress had quitted the camp in +advance of the others, and crept towards the fort on hands and knees. + +When he arrived at the barricade, another man who, leaning over it, had +been listening with intense anxiety, reached out his hand, and helped +him inside the town. + +"Well, Estevan?" + +"We shall be attacked before an hour is over, major," said the _mayor +domo_. + +"Will the attack be serious?" + +"An assault. The Indians are determined to finish the game at once; +they are afraid of being all poisoned if they wait longer." + +"What is to be done?" grumbled the officer. + +"Let ourselves be killed," was the reply. + +"By Heavens! A comfortable piece of advice! We can but do that at the +last extremity." + +"We might try something else." + +"But what? Speak, in Heaven's name!" + +"Is everything prepared as we agreed?" + +"It is. But what do you propose?" + +"Give me twenty-five _vaqueros_, whom you can trust." + +"Take them; you will lead them?" + +"That is my affair, major. I will not answer for success; for these red +devils are numberless as the sands; but you may depend on my thinning +their ranks." + +"That will do us no harm. But the women and children?" + +"I have got them all safely to Las Norias." + +"God be praised! Now we can fight like men; our dear ones are in +safety." + +"For a time they are." + +"What do you mean? What is there else to fear?" + +"Only that when the Indians have taken the _presidio_, they will most +probably attack the hacienda." + +"You are out of your wits, Estevan," said the major, smiling; "and Doa +Hermosa--" + +"True," replied the _mayor domo_ gaily; "I had forgotten her." + +"Is that all you have to report?" + +"No, major," he said quickly; "one thing more." + +"Out with it then; for time presses." + +"The signal for the attack is to be three screams of the _urubu_, at +equal intervals." + +"Good! I will be ready for them: they will attack before daybreak." + +The major and Don Estevan separated, to visit the posts in succession, +to arouse the guards, and prepare them for the event. + +The preceding evening, Major Barnum had assembled all the townspeople, +and, in a brief and energetic speech, and with the greatest frankness, +apprised them of the precarious situation of the _pueblo;_ had +explained his plan of defence; and finished by telling them that boats +were ready moored under the guns of the fort, to receive the women, +children, old men, and all those country people who declined to join +in his desperate resistance; adding, that all who embarked would be +conveyed at nightfall to the Hacienda of Las Norias, where they would +be kindly received. + +We are bound to say, that a few of the people in the town, dismayed +by the energetic proceedings of the major, had recoiled from the idea +of taking part in them, and had gone to the hacienda. There remained, +therefore, in the town only resolute men, determined to sell their +lives dearly, and on whom he could rely with confidence. + +Thus when, on being aroused, the immediate attack of the Apaches was +made known to them, they manned the barriers confidently, with eyes and +ears on the watch, ready to give fire at the first signal. + +One hour passed over without any occurrence to break the stillness of +the night. The Mexicans began to imagine that they had been summoned +to the walls by a false alarm, as had already happened on several +occasions, when suddenly the hoarse and ominous scream of the _urubu_ +arose. + +Again it broke through the silence, and a cold shudder ran through the +frames of the besieged, who recognised their death cry, and knew how +little chance of escape existed. + +A third time the scream of the _urubu_ arose, louder and hoarser than +before. Ere it was well ended, the dreadful war whoop broke forth on +all sides, and the Indians threw themselves in swarms on the exterior +defences, and attempted to carry them by escalade. The Mexicans +received them firmly, like men who knew their last hour was come, and +were resolved to fall amidst a hecatomb of foes. The Indians fell back +in dismay, astounded at the vigorous resistance. Their measures had +been taken so secretly, that they felt certain of surprising the town. +As soon as they were in the open, showers of grape swept them down, and +scattered death and disorder among their masses. + +Don Estevan, profiting by the panic, threw himself, at the head of +his _vaqueros_, on the thunderstricken redskins, and cut them down +indiscriminately. Twice he renewed the charge with the courage of a +lion, and twice the Indians recoiled before him. + +As long as the darkness lasted, the Apaches could not perceive the +smallness of the force opposed to them, and the combat was greatly +favourable to the palefaces, who, sheltered behind the barricades, kept +up a deadly fire on the dense masses of the enemy. + +But after about two hours of this obstinate resistance the sun rose, +and lighted up the field of battle with the glorious splendour of his +rays. The Indians hailed his appearance with clamorous shouts, and +precipitated themselves with renewed fury on the intrenchments from +which they had just been driven. Their shock was irresistible. + +The whites, after an amount of resistance determined on beforehand, +abandoned a position they could no longer hold. The Indians, at the +top of their speed, rushed in pursuit. But at that moment a frightful +explosion was heard, the ground burst under their feet, and the mangled +wretches, hurled into the air, were cast in all directions. + +The interior of the defences had been undermined, and the major had +just issued the order to fire the train. The effects of the explosion +were horrible. The panic-stricken redskins began to fly on all sides, +and, yielding to the impulse of their terror, were deaf to the orders +of their _sachems_, and refused to renew the fight. + +For a moment the palefaces thought themselves saved. But the Tigercat, +mounted on a magnificent jet black mustang, and unfolding to the breeze +the sacred _totem_ of the allied tribes, rushed to the front, braving +in his single person the shots the Mexicans aimed at him, and cried in +a terrible voice: "Cowards! As you will not conquer, see how a brave +man can die!" + +His voice conveyed the bitterest reproach to the ears of the redskins; +the most cowardly were ashamed to abandon the chief who was thus +generously sacrificing himself; they faced about, and returned to the +assault with redoubled ardour. + +The Tigercat seemed invulnerable. He made his horse bound into the +thickest of the fight, parrying the blows aimed at him with the staff +of the _totem_, which he held displayed above his head to encourage his +men. + +The Apaches, electrified by the audacity of their great chief, crowded +around him, undismayed even in death, and shouted: + +"The Tigercat! The Tigercat! Let us die for the great chief!" + +"Look there!" cried he enthusiastically, pointing to the morning +star; "Look there! Your Father is smiling upon your deeds! Forwards! +Forwards!" + +"Forwards!" repeated the redskins, advancing with fresh fury. + +But the major knew this horrible struggle could not last much longer. +The redskins had carried all the barricades; the town swarmed with +them. The Mexicans disputed it house by house, only leaving one to +throw themselves into another when dislodged by main force. The +redskins formed into a solid mass, led by Don Torribio, charged up the +steep street leading to the old _presidio_ and the fort which commands +it. In spite of the ravages caused in their ranks by the grape from the +guns of the fort, they advanced without wavering; for they saw, after +each of the discharges which showered death amongst them, the Tigercat +ten paces in advance, bestriding his black charger, and brandishing the +_totem_, with Don Torribio at his side waving his sword. + +"Come," said the major gravely to Don Estevan; "the time has arrived to +execute the orders I gave you." + +"You insist upon them, major?" replied the latter. + +"I do Estevan." + +"Enough, major; they shall not say I disobeyed your last orders. +Farewell! Or rather, may we soon meet in heaven; for I shall fall as +well as you." + +"_Quin sabe?_ Farewell, farewell!" + +"Let us still hope," answered the _mayor domo_ in a stifled voice. + +The two men silently clasped each other's hands in a final pressure; +for they knew that, without a miracle, they should never meet again. + +After this leave-taking, Don Estevan collected some forty horsemen, +formed them into a compact body, and, in the interval between two +volleys from the fort, threw himself at full speed on the advancing +redskins. The Apaches could not resist the impetuosity of the charge, +and fled into the houses on either hand. When they recovered from their +panic, the horsemen who had so rudely handled them had got on board +two large boats, and were rowing swiftly towards the Hacienda de las +Norias. Don Estevan and the whole of his followers were saved, with +the exception of three or four who fell in the charge. The major had +profited by the diversion to throw himself, with the remaining whites, +into the fort, the gates of which were instantly closed behind him. +Don Torribio ordered the redskins to halt, and advanced alone to the +fortress. + +"Major," cried he in a loud voice, "surrender! The lives of yourself +and the garrison shall be respected." + +"You are a traitor, a coward, and a dog!" replied the major, appearing +on the walls. "You murdered my friend, who trusted to your loyalty. No +surrender!" + +"It is death to you and all with you; for the sake of humanity, +surrender! Defence is impossible." + +"You are a coward!" cried the major again; "here is my answer." + +"Back, all of you! Back!" shouted the Tigercat, driving both spurs into +his horse, which bounded into the air, and flew off with the speed of +an arrow. + +The Indians precipitated themselves from the top to the base of the +rampart, seized with an indescribable panic; but not speedily enough to +avoid the fate that threatened them. The major had fired the magazines +in the fort. A terrific explosion ensued. The gigantic edifice +oscillated for a second or two on its foundations, like a tottering +mastodon; then, suddenly torn from the ground, rose into the air, +and burst like an elephantine shell. Amidst the last cries of "Long +live the Republic!" from the besieged, a storm of stones and bodies, +horribly mutilated, hailed down upon the redskins, aghast at the +horrible catastrophe--and all was over, the Tigercat was master of the +Presidio de San Lucar; but, as Major Barnum had sworn, he was only in +possession of a pile of ruins. + +With tears of rage, Don Torribio planted the _totem_ of the Apaches on +a strip of tottering wall--the sole remnant to mark the spot where, +ten minutes ago, rose the magnificent fort of San Lucar. + + +[1] A Mexican songbird. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +THE CATASTROPHE. + + +Several days had elapsed since the fall of the _presidio_ of San +Lucar. The pueblo had been given up to pillage, with refinements of +barbarity impossible to describe. Only the principal buildings had been +spared, thanks to the measures employed by the Tigercat, who to save +the immense treasures they contained, had allotted them to the most +powerful _sachems_ of the tribes who followed him. + +The old freebooter had established his headquarters in the former +dwelling of Don Torribio Quiroga, which the latter had gracefully ceded +to him. Doa Hermosa and her father had resumed possession of their own +mansion. + +The town, with none but Indians for inhabitants, had a mournful aspect: +no more commerce; no more cheerful songs; nothing left of the careless +spirit of gaiety which formerly animated the Mexican colony. Here and +there in the open streets lay corpses, battled for by the birds of +prey, festering, and infecting the atmosphere. In a word, the whole +scene afforded the spectacle of that desolation which accompanies a war +of extermination between two races who have been foes for centuries. + +About a week after the events we have described in the preceding +chapter, three persons were assembled, about ten o'clock in the +morning, in a room in Don Pedro de Luna's house, and were talking in +low tones. These three persons were, Don Pedro himself, Doa Hermosa, +and the worthy _capataz_ Luciano Pedralva, who, huddled up in the +fantastical costume of a _vaquero_, looked like a monstrous robber, +exciting bursts of laughter from a Manuela, who was seated, on the +watch, at a window. Every time she looked at him, she broke into +a fresh laugh, to the indignation of the _capataz_, who voted his +disguise at the devil. + +"Well as we have agreed," said Don Pedro, "you must put on your pumps, +Luciano, and prepare for the dance." + +"And it is to take place today?" + +"It must, my good friend. It seems to me that we live in singular +times, and in a very singular country. I have seen many revolutions, +but this beats them all." + +"As for me," said Doa Hermosa, "it seems consistent enough from an +Indian point of view." + +"Very possible, my dear. I am not going to enter into a discussion with +you; but you must confess that a month ago we were far from expecting +such a prompt re-establishment of the Apache power on these frontiers." + +"You know, Don Pedro, I understand none of these matters; only it +appears to me that the Tigercat is not very magnanimous for a man about +to become a sovereign." + +"What do you mean by that, Luciano?" + +"I mean what everyone ought to mean. The letter he sent Don Fernando +the day before yesterday is explicit enough; for in it he tells him, +shortly and sharply, that if he is found in the colony five days after +its receipt, he will have him hanged." + +"If he can catch him!" said Doa Hermosa hastily. + +"That is understood," replied the _capataz_. + +"What is there in that to astonish you, Luciano?" said Don Pedro. "By +Heavens! What extraordinary things I have witnessed in my life! I +myself know a score of people to whom the same threats have been made, +and who are yet alive and well." + +"It is all one; but, in spite of that, I do not like it." + +"But this is all foreign to our matter. You will return to the +hacienda, Don Luciano; and remember my advice." + +"Trust to me, seor. But I have something else to say." + +"Say what you will, my good friend; but lose no time." + +"I am dreadfully anxious about Don Estevan," replied the _capataz_, in +a voice so low that it could not reach a Manuela's ears; "for six days +he has disappeared, and we hear no tidings of him." + +Doa Hermosa smiled slyly. "Estevan is not the man to lose himself +without leaving a trail," said she. "Tranquilize yourself: at the +proper time you will see him again." + +"So much the better, seorita; for he is a man to be relied on." + +"Don Torribio!" suddenly exclaimed Manuela. + +"Indeed!" said the _capataz_; "Then it is time for me to vanish." + +"Follow me quickly;" cried the _mayor domo's_ mother. + +The _capataz_ bent reverently before Doa Hermosa and Don Pedro, and +left the room with Manuela. + +The door by which they went out had hardly closed upon them, when +another opened, and Don Torribio entered. He wore a superb Indian +dress; his forehead was lined with care, and his looks were sad. He +bowed to Doa Hermosa, cordially grasped the hand of Don Pedro, and +took his seat at a mute sign from the lady. + +After the interchange of a few common-place words, the daughter of the +hacendero, whom Don Torribio's downcast demeanour disquieted more than +she liked to evince, turned gracefully towards him, and said, with an +assumption of interest which was admirably acted: + +"What ails you, Don Torribio? You look sad. What bad news have you +received?" + +"None, seorita; though I thank you for the interest you take in +my affairs. Were I ambitious, I should feel content; for all my +aspirations have been realised. In receiving your hand, a few days +hence, the dream of my whole life will be fulfilled. You see, +seorita," he added, with a mournful smile, "that I allow you to peer +into the depths of my heart." + +"I am thankful for what you say; but, Don Torribio, you were not thus a +few days ago. Something must have--" + +"Nothing personal, I assure you. But the nearer the time comes for the +ceremony of taking possession of the territories we have won back, +the greater discouragement masters me. I can by no means approve the +determination of the Tigercat to have himself officially declared an +independent sovereign; it is a folly I cannot comprehend. The Tigercat +knows better than any one how impossible it is to maintain himself +here. The Apaches, brave as they are, will never be able to hold their +own against the disciplined force the Mexican Government will despatch +against us, as soon as they hear of this outbreak." + +"Is it impossible to induce the Tigercat to change his purpose?" + +"It is. I have tried every means to show him the insanity of his +project. He will listen to nothing. The man has an object in view known +to himself alone; the wish he loudly proclaims--to regenerate the race +of redskins--is a mere pretext." + +"You shock me, Don Torribio! If this is the case, why not give him up?" + +"Can I do so? Am I not already a renegade? Shall I confess to you, +seorita? Although every thing seems prosperous,--although the future +seems to have nothing but smiles for me,--yet, for the last few days, +an invincible despondency has crept over me. Everything looks dark, and +I feel world worn. In a word, I have a foreboding that I am on the eve +of a terrible misfortune." + +Doa Hermosa cast a piercing glance at him, which he did not observe. +"Banish these mournful thoughts," said she, with emphasis; "henceforth +your fate is settled; nothing can alter it." + +"I believe so; but, you know, seorita, mischance may come between the +cup and the lip." + +"Come, come, Don Torribio!" said Don Pedro gaily; "Let us to breakfast. +It is the last repast you will share with us before the ceremony of +taking possession. Is it still to be today?" + +"It is!" replied Don Torribio, offering his hand to Doa Hermosa, to +lead her into another room, where a splendid meal was prepared. + +At first they were very silent; the guests seemed ill at ease; but +by degrees the efforts of Doa Hermosa and her father to cheer Don +Torribio succeeded in breaking the ice, and the conversation became +more lively. Yet it was easily seen that Don Torribio had a hard +struggle to repel the thoughts that rose to his lips, and to condemn +them to silence. + +Towards the close of the repast, the chief turned to Doa Hermosa. + +"Seorita," he said, "tonight my future will be settled. In taking +part, as an Indian chief, in the ceremony of today, I shall throw down +the gauntlet to my countrymen, by giving them to understand that I +openly join the cause of the redskins; and that what they at first +supposed to be an Indian raid grew, thanks to the Tigercat and me, into +the rising of a whole nation. I know the pride of the whites! Unable +to utilise the immense territories they possess, they will still never +leave us in peaceful enjoyment of the heritage we have carved out for +ourselves at the point of our lances. The Mexican Government will wage +a war of destruction upon us. Can I depend upon you?" + +"Before answering, Don Torribio, I must demand a clearer explanation." + +"And you shall have it. Reprisals are what the Spaniards most dread in +an Indian insurrection; that is to say, a massacre of the whites. My +carriage with a Mexican would be a gage of peace from us to them--a +pledge for the future security of their commerce, and the observance +of the relations to be established between us. Our path is marked out, +however the chiefs of the tribes may object. Neither the Tigercat nor I +will deviate from it a hair's breadth. Seorita, I address this frank +and loyal question to you: Will you grant me your hand?" + +"Why should you press so grave a matter at such a moment, Don +Torribio?" was her answer "Are you not sure of me?" + +Don Torribio Quiroga frowned. "Always the same reply," he said. "Child, +you are playing with the lion! If I had not been your shield these ten +days past, you would have been slain ere now. Do you fancy me ignorant +of your petty machinations, or ensnared by your childish calculations? +You are playing for life or death, silly one; you are caught yourself +in the net you spread for me. You are in my power! It is for me to +dictate my conditions. Tomorrow you will espouse me; the heads of your +father and of Don Fernando shall answer for your compliance!" Seizing +a crystal vase of water, he filled his glass, and emptied it at a +draught; while Doa Hermosa gazed at him with a strange expression in +her eyes. "In an hour," said he, dashing the glass to pieces on the +table, "you will attend the ceremony. You shall be beside me. I will it +so!" + +"I will be there!" she said quietly. + +"Farewell!" he exclaimed, in a husky voice; and, casting another glance +at her, he left the room. The girl rose hastily, seized the vase, and +emptied its contents, murmuring: "Don Torribio! Don Torribio! thou hast +thyself told me, that between cup and lip stood death!" + +"Now for the finishing stroke!" said Don Pedro + +At a sign from his daughter, he went out upon the terrace, and placed +two stands, filled with flowers, close to the balustrade. This appeared +to be a signal; for they had hardly been moved a minute, when Manuela +hastily entered the room, saying, "He is here!" + +"Let him come!" said Don Pedro and his daughter. + +Don Estevan made his appearance. + +The hacendero, having charged Manuela to be on the watch, carefully +closed the doors, seated himself close to the _mayor domo_, and said in +a whisper, "What news have you brought, Estevan?" + + * * * * * + +The grand square of the _pueblo_ presented an unusual spectacle that +day; a large stage, covered with a crimson velvet carpet, had been +erected in the centre. On the stage stood a mahogany _butaca_; another +armchair, lower and less decorated, was placed on the right, and +several forms were arranged in a semicircle behind the two seats. + +At twelve o'clock precisely, when the sun at its zenith was pouring +down its vertical rays, five shots, fired from a gun at regular +intervals, thundered through the _pueblo_. Instantly the different +Apache tribes, constituting the Tigercat's army, debouched by the +several approaches to the square, headed by the principal _sachems_ in +their robes of ceremony. + +These warriors were few in number, forming an effective force of +fifteen hundred men; for, according to Indian custom, the booty, +immediately after the fall of the _presidio_, had been sent under a +strong escort to the villages, and the greater number of the redskins +had dispersed, to return to their _atepelts_. Those who stayed behind +were tried and faithful braves, devoted heart and soul to the Tigercat. +The latter, after the total defeat of the Mexicans, deemed it useless +to retain a larger force about him, particularly as the first signal +would bring back the others to his standard. + +As fast as the tribes reached the square, they ranged themselves in +good order on three of its sides, leaving the fourth open, which was +presently occupied by a body of two hundred _vaqueros_, who, like the +redskins, halted motionless on the spot assigned to them--with this +difference: that the Indians were on foot, and without arms, except the +_machetes_ at their girdles; while the _vaqueros_ were mounted, and +armed to the teeth. + +A very few lookers-on, English, French, or Germans, who had remained +in the town after its occupation, showed their pale and frightened +faces at the windows of the houses in the square. Indian women, +huddled together in disorder behind the warriors, stretched their heads +inquisitively over the shoulders of the latter, in order to catch a +glimpse of the proceedings. The centre of the square remained void. + +In front of the stage, and at the foot of a rude altar, shaped like a +table, with a deep groove in it, and surmounted by an image of the sun, +stood the great _amantzin_ of the Apaches, surrounded by five sorcerers +of inferior grade. All had their arms crossed on their breasts, and +their eyes cast on the ground. + +When everyone had fallen into his place, five more guns were fired. +Then a brilliant cavalcade came curveting into the square. At its head +rode the Tigercat, with haughty air and fiery eye, holding in his hand +the _totem_, and having on his right Don Torribio, who carried the +sacred calumet. Behind followed Don Pedro, his daughter, and several of +the principal townspeople. + +The Tigercat dismounted, ascended the stage, and placed himself in +front of the principal seat, but did not sit down. Don Torribio, having +assisted Doa Hermosa from her horse, took his place before the second +chair. The features of the former, usually so pale, were now inflamed, +and his hollow eyes seemed red with incessant vigils. He ceaselessly +wiped the moisture from his brow, and appeared a prey to agitating +emotions, which would break forth in spite of his efforts to control +them. + +Doa Hermosa had placed herself behind her father, at a short distance +from the stage. She, too, seemed to suffer from secret agitation. She +was pale, her lips were contracted, and occasionally a nervous tremor +made her limbs tremble, and a feverish flush passed over her face, +which, however, soon resumed its former pallor. She kept her eyes +resolutely fixed on Don Torribio. + +The Apache _sachems_ grouped themselves at the foot of the platform, +which they surrounded completely. + +A third time the cannon roared. Then the sorcerers stepped to one side, +disclosing to the view a man firmly bound, who lay on the ground in the +midst of them. + +The _amantzin_ addressed the multitude: "Listen to me, all you who +hear me. You know why we are here assembled: our great father, the +Sun, has smiled at our success. The Wacondah has fought on our side, +according to the promise of our illustrious chief. This _atepelt_ is +now ours. The chief elected by ourselves to command and defend us is +the Tigercat. In his name and our own we now offer to the Master of +life the sacrifice most agreeable to him, in order that he may still +continue his almighty protection. Sorcerers, bring hither the victim!" + +The _amantzins_ seized the unhappy wretch they guarded, and laid him +upon the altar. He was a Mexican, taken prisoner at the capture of the +old _presidio_. The pulquero, in whose house one of the first scenes of +this story was laid, had, from avarice, refused to quit his miserable +_pulquera_, and had fallen into the hands of the redskins. + +In the meantime, Don Torribio felt his strength gradually deserting +him. His eyes grew more bloodshot, his ears were stunned, his temples +throbbed violently, and he was obliged to support himself by one of the +arms of his seat. + +"What ails you?" said Doa Hermosa. + +"I know not," he replied; "the heat--agitation, perhaps: I am choking. +But it is nothing." + +The _pulquero_, extended on the altar, had been stripped of his +garments. The wretch uttered shouts of terror. The _amantzin_ +approached him, brandishing his knife. + +"It is horrible," cried Doa Hermosa, hiding her face in her hands. + +"Silence!" said Don Torribio; "the sacrifice must be completed." + +The sorcerer, heedless of the cries of the victim coolly examined him +to find the right place for the blow; while the miserable prisoner, +with eyes unnaturally distended, gazed at him with an expression of +fear impossible to describe. Suddenly the _amantzin_ raised the knife, +and, thrusting it into the chest of his victim, laid it open the whole +length of the ribs. The wretched man uttered a horrible cry. Then +the sorcerer plunged his hand into the gaping breast of the victim, +and tore out the palpitating heart; while his assistants carefully +collected the blood that was flowing in torrents. The sufferer writhed +in agony, still making superhuman efforts to break his bonds. + +While this was doing, the _sachems_ in a body ascended the stage, and +seating the Tigercat on the _butaca_, raised him on their shoulders, +shouting enthusiastically "Long live the conqueror of the palefaces, +the great _sachem_ of the Apaches!" + +The sorcerers meanwhile sprinkled the crowd with the blood of the +sacrifice; and the redskins, frenzied with excitement, rent the air +with deafening clamour. + +"At last," said the Tigercat proudly, "I have kept my promise: I have +driven the palefaces from this country for ever." + +"Not yet," exclaimed Don Pedro, in cutting tones; "look hither." + +A sudden change had indeed come over the scene. The _vaqueros_, up to +this time impassive spectators, suddenly charged, the unarmed Indians: +Mexican troops fell upon them from all the entrances to the square: and +all the windows were manned by whites armed with muskets, who poured +down a pitiless fire on the redskins. + +In the centre of the square were Don Fernando Carril, Luciano Pedralva, +and Don Estevan, who mercilessly rode in upon the Indians, shouting: +"Down with them! Down with them! Slay! Slay!" + +"_Caray!_" exclaimed Don Torribio, waving the _totem;_ "What horrible +treachery is this?" He rushed forward to fly to the side of the +redskins; but he tottered--a dark veil obstructed his sight--and he +sank on his knees. "God!" cried he, "What has happened to me?" + +"You are dying," whispered Don Estevan in his ear; "that is what is +happening." And he seized him fiercely by the arm. + +"You lie, dog!" said Don Torribio, trying to release himself. "I will +go and help my brothers." + +"Your brothers are slain, as you intended to have slain tomorrow Don +Pedro, Doa Hermosa, Don Fernando, and myself. Die, wretch, with rage +at seeing your treachery meet its reward! I have given you _leche de +palio_[1] to drink; you are poisoned." + +"Ah!" said he despairingly, and dragging himself on his knees to the +edge of the platform; "Woe to me; woe; God is just." + +In the square the Mexicans were making a horrible carnage. "Remember +Don Jos de Kalbris," they cried; "revenge Major Barnum!" + +It was no battle; it was a fearful butchery. Several of the chiefs, +flying before Don Fernando, Luciano, and Don Estevan, threw themselves +upon the stage as a last place of refuge. + +"Ha!" shouted Don Torribio, with a bound like a jaguar, seizing Don +Fernando by the throat; "At least I shall not die unavenged." A moment +of terrible anxiety ensued. "No," he continued, quitting his grasp on +his foe, and falling backwards, "it would be the act of a coward. My +life belongs to this man; he won it from me." + +The bystanders could not repress a cry of admiration. Don Fernando +coolly raised his rifle to his shoulder, and discharged its contents +point-blank into the breast of the man stretched at his feet. + +"Thus perish all traitors!" he cried. + +"Great God!" freely exclaimed Don Torribio, by a supreme effort rising +to his knees, and looking up to heaven with an expression of sublime +hope irradiating his features,--"Great God, I thank Thee! Thou hast +forgiven me!" One last smile of unutterable happiness glided over his +face; he fell back and expired. + +Meanwhile Doa Hermosa had disappeared. When the Tigercat, who had been +fighting like a lion in the midst of the fray, perceived that all was +lost, and nothing but flight could save him from the fate to which the +Mexicans had doomed him, should he fall into their hands, he rallied +around him a handful of his bravest warriors, seized Doa Hermosa, +regardless of her cries and prayers, threw her across his saddle, +spurred his horse into the thickest of the _mle_, cut his passage +through, and, followed by his faithful braves, succeeded in getting out +of the town and gaining the prairie. + +It was too late for pursuit when the Mexicans became aware of his +flight; the old freebooter was already beyond their reach, carrying his +prey with him, like an eagle bearing a lamb in his talons. + + +[1] Literally, milk from a pall; poison. + + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +ONE MONTH LATER. + + +It was about four o'clock in the afternoon. The rays of the sun, +falling more and more obliquely, were gradually lengthening the shadows +of the trees; the birds were flying to their roosts, and nestling as +they could under the foliage, with deafening cries and pipings. A +few bands of prairie wolves were showing themselves here and there, +snuffing the breeze, and preparing for their nocturnal chase among the +tall grasses. At intervals, the lofty antlers of elks and antelopes +were suddenly rising from amidst the herbage, the animals quickly +throwing back their heads, and commencing a giddy flight into the +distance. The sun, close on the verge of the horizon, looked like a +globe of red fire behind the trunks of the stately trees. Everything +announced the rapid approach of night. + +In the virgin forest, about two hundred miles from the _presidio_ of +San Lucar, where the last terrible episodes of our story occurred, and +in the centre of a vast clearing, two men, habited like the Mexican +_gambucinos_, were sitting on buffalo skulls, beside a clear fire which +gave forth no smoke. They were Don Estevan Diaz the _mayor domo_, and +Luciano Pedralva the _capataz_. They held their rifles across their +knees, ready for an emergency, and smoked their maize _pajillos_ in +silence. Several _peones_ and _arrieros_ were lying about a few paces +off, and baggage mules were greedily munching the rations of Indian +corn laid on mats before them. Eight or ten horses were tethered, to +prevent their straying, close to a _jacal_ (hut) of branches, the +entrance to which was closed with a _zarap_. A _peon_, standing +motionless with cocked rifle on the borders of a little brook which +meandered round the extremity of the clearing, watched over the common +safety. + +It was easy to perceive, from the fragments of all sorts which littered +the ground, whence every vestige of grass had disappeared, and from +the quarters of venison suspended from the boughs of a mahogany tree, +that the encampment we have described was not one of those temporary +resting places which the backwoodsmen choose for a night and quit at +sunrise, but one of those more substantial camps which the hunters +often establish as places of rendezvous for the trapping season. + +The _zarap_ at the entrance to the _jacal_ was lifted, and Don +Pedro made his appearance on the scene. His features were pale, his +expression was sad and pensive. He looked carefully around, went up to +the two men seated by the fire, and spoke: "No news as yet?" + +"None whatever," replied Don Estevan. + +"This absence is incomprehensible; Don Fernando has never before stayed +away from us so long." + +"True," said the _capataz;_ "it is more than thirty hours since he left +us. Pray God, no misfortune may have happened." + +"No," answered Don Estevan; "Don Fernando is too well acquainted with +the desert to incur much danger." + +"But think whereabouts we are," put in Don Pedro; "the country round +about is infested by the most dangerous serpents; wild beasts swarm in +every place." + +"What does that matter, Don Pedro?" boldly answered Don Estevan; "You +forget that Don Fernando and Stoneheart are one and the same; that in +this region the greater part of his life was spent; that it is here, +for long years, he was a bee-hunter, and gathered the cascarilla bark." + +"But how do you explain his protracted absence?" + +"You recollect, Don Pedro, with what disinterestedness our friend +offered us his cooperation when, in despair at the sudden disappearance +of Doa Hermosa, mad with grief, and impotent to act, we knew not +what step to take to recover the lost one. We have been led from the +_presidio_ to this spot, following a trail invisible to all eyes save +Don Fernando's, who, accustomed to reap the sublime lines of the +wilderness, recognised it with singular ease and exactitude. The trail +has suddenly vanished here--vanished in spite of the most minute and +patient research. We have been eight days encamped in this place; and +every morning, at sunrise, Don Fernando--whom obstacles seem to excite, +rather than subdue--mounts and begins his search afresh. Hitherto his +labour has been in vain. Yesterday he left us, as usual, at daybreak. +Well, suppose the reason of his protracted absence, which makes you so +restless, should be the finding, at some spot leagues away perchance, +the signs we have sought for so long and unavailing?" + +"God grant it, my good friend! Your idea glads my heart. But what +traces could we find, after the painful exertions we have already made?" + +"You forget, Don Pedro, that we have to deal with the Apaches, the most +astute savages in the wilderness, the most acute of all the redskins +in hiding their trail." + +"Holloa!" exclaimed the _capataz;_ "I hear the tread of a horse." + +"Is it possible?" said Don Pedro joyfully. + +"Yes," said Don Estevan; "I, too, hear a noise, but it is not the sound +of one horse; there are two or three." + +"Yet Don Fernando left the camp alone." + +"He has probably encountered someone on the road," replied Don Estevan, +laughing. + +"You are wrong to joke with us in our circumstances; it is almost an +insult to my sorrow." + +"Heaven preserve me from such an intention, Don Pedro! The sound is +coming nearer. We shall soon see what we have to do. I should not be at +all surprised if Don Fernando has laid hands upon some Indian marauder, +at the very moment when, concealed by the underwood, he was watching +our camp, and spying out our movements." + +"_Canarios!_ It is he himself!" cried the _capataz_. + +In fact, the clear and sonorous voice of Don Fernando replied to the +challenge of the sentry, and two horsemen pushed through the thick +underwood which surrounded the clearing and formed a kind of natural +rampart. + +Don Fernando brought with him a man whom he had firmly bound to a +horse to prevent his escape. As to the prisoner, he seemed to bear his +capture lightly. He swayed himself comfortably in his saddle, comported +himself with an air of assurance, and looked altogether as impudent as +possible. On reaching the fire, where our personages were assembled, he +saluted them with a grimace, unabashed by the looks of the standers-by. + +He was no other than our friend Tonillo el Zapote, whom we have +presented to our readers on several occasions. + +Don Fernando was very warmly and heartily greeted. His friends burnt +with impatience to question him; and their curiosity was the more +excited, as the frank and almost joyful expression of his features +led them to suppose he was the bearer of good news. Don Fernando +dismounted, embraced his friends, and unbuckled the girth which +strapped the prisoner's legs under the belly of his horse, thus giving +him the use of his limbs. + +"Good," said the _vaquero_, "many thanks, Don Fernando. I have had +quite enough of it. My legs are tingling as if a million of pins were +stuck in them." He sprang to the ground; but he had spoken truly; his +benumbed limbs could not support the weight of his body, and he fell +heavily. The _capataz_ hastened to raise him. "It is a mere nothing," +said the _vaquero_, honouring him with a gracious smile; "yet I thank +you, caballero. In five minutes the circulation will be restored, and +no harm done. But if it is the same to you, Don Fernando, pray do not +pull the buckle so tight another time." + +"It will depend upon yourself, Zapote. Swear you will make no attempt +at escape, and I will set you free." + +"If that is all," cried the _vaquero_, gaily, "we shall soon strike a +bargain. I swear, by all my hopes of Paradise, not to slip away." + +"Enough! I will trust you." + +"An honest man sticks to his word," answered El Zapote; "you will have +no cause of complaint against me. I am the bond-slave of my word." + +"It will be all the better for you if that is the truth. But I am +doubtful about it, particularly after your late conduct towards me, in +spite of the protestations and offers of service you made me." + +The _vaquero_ showed no signs of embarrassment at this straightforward +thrust. "Men endowed with certain good qualities are sure to be +misunderstood," he replied in a wheedling tone; "I never broke the +promise I made you." + +"Not when, after introducing Indians and other rascals of your own kind +into the _presidio_, you laid an infamous snare for me, and led me into +an ambuscade?" + +"Yes, Seor Don Fernando; I was faithful even under the circumstances +you mention." + +"_Rayo de Dios!_" impatiently exclaimed the latter; "I should be glad +to learn how you can prove your fidelity there." + +"Good Heavens, seor! I was faithful after my own fashion." + +This answer was so extraordinary and unexpected, that the bystanders +could not refrain from laughing. El Zapote bowed gravely, with the +proud humility common to men of doubtful talent, who in their inmost +soul consider themselves unappreciated geniuses. + +"After all," said Don Fernando, carelessly shrugging his shoulders, "we +shall soon see. I know pretty well the extent of this elastic fidelity." + +El Zapote returned no answer; he merely raised his eyes to heaven, as +if to invoke it as a witness of the injustice done to him, and crossed +his arms on his breast. + +"Before telling you anything, let me have something to eat," said Don +Fernando, "I am fainting from inanition; I have neither eaten or drank +since I left the camp." + +Don Estevan hastened to place provisions before him, to which he +and his prisoner did great honour. However, the meal was short. Don +Fernando's appetite was soon appeased; he gave a sigh of satisfaction, +after slaking his thirst in the limpid brook, came and sat down beside +the others, and, without putting their curiosity to further torture, +began to explain the causes of his prolonged absence in all their +details. Don Estevan had judged correctly; Don Fernando had really +discovered the trail so long fruitlessly sought for. The trail took a +south-west direction, towards the most unexplored regions of the Far +West. He had followed it with a trapper's indomitable patience for +several hours, in order to be well assured that it was the true trail, +and not an Indian artifice to turn his steps astray. + +The redskins, when they fear pursuit, and cannot hide their trail, +entangle so skilfully the many tracks they purposely make, and throw +them all into such hopeless confusion, that it is generally impossible +to distinguish the right one. On this occasion they had used a similar +artifice with such dexterity and success, that they would have managed +to outwit and lead astray any hunter less adroit than Stoneheart. But +he, accustomed from childhood to their wiles, did not suffer himself +to be hoodwinked, particularly as he thought he had recognised some +peculiar signs, which would have escaped the observation of a less +experienced woodman. Don Fernando, delighted with his discovery, had +rapidly commenced his return to the camp, without neglecting any of the +prudential measures requisite in a country where every bush may conceal +a foe, when it struck him that the grass in a certain spot was waving +in a manner not wholly natural. He dropped quietly from his horse, and, +without other arms than the knife he carried in an iron ring at his +girdle, and a pistol, crept towards the suspected spot, crawling on +hands and knees with the speed and silence of a snake gliding through +grass. + +After a quarter of an hour's work, he reached the place, and with +difficulty repressed a cry of joy on seeing El Zapote comfortably +seated on the ground, the bridle of his horse passed over his left arm, +and finishing a copious meal. + +Don Fernando drew a few paces nearer, in order to be sure of his man; +then, having carefully measured the distance, with a spring like a +jaguar he seized the _vaquero_ by the throat, and had him bound beyond +the possibility of resistance before El Zapote had recovered from his +astonishment. "Aha!" said he, seating himself beside his prisoner, +"what a singular chance! How are you, Zapote?" + +"You are very kind, caballero; I cough a little." And he put his hand +to his threat. + +"Poor fellow! I hope it is of no consequence." + +"I hope, too, that no evil consequences may ensue, seor; nevertheless, +I am not quite easy about it." + +"Pooh! Cast aside your anxiety. I will cure you." + +"Do you know a remedy, caballero?" + +"Yes; an excellent one, which I propose to apply to you." + +"A thousand thanks, seor! But perhaps that would give you too much +trouble?" + +"None in the world. Judge for yourself. I propose to knock out your +brains with the butt end of a pistol." + +The _vaquero_ shuddered when the words were uttered; but he would not +give in. "You really think that remedy would cure me?" said he. + +"Radically, I am convinced." + +"It may seem very odd, caballero; but, with all due deference, I am +obliged to observe, that I am of a totally different opinion." + +"You are wrong," replied Don Fernando, coolly cocking a pistol; "you +will soon find how efficacious it is." + +"And you really think, seor, there is no other remedy?" + +"By my faith, I see no other." + +"But it seems to me a little too violent." + +"You only think so. I tell you again, you are Wrong." + +"Possibly so. I would not take the liberty of contradicting you, +caballero. Have you any great wish to administer the remedy on this +particular spot?" + +"I? Not at all! Do you know any more fitting place?" + +"I think I do, seor." + +"And whereabouts is the place, comrade?" + +"Good heavens! caballero, I may be mistaken; but still, I think it +would be a pity so marvellous a secret as this remedy should be lost, +for want of an eyewitness to its efficacy. Consequently, I wish you to +take me where we can find one." + +"Very well! I suppose you know of such a place, not very far hence?" + +"Yes, caballero; I even fancy you would be charmed to see those to whom +I wish to present you." + +"That depends upon who they are." + +"You know them very well, seor: one of them is the Tigercat--a most +amiable caballero." + +"And you will undertake to lead me to him?" + +"Whenever you please: this very instant if you like." + +Don Fernando replaced the pistol in his belt. "Not directly. No," he +said; "we must first report ourselves at the camp, where my friends +expect me. I find you are not quite so ill as I thought; and I need not +administer my remedy just now. We can always fall back upon it some +other time, if it is necessary." + +"I can assure you, there is no hurry at all," replied the _vaquero_, +trying an engaging smile. + +Thus the business was concluded between the two men, who, knowing each +other for a long time were perfectly aware of what each could expect +from the other. Don Fernando put no faith in Tonillo; so he took +good care to remove all temptation to stray from his side, by leaving +him bound as he was--a proceeding against which the _vaquero_ did not +remonstrate. + +But as night had fallen while they were talking, they made such +arrangements as they could for sleeping where they were, giving up all +idea of rejoining the camp until the morrow. Two or three times in the +course of the night the _vaquero_ surreptitiously tried to free himself +from the bonds in which he lay; but each time he endeavoured to put his +project into execution, he saw the large blue eyes of the hunter fixed +steadfastly upon him. + +"Do you still feel indisposed?" he asked, the last time the prisoner +made his attempt. + +"Not at all!" replied the _vaquero_ hastily; "Not at all." + +"I am glad to hear it; but," added he slowly, and emphatically, "your +inability to sleep made me anxious about you." + +The _vaquero_ took the hint, shut his eyes without another word, and +did not open them again till daylight. + +Don Fernando was already alert, and had saddled the horses. "Aha! Awake +at last?" said he. + +"Have you slept well?" + +"Capitally; only I feel a little numb. Gentle exercise would soon +restore the circulation." + +"The effects of the dew," said the hunter imperturbably; "the nights +are cold." + +"The devil!" said the _vaquero_, grinning. "I hope I shall not catch +the rheumatism." + +"I think not. The ride will do you good." + +While he said this, Don Fernando had hoisted his companion on his +shoulders, and thrown him across one of the horses. But on second +thoughts, he freed his legs, and set him upright in the saddle; +reflecting that useless cruelty would only harden the man against +him, who could give such precious information when the proper moment +arrived. The _vaquero_, who feared he was about to make the journey +slung over the horse like a bale of merchandise, felt grateful for the +half-liberty allowed him, and made no objection when Don Fernando took +the precaution of buckling his legs together under his horse's belly. + +In this manner the two men rode to the camp, talking on different +matters, and apparently the best friends in the world. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +PREPARATIONS FOR THE CHASE. + + +All the time Don Fernando was telling his story, El Zapote had assumed +the _nonchalant_ attitude of a man perfectly satisfied with himself; +nodding his head affirmatively at certain passages, and smiling at +others with an air of modest gratification. When the former ceased +speaking, he thought it time to put in his word also. + +"You see, seores, I made no objection whatever to following this +estimable caballero; which means to say, that I am ready to obey all +commands you may please to lay on me." + +"Here is a compliment," said Don Fernando, with a malicious smile, +"which would evidently have been addressed to others, but for the +surprise of yesterday!" + +"Oh, fie, caballero!" retorted the _vaquero_, assuming a look of +indignant denial. + +"But," continued Stoneheart, "I will not vex you on that score; your +secret feelings towards me affect me in nowise. I thought I had given +you ample proof a long while ago how little I dread you in any way. I +will content myself with remarking, that, more generous than you, I +have several times held your life in my hands, and never abused the +power." + +"On that account I am deeply grateful to you, seor." + +"Pooh, pooh, Seor Zapote!" replied Stoneheart, shrugging his +shoulders; "You have quite mistaken your man. I have no more belief in +your gratitude than in your good feelings towards me, and I have only +refreshed your memory in this respect to induce you to reflect that, if +I have hitherto condescended to pardon you, the amount of courtesy I +could afford to expend on you is at length exhausted, and on the next +occasion matters will end very differently between us." + +"I perfectly understand your meaning, seor; but, please God, such an +occasion, I am quite sure, will never present itself. I repeat, once +for all, that I have given you my word, and, you know, an honest man +sticks--" + +"No more!" broke in Stoneheart. "I wish it may be so, for your own +sake. However that may be, listen attentively." + +"I am all ears, seor; I will not lose a word." + +"Although I am still young, Seor Tonillo, I know one important truth +not very creditable to humanity. If one wishes to attract a man, and +insure his fidelity, one must not attempt to act upon his virtues, but +make sure of him through his vices. You are more richly endowed with +these last than most men I know." + +The _vaquero_ made a modest bow in acknowledgment of the compliment. +"Seor," he said, "you cover me with confusion; such praise--" + +"Is richly deserved," continued Stoneheart. "I have seen few men in +possession of such a formidable assortment of vices as you, my friend. +Yours are so many, that I was at a loss which to select. But among +these vices are a few more prominent than the rest: for instance, your +avarice has acquired a prodigious development; I am going to appeal to +your avarice." + +The _vaquero's_ eyes sparkled with greed. "What do you want me to do?" +said he. + +"First, let me tell you what I will give you; after that, I will +explain what I require." + +The leering, cunning face of the bandit instantly grew serious; and, +leaning his elbows on his knees, he stretched out his head to listen to +Stoneheart's words. + +"You know I am rich, and can have no doubt that I am able to fulfil +any engagement with you into which I may enter. However, to save time, +and deprive you of any pretext to betray me, I will immediately place +in your hands three diamonds, each worth two thousand five hundred +piastres You are so well acquainted with precious stones, that a single +glance will convince you of their value. These diamonds are yours. I +make you a present of them. Nevertheless, if you prefer it, I engage to +pay you what they are worth; that is to say, to forward seven thousand +five hundred piastres on your first demand, after our return to San +Lucar, in exchange for the jewels." + +"And you have got the diamonds about you?" said the _vaquero_, in a +voice half stifled with emotion. + +"Here they are!" replied Stoneheart, drawing from his bosom a small +deerskin bag, and taking out three good-sized jewels, which he placed +in the _vaquero's_ hands. + +The latter clutched them with a glee he did not attempt to conceal, +looked at them for a moment with eyes sparkling with triumph, and hid +them carefully in his bosom. + +"Wait a moment!" said Stoneheart, with a curious smile; "I have not yet +told you the conditions." + +"Whatever they may be, I accept them, seor. _Caspita!_ seven +thousand five hundred piastres! It is a fortune to a poor devil like +me! No _navajada_ will ever bring me in as much, however well they pay +me!" + +"Then you want no time for consideration?" + +"_Canarios!_ I should think not! Whom am I to kill?" + +"No one," briefly answered Stoneheart. "Listen to me: all you have to +do is to lead me to the place where the Tigercat has taken refuge." + +The _vaquero_ shook his head discontentedly at this proposal. "I cannot +do it, caballero. By all my hopes hereafter, it is impossible!" + +"Very well," said Stoneheart. "I forgot to mention another little +thing." + +"What is it, seor?" asked the _vaquero_, in great trouble at the turn +the conversation was taking. + +"A very trifling matter. If you do not accept my proposal, I will +instantly blow out your brains." + +El Zapote examined the speaker's face most carefully; with a rascal's +intuitive perception, he felt that the time for pleasantry was over, +and matters were threatening to become serious. "At least give me leave +to explain, seor," said he. + +"I ask no better," said Stoneheart coldly. "I am in no hurry." + +"I cannot lead you to the Tigercat's hiding place--I swear so; but I +can direct you to it, and tell you its name." + +"That is something. Go on; we have already made some progress. I see +we shall come to an understanding. I am in despair at finding myself +obliged to use extreme measures; it is so disagreeable." + +"Unhappily, seor, I have told you all. This is what happened: the +Tigercat, after his flight from the _presidio_, collected some score +of resolute men, of whom I was one, who comprehended that for some +time to come the Mexican Confederation would be too hot to hold them, +and resolved to plunge into the wilderness, in order to give the storm +time to blow over. All went well for a little while, when the Tigercat +suddenly changed his route; and, instead of leading us to overrun the +country of the Apaches, took us to the district of the bee-hunters and +cascarilla gatherers." + +"He has done that?" exclaimed Stoneheart, starting with surprise and +terror. + +"Yes, seor. You can understand how little I cared for a game of +life and death, in regions infested by the fiercest beasts of prey, +and, worse than that, by serpents whose bite is mortal. Seeing that +the Tigercat was seriously bent upon taking refuge in this horrible +country, I confess, seor, I got terribly frightened; and at the risk +of dying with hunger, or being scalped by the redskins in the desert, I +quietly dropped to the rear, and profited by the first opportunity to +give the Tigercat the slip." + +Stoneheart fixed on the _vaquero_ a gaze which seemed to search his +inmost soul; the latter bore it manfully. + +"It is well," he said, "I see you have not lied. How long is it since +you left the Tigercat?" + +"Only four days, seor. As I do not know this part of the wilderness, I +was wandering about at a venture, when I had the good fortune to fall +in with you." + +"Indeed! Now, what is the name of the place to which the Tigercat +intended to lead you?" + +"El Voladero de las nimas," answered the _vaquero_, without hesitation. + +Stoneheart instantly grew pale as death at this information; and yet he +had almost expected it, from the cruel and implacable character of his +former teacher. + +"Alas!" cried he; "The unfortunate girl is lost! This wretch has +carried her into a very nest of serpents!" + +The bystanders were dreadfully agitated. + +"What is this horrible place?" said Don Pedro. + +"Alas! El Voladero de las nimas is an accursed region, into which +the hardiest bee-hunters and boldest _cascarilleros_ scarcely dare to +enter. The Voladero is a lofty mountain, which frowns over an immense +expanse of swamps swarming with cobras, coral snakes, and others, whose +slightest bite kills the strongest man in ten minutes. For ten leagues +around this dread mountain, the country is alive with reptiles and +venomous insects, against which how shall man defend himself!" + +"Great God!" cried Don Pedro, in despair; "And it is to this hell they +have carried my darling child!" + +"Calm yourself," said Stoneheart, who perceived the necessity of +restoring a little courage to the poor father; "the Tigercat knows +this accursed place too well to enter it without taking the needful +precautions. The swamps alone are to be dreaded; the Voladero is free +from these noxious animals; the air is too pure, and its elevation too +great for them to live there. Not one attempts to scale it. Courage, +then! If your daughter, as I hope, has reached the Voladero alive, she +is in safety." + +"But, alas!" replied Don Pedro, "How are we to cross this impassable +barrier; how reach my daughter, without encountering certain death?" + +An indefinable smile illumined the features of Don Fernando. "I will +reach her, Don Pedro," he exclaimed, in firm and resolute tones. "Have +you forgotten that I am Stoneheart, the most renowned bee-hunter of the +prairies? The Tigercat confided all his secrets to me when we were not +only bee-hunters but _cascarilleros_. Courage, I say; all is not yet +lost." + +If a man who is struck down with some dire and and unexpected calamity +has a friend beside him, whose stout heart and cheering words bid him +hope, his prostrate courage revives, however faint and problematical +the hope may be, and, confiding in the prospect held out to him, he +gathers fresh energy for the approaching struggle. This was exactly +what happened to Don Pedro. The speech of Stoneheart, who, for weeks +past, had worked hard for him,--whom he had learned to love, and in +whom he had entire confidence,--revived his hope and courage as if by +magic. + +"And now," said Stoneheart, addressing the _vaquero_, "tell me how the +Tigercat treated his prisoners. You remained with him long enough to +give me reliable information on this point." + +"As far as that goes, seor, I can answer without hesitation, that his +attention to the seorita's welfare was unceasing; he watched over +her with anxious care, often shortening the day's march for fear of +overtiring her." + +His hearers breathed more freely. This solicitude on the part of one +who respected neither God nor man seemed to indicate better intentions +than they had a right to expect. + +Stoneheart continued his interrogations. "Do you know the nature of the +Tigercat's conversations with Doa Hermosa?" + +"I overheard one, seor. The poor seorita was very sad: she dared not +weep openly, for fear of offending the chief; but her eyes were always +filled with tears, and her breast heaved with stifled sobs. One day, +during a halt, she was sitting apart at the foot of a tree, her eyes +fixed on the road we had just travelled, and large tears coursing down +her cheeks. The Tigercat advanced towards her, looked at her for a +moment with mingled pity and displeasure, and addressed her in nearly +the following words: 'Child, it is useless to look back; those you +expect will not come. No one shall tear you from my hands till the time +comes when I shall think fit to restore you to freedom. To you alone +I owe the ruin of my projects, and the massacre of my friends at San +Lucar. I know it well. Therefore I carried you off, for vengeance' +sake. But this I will tell you, for your consolation and encouragement: +my revenge shall not be harsh; within a month I will give you to him +you love.' The seorita looked at him incredulously; he perceived it, +and continued, in a tone of implacable malice: 'My most earnest wish +is to see you some day the bride of Don Fernando Carril: I have never +lost sight of this. Take courage, then; dry those useless tears, which +only disfigure you,--for I swear to you I will carry out my resolve, +the very day and hour I have appointed.' Having said this, he left +her, without waiting for the answer Doa Hermosa was about to make. +I happened to be lying on the grass, a few paces from the lady. The +Tigercat either did not notice me, or thought me asleep. That is how +I overheard their conversation. To the best of my belief, that is the +only time the chief ever conversed with his prisoner, although he +continued to treat her well." + +When the _vaquero_ ceased, a long silence ensued, caused by the +strangeness of this revelation. Stoneheart racked his brains in vain +endeavours to discover a motive for the Tigercat's conduct. He recalled +the words the chief had once uttered in his presence,--words which +agreed with what he had just heard; for even at that time the old man +seemed to take delight in the project. But Stoneheart vainly tried to +find a solution to the question, why he should act thus. + +In the meanwhile the sun had gone down, and night set in with the +rapidity peculiar to intertropical climates, in which there is no +twilight. It was one of those delicious nights of Southern America +which are replete with sweet odours and airy melody. The dark blue sky +was enamelled with a countless number of golden stars. The moon, now +at the full, showered down a flood of soft and glorious light; and the +transparent atmosphere made distant objects seem close at hand. The +night wind tempered the oppressive heat of the day; and the men seated +in front of the _jacal_ inhaled with delight the refreshing breeze that +whispered among the foliage, surrendering themselves to the influence +of the night, which stole upon them with all its seductive languor. + +When Don Pedro and his two confidential agents first set out on their +search for Doa Hermosa, under the auspices of Stoneheart, a Manuela, +that devoted pure-hearted woman, refused to leave her master and her +son. She had loudly claimed her share in the risks and perils they +were about to encounter, asserting her right to accompany them in +her quality of Doa Hermosa's nurse. The good woman had persisted +so obstinately, that Don Pedro and Don Estevan, touched by her +self-abnegation, could no longer resist her entreaties, and she had +come with them. a Manuela had charge of the commissariat of the camp. +As soon as night had completely closed in, she issued from the _jacal_, +bearing refreshments, which she distributed with strict impartiality to +all present, master and man. Unseen, the worthy woman had listened to +the queries put to the _vaquero_. Her heart failed her at El Zapote's +story; but she dissembled her grief, for fear of augmenting Don Pedro's +anguish; and she appeared amongst the travellers with dry eyes and a +smiling countenance. + +However, time passed on; the hour for rest had come; one after another +the _peones_ rolled themselves in their _zaraps_, and slumbered +peacefully, with the exception of the sentries posted to watch over +the safety of the camp. Stoneheart, plunged in deep meditation, was +reclining, with his head supported by his right arm; his companions +now and then exchanged a few words, uttered in a low tone, that they +might not disturb him. The _vaquero_, with characteristic carelessness, +stretched himself out on the ground, indifferent to what was passing +around him. His eyelids grew heavy; he was already in a state of +semi--somnolence, when he was thoroughly roused to consciousness by +Don Fernando, who shook him rudely. + +"Holloa, seor! What is the matter?" said he, sitting up, and rubbing +his eyes. + +"Is it possible to trust you?" + +"A question you asked once before, seor. I replied, 'Yes, if you pay +me well.' Now, you have paid me royally. There was but one man in the +world to whom I could attach myself sooner than to you--Don Torribio +Quiroga. He is dead; you take his place. No dog would obey your +slightest sign more faithfully than I." + +"I am not now going to put your new fledged fidelity to any rude proof; +I shall content myself with leaving you here. But remember to deal +frankly with me, and without reservation; for as surely as I have not +hesitated to pay you in advance in the bargain I have concluded with +you, so surely will I not hesitate to kill you on the spot if you +betray me. And take this to your soul: if you deceive me, no hiding +place, however secret or remote, shall save you from my vengeance." + +The _vaquero_ bent his head, and answered unhesitatingly: "Seor Don +Fernando, I swear, by the Cross of our Lord, who died for the remission +of our sins, that I will be faithful to you unto the death." + +"Good," said Stoneheart; "I believe you, Zapote. Sleep now, if you are +able." + +The _vaquero_ did not wait for a repetition of the words, but rolled +over, and was soon fast asleep. + +"Seores," said Stoneheart, turning to his friends, "it is time for +you to rest. As for me, I must watch a while. Be of good courage, Don +Pedro; our position is far from desperate. The more I reflect, the +surer I am we shall tear from the Tigercat the prey he holds in his +grasp and longs to devour. Be not too anxious; and if you should not +see me tomorrow, do not on any pretext leave this encampment till my +return: my absence will not be long. Good night to all!" Having said +this, Stoneheart crossed his arms on his breast, and returned to his +sombre meditations. + +His friends, respecting his wish to be alone, withdrew; and ten minutes +later all the inmates in the camp, except Stoneheart and the sentinels, +were asleep, or seemed to sleep. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +THE CHASE. + + +Deep silence prevailed through the wilderness, broken only at long +intervals by the growling of the jaguar at the spring, or the barking +of the prairie dog in his burrow. Stoneheart had not moved after his +friends left him; he was so motionless, one would have thought him +asleep, but for the occasional glitter of his eye through the darkness. +Suddenly a hand was laid on his shoulder. He started up in an instant. +Don Estevan stood beside him. Stoneheart greeted him with a smile. "You +have something to tell me?" said he. + +"I have," replied Don Estevan, seating himself at his side. "I waited +till all were asleep before sought you out. You are meditating some +daring exploit--perhaps an expedition to the camp of the Tigercat?" + +Stoneheart replied by a smile. + +"Have I guessed aright?" said the _mayor domo_. + +"Perhaps you have, Estevan; but how does that concern you?" + +"More than you think, Fernando. Such an expedition is as dangerous +as can be imagined; you yourself said so. I will not let you commit +so great a folly as to attempt it alone. Remember that, from our +first meeting, we have been irresistibly attracted to each other; we +are bound together by ties of friendship which nothing can sever. +Everything ought to be in common between us. Who can tell the danger +to which you would be exposed in the expedition you are about to +undertake! This is what I have come to tell you: half of that danger is +mine; I come to claim the share you have no right to withhold from me." + +"Brother," replied Stoneheart, much moved, "I feared this would happen; +I dreaded the demand you have just made. Alas! You have guessed truly; +the expedition is indeed desperate, and who can say whether I shall +succeed? But why link yourself to my evil fate? Has not my whole life +been one long sorrow? It will make me happy to sacrifice it for the +poor father, pining for the child who has been torn from him. Every +man has a destiny in this world; mine is to be wretched. Let me fulfil +it. Your destiny smiles upon you; you have a mother whom you cherish, +and who adores you. I am alone. If I perish, none save yourself will +regret me. Should you fall by my side, you leave me a lifelong sorrow +for having caused your death. No length of life could obliterate my +remorse." + +"Fernando, my determination is irrevocable. Whatever you may say, I +shall follow you. Fidelity is an heirloom in our family; and I must do +this day what my father did not hesitate to do long ago for the family +to whom we are attached. I repeat once more, Fernando, my duty compels +me to be with you." + +"Think no more of it, Estevan; think of your mother, and her grief." + +"I think of nothing but what honour bids me." + +"Estevan, I cannot consent to what you wish. Again I say, think of your +mother's grief if she should lose you." + +"My mother, Fernando, would be the first to bid me go, were she here." + +"Spoken like a man!" said a gentle voice behind them. They turned, and +saw a Manuela. "I have heard all," she said. "Thanks, Don Fernando, +for speaking as you did; I will never forget your words. But Estevan is +right: duty compels him to follow you. You lose your time in trying to +dissuade him. He springs from a race who never tamper with their duty. +Let him go with you. If he falls, I shall weep,--perhaps I shall die; +but I shall die blessing him, for he will fall in the service of those +whom, through five generations, we have sworn to serve faithfully." + +Stoneheart gazed with admiration at the mother who did not hesitate to +sacrifice her son to her sense of duty, regardless of the boundless +love she bore him. He felt himself a weakling, compared with this +self-denial. Words failed him, and he could only manifest by signs his +acquiescence in a wish so energetically expressed. + +"Go, my sons," she continued, raising her eyes to heaven with an +expression of holy fervour; "God, who sees all, sees your devotedness. +He will reward you. The rule of the wicked on earth is short; the +protection of the Almighty will be with you--will defend you in +every danger. Go without fear; He tells me you will prosper in your +undertaking. Farewell!" + +"Farewell, mother," replied the two men, moved even to tears. + +The noble woman pressed them to her heart, but could not part from them +without an effort. "Remember this law," she said,--"it is the basis of +honour: do your duty, whatever may happen. Farewell, farewell!" She +turned, and hastily entered the _jacal_ for, in spite of herself, tears +were regaining the mastery, and she would weaken their resolution. The +others were silent for a time, looking steadfastly at the _jacal_. + +"You see," said Don Estevan, at last, "my mother herself orders me to +follow you." + +"Be it as you will, then," said Stoneheart, with a sigh; "I will no +longer oppose your wishes." + +"Thank Heaven!" exclaimed the _mayor domo_. + +Stoneheart carefully examined the heavens. "It is two o'clock," he +said; "at half past three it will be daylight. We must go." + +Don Estevan left him, to bring up the horses. They were soon saddled. +The men left the camp, gave their horses the spur, and dashed into the +desert. By sunrise they had ridden six leagues. They were following the +course of one of those nameless rivers which traverse the wilderness in +every direction, and ultimately fall into some larger stream. + +"Let us halt here a while," said Stoneheart; "first to breathe our +horses, and then to take a few precautions indispensable to our +success." + +Dismounting, they took the bits from the horses' mouths, leaving them +at liberty to crop the luxuriant grass on the banks of the river. + +"The time has come, Estevan," said Don Fernando, "when I must teach +you something, without which it would be impossible to avoid the +dangers we are about to encounter; I must reveal a secret known only +to us, 'the bee-hunters.' Hardly two leagues farther on, we shall have +to enter the swamps, swarming with serpents, and we must take the +requisite precautions against their fatal bite, for every reptile we +shall meet on the road will be of the most venomous species." + +"The devil!" ejaculated Don Estevan, turning somewhat pale. + +"I will give you a lesson. When we have once put on our armour, we can +trample with impunity on the heads of the most dangerous." + +"_Caray!_" replied Don Estevan; "your secret is worth knowing." + +"You shall prove it soon. Come with me. Of course you are acquainted +with the _guaco?_" + +"Certainly. I have often helped it in his battles with snakes." + +"Very well. I dare say you are ignorant of the means this intelligent +bird employs to heal the wounds in the mortal combats which always +terminate in the destruction of the reptile?" + +"I confess, Fernando, that I have never attempted to fathom the +mystery." + +"Then it is lucky, Estevan, that I have thought for both. Come, close +at hand I see several stems of the _mikania_ twisting round the cork +trees: That is what we want. We will take a supply of the leaves of the +guaco creeper." + +Don Estevan, without troubling his head concerning his friend's +intentions, set about collecting the leaves of the creeper he had +pointed out. By dint of exertion, a goodly number were soon heaped upon +the ground. When Stoneheart deemed the quantity sufficient, he gathered +them up in his _zarap_, and returned to the spot where they had left +their horses. Without further explanation, he began to pound the leaves +on a flat stone he brought from the edge of the water. Don Estevan, +taking great interest in the mysterious operation, occupied himself in +collecting in a _coui_ (or gourd) the juice which ran from the leaves +as Stoneheart crushed them. The work lasted an hour, by which time the +_coui_ was filled to the brim with a greenish liquid. + +"What are we to do now?" said Don Estevan, puzzled more and more. + +"That is a delicate question, my friend," replied Stoneheart, with +a laugh. "We must undress; then, with the point of the _navaja_, we +will make longitudinal incisions in our breasts, our arms, thighs, and +between the fingers and toes, just deep enough to cause blood to flow. +Afterwards, we will carefully inject the liquid we have collected into +these incisions. Have you sufficient courage to inoculate yourself with +the _mikania_juice?" + +"Certainly, Fernando, though the operation will be painful. But what +good will it do us?" + +"Only the least in the world! We shall be invulnerable. We shall be +able to trample thousands of snakes under our feet; and their bites +shall do us no more harm than the prick of a pin." Stoneheart said no +more, but undressed himself, and coolly began to make incisions in +his body. Don Estevan followed his example. After slicing themselves +in this fashion, they rubbed the cuts with the juice of the creeper, +leaving the liquid time to dry in before they resumed their dress. + +"Well, that is done," said Stoneheart. "We need not keep our horses: +the poor brutes would infallibly perish, for we cannot insure them from +the serpents. We will leave them here, and pick them up when we return; +only let us hobble them well, for fear they should stray too far." + +The saddles were carefully hidden under some bushes, and the two hardy +adventurers commenced their journey on foot, trailing their rifles, +and holding in one hand a slender but tough twig of mesquite, to cut +the reptiles in two which might dispute their passage. They marched +rapidly, one behind the other, shaking the grasses on right and left +with their rods, to dislodge the snakes, and following a track left by +a numerous body of horsemen. + +Suddenly they saw a dead body before them horribly swollen and +putrified, over which they were obliged to step. + +"Ah!" said Stoneheart, "Here lies a poor wretch, who probably did not +know the uses of the guaco creeper." + +Just at that moment, a sharp hissing was heard, and a beautiful little +snake, about as thick as the little finger, and seven or eight inches +long, crept from under the corpse, raised itself upon its tail, and, +darting with wonderful rapidity, fixed itself on Stoneheart's right leg. + +"Your pardon, my good fellow," said he coolly; "you have made a +mistake!" and, seizing it by the tail, he swung it round, and crushed +its head on the ground. "It is a ribbon snake," he added; "bitten by +him, you have just eleven minutes to live. You grow first yellow, then +green; then you begin to swell, and all is over--with this exception: +you have the consolation of changing colour once more, this time from +green to black. It is odd, is it not, Estevan?" + +"_Caray!_" replied the latter, who could not help shuddering; "Yours +was a lucky thought, Fernando." + +"Do you think so, Estevan?" + +"By heavens! It is self-evident. Ha! Crush that coral snake coiling +round your leg!" + +"Why, really, so he is! Well, he is a gentleman who takes liberties!" +Saying this, he seized the reptile, and crushed him. "It is a lovely +country," he continued. "It is quite diverting to travel here. Halloa! +more bodies!--This time a man and horse. They have died together. Poor +brute!" + +And thus they went on all day. The farther they advanced, the more +numerous were the snakes; they met them by threes and fours together. +At intervals they found more bodies stretched across their path, +proving that they were still on the right trail, and that the Tigercat +had left the greater number of his companions on the road. With all +their courage, they could not refrain from shuddering at the frightful +spectacles they had witnessed in passing through this dreadful place. + +Suddenly Stoneheart stopped, bent his body forward, made a sign to his +friend to be still, and listened anxiously. "If I am not mistaken," he +whispered, "somebody is coming this way." + +"Someone!" exclaimed the astonished Estevan. "Impossible!" + +"And why so? We are here, and why not others?" + +"Quite right: but who can it be?" + +"We shall soon see;" and he dragged his companion behind a thick bush, +where they crouched for concealment. + +"Cock your rifle, Estevan. Who can tell whom we may have to meet?" + +The _mayor domo_ obeyed. Both kept motionless, expecting the arrival of +the individual, whose steps were now clearly distinguishable. + +During the last hour, the path our adventurers were pursuing had +gradually begun to rise, with frequent turnings--a sure proof that they +were quitting the swamps, and approaching the region which was free +from reptiles. + +Stoneheart soon saw a shadow thrown across an angle in the path, and +immediately afterwards a man appeared. Stoneheart recognised him +directly by his tall stature and long white beard. It was the Tigercat. +Stoneheart whispered a few words in his companion's ear, and, drawing +himself together, bounded at one spring into the middle of the path. +The Tigercat showed no surprise at this sudden apparition. "I was +coming to look for you," he said calmly, as he halted. + +"Then your task is finished," said Stoneheart, "for here I am." + +"No, it is not ended; for, while you show yourself in my camp, I shall +go to yours." + +"You think so?" said Stoneheart, with a mocking laugh. + +"Certainly. Do you think to bar my passage?" + +"Why not? Is it not mine to settle affairs between us?" + +"For my part, I see no reason. You are not looking for me, I suppose?" + +"You are wrong, Tigercat! I came here on purpose to seek you." + +"Me, and another person." + +"You, first of all; for we have a long account to settle." + +"We are losing time," said the Tigercat impatiently. "Listen, and try +to understand me. Doa Hermosa is close by; she expects you, for I +have promised to bring you together. She has charged me with certain +messages to her father; and on that account I must go to your camp. But +first, I will lead you to mine--a sad one: of all my followers, but +four are left; the rest are dead." + +"I know; I saw their bodies on the road. It is you who have slain +them. Why did you lead them here?" + +"Never mind. What is done cannot be undone. But time presses; will you +follow me? I wish to deal openly with you." + +"No! I do not trust you. Why have you come into this fearful place?" + +"Did you not guess, my son? Merely to be sure that my prisoner was +safe." + +"You made a mistake, for I am here." + +"Perhaps I did. But enough of this. Here, take my rifle. Tell your +friend, the barrel of whose rifle I see gleaming through the branches, +to come from behind his bush. Perchance you will not be afraid to +follow me now, when I am unarmed, and you two to one." + +Stoneheart reflected for a moment, and then said: "Come forth, Estevan!" + +His friend was at his side in a moment. + +"Keep your rifle," said Stoneheart to the Tigercat; "no one must travel +in the wilderness without weapons." + +"Thanks, Fernando," replied the old chief; "I see you have not +forgotten the old rule: a backwoodsman never quits his rifle." + +The Tigercat turned and led the way to his camp, the two others +following exactly in his footsteps. In about an hour they reached it, +pitched halfway up the Voladero, in a spacious cavern. The chief had +told the truth--only four out of all his men survived. + +"Before going farther," he said, when they got there, "I have a +condition to exact." + +"To exact!" said Stoneheart ironically, emphasizing the words. + +The Tigercat shrugged his shoulders. "At a sign from me, those men will +stab Doa Hermosa to the heart without hesitation; you see, I have the +power to exact." + +"Speak, then," said Stoneheart, trembling for her sake. + +"I will leave you here alone with Doa Hermosa. I, your friend, and my +four comrades, will leave the Voladero at once. In two days, and not +before, you will quit the mountain, and come to your camp, where you +will find me." + +"Why do you impose this condition?" + +"You have nothing to do with that: is it so hard, that you will not +submit to it? But, briefly, I do not choose to explain; answer--yes or +no. Except on this condition you shall not see Doa Hermosa." + +"How do I know whether she is still alive?" + +"What good would it have done me to kill her?" + +Stoneheart hesitated for a moment. "I accept the conditions," said he +at last; "I will stay here two days." + +"Good! Now go to her; as for us we will leave you." + +"One instant longer! My friend--will you be answerable for his safety? +I know I can trust your word." + +"I swear to you, I will look upon him as my own friend as long as he +remains with me, and you shall find him safe and sound in the camp." + +"Enough. Farewell, Estevan; console Don Pedro, and tell him on what +conditions his daughter has been restored." + +"I will tell them to him myself," said the Tigercat, his mouth +contorted with a strange expression. + +Stoneheart and Don Estevan bade each other farewell; then the former +rapidly approached the cavern, while the Tigercat, his four followers, +and the _mayor domo_, went down the path into the plains. On reaching +the nearest trees, the Tigercat halted for a moment, and turned to the +cavern into which Stoneheart had just entered. "Aha!" he exclaimed, +with a sinister smile, and rubbing his hands with delight; "At last I +am sure of my revenge!" + +He followed his companion, and they were soon lost to sight, behind the +intervening foliage. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +EL VOLADERO DE LAS NIMAS. + + +We have already said that Don Fernando Carril, or Stoneheart, had +passed the greater part of his life in the wilderness. Brought up +by the Tigercat in the perilous calling of a bee-hunter, chance had +occasionally brought him, most unwillingly we confess, to the district +in which he now found himself. Thus he was well acquainted with the +Voladero de las nimas, even to its inmost recesses. He had often +sought shelter in the cavern where Doa Hermosa was now a prisoner, and +found it again without difficulty, although the access to it was so +well masked by certain features of the mountain, that any other would +have been some time in discovering it. The cavern, one of the greatest +curiosities of this part of the country; contains several chambers, +extending far into the hill, and two broad passages, which terminate +in two apertures, like gigantic windows, exactly under the peak of +the Voladero, where they hang at a height of a thousand feet over +the plain; the conformation of the mountain being so singular that, +looking down from them, nothing is to be seen but the tops of the trees +below. + +Stoneheart entered the cavern, which by another remarkable peculiarity, +was lighted throughout its whole extent by innumerable fissures in the +rock, admitting sufficient daylight to enable objects to be perceived +at a distance of twenty or twenty-five paces. He was very restless; +the conditions imposed by Tigercat depressed his spirit to a degree +he could not shake off. He could not help asking himself why the old +chief had insisted on his remaining two days with Doa Hermosa on the +mountain before he rejoined the camp. He suspected some treachery in +these conditions; but of what kind? That was the riddle he could not +solve. + +He walked slowly through the cavern, looking right and left in the +hope of finding her; and, for more than half an hour, could see no +indications of her presence. + +The sun was already disappearing below the horizon when Stoneheart had +issued from the forest; the cavern, sombre enough in the daytime, was +at this hour in almost total darkness; so he retraced his steps, to +obtain a light for the purpose of resuming a search which otherwise +the obscurity rendered impossible. On reaching the entrance to the +cavern, he availed himself of the last gleam of daylight to look about +him. Some torches of ocote wood were carefully arranged close to the +entrance. Producing flint and steel, he speedily procured a light; and, +arming himself with a kindled torch, again made his way into the cave. +He traversed several chambers without success: and had begun to suspect +that the Tigercat had duped him, when he perceived a faint glimmer at +some distance in advance of him, which gradually approached, until its +light was sufficient to reveal the form of Doa Hermosa. + +She too held a torch in her hand. She was walking with a slow and +unsteady step, her head sunk on her breast, in an attitude of poignant +sorrow. Doa Hermosa came nearer and nearer, till she was within fifty +paces of Stoneheart. Uncertain how to attract her attention, he was +on the point of calling to her, when she chanced to raise her head. +On seeing a man before her, she stopped, and haughtily demanded: "Why +have you entered this corridor? Have you forgotten that your chief has +forbidden anyone to enter it and annoy me?" + +"Forgive me, seorita," replied Stoneheart gently; "the order was +unknown to me." + +"Heavens!" cried she; "That voice! Is it a a dream?" She dropped +her torch, and hastened to approach Stoneheart, who likewise rushed +towards her. "Don Fernando!" she exclaimed; "Don Fernando here, in +this horrible den! Great God! what further evil is at hand? Have I not +suffered enough yet?" + +Overcome by emotion, she lost all consciousness, and sank, fainting, +into the arms of Stoneheart. Alarmed at the occurrence, and not knowing +how to recall her to her senses, he hurried her back to the entrance to +the cavern, hoping that the fresh air might restore her. He placed her +carefully on a heap of dry leaves, and left her to herself. Stoneheart +was a man whose courage reached the verge of temerity. A hundred times +he had looked death in the face with a smile; but when he saw the girl +lying before him, her features rigid, and pale as death, he trembled +like a child; a cold sweat broke out over his forehead, and tears--the +first he had ever shed--rolled down his face. + +"My God, my God!" he exclaimed; "I have killed her!" + +"Who speaks?" said Doa Hermosa in feeble accents, the current of air +rushing into the cave having somewhat revived her. "Do I really hear +Don Fernando? Can it be he?" + +"It is I; it is indeed I, Hermosa. Collect yourself, and forgive me +for causing this sudden fright." + +"I am not alarmed," she answered; "on the contrary, your presence +relieves me, Don Fernando, if your appearance in this dreadful place +augurs no new misfortune." + +"Calm yourself, seorita," he said, drawing gently near her; "I am no +omen of evil; I bring good tidings." + +"Why seek to deceive me, my friend? Are not you too a prisoner of the +monster in human shape who has kept me captive so long?" She rose; the +colour returned to her cheeks. She extended her hand to Stoneheart, +who, kneeling, clasped it in both his own, and covered it with kisses. +"Now we shall no longer be alone; we shall suffer together," she said, +fixing an earnest look upon him. + +"Dearest Hermosa, your sufferings are at an end; I do indeed bring you +good tidings." + +"What is it you say, Don Fernando? Your words are incomprehensible. How +can you talk of good tidings, while we are both in the power of the +Tigercat." + +"No, seorita; you are no longer in his power." + +"Free!" she exclaimed in ecstasy; "Is it possible O my father! My +father! I shall see you once more!" + +"You shall see him very soon, Hermosa. Your father is not far hence, +with all you love--Don Estevan and a Manuela." + +Doa Hermosa fell on her knees, with an expression on her face +impossible to describe. Lifting her clasped hands to heaven, she +uttered a long, silent, and fervent prayer. + +Stoneheart gazed upon her with reverential admiration. The sudden +transition from sorrow and despair to this excess of joy excited him +infinitely. He felt intensely happy--happier than he had ever known +himself before. + +When Doa Hermosa rose from her knees, she had regained her calmness. +"And now, Don Fernando," she said in gentle accents, "as we are really +free, let us sit down outside the cave. Tell me all that has happened +since I was torn away from my father." + +They left the cavern, and sat down, side by side, on the green turf, +canopied by the night, which hung cool and odorous above them; and +Stoneheart began his story. It lasted a long time; for Doa Hermosa +frequently interrupted him, to make him repeat details concerning Don +Pedro, and night had sped away before the recital ended. "It is your +turn, seorita," said Stoneheart, as soon as he had finished. "You +have now to relate what has happened to you." + +"As for me," she replied, with a charming smile, "the month has passed +in sorrowful thoughts of those from whom I was torn. But I must be +just enough to confess, that the man who bore me away treated me +with respect--nay, on several occasions he sought to console me and +alleviate my grief, by holding out hopes of my soon seeing those whom I +love so dearly." + +"The Tigercat's conduct is incomprehensible," said Stoneheart +thoughtfully. "Why did he carry you off, when he has restored you to us +again with so little demur?" + +"It is strange," said she; "what could his object be? But I am tree! +Thank Heaven, I shall see my father again!" + +"Tomorrow we will go to him." + +Doa Hermosa looked at him in surprise. + +"Tomorrow!" she exclaimed; "Why not today? Why not at once?" + +"Alas!" said he, "I have sworn not to leave this place until tomorrow! +The Tigercat would only restore you to liberty on this condition." + +"How singular! Why should that man wish to keep us here?" + +"I will tell you the reason!" cried Don Estevan, suddenly appearing +before them. + +"Estevan!" they exclaimed, rushing towards him. + +"What happy chance brings you here?" asked Stoneheart. + +"It is no chance, brother. God has permitted me to overhear words +spoken by the Tigercat, which have given me as clear an insight into +his plans as if he himself had revealed them." + +"Explain your words, Estevan?" + +"Yesterday, when I left you, Fernando, you turned your steps to the +cavern, while we retraced ours to the forest. I know not why, but my +heart was heavy, and I felt loth to quit you. I could not help fancying +that the Tigercat's urbanity covered some deadly purpose against you. +So I went slowly down the hill. I happened to turn when I reached the +forest, and saw that the chief had ceased to follow us. He had halted a +few paces from me. He was rubbing his hands with ferocious delight; his +eyes were earnestly fixed on the cave, and I distinctly heard him utter +these words: 'At last I am sure of my revenge!' It was like a sudden +gleam of light; the diabolical plan the monster had conceived started +forth in all its hideousness. Don Fernando, you remember how we became +acquainted?" + +"I do, Estevan; the remembrance is too near for me to forget it." + +"You recollect your conversation on the island with the Tigercat, which +I overheard? The insinuations of the man? The implacable hatred to Don +Pedro he openly avowed?" + +"I recollect it all, Estevan; but to what does it lead?" + +"To this, Fernando: the Tigercat, despairing to reach Don Pedro +himself, endeavours to strike him through his daughter. Hence the +long-concocted plan in which he has made you an involuntary accomplice. +You love Doa Hermosa; you have done everything to save her; he +proposes to restore her to you on the simple condition of remaining two +days here in her company: do you understand me now?" + +"It is frightful!" indignantly exclaimed Stoneheart. + +Doa Hermosa covered her face with her hands to conceal her tears. + +"Forgive the pain I have caused you," continued Estevan. "I wished to +save you from yourselves; and I could only do so by bluntly laying +his machinations open before you. The question is now, whence this +inveterate hatred to Don Pedro? Satan alone can tell. But let us not +mind that; his plans are unmasked; we have nothing to fear from him." + +"Thanks, Estevan," said Doa Hermosa, holding out her hand. + +"But how were you able to return?" cried Stoneheart. + +"Easily enough. I had nothing to do but to tell the Tigercat plainly +that I did not choose to travel in his company any longer. Our man was +thunderstruck at my deliberate desertion; but found no words to oppose +me. As for me, I had nothing more to say, so, at the first turn of the +road, I left him." + +"It was a capital idea, Estevan, and I thank you heartily. But now, +what are we to do? I have given my word." + +"Nonsense, Fernando! You must be mad. Are we obliged to keep promises +which have only been extorted from us to do us harm? If you take my +advice, you will leave this place instantly, to thwart any new plots +this man may brew." + +"True, true!" cried Doa Hermosa. "Estevan, you are right. We will +follow your counsel, and go." + +"Let us go," said Stoneheart, "since you wish it. As for me, there is +nothing I should like better than to leave this accursed cavern. But +how are we to get Doa Hermosa through the forest?" + +"In the same way I crossed it before," she said firmly. + +"How was that?" cried Estevan. + +"On a kind of litter, which ought to be here still. It was carried on +men's shoulders. You know, the snakes do not spring very high." + +"And we will wrap you in a buffalo hide, so that you will be safe from +all danger." + +Don Estevan went in search of the litter, and soon found it, while +Stoneheart got the buffalo hide ready. All was prepared in a few +minutes. + +"We have not broken the conditions of the treaty," said Estevan to his +friend. + +"How so?" + +"Did you not agree to meet the chief at the camp today, and not before?" + +"I did; and it would have been impossible to do so, had we remained +here the stated time." + +"Well, who knows whether the Tigercat did not take that into account +too?" replied Estevan. + +This observation gave our three personages ample food for reflection; +and they began their journey without any further attempt at +conversation. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +THE HAND OF GOD. + + +We will now return to the hacendero and the Mexican encampment. When +Don Pedro awoke in the morning, a Manuela reported Stoneheart's +departure in company with her son. + +"I feared something of the sort," said Don Pedro sighing; "Don Fernando +was so preoccupied last night. I am glad your son has gone with him, +Manuela, for it is a perilous expedition. God grant they may bring me +back my daughter! Yet I cannot help thinking it would have been better +to have consulted me before they left. We have here twenty bold men, +who would certainly have been able to do more than two unsupported men, +however brave they may be." + +"I am of a different opinion," replied a Manuela. "Surprises are +the chief element of wars in the wilderness, and two men can often +succeed by means of their apparent weakness, which allows them to pass +unnoticed, when numbers would fail. However, they will not be long +absent, and we shall have certain news of the _nia_." + +"Please God they be good! Manuela, if I should lose my daughter, in +addition to my former woes, I could not survive it." + +"Drive away these sombre thoughts, seor; Providence watches over us +all. I hope we shall not be abandoned in our affliction." + +"After all," said Don Pedro, "as we are forced to remain inactive, we +must exert our patience till our stragglers return." + +The day passed without any incident worthy of record. El Zapote, who +had gone hunting at daybreak, returned with an elk. + +The next day, about ten in the morning, an unarmed Indian presented +himself before the sentries, demanding speech of Don Pedro. The latter +ordered him to be brought forward. The redskin was an Apache, of +cunning features and reckless manner. Brought into the presence of the +hacendero, who at that moment was talking to the _capataz,_ he stood +motionless and with downcast eyes, waiting with the cold impassiveness +characteristic of his race, till they should speak to him. The +hacendero scrutinised him attentively. The Indian was perfectly +indifferent to the scrutiny. + +"What does my brother want? What is his name?" asked don Pedro. + +"El Zopilote is an Apache brave," replied the redskin; "the _sachem_ of +his tribe sends him to the chief of the palefaces." + +"I am the chief of the palefaces. Tell your mission to me." + +"Hear what the Tigercat says," replied the immoveable Apache. + +"The Tigercat!" exclaimed Don Pedro greatly astonished; "What can he +want of me?" + +"If my father will listen, El Zopilote will tell him." + +"I will listen. Speak Zopilote." + +"Thus says the Tigercat: a cloud has arisen between the Tigercat and +the chief of the palefaces, who have come into the hunting grounds of +my tribe. As the beneficent rays of the sun disperse the clouds that +obscure the heavens, so, if wise paleface will smoke the calumet of +peace with the Tigercat, the cloud between them will disappear, and the +war hatchet be buried so deep, that it shall not be found again for a +thousand moons and ten. I have said: I await the answer of my father +with the beard of snow." + +"Indian!" replied Don Pedro, in accents of sadness, "Your chief has +done me much harm, yet I know not the cause of his hatred to me. But +Heaven forbid I should reject his proposal, if he entertains the wish +to end the difference existing between us. Bid him come; and say I am +ready to offer reparation for injury I may have done him without my +will or knowledge." + +The Apache listened with evident attention to the words of the +hacendero. When the latter ceased, he answered: "_Wagh!_ My father has +spoken well. Wisdom has taken up her abode in him. The chief will come; +but who will insure his safety when in the camp of the palefaces,--he +alone, with twenty _Yarri_ (Spanish) braves around him!" + +"My word of honour, redskin; my word of honour,--which is worth more +than all your chief could give me," said Don Pedro haughtily. + +"My father's word is good; his tongue is not forked. The Tigercat asks +no more; he will come." + +Having uttered these words with Indian emphasis, the Apache warrior +bowed profoundly, and retired with the same quiet step which marked his +coming. + +"What do you think of that Luciano?" said Don Pedro, as soon as they +were alone. + +"By Heavens, seor! I think it conceals some Indian devilry. I fear the +white who changes his colour, and turns redskin, a hundred times words +than the true Indian. I never liked chameleons." + +"Right, Luciano! But we are placed in a difficult position. Before +all things I must have my daughter; for her sake I must overlook many +things." + +"True, seor! Nevertheless, you know as well as I, that the Tigercat is +a miscreant without faith or honour. Do not trust him too far." + +"I am obliged to trust him. Have I not given my word?" + +"You have," growled the _capataz;_ "but I have not given mine!" + +"Be cautious, Luciano; and, above all things, do not excite his +suspicions." + +"Make yourself easy on that score, seor. Your honour is as dear to me +as my own; but I dare not leave you without means of defence, though it +please you to trust yourself with a wretch as determined as he." + +With these words, the _capataz_ cut short the conversation, and left +the _jacal_, to prevent further remarks from his master. "Ha!" said he, +as he met El Zapote; "You are the very man I want, my friend!" + +"Me, _capataz!_ That is capital! What is to be done?" + +"Come with me a while," replied the _capataz;_ "I must tell you the +matter where we cannot be overheard." + +An hour later,--that is to say, a little after eleven in the +morning,--the Tigercat arrived at the camp, as El Zopilote had +asserted. The chief was dressed as a _gambucino_, and carried no +weapons--at least, none were visible. + +As soon as the sentinels recognised him, they allowed him to pass, and +led him to the _capataz_, who was walking backwards and forwards. The +Tigercat cast a scrutinising look around him the moment he entered the +camp. Everything seemed in its usual state, and the chief saw nothing +to excite suspicion. He approached the _capataz_. + +"What do you want here?" asked Don Luciano roughly. + +"I wish to speak to Don Pedro de Luna," quickly replied the Tigercat. + +"Good! Follow me; he expects you." + +Without further ceremony, the _capataz_ led him to the _jacal_. +"Enter," said he; "you will find Don Pedro there." + +"Who is there?" said a voice from within. + +"Seor," replied the _capataz_, "it is the Indian who asked the favour +of a conversation with the chief. Come, enter!" he added, addressing +the Tigercat. + +The latter made no observation, but went into the _jacal_ with the +_capataz_. + +"You asked to speak with me," began Don Pedro. + +"I did," said the chief in a gloomy tone; "but with you alone." + +"This man is one of my oldest servants; he has my entire confidence." + +"What I have to say must be told to no other ears than yours." + +"Retire, Luciano," said don Pedro; "but remain near at hand." + +The _capataz_ cast a look of rage at the Tigercat, and left the _jacal_ +grumbling. + +"Now that we are alone," said Don Pedro, "you can speak openly to me." + +"I intend to do so," said the chief in harsh accents. + +"Are you come to speak of my daughter?" + +"Of her and others," replied the Tigercat in the same tone. + +"All this is a mystery, chief; explain!" + +"It will not be long before I do so; for I have longed, panted for the +opportunity to meet you face to face. Look at me well, Don Pedro; do +you not recognise me?" + +"I believe I never saw you before you received me as a guest in the +_teocali_." + +The chief laughed savagely. "Have years changed me so much? Has the +name of Tigercat obliterated my own so thoroughly that that too is +forgotten? As Don Guzman de Ribera became Don Pedro de Luna, why should +not Don Leoncio de Ribera become the Tigercat, brother?" + +"What words are these?" exclaimed Don Pedro, rising in terror. "What +name have you uttered?" + +"I have said that which is," coldly answered the chief. "The name I +utter is mine." + +Don Pedro gazed at him with pitiful regret. "Unhappy man!" he sighed; +"How have you fallen so low?" + +"You are wrong, brother," replied the Tigercat, with a sneer; "on the +contrary, I have risen to be the _sachem_ of an Indian tribe. Long, +long have I waited for my revenge! Twenty years I have watched; but +today I have it--today it is complete!" + +"Your revenge, miserable man!" answered Don Pedro indignantly; "What +revenge would you against me?--you, who attempted to seduce my wife; +you, who sought to slay me; and who, lastly, to crown your infamy, have +borne away my daughter!" + +"You forget to name your son, whom I also carried away,--your sin, Don +Fernando Carril, in whom I have contrived to excite a passion for his +sister, and who has been these two days alone with her at the Voladero +de las nimas. Aha! Don Guzman, what say you to that revenge?" + +"Woe, woe!" exclaimed Don Pedro, wringing his hands in his despair. + +"Brother and sister in love with each other; licensed by you, Don +Guzman, and married by me! Aha!" and he burst into a horrid laugh, that +sounded like the howl of the hyena. + +"It is too horrible," cried Don Pedro, in the depths of despair. "It +is a lie, wretch! Bandit as you are, you dare not meditate a crime so +terrible! You are but a boasting miscreant! Your tale cannot be true; +to believe it, would be to doubt the justice of Heaven!" + +"You do not believe my words, brother?" replied the Tigercat in a +sarcastic tone. "As you please. Here come your children; I hear them +entering the camp; ask them." + +Don Pedro, half-mad with grief, was rushing out of the _jacal_ when +Stoneheart, Doa Hermosa, and Don Estevan appeared at the entrance: the +unhappy father was stopped by the shock. + +"Look!" said the Tigercat, with his usual sneer; "Look how he receives +his children! Is that his love?" + +Doa Hermosa had thrown herself into her father's arms, and tearfully +embraced him; without seeing the Tigercat. "My father, my father!" she +cried; "God be praised that I see you once more!" + +"Who speaks of God here?" said Don Pedro in a hollow voice, and shaking +off his daughter, who tottered from him. + +Doa Hermosa looked round in affright. Pale and trembling, she would +have fallen, if Stoneheart had not hastened to support her. + +"Look, how they love each other!" sneered the Tigercat. "It is +touching! Don Fernando, throw your arms around your father;" and he +pointed to Don Pedro. + +"He my father!" cried Stoneheart, overjoyed; "Oh, it would be too much +happiness!" + +"Yes," said the Tigercat; "Don Pedro is your father, and here is your +sister!" As he said this, he pointed to Doa Hermosa and again burst +into a diabolical laugh. + +The two young people were thunderstruck. Don Pedro, whose nervous +system had received a violent shock from the first revelation, felt his +reason deserting him. He seemed neither to see nor hear, and to take no +notice of the strange scene enacting around him. The Tigercat exulted +in his triumph. Don Estevan, alarmed at the hacendero's state, thought +it high time to interfere. "Don Pedro," said he in a loud voice and +forcibly laying his hand on the old man's shoulder, "collect yourself; +this miscreant is a liar! Your children are worthy of your name. I was +with them at the Voladero." + +Don Pedro seemed to make a mighty effort to resume his grasp on +the senses which were leaving him. His body underwent a terrible +convulsion. He turned his face towards Stoneheart, and a heavy sigh +burst from his heart; then tears flowed down his venerable cheeks, and +he cried in feeble accents, as he fell on the breast of his son, "Yours +is the truth, Estevan; the truth, the truth!" + +"I swear it, Don Pedro!" was the solemn reply. + +"Thanks, thanks! I knew the miscreant lied. My children--" + +The two young people threw themselves into his arms, and loaded him +with caresses. + +The Tigercat, with his arms crossed on his chest, looked on with his +sardonic leer, and said ironically: "They love each other, brother; let +them marry." + +"They have a right to do so!" exclaimed a ringing voice. All turned in +amazement. a Manuela had entered the _jacal_. "Yes," said she, turning +with an air of mockery to the Tigercat, who stood appalled, he knew not +why, at the sudden apparition; "the day of judgment has come at last! +I have waited for it patiently; but justice shall be done, and it is I +whom God has chosen to manifest his power!" + +All present gazed with admiration and respect at the woman, who seemed +completely transfigured. Her face was radiant; her eyes flashed +lightning. With calm and imposing steps, she approached the hacendero. +"Don Pedro! my much-loved master," said she in a voice scarcely +intelligible from emotion; "forgive me! I have made you suffer, oh, +how long! But God inspired me! It is He, and only He, who dictated my +conduct. Don Fernando is not your son; he is mine! Your son"--and she +brought forward Don Estevan--"is here!" + +"Don Estevan!" cried all present. + +"A lie!" howled the Tigercat + +"It is the truth," briefly replied a Manuela. "Hatred is blind, Don +Leoncio. You took away the poor nurse's child when you thought you had +stolen your brother's. Look at Estevan, all you who knew his mother, +and deny, if you dare, that he is her son." + +In truth, the likeness was striking. Up to the time, Estevan's position +had blinded their eyes; there was no reason to seek for a resemblance +to anyone: but now, when the veil had fallen, they recognised whence he +sprung. + +"But you will always be my mother!" cried Estevan, with much feeling. + +"Mother!" exclaimed Fernando, throwing himself into her arms. + +Don Pedro's joy knew no bounds. + +The Tigercat, forced to confess himself foiled, uttered a howl like a +wild beast. "Aha!" cried he, beside himself with rage, "Is it to be +thus? But it is not over yet!" He drew a poniard from his garments, and +threw himself with all his force on Don Pedro, who, in his joy, had +forgotten his presence. + +But an eye watched him. Don Luciano had stolen into the _jacal_, and +noiselessly placed himself behind the bandit, whose every movement he +carefully watched. As the Tigercat made his spring, he threw his arms +around him, and pinioned him, in spite of the desperate efforts made +by the miserable wretch. At the same moment, the _vaquero_ bounded +into the _jacal_, knife in hand, and, before anyone could arrest him, +plunged it up to the hilt in his throat. "Not bad;" he exclaimed. "The +opportunity was too good to lose! My _navajada_ was never given so +fairly! I hope this blow will gain me pardon for the others." + +The Tigercat remained standing a moment, swaying hither and thither, +like a half-uprooted oak tottering to its fall. He rolled his eyes +around him, in which rage still strove with the agony that made them +haggard. He made one last effort to pronounce a terrible malediction, +but his mouth contracted horribly; a stream of dark blood spouted from +his yawning throat; he fell at his full length on the ground, where +he writhed for a moment like a crushed reptile, to the inconceivable +horror of the spectators. Then all was still: he was dead; but on his +face, distorted by the death pang, unutterable hatred survived the life +which had just quitted him. + +"Justice is done," said Manuela, with trembling accents. "It is the +hand of God!" + +"Let us pray for him," said Don Pedro, falling on his knees. + +All present, impressed by this noble and simple action, followed his +example, and knelt by his side. + +The _vaquero_, having finished his part in the scene, thought +it prudent to disappear, but not without exchanging a glance of +intelligence with the _capataz_, who smiled grimly under his gray +moustache. