CARMELA.
Before we continue our story, it is indispensable for us to give our
readers certain important and indispensable details about facts that
have to come.
Among the provinces of the vast territory of New Spain, there is one,
the most eastern of all, whose real value the Government of the Viceroys
has constantly ignored. This ignorance was kept up by the Mexican
Republic, which, at the period of the proclamation of Independence, did
not think it worthy of being formed into a separate state, and, without
dreaming of what might happen at a later date, negligently allowed it to
be colonized by the North Americans, who even at that period seemed
infected by that fever of encroachment and aggrandizement which has now
become a species of endemic mania among these worthy citizens--we refer
to Texas.
This magnificent country is one of the most fortunately situated in
Mexico; territorially regarded, it is immense, no country is better
watered, for considerable rivers pour into the sea, their waters swollen
by countless streams which fertilize this country, as they traverse it
in every direction; and these currents and rivers being deeply imbedded,
never form those wide expanses of water by their overflow, which in
other countries are transformed into fetid marshes.
The climate of Texas is healthy, and exempt from those frightful
diseases which have given such a sinister celebrity to certain countries
of the New World.
The natural borders of Texas are the Sabina on the East, Red River on
the north, to the west a chain of lofty mountains, which enters vast
prairies, and the Rio Bravo del Norte, and lastly, from the mouth of the
latter river to that of the Sabina, the Gulf of Mexico.
We have said that the Spaniards were almost ignorant of the real value
of Texas, although they had been acquainted with it for a very long
time, for it is almost certain that in 1536, Cabeça de Vaca traversed it
when he proceeded from Florida to the northern provinces of Mexico.
Still the honour of the first settlement attempted in this fine country
belongs incontestably to France.
In fact, the unfortunate and celebrated Robert de la Salle, ordered by
the Marquis de Siegnelay to discover the mouth of the Mississippi in
1684, made a mistake, and entered the Rio de Colorado, which he
descended with countless difficulties, till he reached the San Bernardo
lagoon, where he built a fort between Velasco and Matagorda, and took
possession of the country. We will enter into no further details about
this bold explorer, who twice attempted to reach the unknown lands to
the east of Mexico, and was traitorously assassinated in 1687, by
villains who belonged to his band.
A later reminiscence attaches France to Texas, for it was there that
General Lallemand attempted in 1817 to found, under the name of _Champ
d'Asyle_, a colony of French refugees, the unhappy relics of the
invincible armies of the first empire. This colony, situated about ten
leagues from Galveston, was utterly destroyed by the orders of the
Viceroy Apodaca, by virtue of the despotic system, constantly followed
by the Spaniards of the New World, of not allowing strangers, under any
pretext, to establish themselves on any point of their territory.
We shall be forgiven these prosy details when our readers reflect that
this country, scarce twenty years free, with a superficies of one
hundred thousand acres and more, and inhabited by two hundred thousand
persons at the most, has, however, entered on an era of prosperity and
progress, which must inevitably arouse the attention of European
Governments, and the sympathies of intelligent men of all nations.
At the period when the events occurred which we have undertaken to
narrate, that is to say in the later half of 1829, Texas still belonged
to Mexico, but its glorious revolution had begun, it was struggling
valiantly to escape from the disgraceful yoke of the central government,
and proclaim its independence.
Before, however, we continue our story, we must explain how it was that
Tranquil, the Canadian hunter, and Quoniam, the Negro, who was indebted
to him for liberty, whom we left on the Upper Missouri leading the free
life of wood-rangers, found themselves established, as it were, in
Texas, and how the hunter had a daughter, or, at any rate, called his
daughter, the lovely fair-haired girl we have presented to the reader
under the name of Carmela.
About twelve years before the day we visit the Venta del Potrero,
Tranquil arrived at the same hostelry, accompanied by two comrades, and
a child of five to six years of age, with blue eyes, ruddy lips, and
golden hair, who was no other than Carmela; as for his comrades, one was
Quoniam, the other an Indian half-breed, who answered to the name of
Lanzi.
The sun was just about setting when the little party halted in front of
the venta.
The host, but little accustomed in this desolate country, close to the
Indian border, to see travellers, and especially at so late an hour, had
already closed and barred his house, and was himself getting ready for
bed, when the unexpected arrival of our friends forced him to alter his
arrangements for the night.
