On the day after the capture of the caravan the Indians, having consumed
all the whisky found in the waggons, and become comparatively sober,
prepared to move off.
The captured goods, made up into convenient parcels, were placed upon
mules and spare horses. Of both they had plenty, having come prepared
for such a sequel to their onslaught upon the traders.
The warriors, having given interment to their dead comrades, leaving the
scalped and mutilated corpses of the white men to the vultures and
wolves, mounted and marched off.
Before leaving the scene of their sanguinary exploit, they had drawn the
waggons into a close clump and set fire to them, partly from a wanton
instinct of destruction, partly from the pleasure of beholding a great
bonfire, but also with some thoughts that it might be as well thus to
blot out all the traces of a tragedy for which the Americans--of whom
even these freebooters felt dread--might some day call them to account.
They did not all go together, but separated into two parties on the spot
where they had passed the night. They were parties, however, of very
unequal size, one of them numbering only four individuals.
The other, which constituted the main body of the plunderers, was the
band of the Tenawa Comanchey, under their chief, Horned Lizard. These
last turned eastward, struck off towards the head waters of the Big
Witches, upon which and its tributaries lie their customary roving
grounds.
The lesser party went off in almost the opposite direction,
south-westerly, leaving the Llano Estacado on their left, and journeying
on, crossed the Rio Pecos at a point below and outside the farthest
frontier settlement of New Mexico towards the prairies. Then, shaping
their course nearly due south, they skirted the spurs of the Sierra
Blanca, that in this latitude extend eastward almost to the Pecos.
On arriving near the place known as Gran Quivira--where once stood a
prosperous Spanish town, devoted to gathering gold, now only a ruin,
scarcely traceable, and altogether without record--they again changed
their course, almost zigzagging back in a north-westerly direction.
They were making towards a depression seen in the Sierra Blanca, as if
with the intention to cross the mountains toward the valley of the Del
Norte. They might have reached the valley without this circumstance, by
a trail well known and often travelled. But it appeared as if this was
just what they wanted to avoid.
One of the men composing this party was he already remarked upon as
having a large beard and whiskers. A second was one of those spoken of
as more slightly furnished with these appendages, while the other two
were beardless.
All four were of deep bronze complexion, and to all appearance
pure-blooded aboriginals. That the two with hirsute sign spoke to one
another in Spanish was no sure evidence of their not being Indians. It
was within the limits of New Mexican territory, where there are many
Indians who converse in Castilian as an ordinary language.
He with the whiskered cheeks--the chief of the quartet, as well as the
tallest of them--had not left behind the share of plunder that had been
allotted to him. It was still in his train, borne on the backs of seven
strong mules, heavily loaded. These formed an _atajo_ or pack-train,
guided and driven by the two beardless men of the party, who seemed to
understand mule driving as thoroughly as if they had been trained to the
calling of the _arriero_; and perhaps so had they been.
The other two took no trouble with the pack-animals, but rode on in
front, conversing _sans souci_, and in a somewhat jocular vein.
The heavily-bearded man was astride a splendid black horse; not a
Mexican mustang, like that of his companions, but a large sinewy animal,
that showed the breed of Kentucky. And so should he--since he was the
same steed Frank Hamersley had been compelled to leave behind in that
rapid rush into the crevice of the cliff.
"This time, Roblez, we've made a pretty fair haul of it," remarked he
who bestrode the black. "What with the silks and laces--to say nothing
of this splendid mount between my legs--I think I may say that our time
has not been thrown away."
"Yours hasn't, anyhow. My share won't be much."
"Come, come, _teniente_! don't talk in that way. You should be
satisfied with a share proportioned to your rank. Besides, you must
remember the man who puts down the stake has the right to draw the
winnings. But for me there would have been no spoils to share. Isn't
it so?"
This truth seeming to produce an impression on Roblez's mind, he made
response in the affirmative.
"Well, I'm glad you acknowledge it," pursued the rider of the black.
"Let there be no disputes between us; for you know, Roblez, we can't
afford to quarrel. You shall have a liberal percentage on this lucky
venture; I promise it. By the bye, how much do you think the plunder
ought to realise?"
"Well," responded Roblez, restored to a cheerful humour, "if properly
disposed of in El Paso or Chihuahua, the lot ought to fetch from fifteen
to twenty thousand dollars. I see some silk-velvet among the stuff that
would sell high, if you could get it shown to the rich damsels of
Durango or Zacatecas. One thing sure, you've got a good third of the
caravan stock."
"Ha! ha! More than half of it in value. The Horned lizard went in for
bulk. I let him have it to his heart's content. He thinks more of
those cheap cotton prints, with their red and green and yellow flowers,
than all the silk ever spun since the days of Mother Eve. Ha! ha! ha!"
The laugh, in which Roblez heartily joined, was still echoing on the air
as the two horsemen entered a pass leading through the mountains. It
was the depression in the sierra, seen shortly after parting with the
Horned Lizard and his band. It was a pass rugged with rock, and almost
trackless, here and there winding about, and sometimes continued through
canons or clefts barely wide enough to give way to the mules with the
loads upon their backs.
For all this the animals of the travellers seemed to journey along it
without difficulty, only the American horse showing signs of
awkwardness. All the others went as if they had trodden it before.
For several hours they kept on through this series of canons and
gorges--here and there crossing a transverse ridge that, cutting off a
bend, shortened the distance.
Just before sunset the party came to a halt; not in the defile itself,
but in one of still more rugged aspect, that led laterally into the side
of the mountain. In this there was no trace or sign of travel--no
appearance of its having been entered by man or animal.
Yet the horse ridden by Roblez, and the pack-mules coming after, entered
with as free a step as if going into a well-known enclosure. True, the
chief of the party, mounted on the Kentucky steed, had gone in before
them; though this scarce accounted for their confidence.
Up this unknown gorge they rode until they had reached its end. There
was no outlet, for it was a _cul-de-sac_--a natural court--such as are
often found among the amygdaloidal mountains of Mexico.
At its extremity, where it narrowed to a width of about fifty feet, lay
a huge boulder of granite that appeared to block up the path; though
there was a clear space between it and the cliff rising vertically
behind it.
The obstruction was only apparent, and did not cause the leading savage
of the party to make even a temporary stop. At one side there was an
opening large enough to admit the passage of a horse; and into this he
rode, Roblez following, and also the mules in a string, one after the
other.
Behind the boulder was an open space of a few square yards, of extent
sufficient to allow room for turning a horse. The savage chief wheeled
his steed, and headed him direct for the cliff; not with the design of
dashing his brains against the rock, but to force him into a cavern,
whose entrance showed its disc in the facade of the precipice, dark and
dismal as the door of an Inquisitorial prison.
The horse snorted, and shied back; but the ponderous Mexican spur, with
its long sharp rowel-points, soon drove him in; whither he was followed
by the mustang of Roblez and the mules--the latter going in as
unconcernedly as if entering a stable whose stalls were familiar to
them.