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STONEHEART*** + + +******* This file should be named 44399-8.txt or 44399-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/4/4/3/9/44399 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at + www.gutenberg.org/license. + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +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 + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation information page at www.gutenberg.org + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at 809 +North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email +contact links and up to date contact information can be found at the +Foundation's web site and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For forty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/old/44399-8.zip b/old/44399-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a9fff7e --- /dev/null +++ b/old/44399-8.zip diff --git a/old/44399-h.zip b/old/44399-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d5162c4 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/44399-h.zip diff --git a/old/44399-h/44399-h.htm b/old/44399-h/44399-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0019085 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/44399-h/44399-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,8860 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Stoneheart, by Gustave Aimard</title> + <style type="text/css"> + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; +} + +p { + margin-top: .51em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .49em; +} + +.p2 {margin-top: 2em;} +.p4 {margin-top: 4em;} +.p6 {margin-top: 6em;} + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; +} + +hr.tb {width: 45%;} +hr.chap {width: 65%} +hr.full {width: 95%;} + +hr.r5 {width: 5%; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;} +hr.r65 {width: 65%; margin-top: 3em; margin-bottom: 3em;} + +table { + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; +} + + .tdl {text-align: left;} + .tdr {text-align: right;} + .tdc {text-align: center;} + +.blockquot { + margin-left: 5%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + +a:link {color: #800000; text-decoration: none; } + +v:link {color: #800000; text-decoration: none; } + +.center {text-align: center;} + +.right {text-align: right;} + +.caption {font-weight: bold;} + +/* Footnotes */ +.footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + +.footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + +.footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + +.fnanchor { + vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: + none; +} + + hr.pg { width: 100%; + margin-top: 3em; + margin-bottom: 0em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + height: 4px; + border-width: 4px 0 0 0; /* remove all borders except the top one */ + border-style: solid; + border-color: #000000; + clear: both; } + </style> +</head> +<body> +<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, Stoneheart, by Gustave Aimard, Translated by +Lascelles Wraxall</h1> +<p>This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a +href="http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></p> +<p>Title: Stoneheart</p> +<p> A Romance</p> +<p>Author: Gustave Aimard</p> +<p>Release Date: December 9, 2013 [eBook #44399]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STONEHEART***</p> +<p> </p> +<h4>E-text prepared by Camille Bernard and Marc D'Hooghe<br /> + (<a href="http://www.freeliterature.org">http://www.freeliterature.org</a>)<br /> + from page images generously made available by the<br /> + Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford<br /> + (<a href="http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/home">http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/home</a>)</h4> +<p> </p> +<table border="0" style="background-color: #ccccff;margin: 0 auto;" cellpadding="10"> + <tr> + <td valign="top"> + Note: + </td> + <td> + Images of the original pages are available through + the Bodleian Libraries, Univerity of Oxford. See + <a href="http://dbooks.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/books/PDFs/600061818.pdf"> + http://dbooks.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/books/PDFs/600061818.pdf</a> + </td> + </tr> +</table> +<p> </p> +<hr class="pg" /> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<h1>STONEHEART</h1> + +<h3>BY</h3> + +<h2>GUSTAVE AIMARD</h2> + +<h4>AUTHOR OF "BEE-HUNTERS," "SMUGGLER CHIEF," ETC., ETC.</h4> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<h5>LONDON,</h5> + +<h5>CHARLES HENRY CLARKE, 13 PATERNOSTER ROW.</h5> + +<h5>1874</h5> + + + +<hr class="full" /> +<h5>CONTENTS.</h5> + +<div class="center" style="font-size: 0.8em;"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="right">I.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">SYMPATHY</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="right">II.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">THE VIRGIN FOREST</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="right">III.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">DON TORRIBIO QUIROGA</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="right">IV.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">LA TERTULIA (THE PARTY)</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="right">V.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">THE AMBUSH</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="right">VI.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">SAN LUCAR</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="right">VII.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">THE ATTACK ON THE PRESIDIO</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="right">VIII.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">DISGRACE</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="right">IX.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">THE PRISONER</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="right">X.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">THE CAMP OF THE REDSKINS</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="right">XI.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">THE RENEGADE</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="right">XII.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">WOMAN'S WILL</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="right">XIII.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">PALEFACE VERSUS REDSKIN</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="right">XIV.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">THE CATASTROPHE</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="right">XV.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">ONE MONTH LATER</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="right">XVI.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">PREPARATIONS FOR THE CHASE</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="right">XVII.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">THE CHASE</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="right">XVIII.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">EL VOLADERO DE LAS NIMAS</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="right">XIX.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">THE HAND OF GOD</a></td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h4><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I.</a></h4> + +<h3>SYMPATHY.</h3> +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p>Sympathy is a feeling admitting neither analyzation nor discussion. +It masters us, whether we will or no. Persons we meet unconsciously +attract or repel us at first sight. And why? It is a question +impossible to answer, but the fact is indubitable. An irresistible +magnetic influence draws us towards people whom, if we listened to the +promptings of self-interest, we ought to shun; while, on the other +hand, the same influence compels us to avoid others, in whom this very +interest should induce us to confide.</p> + +<p>And it is an extraordinary fact, well worthy of remark, that this +intuition, acting in opposition to our reasoning powers, seldom if ever +misleads us. Sooner or later we are forced to acknowledge as right +what to the prejudiced eyes of the world appeared erroneous, and find +that our sympathy, far from deceiving, has only led us to the truth.</p> + +<p>The result of this sympathy and antipathy are so palpable, so many +persons have experienced the effects of this mysterious influence, that +it would be superfluous for us to linger longer over the topic.</p> + +<p>Don Estevan and Stoneheart had become acquainted under circumstances +which might have induced enmity between them, or, at all events, made +them indifferent to each other: the reputation of the bee-hunter, +and the singular life he led, were ample reasons why the young +and straightforward <i>mayor domo</i> of Don Pedro de Luna should feel +himself repelled by them; and yet a diametrically opposite effect was +produced without the two young men knowing why, and they suddenly +felt themselves friends, bound together, not by one of those vapid +sentimentalities so common in civilised life in Europe, where the +word "friend" means no more than a mere acquaintance, and is one of +the titles most easily and constantly profaned, but by the strong, +true feeling, admitting neither limit nor reasoning, which shoots up +so strongly in a few hours that it engrosses an immense part of the +existence of those of whom it has taken possession.</p> + +<p>They had never seen each other before their casual encounter in the +road to San Lucar, and yet they seemed to have known each other for +ages, and now only to have met again after a long parting.</p> + +<p>Singular to say, the same effect was produced on both at the same +moment, without calculation or reservation.</p> + +<p>What we have asserted is so true, that Don Estevan, notwithstanding +the innate prudence of his character, had not hesitated to confide to +Stoneheart, on the spur of the moment, the history of his master, or, +to speak more correctly, his benefactor. He had recounted this history +in all its details, without disguising anything, or omitting a title, +induced to act as he did by the secret presentiment which apprised him +that he had found a man worthy of sharing the burden of this important +secret.</p> + +<p>The course of this tale will furnish us with still stronger proofs of +the singular confidence these two men had instantly felt for each other.</p> + +<p>The sun was setting in a flood of purple and gold behind the snowy +crests of the lofty and jagged mountains of the Sierra Madre, when Don +Estevan ceased speaking.</p> + +<p>The landscape assumed that garb of placid melancholy in which it +clothes itself at the approach of eve; the birds came flying in +countless flocks, to nestle, twittering, under the leafy boughs of the +grand old trees. <i>Vaqueros</i> and <i>peones</i>, galloping in all directions, +mustered the cattle, and drove them towards the <i>hacienda</i>; and in the +distance appeared a camp of <i>arrieros</i>, whose watch fires already began +to tinge the rapidly darkening sky with a ruddy glow.</p> + +<p>"And now," resumed Don Estevan, "having acquired as intimate a +knowledge as my own of the secrets of the family with whom chance has +brought you into contact, what do you intend to do?"</p> + +<p>"First, and before all a single word," answered Stoneheart.</p> + +<p>"Say on; you must indeed have many things to confide to me in your +turn."</p> + +<p>"Not so many as you think. You already know as much of my life as I do +myself; that is to say, almost nothing. But that is not the question +between us at present."</p> + +<p>"What can it be, then?" said Don Estevan, unable to repress his +curiosity.</p> + +<p>"I am about to tell you. Surely you have not told me this long and +interesting tale with the sole purpose of satisfying a curiosity I +never exhibited; there must be some other motive in your thoughts, +and I think I have guessed it. Don Estevan Diaz, two bold men, bound +to each other as closely as the ivy and the oak, with thoughts running +in the same channel, with but one will between them,—two such men +are mighty; for the one forms the complement to the other, and what +each alone would not dare to essay, the two will undertake without +hesitation, and be almost certain to succeed, however hazardous and +rash their projects may seem. Are you of the same way of thinking?"</p> + +<p>"Most surely, Don Fernando; I am entirely of the same opinion."</p> + +<p>A flash of joy illumined the face of the bee-hunter. "Good!" said he, +stretching out his arm; "Here is my hand, Don Estevan; it belongs to a +man who, with his hand, offers you a loyal and honest heart, whatever +may be said to the contrary: will you accept them?"</p> + +<p>"<i>Vive Dios!</i>" eagerly exclaimed the <i>mayor domo</i>, heartily pressing +in his own the hand so frankly tendered; "I accept both one and the +other. Thanks, brother! I was on the point of making the same offer to +you; we are now one for life or death. I am yours, as the handle is to +the blade."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said Don Fernando, with a sigh of pleasure, "At last I have a +friend. I shall no longer wander through life alone: joy and sorrow, +grief and happiness,—I shall have one to whom I can confide them all."</p> + +<p>"You shall have more than one to sympathise with you, brother; you +shall have a mother too. Mine shall be yours also. Come, let us mount; +it grows late. We have still many things to talk of."</p> + +<p>"Let us go," was all the hunter answered.</p> + +<p>The horses had not strayed from the neighbourhood of the <i>rancho</i>, near +which they found abundant pasturage: the men easily <i>lassoed</i> them, and +five minutes later the friends rode side by side in the direction of +Don Estevan's dwelling.</p> + +<p>a Manuela was awaiting them at the entrance. She was smiling.</p> + +<p>"Make haste!" she cried, as soon as she perceived them; "the <i>angelus</i> +has rung an hour ago. It is supper time."</p> + +<p>"Which means to say, mother, that we are dying with hunger," replied +her son, dismounting; "so, if you have not prepared an ample meal, you +run great risk of leaving our appetites unappeased."</p> + +<p>"No fear of that, Estevan. I thought you would arrive in some such +condition; so I took my precautions."</p> + +<p>"Can you forgive me, madam," said the bee-hunter, "for making this +fresh inroad on your hospitality?"</p> + +<p>The mistress of the house smiled kindly.</p> + +<p>"I am so ready to forgive you, seor," said she, "that, feeling +convinced we should have you a long time with us, I have myself +arranged your <i>cuarto</i> (quarters)."</p> + +<p>Don Fernando did not reply at once: a lively blush overspread his +features; he dismounted, and approaching the old lady:</p> + +<p>"Seora," said he, much affected, "I know not how to thank you; you +have guessed the dearest wish of my heart. Your son calls me brother: +would you deign to permit me to call you mother? How happy it would +make me!"</p> + +<p>a Manuela fixed upon him a long and steadfast gaze: her face exhibited +tokens of vivid emotion; two tears coursed slowly down her pallid +cheeks. Then, stretching out her hand to the hunter, she said:</p> + +<p>"Be it so! Instead of one, I have now two children. Come, my sons, +supper is waiting."</p> + +<p>"My name is Fernando, mother."</p> + +<p>"I will not forget it," was her smiling answer. They entered the +dwelling, while some <i>peones</i> led away the horses to the <i>corral</i>.</p> + +<p>Don Fernando had not deceived his friend; he had in truth given him a +mother.</p> + +<p>The meal proceeded with the cheerfulness to be expected from three +persons who, although strangers three days before, had suddenly +understood and appreciated each other: that is to say, it was gay and +cordial. No allusion was made to the impromptu band which had linked +them together so intimately and unexpectedly.</p> + +<p>As soon as the <i>peones</i> had retired, and their masters found themselves +alone, they left the table, and betook themselves, as on the previous +day, to an inner room, where, sheltered from prying eyes and ears, they +ran no risk of having their conversation overheard, commented on, and +perhaps reported.</p> + +<p>"Shut the door," said Don Estevan to Don Fernando, who was the last to +enter.</p> + +<p>"Not so," replied the latter; "we will leave it open: by this means we +shall both see and hear anyone who may come near us. Take this as a +general rule: never close the door when you have secrets to tell."</p> + +<p>Don Estevan drew forward some <i>butacas</i> (seats), sat down, lit his +cigarette, and turning to the hunter, said:</p> + +<p>"Now for our talk!"</p> + +<p>There are certain situations in life where the most insignificant word +becomes of the greatest importance. So, when Don Estevan said, "Now for +our talk!" each of the three felt that the conversation to ensue would +not be confined to the limits of pleasant chat, but would almost assume +the proportions of a congress with closed doors, so extremely grave +were the matters which would be propounded.</p> + +<p>It was Don Fernando who first commenced the conversation in the decided +and clear manner which was habitual to him.</p> + +<p>"My friend, I have pondered deeply on what you told me today: you would +never have intrusted such an important secret to me, if grave reasons +had not induced you. I think I have divined your reasons; they are +these: the tranquillity which Don Pedro has enjoyed since he lived here +is menaced; you dread evil to Doa Hermosa. Are these your motives, or +am I mistaken?"</p> + +<p>"You are not. In fact, I have for some time past been oppressed by +a vague fear, a secret apprehension, I cannot subdue; I feel, as it +were, the approach of some misfortune, without knowing whence or how it +will come. Doubtless you know better than I can tell you, that in all +men's lives certain dark hours occur, in which the brave man trembles +without apparent cause, like a child afraid of its own shadow. All +things alarm, all things excite suspicion. Well, my friend, for the +last two months I have lived these dark hours: an invincible sadness +overpowers me. In a word, I am living in fear, without knowing why; +for all around me takes its usual course: Don Pedro is as calm, Doa +Hermosa as gay, as lively, and as free from care as ever; we live +in this out-of-the-way corner of the world entirely ignorant of its +doings; the rumours of society die without an echo on our threshold. +What have we, then, to fear? Who is the enemy that lies in wait for +us, and whose savage eye watches us night and day? I know not; but I +repeat, I feel him; I see him, as it were, without being really able to +discover him."</p> + +<p>"You know your enemy now, as well as I do. It is the Tigercat. The +conversation you overheard last night between him and myself must have +enlightened you as to his intention, if not as to his plans."</p> + +<p>"True; but, nevertheless, my mind refuses to admit that this man can +really be our enemy. As there can be no effects without causes, so +there can be no hate without a reason. Since Don Pedro's arrival in +this country, he has never come in contact with this man at home or +abroad, for good or for evil. Why, then, should he wish ill to my +master?"</p> + +<p>"Why! Why!" repeated the hunter, with feverish impatience. "Why does +day follow night? Why are there good and bad men? Why rascals and +honest people? The inquiry would lead you too far, my good friend. +I know as well as you that none of you have ever come in contact +with the Tigercat. It is impossible to doubt it; but what does that +signify? This man is a gloomy miscreant, the greater portion of whose +life is spent in doing evil for mere evil's sake. Don Pedro is loved +and honoured by all who know him; Doa Hermosa is respected even by +the Apaches,—the most ferocious redskins of the prairie; hence, most +likely, the hatred he bears to the family of the <i>hacendero</i>. In +such a man's eyes, no one has the right to be good and honest with +impunity; it is an obvious necessity that all loyal hearts should be +his natural enemies. A man, however low he may have fallen, can never +forget his frightful downfall, or the position from which his crimes +have hurled him; he cannot forgive the world his own abasement; but as +he cannot avenge himself upon it in the mass, he wages war upon it in +detail, attacking all those within his reach, and taking his revenge +on them for fault she has himself committed. Here lies the sole cause +of Tigercat's hatred of Don Pedro; seek no further reason; no other +exists."</p> + +<p>"Yes; you are right," answered Don Estevan uneasily; "it must be as you +say."</p> + +<p>"Of course it is! Trust in me, who have known the monster so long, as +it is he who brought me up. But enough of this: what do you intend to +do, now we have clearly ascertained our position?"</p> + +<p>"I confess I find myself greatly embarrassed, and know not how to +extricate myself from the dilemma—how to upset plans the aim of which +is beyond my ken; how to thwart projects tending to an unknown end. +There lies the difficulty for me."</p> + +<p>"I think it would be by far the best course to leave the family in +complete ignorance of our suspicions," said a Manuela.</p> + +<p>"Say rather our conviction, seora," replied Don Fernando. "But in +this matter I am quite of your opinion: it will be easy for us to +guard Don Pedro and his daughter so secretly that they shall not dream +of the danger which threatens them. Then, if the position grows too +complicated, we shall not be in want of pretexts to oblige them to keep +watch over their own safety."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes!" exclaimed Don Estevan excitedly;</p> + +<p>"It is most important that they should entertain no suspicion, +particularly Doa Hermosa, who is so sensitive. Poor child; if our +fears prove true, she will learn to know misfortune too soon. Come, +Fernando, counsel us; you are the only one who can aid us in this +trying emergency."</p> + +<p>"I will do all a man can do to save those you love."</p> + +<p>"Thanks. But why not save those whom you love yourself? You have +already rendered them an inestimable service."</p> + +<p>"Alas, my friend!" said the hunter, with a sigh; "What am I, the +miserable adventurer, that I should lift my thoughts so high? I am +nothing more; and can only play the part of the honest watchdog, who +saves his master and dies at his feet."</p> + +<p>He spoke these words in accents of so much sadness and humility, that +Don Estevan and his mother, moved to tears, with one accord seized his +hands, and pressed them affectionately.</p> + +<p>"Do not speak thus, brother," exclaimed the <i>mayor domo</i>; "you do not +know Doa Hermosa as we do: a more upright heart, a purer or nobler +soul, does not exist: she loves you."</p> + +<p>"Ah," said Don Fernando with emotion, "do not utter the word. Doa +Hermosa—love me—me! It is impossible."</p> + +<p>"Doa Hermosa is a woman, my good friend; you saved her life. I do not +positively know the nature of her sentiments towards you,—it is very +likely they are inexplicable to herself,—but I am convinced of her +gratitude to you; and in a young girl gratitude soon merges into love."</p> + +<p>"Silence, Estevan!" cried the old lady, interrupting him; "Such words +must not be used when speaking of your master's daughter."</p> + +<p>"Very true, mother; forgive me; I was wrong. But had you heard Doa +Hermosa speaking of our friend as I did, and exacting from me a promise +to search for and bring him to her,—<i>vive Dios!</i> you would not know +what to think."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps so; but, at all events, I should not have poured oil upon +the flame, and, for my own sake and that of my friend, should have +prudently locked up my thoughts at the bottom of my heart."</p> + +<p>"Do not think me so mad, seora," exclaimed Don Fernando, "as to attach +more importance than they deserve to your son's words. I know too well +what I am—I have too complete a conviction of my inferiority—to dare +to raise my venturous eyes to her whom honour compels me to respect as +one of the angels."</p> + +<p>"Well said, Don Fernando, and spoken as a man should speak," broke +in a Manuela; "but let us drop the subject, and occupy ourselves in +finding the means of escape from the dilemma we are in."</p> + +<p>"I think," replied the hunter, with some hesitation—"I think I can +show you the means, if you cannot contrive something better."</p> + +<p>Mother and son eagerly drew their <i>butacas</i> nearer to him, in order to +listen more attentively.</p> + +<p>"Speak, brother, speak," cried Don Estevan; "let us have no further +delay. These means, what are they?"</p> + +<p>"You must excuse me," resumed Don Fernando, "if the plan I am about to +submit to you should not be exactly compatible with the strict laws of +honour as they are understood in the civilised world; but I entreat you +to recollect that I have been brought up as a redskin; that the man +with whom we are about to enter into mortal strife is more than half +an Indian; and the war he intends to wage with you will be an Apache +war, full of treachery and ambuscades; that, in order to meet him with +advantage, we too, whatever repugnance we may feel, must employ the +same measures,—must turn his own weapons against himself; must repel +treachery by treachery, and knavery by knavery; for if, adhering to +a false idea of honour, we persist in an open and honest warfare, we +shall play the part of fools indeed, and he will outwit us."</p> + +<p>"What you say, Fernando," replied the <i>mayor domo</i>, "is unfortunately +but too true. The proverb is right, 'Cap a knave with a knave.' I +perfectly understand the bearing and the justice of your reasoning, yet +I confess that it is hard for an honest man, accustomed to look his +enemies in the face, to be forced to wrap himself in a fox's hide, and +condescend to stratagem when his heart leads him to attack openly."</p> + +<p>"But what can we do? This is one of the sad necessities of our +position. If we do not act in this wise, we may as well submit to our +foe as attempt to thwart his measures; for we should fail."</p> + +<p>"Let it be as you wish, since there is no other method; but now for +your plan."</p> + +<p>"It is this: notwithstanding the disagreement between myself and the +Tigercat, he has allowed me to dive too deep into his confidence—too +many of his secrets are known to me—for him to exhibit any rancour +against me, whatever anger he may feel. Accustomed for a number of +years to mould me to his will, and rule over me as he pleased, he +thinks he knows my character thoroughly, and is persuaded that my +dispute with him was only an outbreak of temper, and that nothing would +please me more than to place myself once again under his guidance. +Finally, like all men who have through long years cherished a chimera, +the Tigercat—who, I am convinced, has only fostered me and suffered me +in his presence for the sake of making me useful in one of his infernal +plots—will allow himself, shrewd as he is, to be overreached by me, if +I choose to take the trouble."</p> + +<p>"All this sounds plausible enough," observed Don Estevan.</p> + +<p>"I think it does. Well, then, listen to my proposal. At daybreak +tomorrow you and I will leave for the <i>presidio</i>, where I will put you +into communication with a certain rogue of my acquaintance, who is as +much devoted to me as people of his sort can be. This <i>pcaro</i> will +serve you as an agent: through him we shall learn all the Tigercat is +doing at San Lucar with the <i>leperos</i> he is enrolling for some sinister +purpose. We will then part: you to return quietly to this place; I to +rejoin the Tigercat in the prairies. In this way, whatever happens will +reach our ears. This is my project; what do you think of it?"</p> + +<p>"It is capital, Fernando; you have thought of everything."</p> + +<p>"But remember three things: first of all, whatever I may do or say, +whatever measures you may see me try, do not take offence at them; +leave me complete master of my actions, and never for a moment suspect +that I intend to betray you."</p> + +<p>"Have no uneasiness on that score; I will put no faith in the testimony +of my eyes or ears: my confidence in you shall be unalterable. And now +for your next remark."</p> + +<p>"You will instantly comprehend its importance. As soon as we have left +the <i>presidio</i>, we must be as strangers; we must know nothing of each +other."</p> + +<p>"It is indeed an important piece of advice, and I will take care to +follow it; the consequences of a single mistake would be incalculably +disastrous to us."</p> + +<p>"Lastly, be ready to act at the first signal, be it by night or day. +Never mind what you may be doing; leave everything instantly to assume +the offensive the moment the signal is given."</p> + +<p>"Good. After tomorrow, on the pretence of having certain urgent work +to be carried out at the <i>hacienda</i>, I will quietly enlist a score of +<i>leperos</i>,—hairbrained fellows,—who for gold will obey me blindly +and recoil before no danger."</p> + +<p>"The very thing! You can easily employ them here in doing nothing till +the time comes for the use of knife and rifle."</p> + +<p>"I will be answerable that no one shall make a single inquiry +concerning them. But what sort of token will you send me, and through +whom will you send it?"</p> + +<p>"The token will be a white eagle's plume broken into three pieces, and +with the quill painted red. He who brings the plume will only say the +words, 'My two piastres.' You will give them to him without remark, and +send him away again."</p> + +<p>"But who is the man, Fernando?"</p> + +<p>"He will be a stranger; most likely the first man I happen to meet. +It is requisite that the messenger should not suspect the importance +of the message he conveys, should he chance to fall into the enemy's +hands."</p> + +<p>"Well reasoned! Come, come, I think we shall get through this business +successfully."</p> + +<p>"As for me, I am sure of it," exclaimed Don Fernando, "if you will only +follow my instructions to the letter."</p> + +<p>"Do not be anxious on that score, brother; I will answer for my +accuracy."</p> + +<p>Everything having been thus arranged and decided on by our three +personages, they separated and retired to rest, for it was already +late, and the two men were to mount at daybreak to take the road to the +<i>presidio</i> of San Lucar.</p> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h4><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II.</a></h4> + +<h3>THE VIRGIN FOREST.</h3> +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p>Don Torribio Quiroga, with whom we have now to do, was a young man of +twenty-eight, with a refined and intellectual countenance, an elegant +figure, and possessing in the highest degree the manners of the best +society.</p> + +<p>He belonged to one of the richest and most considerable families in +the province of Chihuahua: the death of his parents had put him in +possession of an income of more than five hundred thousand piastres, or +about ninety thousand pounds sterling; for money is plentiful in that +country.</p> + +<p>A man in this position, and gifted with all the mental and physical +advantages enjoyed by Don Torribio, had a right to very high +pretensions; for, a certain amount of fortune once reached, obstacles +no longer exist, or, at least, are only an excitement instead of an +impediment.</p> + +<p>Don Torribio had succeeded in all his undertakings, with one exception: +his struggle against Don Fernando,—a struggle in which the latter had +always come off victorious.</p> + +<p>Thus the hatred the rich <i>hacendero</i> felt for the bee-hunter, and which +was originally based upon puerile motives, had insensibly increased +with each successive mortification, and ended at last by assuming the +alarming proportions of real Mexican hate, which only the death of its +object can appease.</p> + +<p>After the meeting with Don Fernando Carril, which resulted so +unfavourably for him, Don Torribio Quiroga remained a prey to that cold +and concentrated rage which slowly eats into the soul till it explodes +with terrific violence.</p> + +<p>As soon as he lost sight of his lucky adversary, he had started at full +speed. His spurs mangled the flanks of his luckless horse, who snorted +with pain, and redoubled his furious pace.</p> + +<p>Now, where was Don Torribio going, with distorted features and hair +streaming to the wind?</p> + +<p>He did not know himself; moreover, he did not care.</p> + +<p>He saw nothing, heard nothing. Revolving sinister projects in his +brain, he crossed torrents and ravines without checking his horse's +career.</p> + +<p>Hatred was crying aloud in his heart; nothing cooled his burning +forehead; his temples beat as if they would burst, and nervous +agitation shook him in every limb.</p> + +<p>This state of overexcitement lasted many hours. His steed still +continued to fly. At last the noble animal, worn out with fatigue, +suddenly stopped and dropped upon the sand.</p> + +<p>Don Torribio rose, and looked around him with a bewildered air.</p> + +<p>A shock like this rude fall was necessary to restore order to his +ideas, and recall him to reality. Another hour of such continued +anguish would have made him raving mad, or ended in sudden apoplexy.</p> + +<p>It was night. Thick darkness covered the earth; a mournful silence +reigned over the wilderness to which chance had brought him.</p> + +<p>"Where am I?" he exclaimed, endeavouring to make out his position.</p> + +<p>But the moon, hidden by clouds, gave forth no ray; the wind began to +roar like thunder; the branches of the trees crashed against each +other, and, from the depths of the wilderness, the growlings of the +wild beast began to mingle their deep notes with the sharper howling of +the wild cats.</p> + +<p>Don Torribio strained his eyes in vain efforts to penetrate the +darkness around him. At last he approached his horse, which was +stretched on the ground, and drawing its breath with difficulty. Moved +with pity for the faithful companion of so many adventures, he stooped +down, removed his pistols from the holsters to his belt, and taking +from the saddle, where it was slung, a gourd filled with rum, began +to wash the eyes, nostrils, and mouth of the panting animal. Half an +hour's persistence seemed to restore life to the horse. He got on his +legs, and, with his natural instinct, soon discovered a neighbouring +rill, at which he slaked his thirst.</p> + +<p>"All is not yet lost," muttered Don Torribio; "after all, I may make my +escape hence."</p> + +<p>But a deep roar resounded at a short distance, repeated immediately +afterwards in four different directions.</p> + +<p>The horse's coat stood on end; and Don Torribio felt a cold shudder run +through his veins.</p> + +<p>"Curse upon it!" he exclaimed; "I have stumbled upon a drinking place +for panthers! What is to be done?"</p> + +<p>He stooped, and found the confirmation of his fears in the footprints +stamped in the muddy borders of the rill.</p> + +<p>Just at this moment he saw, at ten paces from him, two eyes, glimmering +like burning coals, fixed upon him with strange intensity.</p> + +<p>Don Torribio was a man of well-tried courage. Many a time, before the +eyes of his comrades, he had performed deeds of wonderful temerity; but +now, alone in the darkness, and surrounded by savage animals, he felt +himself overcome by deadly terror: his chest heaved, and his breath +came and went with difficulty through his set teeth; a cold sweat broke +out on his limbs, and he was on the point of dropping.</p> + +<p>But this fit of terror did not last above a minute. By a violent effort +of his will, he collected himself, and calling all his energy to his +aid, prepared for a desperate struggle, in which he knew he must +succumb; yet, preserving that instinct of self-preservation and hope +which is seldom utterly extinguished in man, he determined to defend +his life to the last moment.</p> + +<p>Just then his horse, with a snort of horrible fear, bounded away, and +made his escape on to the plain.</p> + +<p>"So much the better," muttered Don Torribio; "perhaps the poor brute's +speed may save him."</p> + +<p>A frightful concert of yells and howling broke out in all parts +of the forest at the flight of the horse, and mighty shadows, +indistinguishable in the darkness, bounded past Don Torribio.</p> + +<p>He smiled bitterly.</p> + +<p>"Aha!" said he; "Shall I stand here to be devoured, without attempting +to escape? <i>Vive Dios!</i> It would be the act of a fool! Come, I am not +eaten yet: I will go."</p> + +<p>A violent gust of wind here cleared the heaven of clouds, and for some +minutes the wan light of the moon lit up the wild spot, in which Don +Torribio found himself.</p> + +<p>A few paces off, the Rio del Norte ran between two steep banks; on all +sides, and far away in the distance, the dense masses of the virgin +forest extended themselves. A chaos of rocks piled on each other in +inextricable confusion, from whose fissures rose clumps of trees +overgrown with entangled creepers drooping in fantastic garlands, +pushed its ramifications to the verge of the river; the soil, composed +of sand and the detritus always abounding in the forests of America, +crumbled under the footstep.</p> + +<p>Then Don Torribio knew where he was: at least fifteen leagues from +the nearest inhabited spot. He was entangled in the first spurs of an +immense forest—the only one throughout the country of the Apaches +which the hardy pioneers of civilization had not yet dared to explore, +such mysterious horrors seemed concealed in its dark recesses.</p> + +<p>Don Torribio took no pains to inquire how his headlong course had +brought him to this dreaded region. Danger so frightful that it claimed +the exertion of all his powers, hung too directly over his head for him +to waste time in speculating on anything save the manner of extricating +himself.</p> + +<p>At this side, the limpid steam we have mentioned issued from a rock; +its banks, impressed with numberless footprints of wild beasts, clearly +indicating that the spot was a favourite drinking place, when, at +sunset, they left their lairs to seek their food and quench their +thirst. And as a further living proof of the fact, two magnificent +jaguars, male and female, had at that very moment stopped at its +border, and were watching with restless eyes the gambols of their young.</p> + +<p>"So," said Don Torribio to himself, "here are pleasant neighbours;" and +he mechanically cast his eyes on the other side.</p> + +<p>An immense panther, crouched on a rock in the attitude of a cat on the +watch, had fixed on him two eyeballs glowing like carbuncle.</p> + +<p>Don Torribio, according to the custom in South America, never left home +without his weapons. His carbine, of great price, was of remarkable +accuracy, and by a providential chance, had not been broken when he +fell with his horse. He had placed it as he rose against a rock beside +him: he stretched out his arm, and seized it.</p> + +<p>"Good!" said he, with a grim smile; "The struggle will cost them dear, +at all events."</p> + +<p>He shouldered the weapon; but at the moment he was about to fire, a +plaintive caterwauling causing him to raise his eyes, he saw a dozen of +catamounts and tiger cats of immense size perched in the branches above +him, while a number of wolves crept stealthily up and dropped down in +the bushes behind him. Poised on the summits of the surrounding rocks, +a tribe of vultures, bald buzzards, and <i>urubus</i>, with half closed +eyes, seemed to be expecting the moment to seize their share of the +quarry.</p> + +<p>With one bound, Don Torribio threw himself on to an angle of the rock, +and from thence, by aid of his hands and knees, he contrived, in the +course of a minute or two, to drag himself with enormous difficulty, +to a kind of terrace, about twenty feet above the ground. Here he felt +himself in comparative security for a time.</p> + +<p>The horrible concert performed by the denizens of the forest, attracted +one after another by the keenness of their scent, increased in volume +with every minute, and had now reached such a pitch, that it drowned +the roar of the wind which was raging through the ravines and +clearings.</p> + +<p>The moon had disappeared behind the clouds, and Don Torribio was once +more enveloped in darkness. But if he could no longer distinguish the +wild beasts, he knew they were there: he smelt their odour; he saw +their eyes flashing through the obscurity; and their yells, nearing him +more and more, made him feel that the last spark of hope would soon be +extinguished for ever.</p> + +<p>Firmly planting his feet on the ground and leaning a little forward +to secure his aim, he drew a revolver, and fired six shots in rapid +succession at the tiger cats. Six howls of agony, and the noise +produced by falling from branch to branch, immediately followed. Six of +the beasts were killed or wounded.</p> + +<p>Nothing more horrible can be conceived than the uproar caused by this +unexpected onslaught. The wolves threw themselves yelling on the +victims, which they began to devour eagerly, disputing their booty with +the vultures and <i>zopilotes</i>, who also claimed their share.</p> + +<p>Suddenly there was a strange rustling amongst the leaves and branches +of the trees. A body, of indistinguishable shape, shot through the air, +and alighted growling on the platform. Don Torribio, clutching his +rifle, dealt the animal a terrific blow with the butt on the skull, and +the brute rolled howling from the top of the rock to the bottom.</p> + +<p>And now his ears were stunned by the uproar arising from a dreadful +combat, a few feet below him, between the jaguars and tiger cats on +one side, and the panther which had attacked them. Fascinated by the +terrible danger to which he was exposed, Don Torribio, forgetful of the +evil consequences to him that might ensue, fired two pistol shots into +the mass of foes tearing and rushing at each other's throats at his +feet.</p> + +<p>Thereupon a strange thing occurred: all these animals, natural enemies +to each other, seemed to comprehend that it would be better to unite +against man, their common foe, than waste their strength in strife +among themselves. Suddenly ceasing from the terrible combat in which +they were engaged, and abandoning, with one accord, the bloody and +half-devoured bodies of the victims, they turned their rage in the +direction of the rock on which Don Torribio seemed to set them at +defiance, and attacked it in concert with terrific energy—leaping upon +its excrescences, striving to hold on to them, and trying to escalade +it on all sides at once.</p> + +<p>The situation grew more and more critical. Several tiger cats had +already bounded on to the platform. As fast as Don Torribio knocked +them over, others took their place. The number of his enemies increased +with every minute; his own strength and energy were gradually deserting +him.</p> + +<p>This strife of one man against a host of ferocious brutes had something +grand and striking about it. Don Torribio, like one with the nightmare, +strove in vain to beat back the constantly renewed crowds of his +assailants: he felt close to him the hot and fetid breath of the tiger +cats and panthers; the roaring of the jaguars, and mocking moans of the +panthers, poured into his ears a frightful song, that deafened and made +him giddy; the eyes of thousands of his invisible foes flashed through +the obscurity, and fascinated his own gaze; and sometimes the heavy +wing of the vulture or <i>zopilote</i> brushed his cheek, from which the +cold sweat exuded.</p> + +<p>An accurate perception of his own existence had vanished from his soul; +he no longer thought: his life, if we may still use the expression, had +grown mechanical; his motions and gestures were those of a machine, and +his arm rose and fell with the dull regularity of a pendulum.</p> + +<p>Talons had already torn his flesh; several catamounts, rushing upon +him, had fastened on his throat, and he had been obliged to seize them +bodily to force them to quit their hold. His blood was streaming from +twenty wounds, superficial, it is true; but the moment was close at +hand when the energy which alone sustained him would be worn out, and +he would fall from the rock, to be torn in pieces by the brutes who +were ever pressing more madly upon him.</p> + +<p>At this solemn moment, when strength and courage were alike failing, +a last cry issued from his breast—a cry of agony, a cry of horrible +expression, which was repeated far and wide by the echoes: the last, +the final protest of a bold man, who owns himself vanquished, and +instinctively calls on his kind for succour before he falls.</p> + +<p>Wonderful to relate, a cry answered his own!</p> + +<p>Don Torribio, astonished, and not daring to believe that a miracle +was to take place in a wilderness where none before himself had dared +to penetrate, fancied his ears had deceived him; yet, confessing to +himself how little strength was still left him, and feeling hope +faintly reviving in his soul, he uttered a second cry, more poignant, +more help-seeking than the former.</p> + +<p>As soon as the echoes of the forest were silent after their repetition +of the cry, a single word, weak as a sigh, was borne to his listening +ears on the wings of the breeze: "Hope!"</p> + +<p>Don Torribio recovered himself. Electrified by the word, he seemed +to regain new life and strength, and redoubled his strokes on his +numberless assailants.</p> + +<p>Suddenly the gallop of many horses was heard in the distance, several +discharges of firearms illumined the darkness with their transient +splendour, and some men, or rather demons, rushed unexpectedly into the +thickest crowd of wild beasts, making a horrible slaughter.</p> + +<p>At this moment Don Torribio, attacked by two tiger cats, rolled upon +the platform struggling with both.</p> + +<p>In a very short time the brutes were put to flight by the newcomers, +who hastened to light fires to keep them at bay for the rest of the +night.</p> + +<p>Two of the men armed with burning torches of ocote wood, set themselves +to search for the man whose cries of distress had brought them to his +aid.</p> + +<p>They were not long in finding him stretched out on the platform, +surrounded by ten or twelve dead tiger cats, and clutching in his +stiffened hands the throat of a strangled catamount.</p> + +<p>"Well, Carlocho," exclaimed a voice, "have you found him?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied the other; "but he seems dead."</p> + +<p>"<i>Caray!</i>" resumed Pablito; "It would be a pity; for he was a bold +fellow. Where is he?"</p> + +<p>"There; on the rock opposite you."</p> + +<p>"Can you let him down with the <i>verado's</i> help?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing easier; he is as still as a log."</p> + +<p>"Make haste, then, in the name of heaven!" said Pablito; "Every +minute's delay may be a year's life stolen from him!"</p> + +<p>Carlocho and the <i>verado</i> lifted Don Torribio by the feet and +shoulders, and with infinite precaution carried him from the improvised +fortress he had defended so bravely to one of the fires, and laid him +on a bed of leaves prepared by El Zapote; for the four <i>vaqueros</i> were, +by a strange chance, reunited in this spot.</p> + +<p>"<i>Canarios!</i>" cried Pablito, at sight of the miserable man; "Poor +devil! How they have mauled him! It was high time for help."</p> + +<p>"Do you think he will recover?" asked Carlocho, with great interest.</p> + +<p>"There is always hope," said Pablito dogmatically, "when the vital +organs are uninjured. Let us look at him."</p> + +<p>He bent over the body of Don Torribio, unsheathed his poniard, and put +the blade to his lips.</p> + +<p>"Not a sign of breath!". and he shook his head.</p> + +<p>"Are his wounds serious?" asked the <i>verado</i>.</p> + +<p>"I think not: he has fallen from fatigue and overexcitement."</p> + +<p>"But in that case he may come round again?"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps he may; perhaps he may not: all depends upon the greater or +less violence of the shock to his nervous system."</p> + +<p>"Ha!" exclaimed the <i>verado</i> joyfully; "Look here! He breathes. <i>Vive +Dios!</i> He has tried to open his eyes!"</p> + +<p>"Then he is saved!" replied Pablito; "He will soon come to his senses. +This man has a constitution of iron. He will be able to be in the +saddle in a quarter of an hour, if he likes; but we must attend to his +wounds."</p> + +<p>The <i>vaqueros</i>, like the backwoodsmen, live far from inhabited places; +and are obliged to be their own doctors; hence they acquire a certain +practical knowledge of surgery, and are adepts in the collection and +application of the herbs in use among the Indians.</p> + +<p>Pablito, aided by Carlocho and the <i>verado</i>, bathed the wounds of Don +Torribio, first with water, then with rum, and blew tobacco smoke into +his nostrils.</p> + +<p>The latter, after some minutes of this strange treatment, uttered a +scarcely perceptible sigh, moved his lips slightly, and at last opened +his eyes, which as yet had no consciousness in them.</p> + +<p>"He is saved!" repeated Pablito; "Now let us leave nature to work: she +is the best doctor I know."</p> + +<p>Don Torribio raised himself up, supporting himself on one elbow, and +passed his hand across his forehead, as if to recall his thoughts.</p> + +<p>"Who are you?" he said in a feeble tone.</p> + +<p>"Friends, seor; fear nothing."</p> + +<p>"I am killed; my limbs are all broken."</p> + +<p>"It is nothing to signify, seor; it is only fatigue: you are as well +as we are?"</p> + +<p>Don Torribio sat up and looked attentively at the men who surrounded +him.</p> + +<p>"I must be mistaken," said he; "I never expected to find you here. By +what miracle did you reach me in time to save me?—you, whom I promised +to meet at a rendezvous so far from the spot where we are?"</p> + +<p>"It was your horse performed the miracle, seor," said the <i>verado</i>.</p> + +<p>"How is that?" asked Don Torribio, whose voice grew stronger every +moment, and who had already managed to stand up.</p> + +<p>"The case is very simple. We were skirting the forest, on our road +to the place you had pointed out to us, when suddenly a horse passed +across us at a giddy speed, a pack of wolves at his heels. We soon +relieved him from his incarnate foes. Then, as we thought it unlikely +for a saddled horse to be all alone in a forest into which none dare +venture, we set out in search of his rider. Your cry was our pilot."</p> + +<p>"Thanks!" replied Don Torribio; "I shall know how to repay the debt I +have contracted with you."</p> + +<p>"Nonsense! That is not worth speaking of. Come! here is your horse; we +can go as soon as you like."</p> + +<p>Don Torribio held up his hand.</p> + +<p>"Stay here," said he; "we shall find no more suitable place than this +to discuss what we have got to say to each other."</p> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h4><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III.</a></h4> + +<h3>DON TORRIBIO QUIROGA.</h3> +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p>There was a long silence after these words of Don Torribio. The +<i>vaqueros</i>, with their eyes fixed on him, endeavoured to guess his +thoughts from the play of his features. But Don Torribio's face, cold +and rigid as a block of marble, gave no signs of the thoughts within. +At last, after casting a glance of suspicion around, more from habit +than from any fear of being overheard, he rolled a cigarette, lit it +with the greatest coolness, and began to speak in a careless tone.</p> + +<p>"My good <i>verado</i>, I am truly sorry that you have taken these +honourable <i>caballeros</i> from their vocations, and put yourself to +inconvenience, in order to repair to the place I had appointed."</p> + +<p>"Why so, seor?" asked the <i>verado</i>, perfectly puzzled by this +commencement.</p> + +<p>"For a very simple reason, seor,—because the motives no longer exist +which induced me to wish to confer with you."</p> + +<p>"What!" cried all the rogues together; "Can that be possible?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes!" he replied coolly; "All things considered, Don Fernando +Carril is a charming <i>caballero</i>. I should be in despair if I caused +him the slightest inconvenience."</p> + +<p>"<i>Diablo!</i> not quite so charming!" observed the verado; "The fellow who +ordered Carlocho to kill me quietly!"</p> + +<p>"It was not to me, dear friend," said Carlocho, with great suavity, +"but to Don Pablito here, that Seor Don Fernando gave the order."</p> + +<p>"You are right; I made a mistake. Accept my excuses, seor."</p> + +<p>After this exchange of courtesy, the two bandits again grew silent.</p> + +<p>"An honest man sticks to his word," said Tonillo; "and if Don Torribio +has changed his mind, we have nothing more to say. That reminds me," he +added, with a smothered sigh, "that I must refund to you two hundred +piastres, which you advanced to—"</p> + +<p>"Keep the trifle, dear seor," said Don Torribio; "the money cannot be +in better hands than yours."</p> + +<p>The <i>vaquero</i>, who had pulled the coins from his pocket with evident +reluctance, thrust them back again with a celerity that evinced the +greatest satisfaction.</p> + +<p>"It is all the same," said he; "I do not consider myself quits with +you, seor. I am an honest man, and you may rely upon me."</p> + +<p>"On us all!" exclaimed the others in one voice.</p> + +<p>"I thank you for your devotion, seores, and appreciate it highly. +Unfortunately, as I say once more, it is of no use to me."</p> + +<p>"It is unfortunate," said the <i>verado</i>; "one does not find such patrons +as you every day, seor."</p> + +<p>"Pooh!" said he gaily; "Now you are free, what prevents your placing +yourselves under the orders of Don Fernando? He is very generous; a +<i>caballero</i> to the tips of his fingers: I am sure he will pay you well."</p> + +<p>"I suppose it will have to be so, seor," said Pablito; "moreover, we +can now confess that we have already been thinking of it, and—"</p> + +<p>"Have already taken service with him," said Don Torribio carelessly. "I +was aware of it."</p> + +<p>"You know it?" cried the bandits, struck with astonishment.</p> + +<p>"And are not vexed at it?" continued Pablito.</p> + +<p>"Why should I be? On the contrary, I am delighted. It is a strange +chance; but perhaps you will be even better able to serve me by the +change."</p> + +<p>"Indeed!" said they, becoming very attentive.</p> + +<p>"Certainly you may. So you really are devoted to me?"</p> + +<p>"To the last drop of our blood!" shouted the <i>vaqueros</i> in touching +unison.</p> + +<p>"You do not despise money?"</p> + +<p>"Money can never hurt those who have none," replied the sententious +Pablito.</p> + +<p>"When it is earned honourably," added Tonillo with a grin like a monkey.</p> + +<p>"I agree with you," said Don Torribio; "particularly when it is a +question of a hundred ounces or so," (about three hundred and forty +pounds sterling).</p> + +<p>The bandits trembled with joy, and their wild eyes sparkled. They +exchanged looks of promise to themselves for the future, which did not +escape Don Torribio's observation.</p> + +<p>"<i>Caray!</i>" they muttered, hugging themselves with joy.</p> + +<p>"So that would suit you, I suppose?"</p> + +<p>"<i>Rayo de Dios!</i> a hundred ounces! I should think so," said Pablito.</p> + +<p>"There may be more," observed Don Torribio.</p> + +<p>"But doubtless it will be a difficult job," the <i>verado</i> ventured to +say.</p> + +<p>"<i>Dame!</i> You know, things are going wrong at present."</p> + +<p>"No need to tell us that, seor; the misery is frightful."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps there may be a man to kill?" insinuated Carlocho.</p> + +<p>"That might happen!" roundly replied Don Torribio.</p> + +<p>"So much the worse for him," muttered Pablito.</p> + +<p>"Then the offer is agreeable to you, even in that case?"</p> + +<p>"More so than ever," growled Tonillo.</p> + +<p>"Since that is your opinion, <i>caballeros</i>, listen attentively," said +Don Torribio, drawing himself up; "I have pledged my honour," he began, +"to make no attempts against Don Fernando Carril, either directly or +indirectly."</p> + +<p>"An honest man sticks to his word," said Tonillo.</p> + +<p>"And I intend to keep mine scrupulously, as regards Don Fernando."</p> + +<p>The <i>vaqueros</i> made signs of approbation.</p> + +<p>"But," continued the speaker, "you know as well as I do that Don +Fernando is a man made of mysteries, whose life lies hidden under an +impenetrable veil."</p> + +<p>"Alas, yes!" piteously sighed Tonillo.</p> + +<p>"No one knows what becomes of him for the greater part of his time: he +disappears for months together, to start up again at the moment when +one least expects him."</p> + +<p>"It is but too true," said Pablito; "the life of the <i>caballero</i> is +most extraordinary."</p> + +<p>"To how many dangers he must expose himself," continued Don Torribio, +"in those perilous adventures, of which no one knows the object, nor +the direction in which he seeks them!"</p> + +<p>"It is terrible even to think of them," said Carlocho, with an air of +conviction.</p> + +<p>"One so easily meets with mishap in the wilderness," added the <i>verado</i>.</p> + +<p>"Without going further, only look what might have happened to yourself +tonight, seor!" said Tonillo, looking interested.</p> + +<p>"It is dreadful," exclaimed Pablito.</p> + +<p>"You will clearly understand, seores," resumed Don Torribio, "that I +can by no means be responsible for the numberless accidents to which +Don Fernando's manner of life exposes him at every step."</p> + +<p>"This is incontestable," cried the others.</p> + +<p>"Chance seems to take malignant pleasure in deranging and upsetting +the best conceived plans; and it is impossible for me to save him from +chance, even with the lively interest I take in his safety."</p> + +<p>"There can be no doubt on that head," said Pablito, dogmatically; "and +certainly not a soul would have the right to utter a word of reproach +against you, seor, should poor Don Fernando be killed in one of his +perilous adventures."</p> + +<p>"Exactly what I think; but as I am now no longer the enemy, but the +friend of Don Fernando, and in that capacity take the greatest interest +in knowing all that may happen to him, so that I might fly to his aid +if necessary—"</p> + +<p>"Or avenge him, if ill luck should have it that he should be killed," +said Carlocho, interrupting him.</p> + +<p>"I should like," continued Don Torribio, "to be constantly apprised of +whatever may happen to him."</p> + +<p>"Oh, holy friendship!" exclaimed Tonillo, raising his eyes to heaven +with a sanctified air; "Thou art not a mere idle word!"</p> + +<p>"<i>Caballeros</i>, you could not be in a better position for giving me +information; and as all trouble should have its reward, you shall +receive at least one hundred ounces to share amongst you, or two +hundred, according to the news you may bring me. You understand?"</p> + +<p>"Perfectly, seor," replied Carlocho, with imperturbable composure, in +the name of his deeply touched companions; "the office you confide to +us is most honourable. You may rely on our carrying out your views to +your utmost satisfaction."</p> + +<p>"Well, that is settled, seores; I rely upon the accuracy of your +information, for you must perceive the ridiculous position in which +a false report would place me in the eyes of Don Fernando's numerous +friends, whom I should be loth to disturb without good cause."</p> + +<p>"Trust entirely to us, seor; we will confirm our information by +irrefragable proof."</p> + +<p>"Good! I see we understand each other; it is useless to pursue the +matter further."</p> + +<p>"Perfectly useless, seor; we are men of quick comprehension."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Don Torribio, smiling; "but, as your memories may be short, +do me the honour of dividing these ten ounces amongst you,—not as the +earnest—money of a bargain, for there is no bargain between us, but +as a return for the service you have just done me, and as a means of +imprinting our conversation on your brains."</p> + +<p>The <i>vaqueros</i>, without waiting to be pressed, extended their hands, +and, with smiling faces, pocketed the ounces so liberally bestowed.</p> + +<p>"Now, one word more, <i>caballeros:</i> where are we?"</p> + +<p>"In the Selva Negra, seor," answered Pablito; "not more than four +leagues from the Hacienda del Cormillo, where Don Pedro de Luna and his +family are at present residing."</p> + +<p>Don Torribio started in astonishment.</p> + +<p>"What! Has Don Pedro left Las Norias de San Antonio?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, seor; since yesterday."</p> + +<p>"What a singular thing! El Cormillo is on the extreme verge of the +wilderness, in the midst of the Apaches: it is impossible to understand +it."</p> + +<p>"They say it was Doa Hermosa who wished for this change, of which +scarcely anybody has yet heard."</p> + +<p>"What an extraordinary whim! After the dangers to which she was exposed +only a few days ago, to come and brave the redskins on their own +territory!"</p> + +<p>"The <i>hacienda</i> is strong, and perfectly safe from sudden assault."</p> + +<p>"True: yet the change of residence seems very incomprehensible. At +sunrise, I should be happy if you would do me the honour of serving me +as guides till I get within sight of the <i>hacienda</i>. It is important +that I should see Don Pedro without delay."</p> + +<p>"We shall be at your orders, seor, as soon as you please to depart," +answered Carlocho.</p> + +<p>The night was fleeting; and Don Torribio had need of repose to restore +his strength, exhausted by his late struggle for life. He rolled +himself in his <i>zarap</i>, stretched out his feet towards the fire, and +was soon asleep, in spite of the trouble that racked his mind.</p> + +<p>The <i>vaqueros</i> followed his example, after drawing lots amongst +themselves as to who should watch over the common safety.</p> + +<p>The post fell to Carlocho: the others closed their eyes; and the +silence of the wilderness, which had just been so terribly disturbed, +resumed its empire.</p> + +<p>Night passed, without anything occurring to disturb the rest of these +guests of the forest.</p> + +<p>At sunrise the <i>vaqueros</i> were up. After feeding and watering their +horses, they saddled them, and roused Don Torribio, announcing that the +hour of departure had arrived.</p> + +<p>The latter rose at once; and, after a short prayer uttered by them all, +the five men mounted, and left the clearing which had nearly proved so +fatal to one of them.</p> + +<p>The Hacienda del Cormillo may be looked upon as the advanced sentinel +of the <i>presidio</i> of San Lucar; it is, without contradiction, the +richest and strongest position on the whole Indian frontier. It rises +on a kind of peninsula, three leagues in circumference, on which an +incalculable number of cattle pasture at liberty. We will not expatiate +much on the description of a dwelling in which only a few scenes of our +story are laid; we will confine ourselves to saying, that in the middle +of the <i>hacienda</i> properly speaking, and perfectly secured behind the +massive fortifications, loopholed and bastioned, of the fortress (for +El Cormillo was certainly such), there stood a white house, small +indeed, but admirably arranged, pleasant and cheerful looking. At a +distance, the roof was half concealed by the branches of the trees +which covered it with their verdant foliage; from its windows, the eye +roamed on one side over the wilderness, on the other over the Rio del +Norte, which unrolled itself in the plain like a silver band, and was +lost to view in the blue distance of the horizon.</p> + +<p>The <i>vaqueros</i>, in company with Don Torribio, had struck into the +forest. For three hours their route led them along the banks of the Rio +Bravo del Norte, till they were opposite the Hacienda del Cormillo, +which dimly showed itself in the centre of one of those charming +oases created by the deposit of the river, and covered with groups of +willows, nopals, mesquites, orange and citron trees, and jasmines in +full flower, amongst the branches of which a whole host of birds of +varied plumage warbled unceasingly.</p> + +<p>Don Torribio halted, and turning towards his companions, who had +likewise stopped, addressed them:</p> + +<p>"I must leave you here; I thank you for the escort you have done me +the honour to give me. Your help is no longer needed. Return to your +avocations, seores; you know our agreement, and I reckon on your +punctuality."</p> + +<p>"Farewell, <i>caballero</i>," they replied, bowing ceremoniously to him; +"cast aside all anxiety as to the measures we are about to take."</p> + +<p>They turned the heads of their horses, made them enter the river as +if they intended to cross it, and soon vanished behind a rise in the +ground. Don Torribio remained alone.</p> + +<p>The families of Don Torribio and Don Pedro de Luna, both originally +Spanish, and connected by various ties in old times, had always lived +on a footing of great intimacy. The young man and the girl had almost +been brought up together. So, when her handsome cousin had come to bid +her adieu, and announce his departure for Europe, where he was to stay +a few years, in order to complete his education and acquire the manners +of the fashionable world, Doa Hermosa, then about twelve years old, +had felt sorry to lose him. They had loved each other from infancy, +unwittingly obeying the secret impulses of childhood, which is always +seeking for happiness.</p> + +<p>Don Torribio had left her, carrying his own love with him, and never +doubting that Doa Hermosa was preserving hers for him.</p> + +<p>On his return to Veracruz, after visiting the most celebrated places of +the civilized world, he had hastened to put his affairs in order, and +set out for San Lucar, burning with desire to meet her whom he loved +so dearly, and whom he had not seen for three years—his Hermosa, that +pretty child, who by this time, must have grown into a beautiful and +accomplished woman.</p> + +<p>The surprise and joy of Don Pedro and his daughter were extreme. +Hermosa was particularly happy, for, we must confess, she had thought +all day long of Don Torribio, and looked at him through the medium of +her recollections of childhood; yet at the same time she felt her heart +disturbed by mingled sensations of pain and pleasure.</p> + +<p>Don Torribio perceived it: he understood, or thought he understood, +that she still loved him; and his happiness was complete.</p> + +<p>"Come, children," the smiling father had said, "embrace each other; you +have my permission."</p> + +<p>Doa Hermosa, with many blushes, bent forward her forehead to Don +Torribio, who respectfully touched it with his lips.</p> + +<p>"Is that what you call kissing?" cried Don Pedro. "Come, come, no +hypocrisy; embrace each other frankly. Do not play the coquette, +Hermosa, because you are a pretty girl and he is a handsome fellow; and +you, Torribio, who have come upon us like a thunderbolt, without giving +warning, do you think to make me believe you have ridden many hundred +leagues, as fast as your horse could carry you, to see me? I know for +whom you come all the way from Veracruz to San Lucar! You love each +other. Give each other an honest kiss, like betrothed lovers as you +are; and if you are wise, you will be married offhand."</p> + +<p>The young people, melted by his kind words and pleasant humour, threw +themselves into the arms of the venerable man, to hide the depth of +their emotion.</p> + +<p>In consequence of this reception, Don Torribio had been formally +acknowledged as having a claim to the hand of Doa Hermosa, and in that +capacity was received by her.</p> + +<p>We must do the girl the justice to say, that she sincerely believed she +loved her cousin. The ties of relationship, their childish friendship, +and the long separation, which had increased the warmth of their +feelings, disposed her to think favourably of the marriage proposed by +her father. She awaited the day fixed for her espousals without any +degree of impatience, and looked forward with a kind of pleasurable +hope to the time when she would be indissolubly united to him.</p> + +<p>Although such an assertion will most likely make many of our readers +cry "Fie!" upon us, we will nevertheless maintain that a young girl's +first passion is rarely genuine love. Her second love originates in +the heart; the first only in the brain A young girl who begins to +experience the first emotions of her heart naturally allows herself +to be attracted by the man who, from circumstances and his relations +towards her, has long ago obtained her confidence and excited her +interest. This kind of love, then, is only friendship, fortified by +habit and magnified by the secret influence exercised by the as yet +vague and undecided thoughts which crop up in the brains of sixteen; +and lastly, and more than all, by the want of opportunities for +comparing her lover with others, and the fact that the marriage is +already settled, and she thinks it impossible to recede.</p> + +<p>This was the position in which Doa Hermosa, without at all suspecting +it, stood towards her cousin. The marriage had been retarded, up to +the day about which we are now writing, for divers reasons of age and +convenience, although Don Pedro attached immense importance to it, +either on account of his intended son-in-law's enormous wealth, or +because he was persuaded the union would make his daughter happy.</p> + +<p>Matters had proceeded thus between the young people, without any +remarkable incident occurring to trouble the calm of their relations to +each other, up to the time when the events we have narrated in another +place happened to Doa Hermosa in the prairie. But at the first visit +Don Torribio paid his betrothed after her return to the Hacienda de +las Norias, he perceived, with the clear-sightedness of love, that +Doa Hermosa did not receive him with the freedom or the frankness of +speech and manner to which he had been accustomed.</p> + +<p>The girl seemed sad and dreamy; she scarcely answered the questions he +addressed to her, and did not appear to understand the hints he threw +out about their approaching marriage.</p> + +<p>Don Torribio at first attributed the change to one of those nervous +influences to which young girls are subject, without suspecting it. He +fancied she was unwell, and left her, without dreaming that another +filled the place in the heart of his betrothed which he believed +himself alone to occupy.</p> + +<p>Moreover, upon whom could his suspicions fall, if he entertained any? +Don Pedro lived in great retirement, only receiving at long intervals +his old friends, most of them married, or long past the age for +marrying.</p> + +<p>It was impossible to suppose that, in the two days Doa Hermosa spent +in the prairie among the redskins, she could have met with a man whose +appearance and manners could have touched her affections.</p> + +<p>However, Don Torribio was soon compelled to acknowledge in spite +of himself, that what he had at first taken for a girlish whim was +a confirmed resolve; or, in one word, that if Doa Hermosa still +preserved for him the friendship to which he had a right, as the +companion of her childhood, her love, if she had ever felt it for him, +had vanished for ever.</p> + +<p>When once convinced of this certainty, he became seriously uneasy. The +love he felt for his cousin was profound and sincere; he had let it +grow into his heart too deeply to be easily eradicated. He saw all his +plans of happiness in the future crumble together, and, his hopes once +shipwrecked, resolved to have the indispensable explanation from the +girl which should tell him how much he had to hope or fear.</p> + +<p>It was with the intention of demanding this explanation from Doa +Hermosa that, instead of returning to San Lucar, where he lived, he +had desired the <i>vaqueros</i> to show him the way to the Hacienda del +Cormillo. But as soon as his guides left him, and he found himself +alone in front of the <i>hacienda</i>, his courage nearly evaporated. +Foreseeing the result of the step he was about to take, he hesitated to +enter the dwelling; for, like all lovers, in spite of the pain caused +by the girl's indifference, he would have preferred to go on cheating +himself with futile expectations, rather than learn a truth which would +break his heart, by robbing him of all hope.</p> + +<p>The struggle lasted a long time; more than once he made as if he would +ride back; but at last reason conquered passion. He comprehended how +difficult the position would be, both for Doa Hermosa and himself. +Happen what might, he resolved to end it; and digging his spurs into +the flanks of his horse, he galloped towards the <i>hacienda</i>, rightly +fearing that, if he lingered longer, he would find no strength to +accomplish the project he had formed.</p> + +<p>When he arrived at El Cormillo, he was informed that Don Pedro and his +daughter had gone hunting at sunrise, and would not return before the +<i>oracin</i> (time for mass).</p> + +<p>"So much the better," muttered Don Torribio between his teeth, and +with a sigh of satisfaction at the respite chance had so opportunely +afforded him.</p> + +<p>Without stopping for the refreshments offered him, he turned his +horse's head in the direction of San Lucar, and galloped off, +congratulating himself that the explanation he both dreaded and desired +had been thus providentially delayed.</p> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h4><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV.</a></h4> + +<h3>LA TERTULIA (THE PARTY).</h3> +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p>We must now introduce our readers to the Hacienda del Cormillo, two +days later than the event we have just narrated.</p> + +<p>Towards eight o'clock in the evening, two persons were seated in the +drawing room of the <i>hacienda</i>, close to a <i>brasero</i> (brasier); for the +nights were still cold.</p> + +<p>A stranger opening the doors of this room could have fancied himself +transported to the Faubourg St. Germain, it was so elegantly +furnished in the French fashion. Parisian luxury was exhibited in the +carpets, Parisian taste in the choice of the furniture. Nothing was +forgotten,—not even a pianoforte by Erard, on which lay the scores +of Parisian operas, nor a magnificent harmonium from the workshops of +Alexandre; and as if to prove that glory travels far, and genius has +wings, the novels and poems in fashion at Paris strewed a round table +by Boule. Everything put you in mind of France and Paris, with the +exception of the silver <i>brasero</i>, which, with its glowing knots of +olive wood, showed that you were in Spanish America. This magnificent +withdrawing room was lighted up by candles of rose-coloured wax, in +handsome chandeliers.</p> + +<p>It was Don Pedro and his daughter who was seated by the <i>brasero</i>. Doa +Hermosa was clad in a dress of the greatest simplicity, which made her +look still more charming. She was smoking a tiny cigarette, rolled in a +maize leaf, which did not interrupt the flow of her conversation with +her father.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said she, "the most lovely birds in the world have been brought +to the <i>presidio</i>."</p> + +<p>"Well, <i>querida chica?</i>" (my darling).</p> + +<p>"It appears to me that my dearest father is not quite as gallant as +usual tonight," she said, pouting a little, like a spoilt child.</p> + +<p>"What do you know about that, seorita?" answered Don Pedro, laughing.</p> + +<p>"What! Is it the truth?" she exclaimed, as she jumped from her seat, +and clapped her hands together; "You have thought—"</p> + +<p>"Of buying you the birds. Tomorrow you will see your feathered +subjects, and your aviary stocked with parakeets, love birds, Bengalis, +hummingbirds, and Heaven knows how many others. There are at least four +hundred of them, you little ingrate!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, how kind you are! And how I love you!" replied the girl, throwing +herself into her father's arms, and kissing him a thousand times.</p> + +<p>"That will do, that will do, little monkey! Do you want to stifle me +with kisses?"</p> + +<p>"What shall I do to show my gratitude for such kind forethought?"</p> + +<p>"Poor little dear!" said he sadly; "I have only yourself to love now."</p> + +<p>"Say to adore, my dearest father; for it is adoration you feel for me; +and I too love you with all the strength of love which God has given +me."</p> + +<p>"And yet," said Don Pedro, in tones of gentle reproach, "you are not +afraid of causing me uneasiness."</p> + +<p>"I!" said Hermosa, beginning to tremble.</p> + +<p>"Yes, you," he replied, threatening her with uplifted finger; "you are +concealing something from me."</p> + +<p>"Father!" she murmured softly.</p> + +<p>"Daughter, a father's eye can pierce to the bottom of the heart of a +girl of sixteen. Some extraordinary change has taken place in you these +last few days: your thoughts are strangely preoccupied."</p> + +<p>"You are right, father," she replied with a good deal of firmness.</p> + +<p>"And what are you dreaming about, little girl?" asked Don Pedro, +smiling to conceal his anxiety.</p> + +<p>"About Don Torribio de Quiroga, father."</p> + +<p>"Aha!" replied he, "Because you love him, I suppose?"</p> + +<p>Doa Hermosa drew herself up, and assumed a serious expression.</p> + +<p>"I!" said she, placing her hand on her bosom, "No! I deceived myself +until today. I do not love Don Torribio, and yet I cannot help thinking +of him, although I do not know why. Since his return from Europe, a +change has come over him for which I cannot account. It seems to me, +that he is not the same person who was brought up with me. His look +pains, yet fascinates me; his voice raises a feeling of undefinable +sorrow. Certainly, the man is handsome; his manners are noble, and his +bearing that of a highbred gentleman: yet there is something nameless +about him which chills me, and inspires invincible repugnance."</p> + +<p>"How romantic!" said Don Pedro, laughing.</p> + +<p>"Laugh at me! Mock me!" she replied, her voice trembling. "Shall I +confess everything, father?"</p> + +<p>"Speak confidently, dearest child."</p> + +<p>"I will. I believe this man, whom I thought I loved, will bring evil +upon me."</p> + +<p>"Child," replied Don Pedro, kissing her forehead, "what ill could he do +you?"</p> + +<p>"Father, I cannot tell; but I dread it."</p> + +<p>"Do you wish me to break with him, and not to admit him again?"</p> + +<p>"Heaven forbid! It would certainly hasten the misfortune that threatens +me."</p> + +<p>"Pooh! you are a spoilt child! You grow whimsical, and amuse yourself +by creating phantoms. All these fears and imaginary presentiments +spring from your love for your cousin. The only way to restore your +tranquillity is to marry you to him as soon as possible; and be sure, +my dear, that is what I intend to do."</p> + +<p>Doa Hermosa shook her head sorrowfully, and cast down her eyes, +but she made no reply: she felt that her father had completely +misunderstood her meaning, and that any attempt to bring him over to +her wishes would be vain.</p> + +<p>Just at that moment a <i>peon</i> announced Don Torribio, who entered the +room.</p> + +<p>He was dressed in the latest Paris fashion; and the glare of the +candles lighted up his handsome face.</p> + +<p>Father and daughter both trembled; the one perhaps with joy, the other +certainly with fear.</p> + +<p>Don Torribio, after gracefully saluting Doa Hermosa, approached her +and respectfully offered her a superb bouquet of exotic flowers. She +took them with a forced smile, and, without looking at them, placed +them on the table.</p> + +<p>Soon after, other persons were announced: the governor, Don Jos +Kalbris, and his staff; two or three other families—in all, about +twenty people; and lastly, Don Estevan Dias, and Don Fernando Carril.</p> + +<p>It was certainly impossible to recognise the hardy backwoodsman, the +redoubtable bee-hunter, who a few days before had done Don Pedro and +his daughter such signal service, in the elegant caballero who arrived +in the company of the <i>mayor domo</i> of the hacienda. His irreproachable +bearing, his distinguished manner, in short, all about him, banished +suspicion, or rather prevented comparison.</p> + +<p>We have already said that Don Fernando Carril, although his life was +wrapped in impenetrable mystery, was superficially known to all the +best society in the provinces, and, thanks to the easy-going manners +of the Mexicans, received in the best families. His presence at the +hacienda was, therefore, nothing extraordinary. Nevertheless, his +appearance excited lively curiosity in the guests; for it was a long +time since Don Fernando had been seen at any entertainment.</p> + +<p>Like Don Torribio, the hunter, when he entered the room, approached +Doa Hermosa, bowed profoundly to her, and respectfully offered her a +flower he held in his hand.</p> + +<p>"Seorita," said he, in a voice full of suppressed emotion, "deign to +accept this modest flower; it grows only in the desert," he added, +significantly.</p> + +<p>Doa Hermosa trembled at the sound of his voice, which she thought she +had recognised; a lively blush rose to her cheeks; and dropping her +eyes under the ardent gaze fixed upon her, she took the flower and +placed it in her bosom, as she answered inarticulately:</p> + +<p>"Everything that comes from the desert will be dear to me henceforth."</p> + +<p>The conversation of the guests had by this time grown animated. The +little incident passed without remark, except from one person, who, +with that kind of intuition which springs from love and jealousy, had +divined in Don Fernando one who, if not an openly declared rival, was, +at least, preferred in secret.</p> + +<p>This person was Don Torribio Quiroga.</p> + +<p>Leaning towards Don Estevan, who chanced to be near him, he said, in +a voice low indeed but perfectly distinct and audible to all: "What +golden key does this man possess, whom nobody knows, by which he +introduces himself into honourable families, where his presence is +neither desired nor invited?"</p> + +<p>"Ask him yourself, seor," said Don Estevan dryly; "he will most likely +be able to explain his conduct satisfactorily."</p> + +<p>"I shall follow your advice this instant, seor," answered Don Torribio +haughtily.</p> + +<p>"It is unnecessary, caballero; I heard your words perfectly," said Don +Fernando.</p> + +<p>His voice was calm, and he made a courteous bow to Don Torribio, while +an ironical smile curled his lips for a moment.</p> + +<p>All conversation had been suddenly broken off; a profound silence +reigned over those present, and the looks of all were turned in +curiosity towards the two men.</p> + +<p>Doa Hermosa, pale and trembling, cast a look of entreaty on her father.</p> + +<p>Don Pedro walked resolutely into the middle, of the room, and placed +himself between the two caballeros.</p> + +<p>"What does this mean, seores?" said he. "Is this the idea of propriety +you have brought back from your travels in Europe, Don Torribio? Do +you dare to turn my drawing room into lists wherein to break your lance +in personal quarrels? What right have you to cavil at Don Fernando's +presence here? You are not my son-in-law yet, as far as I know. I am +master here, and can receive whom I think fit."</p> + +<p>"Even cutthroats and <i>salteadores</i> (highwaymen), cousin, if such is +your good pleasure," replied the young man, with an ironical bow.</p> + +<p>Don Fernando looked as if he were going to rush upon the man who had +thus insulted him, but managed to contain himself.</p> + +<p>"Will Don Torribio deign to explain himself," he said calmly, "and not +speak in enigmas?"</p> + +<p>"And whose fault is it, caballero, if I speak in enigmas? Are you not +the cause of the mystery?"</p> + +<p>"Enough, caballeros!" exclaimed Don Pedro; "He who utters another word +on this subject, makes me his mortal enemy."</p> + +<p>The two men bowed respectfully to the hacendero and separated, but not +without having exchanged looks of terrible expression.</p> + +<p>"Well, colonel," continued Don Pedro, addressing the governor, in the +hopes of glossing over the lamentable altercation, "What news from La +Ciudad? Is Mexico still tranquil?"</p> + +<p>"Our great Santa Anna," replied the colonel, who was choking in his +uniform, "has once more soundly beaten the audacious general who has +dared to issue a <i>pronunciamiento</i> (manifesto) against him."</p> + +<p>"Thank God! Perhaps this victory will procure us the tranquillity of +which commerce stands so much in need."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said a rich hacendero, a neighbour of Don Pedro. "Communication +has been so difficult of late, that we can forward nothing."</p> + +<p>"Are the redskins at work?" asked a merchant, whom these words had +troubled.</p> + +<p>"No," said the governor; "there is no danger from them. The last lesson +they got was a rude one, and they will not forget it. For a long time +they have not dared to invade our frontiers."</p> + +<p>An almost imperceptible smile curled the lips of Don Fernando. "You +forget the Tigercat and his adherents," said he.</p> + +<p>"Oh! the Tigercat is only a bandit," said the governor hastily. +"Besides, Government is at this moment preparing an expedition against +him, so as to finish, once and for all, with his band of brigands."</p> + +<p>"It is an admirable idea," said Don Torribio, with a sarcastic sneer. +"It is time this frontier should be cleared of the host of fellows, +with more than equivocal habits, who infest it."</p> + +<p>"I am quite of the same opinion; it seems a most sensible measure," +said Don Fernando quietly, but giving back to his adversary a smile as +bitter as his own.</p> + +<p>"In case of invasion, do you think the Indians able to give the +province much trouble?" asked the merchant.</p> + +<p>"H'm!" said Don Jos, with a patronising air; "People entertain +exaggerated ideas of these redskins; in fact, they are but miserable +wretches."</p> + +<p>Don Fernando smiled again; but this time the smile was savage and +sinister.</p> + +<p>"Seor <i>gobernador</i>," said he, "you are not quite right. To judge by +the news you were good enough to communicate, I believe the Indians +will keep quite peaceably at home, unless they are determined to tempt +ill luck."</p> + +<p>"<i>Rayo de Dios!</i> I should think so," replied the governor.</p> + +<p>"Ah! Seorita," said Don Torribio, gracefully turning to Doa Hermosa, +"may I pray of your kindness to let us hear that delicious song from +the <i>Domino Noir</i>, which you sang to such perfection a few days ago?"</p> + +<p>Doa Hermosa, darted a look from under her long lashes at Don +Fernando. The latter's eyes conveyed a mute prayer of entreaty. Without +further hesitation, she placed herself at the piano, and, in a pure and +feeling voice, sang the romance in the third act.</p> + +<p>"I remember having heard that delicious romance sung in Paris by Madame +Demareau, that nightingale who flew away too soon," said Don Torribio, +bowing gallantly to Doa Hermosa. "I know not whether you or she sang +it with most taste and spirit."</p> + +<p>She answered: "Cousin, you have lived too long in France."</p> + +<p>"How so, seorita?"</p> + +<p>"Because," she replied, with a smile as cold and keen as the point of a +poniard, "France has made you a detestable flatterer."</p> + +<p>"<i>Bravo!</i>" chuckled the fat governor, whose cheeks shook with delight. +"You see Don Torribio, our creoles rival the Parisian ladies in the +smartness of their repartee."</p> + +<p>"Incontestably, colonel," answered Don Torribio. "But I can take my own +part," he added in an undefinable tone; "I shall soon have my revenge." +And he cast a glance at Don Fernando and Doa Hermosa, who were seated +close to each other, which made the girl shudder with fear.</p> + +<p>"Don Fernando, and you other caballeros, here present," said the +governor, addressing the guests, "I hope that tomorrow you will attend +the <i>Te Deum</i> to be sung in honour of our glorious Santa Anna."</p> + +<p>"I shall have the honour," said Don Fernando. The others made a similar +response.</p> + +<p>"As for me," said Don Torribio, "you must excuse me, colonel; for +business compels me to leave tonight."</p> + +<p>"What!" cried Don Pedro, in astonishment; "You are going to travel +tonight, cousin?"</p> + +<p>"I am indeed, Seor Don Pedro; I am obliged to leave you, even though I +have but just arrived."</p> + +<p>"Well, that is a singular and most unforeseen resolution. Where are you +going?"</p> + +<p>"Excuse me if I keep the object of my expedition secret. Certain +persons must not have the sole right of making mysterious excursions."</p> + +<p>"Indeed!" said Don Pedro peevishly. "And do you intend to stay away +long?"</p> + +<p>"I hope not, but dare not say I am sure."</p> + +<p>"So much the better. Come back to us as soon as you can; for," said he +significantly, "your return will please all of us here."</p> + +<p>"<i>Quin sabe?</i>" (who knows?) muttered Don Torribio, with a sinister +expression.</p> + +<p>Doa Hermosa, who overheard these two words, could no longer master her +fears.</p> + +<p>While Don Pedro and his cousin were exchanging these words, the girl +Whispered to Don Estevan:</p> + +<p>"Brother, tomorrow, after mass, I want to speak to you at my nurse's."</p> + +<p>"To me, or to my friend?" said Don Estevan softly.</p> + +<p>"To both," she answered, with feverish agitation.</p> + +<p>Don Estevan and Don Fernando now retired with joyful hearts. The latter +was sure that Doa Hermosa had recognised him.</p> + +<p>The other visitors also gradually departed, till Don Torribio de +Quiroga was left alone with his host.</p> + +<p>"Cousin," said he, in a low and broken voice, as he bent down to the +lady to bid her farewell, "I am about to begin a journey in which I +shall incur considerable danger. May I hope you will remember the +traveller in your prayers?"</p> + +<p>Hermosa looked him in the face for an instant, and replied with an +austerity unusual in her:</p> + +<p>"Cousin, I cannot pray for the success of a journey the purport of +which I do not know."</p> + +<p>"Thanks for your frankness, seorita," he replied, without exhibiting +emotion; "I shall not forget your words."</p> + +<p>"So you are really going, Don Torribio?" said Don Pedro, who joined +them at the moment.</p> + +<p>"This very instant, cousin: all is ready for my departure."</p> + +<p>"Then I wish you luck! I hope we shall soon hear from you?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," he replied, with a singular expression; "you shall soon hear of +me. Farewell!"</p> + +<p>"What is the matter with your cousin, <i>nia?</i>" asked Don Pedro, when he +found himself alone with his daughter: "His conduct tonight has been +very strange."</p> + +<p>Before she could answer, the door opened. "The <i>capataz</i> of the +Hacienda de las Norias," said a <i>peon</i> who had entered, "wishes to +speak to Seor Don Pedro de Luna on affairs of consequence."</p> + +<p>"Admit him instantly," replied Don Pedro to the domestic who had +announced the arrival of the <i>capataz</i> so pompously.</p> + + +<p>Don Torribio was terribly agitated when he left the house. He looked +back, and cast a venomous eye on the windows of the room, on which he +could see the graceful shadow of Doa Hermosa.</p> + +<p>"Proud girl," said he in a terrible voice, "I hate you with all the +power of the love I once felt for you! Soon, very soon, I will punish +you for your disdain."</p> + +<p>Then, wrapping his cloak around him, he rapidly took the direction of +the nearest <i>patio</i> (out-buildings), where he hoped to find his horse. +Indeed, he found him there; a <i>peon</i> holding the bridle. Don Torribio +seized the reins, threw the <i>peon</i> a piastre, flung himself into the +saddle, and rode off at a gallop.</p> + +<p>"<i>Wagh!</i>" said the Indian, picking up the money; "What ails the young +master? One would think him mad. How he scampered off!"</p> + +<p>In the meantime Don Torribio had left the hacienda behind him, and was +making all haste on the road to San Lucar.</p> + +<p>But he had not ridden more than a quarter of an hour, when suddenly, at +a turn of the road, his horse gave a start of terror, reared, and flew +round, with his ears laid close to his head. Don Torribio looked to see +what had alarmed the animal.</p> + +<p>A man of tall stature, mounted on a strong black horse, held the middle +of the road four or five paces in advance of him, and completely barred +his passage.</p> + +<p>Don Torribio cocked a pistol.</p> + +<p>"Holloa, caballero!" he cried in a sharp tone; "Move to the right or +the left."</p> + +<p>"Neither to one nor the other, Don Torribio de Quiroga. I want to speak +to you."</p> + +<p>"It is a singular demand at this time of night, and in such a place."</p> + +<p>"I did not choose either time or place. Did you not receive a note +without a signature today?"</p> + +<p>"I did," said Don Torribio, striking his forehead; "and the note +proposed—"</p> + +<p>"To teach you things," hastily interrupted the stranger, "which it is +important you should know at once."</p> + +<p>"Those were the words contained in the note."</p> + +<p>"It was I who sent it."</p> + +<p>"Indeed?" said Don Torribio, surprised; "was it you?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; and I am ready to satisfy you; but to do that, you must follow +me."</p> + +<p>"But what good will it do me to know these matters? Perhaps it would be +better to leave them untold."</p> + +<p>"As you please; I do not force you to listen to me. Everyone is free +to act as he chooses. If you prefer to sit down under insult without +avenging yourself, I have no objection."</p> + +<p>These words were uttered with such a sneer, that Don Torribio could not +help shuddering.</p> + +<p>"Do you in truth offer me revenge?" he asked in a voice half stifled +with the rage surging at his heart.</p> + +<p>"You shall judge, if you will follow me."</p> + +<p>"Demon!" cried Don Torribio, "Whoever thou may'st be, lead on, since it +must be so! I will follow thee, even unto hell."</p> + +<p>"Amen," said the stranger, with a sinister chuckle.</p> + +<p>The two riders dashed into the darkness, and the sound of their furious +pace was soon merged in profound silence.</p> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h4><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V.</a></h4> + +<h3>THE AMBUSH.</h3> +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p>Don Fernando and his friend, as we have related, left the hacienda a +little before Don Torribio. They had made all haste to reach their +dwelling. The <i>tertulia</i> had ended at nine o'clock; and by eleven they +were at the <i>rancho</i>.</p> + +<p>Doa Manuela was expecting them. In a few words they reported to her +all that had happened at the <i>tertulia</i>, and hastened to their couches; +for they were obliged to leave again at daybreak, if they wished to +arrive in good time at San Lucar without over-fatigueing Doa Manuela, +who was to accompany them. In fact, according to agreement, they +mounted their horses a little before four in the morning.</p> + +<p>In Mexico, on account of the intense heat of the day, people generally +travel by night; that is to say, from four in the morning till eleven, +and from six in the evening till midnight. Nine o'clock struck as the +three entered the <i>presidio</i>. Don Fernando left his friend and the +mother to find their way to the house he possessed in San Lucar, which +he had placed at their disposal, while he himself repaired to the +governor's house, whither affairs of grave importance called him.</p> + +<p>The worthy governor overwhelmed the visitor with civilities,—for +the latter had, on more than one occasion, rendered him important +service,—and seemed unable to show him sufficient courtesy But, in +spite of the efforts of his host, Don Fernando perceived that Don Jos +Kalbris was a prey to anxiety, which all his sense of the attentions +due to his guest did not enable him wholly to conceal.</p> + +<p>Don Jos Kalbris was a brave and worthy soldier, true as his own +steel, to whom the Mexican government had given the charge of the +<i>presidio</i> as a recompense for his valiant services during the War +of Independence. For fifteen years the colonel had governed the +<i>presidio</i>, and, thanks to a certain degree of severity tempered by +justice, and to his undoubted courage, had managed to keep it in a +state of comparative tranquillity, in spite of the evil passions of +the <i>vaqueros</i>—a set of rascals, three or four of whom he was obliged +to garrote annually, in order to overawe the rest—and the continual +raids of the Indians, who pushed up under the guns of the fort in their +attempts to carry off cattle and make prisoners, the latter being +their favourite booty, especially women.</p> + +<p>Don Jos, endowed with moderate intelligence, but rich in experience, +and warmly supported by the better classes, who had entire confidence +in him, had contrived to maintain peace in his province without much +difficulty up to the time of which we are now speaking. This denoted +a certain strength of character in the old soldier, who was without +education, and had made his own career, particularly when one takes +into consideration the difficulty of his receiving support from his +government; so that he was thrown on his own resources, and obliged to +take the initiative, and act on his own responsibility, in all cases +where he thought fit to exercise the strong arm of the law.</p> + +<p>In person the governor was a tall, stout man with a purple and bloated +face, perfectly self-satisfied, fond of hearing himself talk, and who +laid great stress on every syllable he uttered.</p> + +<p>Don Fernando, well acquainted with the colonel's character, and holding +him in great esteem, was astounded at the uneasiness he displayed, and +the change from his usual placidity of manner. Fancying that want of +money might be at the bottom of his embarrassment, he resolved to sound +him, and come to his aid, if that were necessary.</p> + +<p>"Holloa!" said the colonel, "What good wind blows you to the <i>presidio</i> +so early, Don Fernando?"</p> + +<p>"The wish to see you," replied the latter, pressing the hand the +colonel extended.</p> + +<p>"It is very kind of you. You will breakfast with me, of course?"</p> + +<p>"I came to invite myself."</p> + +<p>"That is right," said the colonel, striking a bell.</p> + +<p>A domestic entered.</p> + +<p>"This caballero will do me the honour to breakfast with me."</p> + +<p>The servant, a well-trained soldier, disappeared.</p> + +<p>"By the bye, Don Fernando, I have a heap of papers here addressed to +you."</p> + +<p>"Thank Heaven! I was afraid they had been delayed. I want them +particularly, for certain reasons."</p> + +<p>"So much the better, then," said the colonel, producing the papers, +which Don Fernando put into his pocket.</p> + +<p>"Breakfast is ready," said the same man who had appeared an instant +before.</p> + +<p>The governor and his guest proceeded to the breakfast room, where they +found a third person waiting for them. This was a Major Barnum, an +old Englishman, tall, dry, thin, and formal; as brave a soldier as +ever existed; for twenty years in the service of the Mexican Republic; +devoted heart and soul to the country of his adoption; and second in +command in the <i>presidio</i> of San Lucar.</p> + +<p>He and Don Jos had seen much service together, and were attached to +each other like two brothers; resuscitating in this out of the way +corner of the world the fables of Castor and Pollux Damon and Pythias, +and all the other heroes of ancient friendship.</p> + +<p>Don Fernando and Major Barnum were slightly acquainted with each other, +and glad of the meeting; for the Englishman was an excellent fellow, +and hid a warm and loyal heart under his rather cold manner.</p> + +<p>After the usual greetings, all three placed themselves at table, and +commenced a vigorous attack on the delicacies with which the board was +abundantly supplied.</p> + +<p>When the first keen relish of appetite had been appeased, the +conversation became more lively, and at the close of the meal grew +quite amicable and confidential.</p> + +<p>"By the bye, what is the matter with you, Don Jos?" said Don Fernando. +"There is something odd about you today, which I have never seen +before."</p> + +<p>"Right," said the governor, draining a glass of <i>Jerez de la Frontera</i> +(sherry); "I feel sad."</p> + +<p>"You sad! You astonish me. If I had not noticed your appetite at +breakfast, I should think you were ill."</p> + +<p>"Well," said the soldier, with a sigh, "my appetite is good."</p> + +<p>"Then what is there to vex you?"</p> + +<p>"I have a presentiment of evil," said the governor, seriously.</p> + +<p>"A presentiment of evil!" echoed the major. "I know that at first +sight it seems ridiculous for old soldiers like ourselves to attach +importance to such folly, which is only, at the best, the result of +a diseased imagination. Nevertheless, I too feel like the colonel: I +am uneasy without knowing why; I expect every moment to receive evil +tidings. In two words, I am firmly convinced some great danger is +impending. I feel it, I know it, without being able to guess whence it +is to come."</p> + +<p>"Ah," said the governor, "the major has just described my own +sensations. Long as my career as a soldier has been, I have never +felt so anxious and oppressed as now. I have been in this state of +excitement a whole week, and am astonished nothing has happened to +justify my forebodings. Don Fernando, God does give warnings of danger +to man."</p> + +<p>"I do not deny the truth of what you propound. I know you too well to +have the least intention to question your conviction. But still, how is +it to be accounted for? You and Major Barnum are not men to be afraid +of a shadow, or easily scared; you have proved that a thousand times. +Has nothing occurred to confirm your presentiment?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing as yet," replied the governor; "but I momentarily expect bad +news."</p> + +<p>"Come, come, Don Jos!" said Don Fernando gravely; "you are suffering +from an attack of a malady very common in the major's country, where +they call it 'the blue devils.' It is a kind of spleen, caused by the +fogs in England. Listen to me: get yourself bled—do not spare the wine +cup; and in a couple of days you will be the first to laugh at the +trick your fancy has played you. Do you not think so, major?"</p> + +<p>"I wish it were so," said that officer, shaking his head.</p> + +<p>"Pooh!" said Don Fernando; "Life is short enough already. What is the +use of creating bugbears to frighten ourselves? And besides, who is +there to give you trouble?"</p> + +<p>"<i>Quin sabe?</i> We are never sure of anything on the frontiers."</p> + +<p>"Nonsense! The Indians have grown as quiet as lambs."</p> + +<p>Just then a servant opened the door, and beckoned to the governor.</p> + +<p>"What do you want?" said the latter.</p> + +<p>"Seor," replied the servant, "a <i>vaquero</i>, just arrived in all haste, +requests an audience. He is the bearer of important intelligence."</p> + +<p>This announcement fell like a sheet of ice on the three caballeros, and +thoroughly stopped the flow of their fictitious gaiety.</p> + +<p>"Let him come in," said the colonel.</p> + +<p>Then casting a look of inconceivable sadness on Don Fernando, he added:</p> + +<p>"It is fate herself who undertakes to answer you!"</p> + +<p>"We shall see!" replied Don Fernando with a forced smile.</p> + +<p>Heavy footsteps were heard in the adjacent apartments, and the +<i>vaquero</i> entered.</p> + +<p>It was Pablito.</p> + +<p>The man had indeed the look of one who brings bad news. He seemed to +have just left the battlefield—to have escaped from a massacre. His +clothes hung in rags, stained with mud and gore; his face, pale as +death, had an expression of sadness very strange in such a man. It was +with difficulty he held himself upright, so dreadfully jaded he seemed +by the struggle he had had to reach the <i>presidio</i>. His spurs left a +bloody mark on the floor at every step; and he was forced to support +himself on his rifle.</p> + +<p>The three men looked at him with mingled fear and pity.</p> + +<p>"Here," said Don Fernando, pouring out a tumbler of wine; "drink this; +it will restore you."</p> + +<p>"No!" said Pablito, thrusting back the glass; "I thirst for blood, not +wine!"</p> + +<p>These words were uttered in such a tone of hatred and despair, that the +listeners involuntarily turned pale, and shuddered with horror.</p> + +<p>"What has happened?" said the colonel, in deep anxiety.</p> + +<p>The <i>vaquero</i> wiped the cold sweat from his brow with the back of his +hand, and said, in short, sharp accents, which struck terror into his +hearers:</p> + +<p>"The Indians are upon us!"