It was, however, only with marked repugnance, and on the repeated
assurances the travellers made him that he had nought to fear from them,
that he at length decided to open his door, and admit them to his house.
Once that he had resolved to receive them, the host was as he should be
to his guests, that is to say, polite and attentive, as far as that can
enter into the character of a Mexican landlord, a race, be it noted in a
parenthesis, the least hospitable in existence.
He was a short, stout man, with cat-like manners, and crafty looks,
already of a certain age, but still quick and active.
When the travellers had placed their horses in the corral, before a good
stock of alfalfa, and had themselves supped with the appetite of men who
have made a long journey, the ice was broken between them and the host,
thanks to a few tragos of Catalonian refino, liberally offered by the
Canadian, and the conversation went on upon a footing of the truest
cordiality, while the little girl, carefully wrapped up in the hunter's
warm zarapé, was sleeping with that calm and simple carelessness
peculiar to that happy age when the present is all in all, and the
future does not exist.
"Well, gossip," Tranquil said gaily, as he poured out a glass of refino
for the host; "I fancy you must lead a jolly life of it here."
"I?"
"Hang it, yes; you go to bed with the bees, and I feel certain you are
in no hurry to get up in the morning."
"What else can I do in this accursed desert, where I have buried myself
for my sins?"
"Are travellers so rare, then?"
"Yes and no; it depends on the meaning you give the word."
"Confound it! there are not two meanings, I should fancy."
"Yes, two very distinct meanings."
"Nonsense! I am curious to know them."
"That is easy enough: there is no lack of vagabonds of every colour in
the country, and if I liked, they would fill my house the whole blessed
day; but they would not shew me the colour of their money."
"Ah, very good; but these estimable Caballeros do not constitute the
whole of your customers, I presume?"
"No; there are also the Indios Bravos, Comanches, Apaches, and Pawnees,
and Heaven alone knows who else, who prowl about the neighbourhood from
time to time."
"Hum! those are awkward neighbours, and if you have only such customers,
I am beginning to be of your opinion; still, you must now and then
receive pleasanter visits."
"Yes, from time to time, straggling travellers like yourself, of course;
but the profits, in any case, are far from covering the expenses."
"That is true, here's your health."
"The same to you."
"In that case, though, allow me a remark which may appear to you
indiscreet."
"Speak, speak, Caballeros, we are talking as friends, so have no chance
of offence."
"You are right. If you are so uncomfortable here, why the deuce do you
remain?"
"Why, where would you have me go?"
"Well, I do not know, but you would be better off anywhere than here."
"Ah! if it only depended on me," he said, with a sigh.
"Have you anybody with you here?"
"No, I am alone."
"Well, what prevents you going then?"
"Eh, Caramba, the money! All I possessed, and that was not much, was
spent in building this house, and installing myself, and I could not
have managed it had it not been for the peons."
"Is there a hacienda here?"
"Yes, the Larch tree hacienda, about four leagues off, so that, you
understand, if I go, I must give up my all."
"Ah, ah," Tranquil said thoughtfully, "very good, go on. Why not sell
it?"
"Where are the buyers? Do you fancy it so easy to find about here a man
with four or five hundred piastres in his pocket; and, moreover, ready
to commit an act of folly?"
"Well, I can't say, but I fancy by seeking he could be found."
"Nonsense, gossip, you are jesting!"
"On my word I am not," Tranquil said, suddenly changing his tone, "and I
will prove it to you."
"Good."
"You say you will sell your house for four hundred piastres?"
"Did I say four hundred?"
"Don't finesse, you did."
"Very good, then; I admit it: what next?"
"Well, I will buy it, if you like."
"You?"
"Why not?"
"I will think about it."
"That is done; say yes or no, take it, or leave it; perhaps I may have
altered my mind in five minutes, so decide."
The landlord gave the Canadian a searching glance. "I accept," he said.
"Good: but I will not give you four hundred piastres."
"How much?" the other said, crying off.
"I will give you six hundred."
The landlord looked at him in amazement.
"I am quite agreeable," he said.
"But on one condition."
"What is it?"
"That to-morrow, so soon as the sale is completed, you will mount your
horse--you have one, I suppose?"
"Yes."
"Well, you will mount, start, and never show yourself here again."
"Oh! You may be quite certain on that point."
