I was left but little time for reflection; but, short as it was, it
enabled me to comprehend the scheme of my captors--or rather that of
their chief.
From the Piazza of La Rinconada, Citlapetel was in full view, with its
quick acclivity guiding the eye of the observer up to the azure canopy
of heaven.
That line of pure virgin snow should have been suggestive of spotless
innocence. Alas! to me, at that moment, it was but the suggester of
thoughts of a far different character.
On the slope of that majestic mountain, stood the town of Orizava, the
capital of the surrounding country. I knew--a knowledge all my own, and
not shared by my comrades in the American army--that the lame tyrant of
Mexico had fled towards Orizava, and was at that moment safe beyond
pursuit in this city of the mountains.
It was not likely I should so soon have forgotten the contents of that
infamous epistle found on the _catre_ so lately occupied by the Mexican
commander-in-chief, nor the vile conditions therein promised. "_En buen
tiempo dormira ella en la tienda, y los brazos de vuestra Excellenza_."
Too truly did I remember them.
Now, certainly, did I perceive the scheme that the salteador was in the
act of executing. Santa Anna should, by that time, be somewhere in the
neighbourhood of Orizava, if not in the town itself. Orizava was the
destination of Rayas and his robbers!
It needed no further consideration, had there been time for such, either
to explain the past or forecast the future. The girl had been taken
prisoner on the road between Cerro Gordo and the village of El Plan--
captured, perhaps, but a few moments after that parting I had fondly
deemed reluctant; ah! perhaps even through the delay caused by myself,
and which had separated her from her escort of Jarochos? It might be in
the midst of that escort, dismayed and scattered by the onslaught of the
salteadores. It might be that the unfortunate Calros--her brother--
My conjectures were cut short. The robber chief stood before me. His
air of savage exultation was easily interpreted. He had come to prepare
me for the spectacle which he had promised to his companions!
I knew not what was to be its nature; nor do I know to this hour. It
was like one of those promised performances of the theatre--conspicuous
in the programme, but omitted in the action. It never came to pass.
The brigand directed me to be unbound, and separated from the horse, an
order that was instantly executed by his brace of subordinates who had
been more especially guarding me.
As soon as my feet were set free from the stirrup-leathers, I was
dragged out of the saddle, my limbs were fast lashed together, both at
the knees and ankles, and I was rudely cast upon the ground--where I
lay, helpless as a bale of merchandise.
During all the time that this action was going forward, the robber chief
stood near me, grinning gleefully at my forlorn position, taunting me
with my impuissance, and applying to me every ugly epithet to be found
in the vocabulary of the Spano-Mexican tongue.
His most favourite allusions were to the "putita" inside the hut, to
which he kept pointing, ironically entreating me to protect her; at the
same time telling me in plain and most disgusting terms, the fate that
was in store for her.
He could not have devised a more excruciating mode of torment. No ill
he could have inflicted on my person could have been more painful than
this torturing of my soul. I loved the girl whose dishonour was thus
freely foreshadowed; and knowing the character of her captor, I could
have no doubt about the fulfilment of his atrocious promise.
All the more was I pained, now that I had learnt how involuntary was the
Jarocha's presence among the brutal rabble that surrounded her; all the
more, that I fancied in that cry--which escaped her lips on recognising
me as her fellow-prisoner--an accent of interest not to be mistaken.
The look with which she had regarded me was eloquent of the same
interest; its muteness only showing the intensity of her sorrowful
surprise.
I could not help framing conjectures as to what was to be the spectacle,
of which I was to form the conspicuous figure. Its _denouement_ I could
only guess--death in some shape or other. Lola's fate I knew; and my
own--all but the mode of its accomplishment. Death in some dire
fashion, by some of those horrid devices so well known to the ruffians
who surrounded me, under the sanction of the _lex talionis_, at the time
in full practice throughout the land.
Rayas had for the moment left me, and had gone inside the hut, where the
Jarocha was kept.
The brace of bandits still stood over me. There was a peculiar grin
upon their faces--an expression that bespoke demoniac delight, as if
anticipating some scene that combined the comic with the cruel.
I noted a similar expression upon the faces of their comrades, who had
gathered in groups in front of the jacale within which their chief had
for the moment disappeared.
Not altogether disappeared. Through the interstices between the bamboos
which formed the walls, I could see as through the wicker of a cage.
Four figures could be counted inside. Three of them were moving about;
the fourth was stationary and seated. One of the moving figures was
Rayas himself, the other two were a brace of his subordinates, who had
conducted, or rather carried, the girl inside. It was her figure I saw
in the sitting position, or rather crouched and cowering as in fear.
What did it mean? There was something to come off--something of which
the brigands had been already apprised--as I could tell by the infernal
glee with which they were congratulating one another.
Evidently some fiendish spectacle was at hand; and it soon became
equally evident to me, that it was not I, but my fellow-captive, who was
to be its principal figure.
Yes: clear as could be, the girl was destined to some atrocious
treatment--some infamous exhibition!
I was painfully pondering in my mind what it was to be--shaping hideous
conjectures--when I saw Rayas wave his arm in the direction of the
motionless figure.
It seemed a signal to his subordinates; who, in obedience to it, glided
up to the Jarocha, both at the same instant laying hands upon the girl.
She sprang to her feet, and commenced what appeared to be a struggle of
resistance. Her cries at the same time came forth freely from the hut,
piercing my heart to its very core; while from the unfeeling wretches
outside, they only elicited peals of brutal laughter!
As I could but faintly distinguish the movements of the men inside, I
was still uncertain as to the nature of the struggle going on between
them and the girl. They appeared to be disrobing her, or rather tearing
the clothes from her back!
This was in reality their purpose, effected in a few minutes: for in
less time than I have taken to tell it, she was dragged outside the
door; and I saw that the only covering which concealed her person from
the lewd eyes that were gazing upon her, was a slight chemise of thin
cotton stuff, scarcely reaching to her knees.
At the same instant a sort of truck bedstead, made of bamboos, was
brought forth from the hut by another brace of the brigands, who placed
it conspicuously in front of where I lay.
Towards this the girl was now conducted.
Merciful heavens! what could it mean?
I could only divine the intention by the circumstances that preceded it.
These made it too clear for me not to comprehend the dread drama for
which the stage was being set.
Rayas himself was to be the perpetrator. I saw him preparing for the
grave deed!
I averted my eyes in disgust. I could not look either at the villain or
his victim. The sight of the latter might have melted a heart of
stone--any other than that of a brutal brigand. Her cries were of
themselves sufficient to fill my heart with the acme of extreme
bitterness.
I lay upon my back, gazing upwards to heaven. Was there no help to come
from God? Had a thunderbolt from the sky struck me dead at that moment,
I should have deemed it mercy. I prayed for death!
The faces of the two men who stood over me were lit up with smiles of
fiendish delight. They saw my agony, and began to mock me with ribald
words.
They were the last that either of them lived to utter. The one most
forward in reviling, suddenly stopped in his speech, as if rebuked by
something that had struck him in the face.
A stifled cry escaped from his lips; he tottered a moment on his legs,
and then fell heavily by my side!
He had scarcely settled upon the ground before his _confrere_, dropping
in like fashion, fell doubled over his body.
There was blood gushing out from the faces of both. I saw that both
were corpses!
Story 1, Chapter XXIV.