</p> + +<p>"Have you seen them?" asked the major.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said he abruptly; "I have seen them."</p> + +<p>"When was that—today?"</p> + +<p>"This very morning, colonel."</p> + +<p>"Far from hence?"</p> + +<p>"About twenty leagues. They have already crossed the Rio del Norte."</p> + +<p>"Already! How many are there? Do you know."</p> + +<p>"Count the sand grains in the desert, and you will know."</p> + +<p>"God!" said the colonel; "it is impossible. The Indians cannot assemble +in such numbers in the course of a day. Your fears have deceived you."</p> + +<p>"Fears!" said Pablito, laughing derisively. "Fear is very well for +you who live in towns; in the wilderness we have no time to make her +acquaintance."</p> + +<p>"Well, then, how are they coming?"</p> + +<p>"Like a tornado, burning and pillaging as they come."</p> + +<p>"Is it their intention to attack the <i>presidio</i>?"</p> + +<p>"They have formed an immense half moon, the two horns of which are +nearing you every moment."</p> + +<p>"Are they still a good way off?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; for they are acting on a preconceived plan, establishing +themselves firmly in places capable of defence, and apparently not +governed by the sole instinct of pillage; but, as it would seem, +obeying the directions of a chief who understands the art of war, and +whose influence is felt in all their movements."</p> + +<p>"This looks serious," said the governor.</p> + +<p>The major shook his head.</p> + +<p>"Why have you waited so long before you warned us?" said he.</p> + +<p>"This morning, at daybreak, my comrades and I were surrounded by more +than two hundred of these demons, who seemed to rise out of the ground. +We defended ourselves like lions: one is dead; two of us are wounded, +but we managed to escape; and here I am."</p> + +<p>"Get back to your post as soon as possible; they shall give you a fresh +horse."</p> + +<p>"I will be off directly, colonel."</p> + +<p>The <i>vaquero</i> saluted and left them. Five minutes later, they heard his +horse's hoofs clattering over the stony road.</p> + +<p>"Well," said the colonel, looking at the two others; "what did I tell +you? Did my forebodings lie?"</p> + +<p>Don Fernando rose.</p> + +<p>"Where are you going?" asked the colonel.</p> + +<p>"Back to the Hacienda del Cormillo."</p> + +<p>"At once! Without finishing your breakfast?"</p> + +<p>"This instant. I am torn by indescribable anxiety. The Indians may +attack the hacienda; and God knows what may happen."</p> + +<p>"El Cormillo is fortified, and cannot be taken by a <i>coup-de-main</i>. +However, I think Doa Hermosa would be safer here. Try, if there is +time, to induce Don Pedro to return: no one can foresee the issue of +an invasion undertaken on such a scale; and one cannot take too many +precautions. I should be glad to see Don Pedro and his daughter safe +among us."</p> + +<p>"Thank you, colonel; your advice is excellent. I will use every effort +to induce Don Pedro to follow it. Good-bye. I venture to flatter myself +that an energetic demonstration on your part will rid us of these +ferocious foes, whose tactics are always to attempt a surprise, and who +disappear as suddenly as they came the moment they find their plans +have been discovered."</p> + +<p>"God grant it! But I scarcely hope as much." "Farewell, caballeros, +and good luck!" said Don Fernando, pressing the hands of the two old +soldiers.</p> + +<p>Don Estevan was waiting for him in the court, and joined him as soon as +he appeared.</p> + +<p>"Well," said the <i>mayor domo</i>, "you have heard the news? The Indians +are coming like the locusts."</p> + +<p>"Yes; I have heard so."</p> + +<p>"What do you intend to do?"</p> + +<p>"To return to the hacienda at once."</p> + +<p>"H'm! That would be scarcely prudent. You know how speedily these +demons spread themselves over all the country; we should most likely +meet some of them."</p> + +<p>"Well! We will ride over their corpses."</p> + +<p>"<i>Canarios!</i> I dare say. But you may be killed."</p> + +<p>"Pooh! Doa Hermosa expects me; and I am not killed yet."</p> + +<p>"True; but you may be."</p> + +<p>"Well, we shall see."</p> + +<p>"Probably so. However, as I foresaw the objections you would make, +I have arranged everything to go. The horses are ready saddled, the +<i>peones</i> in waiting: we will set off as soon as you choose."</p> + +<p>"Thanks, Estevan; you are really a friend."</p> + +<p>"I know it," said the latter, with a gay smile. Estevan Diaz whistled +shrilly, and the <i>peones</i> entered the court, leading two horses by +their bridles.</p> + +<p>"Let us be off," said Don Fernando, springing into the saddle.</p> + +<p>"Let us be off," repeated Don Estevan.</p> + +<p>They gave the horses their heads, and began to push their way slowly +through the crowd of idlers assembled before the gates of the fortress +to learn the latest news, and trotted down the steep incline leading +from the fort to the old <i>presidio</i>, replying, as well as they could, +to the questions with which they were assailed on all sides. As soon as +they had threaded the town, they increased their speed along the road +to the Hacienda del Cormillo, without noticing the repeated signals of +several more than suspicious-looking individuals, carefully wrapped in +thick cloaks, who had followed them at a distance since they left the +fort, talking eagerly the while to each other.</p> + +<p>It was a stormy day. The sky was gray and lowering; the birds wheeled +screaming around; and the wind, blowing in squalls, roared in the deep +defiles of the road, filling the air with clouds of impalpable dust.</p> + +<p>The two <i>peones</i> who had brought the news of the Indians' march upon +the <i>presidio</i> rode twenty paces in advance, and scanned the country +on each side of the road with startled looks, expecting every instant +to see the redskins make their appearance, and to hear the dreaded +war whoop. Don Fernando and Don Estevan rode side by side, without +exchanging a syllable, each sufficiently occupied by his own thoughts.</p> + +<p>In the meanwhile, the nearer the travellers got to the river, the +more the storm increased in intensity. The rain fell in torrents, +the lightning flashed incessantly, and the peals of thunder rolled +majestically among the high cliffs, from which enormous crags were +constantly detached, and hurled crashing into the river.</p> + +<p>The storm had reached such a pitch of fury, that the riders had the +greatest difficulty in making progress, and were in constant danger of +falling with their horses, which were plunging wildly in their fright +at the tempest. The ground, soaked with rain, afforded no foothold +for the poor brutes: they slipped and stumbled at every step, snorted +violently, and threatened to break down.</p> + +<p>"It is impossible to get farther," said the <i>mayor domo</i>, picking up +his horse from a plunge which had nearly unseated him.</p> + +<p>"But what is to be done?" asked Don Fernando, looking about him with +great anxiety.</p> + +<p>"I think we had better take shelter under this clump of trees for a +while: the storm grows worse and worse. It is folly to pursue our +journey while it lasts."</p> + +<p>"Let us go, if we must," said Don Fernando resignedly.</p> + +<p>Accordingly they turned towards a small copse on one side of the road, +which seemed to offer some little shelter from the intensity of the +storm.</p> + +<p>They were only a few paces from it, when four men, their faces covered +with black masks, rushed out of the wood, and dashed at the travellers, +whom they attacked without uttering a word. The <i>peones</i> fell from +their saddles, knocked over by two shots from the masked strangers, and +rolled on the ground in convulsive agony, uttering the most piteous +cries.</p> + +<p>Don Fernando and Don Estevan, astonished at this sudden attack by men +who could not be Indians,—for they were dressed like <i>vaqueros</i>, and +their hands were white,—instantly dismounted, and, placing themselves +behind their horses, awaited their assailants' onset with cocked rifles.</p> + +<p>The latter, after making sure of the death of the <i>peones</i>, turned +their horses' heads to attack the two Spaniards. Shots were again +exchanged, and a terrible combat began,—a dreadful struggle of two +men against four—in which no word was spoken, and which was intended +to end in the death of those who had been so treacherously set upon. +However, the combat was sustained with a semblance of equality which +discouraged the assailants, of whom one had already fallen, cut down +to the teeth; while a second was retreating, with his chest pierced +through by the good blade of Don Fernando.</p> + +<p>"Aha! my masters," exclaimed the latter; "have you had enough, or do +you wish to make further acquaintance with my blade? Fools that you +are! You should have set at least ten to assassinate us."</p> + +<p>"What!" added the <i>mayor domo</i>, "Are you already satisfied? You are not +clever enough for highwaymen; the man who pays you might have made a +better choice."</p> + +<p>In fact, the two remaining men in masks had withdrawn a few paces, and +held themselves on the defensive.</p> + +<p>Suddenly four other masked men appeared, and all six rushed upon the +Spaniards, who awaited them firmly.</p> + +<p>"The devil! I wronged you by my suspicion," said Don Estevan. "I see +you are up to your work;" and he discharged a pistol point-blank into +the midst of his adversaries.</p> + +<p>The latter, still without a word, answered his fire, and the struggle +was renewed with fresh fury.</p> + +<p>But the two brave Spaniards could not defend themselves much longer: +they were exhausted with fatigue; and it was not long before they, in +their turn, fell on the dead bodies of two more of their assailants, +whom they had sacrificed to their fury before they fell.</p> + +<p>When they saw Don Fernando and Don Estevan stretched on the ground, +the strangers uttered a shout of triumph. Without troubling themselves +about the <i>mayor domo</i>, they seized the body of Don Fernando, threw it +over the neck of one of their horses, and rapidly vanished amongst the +manifold complications of the road.</p> + +<p>The tempest continued to rage with fury. A lugubrious silence reigned +in the spot where this tragedy had been acted, and where seven corpses +were now lying, round which the vultures and hideous <i>zopilotes</i>, +uttering their hoarse cries, began to sail in narrowing circles.</p> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h4><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI.</a></h4> + +<h3>SAN LUCAR.</h3> +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p>When Don Fernando left them, the governor and the major remained +perfectly mute a while, overcome by the gravity of the news they had +just received. But a state of prostration so much at variance with the +character of the two veterans, whose life had been spent in active +service, could not last long. They soon recovered their animation, like +two noble steeds who prick up their ears at the signal for the charge; +their features resumed their usual expression of imperturbability; and, +having exchanged a shake of the hand; they left the apartment.</p> + +<p>"The shock has been a rude one, and I was far from expecting it," said +the colonel; "but, <i>vive Dios!</i> the pagans shall find out whom they +have to deal with. Major, have the officers' call sounded we will hold +a council of war, to concert measures of defence."</p> + +<p>"That is right," replied the major; "just what you ought to do. I had +rather see you thus—proud, resolute, and stern—than troubled and +anxious, as you have looked these last few days. <i>Caray!</i> you are +yourself again, now, my good friend."</p> + +<p>"Well," said the governor, smiling, "you ought not to be astonished +at the change, my dear Barnum. For some time past I have been sadly +oppressed by vague forebodings, and the ill they threatened seemed the +greater, because I could not divine what it might be. Now the stroke +has fallen, I know what I have to do. I have not the least doubt that +the danger which menaces us is immense, but we know what the result +will be."</p> + +<p>"Quite true," said the major, leaving him to obey the orders he had +received from his chief.</p> + +<p>The officers of the garrison were soon assembled around the governor; +there were six of them, without counting the major and colonel. Don +Jos Kalbris invited them to be seated, and then addressed them:</p> + +<p>"<i>Caballeros</i>, you are aware why I have sent for you: the Indians +threaten us once more. I have just got the information from one of our +bravest scouts—in fact, the most faithful and intelligent of them all. +It is a grave case, seores; for the Indians have leagued themselves +together, and are marching against us in great force. I have caused +you to meet here, in order to organise a vigorous defence, and to +endeavour to discover the means of giving these savages so sharp a +lesson, that it will be a long time before they dream of invading our +territories again. But, first of all, let us see what means are at our +disposal."</p> + +<p>"We have plenty of arms and ammunition," said the major. "We have +two hundred thousand pounds of powder, abundance of muskets, sabres, +lances, and pistols; and the guns are in good condition, and amply +supplied with round shot and grape."</p> + +<p>"A capital account," said the colonel, rubbing his hands for joy.</p> + +<p>"Unfortunately," continued the major, "although we have plenty of arms, +we have very few men fit for service."</p> + +<p>"How many men have we?"</p> + +<p>"The effective state should be two hundred and seventy; but, unluckily, +disease, death, and desertion have reduced them to a hundred and +twenty."</p> + +<p>"The deuce!" said the colonel, shaking his head; "But I think we +might manage to increase the number. We are in one of those critical +positions where the end sanctifies the means: we must not be nice in +our choice. Besides, the common safety is in question. I trust to meet +with no opposition to the execution of a plan which I hope will save us +all."</p> + +<p>"What is it? We all go hand and hand with you."</p> + +<p>"I know that very well. I do not allude to you, seores, but to the +inhabitants of the town, who will reject it, and with whom we shall +be obliged to have recourse to forcible measures. It is of the last +importance to make an imposing show of men on the walls. Now, this is +what I propose: all the <i>peones</i> of the <i>haciendas</i> shall be enrolled, +and formed into companies; the merchants shall form another corps; the +haciendas, well mounted and armed, shall defend the approaches, and +patrol the plain. By these means, we shall muster an effective force +of about eleven hundred men,—a number quite sufficient to hold the +savages in check, and force them to retreat precipitately to their +villages."</p> + +<p>"You must recollect, colonel, that the greater number of the <i>vaqueros</i> +here are criminals, to whom any disturbance is a pretext for plunder."</p> + +<p>"For that reason, I have appointed them the exterior defence of the +place. They shall encamp outside the <i>presidio</i>, into which they shall +not enter on any pretence. To lessen the chance of a mutiny amongst +them, they shall be formed into two divisions—one of which shall be +constantly employed in scouring the neighbourhood, while the other +remains in camp. Thus, by keeping them always at work, we shall have +nothing to fear from them."</p> + +<p>"As for the creoles, and the strangers at present in the <i>presidio</i>," +said the major, "I think you had better order them to assemble in the +fort every night: we shall be able to use them in case of necessity."</p> + +<p>"Very good. You will also double the number of scouts, the better +to avoid a surprise. You will also have the entrances to the place +barricaded, to check the tremendous charges the Indians make when they +attack a position."</p> + +<p>"Permit me to propose, colonel, that a man to be depended upon should +be despatched to put the hacenderos on their guard, and warn them to +take refuge in the fort at the signal of three guns, to announce the +approach of the Indians."</p> + +<p>"It shall be done, major; or these poor fellows would be all massacred +by the pagans. The inhabitants of the town must also be warned to +retire—the women into the fort—as soon as the Indians are visible, +or they may be carried off. The savages are partial to white women, +and in the last inroad carried off three hundred: such a piece of +misfortune must not happen again. I think, seores, we have taken every +precaution against the threatened danger; we have now only to do our +duty as brave men. Our fate is in the hands of God, who will surely not +abandon us in circumstances of such great peril."</p> + +<p>The officers rose, and were preparing to take leave of their chief, +when another <i>vaquero</i> was announced as bringing reports to the +governor.</p> + +<p>Don Jos made signs to his officers to retain their seats, and ordered +the scout to be introduced.</p> + +<p>It was Tonillo el Zapote, Pablito's friend. He had left the place where +they had hidden themselves to watch the movements of the Indians four +hours after his comrade, and yet had arrived at the <i>presidio</i> only an +hour later,—sure proof of the importance of the news he bore.</p> + +<p>He looked as impudent and sneering as ever. His face was pale, and +smeared with blood and powder; his dress was torn in many places; while +the bandage round his head, one arm in a sling, and, more than all, +three or four scalps which hung bleeding from his girdle, showed that +he had had a hard tussle with the Indians, and been obliged to cut his +way through them to reach the <i>presidio</i>.</p> + +<p>"Zapote!" said the governor; "your comrade, Pablito, has just left me."</p> + +<p>"I know, colonel," answered the <i>vaquero</i>.</p> + +<p>"Have you brought us worse tidings than his?"</p> + +<p>"That depends upon the light in which you look upon them, seores."</p> + +<p>"What do your words imply?"</p> + +<p>"Oh!" was the reply, while the speaker swayed himself carelessly from +side to side; "If you love your ease, it is very probable it would +be troubled before long, and, in that case, the news I bring cannot +be very pleasant to you; but if you are fond of mounting to meet the +redskins, you can easily gratify your whim, and all I have to tell you +will be very acceptable."</p> + +<p>Notwithstanding the gravity of the situation and the anxiety they felt, +the governor and his officers could not help smiling at the singular +logic of the <i>vaquero</i>.</p> + +<p>"Explain, Zapote," said Don Jos; "we shall then know what to think of +your tidings."</p> + +<p>"Hardly ten minutes after my comrade left me, I was rummaging in the +bushes, which seemed to me to have an odd kind of motion, when I +discovered a <i>peon</i>, whose terror was so great, that it took me a +good half hour to get him to describe the dangers from which he had +escaped. The fellow belonged to a poor old man called Ignacio Rayal, +one of the two solitary individuals who escaped from the massacre +of the inhabitants of the peninsula of San-Jos by the Apaches in +the last invasion, twenty years ago. The <i>peon</i> and his master were +looking for firewood, without dreaming of danger, when the Indians +suddenly started up close by. The former had time to hide himself in +a drain; but the old man, too feeble to save himself, fell into the +hands of the savages, who butchered him with all the refinements of +their horrid barbarity. His body was riddled with wounds, till his own +mother would not have known him; he had received twenty lance thrusts; +and his head was smashed to atoms with tomahawks. I left the <i>peon</i> to +watch in our ambuscade, after I had restored his courage as well as I +could, and, proceeding in the direction he pointed out, was not long +in seeing a host of Indians driving before them a multitude of cattle +and prisoners. These fellows put everything to sack and fire on their +route; they were marching rapidly on the <i>presidio</i>, and detached +parties at intervals to destroy the haciendas on their road. The +haciendas of Piedra Rosa and San Blas are no longer standing; they are +now a heap of ashes, under which their unfortunate owners lie buried. +These are my tidings; make what you like out of them, seores."</p> + +<p>"And these scalps?" said the governor, pointing to the bloody trophies +hanging at the <i>vaquero's</i> girdle.</p> + +<p>"Oh! These are nothing," he replied, with a smile of triumph; "as I had +got too near the Indians, in the hope of getting a better idea of their +force and intentions, they saw me, and naturally wanted to lay hands on +me; so we had a bit of a skirmish."</p> + +<p>"I presume these Indians are a party of pillagers from the wilderness, +who want to steal cattle, and will retire when they have collected +enough booty."</p> + +<p>"Hm!" said Tonillo, shaking his head; "I am not sure of that. There are +too many of them; they are too well equipped. Colonel, these fellows +have another object: unless I am greatly mistaken, they intend to wage +war to the knife against us."</p> + +<p>The governor exchanged looks with his officers.</p> + +<p>"Thank you, Zapote," said he; "I am pleased with you. Your conduct +has been that of a loyal Mexican. Return to your post, and be doubly +vigilant."</p> + +<p>"You may rely on my comrades and me, colonel. You know, we do not +exactly love the Indians," said Tonillo, who saluted and left them.</p> + +<p>"You see, seores," said the governor, "that the situation grows more +critical every minute. We will lose no more time in deliberation. You +may go."</p> + +<p>"One moment," said the major; "I have a piece of advice to give before +we separate."</p> + +<p>"Let us hear it, old friend."</p> + +<p>"No precaution must be omitted in the perilous circumstances which +surround us. We are here in an out-of-the-way place, far from any +speedy and efficacious support. We may have to sustain a siege in the +<i>presidio</i>, and run the risk of being starved out. I propose that a +vessel be immediately despatched to the governor general of the state, +to apprise him of our critical position, and to request reinforcements; +for it is impossible, with our scanty forces, to hold out long against +the invasion."</p> + +<p>A profound and solemn silence followed this speech.</p> + +<p>"What do you think of Major Barnum's advice?" said the colonel to his +officers.</p> + +<p>"We agree to it," said one of them, speaking in the name of the others; +"and we think it ought to be put into execution without delay."</p> + +<p>"I am of the same opinion," said Don Jos; "let it be so. Caballeros, +you may retire."</p> + +<p>And now they began to organise the defence with an energy inconceivable +to those acquainted with the Spanish character, and the profound +laziness which is one of its principal failings.</p> + +<p>The terrible danger menacing them made all the inhabitants of the +<i>presidio</i> responsible for each other; it seemed to give courage to +those who had none, and redouble the ardour of the others.</p> + +<p>Two hours later, troops of cattle were driven in and parked in the +town, the streets barricaded, the guns supplied with ammunition, and +the women and children shut up in the buildings within the fort.</p> + +<p>A vessel had been despatched to the capital of the state, as had been +agreed on in council; and a hundred and fifty resolute men intrenched +themselves in the old <i>presidio</i>, the houses of which they loopholed, +in order to make head against the Indians when they appeared.</p> + +<p>The governor and Major Barnum seemed to multiply themselves; they were +ubiquitous; encouraging the newly enlisted, helping the workmen, and +speaking hope to all.</p> + +<p>About three o'clock in the afternoon, a strong wind arose, bringing +with it from the south-west volumes of thick smoke, obstructing the +view of objects at a distance. It was caused by the conflagration +throughout the country. The anxiety of the inhabitants increased +tenfold, as the direction from which it came proved that it could only +arise from the doings of the Indians.</p> + +<p>The Indian tribes always have recourse to this measure when they intend +to invade the territories of the whites; an excellent aid to their +system of attack by surprise, for, by shrouding the country in smoke, +they prevent the scouts discovering them from afar, and are more easily +able to conceal their numbers and motions.</p> + +<p>On the day in question, the Indians, unhappily for the Mexicans, +succeeded better than their wont; for the wind drove the smoke across +the open, and one could scarcely distinguish objects at ten paces off.</p> + +<p>It must be allowed, that in a country so uniformly level as the +prairies, which afford no points to mask a march, and where nothing +is easier than to find out the enemy's whole strength, the stratagem +employed by the Indians is as simple as it is ingenious.</p> + +<p>The scouts came galloping in one after the other, to report to +the governor the approach of the enemy, who, according to their +calculations, would reach the <i>presidio</i> of San Lucar that same night.</p> + +<p>The masses of Indians increased every moment. Their hordes covered +the open; they marched with inconceivable rapidity, and seemed to +concentrate all their forces on the luckless <i>pueblo</i>.</p> + +<p>The governor ordered the three alarm-guns to be fired. Immediately +one saw the poor <i>rancheros</i> (cottagers) of the plain trooping in +crowds into the town, bringing with them their cattle and furniture, +and shedding tears of rage and despair at the sight of their harvests +blazing in all directions.</p> + +<p>The poor men encamped as they best could in the squares of the +<i>pueblo;</i> and after sending their women and children into the fort, all +able to bear arms rushed to the barricades, resolved to make those pay +dearly who had been the cause of their ruin.</p> + +<p>Terror and consternation reigned throughout the town: nothing was +heard but sighs and lamentation; and night came, to add horror to the +situation by enveloping the earth in darkness.</p> + +<p>Strong patrols paraded the streets incessantly; and at times hardy +<i>vaqueros</i>, gliding like serpents through the obscurity, ventured two +or three hundred paces from the walls, to assure themselves that no +immediate danger threatened the <i>presidio</i>.</p> + +<p>Things remained in this state till about two in the morning, when, in +the midst of the mournful silence brooding over the town, a slight +noise, scarcely perceptible at first, was heard. It grew louder every +moment, and all of a sudden, as if by enchantment, and without any +one being able to guess how they got there, the Apaches crowned the +barricades of the <i>presidio</i>, brandishing flaming torches and uttering +the war whoop.</p> + +<p>For a moment the inhabitants thought the town was taken; but Major +Barnum, who commanded at this post, was too old a soldier, and too +accustomed to Indian warfare, to be deceived by their stratagem. At the +moment the Apaches were about to cross the barricades, a well-sustained +fire opened suddenly upon them, and drove them from the intrenchments +much faster than they had scaled them.</p> + +<p>The Mexicans charged with the bayonet: for one moment there was a +frightful <i>mle</i>, from the midst of which rose cries of agony, +maledictions, and the sharp clang of steel crossing steel; then the +whites regained their position; the Indians disappeared; the town, +illumined for so short a time by the blaze of the torches, was again +enveloped in darkness; and the silence, broken by the few minutes of +onslaught, was once more complete.</p> + +<p>This was the only attempt that night. The Indians were up to their +work; having failed in their bold <i>coup-de-main</i>, they would, in +all probability, convert the attack into a blockade, if they were +determined to take the town; or they might retreat altogether, if their +miscarriage had led them to despair of mastering it.</p> + +<p>But at daybreak this latter illusion vanished; the Indians seemed to +have no inclination to beat a retreat.</p> + +<p>The country presented a most afflicting spectacle; everything was +burnt down, and the disorder frightful. In one place a band of mounted +Apaches were driving before them the horses and cattle they had stolen; +in another, nearer the town, and facing towards it, a strong body of +warriors, with poised lances, watched the movements of the inhabitants +of the <i>presidio</i>, with the intention of repelling any sortie that +might be attempted; behind them, women and children were chasing the +cattle, which were lowing with anger at being forced to quit the +pastures; here and there prisoners, men, women, and children, driven on +by blows of the lance, lifted their hands in vain supplication, and +painfully dragged themselves forward amidst their captors. Lastly, +as far as the eye could see, long files of Indians were hastening up +on every side, while others drove in the pickets, or built <i>callis</i> +(huts); and the town was completely surrounded.</p> + +<p>Then an unheard-of circumstance occurred—a circumstance which the +most experienced soldiers in the fort had never witnessed in all their +previous encounters with the Indians, viz. the order that ruled through +all this disorder; that is to say, the manner in which the <i>callis</i> +were grouped, the serried and disciplined march of the infantry, the +precision of their movements; and, what particularly upset all the +arrangements of the colonel and major, the drawing of a parallel about +the place, and throwing up an earthwork with immense rapidity, so as to +shelter the Apaches from the fire of the guns.</p> + +<p>"<i>Sangre de Dios!</i>" exclaimed the colonel, with an angry stamp; "those +wretches have a traitor among them; they have never made war in this +fashion before."</p> + +<p>"Hem!" said the major, pulling at his moustache; "We shall have to tilt +against rude jousters."</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied the colonel; "and if succour does not arrive from the +city, I do not exactly see how this is to end."</p> + +<p>"Badly, colonel. <i>Caray!</i> I am afraid we shall lose our hides here. +Look! There are more than three thousand of them, without counting +those who are still coming and blackening the plain on all sides. But +what is the meaning of this noise?" he added, as he turned in the +direction whence the notes of a trumpet proceeded.</p> + +<p>Four sachems, dressed in white, and preceded by an Indian bearing a +white flag, had halted at half-gunshot from the first barricade at the +old <i>presidio</i>.</p> + +<p>"What can this mean?" said the colonel; "They seem to demand a parley. +Do they think I am fool enough to fall into the snare? Major, a hatful +of grape for that group of pagans! We'll teach them to take us for +dolts!"</p> + +<p>"I think you are wrong, colonel, and that it would be better to parley +with them; in that way we shall learn their intentions."</p> + +<p>"You may be right, my good friend; but who will be fool enough to risk +his life among these lawless bandits?"</p> + +<p>"I, if you will permit me," answered the major.</p> + +<p>"You!" cried Don Jos, in astonishment.</p> + +<p>"Yes; is it not our duty to suffer no means to escape us by which we +may save the wretched people confided to our honour? I am only one +man; my life is of little importance to the defence of the <i>presidio</i>, +and the step I am about to take may save it."</p> + +<p>The colonel stifled a sigh, pressed his old friend's hand +affectionately, and exclaimed, in a voice half choked with the emotion +he vainly endeavoured to suppress:</p> + +<p>"Go, since you insist upon it."</p> + +<p>"Thanks," said the major joyfully. And he turned with a firm step in +the direction of the barricade.</p> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h4><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII.</a></h4> + +<h3>THE ATTACK ON THE PRESIDIO.</h3> +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p>Major Barnum was unarmed; he was offering up his life, and would not +take his sword, that he might have no pretext for defending himself +should a conflict ensue, as would probably be the case.</p> + +<p>When he had got within earshot, he halted. As in his former campaign he +had often had occasion to confer with the Apaches, he had learnt enough +of their language to need no interpreter.</p> + +<p>"What do you require, chiefs? Have you crossed the Rio Grande del +Norte, and invaded our frontiers, in breach of the peace existing +between us?"</p> + +<p>He said this in a loud voice, and saluting them with his hat, which he +immediately replaced after this act of courtesy.</p> + +<p>"Are you the man whom the palefaces call Don Jos Kalbris?" asked one +of the chiefs; "The man to whom they give the title of governor?"</p> + +<p>"No; according to our laws, the governor may not quit his post. I am +Major Barnum, second in command, deputed to represent him; so you may +report to me what brings you hither."</p> + +<p>The chiefs conferred together for an instant; then, planting their long +lances in the sand, they dashed forward on their horses till beside the +major.</p> + +<p>The latter, who had never taken his eyes off them, had divined their +purpose, but remained motionless, and testified no surprise at seeing +them at his side.</p> + +<p>The Indians, who had intended by the suddenness of their action to +throw off his guard and perhaps intimidate the major, were secretly +annoyed at his coolness, which they could not help admiring.</p> + +<p>"My father is brave," said the one who was spokesman.</p> + +<p>"At my age," replied the veteran, "one does not fear death; one often +looks upon it as a blessing."</p> + +<p>"My father bears on his head the snows of many winters; he must be one +of the wisest chiefs of his nation. The young men listen to him with +respect around the council fire."</p> + +<p>The major bowed modestly.</p> + +<p>"Do not talk of me," he said; "we have met to discuss graver matters. +Why have you demanded this interview?"</p> + +<p>"Will not my father lead us to the council fire of his nation?" said +the warrior in insinuating tones. "Is it proper for great <i>sachems</i>, +renowned warriors, to treat of important affairs on horseback, between +two armies ready to come to blows?"</p> + +<p>"I understand your meaning, chief; but cannot comply with your desires. +When a town is invested, no leader of the enemy can be admitted as flag +of truce."</p> + +<p>"Does my father fear that we four should take the town?" said the +Apache, laughing, but secretly vexed at the abortion of his plan to +communicate with the friends he undoubtedly had in the place.</p> + +<p>"It is not my custom to fear anything," replied the major; "I tell you +a fact of which you were ignorant, that is all. And now, if you wish +to use this pretext to break off the interview, you can do so; I have +nothing more to do than to go back."</p> + +<p>"Oho! My father is hasty for his age. Why break off the interview, when +we have not even mentioned the object of it?"</p> + +<p>"Speak then, and tell me what brings you here."</p> + +<p>The <i>sachems</i> looked at each other, and exchanged a few words in a +whisper. Then the chief took up the word:</p> + +<p>"My father has seen the great army of the Apaches, and the nations +their allies?"</p> + +<p>"I have," replied the major carelessly.</p> + +<p>"And has my father, who is a learned paleface, counted the warriors who +compose it?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, as far as it was possible."</p> + +<p>"Ah! And how many are there, according to my father's counting?"</p> + +<p>"Upon my word, chief," replied the major, with an unconcern that was +admirably counterfeited, "I must confess that, as for us, we do not +care how many of them there are."</p> + +<p>"But still," persisted the Indian, "at how many does my father count +them?"</p> + +<p>"How can I know? Eight or ten thousand I dare say."</p> + +<p>The chiefs were astounded at the indifference the major displayed for +numbers thrice their force; and the Apache warrior replied:</p> + +<p>"And my father is not frightened at the number of warriors united under +one chief?"</p> + +<p>The wonder of the <i>sachems</i> had not escaped the major.</p> + +<p>"Why should I be frightened? Has not my nation conquered greater +numbers?"</p> + +<p>"It is possible," said the chief, biting his lips; "but this time you +will not conquer."</p> + +<p>"Who can tell? Is that what you came to parley about, chief? If so, you +might have spared yourself the trouble."</p> + +<p>"No; it is not that. Let my father be patient."</p> + +<p>"Speak, then, and have done with it. One never knows how to get on with +all your Indian circumlocutions."</p> + +<p>"The army of the great nations is camped before the <i>presidio</i> to +obtain satisfaction for all the wrongs the palefaces have done the +Indians, since they first set foot on the red man's territory."</p> + +<p>"What are you talking about? Explain yourself clearly; and, first of +all, what is your pretext for thus invading our frontiers, without +previously declaring war? Have we broken the treaties we made with +you? Have we not always been generous to the Indians who claimed our +protection? Answer!"</p> + +<p>"Why does my father pretend to be ignorant of our just reasons for war +with the palefaces?" replied the Apache, feigning to be discontented +with the major's speech. "My father knows that we have for centuries +been at war with the Long Knives,<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> who dwell on the other side of the +mountains. Why has my father's nation, which assumes to be at peace +with us, made treaties with them?"</p> + +<p>"Chief, you are only seeking a quarrel; but that does not signify. I +would rather you had told me frankly that your wish was to pillage +and steal our horses and cattle, than give me a reason without common +sense. We should be at war with the Comanches, if you really meant what +you say. Therefore, chief, mock me no more, but proceed to facts. What +is it you demand?"</p> + +<p>The chief burst out laughing.</p> + +<p>"My father is cunning," he said. "Listen; thus say the chiefs: 'This +land belongs to us: we will have it.' The white ancestors of my father +had no right to establish themselves in it."</p> + +<p>"That pretext is, at all events, specious; for my ancestors bought this +land from one of your <i>sachems</i>."</p> + +<p>"The chiefs in assembly round, the tree of the Master of life have +determined to return to the great white chief, without reserve, all the +articles formerly given to the <i>sachem</i> in exchange for the land, and +to resume the country belonging to them, in which they will no longer +have the palefaces."</p> + +<p>"Is that all you were deputed to tell me?"</p> + +<p>"It is all," said the chief, bending his head.</p> + +<p>"And how much time," answered the major, "do the chiefs allow the +governor of the <i>presidio</i> to discuss these proposals?"</p> + +<p>"Two hours."</p> + +<p>"Very well," said the major coolly. "And if the governor refuses, what +will my brothers do?"</p> + +<p>"The <i>sachems</i>," replied the Apache, emphatically, "have determined to +resume the ownership of their territory. If the palefaces refuse to +restore it, their village shall be burnt, their warriors put to death, +their wives and children carried away as slaves."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said the major; "Before you obtain that result, all the whites +in the <i>presidio</i> will have been killed in its defence. But it is not +for me to discuss the matter with you. I will carry your demands to the +governor, precisely as you have made them; and tomorrow, at sunrise, +you shall have your answer. Hostilities must be suspended until then."</p> + +<p>"No; it is for you to stop them. We cannot stay here inactive; so be on +your guard."</p> + +<p>"Thanks for your frankness, chief," replied the major. "I am happy +at meeting an Indian who is not altogether a rascal. Good-bye, till +tomorrow."</p> + +<p>"Farewell," said the chiefs courteously.</p> + +<p>All were struck with admiration at the coolness of the veteran.</p> + +<p>The major retired as slowly as he had come, without manifesting +apprehension.</p> + +<p>The colonel awaited him at the barricade with the greatest anxiety. The +long interview had filled him with uneasiness. He had prepared himself +to avenge any insult that might be offered to his envoy. When the major +reached the barricade, he hastened to join him.</p> + +<p>"Well?" said he impatiently.</p> + +<p>"They are only seeking to gain time, in order to execute one of their +devilries."</p> + +<p>"What is the sum of their demands?"</p> + +<p>"Their pretensions are absurd, and they know it; for they sneered when +they laid them before me. They pretend that the <i>sachem</i> who ceded the +territory to the Spaniards, two hundred years ago, had no right to sell +it. They demand that we should surrender it to them in twenty-four +hours; if not—then follow the usual threats. Ah!" said the major, with +an ironical smile, "I forgot to tell you, colonel, that they pretend to +be ready to restore everything the <i>sachem</i> received for the land he +sold. That is all I am commissioned to report."</p> + +<p>The colonel shrugged his shoulders in disdain.</p> + +<p>"The demons are mad," said he, "or else they are trying to lull us into +security, so as to surprise us the more easily."</p> + +<p>"What do you think of doing?" asked the major.</p> + +<p>"Redouble my vigilance, my good friend; for I have no doubt we shall +soon come to blows with them again. I am specially uneasy about the old +<i>presidio</i>."</p> + +<p>"You go back to the fort; I will take the command of the advanced post. +It is most important, in case of a check, that our communication should +not be cut off, and that we may be able to retreat into the place +without too great loss."</p> + +<p>"I will leave you at liberty to act, my dear major; I am sure you will +do your best."</p> + +<p>The two veterans separated, after shaking hands warmly. The colonel +returned to the fort, while the major actively bestirred himself to put +the post confided to him in safety against a surprise.</p> + +<p>The garrison of the old <i>presidio</i> consisted chiefly of <i>vaqueros</i> and +<i>leperos</i>,—people, we confess, on whose fidelity the major could only +moderately rely. But the stout old soldier locked the apprehensions +that tormented him up in his heart, and feigned entire confidence in +these fellows, whom he more than suspected.</p> + +<p>The day passed over quietly enough. The Apaches, buried like moles +behind their intrenchments, seemed determined not to quit them. The +sentinels watched vigilantly at the barriers and barricades which +closed the suburb. The major, reassured by this apparent tranquillity, +hoped that the Indians would not assume the offensive before the term +proposed for the receipt of the governor's answer; and, overwhelmed +with fatigue from the numerous operations he had been obliged to +superintend in providing for the defence in its minutest details, he +retired to a house close to the barricade, to snatch a few minutes of +necessary repose.</p> + +<p>Certain of our old acquaintances were amongst the defenders of +the suburb: Pablito, El Verado, Tonillo, and Carlocho. The worthy +<i>vaqueros</i>, since the appearance of the Indians, had given such +undeniable proofs of fidelity, that the major, at their request, and as +a reward for their good conduct, had confided to them the most advanced +barricade, which was, in fact, the key of the suburb.</p> + +<p>A few minutes after sunset, these four men were together at the foot of +the barricade, and talking in whispers. A dozen more rascals of their +own stamp, grouped a few paces off were evidently awaiting the result +of their mysterious council.</p> + +<p>At last they rose, and their colloquy terminated.</p> + +<p>"Well, then," said Carlocho, by way of wind-up, "it is settled for ten +o'clock?"</p> + +<p>"For ten o'clock," peremptorily replied El Zapote; "a man can only +stick to his word. We have been nobly paid, and must fulfil our +promise, especially as we have received half the amount."</p> + +<p>"True," said the others, thoroughly convinced; "the loss would be too +great."</p> + +<p>"I should think so!" exclaimed El Zapote; "Only think, <i>queridos</i> (my +boys); five-and-twenty ounces a piece!"</p> + +<p>The bandits grinned like hyenas which scent a corpse, and their eyes +glistened with greed.</p> + +<p>The major, lying half upright on a <i>butaca</i>, slept the restless sleep +of a man whose mind is preoccupied by affairs of great moment; when +all of a sudden he felt himself rudely shaken, and a voice, half +unintelligible from emotion, shouted into his ears:</p> + +<p>"Rise, major, rise! We are betrayed! The <i>vaqueros</i> have given up the +barricade to the Apaches, and the Indians are in the place."</p> + +<p>The officer bounded to his feet, seized his sword, and rushed out of +doors without answering, followed by the man—a Mexican soldier—who +had so rudely awakened him.</p> + +<p>At a single glance, the major recognised the truth of the disastrous +news reported to him. El Zapote and his comrades had not only +surrendered the barrier to the Apaches, but had even joined them, +followed by the few wretches we mentioned above.</p> + +<p>The situation was very critical. The Mexicans, disheartened by the +shameful defection of the <i>vaqueros</i>, fought without energy or order, +dreading further treachery, and on that account not daring to make good +head against the enemy.</p> + +<p>The Apaches and the <i>vaqueros</i> howled like demons, and charged +furiously on the demoralised defenders of the <i>presidio</i>, whom they +slaughtered pitilessly.</p> + +<p>It was a horrid spectacle to witness, this homicidal strife, illumined +by the lurid reflection of the houses fired by the Indians to light up +their victory. The war whoop of the Apaches mingled with the cries of +agony of the Mexicans they were massacring and the awful roaring of the +flames, fanned by the frequent squalls.</p> + +<p>The major threw himself resolutely into the thickest of the fight, +calling the garrison around him, and exciting them by voice and +gesture, to a desperate resistance.</p> + +<p>The appearance of the commandant of the <i>presidio</i> produced an +electrical effect on the Mexicans. Animated by his example, they +formed around him, and replied by a well-directed fire to the attacks +of their ferocious foes.</p> + +<p>The <i>vaqueros</i>, brought to a stand by the point of the bayonet, +ignominiously fled, pursued by a shower of balls.</p> + +<p>Thanks to the energetic action of the major, the fight was fairly +renewed; but Barnum was a soldier of too much experience to allow +himself to be deceived by a factitious success. He felt that any +attempt to hold the suburb would be madness; he therefore only thought +how to make good his retreat in the best possible order, and to bring +off the women and children.</p> + +<p>Calling his boldest and most resolute men about him, he formed them +into a body to hold the Indians in check, while the non-combatants +embarked and crossed the river. The Apaches perceived big project, and +doubled their efforts to hinder its execution.</p> + +<p>The <i>mle</i> grew still more frightful. A desperate hand-to-hand combat +ensued between whites and redskins; the former fighting for the safety +of their families, the latter in the hope of an immense booty.</p> + +<p>But the Mexicans, encouraged by the heroic devotion of their commander, +only retreated step by step, resisting with the energy of that despair +which performs prodigies, and in desperate circumstances trebles the +strength of man.</p> + +<p>This handful of brave men, scarcely numbering a hundred and fifty, kept +in check for three hours, and without allowing themselves to be broken, +nearly two thousand Indians, falling one after the other at their +allotted posts, in order to save their wives and children.</p> + +<p>At last the final boats full of wounded and non-combatants quitted +the suburb; the Mexicans uttered a shout of joy, charged the Apaches +once more, and, under the orders of the major,—who, like an old +wounded lion, seemed to abandon the fight with regret,—commenced their +retreat, continually harassed by the Apaches.</p> + +<p>They soon reached the river. Here the savages were constrained to fall +back in their turn, being decimated by the showers of grape poured upon +their dense ranks by the guns of the fortress.</p> + +<p>This successful diversion permitted the scanty survivors of the +heroic Mexican phalanx to enter the boats, and retire without further +molestation, carrying with them two or three prisoners they had +contrived to secure. The fight was at an end, after having lasted five +hours. The Apaches had only conquered through the treachery of the +<i>vaqueros</i>.</p> + +<p>The colonel received his friend at the landing place, and congratulated +him on his admirable defence, which, in his eyes, was as good as a +victory, on account of the enormous losses it had caused the enemy.</p> + +<p>Then, without losing time, the two officers took measures to complete +the defence of the place, by ordering the construction of strong +intrenchments on the bank of the river, and the erection of two +flanking batteries, of six guns each.</p> + +<p>The capture of the old <i>presidio</i> by the Indians, through the +treachery of the <i>vaqueros</i>, was an immense loss to the Mexicans, +whose communications with the numerous haciendas on that bank were cut +off. Luckily, the colonel, foreseeing a result almost inevitable from +the want of troops at his disposal, had withdrawn the whole of the +population of the suburb into San Lucar. The houses had been gutted, +horses and cattle carried off, and the boats moored under the batteries +of the fort, where they were in safety—at least for the present.</p> + +<p>It is true the Indians were masters of the suburb; but the success had +cost them greater losses than the possession of it was worth. After +all, the Mexicans had only lost an insignificant piece of ground, +scarcely worth defence; for the old <i>presidio</i> was not the key of the +place, of which it was only a questionable dependency, and from which +it was separated by the breadth of the river.</p> + +<p>Thus the effect of the battle on the two camps was exactly the reverse +of what the reader might suppose.</p> + +<p>The Mexicans almost congratulated themselves on the loss of a position +nearly useless to them in the present state of affairs, and the defence +of which could only cost them many valuable lives; while the Apaches +asked each other sadly what good the conquest of the suburb had done +them, in return for the loss of more than five hundred of their bravest +warriors who had fallen.</p> + +<p>Two <i>vaqueros</i>, who had been thrown from their horses, had been taken +prisoners by the Mexicans during their retreat.</p> + +<p>The colonel ordered a court martial to assemble, commanded two high +gibbets to be erected a little in advance of the new intrenchments +along the river, and had them hung in the sight of the whole +population, and of their companions, who had clustered together on the +opposite bank of the river, and uttered shouts of impotent rage at +seeing them executed.</p> + +<p>Don Jos Kalbris was not naturally cruel; but in this case he justly +thought he ought to make an example, in order to intimidate such as +might have the inclination to imitate them. A <i>bando</i> (an edict), fixed +to the foot of each gibbet, announced that the same fate awaited every +revolted <i>vaquero</i> who fell into the hands of the Mexicans.</p> + +<p>While this was doing, evening closed in; and the Indians, to annoy +the whites, amused themselves by setting fire to the suburb they had +taken the night before. The immense volume of flame produced by the +conflagration threw fantastic shadows over the camp of the Apaches and +the town of San Lucar, whose miserable inhabitants, plunged in the +stupor of grief, knew they had no mercy to expect from foes like these.</p> + +<p>The colonel seemed made of iron: he did not take a moment's rest, but +visited the posts continually, and sought by every means to strengthen +the defences of the town.</p> + +<p>He and the major had just entered the fort, after making a final round. +The night had passed, and the Indians had retreated to their camp, +after making a futile attempt to surprise the <i>presidio</i>.</p> + +<p>"Well, major," said the colonel, "you see how it is; there is no use in +our trying to blind each other. It is only a question of time for us; +whether we shall be taken tomorrow or in a week, no one can say: but +everyone can see what the result must be."</p> + +<p>"Hm!" said the major; "When the last moment has come, we shall always +have the resource of shutting ourselves up in the fort, and blowing it +and ourselves to the devil."</p> + +<p>"Unluckily, we have not even that resource."</p> + +<p>"How so?"</p> + +<p>"Why, we old soldiers might blow ourselves up easily and ought to do +it; but we cannot condemn the women and children shut up with us to +such a cruel fate."</p> + +<p>"True; but I have it! Although we cannot blow ourselves up, I can +always blow out my brains."</p> + +<p>"You have not even that consolation, my good friend. Is it not our duty +to set an example to the poor people cooped up here, and protect them +while we can? Is it not our duty to be in the breach to the last?"</p> + +<p>The major made no reply to this argument, which he inwardly +acknowledged to be unanswerable.</p> + +<p>"But," said he, after a pause, "how is it we have received no news from +the capital of the state?"</p> + +<p>"Ah, my friend! Out there they have probably other things than us to +think of."</p> + +<p>"I will not believe it."</p> + +<p>At this moment a servant opened the door, and announced:</p> + +<p>"Don Torribio Quiroga!"</p> + +<p>The two men shuddered, without being able to account for their emotion.</p> + +<p>Don Torribio entered. He wore the magnificent uniform of a colonel +in the Mexican service, and on his left arm the ribbons of an +aide-de-camp. He bowed respectfully to the two officers.</p> + +<p>"Is that you, Don Torribio?" said the colonel.</p> + +<p>"I suppose it is," said the former smiling.</p> + +<p>"When I last saw you, you were about to undertake a long journey."</p> + +<p>"From which I have just returned."</p> + +<p>"But the uniform you wear?"</p> + +<p>"Good heavens, caballeros! I was tired of being treated in the +provinces as a nobody, a kind of useless ninny. I threw off everything +of that sort, and have become a man of the world like others."</p> + +<p>"Then you are—?" asked Don Jos.</p> + +<p>"An officer like yourself, colonel,—of the same rank; and moreover, +aide-de-camp to the governor of the state."</p> + +<p>"It is wonderful!" said the colonel.</p> + +<p>"Why so? Nothing could be more simple."</p> + +<p>The major had taken no part in this conversation. When Don Torribio +entered, a strange suspicion had seized him.</p> + +<p>"I confess," said the colonel, "that I was a thousand miles from +thinking—"</p> + +<p>"What, pray? That I should turn officer? You see, you were wrong; +and so much the more so, since I have been deputed by the general +commanding the province to bring you a message, which I am sure will be +of great service to you in the present conjuncture."</p> + +<p>He drew forth a large folded paper, sealed with the Mexican arms, and +presented it to the colonel.</p> + +<p>Don Jos hastened to take it.</p> + +<p>"With your permission," said he, and hurriedly broke the seal, and read +the missive.</p> + +<p>"Aha!" he exclaimed; "Four hundred and fifty men! I did not expect so +strong a reinforcement."</p> + +<p>"The general feels greatly concerned for the <i>presidio</i>," said Don +Torribio; "he will spare no sacrifice to retain it."</p> + +<p>"<i>Vive Dios!</i> caballero, with such help I care as much for the Indians +as for a bundle of straw."</p> + +<p>"It seems to me that they will not arrive a whit too soon," said Don +Torribio, with a sneer.</p> + +<p>"<i>Canarios!</i> It is just in time; but now we shall have some fun."</p> + +<p>"I hope so," said the other, while an indescribable smile curled his +lips.</p> + +<p>"And your men?" asked the governor.</p> + +<p>"Will be here in an hour, at the latest."</p> + +<p>"To what corps do they belong?"</p> + +<p>"To none in particular; they are <i>guerilleros</i>" (irregular troops).</p> + +<p>"Hm!" said the colonel, showing a little disappointment; "I should have +preferred other troops. But never mind; if you like, we will go out to +meet them."</p> + +<p>"I am at your orders, colonel."</p> + +<p>"Shall I go with you?" asked the major.</p> + +<p>"Nothing could be better," said Don Torribio hastily.</p> + +<p>The colonel hesitated a moment.</p> + +<p>"No," said he, at last; "remain here. One cannot tell what may happen, +and somebody must be here to act for me in my absence. Come, Don +Torribio."</p> + +<p>With a sigh of satisfaction, the major threw himself back again on the +sofa from which he had risen.</p> + +<p>The two men went out. Just as they were mounting, they encountered a +horseman, who came up at full speed.</p> + +<p>"Estevan Diaz!" muttered Don Torribio to himself; "Please Heaven he has +not recognized me."</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 inhabitants of the United States.</p></div> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h4><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII.</a></h4> + +<h3>DISGRACE.</h3> +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p>As we have already said, Don Torribio had rapidly quitted the Hacienda +del Cormillo in company with the mysterious stranger whom he had met in +such an extraordinary manner.</p> + +<p>Their journey was not long. At the close of a quarter of an hour, the +stranger pulled up his horse, saying, in a sharp tone:</p> + +<p>"It is useless to take you farther before I know what I have to expect +from you."</p> + +<p>Don Torribio had halted at the same time as the unknown.</p> + +<p>"I think you are making a mistake, caballero," said he dryly.</p> + +<p>"In what way, if you please, seor?" said the other in a sneering tone.</p> + +<p>"I am going to put you in possession of a few facts, which will put us +on a level with each other."</p> + +<p>"Let us hear them, caballero; I am all attention."</p> + +<p>"In the first place," said Don Torribio firmly, "before we go any +farther, let me give you a piece of advice."</p> + +<p>"Advice is always useful: if yours is good, I shall profit by it; of +that be certain."</p> + +<p>"You will be right. I am unaware whether you know me, but be sure of +this: I am not easily frightened; and if, for some unknown reason, you +have led me into an ambush, I warn you that, at the first suspicious +movement you make, I will blow your brains out; for I neither know you, +nor what your intentions are."</p> + +<p>"Good! You are a man after my own heart, I see clearly we shall come to +an understanding."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps so. But as it is not I who have come to seek you out,—as +I have not claimed your aid in any way,—I demand, in the first +place, that you give me a clear explanation, without prevarication or +circumlocution."</p> + +<p>The stranger shrugged his shoulders.</p> + +<p>"Is it not enough for you to know that I am in a position to serve you +effectually in the plans of vengeance you meditate?"</p> + +<p>"I neither understand what you say, nor to what you allude," said Don +Torribio haughtily.</p> + +<p>"Aha!" said the other, laughing grimly; "Is that the way you answer +me?"</p> + +<p>"Why should I give you a different answer? What right have you to my +confidence? On what plea, supposing I have a secret, do you pretend to +search into it?"</p> + +<p>"Because your enemy is mine also; because, in avenging you, I avenge +myself. Do you understand me now?"</p> + +<p>"No more than I did before. If you have nothing else to say, we had +better break off our conference and part."</p> + +<p>The stranger made a gesture of impatience: he had not expected to meet +with so much inflexibility.</p> + +<p>"One word more, Don Torribio Quiroga. The man whom you hate, whose +death you have already plotted, is called Don Fernando Carril. That man +who for a long time has crossed your path at every turn, counteracting +your plans and ruining your hopes, has overthrown you in all your +reencounters; your very life belongs to him; he has taken all, even to +the heart of her you love. Is not this true? Will you trust me now?"</p> + +<p>Don Torribio had listened with mingled pain and anger to the +revelations of the singular being who had accosted him.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said he, clenching his hand with rage, "yes, you are well +informed. I care not whether you have gleaned your knowledge from +heaven or hell; it is accurate. This man is my evil genius, always +and forever crossing my path, and overthrowing, as if in wantonness, +my most cherished aspirations. I would sacrifice my whole fortune to +avenge myself on him—to hold him, panting and despairing, in my power."</p> + +<p>"I thought we should end by coming to an understanding."</p> + +<p>"Do not mock me, seor; my soul is deeply troubled. I could have +forgiven this man his insolent good luck, his success in the world, +where he thrives at my expense, the heaps of gold he wins with such +proud indifference,—I say, I could have forgiven him all this, if +he had not destroyed my sweetest hopes in tearing from me the heart +of her I love; for although I have no tangible proof to corroborate +my suspicions, I have tonight acquired a moral certainty impossible +to controvert. A lover's heart does not deceive him; jealousy is +sharp-sighted. On the appearance of Don Fernando at Don Pedro de +Luna's, I found in him a rival, and a rival who is preferred to me."</p> + +<p>"If you choose, I will rid you of Don Fernando, and deliver Doa +Hermosa into your hands."</p> + +<p>"You will do that?" cried Don Torribio, beside himself with joy.</p> + +<p>"I will do it," briefly responded the stranger. "Before two days are +over, you shall have your revenge on both. But it all depends upon your +own will."</p> + +<p>"Ah! If that is all," said the other, with an indescribable expression +of rage, "I will do all you ask, I will agree to all your demands, to +the utmost of my power."</p> + +<p>"Take heed, Don Torribio; we are about to enter into a compact—a +compact, the conditions of which you must fulfil at all hazards."</p> + +<p>"Whatever they may be, I will fulfil them, if you secure my twofold +revenge."</p> + +<p>"Good! Swear to me, by all you hold most sacred in this world, +that, whatever may happen, whatever determination you may arrive at +hereafter, you will never divulge what is going to pass between us."</p> + +<p>"I swear to you, <i>a fe de</i> caballero," (on the honour of a gentleman), +"seor. Speak with all confidence."</p> + +<p>"Just now you asked me who I am: I am the Tigercat!"</p> + +<p>Don Torribio shuddered involuntarily on hearing this redoubtable name, +but recovered himself immediately.</p> + +<p>"Very good," said he; "the name you reveal is a guarantee of success to +my vengeance."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said the bandit, chuckling, "I dare say it is; my reputation has +been established a long time on the frontiers. In the meantime, this is +what I exact of you. Ponder well what you are about to hear—reflect +seriously on what I am going to propose—before you answer; for, I +repeat once more, I will compel you to act up to the conditions when +once you have accepted them."</p> + +<p>"Speak," he replied impatiently; "have I not told you I am longing for +revenge?"</p> + +<p>"Hear me, then, and remember your oath. I am at this moment preparing +an expedition against San Lucar, of which I intend to gain possession +at any price. For certain reasons, which need not be mentioned, I have +assembled several tribes of the Apaches and a considerable number of +<i>vaqueros</i>, who are concealed not far from hence, and only await my +signal to fall, like tigers thirsting for blood, upon the <i>pueblo</i>, as +it is gorged with wealth. An active and intelligent ally, upon whom I +counted to execute this bold <i>coup-de-main</i>, has deserted me at the +last moment. You alone can replace him: will you do so?"</p> + +<p>"What is this?" exclaimed Don Torribio, shuddering; "It is treason you +propose!"</p> + +<p>"No," replied the other, in a deep voice, "it is revenge!—consummate +vengeance, by which I shall confound your enemies, and those who have +applauded their success, while they laughed in scorn at each of your +disasters."</p> + +<p>"What! I, Don Torribio Quiroga, belonging to one of the oldest families +in the country; I am to associate—"</p> + +<p>He hesitated and paused. The Tigercat laughed with disdain.</p> + +<p>"With bandits and redskins, you would say, and wage war on your own +countrymen. Why hesitate to pronounce the words? As for me, those +qualifications have no value. I offer you revenge on your countrymen, +who have become your enemies in siding with your adversary. You are +about to engage in a duel. In a duel, all feints to kill your opponent +are lawful. But these are my conditions, and I will not alter them a +tittle. I will give you twenty-four hours for consideration."</p> + +<p>A long silence ensued between the two men.</p> + +<p>The night was dark; the wind howled mournfully through the branches of +the trees; nameless noises passed them by, borne on the wings of the +breeze.</p> + +<p>At last Don Torribio answered in husky tones:</p> + +<p>"You have given me twenty-four hours; I demand forty-eight to come to +my determination. I will make one more attempt with her I love. You +see, I am frank with you. The line of conduct I adopt will depend upon +the result of the experiment."</p> + +<p>"Be it so," said the Tigercat; "it is better thus. Your cooperation +will be more efficacious, and your will firmer, when your last allusion +has been torn from you. Go, then! For my part, I shall not be idle."</p> + +<p>"Thanks! In case I want to communicate to you my resolve, where shall I +find you?"</p> + +<p>"I will await you at the Barranca del Fraile" (the Friar's inn).</p> + +<p>"Agreed! God grant," he added, with a sigh, "that fate may not force me +to be there!"</p> + +<p>The Tigercat laughed aloud; and, without replying, spurred his horse, +and disappeared in the darkness.</p> + +<p>We have already related how the old freebooter acted to keep his +promise to Don Torribio.</p> + +<p>The desertion among the Apaches, brought about by the influence of the +<i>amantzin</i>, on the night when the Tigercat left them to repair to the +rendezvous arranged with Stoneheart, had not been as successful as the +sorcerer had hoped. The sudden return of the old chief sufficed to +restore his authority among the Apaches, who had long been accustomed +to obey him, and whose raids against the frontier had always been +productive of booty when he commanded them.</p> + +<p>The Tigercat had not even taken the trouble to punish the <i>amantzin</i> +himself—the Zopilote had taken care of that; and the summary execution +had produced an excellent effect upon those rugged and savage minds, +which brute force alone can tame.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, he had no wish to damp the renewed devotion shown him +by the redskins; and, although his final dispositions were not yet +made, and the defection of Stoneheart was a serious hindrance to his +plans, he comprehended the necessity of hurrying on his expedition, +even at the risk of seeing it fail, calculating on turning to his own +profit the hatred of Don Torribio, whose high standing in the province +might be very useful to him. He assembled all the Indians able to +bear arms of whom he could dispose, crossed the Rio Grande del Norte; +and these vultures fell like a devastating hurricane on the luckless +Indian frontier,—burning, pillaging, slaughtering, and passing like +a horrible plague over those magnificent plains which they left behind +them a desert.</p> + +<p>Don Torribio Quiroga was one of the first to learn the tidings of the +Indian invasion. The news gave him an indescribable feeling of mingled +joy and regret. He guessed that the Tigercat wished to give him a proof +of the sincerity of his intentions towards him, and of the manner in +which he meant to keep the promise he had given.</p> + +<p>Up to that time a prey to a thousand conflicting feelings, he now +resolved to settle his doubts at once, and to learn positively what +he had to hope or fear from Doa Hermosa and her father. Towards nine +o'clock in the morning, he called for his horse, and, in spite of the +danger he would certainly incur in the short space between the presidio +and the hacienda, he managed to leave San Lucar, on which the Indians +were rapidly moving, and rode at full speed towards El Cormillo.</p> + +<p>About half way to the hacienda his horse started at several dead bodies +lying across the road, riddled with wounds; but he was too preoccupied +by his own thoughts to pay much attention to the ominous reencounter. +As he rode past, he cast a careless look at the corpses, and continued +his road without further thought of the incident.</p> + +<p>Either designedly, or because they knew the futility of an attack on +the hacienda, the Apaches had deviated from their furious course, so as +not to approach it. When Don Torribio arrived, he found it in a perfect +state of defence: the gates shut and barricaded with care, the windows +blocked and loopholed; and he saw the bayonets of the numerous garrison +gleaming above the walls in the sunshine.</p> + +<p>The sentries placed at the principal entrance gave admittance to Don +Torribio, but not before they had questioned and recognised him. A +<i>peon</i> received and conducted him to the drawing room. He found three +persons there: Don Pedro de Luna, a Manuela, and Don Estevan Diaz, +who, pale and bloody, was lying upon a sofa, apparently asleep. His +mother, seated beside him, watched his slumbers with that tender +solicitude which belongs to mothers only. Don Torribio took a few +hesitating steps forward, and stopped in surprise when he perceived +that no one seemed to notice his presence. At last Don Pedro raised his +eyes, and looking at him coldly, said, "Oh! Is it you, cousin? How +does it happen that you are here today?"</p> + +<p>"Had I no other motive," replied Don Torribio, troubled by a reception +he had not anticipated, and foreseeing a storm, "the lively interest I +take in your family would have made it my duty to be here now."</p> + +<p>"I thank you, cousin," said Don Pedro still more coldly, "for the +proof of sympathy you are kind enough to give us. But you might have +remembered that El Cormillo is in a perfect state of defence, and that +we run no danger behind these walls, before you exposed yourself to +be assassinated on the road, as has nearly happened to our poor Don +Estevan."</p> + +<p>"Has he been set upon?" asked Don Torribio.</p> + +<p>"Yes," dryly replied the hacendero; "he and another person, who, less +lucky than Estevan, is most likely dead. Did you not know it?"</p> + +<p>"I!" Exclaimed Don Torribio, with an accent of truth there was no +mistaking; "How should I know?"</p> + +<p>"Excuse me, cousin; I am so troubled at what has occurred, that I +hardly know what I am saying."</p> + +<p>Don Torribio bowed, and then replied:</p> + +<p>"May I not have the pleasure of offering my homage to my charming +cousin?"</p> + +<p>"You must excuse her; she has retired to her room. The poor child is so +distracted by the late extraordinary events, that she is unable to see +any one—not even you."</p> + +<p>"I am the more grieved at this indisposition, as I wished to have some +conversation with her on a matter of moment."</p> + +<p>"So much the worse, cousin; so much the worse. The time is ill chosen +to speak of business, as you must allow, when the Indians are at our +gates, devastating our fields and burning our dwellings."</p> + +<p>"True, cousin; I acknowledge the justice of your remark. Unfortunately, +I find myself placed by chance in such extraordinary circumstances, +that if I might persist—"</p> + +<p>"It would be useless, my dear Don Torribio," said Don Pedro, +interrupting him, and exhibiting a certain degree of stiffness. "I have +the honour to tell you that my daughter cannot have the pleasure of +seeing you today."</p> + +<p>"Then pray, cousin, excuse my inopportune intrusion. Perhaps I shall be +more lucky another day."</p> + +<p>"That is it; some other day, when we have got rid of these cursed +pagans, and have no longer a horrible death in perspective."</p> + +<p>"And now," said Don Torribio, with ill-suppressed rage, "as I perceive +that, owing to your abstraction doubtless, you have not even offered me +a seat, cousin, I have no more to do than offer my good wishes for your +safety, and take my leave of you."</p> + +<p>The hacendero did not seem to observe the tone of ill humour in which +these words were uttered.</p> + +<p>"Good-bye, then, Don Torribio," said he, "and a lucky journey. Above +all things, be prudent, and do not travel with your eyes shut. The +roads are infested by brigands, and I should be in despair if you met +with mishap."</p> + +<p>"I thank you for your advice, and will follow it," he replied, turning +to leave the room.</p> + +<p>Just at this moment Don Estevan—who, as we have said, appeared to +be sleeping—opened his eyes, and perceived Don Torribio. His look +brightened.</p> + +<p>"Mother," said he in a feeble voice, "and you, Don Pedro, do me the +favour to leave me alone with this caballero for a short time. I have a +few words to say to him in private."</p> + +<p>"To me, seor?" asked Don Torribio, in a tone so haughty it sounded +like disdain.</p> + +<p>"To yourself, Seor Don Torribio Quiroga," replied the wounded man, +whose voice grew stronger under the excitement of his feelings.</p> + +<p>"You are very weak, my son, for a conversation with any one," said +Manuela.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps, my friend," said Don Pedro, "it would be more prudent to +defer it for a few days."</p> + +<p>"No," was the reply; "it must be today—must be this instant."</p> + +<p>"Just as you please, headstrong!" said Don Pedro. "We will go into the +anteroom, where we shall be within call. Come, Manuela."</p> + +<p>Don Estevan kept his eyes fixed on the door till it closed behind them; +then he turned to Don Torribio, who was still standing in the centre of +the room.</p> + +<p>"Come nearer, seor, that you may be better able to hear what I have to +say to you."</p> + +<p>"I am listening to you, seor; but, at the same time, must beg you not +to delay your communication."</p> + +<p>"You shall have it. I warn you, that I tore the mask from one of the +bandits who attacked us, and recognised him."</p> + +<p>"I am at a loss to understand," said Don Torribio.</p> + +<p>"Oh! You do not understand, seor! It is the answer I expected. +I suppose, likewise, you do not know the name of the person who +accompanied me, and on whom the <i>vaqueros</i> fell with such indescribable +fury?"</p> + +<p>"I am perfectly ignorant as to who he was," said Don Torribio, quite +unmoved.</p> + +<p>"Better and better! Learn, then, that it was Don Fernando Carril who +was killed." And he cast a look pregnant with irony at the man standing +beside him.</p> + +<p>"Don Fernando Carril!—killed!" exclaimed the latter, stupefied.</p> + +<p>Don Estevan smiled disdainfully.</p> + +<p>"Listen once more to this," he continued in threatening tones. "If Don +Fernando is not brought to this hacienda within twenty-four hours, I +will reveal to Don Pedro and his daughter the name of his assassin. I +think you understand me this time?" And, overcome with grief, he sank +half fainting on his couch.</p> + +<p>Don Torribio remained a moment, annihilated with the words he had +heard; but, immediately recovering his presence of mind, he quickly +left the hacienda, and galloped into the plains, muttering as he rode:</p> + +<p>"The Tigercat was right: there is nothing left for me but to seek the +Barranca del Fraile."</p> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h4><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX.</a></h4> + +<h3>THE PRISONER.</h3> +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p>We must now explain to our readers what happened after the fall of Don +Fernando Carril, when he was made the victim of an ambuscade.</p> + +<p>When his hand was no longer able to raise his sword, and he had fallen +by the side of his companion, the men in masks—who had been chary of +approaching too near him, out of respect for the blade he wielded so +well, as proved by the bodies of four bandits lying on the sand beside +him? rushed all at once upon him.</p> + +<p>Don Fernando Carril lay on his back showing no signs of life. A deadly, +pallor overspread his noble features; his half-opened lips disclosed +his clenched teeth; blood was flowing in torrents from the many wounds +he had received; and his hand still clasped the weapon with which he +had so long held his assailants at bay.</p> + +<p>"<i>Caspita!</i>" cried one, looking at him attentively; "Here is a young +gentleman who is seriously hurt. What will the master say?"</p> + +<p>"What would you have him say, Seor Carlocho?" said another; "He +defended himself like a lion. It is his own fault. He ought to have let +himself be taken nicely, and all this would not have happened. Look! we +have lost four men."</p> + +<p>"A pretty loss indeed, those four fellows there! I would rather he had +killed six than be in the state he is now."</p> + +<p>"The devil!" muttered the other bandit; "That is no compliment to us, +you know."</p> + +<p>"That will do; that will do. Help me to bind up his wounds as well as +we can, and lose no time about it. This is no wholesome place for us; +besides we are expected elsewhere; so be quick."</p> + +<p>Without further discussion, the bandits hastened to obey the orders +of Carlocho. Don Fernando's wounds were bound up somehow; he was +thrown across the horse of the <i>guacho</i>, who seemed to be leader of +the expedition, and the party set off at full gallop, without further +heed of those who had fallen in the struggle, and whose bodies were +abandoned to the beasts of prey.</p> + +<p>After a very rapid ride of two hours, they reached an abandoned +<i>rancho</i>.</p> + +<p>Two men were awaiting their arrival with impatience.</p> + +<p>These two men were Tigercat and Don Torribio.</p> + +<p>"Well!" shouted the former, as soon as he saw them.</p> + +<p>"It is done!" said Carlocho laconically, as he dismounted, took Don +Fernando in his arms, and carried him to a bed of leaves.</p> + +<p>The latter showed no signs of life.</p> + +<p>"Is he dead?" asked the Tigercat.</p> + +<p>Carlocho shook his head.</p> + +<p>"He is hardly better than dead," he replied.</p> + +<p>"Wretch!" cried the Indian chief in a fury; "Is it thus you execute my +orders? Did I not command you to take him alive?"</p> + +<p>"Hm!" said Carlocho; "I only wish you had been there to see! An +incarnate demon, who, armed only with a thin rapier, withstood us for +more than twenty minutes, and only gave in after killing four of our +bravest!"</p> + +<p>The Tigercat smiled disdainfully.</p> + +<p>"You are all cowards," he said.</p> + +<p>And turning his back on the <i>vaquero</i>, he went up to Don Fernando.</p> + +<p>Don Torribio was already at his side.</p> + +<p>"Is he dead?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"No," replied the Mexican; "but nearly so."</p> + +<p>"So much the worse," muttered the old chief, "I would give a good deal +for his recovery."</p> + +<p>Don Torribio looked at him with astonishment.</p> + +<p>"Of what importance is the life of this man to us?" he said. "Was he +not your enemy?"</p> + +<p>"The very reason why I do not wish him to die."</p> + +<p>"I do not understand you."</p> + +<p>"I have devoted my life to the accomplishment of an idea; therefore +I no longer belong to myself, and am bound to offer up my hate and +friendship to my idea."</p> + +<p>"I admit that, up to a certain point: but how is it, then, that you +have laid a trap for this man, who, according to your own account, is a +traitor."</p> + +<p>"Are men always to be harshly judged, even by those who are most +intimate with them?" said the old chief, with a bitter smile. "What is +it to me that the man may be a traitor? By putting him out of the way, +without touching his life, I should have gained the end I had before +me when I sought your alliance. After keeping him a prisoner for a +few days, to prevent his counteracting your plans, and hindering your +marriage with Doa Hermosa, I should have restored him to freedom. +Unluckily, it is too late now: what is done cannot be undone. The death +of this man, obscurely slain in ambuscade, will do more to frustrate +my plans than you imagine. His blood be upon your head! It is you who +ordered this murder."</p> + +<p>"I!" replied Don Torribio. "You are mad!"</p> + +<p>The Tigercat looked at his new ally with a stare of surprise, shrugged +his shoulders, and whistled a Mexican <i>seguidilla</i>. It was evident that +Don Torribio had not understood a word of what had been uttered by +this singular man, whose sole delight had hitherto been in slaughter.</p> + +<p>"Pooh!" said he; "What does one, more or less, signify?"</p> + +<p>The Indian chief stooped over the body of the wounded man, and examined +it carefully. The eyes were closed, and the features had the paleness +and rigidity of death. Two or three <i>vaqueros</i>, aided by Carlocho, +rubbed his temples and chest incessantly with rum.</p> + +<p>After looking at the body attentively, the old chief drew a knife +from his girdle, held the blade for two or three minutes across the +mouth, withdrew it again, and examined it. He thought it was slightly +tarnished; then he knelt down by Don Fernando, seized his left arm, +ripped up the sleeve, and, having felt for the vein, pricked it with +the delicate point of his knife.</p> + +<p>Then followed an instant of anxious suspense. The looks of all were +fixed on the wounded man. This attempt would be the last; if it did not +succeed, all was over: he knew of no other means to recall him to life. +The <i>vaqueros</i> continued the friction.</p> + +<p>At the puncture made by the chief's knife, there appeared at last a +dark speck; little by little it increased in size, till it grew into a +black point, which finally became a bead of jet: this trembled for a +moment, and then fell rolling down the arm, pressed forward by another +which succeeded it, and immediately made room for a third; then the +blood grew less black and less thick, and finally gushed out in a long +vermillion stream.</p> + +<p>The Tigercat could not repress a shout of triumph; Don Fernando was +saved. In fact, after the lapse of a minute, the latter moved slightly +and uttered a deep sigh.</p> + +<p>The Indian chief rose, after binding up Don Fernando's arm and signed +to Pablito to follow him into another compartment of the <i>rancho</i>, +requesting Don Torribio to remain for a time where he was.</p> + +<p>Without waiting for the question which the <i>vaquero</i> was about to ask, +and which he saw playing about his finely chiselled lips, the chief +began to speak with a feverish haste, betraying the secret agitation of +his mind.</p> + +<p>"You see what has happened," he said.</p> + +<p>"But you yourself willed it so!" said Pablito, utterly surprised.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I did will it; and I thank God for having spared me this odious +crime!"</p> + +<p>"If you are satisfied, all will go well."</p> + +<p>"But here is another matter. Remember this: Don Torribio must be kept +in the dark. To all the world, and to this man in particular, Don +Fernando is dead."</p> + +<p>"Speak on; I think I understand you."</p> + +<p>"Don Fernando's wounds, though many, are not severe. The loss of blood, +and the speed with which he was brought hither, are the sole causes of +the lethargy into which he has fallen, and out of which he will soon +awake."</p> + +<p>"Good; Now, what am I to do?"</p> + +<p>"He must not see me."</p> + +<p>"Very good; nothing can be easier."</p> + +<p>"Nor must he recognise you."</p> + +<p>"That will be more difficult; he knows me well."</p> + +<p>"It is most important."</p> + +<p>"I will try."</p> + +<p>"And now, this is what you have to do."</p> + +<p>"I am all attention."</p> + +<p>"I must leave this place immediately; my presence is required +elsewhere. As for you, you will have Don Fernando carried to the +<i>presidio</i>, without his learning who has taken him thither."</p> + +<p>"To the <i>presidio</i>?" exclaimed Pablito, astonished.</p> + +<p>"Yes; it is the safest place," said the chief, drawing forth a paper +cut to a certain shape; "you will take him to my house. He must not +leave it on any pretence: above all, he must not know he is at the +<i>presidio</i>."</p> + +<p>"Is that all?"</p> + +<p>"It is. Only, remember, you are answerable to me for him."</p> + +<p>"Very well. At your orders I will produce him, alive or dead."</p> + +<p>"Alive! His life is precious to me."</p> + +<p>"Then I will do my best."</p> + +<p>"And now, Pablito, be honest with me. Can I trust you?"</p> + +<p>"Well," said Pablito, "since you are so much concerned about such a +wretched affair, I will answer for your prisoner."</p> + +<p>"Then farewell, and thanks," said the Tigercat; "above all, remember +to report to me tonight, in Don Torribio's presence, that his enemy is +dead."</p> + +<p>"Rely upon me for that."</p> + +<p>"No, no," muttered the old chief to himself; "he must not die: his life +is too necessary for the accomplishment of my revenge."</p> + +<p>He rejoined Don Torribio, who had grown impatient. Without exchanging +a word, the two mounted the magnificent mustangs that were waiting for +them, and disappeared amongst the foliage.</p> + +<p>Pablito, twisting his moustache in ill humour, returned to the wounded +man; the office intrusted to him was evidently unpalatable. However, +as the <i>vaquero</i> was an honest man enough, after his own fashion, and +prided himself, among the numerous other good qualities he fancied he +possessed, most especially on his adherence to his word, the thought of +breaking it never entered his mind.</p> + +<p>"How is he?" he asked Carlocho in a whisper.</p> + +<p>"A great deal better," replied the latter. "It is astonishing how much +good the bleeding has done him; he has already opened his eyes twice +and tried to speak."</p> + +<p>"Hm! Then we have no time to lose. Put a bandage round the eyes of this +fellow, and then, lest he should use his hands to remove it, tie them +down to his sides. But, as this is only to be done for prudence' sake, +I recommend you to use as much gentleness and delicacy as your nature +is capable of. Do you understand perfectly?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, <i>canarios!</i> One need not be a wizard to do that!"</p> + +<p>"Well, make haste! I give you five minutes to obey my orders: in ten we +shall be gone."</p> + +<p>The wounded man had indeed recovered a good deal of his strength. As +the chief had declared, his wounds were not severe, and the loss of +blood alone had occasioned the prostration in which he was lying.</p> + +<p>Little by little he had recovered his senses sufficiently to know +into whose hands he had fallen; and although too feeble to offer the +slightest opposition whatever to the bandits at his side, his presence +of mind had returned in a degree to enable him to comprehend that the +greatest circumspection was necessary, to avoid arousing the suspicions +as to his state in people who would not for a moment hesitate to +sacrifice him to their safety.</p> + +<p>So, when Carlocho, according to the injunctions of Pablito, passed a +folded handkerchief over his eyes, and bound his hands, he feigned +entire insensibility, and allowed them to do as they pleased with him, +secretly rejoiced at these precautions, which indicated that his life +was safe for the present.</p> + +<p>"Now, what is to be done?" asked Carlocho.</p> + +<p>"Two or three of you take up the wounded man, and carry him carefully +to the boat I have in waiting close by. And pay particular attention to +him, you fellows; for, at the first jolt, I will blow your brains out."</p> + +<p>"<i>Caray!</i>" was all the <i>vaquero</i> could utter, for surprise.</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said Pablito, with a shrug of his shoulders; "As you were fools +enough not to kill him when you might have done so, so much the worse +for you: now you shall mount guard over him. That shall teach you to +introduce courtesy, or, if you like it better, clumsiness, into an +ambuscade the next time."</p> + +<p>Carlocho opened his eyes wide at this rodomontade, which he could not +understand, but hastened to obey the order.</p> + +<p>Don Fernando was carried thus into a boat by Pablito, Carlocho, and a +third <i>vaquero;</i> while the remainder went off by land, taking their +comrades' horses with them. Three hours later, the prisoner, to whom +his keepers had not spoken a word during the journey, was carried into +the <i>presidio</i>, and shut up in a house lately hired by the Tigercat in +a fictitious name—a circumstance of which Don Fernando knew nothing.</p> + +<p>The bandage was taken from his eyes, his hands were freed; but a man in +a mask, mute as a tomb, was placed in his chamber, and never left him.</p> + +<p>The wounded man, harassed by the journey, and weakened by the blood he +had lost, resolved, for the present, to trust to chance for relief from +his annoying and incomprehensible situation. He gave that apparently +listless but all-observant glance around him which is peculiar to +prisoners, and dropped off into a deep sleep, lasting many hours, and +restoring to his mind all its coolness and original clearness.</p> + +<p>The people who served him, though masked and dumb, took the greatest +care of him, and seemed to vie with each other in their endeavours to +comply with his wishes, and satisfy his most capricious whims. In +point of fact, his position was tolerable; at bottom, there was a spice +of originality about it; and Don Fernando, convinced, at the end of two +days' experience, that no attempt would be made on his life, but that, +on the contrary, every effort was made to heal his wounds as quickly +as possible, concluded to bear his lot bravely, in the expectation of +better times.</p> + +<p>The third day of his captivity, Don Fernando, whose wounds were only +sword cuts, and now nearly cicatrised, rose from his bed, partly to try +his strength, and partly to look out and discover where he was: it was +requisite to know the locality, in order to mature the scheme of escape +he was already secretly planning.</p> + +<p>The weather was magnificent; the hot sunlight shone cheerfully in at +the windows, tracing the bars on the floor of the chamber which served +as his prison. It made him feel quite refreshed, and he tried to walk +a few steps, still carefully watched by his inevitable guard, whose +flaming eyes were never off him. Suddenly a terrible clamour arose, and +a round of artillery shook the panes.</p> + +<p>"What is that?" asked Don Fernando.</p> + +<p>His keeper shrugged his shoulders, but did not reply.</p> + +<p>The sharp cracking of muskets was now mingled with the roar of the +guns; and it became evident that a hard fight was going on somewhere +in the neighbourhood. His keeper, imperturbable as ever, closed the +windows.</p> + +<p>Don Fernando went up to him. The two men stared at each other for a +moment. Many a time had the wounded man addressed a question to this +stolid sentry without eliciting an answer, and now he hesitated a +little before making a fresh attempt.</p> + +<p>"Friend," said he, at last, in a gentle voice, "what is going on out of +doors?"</p> + +<p>The man remained mute.</p> + +<p>"Answer me, in the name of Heaven!" continued the querist; "I ask but +little. Surely you would not overstep your instructions by telling me +thus much?"</p> + +<p>Just then the clamour seemed to draw nearer; hurried steps, mingled +with outcries, sounded close at hand. His keeper rose uneasily, drew +his machete (knife) from its sheath, pulled a pistol from his belt, and +went towards the door; but on a sudden it was violently opened, and a +man rushed into the room, his face blanched with terror.</p> + +<p>"Up! On your guard;" cried he; "we are lost!"</p> + +<p>His keeper made a sign for Don Fernando to keep back, and placed +himself resolutely in front of the door, where four men, masked and +armed to the teeth, had just made their appearance.</p> + +<p>"Back!" cried the keeper; "No one enters here without a watchword!"</p> + +<p>"Here you have it," answered one of the men at the door, as, with a +pistol, he blew out the keeper's brains.</p> + +<p>The four men stepped over his body, seized and bound his comrade, who +had crouched down in the farthest corner of the room, and advanced to +Don Fernando, who was wondering at the strange scene.</p> + +<p>"You are at liberty, caballero," said one of the four. "Come, you must +leave this house at once."</p> + +<p>"First of all, who are you?" replied Don Fernando; "Who are you, who +proclaim yourselves my liberators?"</p> + +<p>"We have no time for explanations," answered the man in the mask. "Make +haste and follow us."</p> + +<p>"Not before I know who you are."</p> + +<p>The other gave an impatient stamp, and, stooping down, whispered in his +ear:</p> + +<p>"Madman! Have you no wish to see Doa Hermosa again?"</p> + +<p>Don Fernando reddened with pleasure.</p> + +<p>"I follow you," said he.</p> + +<p>"Here," said the mask, "take these pistols and this sword; we have not +done our work yet. We may still have fighting before us."</p> + +<p>"Yes!" exclaimed Don Fernando joyfully; "I now see that you are really +sent to save me. I will follow wherever you may lead." And he seized +the weapons, and placed them in his girdle.</p> + +<p>They hastily left the house.</p> + +<p>"What!" cried Don Fernando, as he put his foot out of doors, "Am I at +the <i>presidio</i> of San Lucar?"</p> + +<p>"Did you not know it?" asked his guide.</p> + +<p>"How was it possible? I was brought here with my eyes bandaged."</p> + +<p>In the court several horses, ready saddled, were tied to rings in the +wall.</p> + +<p>"Could you keep your saddle?" said the stranger.</p> + +<p>"I hope so," replied Don Fernando.</p> + +<p>"You must," said the stranger peremptorily.</p> + +<p>"Then I will, even if I die in it."</p> + +<p>"Good: let us mount and be gone."</p> + +<p>At the very moment they were issuing into the street, a troop of ten or +twelve mounted men were coming up at full gallop: they were not more +than twenty paces off.</p> + +<p>"Here are the enemy," said the stranger in deep and low tones; "we must +charge and ride over them, or die."</p> + +<p>The five men formed in line, and rushed like a thunderbolt upon the +newcomers, at whom they discharged their pistols point-blank, and then +cut their way with the sword.</p> + +<p>"<i>Caray!</i>" screamed Pablito, in a fury—for it was he who commanded +the troop—"My prisoner is escaping."</p> + +<p>Spurring his horse, he dashed at Don Fernando. But the latter, without +drawing bridle, fired a pistol; and the <i>vaquero's</i> horse, struck by a +ball in the forehead, rolled to the ground, bearing his rider with him.</p> + +<p>Pablito rose, half killed by the fall. The men who had attacked him so +briskly had disappeared.</p> + +<p>"Never mind; I shall find them again," he cried.</p> + +<p>In the meantime, the fugitives had reached the bank of the river, and +found a boat waiting for them.</p> + +<p>"We must part here," said the stranger, taking off his mask.</p> + +<p>"Estevan!" cried Don Fernando.</p> + +<p>"Myself," replied the <i>mayor domo</i>. "This boat will take you to the +Hacienda del Cormillo. Go there without delay, and," he added, as he +placed in his hands a paper folded into four, "read this attentively; +perhaps you will have to come to the rescue in your turn."</p> + +<p>"Be assured on that score: I have my revenge to take."</p> + +<p>"Farewell, my friend."</p> + +<p>"Shall I see Doa Hermosa?"</p> + +<p>"I am forbidden to talk on the subject."</p> + +<p>"Another question, then. Do you know who kept me prisoner?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; there were two—the Tigercat and Don Torribio."</p> + +<p>"Indeed!" said Don Fernando, frowning. "I will not forget them. Once +more, thanks Estevan."</p> + +<p>He sat down in the boat, and gave a sign to the rowers. They were soon +in rapid motion, and speedily lost in the shadows of the darkening +night.</p> + +<p>Three persons remained on the bank anxiously watching the course of the +frail boat. These three persons were Estevan Diaz, Doa Hermosa, and a +Manuela.</p> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h4><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X.</a></h4> + +<h3>THE CAMP OF THE REDSKINS.</h3> +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p>The extreme care of Don Pedro and his daughter soon restored Don +Estevan to perfect health.</p> + +<p>His first care was to reveal to the hacendero, in accordance with his +threat to Don Torribio, the name of the man who had originated the +dastardly attack on Don Fernando, and into whose hands he had fallen.</p> + +<p>After that communication, Don Torribio was a lost man in the estimation +of Don Pedro and his daughter.</p> + +<p>Having accomplished this piece of revenge, the <i>mayor domo</i> undertook +the duty of discovering tidings of his friend. Chance favoured him by +throwing El Zapote in his way. The worthy and conscientious <i>vaquero</i> +was just then in the best humour for giving all the information +required, in consequence of having that very morning, by a ruinous +run of ill luck which fastened upon him been utterly cleaned out at +<i>monte</i>, and left without an <i>ochavo</i> (a farthing). By the help of +a few ounces of gold, the <i>mayor domo</i> contrived to learn, in the +minutest detail, all that had passed, and the place where Don Fernando +was concealed.</p> + +<p>As soon as he had learned all he wanted, Don Estevan left the +<i>vaquero</i>, and hastened his return to the hacienda.</p> + +<p>Doa Hermosa was no ordinary woman. She was gifted with much energy, +and, moreover, loved Don Fernando. She resolved to set him free; but +held her tongue, in the fear of making Don Pedro uneasy. She merely +expressed a wish to spend a day or two at the hacienda of Las Norias; +to which Don Pedro consented, on condition of her taking with her a +strong escort of resolute and well-armed <i>peones</i>.</p> + +<p>Instead of going to the hacienda, the girl went to the <i>presidio</i>, into +which she managed to find her way unnoticed by the Indians.</p> + +<p>Once in the <i>presidio</i>, she revealed her project to Don Estevan.</p> + +<p>The <i>mayor domo</i> was astounded at her coolness as she detailed the +plan she had conceived—a plan in which not only herself, but also Don +Estevan's mother, was to act a part.</p> + +<p>All his efforts to make her renounce her project were futile; willing +or unwilling, he was forced to obey.</p> + +<p>When they could no longer see the boat with Don Fernando, her foster +brother turned to Doa Hermosa.</p> + +<p>"Now, seorita, what are you going to do next?"</p> + +<p>She answered succinctly:</p> + +<p>"I am going to visit the camp of the Apaches and see Don Torribio."</p> + +<p>The <i>mayor domo</i> shuddered.</p> + +<p>"Dishonour and death await you there," said he in a hoarse, low voice.</p> + +<p>"No," she replied firmly; "only revenge."</p> + +<p>"You wish for revenge?"</p> + +<p>"I demand it."</p> + +<p>"Very well," he replied; "I will obey you. Go and get ready; I myself +will escort you to the camp of the redskins."</p> + +<p>The three returned to Don Pedro's house without exchanging a syllable.</p> + +<p>Night had now fairly set in. The streets were deserted: a deathlike +silence pervaded the town, which for two days the Indians had been +sacking; and their diabolical figures could be perceived, as they +passed and repassed among the still flaming ruins.</p> + +<p>When they arrived at the house, Don Estevan stopped short in the court.</p> + +<p>"Ponder well what you are about to do, seorita," said he. "Why must +you avenge yourself? Have you not secured the safety of him you love?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; but he has barely escaped death. The first atrocious attempt has +failed; the second may succeed. Don Torribio has wounded me in my most +cherished affections. My resolve is taken; he shall feel a woman's +vengeance."</p> + +<p>"Can nothing change your resolve?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing," said she, coldly.</p> + +<p>"Then make your preparations, seorita; I will wait for you here."</p> + +<p>The two women entered the house together, while Don Estevan seated +himself on one of the steps of the porch.</p> + +<p>His watching was not long: in ten minutes they returned.</p> + +<p>Both were clothed in the Apache dress; the paint smeared upon their +faces completed the illusion, and secured them from recognition. The +transformation was so perfect, that Don Estevan could not repress his +admiration.</p> + +<p>"Nothing could be better," he exclaimed; "you are Indian women indeed."</p> + +<p>"Do you think," said Doa Hermosa bitterly, "that Don Torribio has the +sole right of deception and assuming any character at his pleasure?"</p> + +<p>"Who can strive against a woman?" said the <i>mayor domo</i>, with a shrug. +"And now, what are your orders?"</p> + +<p>"Very simple; your escort as far as the first Indian lines."</p> + +<p>"And after that?"</p> + +<p>"The rest of the affair is our work."</p> + +<p>"But are you really dreaming of remaining alone in the midst of these +pagans?"</p> + +<p>"It is no dream; it is my immovable resolve to stay there."</p> + +<p>"And you, mother?" said her son sadly; "Are you, too, determined to +throw yourself into the hands of the savages?"</p> + +<p>"Be comforted, my son," replied the dame; "I run no danger."</p> + +<p>"And yet—"</p> + +<p>"Estevan," said Doa Hermosa, interrupting him, "I will answer for your +mother's safety."</p> + +<p>The <i>mayor domo</i> was thoroughly discouraged.</p> + +<p>"Then," said he, "I can only commend you to Heaven."</p> + +<p>"Let us go," said Doa Hermosa, wrapping the folds of her cloak around +her.</p> + +<p>Don Estevan led the way.</p> + +<p>The night was dark. Here and there the dying watch fires in the +<i>presidio</i>, round which the besieged were sleeping, threw a pale and +uncertain glimmer over the surrounding objects, without affording +sufficient light to guide them through the increasing obscurity.</p> + +<p>A mournful silence brooded over the town, interrupted at intervals +by the hoarse cries of the vultures, <i>urubus</i>, and prairie wolves, +quarrelling over the corpses of the slain, and dragging hither and +thither morsels of bleeding flesh.</p> + +<p>The three pushed resolutely forward amidst the ruins, stumbling over +fragments of fallen walls, striding over dead bodies, and disturbing +the horrid feast of the birds of prey, that flew off uttering screams +of anger.</p> + +<p>Thus they traversed the whole length of the town, and arrived at last, +with desperate difficulty, and after making many circuits, at one of +the barriers opposite the camp of the redskins, from which numberless +fires were glancing, and shouts and songs were heard.</p> + +<p>The sentries, after exchanging a few words with their guide, allowed +the three to pass, a few paces farther on, Don Estevan halted, and +stopped his companions.</p> + +<p>"Look, Doa Hermosa," said he in a whisper; "there is the camp of +the redskins before you. If I went farther with you, my escort would +prove fatal. I must stop here: only a few steps separate you from your +object."</p> + +<p>"Thanks!" said the girl, stretching out her hand. Don Estevan retained +it between his own.</p> + +<p>"Seorita, one word more."</p> + +<p>"Speak, dear friend."</p> + +<p>"I conjure you, in the name of all you hold dear in the world, to +renounce your project. Trust to my experience while it is yet time: +return to the Hacienda del Cormillo; you know not the danger to which +you expose yourself."</p> + +<p>"Estevan," replied the girl firmly, "whatever be the danger, I will +brave it: nothing can change my resolve. Farewell! I shall soon see you +again."</p> + +<p>"Farewell!" repeated the <i>mayor domo</i>.</p> + +<p>Doa Hermosa turned away in the direction of the Indian camp. a +Manuela hesitated a moment, and then threw herself into the arms of her +son.</p> + +<p>"Alas!" cried he, excited by the emotions terrible to witness in such a +man; "Stay with me, mother, I implore you!"</p> + +<p>"What!" said the noble woman, pointing to Doa Hermosa, "Shall I leave +her to sacrifice herself alone?"</p> + +<p>Don Estevan was unable to reply.</p> + +<p>Manuela embraced him once more, then tore herself with a violent +effort from the arms of her son, who vainly strove to restrain her, and +hurried to join Hermosa.</p> + +<p>The <i>mayor domo</i> followed them with his eyes as long as he could +distinguish them in the obscurity; than, uttering a heart-felt sigh, he +retraced his steps, muttering as he went:</p> + +<p>"If I can only get there in time—if it has only not yet reached Don +Jos de Kalbris!"</p> + +<p>Just as Don Estevan arrived at the fort, the governor was leaving it, +in company with Don Torribio Quiroga. But the Mexican, absorbed in the +ideas which were harassing his brain, did not notice them, although +they passed so close to him that he might have touched them.</p> + +<p>This fatal accident was the cause of irreparable misfortune.</p> + +<p>Having left Don Estevan, the two women wandered about at a venture, +directing their steps towards the fires in front of them.</p> + +<p>On getting within a certain distance, they, stopped to recruit their +spirits, and to calm the throbbing of their hearts, which beat almost +to bursting.</p> + +<p>They were now within a few paces of the Indian <i>toldos</i> (huts); the +rash and hazardous nature of their undertaking presented itself in all +its force, and the poor women felt their courage gradually oozing +away, in spite of the resolution which had animated them. Their hearts +turned to stone at the thought of the horrible drama in which they were +going to act the principal characters.</p> + +<p>Strange to say, it was Manuela who restored her companion to the +firmness which was abandoning her.</p> + +<p>"Seorita," she said to her, "it is now my turn to act as guide; if you +will only consent to follow my council, I hope to be able to avoid all +the danger with which we are threatened."</p> + +<p>"Speak, nurse; let me hear what you propose."</p> + +<p>"We must first drop these cloaks, which hide our dress, and betray that +we are whites."</p> + +<p>In saying this she threw off her mantle, and cast it away. Doa Hermosa +followed her example.</p> + +<p>"Now walk by my side; show no fear, whatever may happen; and, above +all, do not utter a single word, unless we are hopelessly lost."</p> + +<p>"I obey you," said Hermosa.</p> + +<p>"We are to be two Indian women," continued Manuela, "who have made a +vow to Wacondah for the recovery of their wounded father; and once +again, no words from your mouth."</p> + +<p>"Let us go on. May God protect us!"</p> + +<p>"Amen!" said Manuela, devoutly crossing herself.</p> + +<p>They continued their journey, and, five minutes afterwards, entered the +camp of the redskins.</p> + +<p>The Indians, intoxicated with the easy triumph they had gained over the +Mexicans, were giving vent to their joy. There were nothing but singing +and dancing everywhere. Some casks of <i>aguardiente</i>, discovered in the +old <i>presidio</i> and in the pillaged <i>haciendas</i>, had been dragged into +camp, and staved.</p> + +<p>On this account, unexampled disorder and a nameless hubbub prevailed +among the Indians, whom drunkenness makes raving mad, and excites to +the most hideous excesses.</p> + +<p>The power of the <i>sachems</i> was disowned: moreover, the greater number +of them were in the same state as the warriors; and there can be no +doubt that, if the inhabitants of San Lucar had been in sufficient +force to attempt a surprise, they might have made a frightful massacre +of the savages, brutalised as they were by strong liquors, and +incapable of defending themselves.