"It's settled then?"
"Perfectly."
"Then let your witnesses be ready at day-break."
"They shall be."
The conversation ended here. The travellers wrapped themselves in their
fressadas and zarapés, lay down on the lumpy floor of the room, and fell
asleep; the host followed their example.
As was arranged between them, the landlord, a little before daybreak,
saddled his horse, and went to fetch the witnesses necessary for the
validity of the transaction; for this purpose he galloped to the
Larch-tree hacienda and returned by sunrise, accompanied by the
major-domo and seven or eight peons.
The major-domo, the only one who could read and write, drew up the deed
of sale, and after collecting all the persons, read it aloud.
Tranquil then took thirty-seven and a half gold onzas from his girdle,
and spread them out on the table.
"Be witnesses, Caballeros," the major-domo said, addressing his
audience, "that the Señor Tranquilo has paid the six hundred piastres
agreed on for the purchase of the Venta del Potrero."
"We are witness," they replied.
Then all present, the major-domo at their head, passed into the corral
behind the house.
On reaching it, Tranquil pulled up a tuft of grass which he cast over
his shoulder; then picking up a stone, he hurled it over the opposite
wall: according to the terms of Mexican law, he was now the owner.
"Be witness, Señores," the major-domo again spoke, "that Señor
Tranquilo, here present, has legally taken possession of this estate.
_Dios y libertad!_"
"_Dios y libertad_!" the others shouted; "Long life to the new
huesped!"
All the formalities being performed, they now returned to the house,
when Tranquil poured out bumpers for his witnesses, whom this unexpected
liberality filled with delight.
The ex-landlord, faithful to his agreement, pressed the buyer's hand,
mounted his horse, and went off, wishing him good luck. From that day
they never heard of him again.
This was the manner in which the hunter arrived in Texas, and became a
landed proprietor.
He left Lanzi and Quoniam at the venta with Carmela. As for himself,
thanks to the patronage of the major-domo, who recommended him to his
master, Don Hilario de Vaureal, he entered the Larch-tree hacienda in
the capacity of tigrero or tiger-killer.
Although the country selected by the hunter to establish himself was on
the confines of the Mexican border, and, for that reason, almost
deserted, the vaqueros and peons cudgelled their brains for some time in
trying to discover the reason which bad compelled so clever and brave a
hunter as the Canadian to retire there. But all the efforts made to
discover this reason, all the questions asked, remained without result;
the hunter's comrades and himself remained dumb; as for the little girl,
she knew nothing.
At length the disappointed people gave up trying to find the explanation
of this enigma, trusting to time, that great clearer up of mysteries, to
tell them at length the truth which was so carefully concealed.
But weeks, months, years elapsed, and nothing raised even a corner of
the hunter's secret.
Carmela had grown an exquisite maiden, and the venta had increased the
number of its customers. This border, hitherto so quiet, owing to its
remoteness from the towns and pueblos, felt the movement which the
revolutionary ideas imparted to the centre of the country; travellers
became more frequent, and the hunter, who had up to this time appeared
rather careless as to the future, trusting for his safety to the
isolation of his abode, began to grow anxious, not for himself, but for
Carmela, who was exposed almost definitively to the bold attempts not
only of lovers, whom her beauty attracted, as honey does flies, but also
to those of the ruffians whom the troublous times had drawn out of their
lairs, and who wandered about all the roads like coyotes seeking prey to
devour.
The hunter, wishful no longer to leave the maiden in the dangerous
position into which circumstances had thrown her, was actively employed
in warding off the misfortunes he foresaw; for, although it is
impossible, for the present, to know what ties attached him to the girl
who called him father, we will state here that he felt a really paternal
affection and absolute devotion for her, in which, indeed, Quoniam and
Lanzi imitated him. Carmela to these three men was neither girl nor
woman; she was an idol they adored on their bended knees, and for whom
they would have readily sacrificed their lives at the slightest sign it
might please her to make them.
A smile from Carmela rendered them happy; the slightest frown from her
made them sorrowful.
We must add, that although she was aware of the full extent of her
power, Carmela did not abuse it, and it was her greatest joy to see
herself surrounded by these three hearts which were so entirely devoted
to her.
Now that we have given these details, doubtless very imperfect, but the
only ones possible, we will resume our story at the point where we left
it in the penultimate chapter.