A NIGHT IN THE WOODS.
American forests, when night sets in, assume a character of grandeur
and majesty, of which our European forests cannot supply an idea. The
aged trees, which grow more than one hundred feet in height, and whose
tufted crests form splendid arches of foliage, the lianas which spread
in every direction with the strangest parabolas, the moss, called
Spaniard's beard, which hangs in long festoons from all the branches,
impart to these vast solitudes an aspect at once grand and mysterious,
which leads the mind to reverie and fills it with religious and
melancholy thoughts.
When the sun has disappeared and made way for darkness, when the night
breeze murmurs in the foliage, and the hollow sound of some unknown
rivulet coursing over the gravel, is blended with the myriad indistinct
noises of the insects hidden in the crevices of the trees and rocks;
when the wild beasts, awaking at nightfall, leave their secret dens
to proceed to their watering places, uttering at intervals hoarse
yells--the forests in the pale moonbeams, which filter timidly through
the branches, really become to the man who ventures into them the grand
laboratory in which nature likes to assay in gloom and mystery the most
powerful and strangest of her productions.
There are accumulated, beneath the detritus piled up by centuries, the
shapeless and yet imposing ruins of generations which have disappeared
and left no sign; remnants of walls, pyramids, and obelisks rise at
times before the startled eyes of the Indian or the hunter, as if to
reveal to them that in times perhaps contemporary with the deluge, a
powerful nation, now utterly effaced from the world, existed at this
spot. Those who obstinately call America the New World, and deny the
existence of the ruins with which this fertile soil is broadcast, have
traversed this country like blind men, and have neither visited the
splendid ruins of the Palenques, nor those which may be found at every
step in the desert, by means of which some travellers have succeeded
in settling the route followed by the migrations of the peoples that
succeeded each other. The province of Coahuila in Mexico possesses
several of these remains of great antiquity, which recall by their
shape, and the way in which they are constructed, the _dolmens_ and
_menhirs_ of old America.
The travellers had established their camp in a vast clearing, in the
centre of which was a gigantic monolith obelisk, so singularly placed
on a block of stone that the slightest touch sufficed to give it a
marked oscillating movement. This spot had a singular name, whose
origin no one could have accounted for; the people of the country
called it _Coatetl_, that is to say the home of the snake. This name,
by the way, is found very frequently in Mexico, whose aborigines had a
great respect for the snake, in consequence of their first legislator
Quetzaltcoatl, that is to say, the "serpent covered with feathers."
The clearing, which Indians and peons avoided with a respect mingled
with terror, was said to be haunted. An ancient tradition, greatly in
favour with the people, declared that at certain periods of the year,
at the new moon, and when any great event was about to be accomplished,
the stone, raised at its base by some mysterious power, afforded
passage to a monstrous snake, which, after sitting up there on its
tail with an angry hiss, suddenly assumed the appearance and form of a
female, dressed in a white winding sheet, who walked round the clearing
till daylight, uttering shrieks and writhing her arms with all the
marks of the most profound despair; then, as the moon became more deep
on the horizon, the apparition gradually became less distinct, and
entirely disappeared at daybreak. The stone then resumed its place,
and all returned to its natural state. At times, but very rarely, the
apparition spoke; but woe to the man whose ear the words reached; he
would certainly die within the year, and his end was almost always
miserable.
Probably the travellers bivouacked at this moment in the clearing were
ignorant of this legend, or, if acquainted with it, their education or
their strength of character protected them from such vulgar belief.
Had it not been so, they would not have ventured to spend the night
at a spot of such suspicious reputation. However this may be, the
travellers whom chance had so singularly brought together did honour to
the improvised repast, like men who, little accustomed to good dinners,
recognized all their merits. When they had finished eating they turned
their backs to the fire, so that the flames might not prevent their
watching the neighbourhood, and lighting their pipes and cigarettes
began smoking the Indian _moriche_, the only tobacco they had at their
service at the moment. There was a lengthened silence, during which
the guests enjoyed their smoke, and Don Aurelio was the first whose
cigarette was consumed. As he rolled another he said to the two wood
rangers--
"You are foreigners, I think you said?"
The Canadians nodded an affirmative, probably not considering that any
other answer was required.
"And have not been long in Mexico?" Don Aurelio continued.
"No," the Sumach answered, laconically.
"Ah!" the Mexican continued, not allowing himself to be discouraged by
the uninviting way in which the hunters answered him. "Ours is a famous
country at present for brave men; it is easy to make a fortune without
much outlay."
"Well," Moonshine answered with a crafty look, "not quite so easy as
you fancy. Here is my comrade, who is certainly a plucky fellow, and
who perhaps knows his trade better than most people, and yet he has not
found anything to suit him."
"He probably applied to persons who did not understand him."
"Perhaps so, perhaps not," the Sumach said, shaking his head
doubtfully; "or perhaps I asked too high a price."