</p> + +<p>Profiting by the disorder, the two women climbed over the ramparts of +the camp without being observed. Then, their hearts palpitating with +terror, and with shivering limbs, they glided like serpents between the +knots of Indians, passing unnoticed through the midst of the drinkers; +seeking at haphazard, and trusting to Providence or their good angel +to find among the scattered <i>toldos</i> the hovel which served as a +habitation to the great paleface.</p> + +<p>They had already been some time roaming about in this manner, without +lighting on any unpleasant adventure. Emboldened by success, their +fears nearly dissipated, they were exchanging looks of encouragement, +when suddenly an Indian of athletic stature seized Doa Hermosa round +the waist, and, lifting her from the ground, gave her a boisterous kiss +on the neck.</p> + +<p>At this unexpected insult, she uttered a shriek of terror, and making +a superhuman effort, freed herself from his arms, pushing him from her +with all her strength. The savage staggered backwards, and, too drunk +to keep his legs, dropped to the ground, giving vent to a cry of rage; +but, springing up in an instant, he rushed like a jaguar on Hermosa.</p> + +<p>a Manuela threw herself hastily before her.</p> + +<p>"Back!" said she, resolutely placing her hand on the Indian's chest; +"This girl is my sister."</p> + +<p>"El Zopilote is a brave who never puts up with an insult," replied the +savage, frowning, and unsheathing his knife.</p> + +<p>"Will you kill her?" exclaimed Manuela in terror.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I will kill her, unless she consents to follow me to my <i>toldo</i>. +She shall be the wife of a chief."</p> + +<p>"You are mad," said Manuela. "Your <i>toldo</i> is full, and there is no +room for another fire."</p> + +<p>"There is room for two," replied the Indian, grinning. "Since you are +her sister, you shall go with her."</p> + +<p>The noise collected a crowd of Indians round the two women, who were +thus the centre of a circle it would have been impossible to break +through.</p> + +<p>Manuela instantly comprehended the danger of their situation; she saw +they were all but lost.</p> + +<p>"Well," continued El Zopilote, seizing in his left hand Hermosa's hair, +and twisting it round his wrist, at the same time brandishing his scalp +knife, "will you and your sister follow me to my <i>toldo?</i>"</p> + +<p>The poor girl cowered down; half recumbent upon the ground, she awaited +the mortal blow.</p> + +<p>Manuela drew herself up to her full height; her eyes flashed fire; she +arrested the arm of El Zopilote, and addressed him thus:</p> + +<p>"Since thou wilt have it so, dog, let thy destiny be fulfilled! Behold, +the Wacondah allows not his servants to be insulted with impunity."</p> + +<p>Hitherto Manuela had contrived to keep herself in such a position that +her face was shaded as much as possible, and no one had remarked her +features; now she turned her head towards the full light of the fires. +On seeing the fantastic lines of paint, the Indians gave utterance to a +cry of surprise, and recoiled in terror.</p> + +<p>Manuela smiled at her triumph: she resolved to complete it.</p> + +<p>"The power of the Wacondah is boundless," she cried; "woe to him who +would oppose his schemes: he it is who sends me. Back, all!"</p> + +<p>Grasping the arm of Doa Hermosa, who had scarcely recovered from her +terrible emotion, she advanced to the edge of the circle. The Indians +hesitated. Manuela extended her arm in an attitude of supreme command; +the outwitted savages opened to right and left, and gave them passage.</p> + +<p>"I shall die," faintly whispered Doa Hermosa.</p> + +<p>"Courage!" replied Manuela, "We are saved."</p> + +<p>"<i>Wagh!</i>" said a jeering voice; "What is passing here?"</p> + +<p>And a man placed himself before the two women.</p> + +<p>"The <i>amantzin!</i>" muttered the Indians; and taking fresh courage, they +again crowded round their prisoners.</p> + +<p>Manuela shuddered, overcome with despair at seeing her hopes +annihilated; still the resolute woman determined to make one more +effort.</p> + +<p>"The Wacondah loves the Indians," she said; "it is he who sends me the +<i>amantzin</i> of the Apache braves."</p> + +<p>"Indeed!" said the sorcerer, with a sneer; "And what does he want with +me?"</p> + +<p>"None but yourself may hear."</p> + +<p>"<i>Wagh!</i>" said the <i>amantzin</i>, placing his hand on her shoulder, and +looking at her attentively; "What proof can you give me of the mission +with which the all-powerful Spirit has charged you?"</p> + +<p>"Will you save me?" said Manuela, whispering rapidly in his ear.</p> + +<p>"That depends on her," answered the sorcerer, fixing his glittering +eyes on the girl.</p> + +<p>"See!" said Manuela, presenting to him the rich bracelets of gold and +pearls she took from her arms.</p> + +<p>"<i>Wagh!</i>" replied the sorcerer, hiding them in his bosom; "They are +beautiful! What does my mother require?"</p> + +<p>"First of all, to be freed from these men."</p> + +<p>"And afterwards?"</p> + +<p>"Deliver us first."</p> + +<p>"It shall be as you will."</p> + +<p>The Indians had remained motionless, impassive spectators of the scene. +They had heard nothing of this short conversation. The <i>amantzin</i> +turned towards them, exhibiting a countenance distorted with fear.</p> + +<p>"Fly!" said he in terrible accents; "This woman brings misfortune! The +Wacondah is angry! Fly, all; fly!"</p> + +<p>The Indians, who had only been restored to confidence by the advent +of their sorcerer, seeing him a prey to a terror they could not +comprehend, first crowded together, and then dispersed, without asking +further questions.</p> + +<p>As soon as they had disappeared behind the <i>toldos</i>, the sorcerer +turned to the two women.</p> + +<p>"Am I able to protect you?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied Manuela; "and I thank my father, who is as powerful as +he is wise."</p> + +<p>A smile of gratified pride just formed itself on the lips of the +cautious Indian.</p> + +<p>"I am powerful to avenge myself on those who deceive me," said he.</p> + +<p>"Therefore I shall not attempt to deceive my father."</p> + +<p>"Whence comes my white daughter," he asked.</p> + +<p>"From the ark of the first man," replied Manuela, looking him steadily +in the face.</p> + +<p>The <i>amantzin</i> blushed.</p> + +<p>"My daughter has the forked tongue of the <i>congouar</i>," he said. "Does +she take me for a lizard, that one can entrap like an old woman?"</p> + +<p>"Here is a necklace," she replied, offering a rich string of pearls to +the Indian; "the Wacondah gave it me for the wise man of the Apaches."</p> + +<p>"<i>Wagh!</i>" said the <i>amantzin;</i> "My mother cannot lie; she is wise. +What more can I do for her?" And he slipped the necklace into the same +receptacle with the bracelets.</p> + +<p>"My father must lead me to the <i>toldo</i> of the great white chief who +fights in the ranks of the Apache warriors."</p> + +<p>"My daughter would speak to the white chief?"</p> + +<p>"I would."</p> + +<p>"The white chief is a wise man; will he admit women?"</p> + +<p>"Let not that trouble my father; tonight I must speak with the white +chief."</p> + +<p>"Good; my mother shall speak to him. But this woman?" And he pointed to +Doa Hermosa.</p> + +<p>"That woman," answered Manuela, "is a friend of the Tigercat. She too +is charged with a mission to the <i>sachem.</i>"</p> + +<p>The sorcerer shook his head.</p> + +<p>"The warriors must spin the vicua wool," said he, "since women make +war, and sit at the council fire."</p> + +<p>"My father errs; the <i>sachem</i> loves my sister."</p> + +<p>"No," replied the Indian.</p> + +<p>"Let us see if my father will refuse to lead me to the <i>toldo</i> of +the great chief," said Manuela, impatient at the tergiversations of +the <i>amantzin</i>, and dreading the return of her persecutors. "Let him +beware, the great chief expects us."</p> + +<p>The sorcerer cast a piercing look at her, which Manuela bore without +casting down her eyes.</p> + +<p>"Good," said he; "my mother does not lie. Follow me."</p> + +<p>Grasping each of the women by a wrist, he placed himself between them, +and began to guide them through the labyrinthine confusion of the camp.</p> + +<p>The Indians they met on their road avoided them with unequivocal signs +of terror.</p> + +<p>The <i>amantzin</i> was by no means displeased with what had happened: he +was radiant with joy; for, besides the profit derived from meeting the +women, the incident which occurred in consequence had tended to confirm +his power in the eyes of the credulous and superstitious Indians, who +believed him to be really inspired by the Wacondah.</p> + +<p>A quarter of an hour's difficult walking brought them to the <i>toldo</i>, +in front of which the totem (standard) of the assembled tribes was +planted, surrounded by lances fringed with scarlet, and guarded by four +warriors.</p> + +<p>"This is the place," said the sorcerer to Manuela.</p> + +<p>"Good; let my father give orders that we enter alone."</p> + +<p>"Am I to leave you?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; my father can wait for us outside,"</p> + +<p>"I will wait," briefly replied he, casting a suspicious look on them.</p> + +<p>At a sign from the <i>amantzin</i>, the sentries placed before the <i>toldo</i> +made way for the women. They entered with trepidation: the dwelling was +unoccupied.</p> + +<p>They were unable to repress a sigh of satisfaction. The absence of Don +Torribio gave them time to prepare for the interview Doa Hermosa so +greatly desired.</p> + +<p>The <i>amantzin</i> remained standing at the entrance to the <i>toldo</i>. +This man, lately raised to the dignity through the influence of the +Tigercat, was his tool, and acted as his spy.</p> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI.</a></h4> + +<h3>THE RENEGADE.</h3> +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p>Don Torribio Quiroga and Don Jos Kalbris urged on their horses, in +order to get beyond the defences of the <i>presidio</i> as soon as possible.</p> + +<p>The governor was rejoicing at the reinforcement the general commanding +in the province had sent him. He knew it would be an easy task to +compel the Indians to raise the siege of the <i>presidio</i> when once the +troops marching up had joined him. Indeed, he counted upon profiting +by the opportunity to give the Apaches—those untiring ravagers of the +Mexican frontiers—such a rude lesson, that it would be long before +they again attempted an inroad into the territory of the Confederation.</p> + +<p>They now arrived at one of the barriers, guarded by a strong detachment +of <i>vaqueros</i> and townspeople.</p> + +<p>"We must pass through here," said Don Torribio to the governor. "The +night is dark, bands of these Indian vagabonds are prowling about all +over the country, and we shall most probably have to ride a league or +two before we meet our men. I think it will be scarcely prudent for us +to venture forth without an escort."</p> + +<p>"A very just remark," said Don Jos.</p> + +<p>"You must recollect that you are the governor of the <i>presidio,</i>" +continued Don Torribio, with a strange smile. "The consequences would +be very serious for the town if the Indians were to attack us, and take +us prisoners. I do not mention this on my own account, but on yours: I +should be a prize of little value to the savages; but with you it is a +very different matter. I beg you to consider this carefully, before we +go any farther."</p> + +<p>"By heaven! You are quite right colonel; it would be an unpardonable +imprudence. So I think the best thing we can do is to take an escort."</p> + +<p>"I think it would be advantageous," said Don Torribio. "How many men +will you take?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, a dozen, at the most."</p> + +<p>"No; take a score. We cannot tell whom we may fall in with on our road +at this time of night. Suppose we were to be set upon by a couple of +hundred Indians! We ought to be able to show them a front."</p> + +<p>"Let it be a score, then, if you like," answered Don Jos, with perfect +indifference; "and be good enough to choose them yourself."</p> + +<p>"Make your mind easy," said Torribio.</p> + +<p>With that he rode up to the guard, who had turned out on the governor's +arrival, and picked out twenty horseman, whom he ordered to form behind +them.</p> + +<p>"Now," said he to the governor, "we are ready to march."</p> + +<p>"Then let us go," said the latter, giving his horse his head.</p> + +<p>The escort put itself in motion, and followed Don Jos Kalbris and +Colonel Torribio Quiroga at about twenty paces' interval.</p> + +<p>All went well for nearly an hour, when the governor began to grow +restless, in spite of Don Torribio's lively conversation. The latter +kept up a constant fire of jokes and sparkling repartees, laying +himself out to amuse Don Jos, and had never before proved so agreeable +a companion.</p> + +<p>"Excuse me, colonel," said the governor, coming to a halt; "but is it +not extraordinary that we see no signs of the troops we are going to +meet?"</p> + +<p>"Not at all, seor; perhaps the officer in command is waiting for +my return, before he leads his men into roads with which he is +unacquainted."</p> + +<p>"It is just possible," said the governor, after a minute's reflection.</p> + +<p>"I think it highly probable," said Don Torribio; "and, in that case, we +have nearly another league before we can meet him."</p> + +<p>"Then we had better push on."</p> + +<p>They resumed their march, but without renewing their conversation. Both +of them seemed absorbed in meditation. At times Don Torribio raised his +head, and looked carefully about him. All of a sudden they heard the +distant neigh of a horse.</p> + +<p>"What is that?" said Don Torribio.</p> + +<p>"Most likely the troops we are looking for," replied the governor.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps," answered the other; "but we had better be cautious."</p> + +<p>Requesting the governor to stop where he was, he set spurs to his +horse, and riding forward was soon lost in the darkness. Having ridden +a short distance, he dismounted, applied his ear to the ground, and +listened.</p> + +<p>"<i>Demonios!</i>" he exclaimed, hastily rising and throwing himself into +the saddle; "They are pursuing us! Can that vagabond, Don Estevan, have +recognised me? There is not a moment to lose!"</p> + +<p>"Well, what is it?" asked the governor, as Don Torribio rode back to +him.</p> + +<p>"Nothing," said Don Torribio shortly; "nothing of interest to you."</p> + +<p>"Then—"</p> + +<p>"Then," retorted the other, laying his hand on the governor's left arm, +"Don Jos Kalbris, surrender; you are my prisoner."</p> + +<p>"What do you say?" replied the astounded veteran. "Are you mad, Don +Torribio?"</p> + +<p>"Call me no longer Don Torribio: I am a nameless, homeless wretch, whom +the thirst for vengeance has driven amongst the Apaches."</p> + +<p>"Treason!" exclaimed the governor. "To the rescue, men! Defend your +colonel!"</p> + +<p>"These men will not help you, Don Jos; they are in my pay. Surrender, +I say!"</p> + +<p>"I will not surrender," said the governor resolutely. "Don Torribio, or +whatever else you may call yourself, you are a coward!"</p> + +<p>He gave his horse the spur, shook off Don Torribio's hold, and drew his +sword. At the same time, the rapid approach of horsemen was heard in +the distance.</p> + +<p>"Aha!" said the governor, cocking a pistol; "Here comes aid!"</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied Don Torribio; "but it comes too late."</p> + +<p>And he ordered the <i>vaqueros</i> to surround Don Jos, and attack him. A +couple of shots from the governor's pistol laid two of them in the +dust; and a terrible combat began.</p> + +<p>Don Jos, knowing all hope of safety to be gone, determined to sell his +life dearly, and did wonders. An accomplished horseman, he parried the +blows aimed at him, and struck fiercely into the men crowding upon him +with savage vociferations. In the meantime, the thundering gallop of +the approaching horsemen grew louder. Don Torribio saw it was time to +make a finish, and shot the governor's horse through the head.</p> + +<p>Don Jos came violently to the ground, but was up again in a moment, +and aimed a blow at the renegade, which the latter avoided by a +dexterous movement. Then the gallant old soldier put the muzzle of his +pistol to his own forehead.</p> + +<p>"A man like me," said he, "never surrenders to dogs like you; here, +curs, quarrel over my body!"</p> + +<p>With these words he blew his brains out.</p> + +<p>Just then several shots were fired, and a troop of horsemen fell, like +a whirlwind, upon the <i>vaqueros</i>. Don Estevan and Major Barnum led the +assailants.</p> + +<p>The conflict did not last long. Don Torribio gave a loud whistle, +and the <i>vaqueros</i> went to the right-about, and, scattering in all +directions, were soon lost sight of.</p> + +<p>Seven or eight remained dead on the field.</p> + +<p>"What is to be done?" said Major Barnum.</p> + +<p>"Nothing!" replied Don Estevan sorrowfully; "We are too late. Don Jos +has killed himself rather than submit to be carried off by these dogs."</p> + +<p>"He was a noble soldier!" said the major; "But how can we get at the +rascals again?"</p> + +<p>"We will let them alone, major: they are in camp by this time. Trust +me, we shall soon learn to read this riddle."</p> + +<p>The <i>mayor domo</i> dismounted, and cut with his <i>machete</i> a branch of the +resinous pinewood, which grows so abundantly through all the country. +He struck a light, and in a minute or two a torch was ready.</p> + +<p>By its ruddy and flickering flame, he and the major began to examine +the bodies on the ground. They soon found the governor, lying on his +back, with his head horribly crushed. His hand still retained the fatal +weapon; and his features wore an expression of haughty disdain and +indomitable courage.</p> + +<p>"Look at him!" said Don Estevan.</p> + +<p>The major could not repress the tear that rolled silently down his +swarthy cheek.</p> + +<p>"Yes," he said; "he has died like a soldier, with his face to the foe. +But, alas! he has fallen a victim to treachery—killed by a white man. +My poor old friend! Was this to be your end?"</p> + +<p>"It was God's will," answered Don Estevan.</p> + +<p>"It was," said the major: "may we do our duty as he has done his!"</p> + +<p>Reverently they lifted the body, put it upon a horse, and marched back +in sadness to the <i>presidio</i>.</p> + +<p>In the meanwhile, Don Torribio was greatly disconcerted. His plans +had failed. He had not wished the governor to lose his life, for his +death would be no benefit, but, on the contrary, prejudicial, by +inspiring the Mexicans with the desire for revenge, and strengthening +their determination to resist to the last, and bury themselves under +the ruins of the <i>presidio</i>, rather than surrender to such ferocious +enemies. His intention had been to seize Don Jos, keep him prisoner, +and to make his own terms with the Mexicans.</p> + +<p>But the old soldier's energetic resistance, and resolve to blow out his +own brains rather than surrender, had upset these plans. So he returned +to the camp, cast down and discontented, while his companions looked +upon the cause of his dejection as a triumphant success.</p> + +<p>Manuela and Doa Hermosa had profited by his absence to throw off their +disguise, and resume their usual dress.</p> + +<p>As soon as Don Torribio reached his <i>toldo</i>, the sorcerer, who had +never quitted it since he had led the two women to the spot, came +forward to meet him.</p> + +<p>"What do you want?" said Don Torribio.</p> + +<p>"Let my father look with a favourable eye upon me," replied the +<i>amantzin;</i> "two women have entered the camp tonight."</p> + +<p>"And what is that to me?" said the chief impatiently.</p> + +<p>"These females, although dressed like Indians, are white," answered the +sorcerer, laying stress on the last two words.</p> + +<p>"What then? They are most likely wives of some of the <i>vaqueros</i>."</p> + +<p>"Not so," said the sorcerer; "their hands are too white, and their feet +too small."</p> + +<p>"Indeed!" replied the other, in whom the tale began to excite some +interest; "Who has taken them prisoner?"</p> + +<p>"No one; they are here alone, of their own accord."</p> + +<p>"Alone?"</p> + +<p>"They said they had important revelations to make to my father."</p> + +<p>"They did?" said the chief, scanning the man narrowly; "And how does my +father know that?"</p> + +<p>"Because I rescued them, and brought them to my father's <i>toldo</i>."</p> + +<p>"Then they are in here?"</p> + +<p>"This hour or more."</p> + +<p>Don Torribio drew from his pocket a few ounces, and handed them to the +sorcerer. "I thank my brother," said he; "he has done well."</p> + +<p>The <i>amantzin</i> grinned, and pocketed the bribe.</p> + +<p>Don Torribio rushed to the <i>toldo</i>, and raised the curtain. A cry of +joy and astonishment escaped him when he recognised Doa Hermosa.</p> + +<p>The latter smiled; while he bowed gracefully, asking himself the while +what the meaning of this could be.</p> + +<p>Doa Hermosa could not resist admiring the man. His rich uniform became +him; it exhibited all his handsome proportions, and increased his +attractions.</p> + +<p>"What rank shall I give you?" she said, beckoning to him to sit down by +her side.</p> + +<p>"Give me any name you like best, seorita. If you speak to the +Spaniard, call me Don Torribio; if you address yourself to the Indian, +the name by which I am known among the Apaches is 'the Accursed.'"</p> + +<p>"Why have they given you this dreadful name?" said she.</p> + +<p>There was no answer to her question: and the two gazed at each other in +silence.</p> + +<p>Doa Hermosa was thinking of the manner in which she should tell him +the object of her visit; he was pondering over the reasons which could +have brought her there. He was the first to speak.</p> + +<p>"Have you really come here inquest of me seorita?"</p> + +<p>"Of whom else?" she replied.</p> + +<p>"Excuse my frankness," said he; "but this seems to me so extraordinary, +that although I see and hear you, I cannot believe in such great good +fortune. I feel as if I were in a dream, and dread the awakening."</p> + +<p>This piece of flattery was pronounced in the tone which Don Torribio +Quiroga would have employed had he been at Don Pedro's hacienda; a tone +adding to the strangeness of the scene, it was so little in accord with +the circumstances and the place where it was uttered.</p> + +<p>"Good sir," replied Doa Hermosa, in the same easy tone he had used +towards her, "I will relieve your trouble, and hasten to dispel the +witchery to which you would attribute my presence in your <i>toldo.</i>"</p> + +<p>"You will still remain an enchantress in my eyes," said he, smiling.</p> + +<p>"You flatter me. If there is any enchantment at all in the matter, poor +Estevan is the wizard He knew my fixed determination to see you, and +told me where I should find you. So, if you are determined to raise +somebody to the rank of sorcerer, let Estevan be the victim."</p> + +<p>"I will not forget him when the opportunity occurs," said Don Torribio, +his face darkly clouding over. "But let us not wander from our own two +selves. I have the happiness to see you here: will it offend you if I +ask why you come?"</p> + +<p>"The reason is quite simple," replied Doa Hermosa, eyeing him +steadfastly. "A girl of my age, and particularly of my rank"—and she +laid great emphasis on the latter word—"does not take a step so—let +us say, so singular, without a strong motive."</p> + +<p>"I am sure of it."</p> + +<p>"What motive could be strong enough to induce a woman to lay aside the +instinctive modesty of her sex, and risk her good name? I know but one. +When her heart is in question, when her love is involved? Am I speaking +clearly, Don Torribio? Do you begin to understand me."</p> + +<p>"I begin to comprehend, seorita."</p> + +<p>"The last time we met, my father received you coldly,—you, my +betrothed. Mad with jealousy, furious with him and myself, believing +our marriage broken off, you rushed from us, and left the hacienda with +rage and hatred boiling in your breast."</p> + +<p>"Cousin, I swear to you?"</p> + +<p>"I am a woman, Don Torribio; and we women possess an instinct which +never deceives us. Can you think for a moment that I, on the verge of +marriage with you, did not know the love you felt for me?"</p> + +<p>Don Torribio gazed at her with an indefinable expression.</p> + +<p>"A few days later," she continued, "Don Fernando Carril fell into an +ambush, and was left for dead on the spot. Why did you do this, Don +Torribio?"</p> + +<p>"I will not attempt to deny, seorita, that I wished to avenge myself +on one I considered a rival; but I swear I gave no orders to kill him."</p> + +<p>"I know it!" she replied; "You need not attempt to exculpate yourself."</p> + +<p>Don Torribio looked at her without understanding her words.</p> + +<p>"The man whom you imagined to be your rival was no favoured suitor," +she continued, with a sweet smile. "You had scarcely left the hacienda, +before I confessed to my father that you were my only love, and that I +would never consent to marry another."</p> + +<p>"Is it possible?" cried Don Torribio, rising in his excitement. "Oh! +Had I but known it!"</p> + +<p>"Calm yourself; the evil you have done is partly repaired. Don +Fernando, rescued by my orders from the clutches of Pablito, is now at +Las Norias, whence he will shortly depart for Mexico. My father, who +can never refuse me anything, has given me permission to choose him I +love most."</p> + +<p>As she said this, she darted at Don Torribio a look full of unutterable +affection.</p> + +<p>He was thunderstruck. A crowd of opposing feelings jostled in his +breast: he did not dare to put full credence in the girl's words; a +cruel doubt would insinuate itself. Was she mocking him?</p> + +<p>"Is it indeed true," he said, "that you could still love me?"</p> + +<p>"Is not my presence here an answer? Why should I have come? What should +induce me?"</p> + +<p>"It is true!" said he, falling on his knees before her. "Forgive me, +seorita; I am mad, and know not what I say. It is too much happiness."</p> + +<p>A smile of triumph lighted up her face.</p> + +<p>"If I did not love you," she said, "could I not have chosen Don +Fernando, who is now at the hacienda?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes; you are a thousand times right! O woman! Adorable woman! Who +is able to fathom thy heart?"</p> + +<p>Doa Hermosa smiled bitterly: she had brought the lion captive to her +feet; she had vanquished man in his pride. Now she was sure of her +revenge.</p> + +<p>"What answer shall I give my father?" she said.</p> + +<p>He drew himself up to his full height; his eyes flashed, his features +grew radiant, and he answered in a low tone:</p> + +<p>"Seorita, my happiness is immeasurable. Say to your father, that the +devotion of a whole life cannot repay the bliss of this interview. As +soon as the <i>presidio</i> of San Lucar is taken, I shall present myself at +the hacienda of Don Pedro de Luna."</p> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII.</a></h4> + +<h3>WOMAN'S WILL.</h3> +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p>Every extreme situation, as soon as it reaches its culminating point, +must necessarily subside into a reaction of an opposite tendency. This +was exactly what happened after the scene we described in the last +chapter.</p> + +<p>Don Torribio, beside himself with joy, could not accept Doa Hermosa's +protestations of love without a certain degree of mistrust. Yet the +improbability of her having taken this decided step from other motives +than the one she professed, had materially aided her in the successful +attempt to hoodwink her admirer.</p> + +<p>Intelligence of a high class is often accompanied by a weakness +detrimental to its possessors: they cannot bring themselves to believe, +that those who fawn upon them and flatter their propensities are +sufficiently acute to deceive them. And so it happened in this case. +How could he fail to believe a girl, still almost a child, whose manner +seemed so guileless, whose looks were fraught with love, and who avowed +her affection so frankly?</p> + +<p>What could she gain by deceiving him, now Don Fernando was alive? What +object could she have in coming thus to put herself into his hands, +without the possibility of escaping from him?</p> + +<p>All this appeared absurd: and was so, in fact, up to a certain point.</p> + +<p>It only proved that Don Torribio, preeminently a statesman, endowed +with admirable talent, and whose sole aim through life had been the +accomplishment of his dreams of ambition, was so entirely absorbed in +farfetched political calculations, that he had no time to study that +amalgam of archness, grace, and perfidy we call woman, and knew nothing +about her nature.</p> + +<p>A woman South American woman especially—never forgives an injury to +her lover; he is the holy ark which none may touch.</p> + +<p>Moreover, we must say, Doa Hermosa was the first, the only love of Don +Torribio. His love was to him a creed, a faith; and all doubt vanished +from before his eyes at the proof she had just given of her affection.</p> + +<p>"And now," she said to him, "can I remain in the camp till my father +comes, without risking insult?"</p> + +<p>"You have but to command!" he replied: "All here are your slaves."</p> + +<p>"The woman, under whose protection I was able to reach you will go back +to the <i>hacienda</i> of Las Norias."</p> + +<p>Don Torribio strode to the curtain of the <i>toldo,</i> and clapped his +hands twice.</p> + +<p>An Indian warrior appeared.</p> + +<p>"Let a <i>toldo</i> be prepared for me; I cede this to the two paleface +women," he said, in the Apache language; "a body of chosen braves, whom +my brother will command, will watch incessantly over their safety. Woe +to him who fails in the profoundest respect! These women are sacred; +free to come and go, and to receive whomsoever they choose. Does my +brother understand?"</p> + +<p>The warrior bowed his head without reply.</p> + +<p>"Let my brother have two horses ready."</p> + +<p>The Indian disappeared.</p> + +<p>"You see, seorita," he continued, turning towards her, "you are queen +here."</p> + +<p>"I thank you!" said Doa Hermosa, drawing from her bosom an open +letter she had prepared for the occasion; "I felt sure of the result +of my interview with you: you see, I have announced it to my father, +even before I met you. Take this, Don Torribio, and read what I have +written."</p> + +<p>She held it out to him with a charming smile, but an inward misgiving.</p> + +<p>"Seorita," he replied, motioning the letter away, "what a daughter +writes to her father should be sacred; no one but himself should read +it."</p> + +<p>Doa Hermosa folded up the letter, without evincing the least emotion +at the terrible risk she had just run, and gave it to Manuela.</p> + +<p>"Mother," she said, "you will give this letter to my father, and +explain to him what I have not been able to write."</p> + +<p>"Allow me to retire," exclaimed Don Torribio; "I must not listen to the +instructions you are about to give to your attendant."</p> + +<p>"I object," she replied; "I must have no secrets from you; henceforth +you must know all my inmost thoughts."</p> + +<p>Don Torribio glowed with delight. Just then they brought the horses. +Doa Hermosa profited by the opportunity afforded by his speaking to +the Apache to say rapidly to Manuela: "Your son must be here in an +hour, if that be possible."</p> + +<p>Manuela made a sign of acquiescence, and Don Torribio reentered the +<i>toldo</i>.</p> + +<p>"I myself will accompany a Manuela as far as the defences of the +<i>presidio</i>; this will insure her from incurring any danger."</p> + +<p>"Thanks, once more," replied Doa Hermosa.</p> + +<p>The two women threw themselves into each other's arms, and embraced as +if they were never to meet again.</p> + +<p>"Do not forget!" whispered Doa Hermosa.</p> + +<p>"Trust in me," replied Manuela.</p> + +<p>"This is now your home," said Don Torribio "no one will dare to enter +without your permission."</p> + +<p>Doa Hermosa smiled her thanks, and accompanied them to the entrance of +the <i>toldo</i>; Manuela and her escort mounted and departed.</p> + +<p>The young Mexican followed them with her eyes till the sound of their +horses' feet was lost amid the other noises in the camp, when she +returned to the <i>toldo</i>, murmuring: "The first steps are taken: now to +discover his intentions!"</p> + +<p>A quarter of an hour later, Manuela and her guide arrived within a +hundred yards of the <i>pueblo</i>. They had not exchanged a word.</p> + +<p>"You have now no further need of me," said Don Torribio. "Keep the +horse; he may be useful to you. May God preserve you!"</p> + +<p>Without another word, he turned his horse, and rode back to the camp, +leaving Manuela alone.</p> + +<p>The latter looked about her to discover whereabouts she was, and then +rode resolutely towards the town, which was looming in a dark mass +before her. She had only gone a few paces, when a rude hand seized her +reins, a pistol was presented at her head, and a rough voice exclaimed, +in Spanish:</p> + +<p>"Who goes there?"</p> + +<p>"Friend," she replied, attempting to conceal her trepidation.</p> + +<p>"Mother!" cried a joyful voice.</p> + +<p>"Estevan, my darling child," she exclaimed, throwing herself on his +breast, to which she was clasped in the most affectionate embrace.</p> + +<p>"How did you come here, and whence?" he asked, after a time.</p> + +<p>"From the camp of the redskins."</p> + +<p>"Already!" said he, in astonishment.</p> + +<p>"Yes; my mistress sends me to you."</p> + +<p>"And who was the man with you, mother?"</p> + +<p>"Don Torribio himself."</p> + +<p>"Malediction!" exclaimed the <i>mayor domo</i>; "I have let him escape, when +I had covered him for five minutes with my rifle. But we will not stay +here. Come with me. As soon as I have placed you in safety, you shall +relate what your mistress has charged you to communicate to me."</p> + +<p>When they got into the <i>presidio</i>, Don Estevan made his mother recount +the incidents of their expedition.</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said he more than once; "Women are imps of cunning; men are but +fools beside them!"</p> + +<p>When Manuela had quite finished her tale, he said: "Mother, there is +not a moment to lose: Don Pedro must get the letter this very night. +The poor father must be in a state of dreadful anxiety."</p> + +<p>"I am going to him myself," said Manuela.</p> + +<p>"No!" he replied "you have need of rest. I have a man here who will +acquit himself well of this commission."</p> + +<p>"As you please, Estevan," said she, giving him the letter.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I think this will be the best way. Come into this house; the good +woman to whom it belongs knows me, and will take every care of you."</p> + +<p>"Are you going to Doa Hermosa?"</p> + +<p>"By Heavens! Do you think I intend to leave the poor girl there, in the +midst of those infidels? Besides, what she has got to say to me may +concern us all narrowly."</p> + +<p>"Devoted as ever, Estevan! How like you that is?"</p> + +<p>"What can I do, mother?" he replied, with a laugh. "Devotion seems to +be my vocation."</p> + +<p>He led his mother into the house, where he confided her to its +mistress, and then went in search of his emissary to Don Pedro de Luna.</p> + +<p>Round a bright fire burning in the centre of the street several men +were lying, wrapped in their cloaks. Don Estevan roughly shook one of +the sleepers.</p> + +<p>"Wake, Tonillo!" he said; "Get up, <i>muchacho:</i> you must be off for the +Hacienda de las Norias."</p> + +<p>"But I only came thence a quarter of an hour ago!" replied the +<i>lepero</i>, rubbing his eyes, and still half asleep.</p> + +<p>"I know it; and that is the reason why I send you; you ought to know +the road well. Besides, it is for Doa Hermosa's sake."</p> + +<p>"For Doa Hermosa's sake!" cried the <i>lepero</i>, whom the sound of the +name seemed to awaken thoroughly; "What are her orders?"</p> + +<p>"Now you are as you should be," said the <i>mayor domo.</i> "Mount directly, +and carry this letter to Don Pedro: to say it is from his daughter, is +to tell you it is of importance."</p> + +<p>"Very well; I will go this minute."</p> + +<p>"I have no need to tell you that no one must take this paper from you."</p> + +<p>"I can see that, <i>canarios</i>."</p> + +<p>"You will let yourself be killed sooner than give it up?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes; make yourself easy, <i>mayor domo</i>."</p> + +<p>"And even after death they must not find it."</p> + +<p>"I will sooner eat it; <i>Rayo de Dios!</i>" El Zapote was galloping +towards the hacienda a quarter of an hour later.</p> + +<p>"It is my turn now," said the <i>mayor domo</i> to himself, as soon as he +was alone; "but how am I to get to Doa Hermosa?"</p> + +<p>It seemed as if a little consideration had enlightened him as to the +means, for he banished the frown from his forehead, and gaily took the +road to the fort.</p> + +<p>After a conference with Major Barnum, who, since the death of the +governor, had assumed the command of the town, Estevan disguised +himself as an Indian, and went to the camp of the redskins. Shortly +before sunrise he was in the town again.</p> + +<p>"Well!" said his mother.</p> + +<p>"All is for the best," he replied. "<i>Vive Dios!</i> I think Doa Hermosa +will make that incarnate demon pay dearly for kidnapping Don Fernando."</p> + +<p>"Am I to rejoin her?"</p> + +<p>"No; it is not necessary."</p> + +<p>Without entering into any details, Don Estevan who was sinking from +fatigue, retired to snatch a few hours' repose.</p> + +<p>Several days passed without the Indians attacking the <i>pueblo</i>. They +contented themselves with investing it more closely, without attempting +an assault. Their plan seemed to be to starve out the inhabitants, and +force them to surrender from famine.</p> + +<p>The blockade was kept so strictly, that it was impossible for the +besieged to stir beyond their lines: all their communications were cut +off, and provisions began to fail. The cattle which had been collected +at the commencement of the siege had all been killed, and the Mexicans +were now driven to the necessity of consuming the hides.</p> + +<p>The plan would doubtless have succeeded; and the Mexicans, reduced to +the last extremity, would soon have been obliged to surrender without +striking a blow; but a project of Don Estevan's, communicated to Major +Barnum, and executed without delay, suddenly defeated the Tigercat's +plans, and obliged him to make the assault, in order to hinder the +revolt of the tribes who followed him. The Mexicans, whom the pangs of +famine were driving to despair, were eagerly longing for the assault.</p> + +<p>Don Estevan ordered a hundred and fifty loaves to be made of wheat +saturated with arsenic. These were packed on a few mules, still left +in the fort, in company with twenty-four kegs of brandy mixed with +vitriol. With ten trusty fellows, he escorted this formidable freight +to within a short distance of the redskin intrenchments.</p> + +<p>Everything happened as he had foreseen. The Indians, who are +extravagantly fond of brandy, were allured by the sight of the kegs, +and rushed upon the convoy in the hopes of capturing it.</p> + +<p>Don Estevan lost no time. Casting loaves and kegs upon the sand, and +retreating at full speed, he brought off his men and mules in the +<i>pueblo</i>.</p> + +<p>The Indians, dragging their booty into their camp, knocked in the heads +of the barrels, and an orgy commenced which lasted till bread and +brandy had disappeared.</p> + +<p>More than a thousand Indians perished through this ingenious device of +the <i>mayor domo's</i><a name="FNanchor_1_2" id="FNanchor_1_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_2" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> the others, smitten with terror, began to disband +in all directions.</p> + +<p>The exasperated savages, in their first moments of excitement, and +in spite of the efforts of their leader, ruthlessly massacred under +horrible tortures all the men, women, and children who had fallen into +their power at the commencement of the war, and had been kept prisoners +in the camp up to the time.</p> + +<p>Doa Hermosa herself, notwithstanding the respect with which she had +been treated, and the extreme care she took never to leave the <i>toldo</i>, +was in great danger of falling a victim to the fury of the Indians. +Chance alone saved her.</p> + +<p>The great chief resolved to finish the war at once. He despatched El +Zopilote to order all the <i>sachems</i> to assemble in his <i>toldo</i>. As soon +as they arrived, he announced to them that at the <i>endic'ha</i> (daybreak) +on the morrow the <i>presidio</i> would be attacked on all sides at once.</p> + +<p>Don Torribio, in his quality of chief, was present at the council. As +soon as it was over he hastened to Doa Hermosa's <i>toldo</i>, and demanded +an interview.</p> + +<p>Since her arrival in the camp, although the Tigercat was perfectly +aware of all that was going on between her and Don Torribio, he had +purposely avoided meeting her, contenting himself with congratulating +the latter on the affection the girl manifested for him. Nevertheless, +an acute observer might have easily perceived that the Tigercat +harboured some sinister purpose in his mind. Don Torribio, on the +contrary, was too much blinded by his passion to attempt to read the +countenance of the old bandit.</p> + +<p>The intensity of his love, and the zest with which he gave himself +up to it, diverted his thoughts from the shame and remorse which +stung him when he thought of the infamy attached to his name by his +treacherous desertion of his own people to become a member of the +ferocious and sanguinary tribes of the Apaches.</p> + +<p>Doa Hermosa, on hearing that Don Torribio wished to see her, gave +orders for his instant admittance. She was talking at the time with her +father. Don Pedro de Luna had hastened to join his daughter the instant +he received her letter, and had already been some days in the camp.</p> + +<p>The interior of the <i>toldo</i> was greatly changed. Don Torribio had +ordered it to be embellished with divers pieces of elegant furniture, +stolen by the Indians from different haciendas. Partitions had been +constructed, closets contrived, so that the metamorphosis was complete; +and, although the exterior remained as it had been before, the inside, +in consequence of the alterations, assumed the appearance of a European +residence.</p> + +<p>Manuela, Doa Hermosa's nurse, had also returned with Don Pedro—a +circumstance extremely agreeable to the girl; first, on account of the +great confidence she reposed in her; and again, because Manuela was +indispensable for all those little services and attentions to which +women of rank are accustomed. Besides, the presence of the nurse, who +never left Doa Hermosa's side in her interviews with Don Torribio, +prevented any exuberant outbreak of passion on his part, and confined +him to the limits of a respectful decorum.</p> + +<p>Whatever astonishment the redskins might have felt at the alterations +in the <i>toldo</i> undertaken by Don Torribio, the veneration and devotion +they professed for the Tigercat were so great, that, with the delicacy +which seems innate in their race, they pretended to see none of them, +especially as the latter had taken no offence at the conduct of the +paleface chief. Moreover, as, under all circumstances, the latter +rendered them energetic cooperation, being always the foremost in +battle and the last to retreat, they thought it right to leave him +to arrange his own affairs as he judged best, without any attempt to +oppose him.</p> + +<p>"Well," said Doa Hermosa, when he entered, "has the Tigercat succeeded +in subduing the exasperation of the tribes?"</p> + +<p>"Thank Heaven! He has, seorita; but the atrocious crime committed by +Major Barnum is unworthy of a man, and more the deed of a savage brute +than of a civilized being."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps the major is not the author of the crime."</p> + +<p>"The whites are accustomed to treat the Indians thus. Have I not heard +them assert a thousand times that the redskins are not human beings? +All weapons that kill them are lawful, and poison is one of the surest. +This crime alone is sufficient to justify me in having quitted the +ranks of the monsters."</p> + +<p>"Speak no more on this subject, I beseech you; you make me shudder. +I am obliged to confess that reason is on your side. When we witness +such horrors, we begin to regret that we belong to a race capable of +inventing them."</p> + +<p>"What is the decision of the council?" asked Don Pedro, in order to +turn the conversation.</p> + +<p>"Tomorrow, at daybreak, a general assault will be delivered on the +<i>presidio</i>."</p> + +<p>"Tomorrow!" exclaimed Doa Hermosa, in a fright.</p> + +<p>"Yes," he replied; "tomorrow I hope to revenge myself on those who were +my brothers, and have forced me to repudiate them. Tomorrow I shall +conquer or die."</p> + +<p>"God protect the good cause!" said she ambiguously.</p> + +<p>"Thanks, cousin," replied Don Torribio, mistaking the meaning of her +exclamation.</p> + +<p>Don Pedro with difficulty repressed a sigh.</p> + +<p>"The action tomorrow will be severe," Don Torribio continued. "I +conjure you, seorita, not to leave the <i>toldo</i>. Should we meet with a +reverse, no one can tell to what extremes the rage of the Apaches may +carry them. I will leave twenty resolute men, <i>vaqueros</i> on whom I can +rely, to defend you. As soon as the affair is over, I will send you +word."</p> + +<p>"Are you going already, Don Torribio?" said she, as she saw him move +for the purpose.</p> + +<p>"I must, seorita; I am one of the chiefs of the Indian army. In that +quality, I have duties to fulfil, and must make preparations for the +morrow. I entreat you to let me go."</p> + +<p>"Farewell, then, if it must be so."</p> + +<p>Bowing respectfully to her and her father, Don Torribio retired.</p> + +<p>"All is lost," said Don Pedro; "the Mexicans will never be able to +withstand the assault."</p> + +<p>Doa Hermosa looked at him with a strange expression, and then +whispered in his ear:</p> + +<p>"Father, have you read your Bible?"</p> + +<p>"Why do you ask, little madcap?"</p> + +<p>"Because," said she, with a coaxing smile, "you seem to have forgotten +the story of Delilah."</p> + +<p>"What!" he exclaimed, more astonished than ever; "Do you intend to cut +off his hair?"</p> + +<p>"<i>Quin sabe?</i>" she answered, shaking her head knowingly, and with a +delicious assumption of bravado; while at the same time she put one of +her fingers on her rosy lips.</p> + +<p>Don Pedro gave the shrug of a man who is utterly at a loss to +understand, and who gives up an inexplicable enigma.</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> A fact. An identical occurrence took place at the Carmen +of Patagonia, daring an attack by the Indians.</p></div> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII.</a></h4> + +<h3>PALEFACE <i>VERSUS</i> REDSKIN.</h3> +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p>The redskins in general, and the Apaches in particular, exhibit a +surprising degree of craftiness when on the warpath, or preparing for +a hazardous expedition. The best troops of the civilized world cannot +compete with them in subtlety and wariness, such pains do they take to +conceal and dissemble their movements.</p> + +<p>Towards three o'clock in the morning, just as the first pearly notes +issued from the throats of the <i>mawkawis</i><a name="FNanchor_1_3" id="FNanchor_1_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_3" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> nestled among the leaves, +the Tigercat and Don Torribio rose from their beds, armed themselves +for the fight, and issued forth from their toldos, followed by several +Apache braves, directing their silent and rapid steps towards the +centre of the camp, where the <i>sachems</i> of the tribes, crouched on +their haunches around an immense brasier, smoked the war calumet while +waiting for the great chief.</p> + +<p>When the Tigercat appeared, the Indians rose in a body to reverence +their leader.</p> + +<p>The Tigercat, returning their salute, made them a sign to be seated, +and turning to the <i>amantzin,</i> or sorcerer, who stood by his side. +"Will the Master of life remain neutral?" he asked. "Will the Wacondah +be propitious to the Apache braves? Or will he be adverse to the war +his Indian sons, united before the stone <i>atepelt</i> (village) of the +palefaces, are going to wage this day against their oppressors?"</p> + +<p>"At the bidding of the chiefs," replied the <i>amantzin</i>, "I will +question the Master of life."</p> + +<p>Then, drawing himself up to his full height, he wrapped his bison robe +about him, and thrice paced round the fire, marching from left to +right, and muttering words unintelligible to all, and which yet seemed +to have a mysterious meaning. At the third round, he poured a <i>coui</i> (a +small vessel) of water, sweetened with <i>smilax</i>, into a cup of reeds, +plaited so closely that not a drop escaped. Next, having dipped a sprig +of wormwood in the <i>coui</i>, he sprinkled the assembled <i>sachems</i>, and +emptied the water in three separate portions towards the rising sun.</p> + +<p>Then, bending his body forward, with outstretched head and expanded +arms, he appeared to listen to sounds perceptible to him alone.</p> + +<p>At the end of a few seconds the <i>mawkawis</i> lifted up his song again, +on the right of his sorcerer. Immediately his face contorted itself, +and grew horrible to look at; his bloodshot eyes seemed ready to +start from their orbits; a whitish foam oozed from the corners of his +compressed lips; a livid pallor overspread his features; his limbs were +convulsed, and his body was agitated by violent distortions.</p> + +<p>"The Spirit comes! The Spirit comes!" muttered the Indians, in +superstitious terror.</p> + +<p>"Silence!" cried the Tigercat; "The wise man is about to speak."</p> + +<p>In fact, a painful hissing issued from the distorted mouth of the +<i>amantzin</i>, which changed by slow degrees into words, unintelligible at +first, but soon pronounced sufficiently distinctly to be understood by +all.</p> + +<p>"The spirit comes!" he exclaimed; "He has unbound his long locks, which +float abroad on the winds. His breath brings annihilation; the heaven +are red with blood. Victims will not be wanting for the Wacondah, the +spirit of evil. Who can resist him? He alone is master. The knives of +the Apaches shall find a sheath in the breasts of the palefaces. The +vultures and <i>urubus</i> are glad; they snuff the ample repast. Shout the +war cry! Courage, warriors! the Wacondah himself will lead you. Death +is nothing; glory is all!"</p> + +<p>The <i>amantzin</i>, having uttered a few other unintelligible words, +dropped to the ground, a prey to frightful convulsions.</p> + +<p>Strange to relate, the men who had up to this time hung suspended on +his lips, listening with strained anxiety to his utterances, had now +no look or word of pity or interest for him as he lay writhing on the +ground, but left him there, without further thought about him. It was +because the man rash enough to touch a sorcerer while possessed by the +spirit would fall a lifeless corpse: such is the Indian belief.</p> + +<p>As soon as the <i>amantzin</i> had ceased speaking, the Tigercat took up the +word in his turn.</p> + +<p>"Great chiefs of the Apache tribes," said he in a deep voice, "you see +that the God of your fathers smiles on our attempt, and encourages +it. Let us not hesitate, warriors! Let us confound with one last blow +the pride of our oppressors. Our lands are now free; one single spot +is still in the power of our tyrants. Let us conquer it today, and at +sunset let the Spanish flag, whose fatal shadow has so long been the +omen of misery and death, be lowered on our frontiers forever. Courage, +brothers! Your ancestors, hunting in the happy prairies, will joyfully +welcome those who fall in the battle. Let each repair to the post I +have assigned him; the hoarse cry of the <i>urubu</i>, thrice repeated at +equal intervals, will give the signal for the assault."</p> + +<p>The chiefs, with deep reverence, took their departure, and dispersed in +various directions. The Tigercat remained alone, absorbed in profound +meditation.</p> + +<p>An awful stillness reigned over the scene. There was not a breath of +wind, nor a cloud in the sky. The limpid and transparent atmosphere +permitted objects to be seen at a vast distance. The dark blue heavens +were studded with a multitude of sparkling stars; the moon was pouring +forth her silver rays in profusion; no sound disturbed the impressive +silence, except, at intervals, that low murmuring which, coming we know +not whence, seems the awful breathing of slumbering nature.</p> + +<p>The white chief, on the point of making his mightiest effort to +enfranchise the Indian nations, and pave the way for the triumph of +his mysterious combinations, yielded with delight to the tumultuous +thoughts busying themselves in his brain. Communing with his soul, +he scrutinised his own conduct, and fervently entreated Him who is +almighty, and whose eye searches the heart, not to abandon him, if the +cause for which he fought was righteous.</p> + +<p>A hand was laid heavily on his shoulder.</p> + +<p>Thus rudely recalled to himself, the Tigercat started. He passed his +hand over his damp brow, and turned to the intruder. The sorcerer stood +there, gazing at him with his perfidious eyes, and grinning an evil +smile.</p> + +<p>"What brings you here?" said the chief abruptly.</p> + +<p>"Is my father satisfied with me?" replied the <i>amantzin;</i> "Has the +Wacondah spoken well to the <i>sachems?</i>"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said the Tigercat, with a gesture of disgust; "my brother has +done well: he may go."</p> + +<p>"My father is great and generous! The spirit that possesses me tore me +grievously."</p> + +<p>The chief snatched a string of pearls from his neck, and threw it to +the wretch, who caught it with a shout of delight.</p> + +<p>"Go!" said the Tigercat, turning haughtily away.</p> + +<p>The <i>amantzin</i> retired. He had got all he wanted.</p> + +<p>Don Torribio had left the scene of the incantation with the other +chiefs, to repair to his post; but after proceeding a little way, he +looked up to the sky, and mentally calculated the hour by the position +of the stars.</p> + +<p>"I shall have time," he muttered to himself.</p> + +<p>So he hastily directed his steps towards the <i>toldo</i> of Doa Hermosa; +numerous guards surrounded it.</p> + +<p>"She sleeps," said he; "sleeps, lulled by sweet childish fancies. +O God! Who knowest the extent of my love, and the sacrifice I have +offered at its shrine, grant she may be happy!"</p> + +<p>He went up to one of the <i>vaqueros</i>, who, leaning against a tree, was +silently smoking his cigarette, his eyes fixed on the <i>toldo</i>.</p> + +<p>"<i>Verado,</i>" said he, with emotion he could not repress, "twice have I +saved your life at the risk of my own. Do you remember?"</p> + +<p>"I remember," said the <i>vaquero</i> briefly.</p> + +<p>"Today it is I who come to ask a service. Can I rely on you?"</p> + +<p>"Speak, Don Torribio; I will do all a man can do, to do you a service."</p> + +<p>"Thanks, comrade! My life, my soul, all I hold dear in the world, is +contained in this <i>toldo</i>. I confide her to you. Swear to defend her, +whatever may happen!"</p> + +<p>"I swear it, Don Torribio. The <i>toldo</i> is sacred; neither friend nor +enemy shall enter. I and the men you have placed under my command will +die on the spot before injury shall happen to those you love."</p> + +<p>"I thank you," said the chief, extending his hand to the <i>vaquero</i>.</p> + +<p>The latter seized the bottom of his leader's cloak, and kissed it +reverently.</p> + +<p>Don Torribio cast one more look of affection at the <i>toldo</i>, which +concealed, as he had said, all he loved in this world, and then went +his way with rapid strides.</p> + +<p>"Now," said he, "let me be a man! They are bold men we have to contend +with."</p> + +<p>As soon as the chief had ordered the sachems to their posts, where the +warriors were anxiously expecting the word to let them loose upon the +foe, they proceeded to the different stations where their respective +tribes were posted.</p> + +<p>The men then commenced one of those incredible marches which Indians +alone can perform—crawling on their bellies over the ground. Creeping +and gliding along like snakes, they managed to station themselves, +in less than an hour, and without attracting notice, immediately at +the foot of the ramparts held by the Mexicans. This movement had been +executed with so much precision and success, that no sound had been +heard in the prairie, and nothing appeared to have stirred in the camp, +where all seemed plunged into the deepest repose.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, a few minutes before the <i>sachems</i> had received the final +orders of the Tigercat, a man in Apache dress had quitted the camp in +advance of the others, and crept towards the fort on hands and knees.</p> + +<p>When he arrived at the barricade, another man who, leaning over it, had +been listening with intense anxiety, reached out his hand, and helped +him inside the town.</p> + +<p>"Well, Estevan?"</p> + +<p>"We shall be attacked before an hour is over, major," said the <i>mayor +domo</i>.</p> + +<p>"Will the attack be serious?"</p> + +<p>"An assault. The Indians are determined to finish the game at once; +they are afraid of being all poisoned if they wait longer."</p> + +<p>"What is to be done?" grumbled the officer.</p> + +<p>"Let ourselves be killed," was the reply.</p> + +<p>"By Heavens! A comfortable piece of advice! We can but do that at the +last extremity."</p> + +<p>"We might try something else."</p> + +<p>"But what? Speak, in Heaven's name!"</p> + +<p>"Is everything prepared as we agreed?"</p> + +<p>"It is. But what do you propose?"</p> + +<p>"Give me twenty-five <i>vaqueros</i>, whom you can trust."</p> + +<p>"Take them; you will lead them?"</p> + +<p>"That is my affair, major. I will not answer for success; for these red +devils are numberless as the sands; but you may depend on my thinning +their ranks."</p> + +<p>"That will do us no harm. But the women and children?"</p> + +<p>"I have got them all safely to Las Norias."</p> + +<p>"God be praised! Now we can fight like men; our dear ones are in +safety."</p> + +<p>"For a time they are."</p> + +<p>"What do you mean? What is there else to fear?"</p> + +<p>"Only that when the Indians have taken the <i>presidio</i>, they will most +probably attack the hacienda."</p> + +<p>"You are out of your wits, Estevan," said the major, smiling; "and Doa +Hermosa—"</p> + +<p>"True," replied the <i>mayor domo</i> gaily; "I had forgotten her."</p> + +<p>"Is that all you have to report?"</p> + +<p>"No, major," he said quickly; "one thing more."</p> + +<p>"Out with it then; for time presses."</p> + +<p>"The signal for the attack is to be three screams of the <i>urubu</i>, at +equal intervals."</p> + +<p>"Good! I will be ready for them: they will attack before daybreak."</p> + +<p>The major and Don Estevan separated, to visit the posts in succession, +to arouse the guards, and prepare them for the event.</p> + +<p>The preceding evening, Major Barnum had assembled all the townspeople, +and, in a brief and energetic speech, and with the greatest frankness, +apprised them of the precarious situation of the <i>pueblo;</i> had +explained his plan of defence; and finished by telling them that boats +were ready moored under the guns of the fort, to receive the women, +children, old men, and all those country people who declined to join +in his desperate resistance; adding, that all who embarked would be +conveyed at nightfall to the Hacienda of Las Norias, where they would +be kindly received.</p> + +<p>We are bound to say, that a few of the people in the town, dismayed +by the energetic proceedings of the major, had recoiled from the idea +of taking part in them, and had gone to the hacienda. There remained, +therefore, in the town only resolute men, determined to sell their +lives dearly, and on whom he could rely with confidence.</p> + +<p>Thus when, on being aroused, the immediate attack of the Apaches was +made known to them, they manned the barriers confidently, with eyes and +ears on the watch, ready to give fire at the first signal.</p> + +<p>One hour passed over without any occurrence to break the stillness of +the night. The Mexicans began to imagine that they had been summoned +to the walls by a false alarm, as had already happened on several +occasions, when suddenly the hoarse and ominous scream of the <i>urubu</i> +arose.</p> + +<p>Again it broke through the silence, and a cold shudder ran through the +frames of the besieged, who recognised their death cry, and knew how +little chance of escape existed.</p> + +<p>A third time the scream of the <i>urubu</i> arose, louder and hoarser than +before. Ere it was well ended, the dreadful war whoop broke forth on +all sides, and the Indians threw themselves in swarms on the exterior +defences, and attempted to carry them by escalade. The Mexicans +received them firmly, like men who knew their last hour was come, and +were resolved to fall amidst a hecatomb of foes. The Indians fell back +in dismay, astounded at the vigorous resistance. Their measures had +been taken so secretly, that they felt certain of surprising the town. +As soon as they were in the open, showers of grape swept them down, and +scattered death and disorder among their masses.</p> + +<p>Don Estevan, profiting by the panic, threw himself, at the head of +his <i>vaqueros</i>, on the thunderstricken redskins, and cut them down +indiscriminately. Twice he renewed the charge with the courage of a +lion, and twice the Indians recoiled before him.</p> + +<p>As long as the darkness lasted, the Apaches could not perceive the +smallness of the force opposed to them, and the combat was greatly +favourable to the palefaces, who, sheltered behind the barricades, kept +up a deadly fire on the dense masses of the enemy.</p> + +<p>But after about two hours of this obstinate resistance the sun rose, +and lighted up the field of battle with the glorious splendour of his +rays. The Indians hailed his appearance with clamorous shouts, and +precipitated themselves with renewed fury on the intrenchments from +which they had just been driven. Their shock was irresistible.</p> + +<p>The whites, after an amount of resistance determined on beforehand, +abandoned a position they could no longer hold. The Indians, at the +top of their speed, rushed in pursuit. But at that moment a frightful +explosion was heard, the ground burst under their feet, and the mangled +wretches, hurled into the air, were cast in all directions.</p> + +<p>The interior of the defences had been undermined, and the major had +just issued the order to fire the train. The effects of the explosion +were horrible. The panic-stricken redskins began to fly on all sides, +and, yielding to the impulse of their terror, were deaf to the orders +of their <i>sachems</i>, and refused to renew the fight.</p> + +<p>For a moment the palefaces thought themselves saved. But the Tigercat, +mounted on a magnificent jet black mustang, and unfolding to the breeze +the sacred <i>totem</i> of the allied tribes, rushed to the front, braving +in his single person the shots the Mexicans aimed at him, and cried in +a terrible voice: "Cowards! As you will not conquer, see how a brave +man can die!"</p> + +<p>His voice conveyed the bitterest reproach to the ears of the redskins; +the most cowardly were ashamed to abandon the chief who was thus +generously sacrificing himself; they faced about, and returned to the +assault with redoubled ardour.</p> + +<p>The Tigercat seemed invulnerable. He made his horse bound into the +thickest of the fight, parrying the blows aimed at him with the staff +of the <i>totem</i>, which he held displayed above his head to encourage his +men.</p> + +<p>The Apaches, electrified by the audacity of their great chief, crowded +around him, undismayed even in death, and shouted:</p> + +<p>"The Tigercat! The Tigercat! Let us die for the great chief!"</p> + +<p>"Look there!" cried he enthusiastically, pointing to the morning +star; "Look there! Your Father is smiling upon your deeds! Forwards! +Forwards!"</p> + +<p>"Forwards!" repeated the redskins, advancing with fresh fury.</p> + +<p>But the major knew this horrible struggle could not last much longer. +The redskins had carried all the barricades; the town swarmed with +them. The Mexicans disputed it house by house, only leaving one to +throw themselves into another when dislodged by main force. The +redskins formed into a solid mass, led by Don Torribio, charged up the +steep street leading to the old <i>presidio</i> and the fort which commands +it. In spite of the ravages caused in their ranks by the grape from the +guns of the fort, they advanced without wavering; for they saw, after +each of the discharges which showered death amongst them, the Tigercat +ten paces in advance, bestriding his black charger, and brandishing the +<i>totem</i>, with Don Torribio at his side waving his sword.</p> + +<p>"Come," said the major gravely to Don Estevan; "the time has arrived to +execute the orders I gave you."</p> + +<p>"You insist upon them, major?" replied the latter.</p> + +<p>"I do Estevan."</p> + +<p>"Enough, major; they shall not say I disobeyed your last orders. +Farewell! Or rather, may we soon meet in heaven; for I shall fall as +well as you."</p> + +<p>"<i>Quin sabe?</i> Farewell, farewell!"</p> + +<p>"Let us still hope," answered the <i>mayor domo</i> in a stifled voice.</p> + +<p>The two men silently clasped each other's hands in a final pressure; +for they knew that, without a miracle, they should never meet again.</p> + +<p>After this leave-taking, Don Estevan collected some forty horsemen, +formed them into a compact body, and, in the interval between two +volleys from the fort, threw himself at full speed on the advancing +redskins. The Apaches could not resist the impetuosity of the charge, +and fled into the houses on either hand. When they recovered from their +panic, the horsemen who had so rudely handled them had got on board +two large boats, and were rowing swiftly towards the Hacienda de las +Norias. Don Estevan and the whole of his followers were saved, with +the exception of three or four who fell in the charge. The major had +profited by the diversion to throw himself, with the remaining whites, +into the fort, the gates of which were instantly closed behind him. +Don Torribio ordered the redskins to halt, and advanced alone to the +fortress.</p> + +<p>"Major," cried he in a loud voice, "surrender! The lives of yourself +and the garrison shall be respected."</p> + +<p>"You are a traitor, a coward, and a dog!" replied the major, appearing +on the walls. "You murdered my friend, who trusted to your loyalty. No +surrender!"</p> + +<p>"It is death to you and all with you; for the sake of humanity, +surrender! Defence is impossible."</p> + +<p>"You are a coward!" cried the major again; "here is my answer."</p> + +<p>"Back, all of you! Back!" shouted the Tigercat, driving both spurs into +his horse, which bounded into the air, and flew off with the speed of +an arrow.</p> + +<p>The Indians precipitated themselves from the top to the base of the +rampart, seized with an indescribable panic; but not speedily enough to +avoid the fate that threatened them. The major had fired the magazines +in the fort. A terrific explosion ensued. The gigantic edifice +oscillated for a second or two on its foundations, like a tottering +mastodon; then, suddenly torn from the ground, rose into the air, +and burst like an elephantine shell. Amidst the last cries of "Long +live the Republic!" from the besieged, a storm of stones and bodies, +horribly mutilated, hailed down upon the redskins, aghast at the +horrible catastrophe—and all was over, the Tigercat was master of the +Presidio de San Lucar; but, as Major Barnum had sworn, he was only in +possession of a pile of ruins.</p> + +<p>With tears of rage, Don Torribio planted the <i>totem</i> of the Apaches on +a strip of tottering wall—the sole remnant to mark the spot where, +ten minutes ago, rose the magnificent fort of San Lucar.</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> A Mexican songbird.</p></div> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV.</a></h4> + +<h3>THE CATASTROPHE.</h3> +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p>Several days had elapsed since the fall of the <i>presidio</i> of San +Lucar. The pueblo had been given up to pillage, with refinements of +barbarity impossible to describe. Only the principal buildings had been +spared, thanks to the measures employed by the Tigercat, who to save +the immense treasures they contained, had allotted them to the most +powerful <i>sachems</i> of the tribes who followed him.</p> + +<p>The old freebooter had established his headquarters in the former +dwelling of Don Torribio Quiroga, which the latter had gracefully ceded +to him. Doa Hermosa and her father had resumed possession of their own +mansion.</p> + +<p>The town, with none but Indians for inhabitants, had a mournful aspect: +no more commerce; no more cheerful songs; nothing left of the careless +spirit of gaiety which formerly animated the Mexican colony. Here and +there in the open streets lay corpses, battled for by the birds of +prey, festering, and infecting the atmosphere. In a word, the whole +scene afforded the spectacle of that desolation which accompanies a war +of extermination between two races who have been foes for centuries.</p> + +<p>About a week after the events we have described in the preceding +chapter, three persons were assembled, about ten o'clock in the +morning, in a room in Don Pedro de Luna's house, and were talking in +low tones. These three persons were, Don Pedro himself, Doa Hermosa, +and the worthy <i>capataz</i> Luciano Pedralva, who, huddled up in the +fantastical costume of a <i>vaquero</i>, looked like a monstrous robber, +exciting bursts of laughter from a Manuela, who was seated, on the +watch, at a window. Every time she looked at him, she broke into +a fresh laugh, to the indignation of the <i>capataz</i>, who voted his +disguise at the devil.</p> + +<p>"Well as we have agreed," said Don Pedro, "you must put on your pumps, +Luciano, and prepare for the dance."</p> + +<p>"And it is to take place today?"</p> + +<p>"It must, my good friend. It seems to me that we live in singular +times, and in a very singular country. I have seen many revolutions, +but this beats them all."</p> + +<p>"As for me," said Doa Hermosa, "it seems consistent enough from an +Indian point of view."</p> + +<p>"Very possible, my dear. I am not going to enter into a discussion with +you; but you must confess that a month ago we were far from expecting +such a prompt re-establishment of the Apache power on these frontiers."</p> + +<p>"You know, Don Pedro, I understand none of these matters; only it +appears to me that the Tigercat is not very magnanimous for a man about +to become a sovereign."</p> + +<p>"What do you mean by that, Luciano?"</p> + +<p>"I mean what everyone ought to mean. The letter he sent Don Fernando +the day before yesterday is explicit enough; for in it he tells him, +shortly and sharply, that if he is found in the colony five days after +its receipt, he will have him hanged."</p> + +<p>"If he can catch him!" said Doa Hermosa hastily.</p> + +<p>"That is understood," replied the <i>capataz</i>.</p> + +<p>"What is there in that to astonish you, Luciano?" said Don Pedro. "By +Heavens! What extraordinary things I have witnessed in my life! I +myself know a score of people to whom the same threats have been made, +and who are yet alive and well."</p> + +<p>"It is all one; but, in spite of that, I do not like it."</p> + +<p>"But this is all foreign to our matter. You will return to the +hacienda, Don Luciano; and remember my advice."</p> + +<p>"Trust to me, seor. But I have something else to say."</p> + +<p>"Say what you will, my good friend; but lose no time."</p> + +<p>"I am dreadfully anxious about Don Estevan," replied the <i>capataz</i>, in +a voice so low that it could not reach a Manuela's ears; "for six days +he has disappeared, and we hear no tidings of him."</p> + +<p>Doa Hermosa smiled slyly. "Estevan is not the man to lose himself +without leaving a trail," said she. "Tranquilize yourself: at the +proper time you will see him again."</p> + +<p>"So much the better, seorita; for he is a man to be relied on."</p> + +<p>"Don Torribio!" suddenly exclaimed Manuela.</p> + +<p>"Indeed!" said the <i>capataz</i>; "Then it is time for me to vanish."</p> + +<p>"Follow me quickly;" cried the <i>mayor domo's</i> mother.</p> + +<p>The <i>capataz</i> bent reverently before Doa Hermosa and Don Pedro, and +left the room with Manuela.</p> + +<p>The door by which they went out had hardly closed upon them, when +another opened, and Don Torribio entered. He wore a superb Indian +dress; his forehead was lined with care, and his looks were sad. He +bowed to Doa Hermosa, cordially grasped the hand of Don Pedro, and +took his seat at a mute sign from the lady.</p> + +<p>After the interchange of a few common-place words, the daughter of the +hacendero, whom Don Torribio's downcast demeanour disquieted more than +she liked to evince, turned gracefully towards him, and said, with an +assumption of interest which was admirably acted:</p> + +<p>"What ails you, Don Torribio? You look sad. What bad news have you +received?"</p> + +<p>"None, seorita; though I thank you for the interest you take in +my affairs. Were I ambitious, I should feel content; for all my +aspirations have been realised. In receiving your hand, a few days +hence, the dream of my whole life will be fulfilled. You see, +seorita," he added, with a mournful smile, "that I allow you to peer +into the depths of my heart."</p> + +<p>"I am thankful for what you say; but, Don Torribio, you were not thus a +few days ago. Something must have—"</p> + +<p>"Nothing personal, I assure you. But the nearer the time comes for the +ceremony of taking possession of the territories we have won back, +the greater discouragement masters me. I can by no means approve the +determination of the Tigercat to have himself officially declared an +independent sovereign; it is a folly I cannot comprehend. The Tigercat +knows better than any one how impossible it is to maintain himself +here. The Apaches, brave as they are, will never be able to hold their +own against the disciplined force the Mexican Government will despatch +against us, as soon as they hear of this outbreak."</p> + +<p>"Is it impossible to induce the Tigercat to change his purpose?"</p> + +<p>"It is. I have tried every means to show him the insanity of his +project. He will listen to nothing. The man has an object in view known +to himself alone; the wish he loudly proclaims—to regenerate the race +of redskins—is a mere pretext."</p> + +<p>"You shock me, Don Torribio! If this is the case, why not give him up?"</p> + +<p>"Can I do so? Am I not already a renegade? Shall I confess to you, +seorita? Although every thing seems prosperous,—although the future +seems to have nothing but smiles for me,—yet, for the last few days, +an invincible despondency has crept over me. Everything looks dark, and +I feel world worn. In a word, I have a foreboding that I am on the eve +of a terrible misfortune."</p> + +<p>Doa Hermosa cast a piercing glance at him, which he did not observe. +"Banish these mournful thoughts," said she, with emphasis; "henceforth +your fate is settled; nothing can alter it."</p> + +<p>"I believe so; but, you know, seorita, mischance may come between the +cup and the lip."</p> + +<p>"Come, come, Don Torribio!" said Don Pedro gaily; "Let us to breakfast. +It is the last repast you will share with us before the ceremony of +taking possession. Is it still to be today?"</p> + +<p>"It is!" replied Don Torribio, offering his hand to Doa Hermosa, to +lead her into another room, where a splendid meal was prepared.</p> + +<p>At first they were very silent; the guests seemed ill at ease; but +by degrees the efforts of Doa Hermosa and her father to cheer Don +Torribio succeeded in breaking the ice, and the conversation became +more lively. Yet it was easily seen that Don Torribio had a hard +struggle to repel the thoughts that rose to his lips, and to condemn +them to silence.</p> + +<p>Towards the close of the repast, the chief turned to Doa Hermosa.</p> + +<p>"Seorita," he said, "tonight my future will be settled. In taking +part, as an Indian chief, in the ceremony of today, I shall throw down +the gauntlet to my countrymen, by giving them to understand that I +openly join the cause of the redskins; and that what they at first +supposed to be an Indian raid grew, thanks to the Tigercat and me, into +the rising of a whole nation. I know the pride of the whites! Unable +to utilise the immense territories they possess, they will still never +leave us in peaceful enjoyment of the heritage we have carved out for +ourselves at the point of our lances. The Mexican Government will wage +a war of destruction upon us. Can I depend upon you?"</p> + +<p>"Before answering, Don Torribio, I must demand a clearer explanation."</p> + +<p>"And you shall have it. Reprisals are what the Spaniards most dread in +an Indian insurrection; that is to say, a massacre of the whites. My +carriage with a Mexican would be a gage of peace from us to them—a +pledge for the future security of their commerce, and the observance +of the relations to be established between us. Our path is marked out, +however the chiefs of the tribes may object. Neither the Tigercat nor I +will deviate from it a hair's breadth. Seorita, I address this frank +and loyal question to you: Will you grant me your hand?"</p> + +<p>"Why should you press so grave a matter at such a moment, Don +Torribio?" was her answer "Are you not sure of me?"</p> + +<p>Don Torribio Quiroga frowned. "Always the same reply," he said. "Child, +you are playing with the lion! If I had not been your shield these ten +days past, you would have been slain ere now. Do you fancy me ignorant +of your petty machinations, or ensnared by your childish calculations? +You are playing for life or death, silly one; you are caught yourself +in the net you spread for me. You are in my power! It is for me to +dictate my conditions. Tomorrow you will espouse me; the heads of your +father and of Don Fernando shall answer for your compliance!" Seizing +a crystal vase of water, he filled his glass, and emptied it at a +draught; while Doa Hermosa gazed at him with a strange expression in +her eyes. "In an hour," said he, dashing the glass to pieces on the +table, "you will attend the ceremony. You shall be beside me. I will it +so!"</p> + +<p>"I will be there!" she said quietly.</p> + +<p>"Farewell!" he exclaimed, in a husky voice; and, casting another glance +at her, he left the room. The girl rose hastily, seized the vase, and +emptied its contents, murmuring: "Don Torribio! Don Torribio! thou hast +thyself told me, that between cup and lip stood death!"</p> + +<p>"Now for the finishing stroke!" said Don Pedro</p> + +<p>At a sign from his daughter, he went out upon the terrace, and placed +two stands, filled with flowers, close to the balustrade. This appeared +to be a signal; for they had hardly been moved a minute, when Manuela +hastily entered the room, saying, "He is here!"</p> + +<p>"Let him come!" said Don Pedro and his daughter.</p> + +<p>Don Estevan made his appearance.</p> + +<p>The hacendero, having charged Manuela to be on the watch, carefully +closed the doors, seated himself close to the <i>mayor domo</i>, and said in +a whisper, "What news have you brought, Estevan?"</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>The grand square of the <i>pueblo</i> presented an unusual spectacle that +day; a large stage, covered with a crimson velvet carpet, had been +erected in the centre. On the stage stood a mahogany <i>butaca</i>; another +armchair, lower and less decorated, was placed on the right, and +several forms were arranged in a semicircle behind the two seats.</p> + +<p>At twelve o'clock precisely, when the sun at its zenith was pouring +down its vertical rays, five shots, fired from a gun at regular +intervals, thundered through the <i>pueblo</i>. Instantly the different +Apache tribes, constituting the Tigercat's army, debouched by the +several approaches to the square, headed by the principal <i>sachems</i> in +their robes of ceremony.</p> + +<p>These warriors were few in number, forming an effective force of +fifteen hundred men; for, according to Indian custom, the booty, +immediately after the fall of the <i>presidio</i>, had been sent under a +strong escort to the villages, and the greater number of the redskins +had dispersed, to return to their <i>atepelts</i>. Those who stayed behind +were tried and faithful braves, devoted heart and soul to the Tigercat. +The latter, after the total defeat of the Mexicans, deemed it useless +to retain a larger force about him, particularly as the first signal +would bring back the others to his standard.</p> + +<p>As fast as the tribes reached the square, they ranged themselves in +good order on three of its sides, leaving the fourth open, which was +presently occupied by a body of two hundred <i>vaqueros</i>, who, like the +redskins, halted motionless on the spot assigned to them—with this +difference: that the Indians were on foot, and without arms, except the +<i>machetes</i> at their girdles; while the <i>vaqueros</i> were mounted, and +armed to the teeth.</p> + +<p>A very few lookers-on, English, French, or Germans, who had remained +in the town after its occupation, showed their pale and frightened +faces at the windows of the houses in the square. Indian women, +huddled together in disorder behind the warriors, stretched their heads +inquisitively over the shoulders of the latter, in order to catch a +glimpse of the proceedings. The centre of the square remained void.</p> + +<p>In front of the stage, and at the foot of a rude altar, shaped like a +table, with a deep groove in it, and surmounted by an image of the sun, +stood the great <i>amantzin</i> of the Apaches, surrounded by five sorcerers +of inferior grade. All had their arms crossed on their breasts, and +their eyes cast on the ground.</p> + +<p>When everyone had fallen into his place, five more guns were fired. +Then a brilliant cavalcade came curveting into the square. At its head +rode the Tigercat, with haughty air and fiery eye, holding in his hand +the <i>totem</i>, and having on his right Don Torribio, who carried the +sacred calumet. Behind followed Don Pedro, his daughter, and several of +the principal townspeople.</p> + +<p>The Tigercat dismounted, ascended the stage, and placed himself in +front of the principal seat, but did not sit down. Don Torribio, having +assisted Doa Hermosa from her horse, took his place before the second +chair. The features of the former, usually so pale, were now inflamed, +and his hollow eyes seemed red with incessant vigils. He ceaselessly +wiped the moisture from his brow, and appeared a prey to agitating +emotions, which would break forth in spite of his efforts to control +them.</p> + +<p>Doa Hermosa had placed herself behind her father, at a short distance +from the stage. She, too, seemed to suffer from secret agitation. She +was pale, her lips were contracted, and occasionally a nervous tremor +made her limbs tremble, and a feverish flush passed over her face, +which, however, soon resumed its former pallor. She kept her eyes +resolutely fixed on Don Torribio.</p> + +<p>The Apache <i>sachems</i> grouped themselves at the foot of the platform, +which they surrounded completely.</p> + +<p>A third time the cannon roared. Then the sorcerers stepped to one side, +disclosing to the view a man firmly bound, who lay on the ground in the +midst of them.</p> + +<p>The <i>amantzin</i> addressed the multitude: "Listen to me, all you who +hear me. You know why we are here assembled: our great father, the +Sun, has smiled at our success. The Wacondah has fought on our side, +according to the promise of our illustrious chief. This <i>atepelt</i> is +now ours. The chief elected by ourselves to command and defend us is +the Tigercat. In his name and our own we now offer to the Master of +life the sacrifice most agreeable to him, in order that he may still +continue his almighty protection. Sorcerers, bring hither the victim!"</p> + +<p>The <i>amantzins</i> seized the unhappy wretch they guarded, and laid him +upon the altar. He was a Mexican, taken prisoner at the capture of the +old <i>presidio</i>. The pulquero, in whose house one of the first scenes of +this story was laid, had, from avarice, refused to quit his miserable +<i>pulquera</i>, and had fallen into the hands of the redskins.</p> + +<p>In the meantime, Don Torribio felt his strength gradually deserting +him. His eyes grew more bloodshot, his ears were stunned, his temples +throbbed violently, and he was obliged to support himself by one of the +arms of his seat.</p> + +<p>"What ails you?" said Doa Hermosa.</p> + +<p>"I know not," he replied; "the heat—agitation, perhaps: I am choking. +But it is nothing."</p> + +<p>The <i>pulquero</i>, extended on the altar, had been stripped of his +garments. The wretch uttered shouts of terror. The <i>amantzin</i> +approached him, brandishing his knife.</p> + +<p>"It is horrible," cried Doa Hermosa, hiding her face in her hands.</p> + +<p>"Silence!" said Don Torribio; "the sacrifice must be completed."</p> + +<p>The sorcerer, heedless of the cries of the victim coolly examined him +to find the right place for the blow; while the miserable prisoner, +with eyes unnaturally distended, gazed at him with an expression of +fear impossible to describe. Suddenly the <i>amantzin</i> raised the knife, +and, thrusting it into the chest of his victim, laid it open the whole +length of the ribs. The wretched man uttered a horrible cry. Then +the sorcerer plunged his hand into the gaping breast of the victim, +and tore out the palpitating heart; while his assistants carefully +collected the blood that was flowing in torrents. The sufferer writhed +in agony, still making superhuman efforts to break his bonds.</p> + +<p>While this was doing, the <i>sachems</i> in a body ascended the stage, and +seating the Tigercat on the <i>butaca</i>, raised him on their shoulders, +shouting enthusiastically "Long live the conqueror of the palefaces, +the great <i>sachem</i> of the Apaches!"</p> + +<p>The sorcerers meanwhile sprinkled the crowd with the blood of the +sacrifice; and the redskins, frenzied with excitement, rent the air +with deafening clamour.</p> + +<p>"At last," said the Tigercat proudly, "I have kept my promise: I have +driven the palefaces from this country for ever."</p> + +<p>"Not yet," exclaimed Don Pedro, in cutting tones; "look hither."</p> + +<p>A sudden change had indeed come over the scene. The <i>vaqueros</i>, up to +this time impassive spectators, suddenly charged, the unarmed Indians: +Mexican troops fell upon them from all the entrances to the square: and +all the windows were manned by whites armed with muskets, who poured +down a pitiless fire on the redskins.</p> + +<p>In the centre of the square were Don Fernando Carril, Luciano Pedralva, +and Don Estevan, who mercilessly rode in upon the Indians, shouting: +"Down with them! Down with them! Slay! Slay!"</p> + +<p>"<i>Caray!</i>" exclaimed Don Torribio, waving the <i>totem;</i> "What horrible +treachery is this?" He rushed forward to fly to the side of the +redskins; but he tottered—a dark veil obstructed his sight—and he +sank on his knees. "God!" cried he, "What has happened to me?"</p> + +<p>"You are dying," whispered Don Estevan in his ear; "that is what is +happening." And he seized him fiercely by the arm.</p> + +<p>"You lie, dog!" said Don Torribio, trying to release himself. "I will +go and help my brothers."</p> + +<p>"Your brothers are slain, as you intended to have slain tomorrow Don +Pedro, Doa Hermosa, Don Fernando, and myself. Die, wretch, with rage +at seeing your treachery meet its reward! I have given you <i>leche de +palio</i><a name="FNanchor_1_4" id="FNanchor_1_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_4" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> to drink; you are poisoned."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said he despairingly, and dragging himself on his knees to the +edge of the platform; "Woe to me; woe; God is just."</p> + +<p>In the square the Mexicans were making a horrible carnage. "Remember +Don Jos de Kalbris," they cried; "revenge Major Barnum!"</p> + +<p>It was no battle; it was a fearful butchery. Several of the chiefs, +flying before Don Fernando, Luciano, and Don Estevan, threw themselves +upon the stage as a last place of refuge.</p> + +<p>"Ha!" shouted Don Torribio, with a bound like a jaguar, seizing Don +Fernando by the throat; "At least I shall not die unavenged." A moment +of terrible anxiety ensued. "No," he continued, quitting his grasp on +his foe, and falling backwards, "it would be the act of a coward. My +life belongs to this man; he won it from me."</p> + +<p>The bystanders could not repress a cry of admiration. Don Fernando +coolly raised his rifle to his shoulder, and discharged its contents +point-blank into the breast of the man stretched at his feet.</p> + +<p>"Thus perish all traitors!" he cried.</p> + +<p>"Great God!" freely exclaimed Don Torribio, by a supreme effort rising +to his knees, and looking up to heaven with an expression of sublime +hope irradiating his features,—"Great God, I thank Thee! Thou hast +forgiven me!" One last smile of unutterable happiness glided over his +face; he fell back and expired.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Doa Hermosa had disappeared. When the Tigercat, who had been +fighting like a lion in the midst of the fray, perceived that all was +lost, and nothing but flight could save him from the fate to which the +Mexicans had doomed him, should he fall into their hands, he rallied +around him a handful of his bravest warriors, seized Doa Hermosa, +regardless of her cries and prayers, threw her across his saddle, +spurred his horse into the thickest of the <i>mle</i>, cut his passage +through, and, followed by his faithful braves, succeeded in getting out +of the town and gaining the prairie.</p> + +<p>It was too late for pursuit when the Mexicans became aware of his +flight; the old freebooter was already beyond their reach, carrying his +prey with him, like an eagle bearing a lamb in his talons.</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> Literally, milk from a pall; poison.</p></div> + + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV.</a></h4> + +<h3>ONE MONTH LATER.</h3> +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p>It was about four o'clock in the afternoon. The rays of the sun, +falling more and more obliquely, were gradually lengthening the shadows +of the trees; the birds were flying to their roosts, and nestling as +they could under the foliage, with deafening cries and pipings. A +few bands of prairie wolves were showing themselves here and there, +snuffing the breeze, and preparing for their nocturnal chase among the +tall grasses. At intervals, the lofty antlers of elks and antelopes +were suddenly rising from amidst the herbage, the animals quickly +throwing back their heads, and commencing a giddy flight into the +distance. The sun, close on the verge of the horizon, looked like a +globe of red fire behind the trunks of the stately trees. Everything +announced the rapid approach of night.</p> + +<p>In the virgin forest, about two hundred miles from the <i>presidio</i> of +San Lucar, where the last terrible episodes of our story occurred, and +in the centre of a vast clearing, two men, habited like the Mexican +<i>gambucinos</i>, were sitting on buffalo skulls, beside a clear fire which +gave forth no smoke. They were Don Estevan Diaz the <i>mayor domo</i>, and +Luciano Pedralva the <i>capataz</i>. They held their rifles across their +knees, ready for an emergency, and smoked their maize <i>pajillos</i> in +silence. Several <i>peones</i> and <i>arrieros</i> were lying about a few paces +off, and baggage mules were greedily munching the rations of Indian +corn laid on mats before them. Eight or ten horses were tethered, to +prevent their straying, close to a <i>jacal</i> (hut) of branches, the +entrance to which was closed with a <i>zarap</i>. A <i>peon</i>, standing +motionless with cocked rifle on the borders of a little brook which +meandered round the extremity of the clearing, watched over the common +safety.</p> + +<p>It was easy to perceive, from the fragments of all sorts which littered +the ground, whence every vestige of grass had disappeared, and from +the quarters of venison suspended from the boughs of a mahogany tree, +that the encampment we have described was not one of those temporary +resting places which the backwoodsmen choose for a night and quit at +sunrise, but one of those more substantial camps which the hunters +often establish as places of rendezvous for the trapping season.</p> + +<p>The <i>zarap</i> at the entrance to the <i>jacal</i> was lifted, and Don +Pedro made his appearance on the scene. His features were pale, his +expression was sad and pensive. He looked carefully around, went up to +the two men seated by the fire, and spoke: "No news as yet?"</p> + +<p>"None whatever," replied Don Estevan.</p> + +<p>"This absence is incomprehensible; Don Fernando has never before stayed +away from us so long."</p> + +<p>"True," said the <i>capataz;</i> "it is more than thirty hours since he left +us. Pray God, no misfortune may have happened."</p> + +<p>"No," answered Don Estevan; "Don Fernando is too well acquainted with +the desert to incur much danger."</p> + +<p>"But think whereabouts we are," put in Don Pedro; "the country round +about is infested by the most dangerous serpents; wild beasts swarm in +every place."</p> + +<p>"What does that matter, Don Pedro?" boldly answered Don Estevan; "You +forget that Don Fernando and Stoneheart are one and the same; that in +this region the greater part of his life was spent; that it is here, +for long years, he was a bee-hunter, and gathered the cascarilla bark."</p> + +<p>"But how do you explain his protracted absence?"</p> + +<p>"You recollect, Don Pedro, with what disinterestedness our friend +offered us his cooperation when, in despair at the sudden disappearance +of Doa Hermosa, mad with grief, and impotent to act, we knew not +what step to take to recover the lost one. We have been led from the +<i>presidio</i> to this spot, following a trail invisible to all eyes save +Don Fernando's, who, accustomed to reap the sublime lines of the +wilderness, recognised it with singular ease and exactitude. The trail +has suddenly vanished here—vanished in spite of the most minute and +patient research. We have been eight days encamped in this place; and +every morning, at sunrise, Don Fernando—whom obstacles seem to excite, +rather than subdue—mounts and begins his search afresh. Hitherto his +labour has been in vain. Yesterday he left us, as usual, at daybreak. +Well, suppose the reason of his protracted absence, which makes you so +restless, should be the finding, at some spot leagues away perchance, +the signs we have sought for so long and unavailing?"</p> + +<p>"God grant it, my good friend! Your idea glads my heart. But what +traces could we find, after the painful exertions we have already made?"</p> + +<p>"You forget, Don Pedro, that we have to deal with the Apaches, the most +astute savages in the wilderness, the most acute of all the redskins +in hiding their trail."</p> + +<p>"Holloa!" exclaimed the <i>capataz;</i> "I hear the tread of a horse."</p> + +<p>"Is it possible?" said Don Pedro joyfully.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Don Estevan; "I, too, hear a noise, but it is not the sound +of one horse; there are two or three."</p> + +<p>"Yet Don Fernando left the camp alone."</p> + +<p>"He has probably encountered someone on the road," replied Don Estevan, +laughing.</p> + +<p>"You are wrong to joke with us in our circumstances; it is almost an +insult to my sorrow."</p> + +<p>"Heaven preserve me from such an intention, Don Pedro! The sound is +coming nearer. We shall soon see what we have to do. I should not be at +all surprised if Don Fernando has laid hands upon some Indian marauder, +at the very moment when, concealed by the underwood, he was watching +our camp, and spying out our movements."</p> + +<p>"<i>Canarios!</i> It is he himself!" cried the <i>capataz</i>.</p> + +<p>In fact, the clear and sonorous voice of Don Fernando replied to the +challenge of the sentry, and two horsemen pushed through the thick +underwood which surrounded the clearing and formed a kind of natural +rampart.</p> + +<p>Don Fernando brought with him a man whom he had firmly bound to a +horse to prevent his escape. As to the prisoner, he seemed to bear his +capture lightly. He swayed himself comfortably in his saddle, comported +himself with an air of assurance, and looked altogether as impudent as +possible. On reaching the fire, where our personages were assembled, he +saluted them with a grimace, unabashed by the looks of the standers-by.</p> + +<p>He was no other than our friend Tonillo el Zapote, whom we have +presented to our readers on several occasions.</p> + +<p>Don Fernando was very warmly and heartily greeted. His friends burnt +with impatience to question him; and their curiosity was the more +excited, as the frank and almost joyful expression of his features +led them to suppose he was the bearer of good news. Don Fernando +dismounted, embraced his friends, and unbuckled the girth which +strapped the prisoner's legs under the belly of his horse, thus giving +him the use of his limbs.</p> + +<p>"Good," said the <i>vaquero</i>, "many thanks, Don Fernando. I have had +quite enough of it. My legs are tingling as if a million of pins were +stuck in them." He sprang to the ground; but he had spoken truly; his +benumbed limbs could not support the weight of his body, and he fell +heavily. The <i>capataz</i> hastened to raise him. "It is a mere nothing," +said the <i>vaquero</i>, honouring him with a gracious smile; "yet I thank +you, caballero. In five minutes the circulation will be restored, and +no harm done. But if it is the same to you, Don Fernando, pray do not +pull the buckle so tight another time."</p> + +<p>"It will depend upon yourself, Zapote. Swear you will make no attempt +at escape, and I will set you free."</p> + +<p>"If that is all," cried the <i>vaquero</i>, gaily, "we shall soon strike a +bargain. I swear, by all my hopes of Paradise, not to slip away."</p> + +<p>"Enough! I will trust you."</p> + +<p>"An honest man sticks to his word," answered El Zapote; "you will have +no cause of complaint against me. I am the bond-slave of my word."</p> + +<p>"It will be all the better for you if that is the truth. But I am +doubtful about it, particularly after your late conduct towards me, in +spite of the protestations and offers of service you made me."</p> + +<p>The <i>vaquero</i> showed no signs of embarrassment at this straightforward +thrust. "Men endowed with certain good qualities are sure to be +misunderstood," he replied in a wheedling tone; "I never broke the +promise I made you."</p> + +<p>"Not when, after introducing Indians and other rascals of your own kind +into the <i>presidio</i>, you laid an infamous snare for me, and led me into +an ambuscade?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, Seor Don Fernando; I was faithful even under the circumstances +you mention."</p> + +<p>"<i>Rayo de Dios!</i>" impatiently exclaimed the latter; "I should be glad +to learn how you can prove your fidelity there."</p> + +<p>"Good Heavens, seor! I was faithful after my own fashion."</p> + +<p>This answer was so extraordinary and unexpected, that the bystanders +could not refrain from laughing. El Zapote bowed gravely, with the +proud humility common to men of doubtful talent, who in their inmost +soul consider themselves unappreciated geniuses.</p> + +<p>"After all," said Don Fernando, carelessly shrugging his shoulders, "we +shall soon see. I know pretty well the extent of this elastic fidelity."</p> + +<p>El Zapote returned no answer; he merely raised his eyes to heaven, as +if to invoke it as a witness of the injustice done to him, and crossed +his arms on his breast.</p> + +<p>"Before telling you anything, let me have something to eat," said Don +Fernando, "I am fainting from inanition; I have neither eaten or drank +since I left the camp."</p> + +<p>Don Estevan hastened to place provisions before him, to which he +and his prisoner did great honour. However, the meal was short. Don +Fernando's appetite was soon appeased; he gave a sigh of satisfaction, +after slaking his thirst in the limpid brook, came and sat down beside +the others, and, without putting their curiosity to further torture, +began to explain the causes of his prolonged absence in all their +details. Don Estevan had judged correctly; Don Fernando had really +discovered the trail so long fruitlessly sought for. The trail took a +south-west direction, towards the most unexplored regions of the Far +West. He had followed it with a trapper's indomitable patience for +several hours, in order to be well assured that it was the true trail, +and not an Indian artifice to turn his steps astray.</p> + +<p>The redskins, when they fear pursuit, and cannot hide their trail, +entangle so skilfully the many tracks they purposely make, and throw +them all into such hopeless confusion, that it is generally impossible +to distinguish the right one. On this occasion they had used a similar +artifice with such dexterity and success, that they would have managed +to outwit and lead astray any hunter less adroit than Stoneheart. But +he, accustomed from childhood to their wiles, did not suffer himself +to be hoodwinked, particularly as he thought he had recognised some +peculiar signs, which would have escaped the observation of a less +experienced woodman. Don Fernando, delighted with his discovery, had +rapidly commenced his return to the camp, without neglecting any of the +prudential measures requisite in a country where every bush may conceal +a foe, when it struck him that the grass in a certain spot was waving +in a manner not wholly natural. He dropped quietly from his horse, and, +without other arms than the knife he carried in an iron ring at his +girdle, and a pistol, crept towards the suspected spot, crawling on +hands and knees with the speed and silence of a snake gliding through +grass.</p> + +<p>After a quarter of an hour's work, he reached the place, and with +difficulty repressed a cry of joy on seeing El Zapote comfortably +seated on the ground, the bridle of his horse passed over his left arm, +and finishing a copious meal.</p> + +<p>Don Fernando drew a few paces nearer, in order to be sure of his man; +then, having carefully measured the distance, with a spring like a +jaguar he seized the <i>vaquero</i> by the throat, and had him bound beyond +the possibility of resistance before El Zapote had recovered from his +astonishment. "Aha!" said he, seating himself beside his prisoner, +"what a singular chance! How are you, Zapote?"</p> + +<p>"You are very kind, caballero; I cough a little." And he put his hand +to his threat.</p> + +<p>"Poor fellow! I hope it is of no consequence."</p> + +<p>"I hope, too, that no evil consequences may ensue, seor; nevertheless, +I am not quite easy about it."</p> + +<p>"Pooh! Cast aside your anxiety. I will cure you."</p> + +<p>"Do you know a remedy, caballero?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; an excellent one, which I propose to apply to you."</p> + +<p>"A thousand thanks, seor! But perhaps that would give you too much +trouble?"</p> + +<p>"None in the world. Judge for yourself. I propose to knock out your +brains with the butt end of a pistol."</p> + +<p>The <i>vaquero</i> shuddered when the words were uttered; but he would not +give in. "You really think that remedy would cure me?" said he.</p> + +<p>"Radically, I am convinced."</p> + +<p>"It may seem very odd, caballero; but, with all due deference, I am +obliged to observe, that I am of a totally different opinion."</p> + +<p>"You are wrong," replied Don Fernando, coolly cocking a pistol; "you +will soon find how efficacious it is."</p> + +<p>"And you really think, seor, there is no other remedy?"</p> + +<p>"By my faith, I see no other."</p> + +<p>"But it seems to me a little too violent."</p> + +<p>"You only think so. I tell you again, you are Wrong."</p> + +<p>"Possibly so. I would not take the liberty of contradicting you, +caballero. Have you any great wish to administer the remedy on this +particular spot?"</p> + +<p>"I? Not at all! Do you know any more fitting place?"</p> + +<p>"I think I do, seor."</p> + +<p>"And whereabouts is the place, comrade?"</p> + +<p>"Good heavens! caballero, I may be mistaken; but still, I think it +would be a pity so marvellous a secret as this remedy should be lost, +for want of an eyewitness to its efficacy. Consequently, I wish you to +take me where we can find one."</p> + +<p>"Very well! I suppose you know of such a place, not very far hence?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, caballero; I even fancy you would be charmed to see those to whom +I wish to present you."</p> + +<p>"That depends upon who they are."</p> + +<p>"You know them very well, seor: one of them is the Tigercat—a most +amiable caballero."</p> + +<p>"And you will undertake to lead me to him?"</p> + +<p>"Whenever you please: this very instant if you like."</p> + +<p>Don Fernando replaced the pistol in his belt. "Not directly. No," he +said; "we must first report ourselves at the camp, where my friends +expect me. I find you are not quite so ill as I thought; and I need not +administer my remedy just now. We can always fall back upon it some +other time, if it is necessary."</p> + +<p>"I can assure you, there is no hurry at all," replied the <i>vaquero</i>, +trying an engaging smile.</p> + +<p>Thus the business was concluded between the two men, who, knowing each +other for a long time were perfectly aware of what each could expect +from the other. Don Fernando put no faith in Tonillo; so he took +good care to remove all temptation to stray from his side, by leaving +him bound as he was—a proceeding against which the <i>vaquero</i> did not +remonstrate.</p> + +<p>But as night had fallen while they were talking, they made such +arrangements as they could for sleeping where they were, giving up all +idea of rejoining the camp until the morrow. Two or three times in the +course of the night the <i>vaquero</i> surreptitiously tried to free himself +from the bonds in which he lay; but each time he endeavoured to put his +project into execution, he saw the large blue eyes of the hunter fixed +steadfastly upon him.</p> + +<p>"Do you still feel indisposed?" he asked, the last time the prisoner +made his attempt.</p> + +<p>"Not at all!" replied the <i>vaquero</i> hastily; "Not at all."</p> + +<p>"I am glad to hear it; but," added he slowly, and emphatically, "your +inability to sleep made me anxious about you."</p> + +<p>The <i>vaquero</i> took the hint, shut his eyes without another word, and +did not open them again till daylight.</p> + +<p>Don Fernando was already alert, and had saddled the horses. "Aha! Awake +at last?" said he.</p> + +<p>"Have you slept well?"</p> + +<p>"Capitally; only I feel a little numb. Gentle exercise would soon +restore the circulation."</p> + +<p>"The effects of the dew," said the hunter imperturbably; "the nights +are cold."</p> + +<p>"The devil!" said the <i>vaquero</i>, grinning. "I hope I shall not catch +the rheumatism."</p> + +<p>"I think not. The ride will do you good."</p> + +<p>While he said this, Don Fernando had hoisted his companion on his +shoulders, and thrown him across one of the horses. But on second +thoughts, he freed his legs, and set him upright in the saddle; +reflecting that useless cruelty would only harden the man against +him, who could give such precious information when the proper moment +arrived. The <i>vaquero</i>, who feared he was about to make the journey +slung over the horse like a bale of merchandise, felt grateful for the +half-liberty allowed him, and made no objection when Don Fernando took +the precaution of buckling his legs together under his horse's belly.</p> + +<p>In this manner the two men rode to the camp, talking on different +matters, and apparently the best friends in the world.</p> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI.</a></h4> + +<h3>PREPARATIONS FOR THE CHASE.</h3> +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p>All the time Don Fernando was telling his story, El Zapote had assumed +the <i>nonchalant</i> attitude of a man perfectly satisfied with himself; +nodding his head affirmatively at certain passages, and smiling at +others with an air of modest gratification. When the former ceased +speaking, he thought it time to put in his word also.</p> + +<p>"You see, seores, I made no objection whatever to following this +estimable caballero; which means to say, that I am ready to obey all +commands you may please to lay on me."</p> + +<p>"Here is a compliment," said Don Fernando, with a malicious smile, +"which would evidently have been addressed to others, but for the +surprise of yesterday!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, fie, caballero!" retorted the <i>vaquero</i>, assuming a look of +indignant denial.</p> + +<p>"But," continued Stoneheart, "I will not vex you on that score; your +secret feelings towards me affect me in nowise. I thought I had given +you ample proof a long while ago how little I dread you in any way. I +will content myself with remarking, that, more generous than you, I +have several times held your life in my hands, and never abused the +power."</p> + +<p>"On that account I am deeply grateful to you, seor."</p> + +<p>"Pooh, pooh, Seor Zapote!" replied Stoneheart, shrugging his +shoulders; "You have quite mistaken your man. I have no more belief in +your gratitude than in your good feelings towards me, and I have only +refreshed your memory in this respect to induce you to reflect that, if +I have hitherto condescended to pardon you, the amount of courtesy I +could afford to expend on you is at length exhausted, and on the next +occasion matters will end very differently between us."</p> + +<p>"I perfectly understand your meaning, seor; but, please God, such an +occasion, I am quite sure, will never present itself. I repeat, once +for all, that I have given you my word, and, you know, an honest man +sticks—"</p> + +<p>"No more!" broke in Stoneheart. "I wish it may be so, for your own +sake. However that may be, listen attentively."</p> + +<p>"I am all ears, seor; I will not lose a word."</p> + +<p>"Although I am still young, Seor Tonillo, I know one important truth +not very creditable to humanity. If one wishes to attract a man, and +insure his fidelity, one must not attempt to act upon his virtues, but +make sure of him through his vices. You are more richly endowed with +these last than most men I know."</p> + +<p>The <i>vaquero</i> made a modest bow in acknowledgment of the compliment. +"Seor," he said, "you cover me with confusion; such praise—"</p> + +<p>"Is richly deserved," continued Stoneheart. "I have seen few men in +possession of such a formidable assortment of vices as you, my friend. +Yours are so many, that I was at a loss which to select. But among +these vices are a few more prominent than the rest: for instance, your +avarice has acquired a prodigious development; I am going to appeal to +your avarice."</p> + +<p>The <i>vaquero's</i> eyes sparkled with greed. "What do you want me to do?" +said he.</p> + +<p>"First, let me tell you what I will give you; after that, I will +explain what I require."</p> + +<p>The leering, cunning face of the bandit instantly grew serious; and, +leaning his elbows on his knees, he stretched out his head to listen to +Stoneheart's words.</p> + +<p>"You know I am rich, and can have no doubt that I am able to fulfil +any engagement with you into which I may enter. However, to save time, +and deprive you of any pretext to betray me, I will immediately place +in your hands three diamonds, each worth two thousand five hundred +piastres You are so well acquainted with precious stones, that a single +glance will convince you of their value. These diamonds are yours. I +make you a present of them. Nevertheless, if you prefer it, I engage to +pay you what they are worth; that is to say, to forward seven thousand +five hundred piastres on your first demand, after our return to San +Lucar, in exchange for the jewels."</p> + +<p>"And you have got the diamonds about you?" said the <i>vaquero</i>, in a +voice half stifled with emotion.</p> + +<p>"Here they are!" replied Stoneheart, drawing from his bosom a small +deerskin bag, and taking out three good-sized jewels, which he placed +in the <i>vaquero's</i> hands.</p> + +<p>The latter clutched them with a glee he did not attempt to conceal, +looked at them for a moment with eyes sparkling with triumph, and hid +them carefully in his bosom.</p> + +<p>"Wait a moment!" said Stoneheart, with a curious smile; "I have not yet +told you the conditions."</p> + +<p>"Whatever they may be, I accept them, seor. <i>Caspita!</i> seven +thousand five hundred piastres! It is a fortune to a poor devil like +me! No <i>navajada</i> will ever bring me in as much, however well they pay +me!"</p> + +<p>"Then you want no time for consideration?"</p> + +<p>"<i>Canarios!</i> I should think not! Whom am I to kill?"</p> + +<p>"No one," briefly answered Stoneheart. "Listen to me: all you have to +do is to lead me to the place where the Tigercat has taken refuge."</p> + +<p>The <i>vaquero</i> shook his head discontentedly at this proposal. "I cannot +do it, caballero. By all my hopes hereafter, it is impossible!"</p> + +<p>"Very well," said Stoneheart. "I forgot to mention another little +thing."</p> + +<p>"What is it, seor?" asked the <i>vaquero</i>, in great trouble at the turn +the conversation was taking.</p> + +<p>"A very trifling matter. If you do not accept my proposal, I will +instantly blow out your brains."</p> + +<p>El Zapote examined the speaker's face most carefully; with a rascal's +intuitive perception, he felt that the time for pleasantry was over, +and matters were threatening to become serious. "At least give me leave +to explain, seor," said he.</p> + +<p>"I ask no better," said Stoneheart coldly. "I am in no hurry."</p> + +<p>"I cannot lead you to the Tigercat's hiding place—I swear so; but I +can direct you to it, and tell you its name."</p> + +<p>"That is something. Go on; we have already made some progress. I see +we shall come to an understanding. I am in despair at finding myself +obliged to use extreme measures; it is so disagreeable."</p> + +<p>"Unhappily, seor, I have told you all. This is what happened: the +Tigercat, after his flight from the <i>presidio</i>, collected some score +of resolute men, of whom I was one, who comprehended that for some +time to come the Mexican Confederation would be too hot to hold them, +and resolved to plunge into the wilderness, in order to give the storm +time to blow over. All went well for a little while, when the Tigercat +suddenly changed his route; and, instead of leading us to overrun the +country of the Apaches, took us to the district of the bee-hunters and +cascarilla gatherers."</p> + +<p>"He has done that?" exclaimed Stoneheart, starting with surprise and +terror.</p> + +<p>"Yes, seor. You can understand how little I cared for a game of +life and death, in regions infested by the fiercest beasts of prey, +and, worse than that, by serpents whose bite is mortal. Seeing that +the Tigercat was seriously bent upon taking refuge in this horrible +country, I confess, seor, I got terribly frightened; and at the risk +of dying with hunger, or being scalped by the redskins in the desert, I +quietly dropped to the rear, and profited by the first opportunity to +give the Tigercat the slip."</p> + +<p>Stoneheart fixed on the <i>vaquero</i> a gaze which seemed to search his +inmost soul; the latter bore it manfully.</p> + +<p>"It is well," he said, "I see you have not lied. How long is it since +you left the Tigercat?"</p> + +<p>"Only four days, seor. As I do not know this part of the wilderness, I +was wandering about at a venture, when I had the good fortune to fall +in with you."</p> + +<p>"Indeed! Now, what is the name of the place to which the Tigercat +intended to lead you?"</p> + +<p>"El Voladero de las nimas," answered the <i>vaquero</i>, without hesitation.</p> + +<p>Stoneheart instantly grew pale as death at this information; and yet he +had almost expected it, from the cruel and implacable character of his +former teacher.</p> + +<p>"Alas!" cried he; "The unfortunate girl is lost! This wretch has +carried her into a very nest of serpents!"</p> + +<p>The bystanders were dreadfully agitated.</p> + +<p>"What is this horrible place?" said Don Pedro.</p> + +<p>"Alas! El Voladero de las nimas is an accursed region, into which +the hardiest bee-hunters and boldest <i>cascarilleros</i> scarcely dare to +enter. The Voladero is a lofty mountain, which frowns over an immense +expanse of swamps swarming with cobras, coral snakes, and others, whose +slightest bite kills the strongest man in ten minutes. For ten leagues +around this dread mountain, the country is alive with reptiles and +venomous insects, against which how shall man defend himself!"</p> + +<p>"Great God!" cried Don Pedro, in despair; "And it is to this hell they +have carried my darling child!"</p> + +<p>"Calm yourself," said Stoneheart, who perceived the necessity of +restoring a little courage to the poor father; "the Tigercat knows +this accursed place too well to enter it without taking the needful +precautions. The swamps alone are to be dreaded; the Voladero is free +from these noxious animals; the air is too pure, and its elevation too +great for them to live there. Not one attempts to scale it. Courage, +then! If your daughter, as I hope, has reached the Voladero alive, she +is in safety."</p> + +<p>"But, alas!" replied Don Pedro, "How are we to cross this impassable +barrier; how reach my daughter, without encountering certain death?"</p> + +<p>An indefinable smile illumined the features of Don Fernando. "I will +reach her, Don Pedro," he exclaimed, in firm and resolute tones. "Have +you forgotten that I am Stoneheart, the most renowned bee-hunter of the +prairies? The Tigercat confided all his secrets to me when we were not +only bee-hunters but <i>cascarilleros</i>. Courage, I say; all is not yet +lost."</p> + +<p>If a man who is struck down with some dire and and unexpected calamity +has a friend beside him, whose stout heart and cheering words bid him +hope, his prostrate courage revives, however faint and problematical +the hope may be, and, confiding in the prospect held out to him, he +gathers fresh energy for the approaching struggle. This was exactly +what happened to Don Pedro. The speech of Stoneheart, who, for weeks +past, had worked hard for him,—whom he had learned to love, and in +whom he had entire confidence,—revived his hope and courage as if by +magic.</p> + +<p>"And now," said Stoneheart, addressing the <i>vaquero</i>, "tell me how the +Tigercat treated his prisoners. You remained with him long enough to +give me reliable information on this point."</p> + +<p>"As far as that goes, seor, I can answer without hesitation, that his +attention to the seorita's welfare was unceasing; he watched over +her with anxious care, often shortening the day's march for fear of +overtiring her."</p> + +<p>His hearers breathed more freely. This solicitude on the part of one +who respected neither God nor man seemed to indicate better intentions +than they had a right to expect.</p> + +<p>Stoneheart continued his interrogations. "Do you know the nature of the +Tigercat's conversations with Doa Hermosa?"</p> + +<p>"I overheard one, seor. The poor seorita was very sad: she dared not +weep openly, for fear of offending the chief; but her eyes were always +filled with tears, and her breast heaved with stifled sobs. One day, +during a halt, she was sitting apart at the foot of a tree, her eyes +fixed on the road we had just travelled, and large tears coursing down +her cheeks. The Tigercat advanced towards her, looked at her for a +moment with mingled pity and displeasure, and addressed her in nearly +the following words: 'Child, it is useless to look back; those you +expect will not come. No one shall tear you from my hands till the time +comes when I shall think fit to restore you to freedom. To you alone +I owe the ruin of my projects, and the massacre of my friends at San +Lucar. I know it well. Therefore I carried you off, for vengeance' +sake. But this I will tell you, for your consolation and encouragement: +my revenge shall not be harsh; within a month I will give you to him +you love.' The seorita looked at him incredulously; he perceived it, +and continued, in a tone of implacable malice: 'My most earnest wish +is to see you some day the bride of Don Fernando Carril: I have never +lost sight of this. Take courage, then; dry those useless tears, which +only disfigure you,—for I swear to you I will carry out my resolve, +the very day and hour I have appointed.' Having said this, he left +her, without waiting for the answer Doa Hermosa was about to make. +I happened to be lying on the grass, a few paces from the lady. The +Tigercat either did not notice me, or thought me asleep. That is how +I overheard their conversation. To the best of my belief, that is the +only time the chief ever conversed with his prisoner, although he +continued to treat her well."</p> + +<p>When the <i>vaquero</i> ceased, a long silence ensued, caused by the +strangeness of this revelation. Stoneheart racked his brains in vain +endeavours to discover a motive for the Tigercat's conduct. He recalled +the words the chief had once uttered in his presence,—words which +agreed with what he had just heard; for even at that time the old man +seemed to take delight in the project. But Stoneheart vainly tried to +find a solution to the question, why he should act thus.</p> + +<p>In the meanwhile the sun had gone down, and night set in with the +rapidity peculiar to intertropical climates, in which there is no +twilight. It was one of those delicious nights of Southern America +which are replete with sweet odours and airy melody. The dark blue sky +was enamelled with a countless number of golden stars. The moon, now +at the full, showered down a flood of soft and glorious light; and the +transparent atmosphere made distant objects seem close at hand. The +night wind tempered the oppressive heat of the day; and the men seated +in front of the <i>jacal</i> inhaled with delight the refreshing breeze that +whispered among the foliage, surrendering themselves to the influence +of the night, which stole upon them with all its seductive languor.</p> + +<p>When Don Pedro and his two confidential agents first set out on their +search for Doa Hermosa, under the auspices of Stoneheart, a Manuela, +that devoted pure-hearted woman, refused to leave her master and her +son. She had loudly claimed her share in the risks and perils they +were about to encounter, asserting her right to accompany them in +her quality of Doa Hermosa's nurse. The good woman had persisted +so obstinately, that Don Pedro and Don Estevan, touched by her +self-abnegation, could no longer resist her entreaties, and she had +come with them. a Manuela had charge of the commissariat of the camp. +As soon as night had completely closed in, she issued from the <i>jacal</i>, +bearing refreshments, which she distributed with strict impartiality to +all present, master and man. Unseen, the worthy woman had listened to +the queries put to the <i>vaquero</i>. Her heart failed her at El Zapote's +story; but she dissembled her grief, for fear of augmenting Don Pedro's +anguish; and she appeared amongst the travellers with dry eyes and a +smiling countenance.</p> + +<p>However, time passed on; the hour for rest had come; one after another +the <i>peones</i> rolled themselves in their <i>zaraps</i>, and slumbered +peacefully, with the exception of the sentries posted to watch over +the safety of the camp. Stoneheart, plunged in deep meditation, was +reclining, with his head supported by his right arm; his companions +now and then exchanged a few words, uttered in a low tone, that they +might not disturb him. The <i>vaquero</i>, with characteristic carelessness, +stretched himself out on the ground, indifferent to what was passing +around him. His eyelids grew heavy; he was already in a state of +semi—somnolence, when he was thoroughly roused to consciousness by +Don Fernando, who shook him rudely.</p> + +<p>"Holloa, seor! What is the matter?" said he, sitting up, and rubbing +his eyes.</p> + +<p>"Is it possible to trust you?"</p> + +<p>"A question you asked once before, seor. I replied, 'Yes, if you pay +me well.' Now, you have paid me royally. There was but one man in the +world to whom I could attach myself sooner than to you—Don Torribio +Quiroga. He is dead; you take his place. No dog would obey your +slightest sign more faithfully than I."</p> + +<p>"I am not now going to put your new fledged fidelity to any rude proof; +I shall content myself with leaving you here. But remember to deal +frankly with me, and without reservation; for as surely as I have not +hesitated to pay you in advance in the bargain I have concluded with +you, so surely will I not hesitate to kill you on the spot if you +betray me. And take this to your soul: if you deceive me, no hiding +place, however secret or remote, shall save you from my vengeance."</p> + +<p>The <i>vaquero</i> bent his head, and answered unhesitatingly: "Seor Don +Fernando, I swear, by the Cross of our Lord, who died for the remission +of our sins, that I will be faithful to you unto the death."</p> + +<p>"Good," said Stoneheart; "I believe you, Zapote. Sleep now, if you are +able."</p> + +<p>The <i>vaquero</i> did not wait for a repetition of the words, but rolled +over, and was soon fast asleep.</p> + +<p>"Seores," said Stoneheart, turning to his friends, "it is time for +you to rest. As for me, I must watch a while. Be of good courage, Don +Pedro; our position is far from desperate. The more I reflect, the +surer I am we shall tear from the Tigercat the prey he holds in his +grasp and longs to devour. Be not too anxious; and if you should not +see me tomorrow, do not on any pretext leave this encampment till my +return: my absence will not be long. Good night to all!" Having said +this, Stoneheart crossed his arms on his breast, and returned to his +sombre meditations.</p> + +<p>His friends, respecting his wish to be alone, withdrew; and ten minutes +later all the inmates in the camp, except Stoneheart and the sentinels, +were asleep, or seemed to sleep.</p> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII">CHAPTER XVII.</a></h4> + +<h3>THE CHASE.</h3> +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p>Deep silence prevailed through the wilderness, broken only at long +intervals by the growling of the jaguar at the spring, or the barking +of the prairie dog in his burrow. Stoneheart had not moved after his +friends left him; he was so motionless, one would have thought him +asleep, but for the occasional glitter of his eye through the darkness. +Suddenly a hand was laid on his shoulder. He started up in an instant. +Don Estevan stood beside him. Stoneheart greeted him with a smile. "You +have something to tell me?" said he.</p> + +<p>"I have," replied Don Estevan, seating himself at his side. "I waited +till all were asleep before sought you out. You are meditating some +daring exploit—perhaps an expedition to the camp of the Tigercat?"</p> + +<p>Stoneheart replied by a smile.</p> + +<p>"Have I guessed aright?" said the <i>mayor domo</i>.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps you have, Estevan; but how does that concern you?"</p> + +<p>"More than you think, Fernando. Such an expedition is as dangerous +as can be imagined; you yourself said so. I will not let you commit +so great a folly as to attempt it alone. Remember that, from our +first meeting, we have been irresistibly attracted to each other; we +are bound together by ties of friendship which nothing can sever. +Everything ought to be in common between us. Who can tell the danger +to which you would be exposed in the expedition you are about to +undertake! This is what I have come to tell you: half of that danger is +mine; I come to claim the share you have no right to withhold from me."</p> + +<p>"Brother," replied Stoneheart, much moved, "I feared this would happen; +I dreaded the demand you have just made. Alas! You have guessed truly; +the expedition is indeed desperate, and who can say whether I shall +succeed? But why link yourself to my evil fate? Has not my whole life +been one long sorrow? It will make me happy to sacrifice it for the +poor father, pining for the child who has been torn from him. Every +man has a destiny in this world; mine is to be wretched. Let me fulfil +it. Your destiny smiles upon you; you have a mother whom you cherish, +and who adores you. I am alone. If I perish, none save yourself will +regret me. Should you fall by my side, you leave me a lifelong sorrow +for having caused your death. No length of life could obliterate my +remorse."</p> + +<p>"Fernando, my determination is irrevocable. Whatever you may say, I +shall follow you. Fidelity is an heirloom in our family; and I must do +this day what my father did not hesitate to do long ago for the family +to whom we are attached. I repeat once more, Fernando, my duty compels +me to be with you."</p> + +<p>"Think no more of it, Estevan; think of your mother, and her grief."</p> + +<p>"I think of nothing but what honour bids me."</p> + +<p>"Estevan, I cannot consent to what you wish. Again I say, think of your +mother's grief if she should lose you."</p> + +<p>"My mother, Fernando, would be the first to bid me go, were she here."</p> + +<p>"Spoken like a man!" said a gentle voice behind them. They turned, and +saw a Manuela. "I have heard all," she said. "Thanks, Don Fernando, +for speaking as you did; I will never forget your words. But Estevan is +right: duty compels him to follow you. You lose your time in trying to +dissuade him. He springs from a race who never tamper with their duty. +Let him go with you. If he falls, I shall weep,—perhaps I shall die; +but I shall die blessing him, for he will fall in the service of those +whom, through five generations, we have sworn to serve faithfully."</p> + +<p>Stoneheart gazed with admiration at the mother who did not hesitate to +sacrifice her son to her sense of duty, regardless of the boundless +love she bore him. He felt himself a weakling, compared with this +self-denial. Words failed him, and he could only manifest by signs his +acquiescence in a wish so energetically expressed.</p> + +<p>"Go, my sons," she continued, raising her eyes to heaven with an +expression of holy fervour; "God, who sees all, sees your devotedness. +He will reward you. The rule of the wicked on earth is short; the +protection of the Almighty will be with you—will defend you in +every danger. Go without fear; He tells me you will prosper in your +undertaking. Farewell!"</p> + +<p>"Farewell, mother," replied the two men, moved even to tears.</p> + +<p>The noble woman pressed them to her heart, but could not part from them +without an effort. "Remember this law," she said,—"it is the basis of +honour: do your duty, whatever may happen. Farewell, farewell!" She +turned, and hastily entered the <i>jacal</i> for, in spite of herself, tears +were regaining the mastery, and she would weaken their resolution. The +others were silent for a time, looking steadfastly at the <i>jacal</i>.</p> + +<p>"You see," said Don Estevan, at last, "my mother herself orders me to +follow you."</p> + +<p>"Be it as you will, then," said Stoneheart, with a sigh; "I will no +longer oppose your wishes."</p> + +<p>"Thank Heaven!" exclaimed the <i>mayor domo</i>.</p> + +<p>Stoneheart carefully examined the heavens. "It is two o'clock," he +said; "at half past three it will be daylight. We must go."</p> + +<p>Don Estevan left him, to bring up the horses. They were soon saddled. +The men left the camp, gave their horses the spur, and dashed into the +desert. By sunrise they had ridden six leagues. They were following the +course of one of those nameless rivers which traverse the wilderness in +every direction, and ultimately fall into some larger stream.</p> + +<p>"Let us halt here a while," said Stoneheart; "first to breathe our +horses, and then to take a few precautions indispensable to our +success."</p> + +<p>Dismounting, they took the bits from the horses' mouths, leaving them +at liberty to crop the luxuriant grass on the banks of the river.</p> + +<p>"The time has come, Estevan," said Don Fernando, "when I must teach +you something, without which it would be impossible to avoid the +dangers we are about to encounter; I must reveal a secret known only +to us, 'the bee-hunters.' Hardly two leagues farther on, we shall have +to enter the swamps, swarming with serpents, and we must take the +requisite precautions against their fatal bite, for every reptile we +shall meet on the road will be of the most venomous species."</p> + +<p>"The devil!" ejaculated Don Estevan, turning somewhat pale.</p> + +<p>"I will give you a lesson. When we have once put on our armour, we can +trample with impunity on the heads of the most dangerous."</p> + +<p>"<i>Caray!</i>" replied Don Estevan; "your secret is worth knowing."</p> + +<p>"You shall prove it soon. Come with me. Of course you are acquainted +with the <i>guaco?</i>"</p> + +<p>"Certainly. I have often helped it in his battles with snakes."</p> + +<p>"Very well. I dare say you are ignorant of the means this intelligent +bird employs to heal the wounds in the mortal combats which always +terminate in the destruction of the reptile?"</p> + +<p>"I confess, Fernando, that I have never attempted to fathom the +mystery."</p> + +<p>"Then it is lucky, Estevan, that I have thought for both. Come, close +at hand I see several stems of the <i>mikania</i> twisting round the cork +trees: That is what we want. We will take a supply of the leaves of the +guaco creeper."</p> + +<p>Don Estevan, without troubling his head concerning his friend's +intentions, set about collecting the leaves of the creeper he had +pointed out. By dint of exertion, a goodly number were soon heaped upon +the ground. When Stoneheart deemed the quantity sufficient, he gathered +them up in his <i>zarap</i>, and returned to the spot where they had left +their horses. Without further explanation, he began to pound the leaves +on a flat stone he brought from the edge of the water. Don Estevan, +taking great interest in the mysterious operation, occupied himself in +collecting in a <i>coui</i> (or gourd) the juice which ran from the leaves +as Stoneheart crushed them. The work lasted an hour, by which time the +<i>coui</i> was filled to the brim with a greenish liquid.</p> + +<p>"What are we to do now?" said Don Estevan, puzzled more and more.</p> + +<p>"That is a delicate question, my friend," replied Stoneheart, with +a laugh. "We must undress; then, with the point of the <i>navaja</i>, we +will make longitudinal incisions in our breasts, our arms, thighs, and +between the fingers and toes, just deep enough to cause blood to flow. +Afterwards, we will carefully inject the liquid we have collected into +these incisions. Have you sufficient courage to inoculate yourself with +the <i>mikania</i>juice?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly, Fernando, though the operation will be painful. But what +good will it do us?"</p> + +<p>"Only the least in the world! We shall be invulnerable. We shall be +able to trample thousands of snakes under our feet; and their bites +shall do us no more harm than the prick of a pin." Stoneheart said no +more, but undressed himself, and coolly began to make incisions in +his body. Don Estevan followed his example. After slicing themselves +in this fashion, they rubbed the cuts with the juice of the creeper, +leaving the liquid time to dry in before they resumed their dress.</p> + +<p>"Well, that is done," said Stoneheart. "We need not keep our horses: +the poor brutes would infallibly perish, for we cannot insure them from +the serpents. We will leave them here, and pick them up when we return; +only let us hobble them well, for fear they should stray too far."</p> + +<p>The saddles were carefully hidden under some bushes, and the two hardy +adventurers commenced their journey on foot, trailing their rifles, +and holding in one hand a slender but tough twig of mesquite, to cut +the reptiles in two which might dispute their passage. They marched +rapidly, one behind the other, shaking the grasses on right and left +with their rods, to dislodge the snakes, and following a track left by +a numerous body of horsemen.</p> + +<p>Suddenly they saw a dead body before them horribly swollen and +putrified, over which they were obliged to step.</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said Stoneheart, "Here lies a poor wretch, who probably did not +know the uses of the guaco creeper."</p> + +<p>Just at that moment, a sharp hissing was heard, and a beautiful little +snake, about as thick as the little finger, and seven or eight inches +long, crept from under the corpse, raised itself upon its tail, and, +darting with wonderful rapidity, fixed itself on Stoneheart's right leg.</p> + +<p>"Your pardon, my good fellow," said he coolly; "you have made a +mistake!" and, seizing it by the tail, he swung it round, and crushed +its head on the ground. "It is a ribbon snake," he added; "bitten by +him, you have just eleven minutes to live. You grow first yellow, then +green; then you begin to swell, and all is over—with this exception: +you have the consolation of changing colour once more, this time from +green to black. It is odd, is it not, Estevan?"</p> + +<p>"<i>Caray!</i>" replied the latter, who could not help shuddering; "Yours +was a lucky thought, Fernando."</p> + +<p>"Do you think so, Estevan?"</p> + +<p>"By heavens! It is self-evident. Ha! Crush that coral snake coiling +round your leg!"</p> + +<p>"Why, really, so he is! Well, he is a gentleman who takes liberties!" +Saying this, he seized the reptile, and crushed him. "It is a lovely +country," he continued. "It is quite diverting to travel here. Halloa! +more bodies!—This time a man and horse. They have died together. Poor +brute!"</p> + +<p>And thus they went on all day. The farther they advanced, the more +numerous were the snakes; they met them by threes and fours together. +At intervals they found more bodies stretched across their path, +proving that they were still on the right trail, and that the Tigercat +had left the greater number of his companions on the road. With all +their courage, they could not refrain from shuddering at the frightful +spectacles they had witnessed in passing through this dreadful place.</p> + +<p>Suddenly Stoneheart stopped, bent his body forward, made a sign to his +friend to be still, and listened anxiously. "If I am not mistaken," he +whispered, "somebody is coming this way."</p> + +<p>"Someone!" exclaimed the astonished Estevan. "Impossible!"</p> + +<p>"And why so? We are here, and why not others?"</p> + +<p>"Quite right: but who can it be?"</p> + +<p>"We shall soon see;" and he dragged his companion behind a thick bush, +where they crouched for concealment.</p> + +<p>"Cock your rifle, Estevan. Who can tell whom we may have to meet?"</p> + +<p>The <i>mayor domo</i> obeyed. Both kept motionless, expecting the arrival of +the individual, whose steps were now clearly distinguishable.</p> + +<p>During the last hour, the path our adventurers were pursuing had +gradually begun to rise, with frequent turnings—a sure proof that they +were quitting the swamps, and approaching the region which was free +from reptiles.</p> + +<p>Stoneheart soon saw a shadow thrown across an angle in the path, and +immediately afterwards a man appeared. Stoneheart recognised him +directly by his tall stature and long white beard. It was the Tigercat. +Stoneheart whispered a few words in his companion's ear, and, drawing +himself together, bounded at one spring into the middle of the path. +The Tigercat showed no surprise at this sudden apparition. "I was +coming to look for you," he said calmly, as he halted.</p> + +<p>"Then your task is finished," said Stoneheart, "for here I am."</p> + +<p>"No, it is not ended; for, while you show yourself in my camp, I shall +go to yours."</p> + +<p>"You think so?" said Stoneheart, with a mocking laugh.</p> + +<p>"Certainly. Do you think to bar my passage?"</p> + +<p>"Why not? Is it not mine to settle affairs between us?"</p> + +<p>"For my part, I see no reason. You are not looking for me, I suppose?"</p> + +<p>"You are wrong, Tigercat! I came here on purpose to seek you."</p> + +<p>"Me, and another person."</p> + +<p>"You, first of all; for we have a long account to settle."</p> + +<p>"We are losing time," said the Tigercat impatiently. "Listen, and try +to understand me. Doa Hermosa is close by; she expects you, for I +have promised to bring you together. She has charged me with certain +messages to her father; and on that account I must go to your camp. But +first, I will lead you to mine—a sad one: of all my followers, but +four are left; the rest are dead."</p> + +<p>"I know; I saw their bodies on the road. It is you who have slain +them. Why did you lead them here?"</p> + +<p>"Never mind. What is done cannot be undone. But time presses; will you +follow me? I wish to deal openly with you."</p> + +<p>"No! I do not trust you. Why have you come into this fearful place?"</p> + +<p>"Did you not guess, my son? Merely to be sure that my prisoner was +safe."</p> + +<p>"You made a mistake, for I am here."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps I did. But enough of this. Here, take my rifle. Tell your +friend, the barrel of whose rifle I see gleaming through the branches, +to come from behind his bush. Perchance you will not be afraid to +follow me now, when I am unarmed, and you two to one."</p> + +<p>Stoneheart reflected for a moment, and then said: "Come forth, Estevan!"</p> + +<p>His friend was at his side in a moment.</p> + +<p>"Keep your rifle," said Stoneheart to the Tigercat; "no one must travel +in the wilderness without weapons."</p> + +<p>"Thanks, Fernando," replied the old chief; "I see you have not +forgotten the old rule: a backwoodsman never quits his rifle."</p> + +<p>The Tigercat turned and led the way to his camp, the two others +following exactly in his footsteps. In about an hour they reached it, +pitched halfway up the Voladero, in a spacious cavern. The chief had +told the truth—only four out of all his men survived.</p> + +<p>"Before going farther," he said, when they got there, "I have a +condition to exact."</p> + +<p>"To exact!" said Stoneheart ironically, emphasizing the words.</p> + +<p>The Tigercat shrugged his shoulders. "At a sign from me, those men will +stab Doa Hermosa to the heart without hesitation; you see, I have the +power to exact."</p> + +<p>"Speak, then," said Stoneheart, trembling for her sake.</p> + +<p>"I will leave you here alone with Doa Hermosa. I, your friend, and my +four comrades, will leave the Voladero at once. In two days, and not +before, you will quit the mountain, and come to your camp, where you +will find me."</p> + +<p>"Why do you impose this condition?"</p> + +<p>"You have nothing to do with that: is it so hard, that you will not +submit to it? But, briefly, I do not choose to explain; answer—yes or +no. Except on this condition you shall not see Doa Hermosa."</p> + +<p>"How do I know whether she is still alive?"</p> + +<p>"What good would it have done me to kill her?"</p> + +<p>Stoneheart hesitated for a moment. "I accept the conditions," said he +at last; "I will stay here two days."</p> + +<p>"Good! Now go to her; as for us we will leave you."</p> + +<p>"One instant longer! My friend—will you be answerable for his safety? +I know I can trust your word."</p> + +<p>"I swear to you, I will look upon him as my own friend as long as he +remains with me, and you shall find him safe and sound in the camp."</p> + +<p>"Enough. Farewell, Estevan; console Don Pedro, and tell him on what +conditions his daughter has been restored."</p> + +<p>"I will tell them to him myself," said the Tigercat, his mouth +contorted with a strange expression.</p> + +<p>Stoneheart and Don Estevan bade each other farewell; then the former +rapidly approached the cavern, while the Tigercat, his four followers, +and the <i>mayor domo</i>, went down the path into the plains. On reaching +the nearest trees, the Tigercat halted for a moment, and turned to the +cavern into which Stoneheart had just entered. "Aha!" he exclaimed, +with a sinister smile, and rubbing his hands with delight; "At last I +am sure of my revenge!"</p> + +<p>He followed his companion, and they were soon lost to sight, behind the +intervening foliage.</p> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII">CHAPTER XVIII.</a></h4> + +<h3>EL VOLADERO DE LAS NIMAS.</h3> +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p>We have already said that Don Fernando Carril, or Stoneheart, had +passed the greater part of his life in the wilderness. Brought up +by the Tigercat in the perilous calling of a bee-hunter, chance had +occasionally brought him, most unwillingly we confess, to the district +in which he now found himself. Thus he was well acquainted with the +Voladero de las nimas, even to its inmost recesses. He had often +sought shelter in the cavern where Doa Hermosa was now a prisoner, and +found it again without difficulty, although the access to it was so +well masked by certain features of the mountain, that any other would +have been some time in discovering it. The cavern, one of the greatest +curiosities of this part of the country; contains several chambers, +extending far into the hill, and two broad passages, which terminate +in two apertures, like gigantic windows, exactly under the peak of +the Voladero, where they hang at a height of a thousand feet over +the plain; the conformation of the mountain being so singular that, +looking down from them, nothing is to be seen but the tops of the trees +below.</p> + +<p>Stoneheart entered the cavern, which by another remarkable peculiarity, +was lighted throughout its whole extent by innumerable fissures in the +rock, admitting sufficient daylight to enable objects to be perceived +at a distance of twenty or twenty-five paces. He was very restless; +the conditions imposed by Tigercat depressed his spirit to a degree +he could not shake off. He could not help asking himself why the old +chief had insisted on his remaining two days with Doa Hermosa on the +mountain before he rejoined the camp. He suspected some treachery in +these conditions; but of what kind? That was the riddle he could not +solve.</p> + +<p>He walked slowly through the cavern, looking right and left in the +hope of finding her; and, for more than half an hour, could see no +indications of her presence.</p> + +<p>The sun was already disappearing below the horizon when Stoneheart had +issued from the forest; the cavern, sombre enough in the daytime, was +at this hour in almost total darkness; so he retraced his steps, to +obtain a light for the purpose of resuming a search which otherwise +the obscurity rendered impossible. On reaching the entrance to the +cavern, he availed himself of the last gleam of daylight to look about +him. Some torches of ocote wood were carefully arranged close to the +entrance. Producing flint and steel, he speedily procured a light; and, +arming himself with a kindled torch, again made his way into the cave. +He traversed several chambers without success: and had begun to suspect +that the Tigercat had duped him, when he perceived a faint glimmer at +some distance in advance of him, which gradually approached, until its +light was sufficient to reveal the form of Doa Hermosa.</p> + +<p>She too held a torch in her hand. She was walking with a slow and +unsteady step, her head sunk on her breast, in an attitude of poignant +sorrow. Doa Hermosa came nearer and nearer, till she was within fifty +paces of Stoneheart. Uncertain how to attract her attention, he was +on the point of calling to her, when she chanced to raise her head. +On seeing a man before her, she stopped, and haughtily demanded: "Why +have you entered this corridor? Have you forgotten that your chief has +forbidden anyone to enter it and annoy me?"</p> + +<p>"Forgive me, seorita," replied Stoneheart gently; "the order was +unknown to me."</p> + +<p>"Heavens!" cried she; "That voice! Is it a a dream?" She dropped +her torch, and hastened to approach Stoneheart, who likewise rushed +towards her. "Don Fernando!" she exclaimed; "Don Fernando here, in +this horrible den! Great God! what further evil is at hand? Have I not +suffered enough yet?"</p> + +<p>Overcome by emotion, she lost all consciousness, and sank, fainting, +into the arms of Stoneheart. Alarmed at the occurrence, and not knowing +how to recall her to her senses, he hurried her back to the entrance to +the cavern, hoping that the fresh air might restore her. He placed her +carefully on a heap of dry leaves, and left her to herself. Stoneheart +was a man whose courage reached the verge of temerity. A hundred times +he had looked death in the face with a smile; but when he saw the girl +lying before him, her features rigid, and pale as death, he trembled +like a child; a cold sweat broke out over his forehead, and tears—the +first he had ever shed—rolled down his face.</p> + +<p>"My God, my God!" he exclaimed; "I have killed her!"</p> + +<p>"Who speaks?" said Doa Hermosa in feeble accents, the current of air +rushing into the cave having somewhat revived her. "Do I really hear +Don Fernando? Can it be he?"</p> + +<p>"It is I; it is indeed I, Hermosa. Collect yourself, and forgive me +for causing this sudden fright."</p> + +<p>"I am not alarmed," she answered; "on the contrary, your presence +relieves me, Don Fernando, if your appearance in this dreadful place +augurs no new misfortune."</p> + +<p>"Calm yourself, seorita," he said, drawing gently near her; "I am no +omen of evil; I bring good tidings."</p> + +<p>"Why seek to deceive me, my friend? Are not you too a prisoner of the +monster in human shape who has kept me captive so long?" She rose; the +colour returned to her cheeks. She extended her hand to Stoneheart, +who, kneeling, clasped it in both his own, and covered it with kisses. +"Now we shall no longer be alone; we shall suffer together," she said, +fixing an earnest look upon him.</p> + +<p>"Dearest Hermosa, your sufferings are at an end; I do indeed bring you +good tidings."</p> + +<p>"What is it you say, Don Fernando? Your words are incomprehensible. How +can you talk of good tidings, while we are both in the power of the +Tigercat."</p> + +<p>"No, seorita; you are no longer in his power."</p> + +<p>"Free!" she exclaimed in ecstasy; "Is it possible O my father! My +father! I shall see you once more!"</p> + +<p>"You shall see him very soon, Hermosa. Your father is not far hence, +with all you love—Don Estevan and a Manuela."</p> + +<p>Doa Hermosa fell on her knees, with an expression on her face +impossible to describe. Lifting her clasped hands to heaven, she +uttered a long, silent, and fervent prayer.</p> + +<p>Stoneheart gazed upon her with reverential admiration. The sudden +transition from sorrow and despair to this excess of joy excited him +infinitely. He felt intensely happy—happier than he had ever known +himself before.</p> + +<p>When Doa Hermosa rose from her knees, she had regained her calmness. +"And now, Don Fernando," she said in gentle accents, "as we are really +free, let us sit down outside the cave. Tell me all that has happened +since I was torn away from my father."</p> + +<p>They left the cavern, and sat down, side by side, on the green turf, +canopied by the night, which hung cool and odorous above them; and +Stoneheart began his story. It lasted a long time; for Doa Hermosa +frequently interrupted him, to make him repeat details concerning Don +Pedro, and night had sped away before the recital ended. "It is your +turn, seorita," said Stoneheart, as soon as he had finished. "You +have now to relate what has happened to you."</p> + +<p>"As for me," she replied, with a charming smile, "the month has passed +in sorrowful thoughts of those from whom I was torn. But I must be +just enough to confess, that the man who bore me away treated me +with respect—nay, on several occasions he sought to console me and +alleviate my grief, by holding out hopes of my soon seeing those whom I +love so dearly."</p> + +<p>"The Tigercat's conduct is incomprehensible," said Stoneheart +thoughtfully. "Why did he carry you off, when he has restored you to us +again with so little demur?"</p> + +<p>"It is strange," said she; "what could his object be? But I am tree! +Thank Heaven, I shall see my father again!"</p> + +<p>"Tomorrow we will go to him."</p> + +<p>Doa Hermosa looked at him in surprise.</p> + +<p>"Tomorrow!" she exclaimed; "Why not today? Why not at once?"</p> + +<p>"Alas!" said he, "I have sworn not to leave this place until tomorrow! +The Tigercat would only restore you to liberty on this condition."</p> + +<p>"How singular! Why should that man wish to keep us here?"</p> + +<p>"I will tell you the reason!" cried Don Estevan, suddenly appearing +before them.</p> + +<p>"Estevan!" they exclaimed, rushing towards him.</p> + +<p>"What happy chance brings you here?" asked Stoneheart.</p> + +<p>"It is no chance, brother. God has permitted me to overhear words +spoken by the Tigercat, which have given me as clear an insight into +his plans as if he himself had revealed them."</p> + +<p>"Explain your words, Estevan?"</p> + +<p>"Yesterday, when I left you, Fernando, you turned your steps to the +cavern, while we retraced ours to the forest. I know not why, but my +heart was heavy, and I felt loth to quit you. I could not help fancying +that the Tigercat's urbanity covered some deadly purpose against you. +So I went slowly down the hill. I happened to turn when I reached the +forest, and saw that the chief had ceased to follow us. He had halted a +few paces from me. He was rubbing his hands with ferocious delight; his +eyes were earnestly fixed on the cave, and I distinctly heard him utter +these words: 'At last I am sure of my revenge!' It was like a sudden +gleam of light; the diabolical plan the monster had conceived started +forth in all its hideousness. Don Fernando, you remember how we became +acquainted?"</p> + +<p>"I do, Estevan; the remembrance is too near for me to forget it."</p> + +<p>"You recollect your conversation on the island with the Tigercat, which +I overheard? The insinuations of the man? The implacable hatred to Don +Pedro he openly avowed?"</p> + +<p>"I recollect it all, Estevan; but to what does it lead?"</p> + +<p>"To this, Fernando: the Tigercat, despairing to reach Don Pedro +himself, endeavours to strike him through his daughter. Hence the +long-concocted plan in which he has made you an involuntary accomplice. +You love Doa Hermosa; you have done everything to save her; he +proposes to restore her to you on the simple condition of remaining two +days here in her company: do you understand me now?"</p> + +<p>"It is frightful!" indignantly exclaimed Stoneheart.</p> + +<p>Doa Hermosa covered her face with her hands to conceal her tears.</p> + +<p>"Forgive the pain I have caused you," continued Estevan. "I wished to +save you from yourselves; and I could only do so by bluntly laying +his machinations open before you. The question is now, whence this +inveterate hatred to Don Pedro? Satan alone can tell. But let us not +mind that; his plans are unmasked; we have nothing to fear from him."</p> + +<p>"Thanks, Estevan," said Doa Hermosa, holding out her hand.</p> + +<p>"But how were you able to return?" cried Stoneheart.</p> + +<p>"Easily enough. I had nothing to do but to tell the Tigercat plainly +that I did not choose to travel in his company any longer. Our man was +thunderstruck at my deliberate desertion; but found no words to oppose +me. As for me, I had nothing more to say, so, at the first turn of the +road, I left him."</p> + +<p>"It was a capital idea, Estevan, and I thank you heartily. But now, +what are we to do? I have given my word."</p> + +<p>"Nonsense, Fernando! You must be mad. Are we obliged to keep promises +which have only been extorted from us to do us harm? If you take my +advice, you will leave this place instantly, to thwart any new plots +this man may brew."</p> + +<p>"True, true!" cried Doa Hermosa. "Estevan, you are right. We will +follow your counsel, and go."</p> + +<p>"Let us go," said Stoneheart, "since you wish it. As for me, there is +nothing I should like better than to leave this accursed cavern. But +how are we to get Doa Hermosa through the forest?"</p> + +<p>"In the same way I crossed it before," she said firmly.</p> + +<p>"How was that?" cried Estevan.</p> + +<p>"On a kind of litter, which ought to be here still. It was carried on +men's shoulders. You know, the snakes do not spring very high."</p> + +<p>"And we will wrap you in a buffalo hide, so that you will be safe from +all danger."</p> + +<p>Don Estevan went in search of the litter, and soon found it, while +Stoneheart got the buffalo hide ready. All was prepared in a few +minutes.</p> + +<p>"We have not broken the conditions of the treaty," said Estevan to his +friend.</p> + +<p>"How so?"</p> + +<p>"Did you not agree to meet the chief at the camp today, and not before?"</p> + +<p>"I did; and it would have been impossible to do so, had we remained +here the stated time."</p> + +<p>"Well, who knows whether the Tigercat did not take that into account +too?" replied Estevan.</p> + +<p>This observation gave our three personages ample food for reflection; +and they began their journey without any further attempt at +conversation.</p> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX">CHAPTER XIX.</a></h4> + +<h3>THE HAND OF GOD.</h3> +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p>We will now return to the hacendero and the Mexican encampment. When +Don Pedro awoke in the morning, a Manuela reported Stoneheart's +departure in company with her son.</p> + +<p>"I feared something of the sort," said Don Pedro sighing; "Don Fernando +was so preoccupied last night. I am glad your son has gone with him, +Manuela, for it is a perilous expedition. God grant they may bring me +back my daughter! Yet I cannot help thinking it would have been better +to have consulted me before they left. We have here twenty bold men, +who would certainly have been able to do more than two unsupported men, +however brave they may be."</p> + +<p>"I am of a different opinion," replied a Manuela. "Surprises are +the chief element of wars in the wilderness, and two men can often +succeed by means of their apparent weakness, which allows them to pass +unnoticed, when numbers would fail. However, they will not be long +absent, and we shall have certain news of the <i>nia</i>."</p> + +<p>"Please God they be good! Manuela, if I should lose my daughter, in +addition to my former woes, I could not survive it."</p> + +<p>"Drive away these sombre thoughts, seor; Providence watches over us +all. I hope we shall not be abandoned in our affliction."</p> + +<p>"After all," said Don Pedro, "as we are forced to remain inactive, we +must exert our patience till our stragglers return."</p> + +<p>The day passed without any incident worthy of record. El Zapote, who +had gone hunting at daybreak, returned with an elk.</p> + +<p>The next day, about ten in the morning, an unarmed Indian presented +himself before the sentries, demanding speech of Don Pedro. The latter +ordered him to be brought forward. The redskin was an Apache, of +cunning features and reckless manner. Brought into the presence of the +hacendero, who at that moment was talking to the <i>capataz,</i> he stood +motionless and with downcast eyes, waiting with the cold impassiveness +characteristic of his race, till they should speak to him. The +hacendero scrutinised him attentively. The Indian was perfectly +indifferent to the scrutiny.</p> + +<p>"What does my brother want? What is his name?" asked don Pedro.</p> + +<p>"El Zopilote is an Apache brave," replied the redskin; "the <i>sachem</i> of +his tribe sends him to the chief of the palefaces."</p> + +<p>"I am the chief of the palefaces. Tell your mission to me."</p> + +<p>"Hear what the Tigercat says," replied the immoveable Apache.</p> + +<p>"The Tigercat!" exclaimed Don Pedro greatly astonished; "What can he +want of me?"</p> + +<p>"If my father will listen, El Zopilote will tell him."</p> + +<p>"I will listen. Speak Zopilote."</p> + +<p>"Thus says the Tigercat: a cloud has arisen between the Tigercat and +the chief of the palefaces, who have come into the hunting grounds of +my tribe. As the beneficent rays of the sun disperse the clouds that +obscure the heavens, so, if wise paleface will smoke the calumet of +peace with the Tigercat, the cloud between them will disappear, and the +war hatchet be buried so deep, that it shall not be found again for a +thousand moons and ten. I have said: I await the answer of my father +with the beard of snow."</p> + +<p>"Indian!" replied Don Pedro, in accents of sadness, "Your chief has +done me much harm, yet I know not the cause of his hatred to me. But +Heaven forbid I should reject his proposal, if he entertains the wish +to end the difference existing between us. Bid him come; and say I am +ready to offer reparation for injury I may have done him without my +will or knowledge."</p> + +<p>The Apache listened with evident attention to the words of the +hacendero. When the latter ceased, he answered: "<i>Wagh!</i> My father has +spoken well. Wisdom has taken up her abode in him. The chief will come; +but who will insure his safety when in the camp of the palefaces,—he +alone, with twenty <i>Yarri</i> (Spanish) braves around him!"</p> + +<p>"My word of honour, redskin; my word of honour,—which is worth more +than all your chief could give me," said Don Pedro haughtily.</p> + +<p>"My father's word is good; his tongue is not forked. The Tigercat asks +no more; he will come."</p> + +<p>Having uttered these words with Indian emphasis, the Apache warrior +bowed profoundly, and retired with the same quiet step which marked his +coming.</p> + +<p>"What do you think of that Luciano?" said Don Pedro, as soon as they +were alone.</p> + +<p>"By Heavens, seor! I think it conceals some Indian devilry. I fear the +white who changes his colour, and turns redskin, a hundred times words +than the true Indian. I never liked chameleons."</p> + +<p>"Right, Luciano! But we are placed in a difficult position. Before +all things I must have my daughter; for her sake I must overlook many +things."</p> + +<p>"True, seor! Nevertheless, you know as well as I, that the Tigercat is +a miscreant without faith or honour. Do not trust him too far."</p> + +<p>"I am obliged to trust him. Have I not given my word?"</p> + +<p>"You have," growled the <i>capataz;</i> "but I have not given mine!"</p> + +<p>"Be cautious, Luciano; and, above all things, do not excite his +suspicions."</p> + +<p>"Make yourself easy on that score, seor. Your honour is as dear to me +as my own; but I dare not leave you without means of defence, though it +please you to trust yourself with a wretch as determined as he."</p> + +<p>With these words, the <i>capataz</i> cut short the conversation, and left +the <i>jacal</i>, to prevent further remarks from his master. "Ha!" said he, +as he met El Zapote; "You are the very man I want, my friend!"</p> + +<p>"Me, <i>capataz!</i> That is capital! What is to be done?"</p> + +<p>"Come with me a while," replied the <i>capataz;</i> "I must tell you the +matter where we cannot be overheard."</p> + +<p>An hour later,—that is to say, a little after eleven in the +morning,—the Tigercat arrived at the camp, as El Zopilote had +asserted. The chief was dressed as a <i>gambucino</i>, and carried no +weapons—at least, none were visible.</p> + +<p>As soon as the sentinels recognised him, they allowed him to pass, and +led him to the <i>capataz</i>, who was walking backwards and forwards. The +Tigercat cast a scrutinising look around him the moment he entered the +camp. Everything seemed in its usual state, and the chief saw nothing +to excite suspicion. He approached the <i>capataz</i>.</p> + +<p>"What do you want here?" asked Don Luciano roughly.</p> + +<p>"I wish to speak to Don Pedro de Luna," quickly replied the Tigercat.</p> + +<p>"Good! Follow me; he expects you."</p> + +<p>Without further ceremony, the <i>capataz</i> led him to the <i>jacal</i>. +"Enter," said he; "you will find Don Pedro there."</p> + +<p>"Who is there?" said a voice from within.</p> + +<p>"Seor," replied the <i>capataz</i>, "it is the Indian who asked the favour +of a conversation with the chief. Come, enter!" he added, addressing +the Tigercat.</p> + +<p>The latter made no observation, but went into the <i>jacal</i> with the +<i>capataz</i>.</p> + +<p>"You asked to speak with me," began Don Pedro.</p> + +<p>"I did," said the chief in a gloomy tone; "but with you alone."</p> + +<p>"This man is one of my oldest servants; he has my entire confidence."</p> + +<p>"What I have to say must be told to no other ears than yours."</p> + +<p>"Retire, Luciano," said don Pedro; "but remain near at hand."</p> + +<p>The <i>capataz</i> cast a look of rage at the Tigercat, and left the <i>jacal</i> +grumbling.</p> + +<p>"Now that we are alone," said Don Pedro, "you can speak openly to me."</p> + +<p>"I intend to do so," said the chief in harsh accents.</p> + +<p>"Are you come to speak of my daughter?"</p> + +<p>"Of her and others," replied the Tigercat in the same tone.</p> + +<p>"All this is a mystery, chief; explain!"</p> + +<p>"It will not be long before I do so; for I have longed, panted for the +opportunity to meet you face to face. Look at me well, Don Pedro; do +you not recognise me?"</p> + +<p>"I believe I never saw you before you received me as a guest in the +<i>teocali</i>."</p> + +<p>The chief laughed savagely. "Have years changed me so much? Has the +name of Tigercat obliterated my own so thoroughly that that too is +forgotten? As Don Guzman de Ribera became Don Pedro de Luna, why should +not Don Leoncio de Ribera become the Tigercat, brother?"</p> + +<p>"What words are these?" exclaimed Don Pedro, rising in terror. "What +name have you uttered?"</p> + +<p>"I have said that which is," coldly answered the chief. "The name I +utter is mine."</p> + +<p>Don Pedro gazed at him with pitiful regret. "Unhappy man!" he sighed; +"How have you fallen so low?"</p> + +<p>"You are wrong, brother," replied the Tigercat, with a sneer; "on the +contrary, I have risen to be the <i>sachem</i> of an Indian tribe. Long, +long have I waited for my revenge! Twenty years I have watched; but +today I have it—today it is complete!"</p> + +<p>"Your revenge, miserable man!" answered Don Pedro indignantly; "What +revenge would you against me?—you, who attempted to seduce my wife; +you, who sought to slay me; and who, lastly, to crown your infamy, have +borne away my daughter!"</p> + +<p>"You forget to name your son, whom I also carried away,—your sin, Don +Fernando Carril, in whom I have contrived to excite a passion for his +sister, and who has been these two days alone with her at the Voladero +de las nimas. Aha! Don Guzman, what say you to that revenge?"</p> + +<p>"Woe, woe!" exclaimed Don Pedro, wringing his hands in his despair.</p> + +<p>"Brother and sister in love with each other; licensed by you, Don +Guzman, and married by me! Aha!" and he burst into a horrid laugh, that +sounded like the howl of the hyena.</p> + +<p>"It is too horrible," cried Don Pedro, in the depths of despair. "It +is a lie, wretch! Bandit as you are, you dare not meditate a crime so +terrible! You are but a boasting miscreant! Your tale cannot be true; +to believe it, would be to doubt the justice of Heaven!"</p> + +<p>"You do not believe my words, brother?" replied the Tigercat in a +sarcastic tone. "As you please. Here come your children; I hear them +entering the camp; ask them."</p> + +<p>Don Pedro, half-mad with grief, was rushing out of the <i>jacal</i> when +Stoneheart, Doa Hermosa, and Don Estevan appeared at the entrance: the +unhappy father was stopped by the shock.</p> + +<p>"Look!" said the Tigercat, with his usual sneer; "Look how he receives +his children! Is that his love?"</p> + +<p>Doa Hermosa had thrown herself into her father's arms, and tearfully +embraced him; without seeing the Tigercat. "My father, my father!" she +cried; "God be praised that I see you once more!"</p> + +<p>"Who speaks of God here?" said Don Pedro in a hollow voice, and shaking +off his daughter, who tottered from him.</p> + +<p>Doa Hermosa looked round in affright. Pale and trembling, she would +have fallen, if Stoneheart had not hastened to support her.</p> + +<p>"Look, how they love each other!" sneered the Tigercat. "It is +touching! Don Fernando, throw your arms around your father;" and he +pointed to Don Pedro.</p> + +<p>"He my father!" cried Stoneheart, overjoyed; "Oh, it would be too much +happiness!"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said the Tigercat; "Don Pedro is your father, and here is your +sister!" As he said this, he pointed to Doa Hermosa and again burst +into a diabolical laugh.</p> + +<p>The two young people were thunderstruck. Don Pedro, whose nervous +system had received a violent shock from the first revelation, felt his +reason deserting him. He seemed neither to see nor hear, and to take no +notice of the strange scene enacting around him. The Tigercat exulted +in his triumph. Don Estevan, alarmed at the hacendero's state, thought +it high time to interfere. "Don Pedro," said he in a loud voice and +forcibly laying his hand on the old man's shoulder, "collect yourself; +this miscreant is a liar! Your children are worthy of your name. I was +with them at the Voladero."</p> + +<p>Don Pedro seemed to make a mighty effort to resume his grasp on +the senses which were leaving him. His body underwent a terrible +convulsion. He turned his face towards Stoneheart, and a heavy sigh +burst from his heart; then tears flowed down his venerable cheeks, and +he cried in feeble accents, as he fell on the breast of his son, "Yours +is the truth, Estevan; the truth, the truth!"</p> + +<p>"I swear it, Don Pedro!" was the solemn reply.</p> + +<p>"Thanks, thanks! I knew the miscreant lied. My children—"</p> + +<p>The two young people threw themselves into his arms, and loaded him +with caresses.</p> + +<p>The Tigercat, with his arms crossed on his chest, looked on with his +sardonic leer, and said ironically: "They love each other, brother; let +them marry."</p> + +<p>"They have a right to do so!" exclaimed a ringing voice. All turned in +amazement. a Manuela had entered the <i>jacal</i>. "Yes," said she, turning +with an air of mockery to the Tigercat, who stood appalled, he knew not +why, at the sudden apparition; "the day of judgment has come at last! +I have waited for it patiently; but justice shall be done, and it is I +whom God has chosen to manifest his power!"</p> + +<p>All present gazed with admiration and respect at the woman, who seemed +completely transfigured. Her face was radiant; her eyes flashed +lightning. With calm and imposing steps, she approached the hacendero. +"Don Pedro! my much-loved master," said she in a voice scarcely +intelligible from emotion; "forgive me! I have made you suffer, oh, +how long! But God inspired me! It is He, and only He, who dictated my +conduct. Don Fernando is not your son; he is mine! Your son"—and she +brought forward Don Estevan—"is here!"</p> + +<p>"Don Estevan!" cried all present.</p> + +<p>"A lie!" howled the Tigercat</p> + +<p>"It is the truth," briefly replied a Manuela. "Hatred is blind, Don +Leoncio. You took away the poor nurse's child when you thought you had +stolen your brother's. Look at Estevan, all you who knew his mother, +and deny, if you dare, that he is her son."</p> + +<p>In truth, the likeness was striking. Up to the time, Estevan's position +had blinded their eyes; there was no reason to seek for a resemblance +to anyone: but now, when the veil had fallen, they recognised whence he +sprung.</p> + +<p>"But you will always be my mother!" cried Estevan, with much feeling.</p> + +<p>"Mother!" exclaimed Fernando, throwing himself into her arms.</p> + +<p>Don Pedro's joy knew no bounds.</p> + +<p>The Tigercat, forced to confess himself foiled, uttered a howl like a +wild beast. "Aha!" cried he, beside himself with rage, "Is it to be +thus? But it is not over yet!" He drew a poniard from his garments, and +threw himself with all his force on Don Pedro, who, in his joy, had +forgotten his presence.</p> + +<p>But an eye watched him. Don Luciano had stolen into the <i>jacal</i>, and +noiselessly placed himself behind the bandit, whose every movement he +carefully watched. As the Tigercat made his spring, he threw his arms +around him, and pinioned him, in spite of the desperate efforts made +by the miserable wretch. At the same moment, the <i>vaquero</i> bounded +into the <i>jacal</i>, knife in hand, and, before anyone could arrest him, +plunged it up to the hilt in his throat. "Not bad;" he exclaimed. "The +opportunity was too good to lose! My <i>navajada</i> was never given so +fairly! I hope this blow will gain me pardon for the others."</p> + +<p>The Tigercat remained standing a moment, swaying hither and thither, +like a half-uprooted oak tottering to its fall. He rolled his eyes +around him, in which rage still strove with the agony that made them +haggard. He made one last effort to pronounce a terrible malediction, +but his mouth contracted horribly; a stream of dark blood spouted from +his yawning throat; he fell at his full length on the ground, where +he writhed for a moment like a crushed reptile, to the inconceivable +horror of the spectators. Then all was still: he was dead; but on his +face, distorted by the death pang, unutterable hatred survived the life +which had just quitted him.</p> + +<p>"Justice is done," said Manuela, with trembling accents. "It is the +hand of God!"</p> + +<p>"Let us pray for him," said Don Pedro, falling on his knees.</p> + +<p>All present, impressed by this noble and simple action, followed his +example, and knelt by his side.</p> + +<p>The <i>vaquero</i>, having finished his part in the scene, thought +it prudent to disappear, but not without exchanging a glance of +intelligence with the <i>capataz</i>, who smiled grimly under his gray +moustache.</p> + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<hr class="pg" /> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STONEHEART***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 44399-h.txt or 44399-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/4/4/3/9/44399">http://www.gutenberg.org/4/4/3/9/44399</a></p> +<p> +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p> +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. +</p> + +<h2>*** START: FULL LICENSE ***<br /> + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE<br /> +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK</h2> + +<p>To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/license">www.gutenberg.org/license</a>.</p> + +<h3>Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works</h3> + +<p>1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.</p> + +<p>1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below.</p> + +<p>1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.</p> + +<p>1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States.</p> + +<p>1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:</p> + +<p>1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed:</p> + +<p>This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a +href="http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></p> + +<p>1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9.</p> + +<p>1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.</p> + +<p>1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.</p> + +<p>1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License.</p> + +<p>1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.</p> + +<p>1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.</p> + +<p>1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that</p> + +<ul> +<li>You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."</li> + +<li>You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works.</li> + +<li>You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work.</li> + +<li>You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.</li> +</ul> + +<p>1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.</p> + +<p>1.F.</p> + +<p>1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment.</p> + +<p>1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE.</p> + +<p>1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem.</p> + +<p>1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.</p> + +<p>1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.</p> + +<p>1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.</p> + +<h3>Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm</h3> + +<p>Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life.</p> + +<p>Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 and +the Foundation information page at <a +href="http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></p> + +<h3>Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation</h3> + +<p>The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.</p> + +<p>The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at 809 +North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email +contact links and up to date contact information can be found at the +Foundation's web site and official page at <a +href="http://www.gutenberg.org/contact">www.gutenberg.org/contact</a></p> + +<p>For additional contact information:<br /> + Dr. Gregory B. Newby<br /> + Chief Executive and Director<br /> + gbnewby@pglaf.org</p> + +<h3>Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation</h3> + +<p>Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS.</p> + +<p>The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit <a +href="http://www.gutenberg.org/donate">www.gutenberg.org/donate</a></p> + +<p>While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate.</p> + +<p>International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.</p> + +<p>Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: <a +href="http://www.gutenberg.org/donate">www.gutenberg.org/donate</a></p> + +<h3>Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works.</h3> + +<p>Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For forty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.</p> + +<p>Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.</p> + +<p>Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></p> + +<p>This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.</p> + +</body> +</html> diff --git a/old/44399.txt b/old/44399.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b832cca --- /dev/null +++ b/old/44399.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8764 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Stoneheart, by Gustave Aimard, Translated by +Lascelles Wraxall + + +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 + + + + + +Title: Stoneheart + A Romance + + +Author: Gustave Aimard + + + +Release Date: December 9, 2013 [eBook #44399] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STONEHEART*** + + +E-text prepared by Camille Bernard and Marc D'Hooghe +(http://www.freeliterature.org) from page images generously made available +by the Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford +(http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/home) + + + +Note: Images of the original pages are available through + the Bodleian Libraries, Univerity of Oxford. See + http://dbooks.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/books/PDFs/600061818.pdf + + + + + +STONEHEART + +by + +GUSTAVE AIMARD + +Author of "Bee-Hunters," "Smuggler Chief," etc., etc. + + + + + + + +London, +Charles Henry Clarke, 13 Paternoster Row. +1874 + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + I. SYMPATHY + II. THE VIRGIN FOREST + III. DON TORRIBIO QUIROGA + IV. LA TERTULIA (THE PARTY) + V. THE AMBUSH + VI. SAN LUCAR + VII. THE ATTACK ON THE PRESIDIO + VIII. DISGRACE + IX. THE PRISONER + X. THE CAMP OF THE REDSKINS + XI. THE RENEGADE + XII. WOMAN'S WILL + XIII. PALEFACE VERSUS REDSKIN + XIV. THE CATASTROPHE + XV. ONE MONTH LATER + XVI. PREPARATIONS FOR THE CHASE + XVII. THE CHASE + XVIII. EL VOLADERO DE LAS ANIMAS + XIX. THE HAND OF GOD + + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +SYMPATHY. + + +Sympathy is a feeling admitting neither analyzation nor discussion. +It masters us, whether we will or no. Persons we meet unconsciously +attract or repel us at first sight. And why? It is a question +impossible to answer, but the fact is indubitable. An irresistible +magnetic influence draws us towards people whom, if we listened to the +promptings of self-interest, we ought to shun; while, on the other +hand, the same influence compels us to avoid others, in whom this very +interest should induce us to confide. + +And it is an extraordinary fact, well worthy of remark, that this +intuition, acting in opposition to our reasoning powers, seldom if ever +misleads us. Sooner or later we are forced to acknowledge as right +what to the prejudiced eyes of the world appeared erroneous, and find +that our sympathy, far from deceiving, has only led us to the truth. + +The result of this sympathy and antipathy are so palpable, so many +persons have experienced the effects of this mysterious influence, that +it would be superfluous for us to linger longer over the topic. + +Don Estevan and Stoneheart had become acquainted under circumstances +which might have induced enmity between them, or, at all events, made +them indifferent to each other: the reputation of the bee-hunter, +and the singular life he led, were ample reasons why the young +and straightforward _mayor domo_ of Don Pedro de Luna should feel +himself repelled by them; and yet a diametrically opposite effect was +produced without the two young men knowing why, and they suddenly +felt themselves friends, bound together, not by one of those vapid +sentimentalities so common in civilised life in Europe, where the +word "friend" means no more than a mere acquaintance, and is one of +the titles most easily and constantly profaned, but by the strong, +true feeling, admitting neither limit nor reasoning, which shoots up +so strongly in a few hours that it engrosses an immense part of the +existence of those of whom it has taken possession. + +They had never seen each other before their casual encounter in the +road to San Lucar, and yet they seemed to have known each other for +ages, and now only to have met again after a long parting. + +Singular to say, the same effect was produced on both at the same +moment, without calculation or reservation. + +What we have asserted is so true, that Don Estevan, notwithstanding +the innate prudence of his character, had not hesitated to confide to +Stoneheart, on the spur of the moment, the history of his master, or, +to speak more correctly, his benefactor. He had recounted this history +in all its details, without disguising anything, or omitting a title, +induced to act as he did by the secret presentiment which apprised him +that he had found a man worthy of sharing the burden of this important +secret. + +The course of this tale will furnish us with still stronger proofs of +the singular confidence these two men had instantly felt for each other. + +The sun was setting in a flood of purple and gold behind the snowy +crests of the lofty and jagged mountains of the Sierra Madre, when Don +Estevan ceased speaking. + +The landscape assumed that garb of placid melancholy in which it +clothes itself at the approach of eve; the birds came flying in +countless flocks, to nestle, twittering, under the leafy boughs of the +grand old trees. _Vaqueros_ and _peones_, galloping in all directions, +mustered the cattle, and drove them towards the _hacienda_; and in the +distance appeared a camp of _arrieros_, whose watch fires already began +to tinge the rapidly darkening sky with a ruddy glow. + +"And now," resumed Don Estevan, "having acquired as intimate a +knowledge as my own of the secrets of the family with whom chance has +brought you into contact, what do you intend to do?" + +"First, and before all a single word," answered Stoneheart. + +"Say on; you must indeed have many things to confide to me in your +turn." + +"Not so many as you think. You already know as much of my life as I do +myself; that is to say, almost nothing. But that is not the question +between us at present." + +"What can it be, then?" said Don Estevan, unable to repress his +curiosity. + +"I am about to tell you. Surely you have not told me this long and +interesting tale with the sole purpose of satisfying a curiosity I +never exhibited; there must be some other motive in your thoughts, +and I think I have guessed it. Don Estevan Diaz, two bold men, bound +to each other as closely as the ivy and the oak, with thoughts running +in the same channel, with but one will between them,--two such men +are mighty; for the one forms the complement to the other, and what +each alone would not dare to essay, the two will undertake without +hesitation, and be almost certain to succeed, however hazardous and +rash their projects may seem. Are you of the same way of thinking?" + +"Most surely, Don Fernando; I am entirely of the same opinion." + +A flash of joy illumined the face of the bee-hunter. "Good!" said he, +stretching out his arm; "Here is my hand, Don Estevan; it belongs to a +man who, with his hand, offers you a loyal and honest heart, whatever +may be said to the contrary: will you accept them?" + +"_iVive Dios!_" eagerly exclaimed the _mayor domo_, heartily pressing +in his own the hand so frankly tendered; "I accept both one and the +other. Thanks, brother! I was on the point of making the same offer to +you; we are now one for life or death. I am yours, as the handle is to +the blade." + +"Ah!" said Don Fernando, with a sigh of pleasure, "At last I have a +friend. I shall no longer wander through life alone: joy and sorrow, +grief and happiness,--I shall have one to whom I can confide them all." + +"You shall have more than one to sympathise with you, brother; you +shall have a mother too. Mine shall be yours also. Come, let us mount; +it grows late. We have still many things to talk of." + +"Let us go," was all the hunter answered. + +The horses had not strayed from the neighbourhood of the _rancho_, near +which they found abundant pasturage: the men easily _lassoed_ them, and +five minutes later the friends rode side by side in the direction of +Don Estevan's dwelling. + +Na Manuela was awaiting them at the entrance. She was smiling. + +"Make haste!" she cried, as soon as she perceived them; "the _angelus_ +has rung an hour ago. It is supper time." + +"Which means to say, mother, that we are dying with hunger," replied +her son, dismounting; "so, if you have not prepared an ample meal, you +run great risk of leaving our appetites unappeased." + +"No fear of that, Estevan. I thought you would arrive in some such +condition; so I took my precautions." + +"Can you forgive me, madam," said the bee-hunter, "for making this +fresh inroad on your hospitality?" + +The mistress of the house smiled kindly. + +"I am so ready to forgive you, senor," said she, "that, feeling +convinced we should have you a long time with us, I have myself +arranged your _cuarto_ (quarters)." + +Don Fernando did not reply at once: a lively blush overspread his +features; he dismounted, and approaching the old lady: + +"Senora," said he, much affected, "I know not how to thank you; you +have guessed the dearest wish of my heart. Your son calls me brother: +would you deign to permit me to call you mother? How happy it would +make me!" + +Na Manuela fixed upon him a long and steadfast gaze: her face exhibited +tokens of vivid emotion; two tears coursed slowly down her pallid +cheeks. Then, stretching out her hand to the hunter, she said: + +"Be it so! Instead of one, I have now two children. Come, my sons, +supper is waiting." + +"My name is Fernando, mother." + +"I will not forget it," was her smiling answer. They entered the +dwelling, while some _peones_ led away the horses to the _corral_. + +Don Fernando had not deceived his friend; he had in truth given him a +mother. + +The meal proceeded with the cheerfulness to be expected from three +persons who, although strangers three days before, had suddenly +understood and appreciated each other: that is to say, it was gay and +cordial. No allusion was made to the impromptu band which had linked +them together so intimately and unexpectedly. + +As soon as the _peones_ had retired, and their masters found themselves +alone, they left the table, and betook themselves, as on the previous +day, to an inner room, where, sheltered from prying eyes and ears, they +ran no risk of having their conversation overheard, commented on, and +perhaps reported. + +"Shut the door," said Don Estevan to Don Fernando, who was the last to +enter. + +"Not so," replied the latter; "we will leave it open: by this means we +shall both see and hear anyone who may come near us. Take this as a +general rule: never close the door when you have secrets to tell." + +Don Estevan drew forward some _butacas_ (seats), sat down, lit his +cigarette, and turning to the hunter, said: + +"Now for our talk!" + +There are certain situations in life where the most insignificant word +becomes of the greatest importance. So, when Don Estevan said, "Now for +our talk!" each of the three felt that the conversation to ensue would +not be confined to the limits of pleasant chat, but would almost assume +the proportions of a congress with closed doors, so extremely grave +were the matters which would be propounded. + +It was Don Fernando who first commenced the conversation in the decided +and clear manner which was habitual to him. + +"My friend, I have pondered deeply on what you told me today: you would +never have intrusted such an important secret to me, if grave reasons +had not induced you. I think I have divined your reasons; they are +these: the tranquillity which Don Pedro has enjoyed since he lived here +is menaced; you dread evil to Dona Hermosa. Are these your motives, or +am I mistaken?" + +"You are not. In fact, I have for some time past been oppressed by +a vague fear, a secret apprehension, I cannot subdue; I feel, as it +were, the approach of some misfortune, without knowing whence or how it +will come. Doubtless you know better than I can tell you, that in all +men's lives certain dark hours occur, in which the brave man trembles +without apparent cause, like a child afraid of its own shadow. All +things alarm, all things excite suspicion. Well, my friend, for the +last two months I have lived these dark hours: an invincible sadness +overpowers me. In a word, I am living in fear, without knowing why; +for all around me takes its usual course: Don Pedro is as calm, Dona +Hermosa as gay, as lively, and as free from care as ever; we live +in this out-of-the-way corner of the world entirely ignorant of its +doings; the rumours of society die without an echo on our threshold. +What have we, then, to fear? Who is the enemy that lies in wait for +us, and whose savage eye watches us night and day? I know not; but I +repeat, I feel him; I see him, as it were, without being really able to +discover him." + +"You know your enemy now, as well as I do. It is the Tigercat. The +conversation you overheard last night between him and myself must have +enlightened you as to his intention, if not as to his plans." + +"True; but, nevertheless, my mind refuses to admit that this man can +really be our enemy. As there can be no effects without causes, so +there can be no hate without a reason. Since Don Pedro's arrival in +this country, he has never come in contact with this man at home or +abroad, for good or for evil. Why, then, should he wish ill to my +master?" + +"Why! Why!" repeated the hunter, with feverish impatience. "Why does +day follow night? Why are there good and bad men? Why rascals and +honest people? The inquiry would lead you too far, my good friend. +I know as well as you that none of you have ever come in contact +with the Tigercat. It is impossible to doubt it; but what does that +signify? This man is a gloomy miscreant, the greater portion of whose +life is spent in doing evil for mere evil's sake. Don Pedro is loved +and honoured by all who know him; Dona Hermosa is respected even by +the Apaches,--the most ferocious redskins of the prairie; hence, most +likely, the hatred he bears to the family of the _hacendero_. In +such a man's eyes, no one has the right to be good and honest with +impunity; it is an obvious necessity that all loyal hearts should be +his natural enemies. A man, however low he may have fallen, can never +forget his frightful downfall, or the position from which his crimes +have hurled him; he cannot forgive the world his own abasement; but as +he cannot avenge himself upon it in the mass, he wages war upon it in +detail, attacking all those within his reach, and taking his revenge +on them for fault she has himself committed. Here lies the sole cause +of Tigercat's hatred of Don Pedro; seek no further reason; no other +exists." + +"Yes; you are right," answered Don Estevan uneasily; "it must be as you +say." + +"Of course it is! Trust in me, who have known the monster so long, as +it is he who brought me up. But enough of this: what do you intend to +do, now we have clearly ascertained our position?" + +"I confess I find myself greatly embarrassed, and know not how to +extricate myself from the dilemma--how to upset plans the aim of which +is beyond my ken; how to thwart projects tending to an unknown end. +There lies the difficulty for me." + +"I think it would be by far the best course to leave the family in +complete ignorance of our suspicions," said Na Manuela. + +"Say rather our conviction, senora," replied Don Fernando. "But in +this matter I am quite of your opinion: it will be easy for us to +guard Don Pedro and his daughter so secretly that they shall not dream +of the danger which threatens them. Then, if the position grows too +complicated, we shall not be in want of pretexts to oblige them to keep +watch over their own safety." + +"Oh, yes!" exclaimed Don Estevan excitedly; + +"It is most important that they should entertain no suspicion, +particularly Dona Hermosa, who is so sensitive. Poor child; if our +fears prove true, she will learn to know misfortune too soon. Come, +Fernando, counsel us; you are the only one who can aid us in this +trying emergency." + +"I will do all a man can do to save those you love." + +"Thanks. But why not save those whom you love yourself? You have +already rendered them an inestimable service." + +"Alas, my friend!" said the hunter, with a sigh; "What am I, the +miserable adventurer, that I should lift my thoughts so high? I am +nothing more; and can only play the part of the honest watchdog, who +saves his master and dies at his feet." + +He spoke these words in accents of so much sadness and humility, that +Don Estevan and his mother, moved to tears, with one accord seized his +hands, and pressed them affectionately. + +"Do not speak thus, brother," exclaimed the _mayor domo_; "you do not +know Dona Hermosa as we do: a more upright heart, a purer or nobler +soul, does not exist: she loves you." + +"Ah," said Don Fernando with emotion, "do not utter the word. Dona +Hermosa--love me--me! It is impossible." + +"Dona Hermosa is a woman, my good friend; you saved her life. I do not +positively know the nature of her sentiments towards you,--it is very +likely they are inexplicable to herself,--but I am convinced of her +gratitude to you; and in a young girl gratitude soon merges into love." + +"Silence, Estevan!" cried the old lady, interrupting him; "Such words +must not be used when speaking of your master's daughter." + +"Very true, mother; forgive me; I was wrong. But had you heard Dona +Hermosa speaking of our friend as I did, and exacting from me a promise +to search for and bring him to her,--_ivive Dios!_ you would not know +what to think." + +"Perhaps so; but, at all events, I should not have poured oil upon +the flame, and, for my own sake and that of my friend, should have +prudently locked up my thoughts at the bottom of my heart." + +"Do not think me so mad, senora," exclaimed Don Fernando, "as to attach +more importance than they deserve to your son's words. I know too well +what I am--I have too complete a conviction of my inferiority--to dare +to raise my venturous eyes to her whom honour compels me to respect as +one of the angels." + +"Well said, Don Fernando, and spoken as a man should speak," broke +in Na Manuela; "but let us drop the subject, and occupy ourselves in +finding the means of escape from the dilemma we are in." + +"I think," replied the hunter, with some hesitation--"I think I can +show you the means, if you cannot contrive something better." + +Mother and son eagerly drew their _butacas_ nearer to him, in order to +listen more attentively. + +"Speak, brother, speak," cried Don Estevan; "let us have no further +delay. These means, what are they?" + +"You must excuse me," resumed Don Fernando, "if the plan I am about to +submit to you should not be exactly compatible with the strict laws of +honour as they are understood in the civilised world; but I entreat you +to recollect that I have been brought up as a redskin; that the man +with whom we are about to enter into mortal strife is more than half +an Indian; and the war he intends to wage with you will be an Apache +war, full of treachery and ambuscades; that, in order to meet him with +advantage, we too, whatever repugnance we may feel, must employ the +same measures,--must turn his own weapons against himself; must repel +treachery by treachery, and knavery by knavery; for if, adhering to +a false idea of honour, we persist in an open and honest warfare, we +shall play the part of fools indeed, and he will outwit us." + +"What you say, Fernando," replied the _mayor domo_, "is unfortunately +but too true. The proverb is right, 'Cap a knave with a knave.' I +perfectly understand the bearing and the justice of your reasoning, yet +I confess that it is hard for an honest man, accustomed to look his +enemies in the face, to be forced to wrap himself in a fox's hide, and +condescend to stratagem when his heart leads him to attack openly." + +"But what can we do? This is one of the sad necessities of our +position. If we do not act in this wise, we may as well submit to our +foe as attempt to thwart his measures; for we should fail." + +"Let it be as you wish, since there is no other method; but now for +your plan." + +"It is this: notwithstanding the disagreement between myself and the +Tigercat, he has allowed me to dive too deep into his confidence--too +many of his secrets are known to me--for him to exhibit any rancour +against me, whatever anger he may feel. Accustomed for a number of +years to mould me to his will, and rule over me as he pleased, he +thinks he knows my character thoroughly, and is persuaded that my +dispute with him was only an outbreak of temper, and that nothing would +please me more than to place myself once again under his guidance. +Finally, like all men who have through long years cherished a chimera, +the Tigercat--who, I am convinced, has only fostered me and suffered me +in his presence for the sake of making me useful in one of his infernal +plots--will allow himself, shrewd as he is, to be overreached by me, if +I choose to take the trouble." + +"All this sounds plausible enough," observed Don Estevan. + +"I think it does. Well, then, listen to my proposal. At daybreak +tomorrow you and I will leave for the _presidio_, where I will put you +into communication with a certain rogue of my acquaintance, who is as +much devoted to me as people of his sort can be. This _picaro_ will +serve you as an agent: through him we shall learn all the Tigercat is +doing at San Lucar with the _leperos_ he is enrolling for some sinister +purpose. We will then part: you to return quietly to this place; I to +rejoin the Tigercat in the prairies. In this way, whatever happens will +reach our ears. This is my project; what do you think of it?" + +"It is capital, Fernando; you have thought of everything." + +"But remember three things: first of all, whatever I may do or say, +whatever measures you may see me try, do not take offence at them; +leave me complete master of my actions, and never for a moment suspect +that I intend to betray you." + +"Have no uneasiness on that score; I will put no faith in the testimony +of my eyes or ears: my confidence in you shall be unalterable. And now +for your next remark." + +"You will instantly comprehend its importance. As soon as we have left +the _presidio_, we must be as strangers; we must know nothing of each +other." + +"It is indeed an important piece of advice, and I will take care to +follow it; the consequences of a single mistake would be incalculably +disastrous to us." + +"Lastly, be ready to act at the first signal, be it by night or day. +Never mind what you may be doing; leave everything instantly to assume +the offensive the moment the signal is given." + +"Good. After tomorrow, on the pretence of having certain urgent work +to be carried out at the _hacienda_, I will quietly enlist a score of +_leperos_,--hairbrained fellows,--who for gold will obey me blindly +and recoil before no danger." + +"The very thing! You can easily employ them here in doing nothing till +the time comes for the use of knife and rifle." + +"I will be answerable that no one shall make a single inquiry +concerning them. But what sort of token will you send me, and through +whom will you send it?" + +"The token will be a white eagle's plume broken into three pieces, and +with the quill painted red. He who brings the plume will only say the +words, 'My two piastres.' You will give them to him without remark, and +send him away again." + +"But who is the man, Fernando?" + +"He will be a stranger; most likely the first man I happen to meet. +It is requisite that the messenger should not suspect the importance +of the message he conveys, should he chance to fall into the enemy's +hands." + +"Well reasoned! Come, come, I think we shall get through this business +successfully." + +"As for me, I am sure of it," exclaimed Don Fernando, "if you will only +follow my instructions to the letter." + +"Do not be anxious on that score, brother; I will answer for my +accuracy." + +Everything having been thus arranged and decided on by our three +personages, they separated and retired to rest, for it was already +late, and the two men were to mount at daybreak to take the road to the +_presidio_ of San Lucar. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE VIRGIN FOREST. + + +Don Torribio Quiroga, with whom we have now to do, was a young man of +twenty-eight, with a refined and intellectual countenance, an elegant +figure, and possessing in the highest degree the manners of the best +society. + +He belonged to one of the richest and most considerable families in +the province of Chihuahua: the death of his parents had put him in +possession of an income of more than five hundred thousand piastres, or +about ninety thousand pounds sterling; for money is plentiful in that +country. + +A man in this position, and gifted with all the mental and physical +advantages enjoyed by Don Torribio, had a right to very high +pretensions; for, a certain amount of fortune once reached, obstacles +no longer exist, or, at least, are only an excitement instead of an +impediment. + +Don Torribio had succeeded in all his undertakings, with one exception: +his struggle against Don Fernando,--a struggle in which the latter had +always come off victorious. + +Thus the hatred the rich _hacendero_ felt for the bee-hunter, and which +was originally based upon puerile motives, had insensibly increased +with each successive mortification, and ended at last by assuming the +alarming proportions of real Mexican hate, which only the death of its +object can appease. + +After the meeting with Don Fernando Carril, which resulted so +unfavourably for him, Don Torribio Quiroga remained a prey to that cold +and concentrated rage which slowly eats into the soul till it explodes +with terrific violence. + +As soon as he lost sight of his lucky adversary, he had started at full +speed. His spurs mangled the flanks of his luckless horse, who snorted +with pain, and redoubled his furious pace. + +Now, where was Don Torribio going, with distorted features and hair +streaming to the wind? + +He did not know himself; moreover, he did not care. + +He saw nothing, heard nothing. Revolving sinister projects in his +brain, he crossed torrents and ravines without checking his horse's +career. + +Hatred was crying aloud in his heart; nothing cooled his burning +forehead; his temples beat as if they would burst, and nervous +agitation shook him in every limb. + +This state of overexcitement lasted many hours. His steed still +continued to fly. At last the noble animal, worn out with fatigue, +suddenly stopped and dropped upon the sand. + +Don Torribio rose, and looked around him with a bewildered air. + +A shock like this rude fall was necessary to restore order to his +ideas, and recall him to reality. Another hour of such continued +anguish would have made him raving mad, or ended in sudden apoplexy. + +It was night. Thick darkness covered the earth; a mournful silence +reigned over the wilderness to which chance had brought him. + +"Where am I?" he exclaimed, endeavouring to make out his position. + +But the moon, hidden by clouds, gave forth no ray; the wind began to +roar like thunder; the branches of the trees crashed against each +other, and, from the depths of the wilderness, the growlings of the +wild beast began to mingle their deep notes with the sharper howling of +the wild cats. + +Don Torribio strained his eyes in vain efforts to penetrate the +darkness around him. At last he approached his horse, which was +stretched on the ground, and drawing its breath with difficulty. Moved +with pity for the faithful companion of so many adventures, he stooped +down, removed his pistols from the holsters to his belt, and taking +from the saddle, where it was slung, a gourd filled with rum, began +to wash the eyes, nostrils, and mouth of the panting animal. Half an +hour's persistence seemed to restore life to the horse. He got on his +legs, and, with his natural instinct, soon discovered a neighbouring +rill, at which he slaked his thirst. + +"All is not yet lost," muttered Don Torribio; "after all, I may make my +escape hence." + +But a deep roar resounded at a short distance, repeated immediately +afterwards in four different directions. + +The horse's coat stood on end; and Don Torribio felt a cold shudder run +through his veins. + +"Curse upon it!" he exclaimed; "I have stumbled upon a drinking place +for panthers! What is to be done?" + +He stooped, and found the confirmation of his fears in the footprints +stamped in the muddy borders of the rill. + +Just at this moment he saw, at ten paces from him, two eyes, glimmering +like burning coals, fixed upon him with strange intensity. + +Don Torribio was a man of well-tried courage. Many a time, before the +eyes of his comrades, he had performed deeds of wonderful temerity; but +now, alone in the darkness, and surrounded by savage animals, he felt +himself overcome by deadly terror: his chest heaved, and his breath +came and went with difficulty through his set teeth; a cold sweat broke +out on his limbs, and he was on the point of dropping. + +But this fit of terror did not last above a minute. By a violent effort +of his will, he collected himself, and calling all his energy to his +aid, prepared for a desperate struggle, in which he knew he must +succumb; yet, preserving that instinct of self-preservation and hope +which is seldom utterly extinguished in man, he determined to defend +his life to the last moment. + +Just then his horse, with a snort of horrible fear, bounded away, and +made his escape on to the plain. + +"So much the better," muttered Don Torribio; "perhaps the poor brute's +speed may save him." + +A frightful concert of yells and howling broke out in all parts +of the forest at the flight of the horse, and mighty shadows, +indistinguishable in the darkness, bounded past Don Torribio. + +He smiled bitterly. + +"Aha!" said he; "Shall I stand here to be devoured, without attempting +to escape? _iVive Dios!_ It would be the act of a fool! Come, I am not +eaten yet: I will go." + +A violent gust of wind here cleared the heaven of clouds, and for some +minutes the wan light of the moon lit up the wild spot, in which Don +Torribio found himself. + +A few paces off, the Rio del Norte ran between two steep banks; on all +sides, and far away in the distance, the dense masses of the virgin +forest extended themselves. A chaos of rocks piled on each other in +inextricable confusion, from whose fissures rose clumps of trees +overgrown with entangled creepers drooping in fantastic garlands, +pushed its ramifications to the verge of the river; the soil, composed +of sand and the detritus always abounding in the forests of America, +crumbled under the footstep. + +Then Don Torribio knew where he was: at least fifteen leagues from +the nearest inhabited spot. He was entangled in the first spurs of an +immense forest--the only one throughout the country of the Apaches +which the hardy pioneers of civilization had not yet dared to explore, +such mysterious horrors seemed concealed in its dark recesses. + +Don Torribio took no pains to inquire how his headlong course had +brought him to this dreaded region. Danger so frightful that it claimed +the exertion of all his powers, hung too directly over his head for him +to waste time in speculating on anything save the manner of extricating +himself. + +At this side, the limpid steam we have mentioned issued from a rock; +its banks, impressed with numberless footprints of wild beasts, clearly +indicating that the spot was a favourite drinking place, when, at +sunset, they left their lairs to seek their food and quench their +thirst. And as a further living proof of the fact, two magnificent +jaguars, male and female, had at that very moment stopped at its +border, and were watching with restless eyes the gambols of their young. + +"So," said Don Torribio to himself, "here are pleasant neighbours;" and +he mechanically cast his eyes on the other side. + +An immense panther, crouched on a rock in the attitude of a cat on the +watch, had fixed on him two eyeballs glowing like carbuncle. + +Don Torribio, according to the custom in South America, never left home +without his weapons. His carbine, of great price, was of remarkable +accuracy, and by a providential chance, had not been broken when he +fell with his horse. He had placed it as he rose against a rock beside +him: he stretched out his arm, and seized it. + +"Good!" said he, with a grim smile; "The struggle will cost them dear, +at all events." + +He shouldered the weapon; but at the moment he was about to fire, a +plaintive caterwauling causing him to raise his eyes, he saw a dozen of +catamounts and tiger cats of immense size perched in the branches above +him, while a number of wolves crept stealthily up and dropped down in +the bushes behind him. Poised on the summits of the surrounding rocks, +a tribe of vultures, bald buzzards, and _urubus_, with half closed +eyes, seemed to be expecting the moment to seize their share of the +quarry. + +With one bound, Don Torribio threw himself on to an angle of the rock, +and from thence, by aid of his hands and knees, he contrived, in the +course of a minute or two, to drag himself with enormous difficulty, +to a kind of terrace, about twenty feet above the ground. Here he felt +himself in comparative security for a time. + +The horrible concert performed by the denizens of the forest, attracted +one after another by the keenness of their scent, increased in volume +with every minute, and had now reached such a pitch, that it drowned +the roar of the wind which was raging through the ravines and +clearings. + +The moon had disappeared behind the clouds, and Don Torribio was once +more enveloped in darkness. But if he could no longer distinguish the +wild beasts, he knew they were there: he smelt their odour; he saw +their eyes flashing through the obscurity; and their yells, nearing him +more and more, made him feel that the last spark of hope would soon be +extinguished for ever. + +Firmly planting his feet on the ground and leaning a little forward +to secure his aim, he drew a revolver, and fired six shots in rapid +succession at the tiger cats. Six howls of agony, and the noise +produced by falling from branch to branch, immediately followed. Six of +the beasts were killed or wounded. + +Nothing more horrible can be conceived than the uproar caused by this +unexpected onslaught. The wolves threw themselves yelling on the +victims, which they began to devour eagerly, disputing their booty with +the vultures and _zopilotes_, who also claimed their share. + +Suddenly there was a strange rustling amongst the leaves and branches +of the trees. A body, of indistinguishable shape, shot through the air, +and alighted growling on the platform. Don Torribio, clutching his +rifle, dealt the animal a terrific blow with the butt on the skull, and +the brute rolled howling from the top of the rock to the bottom. + +And now his ears were stunned by the uproar arising from a dreadful +combat, a few feet below him, between the jaguars and tiger cats on +one side, and the panther which had attacked them. Fascinated by the +terrible danger to which he was exposed, Don Torribio, forgetful of the +evil consequences to him that might ensue, fired two pistol shots into +the mass of foes tearing and rushing at each other's throats at his +feet. + +Thereupon a strange thing occurred: all these animals, natural enemies +to each other, seemed to comprehend that it would be better to unite +against man, their common foe, than waste their strength in strife +among themselves. Suddenly ceasing from the terrible combat in which +they were engaged, and abandoning, with one accord, the bloody and +half-devoured bodies of the victims, they turned their rage in the +direction of the rock on which Don Torribio seemed to set them at +defiance, and attacked it in concert with terrific energy--leaping upon +its excrescences, striving to hold on to them, and trying to escalade +it on all sides at once. + +The situation grew more and more critical. Several tiger cats had +already bounded on to the platform. As fast as Don Torribio knocked +them over, others took their place. The number of his enemies increased +with every minute; his own strength and energy were gradually deserting +him. + +This strife of one man against a host of ferocious brutes had something +grand and striking about it. Don Torribio, like one with the nightmare, +strove in vain to beat back the constantly renewed crowds of his +assailants: he felt close to him the hot and fetid breath of the tiger +cats and panthers; the roaring of the jaguars, and mocking moans of the +panthers, poured into his ears a frightful song, that deafened and made +him giddy; the eyes of thousands of his invisible foes flashed through +the obscurity, and fascinated his own gaze; and sometimes the heavy +wing of the vulture or _zopilote_ brushed his cheek, from which the +cold sweat exuded. + +An accurate perception of his own existence had vanished from his soul; +he no longer thought: his life, if we may still use the expression, had +grown mechanical; his motions and gestures were those of a machine, and +his arm rose and fell with the dull regularity of a pendulum. + +Talons had already torn his flesh; several catamounts, rushing upon +him, had fastened on his throat, and he had been obliged to seize them +bodily to force them to quit their hold. His blood was streaming from +twenty wounds, superficial, it is true; but the moment was close at +hand when the energy which alone sustained him would be worn out, and +he would fall from the rock, to be torn in pieces by the brutes who +were ever pressing more madly upon him. + +At this solemn moment, when strength and courage were alike failing, +a last cry issued from his breast--a cry of agony, a cry of horrible +expression, which was repeated far and wide by the echoes: the last, +the final protest of a bold man, who owns himself vanquished, and +instinctively calls on his kind for succour before he falls. + +Wonderful to relate, a cry answered his own! + +Don Torribio, astonished, and not daring to believe that a miracle +was to take place in a wilderness where none before himself had dared +to penetrate, fancied his ears had deceived him; yet, confessing to +himself how little strength was still left him, and feeling hope +faintly reviving in his soul, he uttered a second cry, more poignant, +more help-seeking than the former. + +As soon as the echoes of the forest were silent after their repetition +of the cry, a single word, weak as a sigh, was borne to his listening +ears on the wings of the breeze: "Hope!" + +Don Torribio recovered himself. Electrified by the word, he seemed +to regain new life and strength, and redoubled his strokes on his +numberless assailants. + +Suddenly the gallop of many horses was heard in the distance, several +discharges of firearms illumined the darkness with their transient +splendour, and some men, or rather demons, rushed unexpectedly into the +thickest crowd of wild beasts, making a horrible slaughter. + +At this moment Don Torribio, attacked by two tiger cats, rolled upon +the platform struggling with both. + +In a very short time the brutes were put to flight by the newcomers, +who hastened to light fires to keep them at bay for the rest of the +night. + +Two of the men armed with burning torches of ocote wood, set themselves +to search for the man whose cries of distress had brought them to his +aid. + +They were not long in finding him stretched out on the platform, +surrounded by ten or twelve dead tiger cats, and clutching in his +stiffened hands the throat of a strangled catamount. + +"Well, Carlocho," exclaimed a voice, "have you found him?" + +"Yes," replied the other; "but he seems dead." + +"_iCaray!_" resumed Pablito; "It would be a pity; for he was a bold +fellow. Where is he?" + +"There; on the rock opposite you." + +"Can you let him down with the _verado's_ help?" + +"Nothing easier; he is as still as a log." + +"Make haste, then, in the name of heaven!" said Pablito; "Every +minute's delay may be a year's life stolen from him!" + +Carlocho and the _verado_ lifted Don Torribio by the feet and +shoulders, and with infinite precaution carried him from the improvised +fortress he had defended so bravely to one of the fires, and laid him +on a bed of leaves prepared by El Zapote; for the four _vaqueros_ were, +by a strange chance, reunited in this spot. + +"_iCanarios!_" cried Pablito, at sight of the miserable man; "Poor +devil! How they have mauled him! It was high time for help." + +"Do you think he will recover?" asked Carlocho, with great interest. + +"There is always hope," said Pablito dogmatically, "when the vital +organs are uninjured. Let us look at him." + +He bent over the body of Don Torribio, unsheathed his poniard, and put +the blade to his lips. + +"Not a sign of breath!". and he shook his head. + +"Are his wounds serious?" asked the _verado_. + +"I think not: he has fallen from fatigue and overexcitement." + +"But in that case he may come round again?" + +"Perhaps he may; perhaps he may not: all depends upon the greater or +less violence of the shock to his nervous system." + +"Ha!" exclaimed the _verado_ joyfully; "Look here! He breathes. _iVive +Dios!_ He has tried to open his eyes!" + +"Then he is saved!" replied Pablito; "He will soon come to his senses. +This man has a constitution of iron. He will be able to be in the +saddle in a quarter of an hour, if he likes; but we must attend to his +wounds." + +The _vaqueros_, like the backwoodsmen, live far from inhabited places; +and are obliged to be their own doctors; hence they acquire a certain +practical knowledge of surgery, and are adepts in the collection and +application of the herbs in use among the Indians. + +Pablito, aided by Carlocho and the _verado_, bathed the wounds of Don +Torribio, first with water, then with rum, and blew tobacco smoke into +his nostrils. + +The latter, after some minutes of this strange treatment, uttered a +scarcely perceptible sigh, moved his lips slightly, and at last opened +his eyes, which as yet had no consciousness in them. + +"He is saved!" repeated Pablito; "Now let us leave nature to work: she +is the best doctor I know." + +Don Torribio raised himself up, supporting himself on one elbow, and +passed his hand across his forehead, as if to recall his thoughts. + +"Who are you?" he said in a feeble tone. + +"Friends, senor; fear nothing." + +"I am killed; my limbs are all broken." + +"It is nothing to signify, senor; it is only fatigue: you are as well +as we are?" + +Don Torribio sat up and looked attentively at the men who surrounded +him. + +"I must be mistaken," said he; "I never expected to find you here. By +what miracle did you reach me in time to save me?--you, whom I promised +to meet at a rendezvous so far from the spot where we are?" + +"It was your horse performed the miracle, senor," said the _verado_. + +"How is that?" asked Don Torribio, whose voice grew stronger every +moment, and who had already managed to stand up. + +"The case is very simple. We were skirting the forest, on our road +to the place you had pointed out to us, when suddenly a horse passed +across us at a giddy speed, a pack of wolves at his heels. We soon +relieved him from his incarnate foes. Then, as we thought it unlikely +for a saddled horse to be all alone in a forest into which none dare +venture, we set out in search of his rider. Your cry was our pilot." + +"Thanks!" replied Don Torribio; "I shall know how to repay the debt I +have contracted with you." + +"Nonsense! That is not worth speaking of. Come! here is your horse; we +can go as soon as you like." + +Don Torribio held up his hand. + +"Stay here," said he; "we shall find no more suitable place than this +to discuss what we have got to say to each other." + + + + +Chapter III. + +DON TORRIBIO QUIROGA. + + +There was a long silence after these words of Don Torribio. The +_vaqueros_, with their eyes fixed on him, endeavoured to guess his +thoughts from the play of his features. But Don Torribio's face, cold +and rigid as a block of marble, gave no signs of the thoughts within. +At last, after casting a glance of suspicion around, more from habit +than from any fear of being overheard, he rolled a cigarette, lit it +with the greatest coolness, and began to speak in a careless tone. + +"My good _verado_, I am truly sorry that you have taken these +honourable _caballeros_ from their vocations, and put yourself to +inconvenience, in order to repair to the place I had appointed." + +"Why so, senor?" asked the _verado_, perfectly puzzled by this +commencement. + +"For a very simple reason, senor,--because the motives no longer exist +which induced me to wish to confer with you." + +"What!" cried all the rogues together; "Can that be possible?" + +"Oh, yes!" he replied coolly; "All things considered, Don Fernando +Carril is a charming _caballero_. I should be in despair if I caused +him the slightest inconvenience." + +"_Diablo!_ not quite so charming!" observed the verado; "The fellow who +ordered Carlocho to kill me quietly!" + +"It was not to me, dear friend," said Carlocho, with great suavity, +"but to Don Pablito here, that Senor Don Fernando gave the order." + +"You are right; I made a mistake. Accept my excuses, senor." + +After this exchange of courtesy, the two bandits again grew silent. + +"An honest man sticks to his word," said Tonillo; "and if Don Torribio +has changed his mind, we have nothing more to say. That reminds me," he +added, with a smothered sigh, "that I must refund to you two hundred +piastres, which you advanced to--" + +"Keep the trifle, dear senor," said Don Torribio; "the money cannot be +in better hands than yours." + +The _vaquero_, who had pulled the coins from his pocket with evident +reluctance, thrust them back again with a celerity that evinced the +greatest satisfaction. + +"It is all the same," said he; "I do not consider myself quits with +you, senor. I am an honest man, and you may rely upon me." + +"On us all!" exclaimed the others in one voice. + +"I thank you for your devotion, senores, and appreciate it highly. +Unfortunately, as I say once more, it is of no use to me." + +"It is unfortunate," said the _verado_; "one does not find such patrons +as you every day, senor." + +"Pooh!" said he gaily; "Now you are free, what prevents your placing +yourselves under the orders of Don Fernando? He is very generous; a +_caballero_ to the tips of his fingers: I am sure he will pay you well." + +"I suppose it will have to be so, senor," said Pablito; "moreover, we +can now confess that we have already been thinking of it, and--" + +"Have already taken service with him," said Don Torribio carelessly. "I +was aware of it." + +"You know it?" cried the bandits, struck with astonishment. + +"And are not vexed at it?" continued Pablito. + +"Why should I be? On the contrary, I am delighted. It is a strange +chance; but perhaps you will be even better able to serve me by the +change." + +"Indeed!" said they, becoming very attentive. + +"Certainly you may. So you really are devoted to me?" + +"To the last drop of our blood!" shouted the _vaqueros_ in touching +unison. + +"You do not despise money?" + +"Money can never hurt those who have none," replied the sententious +Pablito. + +"When it is earned honourably," added Tonillo with a grin like a monkey. + +"I agree with you," said Don Torribio; "particularly when it is a +question of a hundred ounces or so," (about three hundred and forty +pounds sterling). + +The bandits trembled with joy, and their wild eyes sparkled. They +exchanged looks of promise to themselves for the future, which did not +escape Don Torribio's observation. + +"_iCaray!_" they muttered, hugging themselves with joy. + +"So that would suit you, I suppose?" + +"_Rayo de Dios!_ a hundred ounces! I should think so," said Pablito. + +"There may be more," observed Don Torribio. + +"But doubtless it will be a difficult job," the _verado_ ventured to +say. + +"_iDame!_ You know, things are going wrong at present." + +"No need to tell us that, senor; the misery is frightful." + +"Perhaps there may be a man to kill?" insinuated Carlocho. + +"That might happen!" roundly replied Don Torribio. + +"So much the worse for him," muttered Pablito. + +"Then the offer is agreeable to you, even in that case?" + +"More so than ever," growled Tonillo. + +"Since that is your opinion, _caballeros_, listen attentively," said +Don Torribio, drawing himself up; "I have pledged my honour," he began, +"to make no attempts against Don Fernando Carril, either directly or +indirectly." + +"An honest man sticks to his word," said Tonillo. + +"And I intend to keep mine scrupulously, as regards Don Fernando." + +The _vaqueros_ made signs of approbation. + +"But," continued the speaker, "you know as well as I do that Don +Fernando is a man made of mysteries, whose life lies hidden under an +impenetrable veil." + +"Alas, yes!" piteously sighed Tonillo. + +"No one knows what becomes of him for the greater part of his time: he +disappears for months together, to start up again at the moment when +one least expects him." + +"It is but too true," said Pablito; "the life of the _caballero_ is +most extraordinary." + +"To how many dangers he must expose himself," continued Don Torribio, +"in those perilous adventures, of which no one knows the object, nor +the direction in which he seeks them!" + +"It is terrible even to think of them," said Carlocho, with an air of +conviction. + +"One so easily meets with mishap in the wilderness," added the _verado_. + +"Without going further, only look what might have happened to yourself +tonight, senor!" said Tonillo, looking interested. + +"It is dreadful," exclaimed Pablito. + +"You will clearly understand, senores," resumed Don Torribio, "that I +can by no means be responsible for the numberless accidents to which +Don Fernando's manner of life exposes him at every step." + +"This is incontestable," cried the others. + +"Chance seems to take malignant pleasure in deranging and upsetting +the best conceived plans; and it is impossible for me to save him from +chance, even with the lively interest I take in his safety." + +"There can be no doubt on that head," said Pablito, dogmatically; "and +certainly not a soul would have the right to utter a word of reproach +against you, senor, should poor Don Fernando be killed in one of his +perilous adventures." + +"Exactly what I think; but as I am now no longer the enemy, but the +friend of Don Fernando, and in that capacity take the greatest interest +in knowing all that may happen to him, so that I might fly to his aid +if necessary--" + +"Or avenge him, if ill luck should have it that he should be killed," +said Carlocho, interrupting him. + +"I should like," continued Don Torribio, "to be constantly apprised of +whatever may happen to him." + +"Oh, holy friendship!" exclaimed Tonillo, raising his eyes to heaven +with a sanctified air; "Thou art not a mere idle word!" + +"_Caballeros_, you could not be in a better position for giving me +information; and as all trouble should have its reward, you shall +receive at least one hundred ounces to share amongst you, or two +hundred, according to the news you may bring me. You understand?" + +"Perfectly, senor," replied Carlocho, with imperturbable composure, in +the name of his deeply touched companions; "the office you confide to +us is most honourable. You may rely on our carrying out your views to +your utmost satisfaction." + +"Well, that is settled, senores; I rely upon the accuracy of your +information, for you must perceive the ridiculous position in which +a false report would place me in the eyes of Don Fernando's numerous +friends, whom I should be loth to disturb without good cause." + +"Trust entirely to us, senor; we will confirm our information by +irrefragable proof." + +"Good! I see we understand each other; it is useless to pursue the +matter further." + +"Perfectly useless, senor; we are men of quick comprehension." + +"Yes," said Don Torribio, smiling; "but, as your memories may be short, +do me the honour of dividing these ten ounces amongst you,--not as the +earnest--money of a bargain, for there is no bargain between us, but +as a return for the service you have just done me, and as a means of +imprinting our conversation on your brains." + +The _vaqueros_, without waiting to be pressed, extended their hands, +and, with smiling faces, pocketed the ounces so liberally bestowed. + +"Now, one word more, _caballeros:_ where are we?" + +"In the Selva Negra, senor," answered Pablito; "not more than four +leagues from the Hacienda del Cormillo, where Don Pedro de Luna and his +family are at present residing." + +Don Torribio started in astonishment. + +"What! Has Don Pedro left Las Norias de San Antonio?" + +"Yes, senor; since yesterday." + +"What a singular thing! El Cormillo is on the extreme verge of the +wilderness, in the midst of the Apaches: it is impossible to understand +it." + +"They say it was Dona Hermosa who wished for this change, of which +scarcely anybody has yet heard." + +"What an extraordinary whim! After the dangers to which she was exposed +only a few days ago, to come and brave the redskins on their own +territory!" + +"The _hacienda_ is strong, and perfectly safe from sudden assault." + +"True: yet the change of residence seems very incomprehensible. At +sunrise, I should be happy if you would do me the honour of serving me +as guides till I get within sight of the _hacienda_. It is important +that I should see Don Pedro without delay." + +"We shall be at your orders, senor, as soon as you please to depart," +answered Carlocho. + +The night was fleeting; and Don Torribio had need of repose to restore +his strength, exhausted by his late struggle for life. He rolled +himself in his _zarape_, stretched out his feet towards the fire, and +was soon asleep, in spite of the trouble that racked his mind. + +The _vaqueros_ followed his example, after drawing lots amongst +themselves as to who should watch over the common safety. + +The post fell to Carlocho: the others closed their eyes; and the +silence of the wilderness, which had just been so terribly disturbed, +resumed its empire. + +Night passed, without anything occurring to disturb the rest of these +guests of the forest. + +At sunrise the _vaqueros_ were up. After feeding and watering their +horses, they saddled them, and roused Don Torribio, announcing that the +hour of departure had arrived. + +The latter rose at once; and, after a short prayer uttered by them all, +the five men mounted, and left the clearing which had nearly proved so +fatal to one of them. + +The Hacienda del Cormillo may be looked upon as the advanced sentinel +of the _presidio_ of San Lucar; it is, without contradiction, the +richest and strongest position on the whole Indian frontier. It rises +on a kind of peninsula, three leagues in circumference, on which an +incalculable number of cattle pasture at liberty. We will not expatiate +much on the description of a dwelling in which only a few scenes of our +story are laid; we will confine ourselves to saying, that in the middle +of the _hacienda_ properly speaking, and perfectly secured behind the +massive fortifications, loopholed and bastioned, of the fortress (for +El Cormillo was certainly such), there stood a white house, small +indeed, but admirably arranged, pleasant and cheerful looking. At a +distance, the roof was half concealed by the branches of the trees +which covered it with their verdant foliage; from its windows, the eye +roamed on one side over the wilderness, on the other over the Rio del +Norte, which unrolled itself in the plain like a silver band, and was +lost to view in the blue distance of the horizon. + +The _vaqueros_, in company with Don Torribio, had struck into the +forest. For three hours their route led them along the banks of the Rio +Bravo del Norte, till they were opposite the Hacienda del Cormillo, +which dimly showed itself in the centre of one of those charming +oases created by the deposit of the river, and covered with groups of +willows, nopals, mesquites, orange and citron trees, and jasmines in +full flower, amongst the branches of which a whole host of birds of +varied plumage warbled unceasingly. + +Don Torribio halted, and turning towards his companions, who had +likewise stopped, addressed them: + +"I must leave you here; I thank you for the escort you have done me +the honour to give me. Your help is no longer needed. Return to your +avocations, senores; you know our agreement, and I reckon on your +punctuality." + +"Farewell, _caballero_," they replied, bowing ceremoniously to him; +"cast aside all anxiety as to the measures we are about to take." + +They turned the heads of their horses, made them enter the river as +if they intended to cross it, and soon vanished behind a rise in the +ground. Don Torribio remained alone. + +The families of Don Torribio and Don Pedro de Luna, both originally +Spanish, and connected by various ties in old times, had always lived +on a footing of great intimacy. The young man and the girl had almost +been brought up together. So, when her handsome cousin had come to bid +her adieu, and announce his departure for Europe, where he was to stay +a few years, in order to complete his education and acquire the manners +of the fashionable world, Dona Hermosa, then about twelve years old, +had felt sorry to lose him. They had loved each other from infancy, +unwittingly obeying the secret impulses of childhood, which is always +seeking for happiness. + +Don Torribio had left her, carrying his own love with him, and never +doubting that Dona Hermosa was preserving hers for him. + +On his return to Veracruz, after visiting the most celebrated places of +the civilized world, he had hastened to put his affairs in order, and +set out for San Lucar, burning with desire to meet her whom he loved +so dearly, and whom he had not seen for three years--his Hermosa, that +pretty child, who by this time, must have grown into a beautiful and +accomplished woman. + +The surprise and joy of Don Pedro and his daughter were extreme. +Hermosa was particularly happy, for, we must confess, she had thought +all day long of Don Torribio, and looked at him through the medium of +her recollections of childhood; yet at the same time she felt her heart +disturbed by mingled sensations of pain and pleasure. + +Don Torribio perceived it: he understood, or thought he understood, +that she still loved him; and his happiness was complete. + +"Come, children," the smiling father had said, "embrace each other; you +have my permission." + +Dona Hermosa, with many blushes, bent forward her forehead to Don +Torribio, who respectfully touched it with his lips. + +"Is that what you call kissing?" cried Don Pedro. "Come, come, no +hypocrisy; embrace each other frankly. Do not play the coquette, +Hermosa, because you are a pretty girl and he is a handsome fellow; and +you, Torribio, who have come upon us like a thunderbolt, without giving +warning, do you think to make me believe you have ridden many hundred +leagues, as fast as your horse could carry you, to see me? I know for +whom you come all the way from Veracruz to San Lucar! You love each +other. Give each other an honest kiss, like betrothed lovers as you +are; and if you are wise, you will be married offhand." + +The young people, melted by his kind words and pleasant humour, threw +themselves into the arms of the venerable man, to hide the depth of +their emotion. + +In consequence of this reception, Don Torribio had been formally +acknowledged as having a claim to the hand of Dona Hermosa, and in that +capacity was received by her. + +We must do the girl the justice to say, that she sincerely believed she +loved her cousin. The ties of relationship, their childish friendship, +and the long separation, which had increased the warmth of their +feelings, disposed her to think favourably of the marriage proposed by +her father. She awaited the day fixed for her espousals without any +degree of impatience, and looked forward with a kind of pleasurable +hope to the time when she would be indissolubly united to him. + +Although such an assertion will most likely make many of our readers +cry "Fie!" upon us, we will nevertheless maintain that a young girl's +first passion is rarely genuine love. Her second love originates in +the heart; the first only in the brain A young girl who begins to +experience the first emotions of her heart naturally allows herself +to be attracted by the man who, from circumstances and his relations +towards her, has long ago obtained her confidence and excited her +interest. This kind of love, then, is only friendship, fortified by +habit and magnified by the secret influence exercised by the as yet +vague and undecided thoughts which crop up in the brains of sixteen; +and lastly, and more than all, by the want of opportunities for +comparing her lover with others, and the fact that the marriage is +already settled, and she thinks it impossible to recede. + +This was the position in which Dona Hermosa, without at all suspecting +it, stood towards her cousin. The marriage had been retarded, up to +the day about which we are now writing, for divers reasons of age and +convenience, although Don Pedro attached immense importance to it, +either on account of his intended son-in-law's enormous wealth, or +because he was persuaded the union would make his daughter happy. + +Matters had proceeded thus between the young people, without any +remarkable incident occurring to trouble the calm of their relations to +each other, up to the time when the events we have narrated in another +place happened to Dona Hermosa in the prairie. But at the first visit +Don Torribio paid his betrothed after her return to the Hacienda de +las Norias, he perceived, with the clear-sightedness of love, that +Dona Hermosa did not receive him with the freedom or the frankness of +speech and manner to which he had been accustomed. + +The girl seemed sad and dreamy; she scarcely answered the questions he +addressed to her, and did not appear to understand the hints he threw +out about their approaching marriage. + +Don Torribio at first attributed the change to one of those nervous +influences to which young girls are subject, without suspecting it. He +fancied she was unwell, and left her, without dreaming that another +filled the place in the heart of his betrothed which he believed +himself alone to occupy. + +Moreover, upon whom could his suspicions fall, if he entertained any? +Don Pedro lived in great retirement, only receiving at long intervals +his old friends, most of them married, or long past the age for +marrying. + +It was impossible to suppose that, in the two days Dona Hermosa spent +in the prairie among the redskins, she could have met with a man whose +appearance and manners could have touched her affections. + +However, Don Torribio was soon compelled to acknowledge in spite +of himself, that what he had at first taken for a girlish whim was +a confirmed resolve; or, in one word, that if Dona Hermosa still +preserved for him the friendship to which he had a right, as the +companion of her childhood, her love, if she had ever felt it for him, +had vanished for ever. + +When once convinced of this certainty, he became seriously uneasy. The +love he felt for his cousin was profound and sincere; he had let it +grow into his heart too deeply to be easily eradicated. He saw all his +plans of happiness in the future crumble together, and, his hopes once +shipwrecked, resolved to have the indispensable explanation from the +girl which should tell him how much he had to hope or fear. + +It was with the intention of demanding this explanation from Dona +Hermosa that, instead of returning to San Lucar, where he lived, he +had desired the _vaqueros_ to show him the way to the Hacienda del +Cormillo. But as soon as his guides left him, and he found himself +alone in front of the _hacienda_, his courage nearly evaporated. +Foreseeing the result of the step he was about to take, he hesitated to +enter the dwelling; for, like all lovers, in spite of the pain caused +by the girl's indifference, he would have preferred to go on cheating +himself with futile expectations, rather than learn a truth which would +break his heart, by robbing him of all hope. + +The struggle lasted a long time; more than once he made as if he would +ride back; but at last reason conquered passion. He comprehended how +difficult the position would be, both for Dona Hermosa and himself. +Happen what might, he resolved to end it; and digging his spurs into +the flanks of his horse, he galloped towards the _hacienda_, rightly +fearing that, if he lingered longer, he would find no strength to +accomplish the project he had formed. + +When he arrived at El Cormillo, he was informed that Don Pedro and his +daughter had gone hunting at sunrise, and would not return before the +_oracion_ (time for mass). + +"So much the better," muttered Don Torribio between his teeth, and +with a sigh of satisfaction at the respite chance had so opportunely +afforded him. + +Without stopping for the refreshments offered him, he turned his +horse's head in the direction of San Lucar, and galloped off, +congratulating himself that the explanation he both dreaded and desired +had been thus providentially delayed. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +LA TERTULIA (THE PARTY). + + +We must now introduce our readers to the Hacienda del Cormillo, two +days later than the event we have just narrated. + +Towards eight o'clock in the evening, two persons were seated in the +drawing room of the _hacienda_, close to a _brasero_ (brasier); for the +nights were still cold. + +A stranger opening the doors of this room could have fancied himself +transported to the Faubourg St. Germain, it was so elegantly +furnished in the French fashion. Parisian luxury was exhibited in the +carpets, Parisian taste in the choice of the furniture. Nothing was +forgotten,--not even a pianoforte by Erard, on which lay the scores +of Parisian operas, nor a magnificent harmonium from the workshops of +Alexandre; and as if to prove that glory travels far, and genius has +wings, the novels and poems in fashion at Paris strewed a round table +by Boule. Everything put you in mind of France and Paris, with the +exception of the silver _brasero_, which, with its glowing knots of +olive wood, showed that you were in Spanish America. This magnificent +withdrawing room was lighted up by candles of rose-coloured wax, in +handsome chandeliers. + +It was Don Pedro and his daughter who was seated by the _brasero_. Dona +Hermosa was clad in a dress of the greatest simplicity, which made her +look still more charming. She was smoking a tiny cigarette, rolled in a +maize leaf, which did not interrupt the flow of her conversation with +her father. + +"Yes," said she, "the most lovely birds in the world have been brought +to the _presidio_." + +"Well, _querida chica?_" (my darling). + +"It appears to me that my dearest father is not quite as gallant as +usual tonight," she said, pouting a little, like a spoilt child. + +"What do you know about that, senorita?" answered Don Pedro, laughing. + +"What! Is it the truth?" she exclaimed, as she jumped from her seat, +and clapped her hands together; "You have thought--" + +"Of buying you the birds. Tomorrow you will see your feathered +subjects, and your aviary stocked with parakeets, love birds, Bengalis, +hummingbirds, and Heaven knows how many others. There are at least four +hundred of them, you little ingrate!" + +"Oh, how kind you are! And how I love you!" replied the girl, throwing +herself into her father's arms, and kissing him a thousand times. + +"That will do, that will do, little monkey! Do you want to stifle me +with kisses?" + +"What shall I do to show my gratitude for such kind forethought?" + +"Poor little dear!" said he sadly; "I have only yourself to love now." + +"Say to adore, my dearest father; for it is adoration you feel for me; +and I too love you with all the strength of love which God has given +me." + +"And yet," said Don Pedro, in tones of gentle reproach, "you are not +afraid of causing me uneasiness." + +"I!" said Hermosa, beginning to tremble. + +"Yes, you," he replied, threatening her with uplifted finger; "you are +concealing something from me." + +"Father!" she murmured softly. + +"Daughter, a father's eye can pierce to the bottom of the heart of a +girl of sixteen. Some extraordinary change has taken place in you these +last few days: your thoughts are strangely preoccupied." + +"You are right, father," she replied with a good deal of firmness. + +"And what are you dreaming about, little girl?" asked Don Pedro, +smiling to conceal his anxiety. + +"About Don Torribio de Quiroga, father." + +"Aha!" replied he, "Because you love him, I suppose?" + +Dona Hermosa drew herself up, and assumed a serious expression. + +"I!" said she, placing her hand on her bosom, "No! I deceived myself +until today. I do not love Don Torribio, and yet I cannot help thinking +of him, although I do not know why. Since his return from Europe, a +change has come over him for which I cannot account. It seems to me, +that he is not the same person who was brought up with me. His look +pains, yet fascinates me; his voice raises a feeling of undefinable +sorrow. Certainly, the man is handsome; his manners are noble, and his +bearing that of a highbred gentleman: yet there is something nameless +about him which chills me, and inspires invincible repugnance." + +"How romantic!" said Don Pedro, laughing. + +"Laugh at me! Mock me!" she replied, her voice trembling. "Shall I +confess everything, father?" + +"Speak confidently, dearest child." + +"I will. I believe this man, whom I thought I loved, will bring evil +upon me." + +"Child," replied Don Pedro, kissing her forehead, "what ill could he do +you?" + +"Father, I cannot tell; but I dread it." + +"Do you wish me to break with him, and not to admit him again?" + +"Heaven forbid! It would certainly hasten the misfortune that threatens +me." + +"Pooh! you are a spoilt child! You grow whimsical, and amuse yourself +by creating phantoms. All these fears and imaginary presentiments +spring from your love for your cousin. The only way to restore your +tranquillity is to marry you to him as soon as possible; and be sure, +my dear, that is what I intend to do." + +Dona Hermosa shook her head sorrowfully, and cast down her eyes, +but she made no reply: she felt that her father had completely +misunderstood her meaning, and that any attempt to bring him over to +her wishes would be vain. + +Just at that moment a _peon_ announced Don Torribio, who entered the +room. + +He was dressed in the latest Paris fashion; and the glare of the +candles lighted up his handsome face. + +Father and daughter both trembled; the one perhaps with joy, the other +certainly with fear. + +Don Torribio, after gracefully saluting Dona Hermosa, approached her +and respectfully offered her a superb bouquet of exotic flowers. She +took them with a forced smile, and, without looking at them, placed +them on the table. + +Soon after, other persons were announced: the governor, Don Jose +Kalbris, and his staff; two or three other families--in all, about +twenty people; and lastly, Don Estevan Dias, and Don Fernando Carril. + +It was certainly impossible to recognise the hardy backwoodsman, the +redoubtable bee-hunter, who a few days before had done Don Pedro and +his daughter such signal service, in the elegant caballero who arrived +in the company of the _mayor domo_ of the hacienda. His irreproachable +bearing, his distinguished manner, in short, all about him, banished +suspicion, or rather prevented comparison. + +We have already said that Don Fernando Carril, although his life was +wrapped in impenetrable mystery, was superficially known to all the +best society in the provinces, and, thanks to the easy-going manners +of the Mexicans, received in the best families. His presence at the +hacienda was, therefore, nothing extraordinary. Nevertheless, his +appearance excited lively curiosity in the guests; for it was a long +time since Don Fernando had been seen at any entertainment. + +Like Don Torribio, the hunter, when he entered the room, approached +Dona Hermosa, bowed profoundly to her, and respectfully offered her a +flower he held in his hand. + +"Senorita," said he, in a voice full of suppressed emotion, "deign to +accept this modest flower; it grows only in the desert," he added, +significantly. + +Dona Hermosa trembled at the sound of his voice, which she thought she +had recognised; a lively blush rose to her cheeks; and dropping her +eyes under the ardent gaze fixed upon her, she took the flower and +placed it in her bosom, as she answered inarticulately: + +"Everything that comes from the desert will be dear to me henceforth." + +The conversation of the guests had by this time grown animated. The +little incident passed without remark, except from one person, who, +with that kind of intuition which springs from love and jealousy, had +divined in Don Fernando one who, if not an openly declared rival, was, +at least, preferred in secret. + +This person was Don Torribio Quiroga. + +Leaning towards Don Estevan, who chanced to be near him, he said, in +a voice low indeed but perfectly distinct and audible to all: "What +golden key does this man possess, whom nobody knows, by which he +introduces himself into honourable families, where his presence is +neither desired nor invited?" + +"Ask him yourself, senor," said Don Estevan dryly; "he will most likely +be able to explain his conduct satisfactorily." + +"I shall follow your advice this instant, senor," answered Don Torribio +haughtily. + +"It is unnecessary, caballero; I heard your words perfectly," said Don +Fernando. + +His voice was calm, and he made a courteous bow to Don Torribio, while +an ironical smile curled his lips for a moment. + +All conversation had been suddenly broken off; a profound silence +reigned over those present, and the looks of all were turned in +curiosity towards the two men. + +Dona Hermosa, pale and trembling, cast a look of entreaty on her father. + +Don Pedro walked resolutely into the middle, of the room, and placed +himself between the two caballeros. + +"What does this mean, senores?" said he. "Is this the idea of propriety +you have brought back from your travels in Europe, Don Torribio? Do +you dare to turn my drawing room into lists wherein to break your lance +in personal quarrels? What right have you to cavil at Don Fernando's +presence here? You are not my son-in-law yet, as far as I know. I am +master here, and can receive whom I think fit." + +"Even cutthroats and _salteadores_ (highwaymen), cousin, if such is +your good pleasure," replied the young man, with an ironical bow. + +Don Fernando looked as if he were going to rush upon the man who had +thus insulted him, but managed to contain himself. + +"Will Don Torribio deign to explain himself," he said calmly, "and not +speak in enigmas?" + +"And whose fault is it, caballero, if I speak in enigmas? Are you not +the cause of the mystery?" + +"Enough, caballeros!" exclaimed Don Pedro; "He who utters another word +on this subject, makes me his mortal enemy." + +The two men bowed respectfully to the hacendero and separated, but not +without having exchanged looks of terrible expression. + +"Well, colonel," continued Don Pedro, addressing the governor, in the +hopes of glossing over the lamentable altercation, "What news from La +Ciudad? Is Mexico still tranquil?" + +"Our great Santa Anna," replied the colonel, who was choking in his +uniform, "has once more soundly beaten the audacious general who has +dared to issue a _pronunciamiento_ (manifesto) against him." + +"Thank God! Perhaps this victory will procure us the tranquillity of +which commerce stands so much in need." + +"Yes," said a rich hacendero, a neighbour of Don Pedro. "Communication +has been so difficult of late, that we can forward nothing." + +"Are the redskins at work?" asked a merchant, whom these words had +troubled. + +"No," said the governor; "there is no danger from them. The last lesson +they got was a rude one, and they will not forget it. For a long time +they have not dared to invade our frontiers." + +An almost imperceptible smile curled the lips of Don Fernando. "You +forget the Tigercat and his adherents," said he. + +"Oh! the Tigercat is only a bandit," said the governor hastily. +"Besides, Government is at this moment preparing an expedition against +him, so as to finish, once and for all, with his band of brigands." + +"It is an admirable idea," said Don Torribio, with a sarcastic sneer. +"It is time this frontier should be cleared of the host of fellows, +with more than equivocal habits, who infest it." + +"I am quite of the same opinion; it seems a most sensible measure," +said Don Fernando quietly, but giving back to his adversary a smile as +bitter as his own. + +"In case of invasion, do you think the Indians able to give the +province much trouble?" asked the merchant. + +"H'm!" said Don Jose, with a patronising air; "People entertain +exaggerated ideas of these redskins; in fact, they are but miserable +wretches." + +Don Fernando smiled again; but this time the smile was savage and +sinister. + +"Senor _gobernador_," said he, "you are not quite right. To judge by +the news you were good enough to communicate, I believe the Indians +will keep quite peaceably at home, unless they are determined to tempt +ill luck." + +"_iRayo de Dios!_ I should think so," replied the governor. + +"Ah! Senorita," said Don Torribio, gracefully turning to Dona Hermosa, +"may I pray of your kindness to let us hear that delicious song from +the _Domino Noir_, which you sang to such perfection a few days ago?" + +Dona Hermosa, darted a look from under her long lashes at Don +Fernando. The latter's eyes conveyed a mute prayer of entreaty. Without +further hesitation, she placed herself at the piano, and, in a pure and +feeling voice, sang the romance in the third act. + +"I remember having heard that delicious romance sung in Paris by Madame +Demareau, that nightingale who flew away too soon," said Don Torribio, +bowing gallantly to Dona Hermosa. "I know not whether you or she sang +it with most taste and spirit." + +She answered: "Cousin, you have lived too long in France." + +"How so, senorita?" + +"Because," she replied, with a smile as cold and keen as the point of a +poniard, "France has made you a detestable flatterer." + +"_iBravo!_" chuckled the fat governor, whose cheeks shook with delight. +"You see Don Torribio, our creoles rival the Parisian ladies in the +smartness of their repartee." + +"Incontestably, colonel," answered Don Torribio. "But I can take my own +part," he added in an undefinable tone; "I shall soon have my revenge." +And he cast a glance at Don Fernando and Dona Hermosa, who were seated +close to each other, which made the girl shudder with fear. + +"Don Fernando, and you other caballeros, here present," said the +governor, addressing the guests, "I hope that tomorrow you will attend +the _Te Deum_ to be sung in honour of our glorious Santa Anna." + +"I shall have the honour," said Don Fernando. The others made a similar +response. + +"As for me," said Don Torribio, "you must excuse me, colonel; for +business compels me to leave tonight." + +"What!" cried Don Pedro, in astonishment; "You are going to travel +tonight, cousin?" + +"I am indeed, Senor Don Pedro; I am obliged to leave you, even though I +have but just arrived." + +"Well, that is a singular and most unforeseen resolution. Where are you +going?" + +"Excuse me if I keep the object of my expedition secret. Certain +persons must not have the sole right of making mysterious excursions." + +"Indeed!" said Don Pedro peevishly. "And do you intend to stay away +long?" + +"I hope not, but dare not say I am sure." + +"So much the better. Come back to us as soon as you can; for," said he +significantly, "your return will please all of us here." + +"_?Quien sabe?_" (who knows?) muttered Don Torribio, with a sinister +expression. + +Dona Hermosa, who overheard these two words, could no longer master her +fears. + +While Don Pedro and his cousin were exchanging these words, the girl +Whispered to Don Estevan: + +"Brother, tomorrow, after mass, I want to speak to you at my nurse's." + +"To me, or to my friend?" said Don Estevan softly. + +"To both," she answered, with feverish agitation. + +Don Estevan and Don Fernando now retired with joyful hearts. The latter +was sure that Dona Hermosa had recognised him. + +The other visitors also gradually departed, till Don Torribio de +Quiroga was left alone with his host. + +"Cousin," said he, in a low and broken voice, as he bent down to the +lady to bid her farewell, "I am about to begin a journey in which I +shall incur considerable danger. May I hope you will remember the +traveller in your prayers?" + +Hermosa looked him in the face for an instant, and replied with an +austerity unusual in her: + +"Cousin, I cannot pray for the success of a journey the purport of +which I do not know." + +"Thanks for your frankness, senorita," he replied, without exhibiting +emotion; "I shall not forget your words." + +"So you are really going, Don Torribio?" said Don Pedro, who joined +them at the moment. + +"This very instant, cousin: all is ready for my departure." + +"Then I wish you luck! I hope we shall soon hear from you?" + +"Yes," he replied, with a singular expression; "you shall soon hear of +me. Farewell!" + +"What is the matter with your cousin, _nina?_" asked Don Pedro, when he +found himself alone with his daughter: "His conduct tonight has been +very strange." + +Before she could answer, the door opened. "The _capataz_ of the +Hacienda de las Norias," said a _peon_ who had entered, "wishes to +speak to Senor Don Pedro de Luna on affairs of consequence." + +"Admit him instantly," replied Don Pedro to the domestic who had +announced the arrival of the _capataz_ so pompously. + + +Don Torribio was terribly agitated when he left the house. He looked +back, and cast a venomous eye on the windows of the room, on which he +could see the graceful shadow of Dona Hermosa. + +"Proud girl," said he in a terrible voice, "I hate you with all the +power of the love I once felt for you! Soon, very soon, I will punish +you for your disdain." + +Then, wrapping his cloak around him, he rapidly took the direction of +the nearest _patio_ (out-buildings), where he hoped to find his horse. +Indeed, he found him there; a _peon_ holding the bridle. Don Torribio +seized the reins, threw the _peon_ a piastre, flung himself into the +saddle, and rode off at a gallop. + +"_Wagh!_" said the Indian, picking up the money; "What ails the young +master? One would think him mad. How he scampered off!" + +In the meantime Don Torribio had left the hacienda behind him, and was +making all haste on the road to San Lucar. + +But he had not ridden more than a quarter of an hour, when suddenly, at +a turn of the road, his horse gave a start of terror, reared, and flew +round, with his ears laid close to his head. Don Torribio looked to see +what had alarmed the animal. + +A man of tall stature, mounted on a strong black horse, held the middle +of the road four or five paces in advance of him, and completely barred +his passage. + +Don Torribio cocked a pistol. + +"Holloa, caballero!" he cried in a sharp tone; "Move to the right or +the left." + +"Neither to one nor the other, Don Torribio de Quiroga. I want to speak +to you." + +"It is a singular demand at this time of night, and in such a place." + +"I did not choose either time or place. Did you not receive a note +without a signature today?" + +"I did," said Don Torribio, striking his forehead; "and the note +proposed--" + +"To teach you things," hastily interrupted the stranger, "which it is +important you should know at once." + +"Those were the words contained in the note." + +"It was I who sent it." + +"Indeed?" said Don Torribio, surprised; "was it you?" + +"Yes; and I am ready to satisfy you; but to do that, you must follow +me." + +"But what good will it do me to know these matters? Perhaps it would be +better to leave them untold." + +"As you please; I do not force you to listen to me. Everyone is free +to act as he chooses. If you prefer to sit down under insult without +avenging yourself, I have no objection." + +These words were uttered with such a sneer, that Don Torribio could not +help shuddering. + +"Do you in truth offer me revenge?" he asked in a voice half stifled +with the rage surging at his heart. + +"You shall judge, if you will follow me." + +"Demon!" cried Don Torribio, "Whoever thou may'st be, lead on, since it +must be so! I will follow thee, even unto hell." + +"Amen," said the stranger, with a sinister chuckle. + +The two riders dashed into the darkness, and the sound of their furious +pace was soon merged in profound silence. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE AMBUSH. + + +Don Fernando and his friend, as we have related, left the hacienda a +little before Don Torribio. They had made all haste to reach their +dwelling. The _tertulia_ had ended at nine o'clock; and by eleven they +were at the _rancho_. + +Dona Manuela was expecting them. In a few words they reported to her +all that had happened at the _tertulia_, and hastened to their couches; +for they were obliged to leave again at daybreak, if they wished to +arrive in good time at San Lucar without over-fatigueing Dona Manuela, +who was to accompany them. In fact, according to agreement, they +mounted their horses a little before four in the morning. + +In Mexico, on account of the intense heat of the day, people generally +travel by night; that is to say, from four in the morning till eleven, +and from six in the evening till midnight. Nine o'clock struck as the +three entered the _presidio_. Don Fernando left his friend and the +mother to find their way to the house he possessed in San Lucar, which +he had placed at their disposal, while he himself repaired to the +governor's house, whither affairs of grave importance called him. + +The worthy governor overwhelmed the visitor with civilities,--for +the latter had, on more than one occasion, rendered him important +service,--and seemed unable to show him sufficient courtesy But, in +spite of the efforts of his host, Don Fernando perceived that Don Jose +Kalbris was a prey to anxiety, which all his sense of the attentions +due to his guest did not enable him wholly to conceal. + +Don Jose Kalbris was a brave and worthy soldier, true as his own +steel, to whom the Mexican government had given the charge of the +_presidio_ as a recompense for his valiant services during the War +of Independence. For fifteen years the colonel had governed the +_presidio_, and, thanks to a certain degree of severity tempered by +justice, and to his undoubted courage, had managed to keep it in a +state of comparative tranquillity, in spite of the evil passions of +the _vaqueros_--a set of rascals, three or four of whom he was obliged +to garrote annually, in order to overawe the rest--and the continual +raids of the Indians, who pushed up under the guns of the fort in their +attempts to carry off cattle and make prisoners, the latter being +their favourite booty, especially women. + +Don Jose, endowed with moderate intelligence, but rich in experience, +and warmly supported by the better classes, who had entire confidence +in him, had contrived to maintain peace in his province without much +difficulty up to the time of which we are now speaking. This denoted +a certain strength of character in the old soldier, who was without +education, and had made his own career, particularly when one takes +into consideration the difficulty of his receiving support from his +government; so that he was thrown on his own resources, and obliged to +take the initiative, and act on his own responsibility, in all cases +where he thought fit to exercise the strong arm of the law. + +In person the governor was a tall, stout man with a purple and bloated +face, perfectly self-satisfied, fond of hearing himself talk, and who +laid great stress on every syllable he uttered. + +Don Fernando, well acquainted with the colonel's character, and holding +him in great esteem, was astounded at the uneasiness he displayed, and +the change from his usual placidity of manner. Fancying that want of +money might be at the bottom of his embarrassment, he resolved to sound +him, and come to his aid, if that were necessary. + +"Holloa!" said the colonel, "What good wind blows you to the _presidio_ +so early, Don Fernando?" + +"The wish to see you," replied the latter, pressing the hand the +colonel extended. + +"It is very kind of you. You will breakfast with me, of course?" + +"I came to invite myself." + +"That is right," said the colonel, striking a bell. + +A domestic entered. + +"This caballero will do me the honour to breakfast with me." + +The servant, a well-trained soldier, disappeared. + +"By the bye, Don Fernando, I have a heap of papers here addressed to +you." + +"Thank Heaven! I was afraid they had been delayed. I want them +particularly, for certain reasons." + +"So much the better, then," said the colonel, producing the papers, +which Don Fernando put into his pocket. + +"Breakfast is ready," said the same man who had appeared an instant +before. + +The governor and his guest proceeded to the breakfast room, where they +found a third person waiting for them. This was a Major Barnum, an +old Englishman, tall, dry, thin, and formal; as brave a soldier as +ever existed; for twenty years in the service of the Mexican Republic; +devoted heart and soul to the country of his adoption; and second in +command in the _presidio_ of San Lucar. + +He and Don Jose had seen much service together, and were attached to +each other like two brothers; resuscitating in this out of the way +corner of the world the fables of Castor and Pollux Damon and Pythias, +and all the other heroes of ancient friendship. + +Don Fernando and Major Barnum were slightly acquainted with each other, +and glad of the meeting; for the Englishman was an excellent fellow, +and hid a warm and loyal heart under his rather cold manner. + +After the usual greetings, all three placed themselves at table, and +commenced a vigorous attack on the delicacies with which the board was +abundantly supplied. + +When the first keen relish of appetite had been appeased, the +conversation became more lively, and at the close of the meal grew +quite amicable and confidential. + +"By the bye, what is the matter with you, Don Jose?" said Don Fernando. +"There is something odd about you today, which I have never seen +before." + +"Right," said the governor, draining a glass of _Jerez de la Frontera_ +(sherry); "I feel sad." + +"You sad! You astonish me. If I had not noticed your appetite at +breakfast, I should think you were ill." + +"Well," said the soldier, with a sigh, "my appetite is good." + +"Then what is there to vex you?" + +"I have a presentiment of evil," said the governor, seriously. + +"A presentiment of evil!" echoed the major. "I know that at first +sight it seems ridiculous for old soldiers like ourselves to attach +importance to such folly, which is only, at the best, the result of +a diseased imagination. Nevertheless, I too feel like the colonel: I +am uneasy without knowing why; I expect every moment to receive evil +tidings. In two words, I am firmly convinced some great danger is +impending. I feel it, I know it, without being able to guess whence it +is to come." + +"Ah," said the governor, "the major has just described my own +sensations. Long as my career as a soldier has been, I have never +felt so anxious and oppressed as now. I have been in this state of +excitement a whole week, and am astonished nothing has happened to +justify my forebodings. Don Fernando, God does give warnings of danger +to man." + +"I do not deny the truth of what you propound. I know you too well to +have the least intention to question your conviction. But still, how is +it to be accounted for? You and Major Barnum are not men to be afraid +of a shadow, or easily scared; you have proved that a thousand times. +Has nothing occurred to confirm your presentiment?" + +"Nothing as yet," replied the governor; "but I momentarily expect bad +news." + +"Come, come, Don Jose!" said Don Fernando gravely; "you are suffering +from an attack of a malady very common in the major's country, where +they call it 'the blue devils.' It is a kind of spleen, caused by the +fogs in England. Listen to me: get yourself bled--do not spare the wine +cup; and in a couple of days you will be the first to laugh at the +trick your fancy has played you. Do you not think so, major?" + +"I wish it were so," said that officer, shaking his head. + +"Pooh!" said Don Fernando; "Life is short enough already. What is the +use of creating bugbears to frighten ourselves? And besides, who is +there to give you trouble?" + +"_?Quien sabe?_ We are never sure of anything on the frontiers." + +"Nonsense! The Indians have grown as quiet as lambs." + +Just then a servant opened the door, and beckoned to the governor. + +"What do you want?" said the latter. + +"Senor," replied the servant, "a _vaquero_, just arrived in all haste, +requests an audience. He is the bearer of important intelligence." + +This announcement fell like a sheet of ice on the three caballeros, and +thoroughly stopped the flow of their fictitious gaiety. + +"Let him come in," said the colonel. + +Then casting a look of inconceivable sadness on Don Fernando, he added: + +"It is fate herself who undertakes to answer you!" + +"We shall see!" replied Don Fernando with a forced smile. + +Heavy footsteps were heard in the adjacent apartments, and the +_vaquero_ entered. + +It was Pablito. + +The man had indeed the look of one who brings bad news. He seemed to +have just left the battlefield--to have escaped from a massacre. His +clothes hung in rags, stained with mud and gore; his face, pale as +death, had an expression of sadness very strange in such a man. It was +with difficulty he held himself upright, so dreadfully jaded he seemed +by the struggle he had had to reach the _presidio_. His spurs left a +bloody mark on the floor at every step; and he was forced to support +himself on his rifle. + +The three men looked at him with mingled fear and pity. + +"Here," said Don Fernando, pouring out a tumbler of wine; "drink this; +it will restore you." + +"No!" said Pablito, thrusting back the glass; "I thirst for blood, not +wine!" + +These words were uttered in such a tone of hatred and despair, that the +listeners involuntarily turned pale, and shuddered with horror. + +"What has happened?" said the colonel, in deep anxiety. + +The _vaquero_ wiped the cold sweat from his brow with the back of his +hand, and said, in short, sharp accents, which struck terror into his +hearers: + +"The Indians are upon us!" + +"Have you seen them?" asked the major. + +"Yes," said he abruptly; "I have seen them." + +"When was that--today?" + +"This very morning, colonel." + +"Far from hence?" + +"About twenty leagues. They have already crossed the Rio del Norte." + +"Already! How many are there? Do you know." + +"Count the sand grains in the desert, and you will know." + +"God!" said the colonel; "it is impossible. The Indians cannot assemble +in such numbers in the course of a day. Your fears have deceived you." + +"Fears!" said Pablito, laughing derisively. "Fear is very well for +you who live in towns; in the wilderness we have no time to make her +acquaintance." + +"Well, then, how are they coming?" + +"Like a tornado, burning and pillaging as they come." + +"Is it their intention to attack the _presidio_?" + +"They have formed an immense half moon, the two horns of which are +nearing you every moment." + +"Are they still a good way off?" + +"Yes; for they are acting on a preconceived plan, establishing +themselves firmly in places capable of defence, and apparently not +governed by the sole instinct of pillage; but, as it would seem, +obeying the directions of a chief who understands the art of war, and +whose influence is felt in all their movements." + +"This looks serious," said the governor. + +The major shook his head. + +"Why have you waited so long before you warned us?" said he. + +"This morning, at daybreak, my comrades and I were surrounded by more +than two hundred of these demons, who seemed to rise out of the ground. +We defended ourselves like lions: one is dead; two of us are wounded, +but we managed to escape; and here I am." + +"Get back to your post as soon as possible; they shall give you a fresh +horse." + +"I will be off directly, colonel." + +The _vaquero_ saluted and left them. Five minutes later, they heard his +horse's hoofs clattering over the stony road. + +"Well," said the colonel, looking at the two others; "what did I tell +you? Did my forebodings lie?" + +Don Fernando rose. + +"Where are you going?" asked the colonel. + +"Back to the Hacienda del Cormillo." + +"At once! Without finishing your breakfast?" + +"This instant. I am torn by indescribable anxiety. The Indians may +attack the hacienda; and God knows what may happen." + +"El Cormillo is fortified, and cannot be taken by a _coup-de-main_. +However, I think Dona Hermosa would be safer here. Try, if there is +time, to induce Don Pedro to return: no one can foresee the issue of +an invasion undertaken on such a scale; and one cannot take too many +precautions. I should be glad to see Don Pedro and his daughter safe +among us." + +"Thank you, colonel; your advice is excellent. I will use every effort +to induce Don Pedro to follow it. Good-bye. I venture to flatter myself +that an energetic demonstration on your part will rid us of these +ferocious foes, whose tactics are always to attempt a surprise, and who +disappear as suddenly as they came the moment they find their plans +have been discovered." + +"God grant it! But I scarcely hope as much." "Farewell, caballeros, +and good luck!" said Don Fernando, pressing the hands of the two old +soldiers. + +Don Estevan was waiting for him in the court, and joined him as soon as +he appeared. + +"Well," said the _mayor domo_, "you have heard the news? The Indians +are coming like the locusts." + +"Yes; I have heard so." + +"What do you intend to do?" + +"To return to the hacienda at once." + +"H'm! That would be scarcely prudent. You know how speedily these +demons spread themselves over all the country; we should most likely +meet some of them." + +"Well! We will ride over their corpses." + +"_iCanarios!_ I dare say. But you may be killed." + +"Pooh! Dona Hermosa expects me; and I am not killed yet." + +"True; but you may be." + +"Well, we shall see." + +"Probably so. However, as I foresaw the objections you would make, +I have arranged everything to go. The horses are ready saddled, the +_peones_ in waiting: we will set off as soon as you choose." + +"Thanks, Estevan; you are really a friend." + +"I know it," said the latter, with a gay smile. Estevan Diaz whistled +shrilly, and the _peones_ entered the court, leading two horses by +their bridles. + +"Let us be off," said Don Fernando, springing into the saddle. + +"Let us be off," repeated Don Estevan. + +They gave the horses their heads, and began to push their way slowly +through the crowd of idlers assembled before the gates of the fortress +to learn the latest news, and trotted down the steep incline leading +from the fort to the old _presidio_, replying, as well as they could, +to the questions with which they were assailed on all sides. As soon as +they had threaded the town, they increased their speed along the road +to the Hacienda del Cormillo, without noticing the repeated signals of +several more than suspicious-looking individuals, carefully wrapped in +thick cloaks, who had followed them at a distance since they left the +fort, talking eagerly the while to each other. + +It was a stormy day. The sky was gray and lowering; the birds wheeled +screaming around; and the wind, blowing in squalls, roared in the deep +defiles of the road, filling the air with clouds of impalpable dust. + +The two _peones_ who had brought the news of the Indians' march upon +the _presidio_ rode twenty paces in advance, and scanned the country +on each side of the road with startled looks, expecting every instant +to see the redskins make their appearance, and to hear the dreaded +war whoop. Don Fernando and Don Estevan rode side by side, without +exchanging a syllable, each sufficiently occupied by his own thoughts. + +In the meanwhile, the nearer the travellers got to the river, the +more the storm increased in intensity. The rain fell in torrents, +the lightning flashed incessantly, and the peals of thunder rolled +majestically among the high cliffs, from which enormous crags were +constantly detached, and hurled crashing into the river. + +The storm had reached such a pitch of fury, that the riders had the +greatest difficulty in making progress, and were in constant danger of +falling with their horses, which were plunging wildly in their fright +at the tempest. The ground, soaked with rain, afforded no foothold +for the poor brutes: they slipped and stumbled at every step, snorted +violently, and threatened to break down. + +"It is impossible to get farther," said the _mayor domo_, picking up +his horse from a plunge which had nearly unseated him. + +"But what is to be done?" asked Don Fernando, looking about him with +great anxiety. + +"I think we had better take shelter under this clump of trees for a +while: the storm grows worse and worse. It is folly to pursue our +journey while it lasts." + +"Let us go, if we must," said Don Fernando resignedly. + +Accordingly they turned towards a small copse on one side of the road, +which seemed to offer some little shelter from the intensity of the +storm. + +They were only a few paces from it, when four men, their faces covered +with black masks, rushed out of the wood, and dashed at the travellers, +whom they attacked without uttering a word. The _peones_ fell from +their saddles, knocked over by two shots from the masked strangers, and +rolled on the ground in convulsive agony, uttering the most piteous +cries. + +Don Fernando and Don Estevan, astonished at this sudden attack by men +who could not be Indians,--for they were dressed like _vaqueros_, and +their hands were white,--instantly dismounted, and, placing themselves +behind their horses, awaited their assailants' onset with cocked rifles. + +The latter, after making sure of the death of the _peones_, turned +their horses' heads to attack the two Spaniards. Shots were again +exchanged, and a terrible combat began,--a dreadful struggle of two +men against four--in which no word was spoken, and which was intended +to end in the death of those who had been so treacherously set upon. +However, the combat was sustained with a semblance of equality which +discouraged the assailants, of whom one had already fallen, cut down +to the teeth; while a second was retreating, with his chest pierced +through by the good blade of Don Fernando. + +"Aha! my masters," exclaimed the latter; "have you had enough, or do +you wish to make further acquaintance with my blade? Fools that you +are! You should have set at least ten to assassinate us." + +"What!" added the _mayor domo_, "Are you already satisfied? You are not +clever enough for highwaymen; the man who pays you might have made a +better choice." + +In fact, the two remaining men in masks had withdrawn a few paces, and +held themselves on the defensive. + +Suddenly four other masked men appeared, and all six rushed upon the +Spaniards, who awaited them firmly. + +"The devil! I wronged you by my suspicion," said Don Estevan. "I see +you are up to your work;" and he discharged a pistol point-blank into +the midst of his adversaries. + +The latter, still without a word, answered his fire, and the struggle +was renewed with fresh fury. + +But the two brave Spaniards could not defend themselves much longer: +they were exhausted with fatigue; and it was not long before they, in +their turn, fell on the dead bodies of two more of their assailants, +whom they had sacrificed to their fury before they fell. + +When they saw Don Fernando and Don Estevan stretched on the ground, +the strangers uttered a shout of triumph. Without troubling themselves +about the _mayor domo_, they seized the body of Don Fernando, threw it +over the neck of one of their horses, and rapidly vanished amongst the +manifold complications of the road. + +The tempest continued to rage with fury. A lugubrious silence reigned +in the spot where this tragedy had been acted, and where seven corpses +were now lying, round which the vultures and hideous _zopilotes_, +uttering their hoarse cries, began to sail in narrowing circles. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +SAN LUCAR. + + +When Don Fernando left them, the governor and the major remained +perfectly mute a while, overcome by the gravity of the news they had +just received. But a state of prostration so much at variance with the +character of the two veterans, whose life had been spent in active +service, could not last long. They soon recovered their animation, like +two noble steeds who prick up their ears at the signal for the charge; +their features resumed their usual expression of imperturbability; and, +having exchanged a shake of the hand; they left the apartment. + +"The shock has been a rude one, and I was far from expecting it," said +the colonel; "but, _ivive Dios!_ the pagans shall find out whom they +have to deal with. Major, have the officers' call sounded we will hold +a council of war, to concert measures of defence." + +"That is right," replied the major; "just what you ought to do. I had +rather see you thus--proud, resolute, and stern--than troubled and +anxious, as you have looked these last few days. _Caray!_ you are +yourself again, now, my good friend." + +"Well," said the governor, smiling, "you ought not to be astonished +at the change, my dear Barnum. For some time past I have been sadly +oppressed by vague forebodings, and the ill they threatened seemed the +greater, because I could not divine what it might be. Now the stroke +has fallen, I know what I have to do. I have not the least doubt that +the danger which menaces us is immense, but we know what the result +will be." + +"Quite true," said the major, leaving him to obey the orders he had +received from his chief. + +The officers of the garrison were soon assembled around the governor; +there were six of them, without counting the major and colonel. Don +Jose Kalbris invited them to be seated, and then addressed them: + +"_Caballeros_, you are aware why I have sent for you: the Indians +threaten us once more. I have just got the information from one of our +bravest scouts--in fact, the most faithful and intelligent of them all. +It is a grave case, senores; for the Indians have leagued themselves +together, and are marching against us in great force. I have caused +you to meet here, in order to organise a vigorous defence, and to +endeavour to discover the means of giving these savages so sharp a +lesson, that it will be a long time before they dream of invading our +territories again. But, first of all, let us see what means are at our +disposal." + +"We have plenty of arms and ammunition," said the major. "We have +two hundred thousand pounds of powder, abundance of muskets, sabres, +lances, and pistols; and the guns are in good condition, and amply +supplied with round shot and grape." + +"A capital account," said the colonel, rubbing his hands for joy. + +"Unfortunately," continued the major, "although we have plenty of arms, +we have very few men fit for service." + +"How many men have we?" + +"The effective state should be two hundred and seventy; but, unluckily, +disease, death, and desertion have reduced them to a hundred and +twenty." + +"The deuce!" said the colonel, shaking his head; "But I think we +might manage to increase the number. We are in one of those critical +positions where the end sanctifies the means: we must not be nice in +our choice. Besides, the common safety is in question. I trust to meet +with no opposition to the execution of a plan which I hope will save us +all." + +"What is it? We all go hand and hand with you." + +"I know that very well. I do not allude to you, senores, but to the +inhabitants of the town, who will reject it, and with whom we shall +be obliged to have recourse to forcible measures. It is of the last +importance to make an imposing show of men on the walls. Now, this is +what I propose: all the _peones_ of the _haciendas_ shall be enrolled, +and formed into companies; the merchants shall form another corps; the +haciendas, well mounted and armed, shall defend the approaches, and +patrol the plain. By these means, we shall muster an effective force +of about eleven hundred men,--a number quite sufficient to hold the +savages in check, and force them to retreat precipitately to their +villages." + +"You must recollect, colonel, that the greater number of the _vaqueros_ +here are criminals, to whom any disturbance is a pretext for plunder." + +"For that reason, I have appointed them the exterior defence of the +place. They shall encamp outside the _presidio_, into which they shall +not enter on any pretence. To lessen the chance of a mutiny amongst +them, they shall be formed into two divisions--one of which shall be +constantly employed in scouring the neighbourhood, while the other +remains in camp. Thus, by keeping them always at work, we shall have +nothing to fear from them." + +"As for the creoles, and the strangers at present in the _presidio_," +said the major, "I think you had better order them to assemble in the +fort every night: we shall be able to use them in case of necessity." + +"Very good. You will also double the number of scouts, the better +to avoid a surprise. You will also have the entrances to the place +barricaded, to check the tremendous charges the Indians make when they +attack a position." + +"Permit me to propose, colonel, that a man to be depended upon should +be despatched to put the hacenderos on their guard, and warn them to +take refuge in the fort at the signal of three guns, to announce the +approach of the Indians." + +"It shall be done, major; or these poor fellows would be all massacred +by the pagans. The inhabitants of the town must also be warned to +retire--the women into the fort--as soon as the Indians are visible, +or they may be carried off. The savages are partial to white women, +and in the last inroad carried off three hundred: such a piece of +misfortune must not happen again. I think, senores, we have taken every +precaution against the threatened danger; we have now only to do our +duty as brave men. Our fate is in the hands of God, who will surely not +abandon us in circumstances of such great peril." + +The officers rose, and were preparing to take leave of their chief, +when another _vaquero_ was announced as bringing reports to the +governor. + +Don Jose made signs to his officers to retain their seats, and ordered +the scout to be introduced. + +It was Tonillo el Zapote, Pablito's friend. He had left the place where +they had hidden themselves to watch the movements of the Indians four +hours after his comrade, and yet had arrived at the _presidio_ only an +hour later,--sure proof of the importance of the news he bore. + +He looked as impudent and sneering as ever. His face was pale, and +smeared with blood and powder; his dress was torn in many places; while +the bandage round his head, one arm in a sling, and, more than all, +three or four scalps which hung bleeding from his girdle, showed that +he had had a hard tussle with the Indians, and been obliged to cut his +way through them to reach the _presidio_. + +"Zapote!" said the governor; "your comrade, Pablito, has just left me." + +"I know, colonel," answered the _vaquero_. + +"Have you brought us worse tidings than his?" + +"That depends upon the light in which you look upon them, senores." + +"What do your words imply?" + +"Oh!" was the reply, while the speaker swayed himself carelessly from +side to side; "If you love your ease, it is very probable it would +be troubled before long, and, in that case, the news I bring cannot +be very pleasant to you; but if you are fond of mounting to meet the +redskins, you can easily gratify your whim, and all I have to tell you +will be very acceptable." + +Notwithstanding the gravity of the situation and the anxiety they felt, +the governor and his officers could not help smiling at the singular +logic of the _vaquero_. + +"Explain, Zapote," said Don Jose; "we shall then know what to think of +your tidings." + +"Hardly ten minutes after my comrade left me, I was rummaging in the +bushes, which seemed to me to have an odd kind of motion, when I +discovered a _peon_, whose terror was so great, that it took me a +good half hour to get him to describe the dangers from which he had +escaped. The fellow belonged to a poor old man called Ignacio Rayal, +one of the two solitary individuals who escaped from the massacre +of the inhabitants of the peninsula of San-Jose by the Apaches in +the last invasion, twenty years ago. The _peon_ and his master were +looking for firewood, without dreaming of danger, when the Indians +suddenly started up close by. The former had time to hide himself in +a drain; but the old man, too feeble to save himself, fell into the +hands of the savages, who butchered him with all the refinements of +their horrid barbarity. His body was riddled with wounds, till his own +mother would not have known him; he had received twenty lance thrusts; +and his head was smashed to atoms with tomahawks. I left the _peon_ to +watch in our ambuscade, after I had restored his courage as well as I +could, and, proceeding in the direction he pointed out, was not long +in seeing a host of Indians driving before them a multitude of cattle +and prisoners. These fellows put everything to sack and fire on their +route; they were marching rapidly on the _presidio_, and detached +parties at intervals to destroy the haciendas on their road. The +haciendas of Piedra Rosa and San Blas are no longer standing; they are +now a heap of ashes, under which their unfortunate owners lie buried. +These are my tidings; make what you like out of them, senores." + +"And these scalps?" said the governor, pointing to the bloody trophies +hanging at the _vaquero's_ girdle. + +"Oh! These are nothing," he replied, with a smile of triumph; "as I had +got too near the Indians, in the hope of getting a better idea of their +force and intentions, they saw me, and naturally wanted to lay hands on +me; so we had a bit of a skirmish." + +"I presume these Indians are a party of pillagers from the wilderness, +who want to steal cattle, and will retire when they have collected +enough booty." + +"Hm!" said Tonillo, shaking his head; "I am not sure of that. There are +too many of them; they are too well equipped. Colonel, these fellows +have another object: unless I am greatly mistaken, they intend to wage +war to the knife against us." + +The governor exchanged looks with his officers. + +"Thank you, Zapote," said he; "I am pleased with you. Your conduct +has been that of a loyal Mexican. Return to your post, and be doubly +vigilant." + +"You may rely on my comrades and me, colonel. You know, we do not +exactly love the Indians," said Tonillo, who saluted and left them. + +"You see, senores," said the governor, "that the situation grows more +critical every minute. We will lose no more time in deliberation. You +may go." + +"One moment," said the major; "I have a piece of advice to give before +we separate." + +"Let us hear it, old friend." + +"No precaution must be omitted in the perilous circumstances which +surround us. We are here in an out-of-the-way place, far from any +speedy and efficacious support. We may have to sustain a siege in the +_presidio_, and run the risk of being starved out. I propose that a +vessel be immediately despatched to the governor general of the state, +to apprise him of our critical position, and to request reinforcements; +for it is impossible, with our scanty forces, to hold out long against +the invasion." + +A profound and solemn silence followed this speech. + +"What do you think of Major Barnum's advice?" said the colonel to his +officers. + +"We agree to it," said one of them, speaking in the name of the others; +"and we think it ought to be put into execution without delay." + +"I am of the same opinion," said Don Jose; "let it be so. Caballeros, +you may retire." + +And now they began to organise the defence with an energy inconceivable +to those acquainted with the Spanish character, and the profound +laziness which is one of its principal failings. + +The terrible danger menacing them made all the inhabitants of the +_presidio_ responsible for each other; it seemed to give courage to +those who had none, and redouble the ardour of the others. + +Two hours later, troops of cattle were driven in and parked in the +town, the streets barricaded, the guns supplied with ammunition, and +the women and children shut up in the buildings within the fort. + +A vessel had been despatched to the capital of the state, as had been +agreed on in council; and a hundred and fifty resolute men intrenched +themselves in the old _presidio_, the houses of which they loopholed, +in order to make head against the Indians when they appeared. + +The governor and Major Barnum seemed to multiply themselves; they were +ubiquitous; encouraging the newly enlisted, helping the workmen, and +speaking hope to all. + +About three o'clock in the afternoon, a strong wind arose, bringing +with it from the south-west volumes of thick smoke, obstructing the +view of objects at a distance. It was caused by the conflagration +throughout the country. The anxiety of the inhabitants increased +tenfold, as the direction from which it came proved that it could only +arise from the doings of the Indians. + +The Indian tribes always have recourse to this measure when they intend +to invade the territories of the whites; an excellent aid to their +system of attack by surprise, for, by shrouding the country in smoke, +they prevent the scouts discovering them from afar, and are more easily +able to conceal their numbers and motions. + +On the day in question, the Indians, unhappily for the Mexicans, +succeeded better than their wont; for the wind drove the smoke across +the open, and one could scarcely distinguish objects at ten paces off. + +It must be allowed, that in a country so uniformly level as the +prairies, which afford no points to mask a march, and where nothing +is easier than to find out the enemy's whole strength, the stratagem +employed by the Indians is as simple as it is ingenious. + +The scouts came galloping in one after the other, to report to +the governor the approach of the enemy, who, according to their +calculations, would reach the _presidio_ of San Lucar that same night. + +The masses of Indians increased every moment. Their hordes covered +the open; they marched with inconceivable rapidity, and seemed to +concentrate all their forces on the luckless _pueblo_. + +The governor ordered the three alarm-guns to be fired. Immediately +one saw the poor _rancheros_ (cottagers) of the plain trooping in +crowds into the town, bringing with them their cattle and furniture, +and shedding tears of rage and despair at the sight of their harvests +blazing in all directions. + +The poor men encamped as they best could in the squares of the +_pueblo;_ and after sending their women and children into the fort, all +able to bear arms rushed to the barricades, resolved to make those pay +dearly who had been the cause of their ruin. + +Terror and consternation reigned throughout the town: nothing was +heard but sighs and lamentation; and night came, to add horror to the +situation by enveloping the earth in darkness. + +Strong patrols paraded the streets incessantly; and at times hardy +_vaqueros_, gliding like serpents through the obscurity, ventured two +or three hundred paces from the walls, to assure themselves that no +immediate danger threatened the _presidio_. + +Things remained in this state till about two in the morning, when, in +the midst of the mournful silence brooding over the town, a slight +noise, scarcely perceptible at first, was heard. It grew louder every +moment, and all of a sudden, as if by enchantment, and without any +one being able to guess how they got there, the Apaches crowned the +barricades of the _presidio_, brandishing flaming torches and uttering +the war whoop. + +For a moment the inhabitants thought the town was taken; but Major +Barnum, who commanded at this post, was too old a soldier, and too +accustomed to Indian warfare, to be deceived by their stratagem. At the +moment the Apaches were about to cross the barricades, a well-sustained +fire opened suddenly upon them, and drove them from the intrenchments +much faster than they had scaled them. + +The Mexicans charged with the bayonet: for one moment there was a +frightful _melee_, from the midst of which rose cries of agony, +maledictions, and the sharp clang of steel crossing steel; then the +whites regained their position; the Indians disappeared; the town, +illumined for so short a time by the blaze of the torches, was again +enveloped in darkness; and the silence, broken by the few minutes of +onslaught, was once more complete. + +This was the only attempt that night. The Indians were up to their +work; having failed in their bold _coup-de-main_, they would, in +all probability, convert the attack into a blockade, if they were +determined to take the town; or they might retreat altogether, if their +miscarriage had led them to despair of mastering it. + +But at daybreak this latter illusion vanished; the Indians seemed to +have no inclination to beat a retreat. + +The country presented a most afflicting spectacle; everything was +burnt down, and the disorder frightful. In one place a band of mounted +Apaches were driving before them the horses and cattle they had stolen; +in another, nearer the town, and facing towards it, a strong body of +warriors, with poised lances, watched the movements of the inhabitants +of the _presidio_, with the intention of repelling any sortie that +might be attempted; behind them, women and children were chasing the +cattle, which were lowing with anger at being forced to quit the +pastures; here and there prisoners, men, women, and children, driven on +by blows of the lance, lifted their hands in vain supplication, and +painfully dragged themselves forward amidst their captors. Lastly, +as far as the eye could see, long files of Indians were hastening up +on every side, while others drove in the pickets, or built _callis_ +(huts); and the town was completely surrounded. + +Then an unheard-of circumstance occurred--a circumstance which the +most experienced soldiers in the fort had never witnessed in all their +previous encounters with the Indians, viz. the order that ruled through +all this disorder; that is to say, the manner in which the _callis_ +were grouped, the serried and disciplined march of the infantry, the +precision of their movements; and, what particularly upset all the +arrangements of the colonel and major, the drawing of a parallel about +the place, and throwing up an earthwork with immense rapidity, so as to +shelter the Apaches from the fire of the guns. + +"_iSangre de Dios!_" exclaimed the colonel, with an angry stamp; "those +wretches have a traitor among them; they have never made war in this +fashion before." + +"Hem!" said the major, pulling at his moustache; "We shall have to tilt +against rude jousters." + +"Yes," replied the colonel; "and if succour does not arrive from the +city, I do not exactly see how this is to end." + +"Badly, colonel. _iCaray!_ I am afraid we shall lose our hides here. +Look! There are more than three thousand of them, without counting +those who are still coming and blackening the plain on all sides. But +what is the meaning of this noise?" he added, as he turned in the +direction whence the notes of a trumpet proceeded. + +Four sachems, dressed in white, and preceded by an Indian bearing a +white flag, had halted at half-gunshot from the first barricade at the +old _presidio_. + +"What can this mean?" said the colonel; "They seem to demand a parley. +Do they think I am fool enough to fall into the snare? Major, a hatful +of grape for that group of pagans! We'll teach them to take us for +dolts!" + +"I think you are wrong, colonel, and that it would be better to parley +with them; in that way we shall learn their intentions." + +"You may be right, my good friend; but who will be fool enough to risk +his life among these lawless bandits?" + +"I, if you will permit me," answered the major. + +"You!" cried Don Jose, in astonishment. + +"Yes; is it not our duty to suffer no means to escape us by which we +may save the wretched people confided to our honour? I am only one +man; my life is of little importance to the defence of the _presidio_, +and the step I am about to take may save it." + +The colonel stifled a sigh, pressed his old friend's hand +affectionately, and exclaimed, in a voice half choked with the emotion +he vainly endeavoured to suppress: + +"Go, since you insist upon it." + +"Thanks," said the major joyfully. And he turned with a firm step in +the direction of the barricade. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE ATTACK ON THE PRESIDIO. + + +Major Barnum was unarmed; he was offering up his life, and would not +take his sword, that he might have no pretext for defending himself +should a conflict ensue, as would probably be the case. + +When he had got within earshot, he halted. As in his former campaign he +had often had occasion to confer with the Apaches, he had learnt enough +of their language to need no interpreter. + +"What do you require, chiefs? Have you crossed the Rio Grande del +Norte, and invaded our frontiers, in breach of the peace existing +between us?" + +He said this in a loud voice, and saluting them with his hat, which he +immediately replaced after this act of courtesy. + +"Are you the man whom the palefaces call Don Jose Kalbris?" asked one +of the chiefs; "The man to whom they give the title of governor?" + +"No; according to our laws, the governor may not quit his post. I am +Major Barnum, second in command, deputed to represent him; so you may +report to me what brings you hither." + +The chiefs conferred together for an instant; then, planting their long +lances in the sand, they dashed forward on their horses till beside the +major. + +The latter, who had never taken his eyes off them, had divined their +purpose, but remained motionless, and testified no surprise at seeing +them at his side. + +The Indians, who had intended by the suddenness of their action to +throw off his guard and perhaps intimidate the major, were secretly +annoyed at his coolness, which they could not help admiring. + +"My father is brave," said the one who was spokesman. + +"At my age," replied the veteran, "one does not fear death; one often +looks upon it as a blessing." + +"My father bears on his head the snows of many winters; he must be one +of the wisest chiefs of his nation. The young men listen to him with +respect around the council fire." + +The major bowed modestly. + +"Do not talk of me," he said; "we have met to discuss graver matters. +Why have you demanded this interview?" + +"Will not my father lead us to the council fire of his nation?" said +the warrior in insinuating tones. "Is it proper for great _sachems_, +renowned warriors, to treat of important affairs on horseback, between +two armies ready to come to blows?" + +"I understand your meaning, chief; but cannot comply with your desires. +When a town is invested, no leader of the enemy can be admitted as flag +of truce." + +"Does my father fear that we four should take the town?" said the +Apache, laughing, but secretly vexed at the abortion of his plan to +communicate with the friends he undoubtedly had in the place. + +"It is not my custom to fear anything," replied the major; "I tell you +a fact of which you were ignorant, that is all. And now, if you wish +to use this pretext to break off the interview, you can do so; I have +nothing more to do than to go back." + +"Oho! My father is hasty for his age. Why break off the interview, when +we have not even mentioned the object of it?" + +"Speak then, and tell me what brings you here." + +The _sachems_ looked at each other, and exchanged a few words in a +whisper. Then the chief took up the word: + +"My father has seen the great army of the Apaches, and the nations +their allies?" + +"I have," replied the major carelessly. + +"And has my father, who is a learned paleface, counted the warriors who +compose it?" + +"Yes, as far as it was possible." + +"Ah! And how many are there, according to my father's counting?" + +"Upon my word, chief," replied the major, with an unconcern that was +admirably counterfeited, "I must confess that, as for us, we do not +care how many of them there are." + +"But still," persisted the Indian, "at how many does my father count +them?" + +"How can I know? Eight or ten thousand I dare say." + +The chiefs were astounded at the indifference the major displayed for +numbers thrice their force; and the Apache warrior replied: + +"And my father is not frightened at the number of warriors united under +one chief?" + +The wonder of the _sachems_ had not escaped the major. + +"Why should I be frightened? Has not my nation conquered greater +numbers?" + +"It is possible," said the chief, biting his lips; "but this time you +will not conquer." + +"Who can tell? Is that what you came to parley about, chief? If so, you +might have spared yourself the trouble." + +"No; it is not that. Let my father be patient." + +"Speak, then, and have done with it. One never knows how to get on with +all your Indian circumlocutions." + +"The army of the great nations is camped before the _presidio_ to +obtain satisfaction for all the wrongs the palefaces have done the +Indians, since they first set foot on the red man's territory." + +"What are you talking about? Explain yourself clearly; and, first of +all, what is your pretext for thus invading our frontiers, without +previously declaring war? Have we broken the treaties we made with +you? Have we not always been generous to the Indians who claimed our +protection? Answer!" + +"Why does my father pretend to be ignorant of our just reasons for war +with the palefaces?" replied the Apache, feigning to be discontented +with the major's speech. "My father knows that we have for centuries +been at war with the Long Knives,[1] who dwell on the other side of the +mountains. Why has my father's nation, which assumes to be at peace +with us, made treaties with them?" + +"Chief, you are only seeking a quarrel; but that does not signify. I +would rather you had told me frankly that your wish was to pillage +and steal our horses and cattle, than give me a reason without common +sense. We should be at war with the Comanches, if you really meant what +you say. Therefore, chief, mock me no more, but proceed to facts. What +is it you demand?" + +The chief burst out laughing. + +"My father is cunning," he said. "Listen; thus say the chiefs: 'This +land belongs to us: we will have it.' The white ancestors of my father +had no right to establish themselves in it." + +"That pretext is, at all events, specious; for my ancestors bought this +land from one of your _sachems_." + +"The chiefs in assembly round, the tree of the Master of life have +determined to return to the great white chief, without reserve, all the +articles formerly given to the _sachem_ in exchange for the land, and +to resume the country belonging to them, in which they will no longer +have the palefaces." + +"Is that all you were deputed to tell me?" + +"It is all," said the chief, bending his head. + +"And how much time," answered the major, "do the chiefs allow the +governor of the _presidio_ to discuss these proposals?" + +"Two hours." + +"Very well," said the major coolly. "And if the governor refuses, what +will my brothers do?" + +"The _sachems_," replied the Apache, emphatically, "have determined to +resume the ownership of their territory. If the palefaces refuse to +restore it, their village shall be burnt, their warriors put to death, +their wives and children carried away as slaves." + +"Ah!" said the major; "Before you obtain that result, all the whites +in the _presidio_ will have been killed in its defence. But it is not +for me to discuss the matter with you. I will carry your demands to the +governor, precisely as you have made them; and tomorrow, at sunrise, +you shall have your answer. Hostilities must be suspended until then." + +"No; it is for you to stop them. We cannot stay here inactive; so be on +your guard." + +"Thanks for your frankness, chief," replied the major. "I am happy +at meeting an Indian who is not altogether a rascal. Good-bye, till +tomorrow." + +"Farewell," said the chiefs courteously. + +All were struck with admiration at the coolness of the veteran. + +The major retired as slowly as he had come, without manifesting +apprehension. + +The colonel awaited him at the barricade with the greatest anxiety. The +long interview had filled him with uneasiness. He had prepared himself +to avenge any insult that might be offered to his envoy. When the major +reached the barricade, he hastened to join him. + +"Well?" said he impatiently. + +"They are only seeking to gain time, in order to execute one of their +devilries." + +"What is the sum of their demands?" + +"Their pretensions are absurd, and they know it; for they sneered when +they laid them before me. They pretend that the _sachem_ who ceded the +territory to the Spaniards, two hundred years ago, had no right to sell +it. They demand that we should surrender it to them in twenty-four +hours; if not--then follow the usual threats. Ah!" said the major, with +an ironical smile, "I forgot to tell you, colonel, that they pretend to +be ready to restore everything the _sachem_ received for the land he +sold. That is all I am commissioned to report." + +The colonel shrugged his shoulders in disdain. + +"The demons are mad," said he, "or else they are trying to lull us into +security, so as to surprise us the more easily." + +"What do you think of doing?" asked the major. + +"Redouble my vigilance, my good friend; for I have no doubt we shall +soon come to blows with them again. I am specially uneasy about the old +_presidio_." + +"You go back to the fort; I will take the command of the advanced post. +It is most important, in case of a check, that our communication should +not be cut off, and that we may be able to retreat into the place +without too great loss." + +"I will leave you at liberty to act, my dear major; I am sure you will +do your best." + +The two veterans separated, after shaking hands warmly. The colonel +returned to the fort, while the major actively bestirred himself to put +the post confided to him in safety against a surprise. + +The garrison of the old _presidio_ consisted chiefly of _vaqueros_ and +_leperos_,--people, we confess, on whose fidelity the major could only +moderately rely. But the stout old soldier locked the apprehensions +that tormented him up in his heart, and feigned entire confidence in +these fellows, whom he more than suspected. + +The day passed over quietly enough. The Apaches, buried like moles +behind their intrenchments, seemed determined not to quit them. The +sentinels watched vigilantly at the barriers and barricades which +closed the suburb. The major, reassured by this apparent tranquillity, +hoped that the Indians would not assume the offensive before the term +proposed for the receipt of the governor's answer; and, overwhelmed +with fatigue from the numerous operations he had been obliged to +superintend in providing for the defence in its minutest details, he +retired to a house close to the barricade, to snatch a few minutes of +necessary repose. + +Certain of our old acquaintances were amongst the defenders of +the suburb: Pablito, El Verado, Tonillo, and Carlocho. The worthy +_vaqueros_, since the appearance of the Indians, had given such +undeniable proofs of fidelity, that the major, at their request, and as +a reward for their good conduct, had confided to them the most advanced +barricade, which was, in fact, the key of the suburb. + +A few minutes after sunset, these four men were together at the foot of +the barricade, and talking in whispers. A dozen more rascals of their +own stamp, grouped a few paces off were evidently awaiting the result +of their mysterious council. + +At last they rose, and their colloquy terminated. + +"Well, then," said Carlocho, by way of wind-up, "it is settled for ten +o'clock?" + +"For ten o'clock," peremptorily replied El Zapote; "a man can only +stick to his word. We have been nobly paid, and must fulfil our +promise, especially as we have received half the amount." + +"True," said the others, thoroughly convinced; "the loss would be too +great." + +"I should think so!" exclaimed El Zapote; "Only think, _queridos_ (my +boys); five-and-twenty ounces a piece!" + +The bandits grinned like hyenas which scent a corpse, and their eyes +glistened with greed. + +The major, lying half upright on a _butaca_, slept the restless sleep +of a man whose mind is preoccupied by affairs of great moment; when +all of a sudden he felt himself rudely shaken, and a voice, half +unintelligible from emotion, shouted into his ears: + +"Rise, major, rise! We are betrayed! The _vaqueros_ have given up the +barricade to the Apaches, and the Indians are in the place." + +The officer bounded to his feet, seized his sword, and rushed out of +doors without answering, followed by the man--a Mexican soldier--who +had so rudely awakened him. + +At a single glance, the major recognised the truth of the disastrous +news reported to him. El Zapote and his comrades had not only +surrendered the barrier to the Apaches, but had even joined them, +followed by the few wretches we mentioned above. + +The situation was very critical. The Mexicans, disheartened by the +shameful defection of the _vaqueros_, fought without energy or order, +dreading further treachery, and on that account not daring to make good +head against the enemy. + +The Apaches and the _vaqueros_ howled like demons, and charged +furiously on the demoralised defenders of the _presidio_, whom they +slaughtered pitilessly. + +It was a horrid spectacle to witness, this homicidal strife, illumined +by the lurid reflection of the houses fired by the Indians to light up +their victory. The war whoop of the Apaches mingled with the cries of +agony of the Mexicans they were massacring and the awful roaring of the +flames, fanned by the frequent squalls. + +The major threw himself resolutely into the thickest of the fight, +calling the garrison around him, and exciting them by voice and +gesture, to a desperate resistance. + +The appearance of the commandant of the _presidio_ produced an +electrical effect on the Mexicans. Animated by his example, they +formed around him, and replied by a well-directed fire to the attacks +of their ferocious foes. + +The _vaqueros_, brought to a stand by the point of the bayonet, +ignominiously fled, pursued by a shower of balls. + +Thanks to the energetic action of the major, the fight was fairly +renewed; but Barnum was a soldier of too much experience to allow +himself to be deceived by a factitious success. He felt that any +attempt to hold the suburb would be madness; he therefore only thought +how to make good his retreat in the best possible order, and to bring +off the women and children. + +Calling his boldest and most resolute men about him, he formed them +into a body to hold the Indians in check, while the non-combatants +embarked and crossed the river. The Apaches perceived big project, and +doubled their efforts to hinder its execution. + +The _melee_ grew still more frightful. A desperate hand-to-hand combat +ensued between whites and redskins; the former fighting for the safety +of their families, the latter in the hope of an immense booty. + +But the Mexicans, encouraged by the heroic devotion of their commander, +only retreated step by step, resisting with the energy of that despair +which performs prodigies, and in desperate circumstances trebles the +strength of man. + +This handful of brave men, scarcely numbering a hundred and fifty, kept +in check for three hours, and without allowing themselves to be broken, +nearly two thousand Indians, falling one after the other at their +allotted posts, in order to save their wives and children. + +At last the final boats full of wounded and non-combatants quitted +the suburb; the Mexicans uttered a shout of joy, charged the Apaches +once more, and, under the orders of the major,--who, like an old +wounded lion, seemed to abandon the fight with regret,--commenced their +retreat, continually harassed by the Apaches. + +They soon reached the river. Here the savages were constrained to fall +back in their turn, being decimated by the showers of grape poured upon +their dense ranks by the guns of the fortress. + +This successful diversion permitted the scanty survivors of the +heroic Mexican phalanx to enter the boats, and retire without further +molestation, carrying with them two or three prisoners they had +contrived to secure. The fight was at an end, after having lasted five +hours. The Apaches had only conquered through the treachery of the +_vaqueros_. + +The colonel received his friend at the landing place, and congratulated +him on his admirable defence, which, in his eyes, was as good as a +victory, on account of the enormous losses it had caused the enemy. + +Then, without losing time, the two officers took measures to complete +the defence of the place, by ordering the construction of strong +intrenchments on the bank of the river, and the erection of two +flanking batteries, of six guns each. + +The capture of the old _presidio_ by the Indians, through the +treachery of the _vaqueros_, was an immense loss to the Mexicans, +whose communications with the numerous haciendas on that bank were cut +off. Luckily, the colonel, foreseeing a result almost inevitable from +the want of troops at his disposal, had withdrawn the whole of the +population of the suburb into San Lucar. The houses had been gutted, +horses and cattle carried off, and the boats moored under the batteries +of the fort, where they were in safety--at least for the present. + +It is true the Indians were masters of the suburb; but the success had +cost them greater losses than the possession of it was worth. After +all, the Mexicans had only lost an insignificant piece of ground, +scarcely worth defence; for the old _presidio_ was not the key of the +place, of which it was only a questionable dependency, and from which +it was separated by the breadth of the river. + +Thus the effect of the battle on the two camps was exactly the reverse +of what the reader might suppose. + +The Mexicans almost congratulated themselves on the loss of a position +nearly useless to them in the present state of affairs, and the defence +of which could only cost them many valuable lives; while the Apaches +asked each other sadly what good the conquest of the suburb had done +them, in return for the loss of more than five hundred of their bravest +warriors who had fallen. + +Two _vaqueros_, who had been thrown from their horses, had been taken +prisoners by the Mexicans during their retreat. + +The colonel ordered a court martial to assemble, commanded two high +gibbets to be erected a little in advance of the new intrenchments +along the river, and had them hung in the sight of the whole +population, and of their companions, who had clustered together on the +opposite bank of the river, and uttered shouts of impotent rage at +seeing them executed. + +Don Jose Kalbris was not naturally cruel; but in this case he justly +thought he ought to make an example, in order to intimidate such as +might have the inclination to imitate them. A _bando_ (an edict), fixed +to the foot of each gibbet, announced that the same fate awaited every +revolted _vaquero_ who fell into the hands of the Mexicans. + +While this was doing, evening closed in; and the Indians, to annoy +the whites, amused themselves by setting fire to the suburb they had +taken the night before. The immense volume of flame produced by the +conflagration threw fantastic shadows over the camp of the Apaches and +the town of San Lucar, whose miserable inhabitants, plunged in the +stupor of grief, knew they had no mercy to expect from foes like these. + +The colonel seemed made of iron: he did not take a moment's rest, but +visited the posts continually, and sought by every means to strengthen +the defences of the town. + +He and the major had just entered the fort, after making a final round. +The night had passed, and the Indians had retreated to their camp, +after making a futile attempt to surprise the _presidio_. + +"Well, major," said the colonel, "you see how it is; there is no use in +our trying to blind each other. It is only a question of time for us; +whether we shall be taken tomorrow or in a week, no one can say: but +everyone can see what the result must be." + +"Hm!" said the major; "When the last moment has come, we shall always +have the resource of shutting ourselves up in the fort, and blowing it +and ourselves to the devil." + +"Unluckily, we have not even that resource." + +"How so?" + +"Why, we old soldiers might blow ourselves up easily and ought to do +it; but we cannot condemn the women and children shut up with us to +such a cruel fate." + +"True; but I have it! Although we cannot blow ourselves up, I can +always blow out my brains." + +"You have not even that consolation, my good friend. Is it not our duty +to set an example to the poor people cooped up here, and protect them +while we can? Is it not our duty to be in the breach to the last?" + +The major made no reply to this argument, which he inwardly +acknowledged to be unanswerable. + +"But," said he, after a pause, "how is it we have received no news from +the capital of the state?" + +"Ah, my friend! Out there they have probably other things than us to +think of." + +"I will not believe it." + +At this moment a servant opened the door, and announced: + +"Don Torribio Quiroga!" + +The two men shuddered, without being able to account for their emotion. + +Don Torribio entered. He wore the magnificent uniform of a colonel +in the Mexican service, and on his left arm the ribbons of an +aide-de-camp. He bowed respectfully to the two officers. + +"Is that you, Don Torribio?" said the colonel. + +"I suppose it is," said the former smiling. + +"When I last saw you, you were about to undertake a long journey." + +"From which I have just returned." + +"But the uniform you wear?" + +"Good heavens, caballeros! I was tired of being treated in the +provinces as a nobody, a kind of useless ninny. I threw off everything +of that sort, and have become a man of the world like others." + +"Then you are--?" asked Don Jose. + +"An officer like yourself, colonel,--of the same rank; and moreover, +aide-de-camp to the governor of the state." + +"It is wonderful!" said the colonel. + +"Why so? Nothing could be more simple." + +The major had taken no part in this conversation. When Don Torribio +entered, a strange suspicion had seized him. + +"I confess," said the colonel, "that I was a thousand miles from +thinking--" + +"What, pray? That I should turn officer? You see, you were wrong; +and so much the more so, since I have been deputed by the general +commanding the province to bring you a message, which I am sure will be +of great service to you in the present conjuncture." + +He drew forth a large folded paper, sealed with the Mexican arms, and +presented it to the colonel. + +Don Jose hastened to take it. + +"With your permission," said he, and hurriedly broke the seal, and read +the missive. + +"Aha!" he exclaimed; "Four hundred and fifty men! I did not expect so +strong a reinforcement." + +"The general feels greatly concerned for the _presidio_," said Don +Torribio; "he will spare no sacrifice to retain it." + +"_iVive Dios!_ caballero, with such help I care as much for the Indians +as for a bundle of straw." + +"It seems to me that they will not arrive a whit too soon," said Don +Torribio, with a sneer. + +"_iCanarios!_ It is just in time; but now we shall have some fun." + +"I hope so," said the other, while an indescribable smile curled his +lips. + +"And your men?" asked the governor. + +"Will be here in an hour, at the latest." + +"To what corps do they belong?" + +"To none in particular; they are _guerilleros_" (irregular troops). + +"Hm!" said the colonel, showing a little disappointment; "I should have +preferred other troops. But never mind; if you like, we will go out to +meet them." + +"I am at your orders, colonel." + +"Shall I go with you?" asked the major. + +"Nothing could be better," said Don Torribio hastily. + +The colonel hesitated a moment. + +"No," said he, at last; "remain here. One cannot tell what may happen, +and somebody must be here to act for me in my absence. Come, Don +Torribio." + +With a sigh of satisfaction, the major threw himself back again on the +sofa from which he had risen. + +The two men went out. Just as they were mounting, they encountered a +horseman, who came up at full speed. + +"Estevan Diaz!" muttered Don Torribio to himself; "Please Heaven he has +not recognized me." + + +[1] The inhabitants of the United States. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +DISGRACE. + + +As we have already said, Don Torribio had rapidly quitted the Hacienda +del Cormillo in company with the mysterious stranger whom he had met in +such an extraordinary manner. + +Their journey was not long. At the close of a quarter of an hour, the +stranger pulled up his horse, saying, in a sharp tone: + +"It is useless to take you farther before I know what I have to expect +from you." + +Don Torribio had halted at the same time as the unknown. + +"I think you are making a mistake, caballero," said he dryly. + +"In what way, if you please, senor?" said the other in a sneering tone. + +"I am going to put you in possession of a few facts, which will put us +on a level with each other." + +"Let us hear them, caballero; I am all attention." + +"In the first place," said Don Torribio firmly, "before we go any +farther, let me give you a piece of advice." + +"Advice is always useful: if yours is good, I shall profit by it; of +that be certain." + +"You will be right. I am unaware whether you know me, but be sure of +this: I am not easily frightened; and if, for some unknown reason, you +have led me into an ambush, I warn you that, at the first suspicious +movement you make, I will blow your brains out; for I neither know you, +nor what your intentions are." + +"Good! You are a man after my own heart, I see clearly we shall come to +an understanding." + +"Perhaps so. But as it is not I who have come to seek you out,--as +I have not claimed your aid in any way,--I demand, in the first +place, that you give me a clear explanation, without prevarication or +circumlocution." + +The stranger shrugged his shoulders. + +"Is it not enough for you to know that I am in a position to serve you +effectually in the plans of vengeance you meditate?" + +"I neither understand what you say, nor to what you allude," said Don +Torribio haughtily. + +"Aha!" said the other, laughing grimly; "Is that the way you answer +me?" + +"Why should I give you a different answer? What right have you to my +confidence? On what plea, supposing I have a secret, do you pretend to +search into it?" + +"Because your enemy is mine also; because, in avenging you, I avenge +myself. Do you understand me now?" + +"No more than I did before. If you have nothing else to say, we had +better break off our conference and part." + +The stranger made a gesture of impatience: he had not expected to meet +with so much inflexibility. + +"One word more, Don Torribio Quiroga. The man whom you hate, whose +death you have already plotted, is called Don Fernando Carril. That man +who for a long time has crossed your path at every turn, counteracting +your plans and ruining your hopes, has overthrown you in all your +reencounters; your very life belongs to him; he has taken all, even to +the heart of her you love. Is not this true? Will you trust me now?" + +Don Torribio had listened with mingled pain and anger to the +revelations of the singular being who had accosted him. + +"Yes," said he, clenching his hand with rage, "yes, you are well +informed. I care not whether you have gleaned your knowledge from +heaven or hell; it is accurate. This man is my evil genius, always +and forever crossing my path, and overthrowing, as if in wantonness, +my most cherished aspirations. I would sacrifice my whole fortune to +avenge myself on him--to hold him, panting and despairing, in my power." + +"I thought we should end by coming to an understanding." + +"Do not mock me, senor; my soul is deeply troubled. I could have +forgiven this man his insolent good luck, his success in the world, +where he thrives at my expense, the heaps of gold he wins with such +proud indifference,--I say, I could have forgiven him all this, if +he had not destroyed my sweetest hopes in tearing from me the heart +of her I love; for although I have no tangible proof to corroborate +my suspicions, I have tonight acquired a moral certainty impossible +to controvert. A lover's heart does not deceive him; jealousy is +sharp-sighted. On the appearance of Don Fernando at Don Pedro de +Luna's, I found in him a rival, and a rival who is preferred to me." + +"If you choose, I will rid you of Don Fernando, and deliver Dona +Hermosa into your hands." + +"You will do that?" cried Don Torribio, beside himself with joy. + +"I will do it," briefly responded the stranger. "Before two days are +over, you shall have your revenge on both. But it all depends upon your +own will." + +"Ah! If that is all," said the other, with an indescribable expression +of rage, "I will do all you ask, I will agree to all your demands, to +the utmost of my power." + +"Take heed, Don Torribio; we are about to enter into a compact--a +compact, the conditions of which you must fulfil at all hazards." + +"Whatever they may be, I will fulfil them, if you secure my twofold +revenge." + +"Good! Swear to me, by all you hold most sacred in this world, +that, whatever may happen, whatever determination you may arrive at +hereafter, you will never divulge what is going to pass between us." + +"I swear to you, _a fe de_ caballero," (on the honour of a gentleman), +"senor. Speak with all confidence." + +"Just now you asked me who I am: I am the Tigercat!" + +Don Torribio shuddered involuntarily on hearing this redoubtable name, +but recovered himself immediately. + +"Very good," said he; "the name you reveal is a guarantee of success to +my vengeance." + +"Yes," said the bandit, chuckling, "I dare say it is; my reputation has +been established a long time on the frontiers. In the meantime, this is +what I exact of you. Ponder well what you are about to hear--reflect +seriously on what I am going to propose--before you answer; for, I +repeat once more, I will compel you to act up to the conditions when +once you have accepted them." + +"Speak," he replied impatiently; "have I not told you I am longing for +revenge?" + +"Hear me, then, and remember your oath. I am at this moment preparing +an expedition against San Lucar, of which I intend to gain possession +at any price. For certain reasons, which need not be mentioned, I have +assembled several tribes of the Apaches and a considerable number of +_vaqueros_, who are concealed not far from hence, and only await my +signal to fall, like tigers thirsting for blood, upon the _pueblo_, as +it is gorged with wealth. An active and intelligent ally, upon whom I +counted to execute this bold _coup-de-main_, has deserted me at the +last moment. You alone can replace him: will you do so?" + +"What is this?" exclaimed Don Torribio, shuddering; "It is treason you +propose!" + +"No," replied the other, in a deep voice, "it is revenge!--consummate +vengeance, by which I shall confound your enemies, and those who have +applauded their success, while they laughed in scorn at each of your +disasters." + +"What! I, Don Torribio Quiroga, belonging to one of the oldest families +in the country; I am to associate--" + +He hesitated and paused. The Tigercat laughed with disdain. + +"With bandits and redskins, you would say, and wage war on your own +countrymen. Why hesitate to pronounce the words? As for me, those +qualifications have no value. I offer you revenge on your countrymen, +who have become your enemies in siding with your adversary. You are +about to engage in a duel. In a duel, all feints to kill your opponent +are lawful. But these are my conditions, and I will not alter them a +tittle. I will give you twenty-four hours for consideration." + +A long silence ensued between the two men. + +The night was dark; the wind howled mournfully through the branches of +the trees; nameless noises passed them by, borne on the wings of the +breeze. + +At last Don Torribio answered in husky tones: + +"You have given me twenty-four hours; I demand forty-eight to come to +my determination. I will make one more attempt with her I love. You +see, I am frank with you. The line of conduct I adopt will depend upon +the result of the experiment." + +"Be it so," said the Tigercat; "it is better thus. Your cooperation +will be more efficacious, and your will firmer, when your last allusion +has been torn from you. Go, then! For my part, I shall not be idle." + +"Thanks! In case I want to communicate to you my resolve, where shall I +find you?" + +"I will await you at the Barranca del Fraile" (the Friar's inn). + +"Agreed! God grant," he added, with a sigh, "that fate may not force me +to be there!" + +The Tigercat laughed aloud; and, without replying, spurred his horse, +and disappeared in the darkness. + +We have already related how the old freebooter acted to keep his +promise to Don Torribio. + +The desertion among the Apaches, brought about by the influence of the +_amantzin_, on the night when the Tigercat left them to repair to the +rendezvous arranged with Stoneheart, had not been as successful as the +sorcerer had hoped. The sudden return of the old chief sufficed to +restore his authority among the Apaches, who had long been accustomed +to obey him, and whose raids against the frontier had always been +productive of booty when he commanded them. + +The Tigercat had not even taken the trouble to punish the _amantzin_ +himself--the Zopilote had taken care of that; and the summary execution +had produced an excellent effect upon those rugged and savage minds, +which brute force alone can tame. + +Nevertheless, he had no wish to damp the renewed devotion shown him +by the redskins; and, although his final dispositions were not yet +made, and the defection of Stoneheart was a serious hindrance to his +plans, he comprehended the necessity of hurrying on his expedition, +even at the risk of seeing it fail, calculating on turning to his own +profit the hatred of Don Torribio, whose high standing in the province +might be very useful to him. He assembled all the Indians able to +bear arms of whom he could dispose, crossed the Rio Grande del Norte; +and these vultures fell like a devastating hurricane on the luckless +Indian frontier,--burning, pillaging, slaughtering, and passing like +a horrible plague over those magnificent plains which they left behind +them a desert. + +Don Torribio Quiroga was one of the first to learn the tidings of the +Indian invasion. The news gave him an indescribable feeling of mingled +joy and regret. He guessed that the Tigercat wished to give him a proof +of the sincerity of his intentions towards him, and of the manner in +which he meant to keep the promise he had given. + +Up to that time a prey to a thousand conflicting feelings, he now +resolved to settle his doubts at once, and to learn positively what +he had to hope or fear from Dona Hermosa and her father. Towards nine +o'clock in the morning, he called for his horse, and, in spite of the +danger he would certainly incur in the short space between the presidio +and the hacienda, he managed to leave San Lucar, on which the Indians +were rapidly moving, and rode at full speed towards El Cormillo. + +About half way to the hacienda his horse started at several dead bodies +lying across the road, riddled with wounds; but he was too preoccupied +by his own thoughts to pay much attention to the ominous reencounter. +As he rode past, he cast a careless look at the corpses, and continued +his road without further thought of the incident. + +Either designedly, or because they knew the futility of an attack on +the hacienda, the Apaches had deviated from their furious course, so as +not to approach it. When Don Torribio arrived, he found it in a perfect +state of defence: the gates shut and barricaded with care, the windows +blocked and loopholed; and he saw the bayonets of the numerous garrison +gleaming above the walls in the sunshine. + +The sentries placed at the principal entrance gave admittance to Don +Torribio, but not before they had questioned and recognised him. A +_peon_ received and conducted him to the drawing room. He found three +persons there: Don Pedro de Luna, Na Manuela, and Don Estevan Diaz, +who, pale and bloody, was lying upon a sofa, apparently asleep. His +mother, seated beside him, watched his slumbers with that tender +solicitude which belongs to mothers only. Don Torribio took a few +hesitating steps forward, and stopped in surprise when he perceived +that no one seemed to notice his presence. At last Don Pedro raised his +eyes, and looking at him coldly, said, "Oh! Is it you, cousin? How +does it happen that you are here today?" + +"Had I no other motive," replied Don Torribio, troubled by a reception +he had not anticipated, and foreseeing a storm, "the lively interest I +take in your family would have made it my duty to be here now." + +"I thank you, cousin," said Don Pedro still more coldly, "for the +proof of sympathy you are kind enough to give us. But you might have +remembered that El Cormillo is in a perfect state of defence, and that +we run no danger behind these walls, before you exposed yourself to +be assassinated on the road, as has nearly happened to our poor Don +Estevan." + +"Has he been set upon?" asked Don Torribio. + +"Yes," dryly replied the hacendero; "he and another person, who, less +lucky than Estevan, is most likely dead. Did you not know it?" + +"I!" Exclaimed Don Torribio, with an accent of truth there was no +mistaking; "How should I know?" + +"Excuse me, cousin; I am so troubled at what has occurred, that I +hardly know what I am saying." + +Don Torribio bowed, and then replied: + +"May I not have the pleasure of offering my homage to my charming +cousin?" + +"You must excuse her; she has retired to her room. The poor child is so +distracted by the late extraordinary events, that she is unable to see +any one--not even you." + +"I am the more grieved at this indisposition, as I wished to have some +conversation with her on a matter of moment." + +"So much the worse, cousin; so much the worse. The time is ill chosen +to speak of business, as you must allow, when the Indians are at our +gates, devastating our fields and burning our dwellings." + +"True, cousin; I acknowledge the justice of your remark. Unfortunately, +I find myself placed by chance in such extraordinary circumstances, +that if I might persist--" + +"It would be useless, my dear Don Torribio," said Don Pedro, +interrupting him, and exhibiting a certain degree of stiffness. "I have +the honour to tell you that my daughter cannot have the pleasure of +seeing you today." + +"Then pray, cousin, excuse my inopportune intrusion. Perhaps I shall be +more lucky another day." + +"That is it; some other day, when we have got rid of these cursed +pagans, and have no longer a horrible death in perspective." + +"And now," said Don Torribio, with ill-suppressed rage, "as I perceive +that, owing to your abstraction doubtless, you have not even offered me +a seat, cousin, I have no more to do than offer my good wishes for your +safety, and take my leave of you." + +The hacendero did not seem to observe the tone of ill humour in which +these words were uttered. + +"Good-bye, then, Don Torribio," said he, "and a lucky journey. Above +all things, be prudent, and do not travel with your eyes shut. The +roads are infested by brigands, and I should be in despair if you met +with mishap." + +"I thank you for your advice, and will follow it," he replied, turning +to leave the room. + +Just at this moment Don Estevan--who, as we have said, appeared to +be sleeping--opened his eyes, and perceived Don Torribio. His look +brightened. + +"Mother," said he in a feeble voice, "and you, Don Pedro, do me the +favour to leave me alone with this caballero for a short time. I have a +few words to say to him in private." + +"To me, senor?" asked Don Torribio, in a tone so haughty it sounded +like disdain. + +"To yourself, Senor Don Torribio Quiroga," replied the wounded man, +whose voice grew stronger under the excitement of his feelings. + +"You are very weak, my son, for a conversation with any one," said +Manuela. + +"Perhaps, my friend," said Don Pedro, "it would be more prudent to +defer it for a few days." + +"No," was the reply; "it must be today--must be this instant." + +"Just as you please, headstrong!" said Don Pedro. "We will go into the +anteroom, where we shall be within call. Come, Manuela." + +Don Estevan kept his eyes fixed on the door till it closed behind them; +then he turned to Don Torribio, who was still standing in the centre of +the room. + +"Come nearer, senor, that you may be better able to hear what I have to +say to you." + +"I am listening to you, senor; but, at the same time, must beg you not +to delay your communication." + +"You shall have it. I warn you, that I tore the mask from one of the +bandits who attacked us, and recognised him." + +"I am at a loss to understand," said Don Torribio. + +"Oh! You do not understand, senor! It is the answer I expected. +I suppose, likewise, you do not know the name of the person who +accompanied me, and on whom the _vaqueros_ fell with such indescribable +fury?" + +"I am perfectly ignorant as to who he was," said Don Torribio, quite +unmoved. + +"Better and better! Learn, then, that it was Don Fernando Carril who +was killed." And he cast a look pregnant with irony at the man standing +beside him. + +"Don Fernando Carril!--killed!" exclaimed the latter, stupefied. + +Don Estevan smiled disdainfully. + +"Listen once more to this," he continued in threatening tones. "If Don +Fernando is not brought to this hacienda within twenty-four hours, I +will reveal to Don Pedro and his daughter the name of his assassin. I +think you understand me this time?" And, overcome with grief, he sank +half fainting on his couch. + +Don Torribio remained a moment, annihilated with the words he had +heard; but, immediately recovering his presence of mind, he quickly +left the hacienda, and galloped into the plains, muttering as he rode: + +"The Tigercat was right: there is nothing left for me but to seek the +Barranca del Fraile." + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE PRISONER. + + +We must now explain to our readers what happened after the fall of Don +Fernando Carril, when he was made the victim of an ambuscade. + +When his hand was no longer able to raise his sword, and he had fallen +by the side of his companion, the men in masks--who had been chary of +approaching too near him, out of respect for the blade he wielded so +well, as proved by the bodies of four bandits lying on the sand beside +him? rushed all at once upon him. + +Don Fernando Carril lay on his back showing no signs of life. A deadly, +pallor overspread his noble features; his half-opened lips disclosed +his clenched teeth; blood was flowing in torrents from the many wounds +he had received; and his hand still clasped the weapon with which he +had so long held his assailants at bay. + +"_iCaspita!_" cried one, looking at him attentively; "Here is a young +gentleman who is seriously hurt. What will the master say?" + +"What would you have him say, Senor Carlocho?" said another; "He +defended himself like a lion. It is his own fault. He ought to have let +himself be taken nicely, and all this would not have happened. Look! we +have lost four men." + +"A pretty loss indeed, those four fellows there! I would rather he had +killed six than be in the state he is now." + +"The devil!" muttered the other bandit; "That is no compliment to us, +you know." + +"That will do; that will do. Help me to bind up his wounds as well as +we can, and lose no time about it. This is no wholesome place for us; +besides we are expected elsewhere; so be quick." + +Without further discussion, the bandits hastened to obey the orders +of Carlocho. Don Fernando's wounds were bound up somehow; he was +thrown across the horse of the _guacho_, who seemed to be leader of +the expedition, and the party set off at full gallop, without further +heed of those who had fallen in the struggle, and whose bodies were +abandoned to the beasts of prey. + +After a very rapid ride of two hours, they reached an abandoned +_rancho_. + +Two men were awaiting their arrival with impatience. + +These two men were Tigercat and Don Torribio. + +"Well!" shouted the former, as soon as he saw them. + +"It is done!" said Carlocho laconically, as he dismounted, took Don +Fernando in his arms, and carried him to a bed of leaves. + +The latter showed no signs of life. + +"Is he dead?" asked the Tigercat. + +Carlocho shook his head. + +"He is hardly better than dead," he replied. + +"Wretch!" cried the Indian chief in a fury; "Is it thus you execute my +orders? Did I not command you to take him alive?" + +"Hm!" said Carlocho; "I only wish you had been there to see! An +incarnate demon, who, armed only with a thin rapier, withstood us for +more than twenty minutes, and only gave in after killing four of our +bravest!" + +The Tigercat smiled disdainfully. + +"You are all cowards," he said. + +And turning his back on the _vaquero_, he went up to Don Fernando. + +Don Torribio was already at his side. + +"Is he dead?" he asked. + +"No," replied the Mexican; "but nearly so." + +"So much the worse," muttered the old chief, "I would give a good deal +for his recovery." + +Don Torribio looked at him with astonishment. + +"Of what importance is the life of this man to us?" he said. "Was he +not your enemy?" + +"The very reason why I do not wish him to die." + +"I do not understand you." + +"I have devoted my life to the accomplishment of an idea; therefore +I no longer belong to myself, and am bound to offer up my hate and +friendship to my idea." + +"I admit that, up to a certain point: but how is it, then, that you +have laid a trap for this man, who, according to your own account, is a +traitor." + +"Are men always to be harshly judged, even by those who are most +intimate with them?" said the old chief, with a bitter smile. "What is +it to me that the man may be a traitor? By putting him out of the way, +without touching his life, I should have gained the end I had before +me when I sought your alliance. After keeping him a prisoner for a +few days, to prevent his counteracting your plans, and hindering your +marriage with Dona Hermosa, I should have restored him to freedom. +Unluckily, it is too late now: what is done cannot be undone. The death +of this man, obscurely slain in ambuscade, will do more to frustrate +my plans than you imagine. His blood be upon your head! It is you who +ordered this murder." + +"I!" replied Don Torribio. "You are mad!" + +The Tigercat looked at his new ally with a stare of surprise, shrugged +his shoulders, and whistled a Mexican _seguidilla_. It was evident that +Don Torribio had not understood a word of what had been uttered by +this singular man, whose sole delight had hitherto been in slaughter. + +"Pooh!" said he; "What does one, more or less, signify?" + +The Indian chief stooped over the body of the wounded man, and examined +it carefully. The eyes were closed, and the features had the paleness +and rigidity of death. Two or three _vaqueros_, aided by Carlocho, +rubbed his temples and chest incessantly with rum. + +After looking at the body attentively, the old chief drew a knife +from his girdle, held the blade for two or three minutes across the +mouth, withdrew it again, and examined it. He thought it was slightly +tarnished; then he knelt down by Don Fernando, seized his left arm, +ripped up the sleeve, and, having felt for the vein, pricked it with +the delicate point of his knife. + +Then followed an instant of anxious suspense. The looks of all were +fixed on the wounded man. This attempt would be the last; if it did not +succeed, all was over: he knew of no other means to recall him to life. +The _vaqueros_ continued the friction. + +At the puncture made by the chief's knife, there appeared at last a +dark speck; little by little it increased in size, till it grew into a +black point, which finally became a bead of jet: this trembled for a +moment, and then fell rolling down the arm, pressed forward by another +which succeeded it, and immediately made room for a third; then the +blood grew less black and less thick, and finally gushed out in a long +vermillion stream. + +The Tigercat could not repress a shout of triumph; Don Fernando was +saved. In fact, after the lapse of a minute, the latter moved slightly +and uttered a deep sigh. + +The Indian chief rose, after binding up Don Fernando's arm and signed +to Pablito to follow him into another compartment of the _rancho_, +requesting Don Torribio to remain for a time where he was. + +Without waiting for the question which the _vaquero_ was about to ask, +and which he saw playing about his finely chiselled lips, the chief +began to speak with a feverish haste, betraying the secret agitation of +his mind. + +"You see what has happened," he said. + +"But you yourself willed it so!" said Pablito, utterly surprised. + +"Yes, I did will it; and I thank God for having spared me this odious +crime!" + +"If you are satisfied, all will go well." + +"But here is another matter. Remember this: Don Torribio must be kept +in the dark. To all the world, and to this man in particular, Don +Fernando is dead." + +"Speak on; I think I understand you." + +"Don Fernando's wounds, though many, are not severe. The loss of blood, +and the speed with which he was brought hither, are the sole causes of +the lethargy into which he has fallen, and out of which he will soon +awake." + +"Good; Now, what am I to do?" + +"He must not see me." + +"Very good; nothing can be easier." + +"Nor must he recognise you." + +"That will be more difficult; he knows me well." + +"It is most important." + +"I will try." + +"And now, this is what you have to do." + +"I am all attention." + +"I must leave this place immediately; my presence is required +elsewhere. As for you, you will have Don Fernando carried to the +_presidio_, without his learning who has taken him thither." + +"To the _presidio_?" exclaimed Pablito, astonished. + +"Yes; it is the safest place," said the chief, drawing forth a paper +cut to a certain shape; "you will take him to my house. He must not +leave it on any pretence: above all, he must not know he is at the +_presidio_." + +"Is that all?" + +"It is. Only, remember, you are answerable to me for him." + +"Very well. At your orders I will produce him, alive or dead." + +"Alive! His life is precious to me." + +"Then I will do my best." + +"And now, Pablito, be honest with me. Can I trust you?" + +"Well," said Pablito, "since you are so much concerned about such a +wretched affair, I will answer for your prisoner." + +"Then farewell, and thanks," said the Tigercat; "above all, remember +to report to me tonight, in Don Torribio's presence, that his enemy is +dead." + +"Rely upon me for that." + +"No, no," muttered the old chief to himself; "he must not die: his life +is too necessary for the accomplishment of my revenge." + +He rejoined Don Torribio, who had grown impatient. Without exchanging +a word, the two mounted the magnificent mustangs that were waiting for +them, and disappeared amongst the foliage. + +Pablito, twisting his moustache in ill humour, returned to the wounded +man; the office intrusted to him was evidently unpalatable. However, +as the _vaquero_ was an honest man enough, after his own fashion, and +prided himself, among the numerous other good qualities he fancied he +possessed, most especially on his adherence to his word, the thought of +breaking it never entered his mind. + +"How is he?" he asked Carlocho in a whisper. + +"A great deal better," replied the latter. "It is astonishing how much +good the bleeding has done him; he has already opened his eyes twice +and tried to speak." + +"Hm! Then we have no time to lose. Put a bandage round the eyes of this +fellow, and then, lest he should use his hands to remove it, tie them +down to his sides. But, as this is only to be done for prudence' sake, +I recommend you to use as much gentleness and delicacy as your nature +is capable of. Do you understand perfectly?" + +"Yes, _icanarios!_ One need not be a wizard to do that!" + +"Well, make haste! I give you five minutes to obey my orders: in ten we +shall be gone." + +The wounded man had indeed recovered a good deal of his strength. As +the chief had declared, his wounds were not severe, and the loss of +blood alone had occasioned the prostration in which he was lying. + +Little by little he had recovered his senses sufficiently to know +into whose hands he had fallen; and although too feeble to offer the +slightest opposition whatever to the bandits at his side, his presence +of mind had returned in a degree to enable him to comprehend that the +greatest circumspection was necessary, to avoid arousing the suspicions +as to his state in people who would not for a moment hesitate to +sacrifice him to their safety. + +So, when Carlocho, according to the injunctions of Pablito, passed a +folded handkerchief over his eyes, and bound his hands, he feigned +entire insensibility, and allowed them to do as they pleased with him, +secretly rejoiced at these precautions, which indicated that his life +was safe for the present. + +"Now, what is to be done?" asked Carlocho. + +"Two or three of you take up the wounded man, and carry him carefully +to the boat I have in waiting close by. And pay particular attention to +him, you fellows; for, at the first jolt, I will blow your brains out." + +"_Caray!_" was all the _vaquero_ could utter, for surprise. + +"Ah!" said Pablito, with a shrug of his shoulders; "As you were fools +enough not to kill him when you might have done so, so much the worse +for you: now you shall mount guard over him. That shall teach you to +introduce courtesy, or, if you like it better, clumsiness, into an +ambuscade the next time." + +Carlocho opened his eyes wide at this rodomontade, which he could not +understand, but hastened to obey the order. + +Don Fernando was carried thus into a boat by Pablito, Carlocho, and a +third _vaquero;_ while the remainder went off by land, taking their +comrades' horses with them. Three hours later, the prisoner, to whom +his keepers had not spoken a word during the journey, was carried into +the _presidio_, and shut up in a house lately hired by the Tigercat in +a fictitious name--a circumstance of which Don Fernando knew nothing. + +The bandage was taken from his eyes, his hands were freed; but a man in +a mask, mute as a tomb, was placed in his chamber, and never left him. + +The wounded man, harassed by the journey, and weakened by the blood he +had lost, resolved, for the present, to trust to chance for relief from +his annoying and incomprehensible situation. He gave that apparently +listless but all-observant glance around him which is peculiar to +prisoners, and dropped off into a deep sleep, lasting many hours, and +restoring to his mind all its coolness and original clearness. + +The people who served him, though masked and dumb, took the greatest +care of him, and seemed to vie with each other in their endeavours to +comply with his wishes, and satisfy his most capricious whims. In +point of fact, his position was tolerable; at bottom, there was a spice +of originality about it; and Don Fernando, convinced, at the end of two +days' experience, that no attempt would be made on his life, but that, +on the contrary, every effort was made to heal his wounds as quickly +as possible, concluded to bear his lot bravely, in the expectation of +better times. + +The third day of his captivity, Don Fernando, whose wounds were only +sword cuts, and now nearly cicatrised, rose from his bed, partly to try +his strength, and partly to look out and discover where he was: it was +requisite to know the locality, in order to mature the scheme of escape +he was already secretly planning. + +The weather was magnificent; the hot sunlight shone cheerfully in at +the windows, tracing the bars on the floor of the chamber which served +as his prison. It made him feel quite refreshed, and he tried to walk +a few steps, still carefully watched by his inevitable guard, whose +flaming eyes were never off him. Suddenly a terrible clamour arose, and +a round of artillery shook the panes. + +"What is that?" asked Don Fernando. + +His keeper shrugged his shoulders, but did not reply. + +The sharp cracking of muskets was now mingled with the roar of the +guns; and it became evident that a hard fight was going on somewhere +in the neighbourhood. His keeper, imperturbable as ever, closed the +windows. + +Don Fernando went up to him. The two men stared at each other for a +moment. Many a time had the wounded man addressed a question to this +stolid sentry without eliciting an answer, and now he hesitated a +little before making a fresh attempt. + +"Friend," said he, at last, in a gentle voice, "what is going on out of +doors?" + +The man remained mute. + +"Answer me, in the name of Heaven!" continued the querist; "I ask but +little. Surely you would not overstep your instructions by telling me +thus much?" + +Just then the clamour seemed to draw nearer; hurried steps, mingled +with outcries, sounded close at hand. His keeper rose uneasily, drew +his machete (knife) from its sheath, pulled a pistol from his belt, and +went towards the door; but on a sudden it was violently opened, and a +man rushed into the room, his face blanched with terror. + +"Up! On your guard;" cried he; "we are lost!" + +His keeper made a sign for Don Fernando to keep back, and placed +himself resolutely in front of the door, where four men, masked and +armed to the teeth, had just made their appearance. + +"Back!" cried the keeper; "No one enters here without a watchword!" + +"Here you have it," answered one of the men at the door, as, with a +pistol, he blew out the keeper's brains. + +The four men stepped over his body, seized and bound his comrade, who +had crouched down in the farthest corner of the room, and advanced to +Don Fernando, who was wondering at the strange scene. + +"You are at liberty, caballero," said one of the four. "Come, you must +leave this house at once." + +"First of all, who are you?" replied Don Fernando; "Who are you, who +proclaim yourselves my liberators?" + +"We have no time for explanations," answered the man in the mask. "Make +haste and follow us." + +"Not before I know who you are." + +The other gave an impatient stamp, and, stooping down, whispered in his +ear: + +"Madman! Have you no wish to see Dona Hermosa again?" + +Don Fernando reddened with pleasure. + +"I follow you," said he. + +"Here," said the mask, "take these pistols and this sword; we have not +done our work yet. We may still have fighting before us." + +"Yes!" exclaimed Don Fernando joyfully; "I now see that you are really +sent to save me. I will follow wherever you may lead." And he seized +the weapons, and placed them in his girdle. + +They hastily left the house. + +"What!" cried Don Fernando, as he put his foot out of doors, "Am I at +the _presidio_ of San Lucar?" + +"Did you not know it?" asked his guide. + +"How was it possible? I was brought here with my eyes bandaged." + +In the court several horses, ready saddled, were tied to rings in the +wall. + +"Could you keep your saddle?" said the stranger. + +"I hope so," replied Don Fernando. + +"You must," said the stranger peremptorily. + +"Then I will, even if I die in it." + +"Good: let us mount and be gone." + +At the very moment they were issuing into the street, a troop of ten or +twelve mounted men were coming up at full gallop: they were not more +than twenty paces off. + +"Here are the enemy," said the stranger in deep and low tones; "we must +charge and ride over them, or die." + +The five men formed in line, and rushed like a thunderbolt upon the +newcomers, at whom they discharged their pistols point-blank, and then +cut their way with the sword. + +"_iCaray!_" screamed Pablito, in a fury--for it was he who commanded +the troop--"My prisoner is escaping." + +Spurring his horse, he dashed at Don Fernando. But the latter, without +drawing bridle, fired a pistol; and the _vaquero's_ horse, struck by a +ball in the forehead, rolled to the ground, bearing his rider with him. + +Pablito rose, half killed by the fall. The men who had attacked him so +briskly had disappeared. + +"Never mind; I shall find them again," he cried. + +In the meantime, the fugitives had reached the bank of the river, and +found a boat waiting for them. + +"We must part here," said the stranger, taking off his mask. + +"Estevan!" cried Don Fernando. + +"Myself," replied the _mayor domo_. "This boat will take you to the +Hacienda del Cormillo. Go there without delay, and," he added, as he +placed in his hands a paper folded into four, "read this attentively; +perhaps you will have to come to the rescue in your turn." + +"Be assured on that score: I have my revenge to take." + +"Farewell, my friend." + +"Shall I see Dona Hermosa?" + +"I am forbidden to talk on the subject." + +"Another question, then. Do you know who kept me prisoner?" + +"Yes; there were two--the Tigercat and Don Torribio." + +"Indeed!" said Don Fernando, frowning. "I will not forget them. Once +more, thanks Estevan." + +He sat down in the boat, and gave a sign to the rowers. They were soon +in rapid motion, and speedily lost in the shadows of the darkening +night. + +Three persons remained on the bank anxiously watching the course of the +frail boat. These three persons were Estevan Diaz, Dona Hermosa, and Na +Manuela. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +THE CAMP OF THE REDSKINS. + + +The extreme care of Don Pedro and his daughter soon restored Don +Estevan to perfect health. + +His first care was to reveal to the hacendero, in accordance with his +threat to Don Torribio, the name of the man who had originated the +dastardly attack on Don Fernando, and into whose hands he had fallen. + +After that communication, Don Torribio was a lost man in the estimation +of Don Pedro and his daughter. + +Having accomplished this piece of revenge, the _mayor domo_ undertook +the duty of discovering tidings of his friend. Chance favoured him by +throwing El Zapote in his way. The worthy and conscientious _vaquero_ +was just then in the best humour for giving all the information +required, in consequence of having that very morning, by a ruinous +run of ill luck which fastened upon him been utterly cleaned out at +_monte_, and left without an _ochavo_ (a farthing). By the help of +a few ounces of gold, the _mayor domo_ contrived to learn, in the +minutest detail, all that had passed, and the place where Don Fernando +was concealed. + +As soon as he had learned all he wanted, Don Estevan left the +_vaquero_, and hastened his return to the hacienda. + +Dona Hermosa was no ordinary woman. She was gifted with much energy, +and, moreover, loved Don Fernando. She resolved to set him free; but +held her tongue, in the fear of making Don Pedro uneasy. She merely +expressed a wish to spend a day or two at the hacienda of Las Norias; +to which Don Pedro consented, on condition of her taking with her a +strong escort of resolute and well-armed _peones_. + +Instead of going to the hacienda, the girl went to the _presidio_, into +which she managed to find her way unnoticed by the Indians. + +Once in the _presidio_, she revealed her project to Don Estevan. + +The _mayor domo_ was astounded at her coolness as she detailed the +plan she had conceived--a plan in which not only herself, but also Don +Estevan's mother, was to act a part. + +All his efforts to make her renounce her project were futile; willing +or unwilling, he was forced to obey. + +When they could no longer see the boat with Don Fernando, her foster +brother turned to Dona Hermosa. + +"Now, senorita, what are you going to do next?" + +She answered succinctly: + +"I am going to visit the camp of the Apaches and see Don Torribio." + +The _mayor domo_ shuddered. + +"Dishonour and death await you there," said he in a hoarse, low voice. + +"No," she replied firmly; "only revenge." + +"You wish for revenge?" + +"I demand it." + +"Very well," he replied; "I will obey you. Go and get ready; I myself +will escort you to the camp of the redskins." + +The three returned to Don Pedro's house without exchanging a syllable. + +Night had now fairly set in. The streets were deserted: a deathlike +silence pervaded the town, which for two days the Indians had been +sacking; and their diabolical figures could be perceived, as they +passed and repassed among the still flaming ruins. + +When they arrived at the house, Don Estevan stopped short in the court. + +"Ponder well what you are about to do, senorita," said he. "Why must +you avenge yourself? Have you not secured the safety of him you love?" + +"Yes; but he has barely escaped death. The first atrocious attempt has +failed; the second may succeed. Don Torribio has wounded me in my most +cherished affections. My resolve is taken; he shall feel a woman's +vengeance." + +"Can nothing change your resolve?" + +"Nothing," said she, coldly. + +"Then make your preparations, senorita; I will wait for you here." + +The two women entered the house together, while Don Estevan seated +himself on one of the steps of the porch. + +His watching was not long: in ten minutes they returned. + +Both were clothed in the Apache dress; the paint smeared upon their +faces completed the illusion, and secured them from recognition. The +transformation was so perfect, that Don Estevan could not repress his +admiration. + +"Nothing could be better," he exclaimed; "you are Indian women indeed." + +"Do you think," said Dona Hermosa bitterly, "that Don Torribio has the +sole right of deception and assuming any character at his pleasure?" + +"Who can strive against a woman?" said the _mayor domo_, with a shrug. +"And now, what are your orders?" + +"Very simple; your escort as far as the first Indian lines." + +"And after that?" + +"The rest of the affair is our work." + +"But are you really dreaming of remaining alone in the midst of these +pagans?" + +"It is no dream; it is my immovable resolve to stay there." + +"And you, mother?" said her son sadly; "Are you, too, determined to +throw yourself into the hands of the savages?" + +"Be comforted, my son," replied the dame; "I run no danger." + +"And yet--" + +"Estevan," said Dona Hermosa, interrupting him, "I will answer for your +mother's safety." + +The _mayor domo_ was thoroughly discouraged. + +"Then," said he, "I can only commend you to Heaven." + +"Let us go," said Dona Hermosa, wrapping the folds of her cloak around +her. + +Don Estevan led the way. + +The night was dark. Here and there the dying watch fires in the +_presidio_, round which the besieged were sleeping, threw a pale and +uncertain glimmer over the surrounding objects, without affording +sufficient light to guide them through the increasing obscurity. + +A mournful silence brooded over the town, interrupted at intervals +by the hoarse cries of the vultures, _urubus_, and prairie wolves, +quarrelling over the corpses of the slain, and dragging hither and +thither morsels of bleeding flesh. + +The three pushed resolutely forward amidst the ruins, stumbling over +fragments of fallen walls, striding over dead bodies, and disturbing +the horrid feast of the birds of prey, that flew off uttering screams +of anger. + +Thus they traversed the whole length of the town, and arrived at last, +with desperate difficulty, and after making many circuits, at one of +the barriers opposite the camp of the redskins, from which numberless +fires were glancing, and shouts and songs were heard. + +The sentries, after exchanging a few words with their guide, allowed +the three to pass, a few paces farther on, Don Estevan halted, and +stopped his companions. + +"Look, Dona Hermosa," said he in a whisper; "there is the camp of +the redskins before you. If I went farther with you, my escort would +prove fatal. I must stop here: only a few steps separate you from your +object." + +"Thanks!" said the girl, stretching out her hand. Don Estevan retained +it between his own. + +"Senorita, one word more." + +"Speak, dear friend." + +"I conjure you, in the name of all you hold dear in the world, to +renounce your project. Trust to my experience while it is yet time: +return to the Hacienda del Cormillo; you know not the danger to which +you expose yourself." + +"Estevan," replied the girl firmly, "whatever be the danger, I will +brave it: nothing can change my resolve. Farewell! I shall soon see you +again." + +"Farewell!" repeated the _mayor domo_. + +Dona Hermosa turned away in the direction of the Indian camp. Na +Manuela hesitated a moment, and then threw herself into the arms of her +son. + +"Alas!" cried he, excited by the emotions terrible to witness in such a +man; "Stay with me, mother, I implore you!" + +"What!" said the noble woman, pointing to Dona Hermosa, "Shall I leave +her to sacrifice herself alone?" + +Don Estevan was unable to reply. + +Manuela embraced him once more, then tore herself with a violent +effort from the arms of her son, who vainly strove to restrain her, and +hurried to join Hermosa. + +The _mayor domo_ followed them with his eyes as long as he could +distinguish them in the obscurity; than, uttering a heart-felt sigh, he +retraced his steps, muttering as he went: + +"If I can only get there in time--if it has only not yet reached Don +Jose de Kalbris!" + +Just as Don Estevan arrived at the fort, the governor was leaving it, +in company with Don Torribio Quiroga. But the Mexican, absorbed in the +ideas which were harassing his brain, did not notice them, although +they passed so close to him that he might have touched them. + +This fatal accident was the cause of irreparable misfortune. + +Having left Don Estevan, the two women wandered about at a venture, +directing their steps towards the fires in front of them. + +On getting within a certain distance, they, stopped to recruit their +spirits, and to calm the throbbing of their hearts, which beat almost +to bursting. + +They were now within a few paces of the Indian _toldos_ (huts); the +rash and hazardous nature of their undertaking presented itself in all +its force, and the poor women felt their courage gradually oozing +away, in spite of the resolution which had animated them. Their hearts +turned to stone at the thought of the horrible drama in which they were +going to act the principal characters. + +Strange to say, it was Manuela who restored her companion to the +firmness which was abandoning her. + +"Senorita," she said to her, "it is now my turn to act as guide; if you +will only consent to follow my council, I hope to be able to avoid all +the danger with which we are threatened." + +"Speak, nurse; let me hear what you propose." + +"We must first drop these cloaks, which hide our dress, and betray that +we are whites." + +In saying this she threw off her mantle, and cast it away. Dona Hermosa +followed her example. + +"Now walk by my side; show no fear, whatever may happen; and, above +all, do not utter a single word, unless we are hopelessly lost." + +"I obey you," said Hermosa. + +"We are to be two Indian women," continued Manuela, "who have made a +vow to Wacondah for the recovery of their wounded father; and once +again, no words from your mouth." + +"Let us go on. May God protect us!" + +"Amen!" said Manuela, devoutly crossing herself. + +They continued their journey, and, five minutes afterwards, entered the +camp of the redskins. + +The Indians, intoxicated with the easy triumph they had gained over the +Mexicans, were giving vent to their joy. There were nothing but singing +and dancing everywhere. Some casks of _aguardiente_, discovered in the +old _presidio_ and in the pillaged _haciendas_, had been dragged into +camp, and staved. + +On this account, unexampled disorder and a nameless hubbub prevailed +among the Indians, whom drunkenness makes raving mad, and excites to +the most hideous excesses. + +The power of the _sachems_ was disowned: moreover, the greater number +of them were in the same state as the warriors; and there can be no +doubt that, if the inhabitants of San Lucar had been in sufficient +force to attempt a surprise, they might have made a frightful massacre +of the savages, brutalised as they were by strong liquors, and +incapable of defending themselves. + +Profiting by the disorder, the two women climbed over the ramparts of +the camp without being observed. Then, their hearts palpitating with +terror, and with shivering limbs, they glided like serpents between the +knots of Indians, passing unnoticed through the midst of the drinkers; +seeking at haphazard, and trusting to Providence or their good angel +to find among the scattered _toldos_ the hovel which served as a +habitation to the great paleface. + +They had already been some time roaming about in this manner, without +lighting on any unpleasant adventure. Emboldened by success, their +fears nearly dissipated, they were exchanging looks of encouragement, +when suddenly an Indian of athletic stature seized Dona Hermosa round +the waist, and, lifting her from the ground, gave her a boisterous kiss +on the neck. + +At this unexpected insult, she uttered a shriek of terror, and making +a superhuman effort, freed herself from his arms, pushing him from her +with all her strength. The savage staggered backwards, and, too drunk +to keep his legs, dropped to the ground, giving vent to a cry of rage; +but, springing up in an instant, he rushed like a jaguar on Hermosa. + +Na Manuela threw herself hastily before her. + +"Back!" said she, resolutely placing her hand on the Indian's chest; +"This girl is my sister." + +"El Zopilote is a brave who never puts up with an insult," replied the +savage, frowning, and unsheathing his knife. + +"Will you kill her?" exclaimed Manuela in terror. + +"Yes, I will kill her, unless she consents to follow me to my _toldo_. +She shall be the wife of a chief." + +"You are mad," said Manuela. "Your _toldo_ is full, and there is no +room for another fire." + +"There is room for two," replied the Indian, grinning. "Since you are +her sister, you shall go with her." + +The noise collected a crowd of Indians round the two women, who were +thus the centre of a circle it would have been impossible to break +through. + +Manuela instantly comprehended the danger of their situation; she saw +they were all but lost. + +"Well," continued El Zopilote, seizing in his left hand Hermosa's hair, +and twisting it round his wrist, at the same time brandishing his scalp +knife, "will you and your sister follow me to my _toldo?_" + +The poor girl cowered down; half recumbent upon the ground, she awaited +the mortal blow. + +Manuela drew herself up to her full height; her eyes flashed fire; she +arrested the arm of El Zopilote, and addressed him thus: + +"Since thou wilt have it so, dog, let thy destiny be fulfilled! Behold, +the Wacondah allows not his servants to be insulted with impunity." + +Hitherto Manuela had contrived to keep herself in such a position that +her face was shaded as much as possible, and no one had remarked her +features; now she turned her head towards the full light of the fires. +On seeing the fantastic lines of paint, the Indians gave utterance to a +cry of surprise, and recoiled in terror. + +Manuela smiled at her triumph: she resolved to complete it. + +"The power of the Wacondah is boundless," she cried; "woe to him who +would oppose his schemes: he it is who sends me. Back, all!" + +Grasping the arm of Dona Hermosa, who had scarcely recovered from her +terrible emotion, she advanced to the edge of the circle. The Indians +hesitated. Manuela extended her arm in an attitude of supreme command; +the outwitted savages opened to right and left, and gave them passage. + +"I shall die," faintly whispered Dona Hermosa. + +"Courage!" replied Manuela, "We are saved." + +"_Wagh!_" said a jeering voice; "What is passing here?" + +And a man placed himself before the two women. + +"The _amantzin!_" muttered the Indians; and taking fresh courage, they +again crowded round their prisoners. + +Manuela shuddered, overcome with despair at seeing her hopes +annihilated; still the resolute woman determined to make one more +effort. + +"The Wacondah loves the Indians," she said; "it is he who sends me the +_amantzin_ of the Apache braves." + +"Indeed!" said the sorcerer, with a sneer; "And what does he want with +me?" + +"None but yourself may hear." + +"_Wagh!_" said the _amantzin_, placing his hand on her shoulder, and +looking at her attentively; "What proof can you give me of the mission +with which the all-powerful Spirit has charged you?" + +"Will you save me?" said Manuela, whispering rapidly in his ear. + +"That depends on her," answered the sorcerer, fixing his glittering +eyes on the girl. + +"See!" said Manuela, presenting to him the rich bracelets of gold and +pearls she took from her arms. + +"_Wagh!_" replied the sorcerer, hiding them in his bosom; "They are +beautiful! What does my mother require?" + +"First of all, to be freed from these men." + +"And afterwards?" + +"Deliver us first." + +"It shall be as you will." + +The Indians had remained motionless, impassive spectators of the scene. +They had heard nothing of this short conversation. The _amantzin_ +turned towards them, exhibiting a countenance distorted with fear. + +"Fly!" said he in terrible accents; "This woman brings misfortune! The +Wacondah is angry! Fly, all; fly!" + +The Indians, who had only been restored to confidence by the advent +of their sorcerer, seeing him a prey to a terror they could not +comprehend, first crowded together, and then dispersed, without asking +further questions. + +As soon as they had disappeared behind the _toldos_, the sorcerer +turned to the two women. + +"Am I able to protect you?" he asked. + +"Yes," replied Manuela; "and I thank my father, who is as powerful as +he is wise." + +A smile of gratified pride just formed itself on the lips of the +cautious Indian. + +"I am powerful to avenge myself on those who deceive me," said he. + +"Therefore I shall not attempt to deceive my father." + +"Whence comes my white daughter," he asked. + +"From the ark of the first man," replied Manuela, looking him steadily +in the face. + +The _amantzin_ blushed. + +"My daughter has the forked tongue of the _congouar_," he said. "Does +she take me for a lizard, that one can entrap like an old woman?" + +"Here is a necklace," she replied, offering a rich string of pearls to +the Indian; "the Wacondah gave it me for the wise man of the Apaches." + +"_Wagh!_" said the _amantzin;_ "My mother cannot lie; she is wise. +What more can I do for her?" And he slipped the necklace into the same +receptacle with the bracelets. + +"My father must lead me to the _toldo_ of the great white chief who +fights in the ranks of the Apache warriors." + +"My daughter would speak to the white chief?" + +"I would." + +"The white chief is a wise man; will he admit women?" + +"Let not that trouble my father; tonight I must speak with the white +chief." + +"Good; my mother shall speak to him. But this woman?" And he pointed to +Dona Hermosa. + +"That woman," answered Manuela, "is a friend of the Tigercat. She too +is charged with a mission to the _sachem._" + +The sorcerer shook his head. + +"The warriors must spin the vicuna wool," said he, "since women make +war, and sit at the council fire." + +"My father errs; the _sachem_ loves my sister." + +"No," replied the Indian. + +"Let us see if my father will refuse to lead me to the _toldo_ of +the great chief," said Manuela, impatient at the tergiversations of +the _amantzin_, and dreading the return of her persecutors. "Let him +beware, the great chief expects us." + +The sorcerer cast a piercing look at her, which Manuela bore without +casting down her eyes. + +"Good," said he; "my mother does not lie. Follow me." + +Grasping each of the women by a wrist, he placed himself between them, +and began to guide them through the labyrinthine confusion of the camp. + +The Indians they met on their road avoided them with unequivocal signs +of terror. + +The _amantzin_ was by no means displeased with what had happened: he +was radiant with joy; for, besides the profit derived from meeting the +women, the incident which occurred in consequence had tended to confirm +his power in the eyes of the credulous and superstitious Indians, who +believed him to be really inspired by the Wacondah. + +A quarter of an hour's difficult walking brought them to the _toldo_, +in front of which the totem (standard) of the assembled tribes was +planted, surrounded by lances fringed with scarlet, and guarded by four +warriors. + +"This is the place," said the sorcerer to Manuela. + +"Good; let my father give orders that we enter alone." + +"Am I to leave you?" + +"Yes; my father can wait for us outside," + +"I will wait," briefly replied he, casting a suspicious look on them. + +At a sign from the _amantzin_, the sentries placed before the _toldo_ +made way for the women. They entered with trepidation: the dwelling was +unoccupied. + +They were unable to repress a sigh of satisfaction. The absence of Don +Torribio gave them time to prepare for the interview Dona Hermosa so +greatly desired. + +The _amantzin_ remained standing at the entrance to the _toldo_. +This man, lately raised to the dignity through the influence of the +Tigercat, was his tool, and acted as his spy. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +THE RENEGADE. + + +Don Torribio Quiroga and Don Jose Kalbris urged on their horses, in +order to get beyond the defences of the _presidio_ as soon as possible. + +The governor was rejoicing at the reinforcement the general commanding +in the province had sent him. He knew it would be an easy task to +compel the Indians to raise the siege of the _presidio_ when once the +troops marching up had joined him. Indeed, he counted upon profiting +by the opportunity to give the Apaches--those untiring ravagers of the +Mexican frontiers--such a rude lesson, that it would be long before +they again attempted an inroad into the territory of the Confederation. + +They now arrived at one of the barriers, guarded by a strong detachment +of _vaqueros_ and townspeople. + +"We must pass through here," said Don Torribio to the governor. "The +night is dark, bands of these Indian vagabonds are prowling about all +over the country, and we shall most probably have to ride a league or +two before we meet our men. I think it will be scarcely prudent for us +to venture forth without an escort." + +"A very just remark," said Don Jose. + +"You must recollect that you are the governor of the _presidio,_" +continued Don Torribio, with a strange smile. "The consequences would +be very serious for the town if the Indians were to attack us, and take +us prisoners. I do not mention this on my own account, but on yours: I +should be a prize of little value to the savages; but with you it is a +very different matter. I beg you to consider this carefully, before we +go any farther." + +"By heaven! You are quite right colonel; it would be an unpardonable +imprudence. So I think the best thing we can do is to take an escort." + +"I think it would be advantageous," said Don Torribio. "How many men +will you take?" + +"Oh, a dozen, at the most." + +"No; take a score. We cannot tell whom we may fall in with on our road +at this time of night. Suppose we were to be set upon by a couple of +hundred Indians! We ought to be able to show them a front." + +"Let it be a score, then, if you like," answered Don Jose, with perfect +indifference; "and be good enough to choose them yourself." + +"Make your mind easy," said Torribio. + +With that he rode up to the guard, who had turned out on the governor's +arrival, and picked out twenty horseman, whom he ordered to form behind +them. + +"Now," said he to the governor, "we are ready to march." + +"Then let us go," said the latter, giving his horse his head. + +The escort put itself in motion, and followed Don Jose Kalbris and +Colonel Torribio Quiroga at about twenty paces' interval. + +All went well for nearly an hour, when the governor began to grow +restless, in spite of Don Torribio's lively conversation. The latter +kept up a constant fire of jokes and sparkling repartees, laying +himself out to amuse Don Jose, and had never before proved so agreeable +a companion. + +"Excuse me, colonel," said the governor, coming to a halt; "but is it +not extraordinary that we see no signs of the troops we are going to +meet?" + +"Not at all, senor; perhaps the officer in command is waiting for +my return, before he leads his men into roads with which he is +unacquainted." + +"It is just possible," said the governor, after a minute's reflection. + +"I think it highly probable," said Don Torribio; "and, in that case, we +have nearly another league before we can meet him." + +"Then we had better push on." + +They resumed their march, but without renewing their conversation. Both +of them seemed absorbed in meditation. At times Don Torribio raised his +head, and looked carefully about him. All of a sudden they heard the +distant neigh of a horse. + +"What is that?" said Don Torribio. + +"Most likely the troops we are looking for," replied the governor. + +"Perhaps," answered the other; "but we had better be cautious." + +Requesting the governor to stop where he was, he set spurs to his +horse, and riding forward was soon lost in the darkness. Having ridden +a short distance, he dismounted, applied his ear to the ground, and +listened. + +"_iDemonios!_" he exclaimed, hastily rising and throwing himself into +the saddle; "They are pursuing us! Can that vagabond, Don Estevan, have +recognised me? There is not a moment to lose!" + +"Well, what is it?" asked the governor, as Don Torribio rode back to +him. + +"Nothing," said Don Torribio shortly; "nothing of interest to you." + +"Then--" + +"Then," retorted the other, laying his hand on the governor's left arm, +"Don Jose Kalbris, surrender; you are my prisoner." + +"What do you say?" replied the astounded veteran. "Are you mad, Don +Torribio?" + +"Call me no longer Don Torribio: I am a nameless, homeless wretch, whom +the thirst for vengeance has driven amongst the Apaches." + +"Treason!" exclaimed the governor. "To the rescue, men! Defend your +colonel!" + +"These men will not help you, Don Jose; they are in my pay. Surrender, +I say!" + +"I will not surrender," said the governor resolutely. "Don Torribio, or +whatever else you may call yourself, you are a coward!" + +He gave his horse the spur, shook off Don Torribio's hold, and drew his +sword. At the same time, the rapid approach of horsemen was heard in +the distance. + +"Aha!" said the governor, cocking a pistol; "Here comes aid!" + +"Yes," replied Don Torribio; "but it comes too late." + +And he ordered the _vaqueros_ to surround Don Jose, and attack him. A +couple of shots from the governor's pistol laid two of them in the +dust; and a terrible combat began. + +Don Jose, knowing all hope of safety to be gone, determined to sell his +life dearly, and did wonders. An accomplished horseman, he parried the +blows aimed at him, and struck fiercely into the men crowding upon him +with savage vociferations. In the meantime, the thundering gallop of +the approaching horsemen grew louder. Don Torribio saw it was time to +make a finish, and shot the governor's horse through the head. + +Don Jose came violently to the ground, but was up again in a moment, +and aimed a blow at the renegade, which the latter avoided by a +dexterous movement. Then the gallant old soldier put the muzzle of his +pistol to his own forehead. + +"A man like me," said he, "never surrenders to dogs like you; here, +curs, quarrel over my body!" + +With these words he blew his brains out. + +Just then several shots were fired, and a troop of horsemen fell, like +a whirlwind, upon the _vaqueros_. Don Estevan and Major Barnum led the +assailants. + +The conflict did not last long. Don Torribio gave a loud whistle, +and the _vaqueros_ went to the right-about, and, scattering in all +directions, were soon lost sight of. + +Seven or eight remained dead on the field. + +"What is to be done?" said Major Barnum. + +"Nothing!" replied Don Estevan sorrowfully; "We are too late. Don Jose +has killed himself rather than submit to be carried off by these dogs." + +"He was a noble soldier!" said the major; "But how can we get at the +rascals again?" + +"We will let them alone, major: they are in camp by this time. Trust +me, we shall soon learn to read this riddle." + +The _mayor domo_ dismounted, and cut with his _machete_ a branch of the +resinous pinewood, which grows so abundantly through all the country. +He struck a light, and in a minute or two a torch was ready. + +By its ruddy and flickering flame, he and the major began to examine +the bodies on the ground. They soon found the governor, lying on his +back, with his head horribly crushed. His hand still retained the fatal +weapon; and his features wore an expression of haughty disdain and +indomitable courage. + +"Look at him!" said Don Estevan. + +The major could not repress the tear that rolled silently down his +swarthy cheek. + +"Yes," he said; "he has died like a soldier, with his face to the foe. +But, alas! he has fallen a victim to treachery--killed by a white man. +My poor old friend! Was this to be your end?" + +"It was God's will," answered Don Estevan. + +"It was," said the major: "may we do our duty as he has done his!" + +Reverently they lifted the body, put it upon a horse, and marched back +in sadness to the _presidio_. + +In the meanwhile, Don Torribio was greatly disconcerted. His plans +had failed. He had not wished the governor to lose his life, for his +death would be no benefit, but, on the contrary, prejudicial, by +inspiring the Mexicans with the desire for revenge, and strengthening +their determination to resist to the last, and bury themselves under +the ruins of the _presidio_, rather than surrender to such ferocious +enemies. His intention had been to seize Don Jose, keep him prisoner, +and to make his own terms with the Mexicans. + +But the old soldier's energetic resistance, and resolve to blow out his +own brains rather than surrender, had upset these plans. So he returned +to the camp, cast down and discontented, while his companions looked +upon the cause of his dejection as a triumphant success. + +Manuela and Dona Hermosa had profited by his absence to throw off their +disguise, and resume their usual dress. + +As soon as Don Torribio reached his _toldo_, the sorcerer, who had +never quitted it since he had led the two women to the spot, came +forward to meet him. + +"What do you want?" said Don Torribio. + +"Let my father look with a favourable eye upon me," replied the +_amantzin;_ "two women have entered the camp tonight." + +"And what is that to me?" said the chief impatiently. + +"These females, although dressed like Indians, are white," answered the +sorcerer, laying stress on the last two words. + +"What then? They are most likely wives of some of the _vaqueros_." + +"Not so," said the sorcerer; "their hands are too white, and their feet +too small." + +"Indeed!" replied the other, in whom the tale began to excite some +interest; "Who has taken them prisoner?" + +"No one; they are here alone, of their own accord." + +"Alone?" + +"They said they had important revelations to make to my father." + +"They did?" said the chief, scanning the man narrowly; "And how does my +father know that?" + +"Because I rescued them, and brought them to my father's _toldo_." + +"Then they are in here?" + +"This hour or more." + +Don Torribio drew from his pocket a few ounces, and handed them to the +sorcerer. "I thank my brother," said he; "he has done well." + +The _amantzin_ grinned, and pocketed the bribe. + +Don Torribio rushed to the _toldo_, and raised the curtain. A cry of +joy and astonishment escaped him when he recognised Dona Hermosa. + +The latter smiled; while he bowed gracefully, asking himself the while +what the meaning of this could be. + +Dona Hermosa could not resist admiring the man. His rich uniform became +him; it exhibited all his handsome proportions, and increased his +attractions. + +"What rank shall I give you?" she said, beckoning to him to sit down by +her side. + +"Give me any name you like best, senorita. If you speak to the +Spaniard, call me Don Torribio; if you address yourself to the Indian, +the name by which I am known among the Apaches is 'the Accursed.'" + +"Why have they given you this dreadful name?" said she. + +There was no answer to her question: and the two gazed at each other in +silence. + +Dona Hermosa was thinking of the manner in which she should tell him +the object of her visit; he was pondering over the reasons which could +have brought her there. He was the first to speak. + +"Have you really come here inquest of me senorita?" + +"Of whom else?" she replied. + +"Excuse my frankness," said he; "but this seems to me so extraordinary, +that although I see and hear you, I cannot believe in such great good +fortune. I feel as if I were in a dream, and dread the awakening." + +This piece of flattery was pronounced in the tone which Don Torribio +Quiroga would have employed had he been at Don Pedro's hacienda; a tone +adding to the strangeness of the scene, it was so little in accord with +the circumstances and the place where it was uttered. + +"Good sir," replied Dona Hermosa, in the same easy tone he had used +towards her, "I will relieve your trouble, and hasten to dispel the +witchery to which you would attribute my presence in your _toldo._" + +"You will still remain an enchantress in my eyes," said he, smiling. + +"You flatter me. If there is any enchantment at all in the matter, poor +Estevan is the wizard He knew my fixed determination to see you, and +told me where I should find you. So, if you are determined to raise +somebody to the rank of sorcerer, let Estevan be the victim." + +"I will not forget him when the opportunity occurs," said Don Torribio, +his face darkly clouding over. "But let us not wander from our own two +selves. I have the happiness to see you here: will it offend you if I +ask why you come?" + +"The reason is quite simple," replied Dona Hermosa, eyeing him +steadfastly. "A girl of my age, and particularly of my rank"--and she +laid great emphasis on the latter word--"does not take a step so--let +us say, so singular, without a strong motive." + +"I am sure of it." + +"What motive could be strong enough to induce a woman to lay aside the +instinctive modesty of her sex, and risk her good name? I know but one. +When her heart is in question, when her love is involved? Am I speaking +clearly, Don Torribio? Do you begin to understand me." + +"I begin to comprehend, senorita." + +"The last time we met, my father received you coldly,--you, my +betrothed. Mad with jealousy, furious with him and myself, believing +our marriage broken off, you rushed from us, and left the hacienda with +rage and hatred boiling in your breast." + +"Cousin, I swear to you?" + +"I am a woman, Don Torribio; and we women possess an instinct which +never deceives us. Can you think for a moment that I, on the verge of +marriage with you, did not know the love you felt for me?" + +Don Torribio gazed at her with an indefinable expression. + +"A few days later," she continued, "Don Fernando Carril fell into an +ambush, and was left for dead on the spot. Why did you do this, Don +Torribio?" + +"I will not attempt to deny, senorita, that I wished to avenge myself +on one I considered a rival; but I swear I gave no orders to kill him." + +"I know it!" she replied; "You need not attempt to exculpate yourself." + +Don Torribio looked at her without understanding her words. + +"The man whom you imagined to be your rival was no favoured suitor," +she continued, with a sweet smile. "You had scarcely left the hacienda, +before I confessed to my father that you were my only love, and that I +would never consent to marry another." + +"Is it possible?" cried Don Torribio, rising in his excitement. "Oh! +Had I but known it!" + +"Calm yourself; the evil you have done is partly repaired. Don +Fernando, rescued by my orders from the clutches of Pablito, is now at +Las Norias, whence he will shortly depart for Mexico. My father, who +can never refuse me anything, has given me permission to choose him I +love most." + +As she said this, she darted at Don Torribio a look full of unutterable +affection. + +He was thunderstruck. A crowd of opposing feelings jostled in his +breast: he did not dare to put full credence in the girl's words; a +cruel doubt would insinuate itself. Was she mocking him? + +"Is it indeed true," he said, "that you could still love me?" + +"Is not my presence here an answer? Why should I have come? What should +induce me?" + +"It is true!" said he, falling on his knees before her. "Forgive me, +senorita; I am mad, and know not what I say. It is too much happiness." + +A smile of triumph lighted up her face. + +"If I did not love you," she said, "could I not have chosen Don +Fernando, who is now at the hacienda?" + +"Yes, yes; you are a thousand times right! O woman! Adorable woman! Who +is able to fathom thy heart?" + +Dona Hermosa smiled bitterly: she had brought the lion captive to her +feet; she had vanquished man in his pride. Now she was sure of her +revenge. + +"What answer shall I give my father?" she said. + +He drew himself up to his full height; his eyes flashed, his features +grew radiant, and he answered in a low tone: + +"Senorita, my happiness is immeasurable. Say to your father, that the +devotion of a whole life cannot repay the bliss of this interview. As +soon as the _presidio_ of San Lucar is taken, I shall present myself at +the hacienda of Don Pedro de Luna." + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +WOMAN'S WILL. + + +Every extreme situation, as soon as it reaches its culminating point, +must necessarily subside into a reaction of an opposite tendency. This +was exactly what happened after the scene we described in the last +chapter. + +Don Torribio, beside himself with joy, could not accept Dona Hermosa's +protestations of love without a certain degree of mistrust. Yet the +improbability of her having taken this decided step from other motives +than the one she professed, had materially aided her in the successful +attempt to hoodwink her admirer. + +Intelligence of a high class is often accompanied by a weakness +detrimental to its possessors: they cannot bring themselves to believe, +that those who fawn upon them and flatter their propensities are +sufficiently acute to deceive them. And so it happened in this case. +How could he fail to believe a girl, still almost a child, whose manner +seemed so guileless, whose looks were fraught with love, and who avowed +her affection so frankly? + +What could she gain by deceiving him, now Don Fernando was alive? What +object could she have in coming thus to put herself into his hands, +without the possibility of escaping from him? + +All this appeared absurd: and was so, in fact, up to a certain point. + +It only proved that Don Torribio, preeminently a statesman, endowed +with admirable talent, and whose sole aim through life had been the +accomplishment of his dreams of ambition, was so entirely absorbed in +farfetched political calculations, that he had no time to study that +amalgam of archness, grace, and perfidy we call woman, and knew nothing +about her nature. + +A woman South American woman especially--never forgives an injury to +her lover; he is the holy ark which none may touch. + +Moreover, we must say, Dona Hermosa was the first, the only love of Don +Torribio. His love was to him a creed, a faith; and all doubt vanished +from before his eyes at the proof she had just given of her affection. + +"And now," she said to him, "can I remain in the camp till my father +comes, without risking insult?" + +"You have but to command!" he replied: "All here are your slaves." + +"The woman, under whose protection I was able to reach you will go back +to the _hacienda_ of Las Norias." + +Don Torribio strode to the curtain of the _toldo,_ and clapped his +hands twice. + +An Indian warrior appeared. + +"Let a _toldo_ be prepared for me; I cede this to the two paleface +women," he said, in the Apache language; "a body of chosen braves, whom +my brother will command, will watch incessantly over their safety. Woe +to him who fails in the profoundest respect! These women are sacred; +free to come and go, and to receive whomsoever they choose. Does my +brother understand?" + +The warrior bowed his head without reply. + +"Let my brother have two horses ready." + +The Indian disappeared. + +"You see, senorita," he continued, turning towards her, "you are queen +here." + +"I thank you!" said Dona Hermosa, drawing from her bosom an open +letter she had prepared for the occasion; "I felt sure of the result +of my interview with you: you see, I have announced it to my father, +even before I met you. Take this, Don Torribio, and read what I have +written." + +She held it out to him with a charming smile, but an inward misgiving. + +"Senorita," he replied, motioning the letter away, "what a daughter +writes to her father should be sacred; no one but himself should read +it." + +Dona Hermosa folded up the letter, without evincing the least emotion +at the terrible risk she had just run, and gave it to Manuela. + +"Mother," she said, "you will give this letter to my father, and +explain to him what I have not been able to write." + +"Allow me to retire," exclaimed Don Torribio; "I must not listen to the +instructions you are about to give to your attendant." + +"I object," she replied; "I must have no secrets from you; henceforth +you must know all my inmost thoughts." + +Don Torribio glowed with delight. Just then they brought the horses. +Dona Hermosa profited by the opportunity afforded by his speaking to +the Apache to say rapidly to Manuela: "Your son must be here in an +hour, if that be possible." + +Manuela made a sign of acquiescence, and Don Torribio reentered the +_toldo_. + +"I myself will accompany Na Manuela as far as the defences of the +_presidio_; this will insure her from incurring any danger." + +"Thanks, once more," replied Dona Hermosa. + +The two women threw themselves into each other's arms, and embraced as +if they were never to meet again. + +"Do not forget!" whispered Dona Hermosa. + +"Trust in me," replied Manuela. + +"This is now your home," said Don Torribio "no one will dare to enter +without your permission." + +Dona Hermosa smiled her thanks, and accompanied them to the entrance of +the _toldo_; Manuela and her escort mounted and departed. + +The young Mexican followed them with her eyes till the sound of their +horses' feet was lost amid the other noises in the camp, when she +returned to the _toldo_, murmuring: "The first steps are taken: now to +discover his intentions!" + +A quarter of an hour later, Manuela and her guide arrived within a +hundred yards of the _pueblo_. They had not exchanged a word. + +"You have now no further need of me," said Don Torribio. "Keep the +horse; he may be useful to you. May God preserve you!" + +Without another word, he turned his horse, and rode back to the camp, +leaving Manuela alone. + +The latter looked about her to discover whereabouts she was, and then +rode resolutely towards the town, which was looming in a dark mass +before her. She had only gone a few paces, when a rude hand seized her +reins, a pistol was presented at her head, and a rough voice exclaimed, +in Spanish: + +"Who goes there?" + +"Friend," she replied, attempting to conceal her trepidation. + +"Mother!" cried a joyful voice. + +"Estevan, my darling child," she exclaimed, throwing herself on his +breast, to which she was clasped in the most affectionate embrace. + +"How did you come here, and whence?" he asked, after a time. + +"From the camp of the redskins." + +"Already!" said he, in astonishment. + +"Yes; my mistress sends me to you." + +"And who was the man with you, mother?" + +"Don Torribio himself." + +"Malediction!" exclaimed the _mayor domo_; "I have let him escape, when +I had covered him for five minutes with my rifle. But we will not stay +here. Come with me. As soon as I have placed you in safety, you shall +relate what your mistress has charged you to communicate to me." + +When they got into the _presidio_, Don Estevan made his mother recount +the incidents of their expedition. + +"Ah!" said he more than once; "Women are imps of cunning; men are but +fools beside them!" + +When Manuela had quite finished her tale, he said: "Mother, there is +not a moment to lose: Don Pedro must get the letter this very night. +The poor father must be in a state of dreadful anxiety." + +"I am going to him myself," said Manuela. + +"No!" he replied "you have need of rest. I have a man here who will +acquit himself well of this commission." + +"As you please, Estevan," said she, giving him the letter. + +"Yes, I think this will be the best way. Come into this house; the good +woman to whom it belongs knows me, and will take every care of you." + +"Are you going to Dona Hermosa?" + +"By Heavens! Do you think I intend to leave the poor girl there, in the +midst of those infidels? Besides, what she has got to say to me may +concern us all narrowly." + +"Devoted as ever, Estevan! How like you that is?" + +"What can I do, mother?" he replied, with a laugh. "Devotion seems to +be my vocation." + +He led his mother into the house, where he confided her to its +mistress, and then went in search of his emissary to Don Pedro de Luna. + +Round a bright fire burning in the centre of the street several men +were lying, wrapped in their cloaks. Don Estevan roughly shook one of +the sleepers. + +"Wake, Tonillo!" he said; "Get up, _muchacho:_ you must be off for the +Hacienda de las Norias." + +"But I only came thence a quarter of an hour ago!" replied the +_lepero_, rubbing his eyes, and still half asleep. + +"I know it; and that is the reason why I send you; you ought to know +the road well. Besides, it is for Dona Hermosa's sake." + +"For Dona Hermosa's sake!" cried the _lepero_, whom the sound of the +name seemed to awaken thoroughly; "What are her orders?" + +"Now you are as you should be," said the _mayor domo._ "Mount directly, +and carry this letter to Don Pedro: to say it is from his daughter, is +to tell you it is of importance." + +"Very well; I will go this minute." + +"I have no need to tell you that no one must take this paper from you." + +"I can see that, _canarios_." + +"You will let yourself be killed sooner than give it up?" + +"Yes, yes; make yourself easy, _mayor domo_." + +"And even after death they must not find it." + +"I will sooner eat it; _Rayo de Dios!_" El Zapote was galloping +towards the hacienda a quarter of an hour later. + +"It is my turn now," said the _mayor domo_ to himself, as soon as he +was alone; "but how am I to get to Dona Hermosa?" + +It seemed as if a little consideration had enlightened him as to the +means, for he banished the frown from his forehead, and gaily took the +road to the fort. + +After a conference with Major Barnum, who, since the death of the +governor, had assumed the command of the town, Estevan disguised +himself as an Indian, and went to the camp of the redskins. Shortly +before sunrise he was in the town again. + +"Well!" said his mother. + +"All is for the best," he replied. "_iVive Dios!_ I think Dona Hermosa +will make that incarnate demon pay dearly for kidnapping Don Fernando." + +"Am I to rejoin her?" + +"No; it is not necessary." + +Without entering into any details, Don Estevan who was sinking from +fatigue, retired to snatch a few hours' repose. + +Several days passed without the Indians attacking the _pueblo_. They +contented themselves with investing it more closely, without attempting +an assault. Their plan seemed to be to starve out the inhabitants, and +force them to surrender from famine. + +The blockade was kept so strictly, that it was impossible for the +besieged to stir beyond their lines: all their communications were cut +off, and provisions began to fail. The cattle which had been collected +at the commencement of the siege had all been killed, and the Mexicans +were now driven to the necessity of consuming the hides. + +The plan would doubtless have succeeded; and the Mexicans, reduced to +the last extremity, would soon have been obliged to surrender without +striking a blow; but a project of Don Estevan's, communicated to Major +Barnum, and executed without delay, suddenly defeated the Tigercat's +plans, and obliged him to make the assault, in order to hinder the +revolt of the tribes who followed him. The Mexicans, whom the pangs of +famine were driving to despair, were eagerly longing for the assault. + +Don Estevan ordered a hundred and fifty loaves to be made of wheat +saturated with arsenic. These were packed on a few mules, still left +in the fort, in company with twenty-four kegs of brandy mixed with +vitriol. With ten trusty fellows, he escorted this formidable freight +to within a short distance of the redskin intrenchments. + +Everything happened as he had foreseen. The Indians, who are +extravagantly fond of brandy, were allured by the sight of the kegs, +and rushed upon the convoy in the hopes of capturing it. + +Don Estevan lost no time. Casting loaves and kegs upon the sand, and +retreating at full speed, he brought off his men and mules in the +_pueblo_. + +The Indians, dragging their booty into their camp, knocked in the heads +of the barrels, and an orgy commenced which lasted till bread and +brandy had disappeared. + +More than a thousand Indians perished through this ingenious device of +the _mayor domo's_[1] the others, smitten with terror, began to disband +in all directions. + +The exasperated savages, in their first moments of excitement, and +in spite of the efforts of their leader, ruthlessly massacred under +horrible tortures all the men, women, and children who had fallen into +their power at the commencement of the war, and had been kept prisoners +in the camp up to the time. + +Dona Hermosa herself, notwithstanding the respect with which she had +been treated, and the extreme care she took never to leave the _toldo_, +was in great danger of falling a victim to the fury of the Indians. +Chance alone saved her. + +The great chief resolved to finish the war at once. He despatched El +Zopilote to order all the _sachems_ to assemble in his _toldo_. As soon +as they arrived, he announced to them that at the _endic'ha_ (daybreak) +on the morrow the _presidio_ would be attacked on all sides at once. + +Don Torribio, in his quality of chief, was present at the council. As +soon as it was over he hastened to Dona Hermosa's _toldo_, and demanded +an interview. + +Since her arrival in the camp, although the Tigercat was perfectly +aware of all that was going on between her and Don Torribio, he had +purposely avoided meeting her, contenting himself with congratulating +the latter on the affection the girl manifested for him. Nevertheless, +an acute observer might have easily perceived that the Tigercat +harboured some sinister purpose in his mind. Don Torribio, on the +contrary, was too much blinded by his passion to attempt to read the +countenance of the old bandit. + +The intensity of his love, and the zest with which he gave himself +up to it, diverted his thoughts from the shame and remorse which +stung him when he thought of the infamy attached to his name by his +treacherous desertion of his own people to become a member of the +ferocious and sanguinary tribes of the Apaches. + +Dona Hermosa, on hearing that Don Torribio wished to see her, gave +orders for his instant admittance. She was talking at the time with her +father. Don Pedro de Luna had hastened to join his daughter the instant +he received her letter, and had already been some days in the camp. + +The interior of the _toldo_ was greatly changed. Don Torribio had +ordered it to be embellished with divers pieces of elegant furniture, +stolen by the Indians from different haciendas. Partitions had been +constructed, closets contrived, so that the metamorphosis was complete; +and, although the exterior remained as it had been before, the inside, +in consequence of the alterations, assumed the appearance of a European +residence. + +Manuela, Dona Hermosa's nurse, had also returned with Don Pedro--a +circumstance extremely agreeable to the girl; first, on account of the +great confidence she reposed in her; and again, because Manuela was +indispensable for all those little services and attentions to which +women of rank are accustomed. Besides, the presence of the nurse, who +never left Dona Hermosa's side in her interviews with Don Torribio, +prevented any exuberant outbreak of passion on his part, and confined +him to the limits of a respectful decorum. + +Whatever astonishment the redskins might have felt at the alterations +in the _toldo_ undertaken by Don Torribio, the veneration and devotion +they professed for the Tigercat were so great, that, with the delicacy +which seems innate in their race, they pretended to see none of them, +especially as the latter had taken no offence at the conduct of the +paleface chief. Moreover, as, under all circumstances, the latter +rendered them energetic cooperation, being always the foremost in +battle and the last to retreat, they thought it right to leave him +to arrange his own affairs as he judged best, without any attempt to +oppose him. + +"Well," said Dona Hermosa, when he entered, "has the Tigercat succeeded +in subduing the exasperation of the tribes?" + +"Thank Heaven! He has, senorita; but the atrocious crime committed by +Major Barnum is unworthy of a man, and more the deed of a savage brute +than of a civilized being." + +"Perhaps the major is not the author of the crime." + +"The whites are accustomed to treat the Indians thus. Have I not heard +them assert a thousand times that the redskins are not human beings? +All weapons that kill them are lawful, and poison is one of the surest. +This crime alone is sufficient to justify me in having quitted the +ranks of the monsters." + +"Speak no more on this subject, I beseech you; you make me shudder. +I am obliged to confess that reason is on your side. When we witness +such horrors, we begin to regret that we belong to a race capable of +inventing them." + +"What is the decision of the council?" asked Don Pedro, in order to +turn the conversation. + +"Tomorrow, at daybreak, a general assault will be delivered on the +_presidio_." + +"Tomorrow!" exclaimed Dona Hermosa, in a fright. + +"Yes," he replied; "tomorrow I hope to revenge myself on those who were +my brothers, and have forced me to repudiate them. Tomorrow I shall +conquer or die." + +"God protect the good cause!" said she ambiguously. + +"Thanks, cousin," replied Don Torribio, mistaking the meaning of her +exclamation. + +Don Pedro with difficulty repressed a sigh. + +"The action tomorrow will be severe," Don Torribio continued. "I +conjure you, senorita, not to leave the _toldo_. Should we meet with a +reverse, no one can tell to what extremes the rage of the Apaches may +carry them. I will leave twenty resolute men, _vaqueros_ on whom I can +rely, to defend you. As soon as the affair is over, I will send you +word." + +"Are you going already, Don Torribio?" said she, as she saw him move +for the purpose. + +"I must, senorita; I am one of the chiefs of the Indian army. In that +quality, I have duties to fulfil, and must make preparations for the +morrow. I entreat you to let me go." + +"Farewell, then, if it must be so." + +Bowing respectfully to her and her father, Don Torribio retired. + +"All is lost," said Don Pedro; "the Mexicans will never be able to +withstand the assault." + +Dona Hermosa looked at him with a strange expression, and then +whispered in his ear: + +"Father, have you read your Bible?" + +"Why do you ask, little madcap?" + +"Because," said she, with a coaxing smile, "you seem to have forgotten +the story of Delilah." + +"What!" he exclaimed, more astonished than ever; "Do you intend to cut +off his hair?" + +"_?Quien sabe?_" she answered, shaking her head knowingly, and with a +delicious assumption of bravado; while at the same time she put one of +her fingers on her rosy lips. + +Don Pedro gave the shrug of a man who is utterly at a loss to +understand, and who gives up an inexplicable enigma. + + +[1] A fact. An identical occurrence took place at the Carmen of +Patagonia, daring an attack by the Indians. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +PALEFACE _VERSUS_ REDSKIN. + + +The redskins in general, and the Apaches in particular, exhibit a +surprising degree of craftiness when on the warpath, or preparing for +a hazardous expedition. The best troops of the civilized world cannot +compete with them in subtlety and wariness, such pains do they take to +conceal and dissemble their movements. + +Towards three o'clock in the morning, just as the first pearly notes +issued from the throats of the _mawkawis_[1] nestled among the leaves, +the Tigercat and Don Torribio rose from their beds, armed themselves +for the fight, and issued forth from their toldos, followed by several +Apache braves, directing their silent and rapid steps towards the +centre of the camp, where the _sachems_ of the tribes, crouched on +their haunches around an immense brasier, smoked the war calumet while +waiting for the great chief. + +When the Tigercat appeared, the Indians rose in a body to reverence +their leader. + +The Tigercat, returning their salute, made them a sign to be seated, +and turning to the _amantzin,_ or sorcerer, who stood by his side. +"Will the Master of life remain neutral?" he asked. "Will the Wacondah +be propitious to the Apache braves? Or will he be adverse to the war +his Indian sons, united before the stone _atepelt_ (village) of the +palefaces, are going to wage this day against their oppressors?" + +"At the bidding of the chiefs," replied the _amantzin_, "I will +question the Master of life." + +Then, drawing himself up to his full height, he wrapped his bison robe +about him, and thrice paced round the fire, marching from left to +right, and muttering words unintelligible to all, and which yet seemed +to have a mysterious meaning. At the third round, he poured a _coui_ (a +small vessel) of water, sweetened with _smilax_, into a cup of reeds, +plaited so closely that not a drop escaped. Next, having dipped a sprig +of wormwood in the _coui_, he sprinkled the assembled _sachems_, and +emptied the water in three separate portions towards the rising sun. + +Then, bending his body forward, with outstretched head and expanded +arms, he appeared to listen to sounds perceptible to him alone. + +At the end of a few seconds the _mawkawis_ lifted up his song again, +on the right of his sorcerer. Immediately his face contorted itself, +and grew horrible to look at; his bloodshot eyes seemed ready to +start from their orbits; a whitish foam oozed from the corners of his +compressed lips; a livid pallor overspread his features; his limbs were +convulsed, and his body was agitated by violent distortions. + +"The Spirit comes! The Spirit comes!" muttered the Indians, in +superstitious terror. + +"Silence!" cried the Tigercat; "The wise man is about to speak." + +In fact, a painful hissing issued from the distorted mouth of the +_amantzin_, which changed by slow degrees into words, unintelligible at +first, but soon pronounced sufficiently distinctly to be understood by +all. + +"The spirit comes!" he exclaimed; "He has unbound his long locks, which +float abroad on the winds. His breath brings annihilation; the heaven +are red with blood. Victims will not be wanting for the Wacondah, the +spirit of evil. Who can resist him? He alone is master. The knives of +the Apaches shall find a sheath in the breasts of the palefaces. The +vultures and _urubus_ are glad; they snuff the ample repast. Shout the +war cry! Courage, warriors! the Wacondah himself will lead you. Death +is nothing; glory is all!" + +The _amantzin_, having uttered a few other unintelligible words, +dropped to the ground, a prey to frightful convulsions. + +Strange to relate, the men who had up to this time hung suspended on +his lips, listening with strained anxiety to his utterances, had now +no look or word of pity or interest for him as he lay writhing on the +ground, but left him there, without further thought about him. It was +because the man rash enough to touch a sorcerer while possessed by the +spirit would fall a lifeless corpse: such is the Indian belief. + +As soon as the _amantzin_ had ceased speaking, the Tigercat took up the +word in his turn. + +"Great chiefs of the Apache tribes," said he in a deep voice, "you see +that the God of your fathers smiles on our attempt, and encourages +it. Let us not hesitate, warriors! Let us confound with one last blow +the pride of our oppressors. Our lands are now free; one single spot +is still in the power of our tyrants. Let us conquer it today, and at +sunset let the Spanish flag, whose fatal shadow has so long been the +omen of misery and death, be lowered on our frontiers forever. Courage, +brothers! Your ancestors, hunting in the happy prairies, will joyfully +welcome those who fall in the battle. Let each repair to the post I +have assigned him; the hoarse cry of the _urubu_, thrice repeated at +equal intervals, will give the signal for the assault." + +The chiefs, with deep reverence, took their departure, and dispersed in +various directions. The Tigercat remained alone, absorbed in profound +meditation. + +An awful stillness reigned over the scene. There was not a breath of +wind, nor a cloud in the sky. The limpid and transparent atmosphere +permitted objects to be seen at a vast distance. The dark blue heavens +were studded with a multitude of sparkling stars; the moon was pouring +forth her silver rays in profusion; no sound disturbed the impressive +silence, except, at intervals, that low murmuring which, coming we know +not whence, seems the awful breathing of slumbering nature. + +The white chief, on the point of making his mightiest effort to +enfranchise the Indian nations, and pave the way for the triumph of +his mysterious combinations, yielded with delight to the tumultuous +thoughts busying themselves in his brain. Communing with his soul, +he scrutinised his own conduct, and fervently entreated Him who is +almighty, and whose eye searches the heart, not to abandon him, if the +cause for which he fought was righteous. + +A hand was laid heavily on his shoulder. + +Thus rudely recalled to himself, the Tigercat started. He passed his +hand over his damp brow, and turned to the intruder. The sorcerer stood +there, gazing at him with his perfidious eyes, and grinning an evil +smile. + +"What brings you here?" said the chief abruptly. + +"Is my father satisfied with me?" replied the _amantzin;_ "Has the +Wacondah spoken well to the _sachems?_" + +"Yes," said the Tigercat, with a gesture of disgust; "my brother has +done well: he may go." + +"My father is great and generous! The spirit that possesses me tore me +grievously." + +The chief snatched a string of pearls from his neck, and threw it to +the wretch, who caught it with a shout of delight. + +"Go!" said the Tigercat, turning haughtily away. + +The _amantzin_ retired. He had got all he wanted. + +Don Torribio had left the scene of the incantation with the other +chiefs, to repair to his post; but after proceeding a little way, he +looked up to the sky, and mentally calculated the hour by the position +of the stars. + +"I shall have time," he muttered to himself. + +So he hastily directed his steps towards the _toldo_ of Dona Hermosa; +numerous guards surrounded it. + +"She sleeps," said he; "sleeps, lulled by sweet childish fancies. +O God! Who knowest the extent of my love, and the sacrifice I have +offered at its shrine, grant she may be happy!" + +He went up to one of the _vaqueros_, who, leaning against a tree, was +silently smoking his cigarette, his eyes fixed on the _toldo_. + +"_Verado,_" said he, with emotion he could not repress, "twice have I +saved your life at the risk of my own. Do you remember?" + +"I remember," said the _vaquero_ briefly. + +"Today it is I who come to ask a service. Can I rely on you?" + +"Speak, Don Torribio; I will do all a man can do, to do you a service." + +"Thanks, comrade! My life, my soul, all I hold dear in the world, is +contained in this _toldo_. I confide her to you. Swear to defend her, +whatever may happen!" + +"I swear it, Don Torribio. The _toldo_ is sacred; neither friend nor +enemy shall enter. I and the men you have placed under my command will +die on the spot before injury shall happen to those you love." + +"I thank you," said the chief, extending his hand to the _vaquero_. + +The latter seized the bottom of his leader's cloak, and kissed it +reverently. + +Don Torribio cast one more look of affection at the _toldo_, which +concealed, as he had said, all he loved in this world, and then went +his way with rapid strides. + +"Now," said he, "let me be a man! They are bold men we have to contend +with." + +As soon as the chief had ordered the sachems to their posts, where the +warriors were anxiously expecting the word to let them loose upon the +foe, they proceeded to the different stations where their respective +tribes were posted. + +The men then commenced one of those incredible marches which Indians +alone can perform--crawling on their bellies over the ground. Creeping +and gliding along like snakes, they managed to station themselves, +in less than an hour, and without attracting notice, immediately at +the foot of the ramparts held by the Mexicans. This movement had been +executed with so much precision and success, that no sound had been +heard in the prairie, and nothing appeared to have stirred in the camp, +where all seemed plunged into the deepest repose. + +Nevertheless, a few minutes before the _sachems_ had received the final +orders of the Tigercat, a man in Apache dress had quitted the camp in +advance of the others, and crept towards the fort on hands and knees. + +When he arrived at the barricade, another man who, leaning over it, had +been listening with intense anxiety, reached out his hand, and helped +him inside the town. + +"Well, Estevan?" + +"We shall be attacked before an hour is over, major," said the _mayor +domo_. + +"Will the attack be serious?" + +"An assault. The Indians are determined to finish the game at once; +they are afraid of being all poisoned if they wait longer." + +"What is to be done?" grumbled the officer. + +"Let ourselves be killed," was the reply. + +"By Heavens! A comfortable piece of advice! We can but do that at the +last extremity." + +"We might try something else." + +"But what? Speak, in Heaven's name!" + +"Is everything prepared as we agreed?" + +"It is. But what do you propose?" + +"Give me twenty-five _vaqueros_, whom you can trust." + +"Take them; you will lead them?" + +"That is my affair, major. I will not answer for success; for these red +devils are numberless as the sands; but you may depend on my thinning +their ranks." + +"That will do us no harm. But the women and children?" + +"I have got them all safely to Las Norias." + +"God be praised! Now we can fight like men; our dear ones are in +safety." + +"For a time they are." + +"What do you mean? What is there else to fear?" + +"Only that when the Indians have taken the _presidio_, they will most +probably attack the hacienda." + +"You are out of your wits, Estevan," said the major, smiling; "and Dona +Hermosa--" + +"True," replied the _mayor domo_ gaily; "I had forgotten her." + +"Is that all you have to report?" + +"No, major," he said quickly; "one thing more." + +"Out with it then; for time presses." + +"The signal for the attack is to be three screams of the _urubu_, at +equal intervals." + +"Good! I will be ready for them: they will attack before daybreak." + +The major and Don Estevan separated, to visit the posts in succession, +to arouse the guards, and prepare them for the event. + +The preceding evening, Major Barnum had assembled all the townspeople, +and, in a brief and energetic speech, and with the greatest frankness, +apprised them of the precarious situation of the _pueblo;_ had +explained his plan of defence; and finished by telling them that boats +were ready moored under the guns of the fort, to receive the women, +children, old men, and all those country people who declined to join +in his desperate resistance; adding, that all who embarked would be +conveyed at nightfall to the Hacienda of Las Norias, where they would +be kindly received. + +We are bound to say, that a few of the people in the town, dismayed +by the energetic proceedings of the major, had recoiled from the idea +of taking part in them, and had gone to the hacienda. There remained, +therefore, in the town only resolute men, determined to sell their +lives dearly, and on whom he could rely with confidence. + +Thus when, on being aroused, the immediate attack of the Apaches was +made known to them, they manned the barriers confidently, with eyes and +ears on the watch, ready to give fire at the first signal. + +One hour passed over without any occurrence to break the stillness of +the night. The Mexicans began to imagine that they had been summoned +to the walls by a false alarm, as had already happened on several +occasions, when suddenly the hoarse and ominous scream of the _urubu_ +arose. + +Again it broke through the silence, and a cold shudder ran through the +frames of the besieged, who recognised their death cry, and knew how +little chance of escape existed. + +A third time the scream of the _urubu_ arose, louder and hoarser than +before. Ere it was well ended, the dreadful war whoop broke forth on +all sides, and the Indians threw themselves in swarms on the exterior +defences, and attempted to carry them by escalade. The Mexicans +received them firmly, like men who knew their last hour was come, and +were resolved to fall amidst a hecatomb of foes. The Indians fell back +in dismay, astounded at the vigorous resistance. Their measures had +been taken so secretly, that they felt certain of surprising the town. +As soon as they were in the open, showers of grape swept them down, and +scattered death and disorder among their masses. + +Don Estevan, profiting by the panic, threw himself, at the head of +his _vaqueros_, on the thunderstricken redskins, and cut them down +indiscriminately. Twice he renewed the charge with the courage of a +lion, and twice the Indians recoiled before him. + +As long as the darkness lasted, the Apaches could not perceive the +smallness of the force opposed to them, and the combat was greatly +favourable to the palefaces, who, sheltered behind the barricades, kept +up a deadly fire on the dense masses of the enemy. + +But after about two hours of this obstinate resistance the sun rose, +and lighted up the field of battle with the glorious splendour of his +rays. The Indians hailed his appearance with clamorous shouts, and +precipitated themselves with renewed fury on the intrenchments from +which they had just been driven. Their shock was irresistible. + +The whites, after an amount of resistance determined on beforehand, +abandoned a position they could no longer hold. The Indians, at the +top of their speed, rushed in pursuit. But at that moment a frightful +explosion was heard, the ground burst under their feet, and the mangled +wretches, hurled into the air, were cast in all directions. + +The interior of the defences had been undermined, and the major had +just issued the order to fire the train. The effects of the explosion +were horrible. The panic-stricken redskins began to fly on all sides, +and, yielding to the impulse of their terror, were deaf to the orders +of their _sachems_, and refused to renew the fight. + +For a moment the palefaces thought themselves saved. But the Tigercat, +mounted on a magnificent jet black mustang, and unfolding to the breeze +the sacred _totem_ of the allied tribes, rushed to the front, braving +in his single person the shots the Mexicans aimed at him, and cried in +a terrible voice: "Cowards! As you will not conquer, see how a brave +man can die!" + +His voice conveyed the bitterest reproach to the ears of the redskins; +the most cowardly were ashamed to abandon the chief who was thus +generously sacrificing himself; they faced about, and returned to the +assault with redoubled ardour. + +The Tigercat seemed invulnerable. He made his horse bound into the +thickest of the fight, parrying the blows aimed at him with the staff +of the _totem_, which he held displayed above his head to encourage his +men. + +The Apaches, electrified by the audacity of their great chief, crowded +around him, undismayed even in death, and shouted: + +"The Tigercat! The Tigercat! Let us die for the great chief!" + +"Look there!" cried he enthusiastically, pointing to the morning +star; "Look there! Your Father is smiling upon your deeds! Forwards! +Forwards!" + +"Forwards!" repeated the redskins, advancing with fresh fury. + +But the major knew this horrible struggle could not last much longer. +The redskins had carried all the barricades; the town swarmed with +them. The Mexicans disputed it house by house, only leaving one to +throw themselves into another when dislodged by main force. The +redskins formed into a solid mass, led by Don Torribio, charged up the +steep street leading to the old _presidio_ and the fort which commands +it. In spite of the ravages caused in their ranks by the grape from the +guns of the fort, they advanced without wavering; for they saw, after +each of the discharges which showered death amongst them, the Tigercat +ten paces in advance, bestriding his black charger, and brandishing the +_totem_, with Don Torribio at his side waving his sword. + +"Come," said the major gravely to Don Estevan; "the time has arrived to +execute the orders I gave you." + +"You insist upon them, major?" replied the latter. + +"I do Estevan." + +"Enough, major; they shall not say I disobeyed your last orders. +Farewell! Or rather, may we soon meet in heaven; for I shall fall as +well as you." + +"_?Quien sabe?_ Farewell, farewell!" + +"Let us still hope," answered the _mayor domo_ in a stifled voice. + +The two men silently clasped each other's hands in a final pressure; +for they knew that, without a miracle, they should never meet again. + +After this leave-taking, Don Estevan collected some forty horsemen, +formed them into a compact body, and, in the interval between two +volleys from the fort, threw himself at full speed on the advancing +redskins. The Apaches could not resist the impetuosity of the charge, +and fled into the houses on either hand. When they recovered from their +panic, the horsemen who had so rudely handled them had got on board +two large boats, and were rowing swiftly towards the Hacienda de las +Norias. Don Estevan and the whole of his followers were saved, with +the exception of three or four who fell in the charge. The major had +profited by the diversion to throw himself, with the remaining whites, +into the fort, the gates of which were instantly closed behind him. +Don Torribio ordered the redskins to halt, and advanced alone to the +fortress. + +"Major," cried he in a loud voice, "surrender! The lives of yourself +and the garrison shall be respected." + +"You are a traitor, a coward, and a dog!" replied the major, appearing +on the walls. "You murdered my friend, who trusted to your loyalty. No +surrender!" + +"It is death to you and all with you; for the sake of humanity, +surrender! Defence is impossible." + +"You are a coward!" cried the major again; "here is my answer." + +"Back, all of you! Back!" shouted the Tigercat, driving both spurs into +his horse, which bounded into the air, and flew off with the speed of +an arrow. + +The Indians precipitated themselves from the top to the base of the +rampart, seized with an indescribable panic; but not speedily enough to +avoid the fate that threatened them. The major had fired the magazines +in the fort. A terrific explosion ensued. The gigantic edifice +oscillated for a second or two on its foundations, like a tottering +mastodon; then, suddenly torn from the ground, rose into the air, +and burst like an elephantine shell. Amidst the last cries of "Long +live the Republic!" from the besieged, a storm of stones and bodies, +horribly mutilated, hailed down upon the redskins, aghast at the +horrible catastrophe--and all was over, the Tigercat was master of the +Presidio de San Lucar; but, as Major Barnum had sworn, he was only in +possession of a pile of ruins. + +With tears of rage, Don Torribio planted the _totem_ of the Apaches on +a strip of tottering wall--the sole remnant to mark the spot where, +ten minutes ago, rose the magnificent fort of San Lucar. + + +[1] A Mexican songbird. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +THE CATASTROPHE. + + +Several days had elapsed since the fall of the _presidio_ of San +Lucar. The pueblo had been given up to pillage, with refinements of +barbarity impossible to describe. Only the principal buildings had been +spared, thanks to the measures employed by the Tigercat, who to save +the immense treasures they contained, had allotted them to the most +powerful _sachems_ of the tribes who followed him. + +The old freebooter had established his headquarters in the former +dwelling of Don Torribio Quiroga, which the latter had gracefully ceded +to him. Dona Hermosa and her father had resumed possession of their own +mansion. + +The town, with none but Indians for inhabitants, had a mournful aspect: +no more commerce; no more cheerful songs; nothing left of the careless +spirit of gaiety which formerly animated the Mexican colony. Here and +there in the open streets lay corpses, battled for by the birds of +prey, festering, and infecting the atmosphere. In a word, the whole +scene afforded the spectacle of that desolation which accompanies a war +of extermination between two races who have been foes for centuries. + +About a week after the events we have described in the preceding +chapter, three persons were assembled, about ten o'clock in the +morning, in a room in Don Pedro de Luna's house, and were talking in +low tones. These three persons were, Don Pedro himself, Dona Hermosa, +and the worthy _capataz_ Luciano Pedralva, who, huddled up in the +fantastical costume of a _vaquero_, looked like a monstrous robber, +exciting bursts of laughter from Na Manuela, who was seated, on the +watch, at a window. Every time she looked at him, she broke into +a fresh laugh, to the indignation of the _capataz_, who voted his +disguise at the devil. + +"Well as we have agreed," said Don Pedro, "you must put on your pumps, +Luciano, and prepare for the dance." + +"And it is to take place today?" + +"It must, my good friend. It seems to me that we live in singular +times, and in a very singular country. I have seen many revolutions, +but this beats them all." + +"As for me," said Dona Hermosa, "it seems consistent enough from an +Indian point of view." + +"Very possible, my dear. I am not going to enter into a discussion with +you; but you must confess that a month ago we were far from expecting +such a prompt re-establishment of the Apache power on these frontiers." + +"You know, Don Pedro, I understand none of these matters; only it +appears to me that the Tigercat is not very magnanimous for a man about +to become a sovereign." + +"What do you mean by that, Luciano?" + +"I mean what everyone ought to mean. The letter he sent Don Fernando +the day before yesterday is explicit enough; for in it he tells him, +shortly and sharply, that if he is found in the colony five days after +its receipt, he will have him hanged." + +"If he can catch him!" said Dona Hermosa hastily. + +"That is understood," replied the _capataz_. + +"What is there in that to astonish you, Luciano?" said Don Pedro. "By +Heavens! What extraordinary things I have witnessed in my life! I +myself know a score of people to whom the same threats have been made, +and who are yet alive and well." + +"It is all one; but, in spite of that, I do not like it." + +"But this is all foreign to our matter. You will return to the +hacienda, Don Luciano; and remember my advice." + +"Trust to me, senor. But I have something else to say." + +"Say what you will, my good friend; but lose no time." + +"I am dreadfully anxious about Don Estevan," replied the _capataz_, in +a voice so low that it could not reach Na Manuela's ears; "for six days +he has disappeared, and we hear no tidings of him." + +Dona Hermosa smiled slyly. "Estevan is not the man to lose himself +without leaving a trail," said she. "Tranquilize yourself: at the +proper time you will see him again." + +"So much the better, senorita; for he is a man to be relied on." + +"Don Torribio!" suddenly exclaimed Manuela. + +"Indeed!" said the _capataz_; "Then it is time for me to vanish." + +"Follow me quickly;" cried the _mayor domo's_ mother. + +The _capataz_ bent reverently before Dona Hermosa and Don Pedro, and +left the room with Manuela. + +The door by which they went out had hardly closed upon them, when +another opened, and Don Torribio entered. He wore a superb Indian +dress; his forehead was lined with care, and his looks were sad. He +bowed to Dona Hermosa, cordially grasped the hand of Don Pedro, and +took his seat at a mute sign from the lady. + +After the interchange of a few common-place words, the daughter of the +hacendero, whom Don Torribio's downcast demeanour disquieted more than +she liked to evince, turned gracefully towards him, and said, with an +assumption of interest which was admirably acted: + +"What ails you, Don Torribio? You look sad. What bad news have you +received?" + +"None, senorita; though I thank you for the interest you take in +my affairs. Were I ambitious, I should feel content; for all my +aspirations have been realised. In receiving your hand, a few days +hence, the dream of my whole life will be fulfilled. You see, +senorita," he added, with a mournful smile, "that I allow you to peer +into the depths of my heart." + +"I am thankful for what you say; but, Don Torribio, you were not thus a +few days ago. Something must have--" + +"Nothing personal, I assure you. But the nearer the time comes for the +ceremony of taking possession of the territories we have won back, +the greater discouragement masters me. I can by no means approve the +determination of the Tigercat to have himself officially declared an +independent sovereign; it is a folly I cannot comprehend. The Tigercat +knows better than any one how impossible it is to maintain himself +here. The Apaches, brave as they are, will never be able to hold their +own against the disciplined force the Mexican Government will despatch +against us, as soon as they hear of this outbreak." + +"Is it impossible to induce the Tigercat to change his purpose?" + +"It is. I have tried every means to show him the insanity of his +project. He will listen to nothing. The man has an object in view known +to himself alone; the wish he loudly proclaims--to regenerate the race +of redskins--is a mere pretext." + +"You shock me, Don Torribio! If this is the case, why not give him up?" + +"Can I do so? Am I not already a renegade? Shall I confess to you, +senorita? Although every thing seems prosperous,--although the future +seems to have nothing but smiles for me,--yet, for the last few days, +an invincible despondency has crept over me. Everything looks dark, and +I feel world worn. In a word, I have a foreboding that I am on the eve +of a terrible misfortune." + +Dona Hermosa cast a piercing glance at him, which he did not observe. +"Banish these mournful thoughts," said she, with emphasis; "henceforth +your fate is settled; nothing can alter it." + +"I believe so; but, you know, senorita, mischance may come between the +cup and the lip." + +"Come, come, Don Torribio!" said Don Pedro gaily; "Let us to breakfast. +It is the last repast you will share with us before the ceremony of +taking possession. Is it still to be today?" + +"It is!" replied Don Torribio, offering his hand to Dona Hermosa, to +lead her into another room, where a splendid meal was prepared. + +At first they were very silent; the guests seemed ill at ease; but +by degrees the efforts of Dona Hermosa and her father to cheer Don +Torribio succeeded in breaking the ice, and the conversation became +more lively. Yet it was easily seen that Don Torribio had a hard +struggle to repel the thoughts that rose to his lips, and to condemn +them to silence. + +Towards the close of the repast, the chief turned to Dona Hermosa. + +"Senorita," he said, "tonight my future will be settled. In taking +part, as an Indian chief, in the ceremony of today, I shall throw down +the gauntlet to my countrymen, by giving them to understand that I +openly join the cause of the redskins; and that what they at first +supposed to be an Indian raid grew, thanks to the Tigercat and me, into +the rising of a whole nation. I know the pride of the whites! Unable +to utilise the immense territories they possess, they will still never +leave us in peaceful enjoyment of the heritage we have carved out for +ourselves at the point of our lances. The Mexican Government will wage +a war of destruction upon us. Can I depend upon you?" + +"Before answering, Don Torribio, I must demand a clearer explanation." + +"And you shall have it. Reprisals are what the Spaniards most dread in +an Indian insurrection; that is to say, a massacre of the whites. My +carriage with a Mexican would be a gage of peace from us to them--a +pledge for the future security of their commerce, and the observance +of the relations to be established between us. Our path is marked out, +however the chiefs of the tribes may object. Neither the Tigercat nor I +will deviate from it a hair's breadth. Senorita, I address this frank +and loyal question to you: Will you grant me your hand?" + +"Why should you press so grave a matter at such a moment, Don +Torribio?" was her answer "Are you not sure of me?" + +Don Torribio Quiroga frowned. "Always the same reply," he said. "Child, +you are playing with the lion! If I had not been your shield these ten +days past, you would have been slain ere now. Do you fancy me ignorant +of your petty machinations, or ensnared by your childish calculations? +You are playing for life or death, silly one; you are caught yourself +in the net you spread for me. You are in my power! It is for me to +dictate my conditions. Tomorrow you will espouse me; the heads of your +father and of Don Fernando shall answer for your compliance!" Seizing +a crystal vase of water, he filled his glass, and emptied it at a +draught; while Dona Hermosa gazed at him with a strange expression in +her eyes. "In an hour," said he, dashing the glass to pieces on the +table, "you will attend the ceremony. You shall be beside me. I will it +so!" + +"I will be there!" she said quietly. + +"Farewell!" he exclaimed, in a husky voice; and, casting another glance +at her, he left the room. The girl rose hastily, seized the vase, and +emptied its contents, murmuring: "Don Torribio! Don Torribio! thou hast +thyself told me, that between cup and lip stood death!" + +"Now for the finishing stroke!" said Don Pedro + +At a sign from his daughter, he went out upon the terrace, and placed +two stands, filled with flowers, close to the balustrade. This appeared +to be a signal; for they had hardly been moved a minute, when Manuela +hastily entered the room, saying, "He is here!" + +"Let him come!" said Don Pedro and his daughter. + +Don Estevan made his appearance. + +The hacendero, having charged Manuela to be on the watch, carefully +closed the doors, seated himself close to the _mayor domo_, and said in +a whisper, "What news have you brought, Estevan?" + + * * * * * + +The grand square of the _pueblo_ presented an unusual spectacle that +day; a large stage, covered with a crimson velvet carpet, had been +erected in the centre. On the stage stood a mahogany _butaca_; another +armchair, lower and less decorated, was placed on the right, and +several forms were arranged in a semicircle behind the two seats. + +At twelve o'clock precisely, when the sun at its zenith was pouring +down its vertical rays, five shots, fired from a gun at regular +intervals, thundered through the _pueblo_. Instantly the different +Apache tribes, constituting the Tigercat's army, debouched by the +several approaches to the square, headed by the principal _sachems_ in +their robes of ceremony. + +These warriors were few in number, forming an effective force of +fifteen hundred men; for, according to Indian custom, the booty, +immediately after the fall of the _presidio_, had been sent under a +strong escort to the villages, and the greater number of the redskins +had dispersed, to return to their _atepelts_. Those who stayed behind +were tried and faithful braves, devoted heart and soul to the Tigercat. +The latter, after the total defeat of the Mexicans, deemed it useless +to retain a larger force about him, particularly as the first signal +would bring back the others to his standard. + +As fast as the tribes reached the square, they ranged themselves in +good order on three of its sides, leaving the fourth open, which was +presently occupied by a body of two hundred _vaqueros_, who, like the +redskins, halted motionless on the spot assigned to them--with this +difference: that the Indians were on foot, and without arms, except the +_machetes_ at their girdles; while the _vaqueros_ were mounted, and +armed to the teeth. + +A very few lookers-on, English, French, or Germans, who had remained +in the town after its occupation, showed their pale and frightened +faces at the windows of the houses in the square. Indian women, +huddled together in disorder behind the warriors, stretched their heads +inquisitively over the shoulders of the latter, in order to catch a +glimpse of the proceedings. The centre of the square remained void. + +In front of the stage, and at the foot of a rude altar, shaped like a +table, with a deep groove in it, and surmounted by an image of the sun, +stood the great _amantzin_ of the Apaches, surrounded by five sorcerers +of inferior grade. All had their arms crossed on their breasts, and +their eyes cast on the ground. + +When everyone had fallen into his place, five more guns were fired. +Then a brilliant cavalcade came curveting into the square. At its head +rode the Tigercat, with haughty air and fiery eye, holding in his hand +the _totem_, and having on his right Don Torribio, who carried the +sacred calumet. Behind followed Don Pedro, his daughter, and several of +the principal townspeople. + +The Tigercat dismounted, ascended the stage, and placed himself in +front of the principal seat, but did not sit down. Don Torribio, having +assisted Dona Hermosa from her horse, took his place before the second +chair. The features of the former, usually so pale, were now inflamed, +and his hollow eyes seemed red with incessant vigils. He ceaselessly +wiped the moisture from his brow, and appeared a prey to agitating +emotions, which would break forth in spite of his efforts to control +them. + +Dona Hermosa had placed herself behind her father, at a short distance +from the stage. She, too, seemed to suffer from secret agitation. She +was pale, her lips were contracted, and occasionally a nervous tremor +made her limbs tremble, and a feverish flush passed over her face, +which, however, soon resumed its former pallor. She kept her eyes +resolutely fixed on Don Torribio. + +The Apache _sachems_ grouped themselves at the foot of the platform, +which they surrounded completely. + +A third time the cannon roared. Then the sorcerers stepped to one side, +disclosing to the view a man firmly bound, who lay on the ground in the +midst of them. + +The _amantzin_ addressed the multitude: "Listen to me, all you who +hear me. You know why we are here assembled: our great father, the +Sun, has smiled at our success. The Wacondah has fought on our side, +according to the promise of our illustrious chief. This _atepelt_ is +now ours. The chief elected by ourselves to command and defend us is +the Tigercat. In his name and our own we now offer to the Master of +life the sacrifice most agreeable to him, in order that he may still +continue his almighty protection. Sorcerers, bring hither the victim!" + +The _amantzins_ seized the unhappy wretch they guarded, and laid him +upon the altar. He was a Mexican, taken prisoner at the capture of the +old _presidio_. The pulquero, in whose house one of the first scenes of +this story was laid, had, from avarice, refused to quit his miserable +_pulqueria_, and had fallen into the hands of the redskins. + +In the meantime, Don Torribio felt his strength gradually deserting +him. His eyes grew more bloodshot, his ears were stunned, his temples +throbbed violently, and he was obliged to support himself by one of the +arms of his seat. + +"What ails you?" said Dona Hermosa. + +"I know not," he replied; "the heat--agitation, perhaps: I am choking. +But it is nothing." + +The _pulquero_, extended on the altar, had been stripped of his +garments. The wretch uttered shouts of terror. The _amantzin_ +approached him, brandishing his knife. + +"It is horrible," cried Dona Hermosa, hiding her face in her hands. + +"Silence!" said Don Torribio; "the sacrifice must be completed." + +The sorcerer, heedless of the cries of the victim coolly examined him +to find the right place for the blow; while the miserable prisoner, +with eyes unnaturally distended, gazed at him with an expression of +fear impossible to describe. Suddenly the _amantzin_ raised the knife, +and, thrusting it into the chest of his victim, laid it open the whole +length of the ribs. The wretched man uttered a horrible cry. Then +the sorcerer plunged his hand into the gaping breast of the victim, +and tore out the palpitating heart; while his assistants carefully +collected the blood that was flowing in torrents. The sufferer writhed +in agony, still making superhuman efforts to break his bonds. + +While this was doing, the _sachems_ in a body ascended the stage, and +seating the Tigercat on the _butaca_, raised him on their shoulders, +shouting enthusiastically "Long live the conqueror of the palefaces, +the great _sachem_ of the Apaches!" + +The sorcerers meanwhile sprinkled the crowd with the blood of the +sacrifice; and the redskins, frenzied with excitement, rent the air +with deafening clamour. + +"At last," said the Tigercat proudly, "I have kept my promise: I have +driven the palefaces from this country for ever." + +"Not yet," exclaimed Don Pedro, in cutting tones; "look hither." + +A sudden change had indeed come over the scene. The _vaqueros_, up to +this time impassive spectators, suddenly charged, the unarmed Indians: +Mexican troops fell upon them from all the entrances to the square: and +all the windows were manned by whites armed with muskets, who poured +down a pitiless fire on the redskins. + +In the centre of the square were Don Fernando Carril, Luciano Pedralva, +and Don Estevan, who mercilessly rode in upon the Indians, shouting: +"Down with them! Down with them! Slay! Slay!" + +"_iCaray!_" exclaimed Don Torribio, waving the _totem;_ "What horrible +treachery is this?" He rushed forward to fly to the side of the +redskins; but he tottered--a dark veil obstructed his sight--and he +sank on his knees. "God!" cried he, "What has happened to me?" + +"You are dying," whispered Don Estevan in his ear; "that is what is +happening." And he seized him fiercely by the arm. + +"You lie, dog!" said Don Torribio, trying to release himself. "I will +go and help my brothers." + +"Your brothers are slain, as you intended to have slain tomorrow Don +Pedro, Dona Hermosa, Don Fernando, and myself. Die, wretch, with rage +at seeing your treachery meet its reward! I have given you _leche de +palio_[1] to drink; you are poisoned." + +"Ah!" said he despairingly, and dragging himself on his knees to the +edge of the platform; "Woe to me; woe; God is just." + +In the square the Mexicans were making a horrible carnage. "Remember +Don Jose de Kalbris," they cried; "revenge Major Barnum!" + +It was no battle; it was a fearful butchery. Several of the chiefs, +flying before Don Fernando, Luciano, and Don Estevan, threw themselves +upon the stage as a last place of refuge. + +"Ha!" shouted Don Torribio, with a bound like a jaguar, seizing Don +Fernando by the throat; "At least I shall not die unavenged." A moment +of terrible anxiety ensued. "No," he continued, quitting his grasp on +his foe, and falling backwards, "it would be the act of a coward. My +life belongs to this man; he won it from me." + +The bystanders could not repress a cry of admiration. Don Fernando +coolly raised his rifle to his shoulder, and discharged its contents +point-blank into the breast of the man stretched at his feet. + +"Thus perish all traitors!" he cried. + +"Great God!" freely exclaimed Don Torribio, by a supreme effort rising +to his knees, and looking up to heaven with an expression of sublime +hope irradiating his features,--"Great God, I thank Thee! Thou hast +forgiven me!" One last smile of unutterable happiness glided over his +face; he fell back and expired. + +Meanwhile Dona Hermosa had disappeared. When the Tigercat, who had been +fighting like a lion in the midst of the fray, perceived that all was +lost, and nothing but flight could save him from the fate to which the +Mexicans had doomed him, should he fall into their hands, he rallied +around him a handful of his bravest warriors, seized Dona Hermosa, +regardless of her cries and prayers, threw her across his saddle, +spurred his horse into the thickest of the _melee_, cut his passage +through, and, followed by his faithful braves, succeeded in getting out +of the town and gaining the prairie. + +It was too late for pursuit when the Mexicans became aware of his +flight; the old freebooter was already beyond their reach, carrying his +prey with him, like an eagle bearing a lamb in his talons. + + +[1] Literally, milk from a pall; poison. + + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +ONE MONTH LATER. + + +It was about four o'clock in the afternoon. The rays of the sun, +falling more and more obliquely, were gradually lengthening the shadows +of the trees; the birds were flying to their roosts, and nestling as +they could under the foliage, with deafening cries and pipings. A +few bands of prairie wolves were showing themselves here and there, +snuffing the breeze, and preparing for their nocturnal chase among the +tall grasses. At intervals, the lofty antlers of elks and antelopes +were suddenly rising from amidst the herbage, the animals quickly +throwing back their heads, and commencing a giddy flight into the +distance. The sun, close on the verge of the horizon, looked like a +globe of red fire behind the trunks of the stately trees. Everything +announced the rapid approach of night. + +In the virgin forest, about two hundred miles from the _presidio_ of +San Lucar, where the last terrible episodes of our story occurred, and +in the centre of a vast clearing, two men, habited like the Mexican +_gambucinos_, were sitting on buffalo skulls, beside a clear fire which +gave forth no smoke. They were Don Estevan Diaz the _mayor domo_, and +Luciano Pedralva the _capataz_. They held their rifles across their +knees, ready for an emergency, and smoked their maize _pajillos_ in +silence. Several _peones_ and _arrieros_ were lying about a few paces +off, and baggage mules were greedily munching the rations of Indian +corn laid on mats before them. Eight or ten horses were tethered, to +prevent their straying, close to a _jacal_ (hut) of branches, the +entrance to which was closed with a _zarape_. A _peon_, standing +motionless with cocked rifle on the borders of a little brook which +meandered round the extremity of the clearing, watched over the common +safety. + +It was easy to perceive, from the fragments of all sorts which littered +the ground, whence every vestige of grass had disappeared, and from +the quarters of venison suspended from the boughs of a mahogany tree, +that the encampment we have described was not one of those temporary +resting places which the backwoodsmen choose for a night and quit at +sunrise, but one of those more substantial camps which the hunters +often establish as places of rendezvous for the trapping season. + +The _zarape_ at the entrance to the _jacal_ was lifted, and Don +Pedro made his appearance on the scene. His features were pale, his +expression was sad and pensive. He looked carefully around, went up to +the two men seated by the fire, and spoke: "No news as yet?" + +"None whatever," replied Don Estevan. + +"This absence is incomprehensible; Don Fernando has never before stayed +away from us so long." + +"True," said the _capataz;_ "it is more than thirty hours since he left +us. Pray God, no misfortune may have happened." + +"No," answered Don Estevan; "Don Fernando is too well acquainted with +the desert to incur much danger." + +"But think whereabouts we are," put in Don Pedro; "the country round +about is infested by the most dangerous serpents; wild beasts swarm in +every place." + +"What does that matter, Don Pedro?" boldly answered Don Estevan; "You +forget that Don Fernando and Stoneheart are one and the same; that in +this region the greater part of his life was spent; that it is here, +for long years, he was a bee-hunter, and gathered the cascarilla bark." + +"But how do you explain his protracted absence?" + +"You recollect, Don Pedro, with what disinterestedness our friend +offered us his cooperation when, in despair at the sudden disappearance +of Dona Hermosa, mad with grief, and impotent to act, we knew not +what step to take to recover the lost one. We have been led from the +_presidio_ to this spot, following a trail invisible to all eyes save +Don Fernando's, who, accustomed to reap the sublime lines of the +wilderness, recognised it with singular ease and exactitude. The trail +has suddenly vanished here--vanished in spite of the most minute and +patient research. We have been eight days encamped in this place; and +every morning, at sunrise, Don Fernando--whom obstacles seem to excite, +rather than subdue--mounts and begins his search afresh. Hitherto his +labour has been in vain. Yesterday he left us, as usual, at daybreak. +Well, suppose the reason of his protracted absence, which makes you so +restless, should be the finding, at some spot leagues away perchance, +the signs we have sought for so long and unavailing?" + +"God grant it, my good friend! Your idea glads my heart. But what +traces could we find, after the painful exertions we have already made?" + +"You forget, Don Pedro, that we have to deal with the Apaches, the most +astute savages in the wilderness, the most acute of all the redskins +in hiding their trail." + +"Holloa!" exclaimed the _capataz;_ "I hear the tread of a horse." + +"Is it possible?" said Don Pedro joyfully. + +"Yes," said Don Estevan; "I, too, hear a noise, but it is not the sound +of one horse; there are two or three." + +"Yet Don Fernando left the camp alone." + +"He has probably encountered someone on the road," replied Don Estevan, +laughing. + +"You are wrong to joke with us in our circumstances; it is almost an +insult to my sorrow." + +"Heaven preserve me from such an intention, Don Pedro! The sound is +coming nearer. We shall soon see what we have to do. I should not be at +all surprised if Don Fernando has laid hands upon some Indian marauder, +at the very moment when, concealed by the underwood, he was watching +our camp, and spying out our movements." + +"_iCanarios!_ It is he himself!" cried the _capataz_. + +In fact, the clear and sonorous voice of Don Fernando replied to the +challenge of the sentry, and two horsemen pushed through the thick +underwood which surrounded the clearing and formed a kind of natural +rampart. + +Don Fernando brought with him a man whom he had firmly bound to a +horse to prevent his escape. As to the prisoner, he seemed to bear his +capture lightly. He swayed himself comfortably in his saddle, comported +himself with an air of assurance, and looked altogether as impudent as +possible. On reaching the fire, where our personages were assembled, he +saluted them with a grimace, unabashed by the looks of the standers-by. + +He was no other than our friend Tonillo el Zapote, whom we have +presented to our readers on several occasions. + +Don Fernando was very warmly and heartily greeted. His friends burnt +with impatience to question him; and their curiosity was the more +excited, as the frank and almost joyful expression of his features +led them to suppose he was the bearer of good news. Don Fernando +dismounted, embraced his friends, and unbuckled the girth which +strapped the prisoner's legs under the belly of his horse, thus giving +him the use of his limbs. + +"Good," said the _vaquero_, "many thanks, Don Fernando. I have had +quite enough of it. My legs are tingling as if a million of pins were +stuck in them." He sprang to the ground; but he had spoken truly; his +benumbed limbs could not support the weight of his body, and he fell +heavily. The _capataz_ hastened to raise him. "It is a mere nothing," +said the _vaquero_, honouring him with a gracious smile; "yet I thank +you, caballero. In five minutes the circulation will be restored, and +no harm done. But if it is the same to you, Don Fernando, pray do not +pull the buckle so tight another time." + +"It will depend upon yourself, Zapote. Swear you will make no attempt +at escape, and I will set you free." + +"If that is all," cried the _vaquero_, gaily, "we shall soon strike a +bargain. I swear, by all my hopes of Paradise, not to slip away." + +"Enough! I will trust you." + +"An honest man sticks to his word," answered El Zapote; "you will have +no cause of complaint against me. I am the bond-slave of my word." + +"It will be all the better for you if that is the truth. But I am +doubtful about it, particularly after your late conduct towards me, in +spite of the protestations and offers of service you made me." + +The _vaquero_ showed no signs of embarrassment at this straightforward +thrust. "Men endowed with certain good qualities are sure to be +misunderstood," he replied in a wheedling tone; "I never broke the +promise I made you." + +"Not when, after introducing Indians and other rascals of your own kind +into the _presidio_, you laid an infamous snare for me, and led me into +an ambuscade?" + +"Yes, Senor Don Fernando; I was faithful even under the circumstances +you mention." + +"_iRayo de Dios!_" impatiently exclaimed the latter; "I should be glad +to learn how you can prove your fidelity there." + +"Good Heavens, senor! I was faithful after my own fashion." + +This answer was so extraordinary and unexpected, that the bystanders +could not refrain from laughing. El Zapote bowed gravely, with the +proud humility common to men of doubtful talent, who in their inmost +soul consider themselves unappreciated geniuses. + +"After all," said Don Fernando, carelessly shrugging his shoulders, "we +shall soon see. I know pretty well the extent of this elastic fidelity." + +El Zapote returned no answer; he merely raised his eyes to heaven, as +if to invoke it as a witness of the injustice done to him, and crossed +his arms on his breast. + +"Before telling you anything, let me have something to eat," said Don +Fernando, "I am fainting from inanition; I have neither eaten or drank +since I left the camp." + +Don Estevan hastened to place provisions before him, to which he +and his prisoner did great honour. However, the meal was short. Don +Fernando's appetite was soon appeased; he gave a sigh of satisfaction, +after slaking his thirst in the limpid brook, came and sat down beside +the others, and, without putting their curiosity to further torture, +began to explain the causes of his prolonged absence in all their +details. Don Estevan had judged correctly; Don Fernando had really +discovered the trail so long fruitlessly sought for. The trail took a +south-west direction, towards the most unexplored regions of the Far +West. He had followed it with a trapper's indomitable patience for +several hours, in order to be well assured that it was the true trail, +and not an Indian artifice to turn his steps astray. + +The redskins, when they fear pursuit, and cannot hide their trail, +entangle so skilfully the many tracks they purposely make, and throw +them all into such hopeless confusion, that it is generally impossible +to distinguish the right one. On this occasion they had used a similar +artifice with such dexterity and success, that they would have managed +to outwit and lead astray any hunter less adroit than Stoneheart. But +he, accustomed from childhood to their wiles, did not suffer himself +to be hoodwinked, particularly as he thought he had recognised some +peculiar signs, which would have escaped the observation of a less +experienced woodman. Don Fernando, delighted with his discovery, had +rapidly commenced his return to the camp, without neglecting any of the +prudential measures requisite in a country where every bush may conceal +a foe, when it struck him that the grass in a certain spot was waving +in a manner not wholly natural. He dropped quietly from his horse, and, +without other arms than the knife he carried in an iron ring at his +girdle, and a pistol, crept towards the suspected spot, crawling on +hands and knees with the speed and silence of a snake gliding through +grass. + +After a quarter of an hour's work, he reached the place, and with +difficulty repressed a cry of joy on seeing El Zapote comfortably +seated on the ground, the bridle of his horse passed over his left arm, +and finishing a copious meal. + +Don Fernando drew a few paces nearer, in order to be sure of his man; +then, having carefully measured the distance, with a spring like a +jaguar he seized the _vaquero_ by the throat, and had him bound beyond +the possibility of resistance before El Zapote had recovered from his +astonishment. "Aha!" said he, seating himself beside his prisoner, +"what a singular chance! How are you, Zapote?" + +"You are very kind, caballero; I cough a little." And he put his hand +to his threat. + +"Poor fellow! I hope it is of no consequence." + +"I hope, too, that no evil consequences may ensue, senor; nevertheless, +I am not quite easy about it." + +"Pooh! Cast aside your anxiety. I will cure you." + +"Do you know a remedy, caballero?" + +"Yes; an excellent one, which I propose to apply to you." + +"A thousand thanks, senor! But perhaps that would give you too much +trouble?" + +"None in the world. Judge for yourself. I propose to knock out your +brains with the butt end of a pistol." + +The _vaquero_ shuddered when the words were uttered; but he would not +give in. "You really think that remedy would cure me?" said he. + +"Radically, I am convinced." + +"It may seem very odd, caballero; but, with all due deference, I am +obliged to observe, that I am of a totally different opinion." + +"You are wrong," replied Don Fernando, coolly cocking a pistol; "you +will soon find how efficacious it is." + +"And you really think, senor, there is no other remedy?" + +"By my faith, I see no other." + +"But it seems to me a little too violent." + +"You only think so. I tell you again, you are Wrong." + +"Possibly so. I would not take the liberty of contradicting you, +caballero. Have you any great wish to administer the remedy on this +particular spot?" + +"I? Not at all! Do you know any more fitting place?" + +"I think I do, senor." + +"And whereabouts is the place, comrade?" + +"Good heavens! caballero, I may be mistaken; but still, I think it +would be a pity so marvellous a secret as this remedy should be lost, +for want of an eyewitness to its efficacy. Consequently, I wish you to +take me where we can find one." + +"Very well! I suppose you know of such a place, not very far hence?" + +"Yes, caballero; I even fancy you would be charmed to see those to whom +I wish to present you." + +"That depends upon who they are." + +"You know them very well, senor: one of them is the Tigercat--a most +amiable caballero." + +"And you will undertake to lead me to him?" + +"Whenever you please: this very instant if you like." + +Don Fernando replaced the pistol in his belt. "Not directly. No," he +said; "we must first report ourselves at the camp, where my friends +expect me. I find you are not quite so ill as I thought; and I need not +administer my remedy just now. We can always fall back upon it some +other time, if it is necessary." + +"I can assure you, there is no hurry at all," replied the _vaquero_, +trying an engaging smile. + +Thus the business was concluded between the two men, who, knowing each +other for a long time were perfectly aware of what each could expect +from the other. Don Fernando put no faith in Tonillo; so he took +good care to remove all temptation to stray from his side, by leaving +him bound as he was--a proceeding against which the _vaquero_ did not +remonstrate. + +But as night had fallen while they were talking, they made such +arrangements as they could for sleeping where they were, giving up all +idea of rejoining the camp until the morrow. Two or three times in the +course of the night the _vaquero_ surreptitiously tried to free himself +from the bonds in which he lay; but each time he endeavoured to put his +project into execution, he saw the large blue eyes of the hunter fixed +steadfastly upon him. + +"Do you still feel indisposed?" he asked, the last time the prisoner +made his attempt. + +"Not at all!" replied the _vaquero_ hastily; "Not at all." + +"I am glad to hear it; but," added he slowly, and emphatically, "your +inability to sleep made me anxious about you." + +The _vaquero_ took the hint, shut his eyes without another word, and +did not open them again till daylight. + +Don Fernando was already alert, and had saddled the horses. "Aha! Awake +at last?" said he. + +"Have you slept well?" + +"Capitally; only I feel a little numb. Gentle exercise would soon +restore the circulation." + +"The effects of the dew," said the hunter imperturbably; "the nights +are cold." + +"The devil!" said the _vaquero_, grinning. "I hope I shall not catch +the rheumatism." + +"I think not. The ride will do you good." + +While he said this, Don Fernando had hoisted his companion on his +shoulders, and thrown him across one of the horses. But on second +thoughts, he freed his legs, and set him upright in the saddle; +reflecting that useless cruelty would only harden the man against +him, who could give such precious information when the proper moment +arrived. The _vaquero_, who feared he was about to make the journey +slung over the horse like a bale of merchandise, felt grateful for the +half-liberty allowed him, and made no objection when Don Fernando took +the precaution of buckling his legs together under his horse's belly. + +In this manner the two men rode to the camp, talking on different +matters, and apparently the best friends in the world. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +PREPARATIONS FOR THE CHASE. + + +All the time Don Fernando was telling his story, El Zapote had assumed +the _nonchalant_ attitude of a man perfectly satisfied with himself; +nodding his head affirmatively at certain passages, and smiling at +others with an air of modest gratification. When the former ceased +speaking, he thought it time to put in his word also. + +"You see, senores, I made no objection whatever to following this +estimable caballero; which means to say, that I am ready to obey all +commands you may please to lay on me." + +"Here is a compliment," said Don Fernando, with a malicious smile, +"which would evidently have been addressed to others, but for the +surprise of yesterday!" + +"Oh, fie, caballero!" retorted the _vaquero_, assuming a look of +indignant denial. + +"But," continued Stoneheart, "I will not vex you on that score; your +secret feelings towards me affect me in nowise. I thought I had given +you ample proof a long while ago how little I dread you in any way. I +will content myself with remarking, that, more generous than you, I +have several times held your life in my hands, and never abused the +power." + +"On that account I am deeply grateful to you, senor." + +"Pooh, pooh, Senor Zapote!" replied Stoneheart, shrugging his +shoulders; "You have quite mistaken your man. I have no more belief in +your gratitude than in your good feelings towards me, and I have only +refreshed your memory in this respect to induce you to reflect that, if +I have hitherto condescended to pardon you, the amount of courtesy I +could afford to expend on you is at length exhausted, and on the next +occasion matters will end very differently between us." + +"I perfectly understand your meaning, senor; but, please God, such an +occasion, I am quite sure, will never present itself. I repeat, once +for all, that I have given you my word, and, you know, an honest man +sticks--" + +"No more!" broke in Stoneheart. "I wish it may be so, for your own +sake. However that may be, listen attentively." + +"I am all ears, senor; I will not lose a word." + +"Although I am still young, Senor Tonillo, I know one important truth +not very creditable to humanity. If one wishes to attract a man, and +insure his fidelity, one must not attempt to act upon his virtues, but +make sure of him through his vices. You are more richly endowed with +these last than most men I know." + +The _vaquero_ made a modest bow in acknowledgment of the compliment. +"Senor," he said, "you cover me with confusion; such praise--" + +"Is richly deserved," continued Stoneheart. "I have seen few men in +possession of such a formidable assortment of vices as you, my friend. +Yours are so many, that I was at a loss which to select. But among +these vices are a few more prominent than the rest: for instance, your +avarice has acquired a prodigious development; I am going to appeal to +your avarice." + +The _vaquero's_ eyes sparkled with greed. "What do you want me to do?" +said he. + +"First, let me tell you what I will give you; after that, I will +explain what I require." + +The leering, cunning face of the bandit instantly grew serious; and, +leaning his elbows on his knees, he stretched out his head to listen to +Stoneheart's words. + +"You know I am rich, and can have no doubt that I am able to fulfil +any engagement with you into which I may enter. However, to save time, +and deprive you of any pretext to betray me, I will immediately place +in your hands three diamonds, each worth two thousand five hundred +piastres You are so well acquainted with precious stones, that a single +glance will convince you of their value. These diamonds are yours. I +make you a present of them. Nevertheless, if you prefer it, I engage to +pay you what they are worth; that is to say, to forward seven thousand +five hundred piastres on your first demand, after our return to San +Lucar, in exchange for the jewels." + +"And you have got the diamonds about you?" said the _vaquero_, in a +voice half stifled with emotion. + +"Here they are!" replied Stoneheart, drawing from his bosom a small +deerskin bag, and taking out three good-sized jewels, which he placed +in the _vaquero's_ hands. + +The latter clutched them with a glee he did not attempt to conceal, +looked at them for a moment with eyes sparkling with triumph, and hid +them carefully in his bosom. + +"Wait a moment!" said Stoneheart, with a curious smile; "I have not yet +told you the conditions." + +"Whatever they may be, I accept them, senor. _iCaspita!_ seven +thousand five hundred piastres! It is a fortune to a poor devil like +me! No _navajada_ will ever bring me in as much, however well they pay +me!" + +"Then you want no time for consideration?" + +"_iCanarios!_ I should think not! Whom am I to kill?" + +"No one," briefly answered Stoneheart. "Listen to me: all you have to +do is to lead me to the place where the Tigercat has taken refuge." + +The _vaquero_ shook his head discontentedly at this proposal. "I cannot +do it, caballero. By all my hopes hereafter, it is impossible!" + +"Very well," said Stoneheart. "I forgot to mention another little +thing." + +"What is it, senor?" asked the _vaquero_, in great trouble at the turn +the conversation was taking. + +"A very trifling matter. If you do not accept my proposal, I will +instantly blow out your brains." + +El Zapote examined the speaker's face most carefully; with a rascal's +intuitive perception, he felt that the time for pleasantry was over, +and matters were threatening to become serious. "At least give me leave +to explain, senor," said he. + +"I ask no better," said Stoneheart coldly. "I am in no hurry." + +"I cannot lead you to the Tigercat's hiding place--I swear so; but I +can direct you to it, and tell you its name." + +"That is something. Go on; we have already made some progress. I see +we shall come to an understanding. I am in despair at finding myself +obliged to use extreme measures; it is so disagreeable." + +"Unhappily, senor, I have told you all. This is what happened: the +Tigercat, after his flight from the _presidio_, collected some score +of resolute men, of whom I was one, who comprehended that for some +time to come the Mexican Confederation would be too hot to hold them, +and resolved to plunge into the wilderness, in order to give the storm +time to blow over. All went well for a little while, when the Tigercat +suddenly changed his route; and, instead of leading us to overrun the +country of the Apaches, took us to the district of the bee-hunters and +cascarilla gatherers." + +"He has done that?" exclaimed Stoneheart, starting with surprise and +terror. + +"Yes, senor. You can understand how little I cared for a game of +life and death, in regions infested by the fiercest beasts of prey, +and, worse than that, by serpents whose bite is mortal. Seeing that +the Tigercat was seriously bent upon taking refuge in this horrible +country, I confess, senor, I got terribly frightened; and at the risk +of dying with hunger, or being scalped by the redskins in the desert, I +quietly dropped to the rear, and profited by the first opportunity to +give the Tigercat the slip." + +Stoneheart fixed on the _vaquero_ a gaze which seemed to search his +inmost soul; the latter bore it manfully. + +"It is well," he said, "I see you have not lied. How long is it since +you left the Tigercat?" + +"Only four days, senor. As I do not know this part of the wilderness, I +was wandering about at a venture, when I had the good fortune to fall +in with you." + +"Indeed! Now, what is the name of the place to which the Tigercat +intended to lead you?" + +"El Voladero de las Animas," answered the _vaquero_, without hesitation. + +Stoneheart instantly grew pale as death at this information; and yet he +had almost expected it, from the cruel and implacable character of his +former teacher. + +"Alas!" cried he; "The unfortunate girl is lost! This wretch has +carried her into a very nest of serpents!" + +The bystanders were dreadfully agitated. + +"What is this horrible place?" said Don Pedro. + +"Alas! El Voladero de las Animas is an accursed region, into which +the hardiest bee-hunters and boldest _cascarilleros_ scarcely dare to +enter. The Voladero is a lofty mountain, which frowns over an immense +expanse of swamps swarming with cobras, coral snakes, and others, whose +slightest bite kills the strongest man in ten minutes. For ten leagues +around this dread mountain, the country is alive with reptiles and +venomous insects, against which how shall man defend himself!" + +"Great God!" cried Don Pedro, in despair; "And it is to this hell they +have carried my darling child!" + +"Calm yourself," said Stoneheart, who perceived the necessity of +restoring a little courage to the poor father; "the Tigercat knows +this accursed place too well to enter it without taking the needful +precautions. The swamps alone are to be dreaded; the Voladero is free +from these noxious animals; the air is too pure, and its elevation too +great for them to live there. Not one attempts to scale it. Courage, +then! If your daughter, as I hope, has reached the Voladero alive, she +is in safety." + +"But, alas!" replied Don Pedro, "How are we to cross this impassable +barrier; how reach my daughter, without encountering certain death?" + +An indefinable smile illumined the features of Don Fernando. "I will +reach her, Don Pedro," he exclaimed, in firm and resolute tones. "Have +you forgotten that I am Stoneheart, the most renowned bee-hunter of the +prairies? The Tigercat confided all his secrets to me when we were not +only bee-hunters but _cascarilleros_. Courage, I say; all is not yet +lost." + +If a man who is struck down with some dire and and unexpected calamity +has a friend beside him, whose stout heart and cheering words bid him +hope, his prostrate courage revives, however faint and problematical +the hope may be, and, confiding in the prospect held out to him, he +gathers fresh energy for the approaching struggle. This was exactly +what happened to Don Pedro. The speech of Stoneheart, who, for weeks +past, had worked hard for him,--whom he had learned to love, and in +whom he had entire confidence,--revived his hope and courage as if by +magic. + +"And now," said Stoneheart, addressing the _vaquero_, "tell me how the +Tigercat treated his prisoners. You remained with him long enough to +give me reliable information on this point." + +"As far as that goes, senor, I can answer without hesitation, that his +attention to the senorita's welfare was unceasing; he watched over +her with anxious care, often shortening the day's march for fear of +overtiring her." + +His hearers breathed more freely. This solicitude on the part of one +who respected neither God nor man seemed to indicate better intentions +than they had a right to expect. + +Stoneheart continued his interrogations. "Do you know the nature of the +Tigercat's conversations with Dona Hermosa?" + +"I overheard one, senor. The poor senorita was very sad: she dared not +weep openly, for fear of offending the chief; but her eyes were always +filled with tears, and her breast heaved with stifled sobs. One day, +during a halt, she was sitting apart at the foot of a tree, her eyes +fixed on the road we had just travelled, and large tears coursing down +her cheeks. The Tigercat advanced towards her, looked at her for a +moment with mingled pity and displeasure, and addressed her in nearly +the following words: 'Child, it is useless to look back; those you +expect will not come. No one shall tear you from my hands till the time +comes when I shall think fit to restore you to freedom. To you alone +I owe the ruin of my projects, and the massacre of my friends at San +Lucar. I know it well. Therefore I carried you off, for vengeance' +sake. But this I will tell you, for your consolation and encouragement: +my revenge shall not be harsh; within a month I will give you to him +you love.' The senorita looked at him incredulously; he perceived it, +and continued, in a tone of implacable malice: 'My most earnest wish +is to see you some day the bride of Don Fernando Carril: I have never +lost sight of this. Take courage, then; dry those useless tears, which +only disfigure you,--for I swear to you I will carry out my resolve, +the very day and hour I have appointed.' Having said this, he left +her, without waiting for the answer Dona Hermosa was about to make. +I happened to be lying on the grass, a few paces from the lady. The +Tigercat either did not notice me, or thought me asleep. That is how +I overheard their conversation. To the best of my belief, that is the +only time the chief ever conversed with his prisoner, although he +continued to treat her well." + +When the _vaquero_ ceased, a long silence ensued, caused by the +strangeness of this revelation. Stoneheart racked his brains in vain +endeavours to discover a motive for the Tigercat's conduct. He recalled +the words the chief had once uttered in his presence,--words which +agreed with what he had just heard; for even at that time the old man +seemed to take delight in the project. But Stoneheart vainly tried to +find a solution to the question, why he should act thus. + +In the meanwhile the sun had gone down, and night set in with the +rapidity peculiar to intertropical climates, in which there is no +twilight. It was one of those delicious nights of Southern America +which are replete with sweet odours and airy melody. The dark blue sky +was enamelled with a countless number of golden stars. The moon, now +at the full, showered down a flood of soft and glorious light; and the +transparent atmosphere made distant objects seem close at hand. The +night wind tempered the oppressive heat of the day; and the men seated +in front of the _jacal_ inhaled with delight the refreshing breeze that +whispered among the foliage, surrendering themselves to the influence +of the night, which stole upon them with all its seductive languor. + +When Don Pedro and his two confidential agents first set out on their +search for Dona Hermosa, under the auspices of Stoneheart, Na Manuela, +that devoted pure-hearted woman, refused to leave her master and her +son. She had loudly claimed her share in the risks and perils they +were about to encounter, asserting her right to accompany them in +her quality of Dona Hermosa's nurse. The good woman had persisted +so obstinately, that Don Pedro and Don Estevan, touched by her +self-abnegation, could no longer resist her entreaties, and she had +come with them. Na Manuela had charge of the commissariat of the camp. +As soon as night had completely closed in, she issued from the _jacal_, +bearing refreshments, which she distributed with strict impartiality to +all present, master and man. Unseen, the worthy woman had listened to +the queries put to the _vaquero_. Her heart failed her at El Zapote's +story; but she dissembled her grief, for fear of augmenting Don Pedro's +anguish; and she appeared amongst the travellers with dry eyes and a +smiling countenance. + +However, time passed on; the hour for rest had come; one after another +the _peones_ rolled themselves in their _zarapes_, and slumbered +peacefully, with the exception of the sentries posted to watch over +the safety of the camp. Stoneheart, plunged in deep meditation, was +reclining, with his head supported by his right arm; his companions +now and then exchanged a few words, uttered in a low tone, that they +might not disturb him. The _vaquero_, with characteristic carelessness, +stretched himself out on the ground, indifferent to what was passing +around him. His eyelids grew heavy; he was already in a state of +semi--somnolence, when he was thoroughly roused to consciousness by +Don Fernando, who shook him rudely. + +"Holloa, senor! What is the matter?" said he, sitting up, and rubbing +his eyes. + +"Is it possible to trust you?" + +"A question you asked once before, senor. I replied, 'Yes, if you pay +me well.' Now, you have paid me royally. There was but one man in the +world to whom I could attach myself sooner than to you--Don Torribio +Quiroga. He is dead; you take his place. No dog would obey your +slightest sign more faithfully than I." + +"I am not now going to put your new fledged fidelity to any rude proof; +I shall content myself with leaving you here. But remember to deal +frankly with me, and without reservation; for as surely as I have not +hesitated to pay you in advance in the bargain I have concluded with +you, so surely will I not hesitate to kill you on the spot if you +betray me. And take this to your soul: if you deceive me, no hiding +place, however secret or remote, shall save you from my vengeance." + +The _vaquero_ bent his head, and answered unhesitatingly: "Senor Don +Fernando, I swear, by the Cross of our Lord, who died for the remission +of our sins, that I will be faithful to you unto the death." + +"Good," said Stoneheart; "I believe you, Zapote. Sleep now, if you are +able." + +The _vaquero_ did not wait for a repetition of the words, but rolled +over, and was soon fast asleep. + +"Senores," said Stoneheart, turning to his friends, "it is time for +you to rest. As for me, I must watch a while. Be of good courage, Don +Pedro; our position is far from desperate. The more I reflect, the +surer I am we shall tear from the Tigercat the prey he holds in his +grasp and longs to devour. Be not too anxious; and if you should not +see me tomorrow, do not on any pretext leave this encampment till my +return: my absence will not be long. Good night to all!" Having said +this, Stoneheart crossed his arms on his breast, and returned to his +sombre meditations. + +His friends, respecting his wish to be alone, withdrew; and ten minutes +later all the inmates in the camp, except Stoneheart and the sentinels, +were asleep, or seemed to sleep. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +THE CHASE. + + +Deep silence prevailed through the wilderness, broken only at long +intervals by the growling of the jaguar at the spring, or the barking +of the prairie dog in his burrow. Stoneheart had not moved after his +friends left him; he was so motionless, one would have thought him +asleep, but for the occasional glitter of his eye through the darkness. +Suddenly a hand was laid on his shoulder. He started up in an instant. +Don Estevan stood beside him. Stoneheart greeted him with a smile. "You +have something to tell me?" said he. + +"I have," replied Don Estevan, seating himself at his side. "I waited +till all were asleep before sought you out. You are meditating some +daring exploit--perhaps an expedition to the camp of the Tigercat?" + +Stoneheart replied by a smile. + +"Have I guessed aright?" said the _mayor domo_. + +"Perhaps you have, Estevan; but how does that concern you?" + +"More than you think, Fernando. Such an expedition is as dangerous +as can be imagined; you yourself said so. I will not let you commit +so great a folly as to attempt it alone. Remember that, from our +first meeting, we have been irresistibly attracted to each other; we +are bound together by ties of friendship which nothing can sever. +Everything ought to be in common between us. Who can tell the danger +to which you would be exposed in the expedition you are about to +undertake! This is what I have come to tell you: half of that danger is +mine; I come to claim the share you have no right to withhold from me." + +"Brother," replied Stoneheart, much moved, "I feared this would happen; +I dreaded the demand you have just made. Alas! You have guessed truly; +the expedition is indeed desperate, and who can say whether I shall +succeed? But why link yourself to my evil fate? Has not my whole life +been one long sorrow? It will make me happy to sacrifice it for the +poor father, pining for the child who has been torn from him. Every +man has a destiny in this world; mine is to be wretched. Let me fulfil +it. Your destiny smiles upon you; you have a mother whom you cherish, +and who adores you. I am alone. If I perish, none save yourself will +regret me. Should you fall by my side, you leave me a lifelong sorrow +for having caused your death. No length of life could obliterate my +remorse." + +"Fernando, my determination is irrevocable. Whatever you may say, I +shall follow you. Fidelity is an heirloom in our family; and I must do +this day what my father did not hesitate to do long ago for the family +to whom we are attached. I repeat once more, Fernando, my duty compels +me to be with you." + +"Think no more of it, Estevan; think of your mother, and her grief." + +"I think of nothing but what honour bids me." + +"Estevan, I cannot consent to what you wish. Again I say, think of your +mother's grief if she should lose you." + +"My mother, Fernando, would be the first to bid me go, were she here." + +"Spoken like a man!" said a gentle voice behind them. They turned, and +saw Na Manuela. "I have heard all," she said. "Thanks, Don Fernando, +for speaking as you did; I will never forget your words. But Estevan is +right: duty compels him to follow you. You lose your time in trying to +dissuade him. He springs from a race who never tamper with their duty. +Let him go with you. If he falls, I shall weep,--perhaps I shall die; +but I shall die blessing him, for he will fall in the service of those +whom, through five generations, we have sworn to serve faithfully." + +Stoneheart gazed with admiration at the mother who did not hesitate to +sacrifice her son to her sense of duty, regardless of the boundless +love she bore him. He felt himself a weakling, compared with this +self-denial. Words failed him, and he could only manifest by signs his +acquiescence in a wish so energetically expressed. + +"Go, my sons," she continued, raising her eyes to heaven with an +expression of holy fervour; "God, who sees all, sees your devotedness. +He will reward you. The rule of the wicked on earth is short; the +protection of the Almighty will be with you--will defend you in +every danger. Go without fear; He tells me you will prosper in your +undertaking. Farewell!" + +"Farewell, mother," replied the two men, moved even to tears. + +The noble woman pressed them to her heart, but could not part from them +without an effort. "Remember this law," she said,--"it is the basis of +honour: do your duty, whatever may happen. Farewell, farewell!" She +turned, and hastily entered the _jacal_ for, in spite of herself, tears +were regaining the mastery, and she would weaken their resolution. The +others were silent for a time, looking steadfastly at the _jacal_. + +"You see," said Don Estevan, at last, "my mother herself orders me to +follow you." + +"Be it as you will, then," said Stoneheart, with a sigh; "I will no +longer oppose your wishes." + +"Thank Heaven!" exclaimed the _mayor domo_. + +Stoneheart carefully examined the heavens. "It is two o'clock," he +said; "at half past three it will be daylight. We must go." + +Don Estevan left him, to bring up the horses. They were soon saddled. +The men left the camp, gave their horses the spur, and dashed into the +desert. By sunrise they had ridden six leagues. They were following the +course of one of those nameless rivers which traverse the wilderness in +every direction, and ultimately fall into some larger stream. + +"Let us halt here a while," said Stoneheart; "first to breathe our +horses, and then to take a few precautions indispensable to our +success." + +Dismounting, they took the bits from the horses' mouths, leaving them +at liberty to crop the luxuriant grass on the banks of the river. + +"The time has come, Estevan," said Don Fernando, "when I must teach +you something, without which it would be impossible to avoid the +dangers we are about to encounter; I must reveal a secret known only +to us, 'the bee-hunters.' Hardly two leagues farther on, we shall have +to enter the swamps, swarming with serpents, and we must take the +requisite precautions against their fatal bite, for every reptile we +shall meet on the road will be of the most venomous species." + +"The devil!" ejaculated Don Estevan, turning somewhat pale. + +"I will give you a lesson. When we have once put on our armour, we can +trample with impunity on the heads of the most dangerous." + +"_iCaray!_" replied Don Estevan; "your secret is worth knowing." + +"You shall prove it soon. Come with me. Of course you are acquainted +with the _guaco?_" + +"Certainly. I have often helped it in his battles with snakes." + +"Very well. I dare say you are ignorant of the means this intelligent +bird employs to heal the wounds in the mortal combats which always +terminate in the destruction of the reptile?" + +"I confess, Fernando, that I have never attempted to fathom the +mystery." + +"Then it is lucky, Estevan, that I have thought for both. Come, close +at hand I see several stems of the _mikania_ twisting round the cork +trees: That is what we want. We will take a supply of the leaves of the +guaco creeper." + +Don Estevan, without troubling his head concerning his friend's +intentions, set about collecting the leaves of the creeper he had +pointed out. By dint of exertion, a goodly number were soon heaped upon +the ground. When Stoneheart deemed the quantity sufficient, he gathered +them up in his _zarape_, and returned to the spot where they had left +their horses. Without further explanation, he began to pound the leaves +on a flat stone he brought from the edge of the water. Don Estevan, +taking great interest in the mysterious operation, occupied himself in +collecting in a _coui_ (or gourd) the juice which ran from the leaves +as Stoneheart crushed them. The work lasted an hour, by which time the +_coui_ was filled to the brim with a greenish liquid. + +"What are we to do now?" said Don Estevan, puzzled more and more. + +"That is a delicate question, my friend," replied Stoneheart, with +a laugh. "We must undress; then, with the point of the _navaja_, we +will make longitudinal incisions in our breasts, our arms, thighs, and +between the fingers and toes, just deep enough to cause blood to flow. +Afterwards, we will carefully inject the liquid we have collected into +these incisions. Have you sufficient courage to inoculate yourself with +the _mikania_juice?" + +"Certainly, Fernando, though the operation will be painful. But what +good will it do us?" + +"Only the least in the world! We shall be invulnerable. We shall be +able to trample thousands of snakes under our feet; and their bites +shall do us no more harm than the prick of a pin." Stoneheart said no +more, but undressed himself, and coolly began to make incisions in +his body. Don Estevan followed his example. After slicing themselves +in this fashion, they rubbed the cuts with the juice of the creeper, +leaving the liquid time to dry in before they resumed their dress. + +"Well, that is done," said Stoneheart. "We need not keep our horses: +the poor brutes would infallibly perish, for we cannot insure them from +the serpents. We will leave them here, and pick them up when we return; +only let us hobble them well, for fear they should stray too far." + +The saddles were carefully hidden under some bushes, and the two hardy +adventurers commenced their journey on foot, trailing their rifles, +and holding in one hand a slender but tough twig of mesquite, to cut +the reptiles in two which might dispute their passage. They marched +rapidly, one behind the other, shaking the grasses on right and left +with their rods, to dislodge the snakes, and following a track left by +a numerous body of horsemen. + +Suddenly they saw a dead body before them horribly swollen and +putrified, over which they were obliged to step. + +"Ah!" said Stoneheart, "Here lies a poor wretch, who probably did not +know the uses of the guaco creeper." + +Just at that moment, a sharp hissing was heard, and a beautiful little +snake, about as thick as the little finger, and seven or eight inches +long, crept from under the corpse, raised itself upon its tail, and, +darting with wonderful rapidity, fixed itself on Stoneheart's right leg. + +"Your pardon, my good fellow," said he coolly; "you have made a +mistake!" and, seizing it by the tail, he swung it round, and crushed +its head on the ground. "It is a ribbon snake," he added; "bitten by +him, you have just eleven minutes to live. You grow first yellow, then +green; then you begin to swell, and all is over--with this exception: +you have the consolation of changing colour once more, this time from +green to black. It is odd, is it not, Estevan?" + +"_iCaray!_" replied the latter, who could not help shuddering; "Yours +was a lucky thought, Fernando." + +"Do you think so, Estevan?" + +"By heavens! It is self-evident. Ha! Crush that coral snake coiling +round your leg!" + +"Why, really, so he is! Well, he is a gentleman who takes liberties!" +Saying this, he seized the reptile, and crushed him. "It is a lovely +country," he continued. "It is quite diverting to travel here. Halloa! +more bodies!--This time a man and horse. They have died together. Poor +brute!" + +And thus they went on all day. The farther they advanced, the more +numerous were the snakes; they met them by threes and fours together. +At intervals they found more bodies stretched across their path, +proving that they were still on the right trail, and that the Tigercat +had left the greater number of his companions on the road. With all +their courage, they could not refrain from shuddering at the frightful +spectacles they had witnessed in passing through this dreadful place. + +Suddenly Stoneheart stopped, bent his body forward, made a sign to his +friend to be still, and listened anxiously. "If I am not mistaken," he +whispered, "somebody is coming this way." + +"Someone!" exclaimed the astonished Estevan. "Impossible!" + +"And why so? We are here, and why not others?" + +"Quite right: but who can it be?" + +"We shall soon see;" and he dragged his companion behind a thick bush, +where they crouched for concealment. + +"Cock your rifle, Estevan. Who can tell whom we may have to meet?" + +The _mayor domo_ obeyed. Both kept motionless, expecting the arrival of +the individual, whose steps were now clearly distinguishable. + +During the last hour, the path our adventurers were pursuing had +gradually begun to rise, with frequent turnings--a sure proof that they +were quitting the swamps, and approaching the region which was free +from reptiles. + +Stoneheart soon saw a shadow thrown across an angle in the path, and +immediately afterwards a man appeared. Stoneheart recognised him +directly by his tall stature and long white beard. It was the Tigercat. +Stoneheart whispered a few words in his companion's ear, and, drawing +himself together, bounded at one spring into the middle of the path. +The Tigercat showed no surprise at this sudden apparition. "I was +coming to look for you," he said calmly, as he halted. + +"Then your task is finished," said Stoneheart, "for here I am." + +"No, it is not ended; for, while you show yourself in my camp, I shall +go to yours." + +"You think so?" said Stoneheart, with a mocking laugh. + +"Certainly. Do you think to bar my passage?" + +"Why not? Is it not mine to settle affairs between us?" + +"For my part, I see no reason. You are not looking for me, I suppose?" + +"You are wrong, Tigercat! I came here on purpose to seek you." + +"Me, and another person." + +"You, first of all; for we have a long account to settle." + +"We are losing time," said the Tigercat impatiently. "Listen, and try +to understand me. Dona Hermosa is close by; she expects you, for I +have promised to bring you together. She has charged me with certain +messages to her father; and on that account I must go to your camp. But +first, I will lead you to mine--a sad one: of all my followers, but +four are left; the rest are dead." + +"I know; I saw their bodies on the road. It is you who have slain +them. Why did you lead them here?" + +"Never mind. What is done cannot be undone. But time presses; will you +follow me? I wish to deal openly with you." + +"No! I do not trust you. Why have you come into this fearful place?" + +"Did you not guess, my son? Merely to be sure that my prisoner was +safe." + +"You made a mistake, for I am here." + +"Perhaps I did. But enough of this. Here, take my rifle. Tell your +friend, the barrel of whose rifle I see gleaming through the branches, +to come from behind his bush. Perchance you will not be afraid to +follow me now, when I am unarmed, and you two to one." + +Stoneheart reflected for a moment, and then said: "Come forth, Estevan!" + +His friend was at his side in a moment. + +"Keep your rifle," said Stoneheart to the Tigercat; "no one must travel +in the wilderness without weapons." + +"Thanks, Fernando," replied the old chief; "I see you have not +forgotten the old rule: a backwoodsman never quits his rifle." + +The Tigercat turned and led the way to his camp, the two others +following exactly in his footsteps. In about an hour they reached it, +pitched halfway up the Voladero, in a spacious cavern. The chief had +told the truth--only four out of all his men survived. + +"Before going farther," he said, when they got there, "I have a +condition to exact." + +"To exact!" said Stoneheart ironically, emphasizing the words. + +The Tigercat shrugged his shoulders. "At a sign from me, those men will +stab Dona Hermosa to the heart without hesitation; you see, I have the +power to exact." + +"Speak, then," said Stoneheart, trembling for her sake. + +"I will leave you here alone with Dona Hermosa. I, your friend, and my +four comrades, will leave the Voladero at once. In two days, and not +before, you will quit the mountain, and come to your camp, where you +will find me." + +"Why do you impose this condition?" + +"You have nothing to do with that: is it so hard, that you will not +submit to it? But, briefly, I do not choose to explain; answer--yes or +no. Except on this condition you shall not see Dona Hermosa." + +"How do I know whether she is still alive?" + +"What good would it have done me to kill her?" + +Stoneheart hesitated for a moment. "I accept the conditions," said he +at last; "I will stay here two days." + +"Good! Now go to her; as for us we will leave you." + +"One instant longer! My friend--will you be answerable for his safety? +I know I can trust your word." + +"I swear to you, I will look upon him as my own friend as long as he +remains with me, and you shall find him safe and sound in the camp." + +"Enough. Farewell, Estevan; console Don Pedro, and tell him on what +conditions his daughter has been restored." + +"I will tell them to him myself," said the Tigercat, his mouth +contorted with a strange expression. + +Stoneheart and Don Estevan bade each other farewell; then the former +rapidly approached the cavern, while the Tigercat, his four followers, +and the _mayor domo_, went down the path into the plains. On reaching +the nearest trees, the Tigercat halted for a moment, and turned to the +cavern into which Stoneheart had just entered. "Aha!" he exclaimed, +with a sinister smile, and rubbing his hands with delight; "At last I +am sure of my revenge!" + +He followed his companion, and they were soon lost to sight, behind the +intervening foliage. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +EL VOLADERO DE LAS ANIMAS. + + +We have already said that Don Fernando Carril, or Stoneheart, had +passed the greater part of his life in the wilderness. Brought up +by the Tigercat in the perilous calling of a bee-hunter, chance had +occasionally brought him, most unwillingly we confess, to the district +in which he now found himself. Thus he was well acquainted with the +Voladero de las Animas, even to its inmost recesses. He had often +sought shelter in the cavern where Dona Hermosa was now a prisoner, and +found it again without difficulty, although the access to it was so +well masked by certain features of the mountain, that any other would +have been some time in discovering it. The cavern, one of the greatest +curiosities of this part of the country; contains several chambers, +extending far into the hill, and two broad passages, which terminate +in two apertures, like gigantic windows, exactly under the peak of +the Voladero, where they hang at a height of a thousand feet over +the plain; the conformation of the mountain being so singular that, +looking down from them, nothing is to be seen but the tops of the trees +below. + +Stoneheart entered the cavern, which by another remarkable peculiarity, +was lighted throughout its whole extent by innumerable fissures in the +rock, admitting sufficient daylight to enable objects to be perceived +at a distance of twenty or twenty-five paces. He was very restless; +the conditions imposed by Tigercat depressed his spirit to a degree +he could not shake off. He could not help asking himself why the old +chief had insisted on his remaining two days with Dona Hermosa on the +mountain before he rejoined the camp. He suspected some treachery in +these conditions; but of what kind? That was the riddle he could not +solve. + +He walked slowly through the cavern, looking right and left in the +hope of finding her; and, for more than half an hour, could see no +indications of her presence. + +The sun was already disappearing below the horizon when Stoneheart had +issued from the forest; the cavern, sombre enough in the daytime, was +at this hour in almost total darkness; so he retraced his steps, to +obtain a light for the purpose of resuming a search which otherwise +the obscurity rendered impossible. On reaching the entrance to the +cavern, he availed himself of the last gleam of daylight to look about +him. Some torches of ocote wood were carefully arranged close to the +entrance. Producing flint and steel, he speedily procured a light; and, +arming himself with a kindled torch, again made his way into the cave. +He traversed several chambers without success: and had begun to suspect +that the Tigercat had duped him, when he perceived a faint glimmer at +some distance in advance of him, which gradually approached, until its +light was sufficient to reveal the form of Dona Hermosa. + +She too held a torch in her hand. She was walking with a slow and +unsteady step, her head sunk on her breast, in an attitude of poignant +sorrow. Dona Hermosa came nearer and nearer, till she was within fifty +paces of Stoneheart. Uncertain how to attract her attention, he was +on the point of calling to her, when she chanced to raise her head. +On seeing a man before her, she stopped, and haughtily demanded: "Why +have you entered this corridor? Have you forgotten that your chief has +forbidden anyone to enter it and annoy me?" + +"Forgive me, senorita," replied Stoneheart gently; "the order was +unknown to me." + +"Heavens!" cried she; "That voice! Is it a a dream?" She dropped +her torch, and hastened to approach Stoneheart, who likewise rushed +towards her. "Don Fernando!" she exclaimed; "Don Fernando here, in +this horrible den! Great God! what further evil is at hand? Have I not +suffered enough yet?" + +Overcome by emotion, she lost all consciousness, and sank, fainting, +into the arms of Stoneheart. Alarmed at the occurrence, and not knowing +how to recall her to her senses, he hurried her back to the entrance to +the cavern, hoping that the fresh air might restore her. He placed her +carefully on a heap of dry leaves, and left her to herself. Stoneheart +was a man whose courage reached the verge of temerity. A hundred times +he had looked death in the face with a smile; but when he saw the girl +lying before him, her features rigid, and pale as death, he trembled +like a child; a cold sweat broke out over his forehead, and tears--the +first he had ever shed--rolled down his face. + +"My God, my God!" he exclaimed; "I have killed her!" + +"Who speaks?" said Dona Hermosa in feeble accents, the current of air +rushing into the cave having somewhat revived her. "Do I really hear +Don Fernando? Can it be he?" + +"It is I; it is indeed I, Hermosa. Collect yourself, and forgive me +for causing this sudden fright." + +"I am not alarmed," she answered; "on the contrary, your presence +relieves me, Don Fernando, if your appearance in this dreadful place +augurs no new misfortune." + +"Calm yourself, senorita," he said, drawing gently near her; "I am no +omen of evil; I bring good tidings." + +"Why seek to deceive me, my friend? Are not you too a prisoner of the +monster in human shape who has kept me captive so long?" She rose; the +colour returned to her cheeks. She extended her hand to Stoneheart, +who, kneeling, clasped it in both his own, and covered it with kisses. +"Now we shall no longer be alone; we shall suffer together," she said, +fixing an earnest look upon him. + +"Dearest Hermosa, your sufferings are at an end; I do indeed bring you +good tidings." + +"What is it you say, Don Fernando? Your words are incomprehensible. How +can you talk of good tidings, while we are both in the power of the +Tigercat." + +"No, senorita; you are no longer in his power." + +"Free!" she exclaimed in ecstasy; "Is it possible O my father! My +father! I shall see you once more!" + +"You shall see him very soon, Hermosa. Your father is not far hence, +with all you love--Don Estevan and Na Manuela." + +Dona Hermosa fell on her knees, with an expression on her face +impossible to describe. Lifting her clasped hands to heaven, she +uttered a long, silent, and fervent prayer. + +Stoneheart gazed upon her with reverential admiration. The sudden +transition from sorrow and despair to this excess of joy excited him +infinitely. He felt intensely happy--happier than he had ever known +himself before. + +When Dona Hermosa rose from her knees, she had regained her calmness. +"And now, Don Fernando," she said in gentle accents, "as we are really +free, let us sit down outside the cave. Tell me all that has happened +since I was torn away from my father." + +They left the cavern, and sat down, side by side, on the green turf, +canopied by the night, which hung cool and odorous above them; and +Stoneheart began his story. It lasted a long time; for Dona Hermosa +frequently interrupted him, to make him repeat details concerning Don +Pedro, and night had sped away before the recital ended. "It is your +turn, senorita," said Stoneheart, as soon as he had finished. "You +have now to relate what has happened to you." + +"As for me," she replied, with a charming smile, "the month has passed +in sorrowful thoughts of those from whom I was torn. But I must be +just enough to confess, that the man who bore me away treated me +with respect--nay, on several occasions he sought to console me and +alleviate my grief, by holding out hopes of my soon seeing those whom I +love so dearly." + +"The Tigercat's conduct is incomprehensible," said Stoneheart +thoughtfully. "Why did he carry you off, when he has restored you to us +again with so little demur?" + +"It is strange," said she; "what could his object be? But I am tree! +Thank Heaven, I shall see my father again!" + +"Tomorrow we will go to him." + +Dona Hermosa looked at him in surprise. + +"Tomorrow!" she exclaimed; "Why not today? Why not at once?" + +"Alas!" said he, "I have sworn not to leave this place until tomorrow! +The Tigercat would only restore you to liberty on this condition." + +"How singular! Why should that man wish to keep us here?" + +"I will tell you the reason!" cried Don Estevan, suddenly appearing +before them. + +"Estevan!" they exclaimed, rushing towards him. + +"What happy chance brings you here?" asked Stoneheart. + +"It is no chance, brother. God has permitted me to overhear words +spoken by the Tigercat, which have given me as clear an insight into +his plans as if he himself had revealed them." + +"Explain your words, Estevan?" + +"Yesterday, when I left you, Fernando, you turned your steps to the +cavern, while we retraced ours to the forest. I know not why, but my +heart was heavy, and I felt loth to quit you. I could not help fancying +that the Tigercat's urbanity covered some deadly purpose against you. +So I went slowly down the hill. I happened to turn when I reached the +forest, and saw that the chief had ceased to follow us. He had halted a +few paces from me. He was rubbing his hands with ferocious delight; his +eyes were earnestly fixed on the cave, and I distinctly heard him utter +these words: 'At last I am sure of my revenge!' It was like a sudden +gleam of light; the diabolical plan the monster had conceived started +forth in all its hideousness. Don Fernando, you remember how we became +acquainted?" + +"I do, Estevan; the remembrance is too near for me to forget it." + +"You recollect your conversation on the island with the Tigercat, which +I overheard? The insinuations of the man? The implacable hatred to Don +Pedro he openly avowed?" + +"I recollect it all, Estevan; but to what does it lead?" + +"To this, Fernando: the Tigercat, despairing to reach Don Pedro +himself, endeavours to strike him through his daughter. Hence the +long-concocted plan in which he has made you an involuntary accomplice. +You love Dona Hermosa; you have done everything to save her; he +proposes to restore her to you on the simple condition of remaining two +days here in her company: do you understand me now?" + +"It is frightful!" indignantly exclaimed Stoneheart. + +Dona Hermosa covered her face with her hands to conceal her tears. + +"Forgive the pain I have caused you," continued Estevan. "I wished to +save you from yourselves; and I could only do so by bluntly laying +his machinations open before you. The question is now, whence this +inveterate hatred to Don Pedro? Satan alone can tell. But let us not +mind that; his plans are unmasked; we have nothing to fear from him." + +"Thanks, Estevan," said Dona Hermosa, holding out her hand. + +"But how were you able to return?" cried Stoneheart. + +"Easily enough. I had nothing to do but to tell the Tigercat plainly +that I did not choose to travel in his company any longer. Our man was +thunderstruck at my deliberate desertion; but found no words to oppose +me. As for me, I had nothing more to say, so, at the first turn of the +road, I left him." + +"It was a capital idea, Estevan, and I thank you heartily. But now, +what are we to do? I have given my word." + +"Nonsense, Fernando! You must be mad. Are we obliged to keep promises +which have only been extorted from us to do us harm? If you take my +advice, you will leave this place instantly, to thwart any new plots +this man may brew." + +"True, true!" cried Dona Hermosa. "Estevan, you are right. We will +follow your counsel, and go." + +"Let us go," said Stoneheart, "since you wish it. As for me, there is +nothing I should like better than to leave this accursed cavern. But +how are we to get Dona Hermosa through the forest?" + +"In the same way I crossed it before," she said firmly. + +"How was that?" cried Estevan. + +"On a kind of litter, which ought to be here still. It was carried on +men's shoulders. You know, the snakes do not spring very high." + +"And we will wrap you in a buffalo hide, so that you will be safe from +all danger." + +Don Estevan went in search of the litter, and soon found it, while +Stoneheart got the buffalo hide ready. All was prepared in a few +minutes. + +"We have not broken the conditions of the treaty," said Estevan to his +friend. + +"How so?" + +"Did you not agree to meet the chief at the camp today, and not before?" + +"I did; and it would have been impossible to do so, had we remained +here the stated time." + +"Well, who knows whether the Tigercat did not take that into account +too?" replied Estevan. + +This observation gave our three personages ample food for reflection; +and they began their journey without any further attempt at +conversation. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +THE HAND OF GOD. + + +We will now return to the hacendero and the Mexican encampment. When +Don Pedro awoke in the morning, Na Manuela reported Stoneheart's +departure in company with her son. + +"I feared something of the sort," said Don Pedro sighing; "Don Fernando +was so preoccupied last night. I am glad your son has gone with him, +Manuela, for it is a perilous expedition. God grant they may bring me +back my daughter! Yet I cannot help thinking it would have been better +to have consulted me before they left. We have here twenty bold men, +who would certainly have been able to do more than two unsupported men, +however brave they may be." + +"I am of a different opinion," replied Na Manuela. "Surprises are +the chief element of wars in the wilderness, and two men can often +succeed by means of their apparent weakness, which allows them to pass +unnoticed, when numbers would fail. However, they will not be long +absent, and we shall have certain news of the _nina_." + +"Please God they be good! Manuela, if I should lose my daughter, in +addition to my former woes, I could not survive it." + +"Drive away these sombre thoughts, senor; Providence watches over us +all. I hope we shall not be abandoned in our affliction." + +"After all," said Don Pedro, "as we are forced to remain inactive, we +must exert our patience till our stragglers return." + +The day passed without any incident worthy of record. El Zapote, who +had gone hunting at daybreak, returned with an elk. + +The next day, about ten in the morning, an unarmed Indian presented +himself before the sentries, demanding speech of Don Pedro. The latter +ordered him to be brought forward. The redskin was an Apache, of +cunning features and reckless manner. Brought into the presence of the +hacendero, who at that moment was talking to the _capataz,_ he stood +motionless and with downcast eyes, waiting with the cold impassiveness +characteristic of his race, till they should speak to him. The +hacendero scrutinised him attentively. The Indian was perfectly +indifferent to the scrutiny. + +"What does my brother want? What is his name?" asked don Pedro. + +"El Zopilote is an Apache brave," replied the redskin; "the _sachem_ of +his tribe sends him to the chief of the palefaces." + +"I am the chief of the palefaces. Tell your mission to me." + +"Hear what the Tigercat says," replied the immoveable Apache. + +"The Tigercat!" exclaimed Don Pedro greatly astonished; "What can he +want of me?" + +"If my father will listen, El Zopilote will tell him." + +"I will listen. Speak Zopilote." + +"Thus says the Tigercat: a cloud has arisen between the Tigercat and +the chief of the palefaces, who have come into the hunting grounds of +my tribe. As the beneficent rays of the sun disperse the clouds that +obscure the heavens, so, if wise paleface will smoke the calumet of +peace with the Tigercat, the cloud between them will disappear, and the +war hatchet be buried so deep, that it shall not be found again for a +thousand moons and ten. I have said: I await the answer of my father +with the beard of snow." + +"Indian!" replied Don Pedro, in accents of sadness, "Your chief has +done me much harm, yet I know not the cause of his hatred to me. But +Heaven forbid I should reject his proposal, if he entertains the wish +to end the difference existing between us. Bid him come; and say I am +ready to offer reparation for injury I may have done him without my +will or knowledge." + +The Apache listened with evident attention to the words of the +hacendero. When the latter ceased, he answered: "_Wagh!_ My father has +spoken well. Wisdom has taken up her abode in him. The chief will come; +but who will insure his safety when in the camp of the palefaces,--he +alone, with twenty _Yarri_ (Spanish) braves around him!" + +"My word of honour, redskin; my word of honour,--which is worth more +than all your chief could give me," said Don Pedro haughtily. + +"My father's word is good; his tongue is not forked. The Tigercat asks +no more; he will come." + +Having uttered these words with Indian emphasis, the Apache warrior +bowed profoundly, and retired with the same quiet step which marked his +coming. + +"What do you think of that Luciano?" said Don Pedro, as soon as they +were alone. + +"By Heavens, senor! I think it conceals some Indian devilry. I fear the +white who changes his colour, and turns redskin, a hundred times words +than the true Indian. I never liked chameleons." + +"Right, Luciano! But we are placed in a difficult position. Before +all things I must have my daughter; for her sake I must overlook many +things." + +"True, senor! Nevertheless, you know as well as I, that the Tigercat is +a miscreant without faith or honour. Do not trust him too far." + +"I am obliged to trust him. Have I not given my word?" + +"You have," growled the _capataz;_ "but I have not given mine!" + +"Be cautious, Luciano; and, above all things, do not excite his +suspicions." + +"Make yourself easy on that score, senor. Your honour is as dear to me +as my own; but I dare not leave you without means of defence, though it +please you to trust yourself with a wretch as determined as he." + +With these words, the _capataz_ cut short the conversation, and left +the _jacal_, to prevent further remarks from his master. "Ha!" said he, +as he met El Zapote; "You are the very man I want, my friend!" + +"Me, _capataz!_ That is capital! What is to be done?" + +"Come with me a while," replied the _capataz;_ "I must tell you the +matter where we cannot be overheard." + +An hour later,--that is to say, a little after eleven in the +morning,--the Tigercat arrived at the camp, as El Zopilote had +asserted. The chief was dressed as a _gambucino_, and carried no +weapons--at least, none were visible. + +As soon as the sentinels recognised him, they allowed him to pass, and +led him to the _capataz_, who was walking backwards and forwards. The +Tigercat cast a scrutinising look around him the moment he entered the +camp. Everything seemed in its usual state, and the chief saw nothing +to excite suspicion. He approached the _capataz_. + +"What do you want here?" asked Don Luciano roughly. + +"I wish to speak to Don Pedro de Luna," quickly replied the Tigercat. + +"Good! Follow me; he expects you." + +Without further ceremony, the _capataz_ led him to the _jacal_. +"Enter," said he; "you will find Don Pedro there." + +"Who is there?" said a voice from within. + +"Senor," replied the _capataz_, "it is the Indian who asked the favour +of a conversation with the chief. Come, enter!" he added, addressing +the Tigercat. + +The latter made no observation, but went into the _jacal_ with the +_capataz_. + +"You asked to speak with me," began Don Pedro. + +"I did," said the chief in a gloomy tone; "but with you alone." + +"This man is one of my oldest servants; he has my entire confidence." + +"What I have to say must be told to no other ears than yours." + +"Retire, Luciano," said don Pedro; "but remain near at hand." + +The _capataz_ cast a look of rage at the Tigercat, and left the _jacal_ +grumbling. + +"Now that we are alone," said Don Pedro, "you can speak openly to me." + +"I intend to do so," said the chief in harsh accents. + +"Are you come to speak of my daughter?" + +"Of her and others," replied the Tigercat in the same tone. + +"All this is a mystery, chief; explain!" + +"It will not be long before I do so; for I have longed, panted for the +opportunity to meet you face to face. Look at me well, Don Pedro; do +you not recognise me?" + +"I believe I never saw you before you received me as a guest in the +_teocali_." + +The chief laughed savagely. "Have years changed me so much? Has the +name of Tigercat obliterated my own so thoroughly that that too is +forgotten? As Don Guzman de Ribera became Don Pedro de Luna, why should +not Don Leoncio de Ribera become the Tigercat, brother?" + +"What words are these?" exclaimed Don Pedro, rising in terror. "What +name have you uttered?" + +"I have said that which is," coldly answered the chief. "The name I +utter is mine." + +Don Pedro gazed at him with pitiful regret. "Unhappy man!" he sighed; +"How have you fallen so low?" + +"You are wrong, brother," replied the Tigercat, with a sneer; "on the +contrary, I have risen to be the _sachem_ of an Indian tribe. Long, +long have I waited for my revenge! Twenty years I have watched; but +today I have it--today it is complete!" + +"Your revenge, miserable man!" answered Don Pedro indignantly; "What +revenge would you against me?--you, who attempted to seduce my wife; +you, who sought to slay me; and who, lastly, to crown your infamy, have +borne away my daughter!" + +"You forget to name your son, whom I also carried away,--your sin, Don +Fernando Carril, in whom I have contrived to excite a passion for his +sister, and who has been these two days alone with her at the Voladero +de las Animas. Aha! Don Guzman, what say you to that revenge?" + +"Woe, woe!" exclaimed Don Pedro, wringing his hands in his despair. + +"Brother and sister in love with each other; licensed by you, Don +Guzman, and married by me! Aha!" and he burst into a horrid laugh, that +sounded like the howl of the hyena. + +"It is too horrible," cried Don Pedro, in the depths of despair. "It +is a lie, wretch! Bandit as you are, you dare not meditate a crime so +terrible! You are but a boasting miscreant! Your tale cannot be true; +to believe it, would be to doubt the justice of Heaven!" + +"You do not believe my words, brother?" replied the Tigercat in a +sarcastic tone. "As you please. Here come your children; I hear them +entering the camp; ask them." + +Don Pedro, half-mad with grief, was rushing out of the _jacal_ when +Stoneheart, Dona Hermosa, and Don Estevan appeared at the entrance: the +unhappy father was stopped by the shock. + +"Look!" said the Tigercat, with his usual sneer; "Look how he receives +his children! Is that his love?" + +Dona Hermosa had thrown herself into her father's arms, and tearfully +embraced him; without seeing the Tigercat. "My father, my father!" she +cried; "God be praised that I see you once more!" + +"Who speaks of God here?" said Don Pedro in a hollow voice, and shaking +off his daughter, who tottered from him. + +Dona Hermosa looked round in affright. Pale and trembling, she would +have fallen, if Stoneheart had not hastened to support her. + +"Look, how they love each other!" sneered the Tigercat. "It is +touching! Don Fernando, throw your arms around your father;" and he +pointed to Don Pedro. + +"He my father!" cried Stoneheart, overjoyed; "Oh, it would be too much +happiness!" + +"Yes," said the Tigercat; "Don Pedro is your father, and here is your +sister!" As he said this, he pointed to Dona Hermosa and again burst +into a diabolical laugh. + +The two young people were thunderstruck. Don Pedro, whose nervous +system had received a violent shock from the first revelation, felt his +reason deserting him. He seemed neither to see nor hear, and to take no +notice of the strange scene enacting around him. The Tigercat exulted +in his triumph. Don Estevan, alarmed at the hacendero's state, thought +it high time to interfere. "Don Pedro," said he in a loud voice and +forcibly laying his hand on the old man's shoulder, "collect yourself; +this miscreant is a liar! Your children are worthy of your name. I was +with them at the Voladero." + +Don Pedro seemed to make a mighty effort to resume his grasp on +the senses which were leaving him. His body underwent a terrible +convulsion. He turned his face towards Stoneheart, and a heavy sigh +burst from his heart; then tears flowed down his venerable cheeks, and +he cried in feeble accents, as he fell on the breast of his son, "Yours +is the truth, Estevan; the truth, the truth!" + +"I swear it, Don Pedro!" was the solemn reply. + +"Thanks, thanks! I knew the miscreant lied. My children--" + +The two young people threw themselves into his arms, and loaded him +with caresses. + +The Tigercat, with his arms crossed on his chest, looked on with his +sardonic leer, and said ironically: "They love each other, brother; let +them marry." + +"They have a right to do so!" exclaimed a ringing voice. All turned in +amazement. Na Manuela had entered the _jacal_. "Yes," said she, turning +with an air of mockery to the Tigercat, who stood appalled, he knew not +why, at the sudden apparition; "the day of judgment has come at last! +I have waited for it patiently; but justice shall be done, and it is I +whom God has chosen to manifest his power!" + +All present gazed with admiration and respect at the woman, who seemed +completely transfigured. Her face was radiant; her eyes flashed +lightning. With calm and imposing steps, she approached the hacendero. +"Don Pedro! my much-loved master," said she in a voice scarcely +intelligible from emotion; "forgive me! I have made you suffer, oh, +how long! But God inspired me! It is He, and only He, who dictated my +conduct. Don Fernando is not your son; he is mine! Your son"--and she +brought forward Don Estevan--"is here!" + +"Don Estevan!" cried all present. + +"A lie!" howled the Tigercat + +"It is the truth," briefly replied Na Manuela. "Hatred is blind, Don +Leoncio. You took away the poor nurse's child when you thought you had +stolen your brother's. Look at Estevan, all you who knew his mother, +and deny, if you dare, that he is her son." + +In truth, the likeness was striking. Up to the time, Estevan's position +had blinded their eyes; there was no reason to seek for a resemblance +to anyone: but now, when the veil had fallen, they recognised whence he +sprung. + +"But you will always be my mother!" cried Estevan, with much feeling. + +"Mother!" exclaimed Fernando, throwing himself into her arms. + +Don Pedro's joy knew no bounds. + +The Tigercat, forced to confess himself foiled, uttered a howl like a +wild beast. "Aha!" cried he, beside himself with rage, "Is it to be +thus? But it is not over yet!" He drew a poniard from his garments, and +threw himself with all his force on Don Pedro, who, in his joy, had +forgotten his presence. + +But an eye watched him. Don Luciano had stolen into the _jacal_, and +noiselessly placed himself behind the bandit, whose every movement he +carefully watched. As the Tigercat made his spring, he threw his arms +around him, and pinioned him, in spite of the desperate efforts made +by the miserable wretch. At the same moment, the _vaquero_ bounded +into the _jacal_, knife in hand, and, before anyone could arrest him, +plunged it up to the hilt in his throat. "Not bad;" he exclaimed. "The +opportunity was too good to lose! My _navajada_ was never given so +fairly! I hope this blow will gain me pardon for the others." + +The Tigercat remained standing a moment, swaying hither and thither, +like a half-uprooted oak tottering to its fall. He rolled his eyes +around him, in which rage still strove with the agony that made them +haggard. He made one last effort to pronounce a terrible malediction, +but his mouth contracted horribly; a stream of dark blood spouted from +his yawning throat; he fell at his full length on the ground, where +he writhed for a moment like a crushed reptile, to the inconceivable +horror of the spectators. Then all was still: he was dead; but on his +face, distorted by the death pang, unutterable hatred survived the life +which had just quitted him. + +"Justice is done," said Manuela, with trembling accents. "It is the +hand of God!" + +"Let us pray for him," said Don Pedro, falling on his knees. + +All present, impressed by this noble and simple action, followed his +example, and knelt by his side. + +The _vaquero_, having finished his part in the scene, thought +it prudent to disappear, but not without exchanging a glance of +intelligence with the _capataz_, who smiled grimly under his gray +moustache. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STONEHEART*** + + +******* This file should be named 44399.txt or 44399.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/4/4/3/9/44399 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at + www.gutenberg.org/license. + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +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 + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation information page at www.gutenberg.org + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at 809 +North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email +contact links and up to date contact information can be found at the +Foundation's web site and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For forty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/old/44399.zip b/old/44399.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ab131d5 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/44399.zip |