"What! Too high a price?" Don Aurelio exclaimed; "I do not understand."
"What use is it wasting time in explaining it to you, as it is not
likely we shall have a deal together?"
"Who knows? Tell me, at any rate. We are going to a meeting of very
rich caballeros, and expect to join them in the morning. Let me know
your demands, which I will lay before them; and if they are not too
high, they may probably deal with you."
"Nonsense, why tell them to you?" the adventurer continued carelessly.
"It will be time enough tomorrow for us to have an explanation with the
gentlemen to whom you refer."
"As you please, I have no wish to force myself on your confidence."
"I intend to do so; but listen to me. Give me your word of honour that
if we do not come to terms I shall be at liberty to go wherever I
please, without any fear for my safety or my life."
"I pledge you my word of honour," Don Aurelio said quickly; "you can
trust to me."
"I do so with the more confidence," the adventurer remarked with a
laugh; "because if a hair of my head fell, it would cost you much more
dearly than you imagine."
"What do you mean?"
"Enough that I know it," the Sumach said with a crafty smile; "we have
no need to enter into further details."
"Why play fast and loose with this caballero?" Moonshine observed; "His
intentions are good. I see no harm in your being frank with him."
"Nonsense," the adventurer said, with a shrug of his shoulders. "Let me
alone, Moonshine; least said is soonest mended. In that way, we shall
see if we can have confidence in the word of a Spaniard."
"Of a Mexican you mean," Don Aurelio interrupted him with some vivacity.
"Well, a Mexican; it is of little consequence, though the difference
appears to me very slight."
"That is possible, but to me it is enormous."
"As you please," the adventurer answered carelessly. "I have not the
slightest wish to argue with you--the more so, that you must know more
about the matter than I do."
"In one word," Don Aurelio continued, "do you accept the proposition I
made you to accompany me tomorrow to the hacienda, where the leaders of
the revolutionary party are going to assemble, and may I rely on your
word?"
"Yes, if I may rely on yours."
"I gave it to you. Here is my hand, you can take it without fear; it is
that of a man of honour, and a friend."
The two Canadians cordially pressed the hand so frankly offered.
"That is settled," Moonshine said, as he shook the ashes of his pipe
out on his thumb nail, and then passed the stem through his belt.
"Now that is all arranged between us, if you will take my advice we
will have a sleep. The night is getting on, and we must be mounted by
sunrise."
No one opposed this proposition, which, on the contrary, was
unanimously accepted; for all of them being fatigued with riding for
the whole day along impracticable roads, had great need of rest. Each
wrapped himself carefully up in his zarapé, and lay down on the grass
with his feet to the fire. Moonshine threw a few handfuls of dry wood
into the flames, and resting his back against the base of the obelisk,
placed his rifle between his legs, and prepared to guard the slumbers
of his companions.
Don Aurelio had to oppose this, asserting that it was his duty to keep
the first guard; but the Canadian insisted so strongly that the Mexican
at length gave way, on the express condition of taking his place so
soon as he felt sleep weighing his eyelids down. Moonshine, therefore,
was soon the only person awake in the camp.
The night was calm and sultry; the atmosphere impregnated by the
fragrant emanations from the ground, and refreshed by a wayward breeze
which sported through the branches, and made them gently rustle, formed
a light haze through which the white moonbeams capriciously filtered.
The will-o'-the-wisps danced over the points of the grass, and a dull,
continuous murmur which resembled the breathing of nature, and seemed
to have no apparent cause, was mingled with the indistinct sounds of
the solitude. The dark blue sky, studded with a profusion of dazzling
stars, spread out like a diamond dome over this grand scenery, to which
it imparted a fairylike aspect.
The hunter, leaning against the base of the obelisk, with his arms
crossed on the barrel of his rifle which was resting between his legs,
yielded to the pleasure which this splendid night caused him. With his
eyes half closed, and assailed by a sleepiness which he only combated
with difficulty, his ideas were beginning to lose their lucidity, his
brain was growing confused, and the moment was at hand when sleep would
definitively close his eyelids, which he could only succeed in keeping
open by long and painful efforts.
How long he was plunged in this reverie, which has no name in any
language, but which causes an infinite pleasure, he could not have
said. All was confused before his half-closed eyes, and he could only
perceive surrounding objects through a prism which transformed the
landscape. Suddenly the hoarse croak of the owl was repeated several
times with a force which made the hunter give a mighty start. He opened
his eyes, shook off the lethargy that weighed upon him, and looked
anxiously around him. All at once he started, rubbed his eyes as if to
expel the last remains of sleep, and with a movement swift as thought,
raised his rifle.
"Who goes there?" he shouted in a sharp though slightly trembling
voice, owing to the inward emotion that agitated him.
The cry aroused the travellers from their sleep; they started up
sharply and laid their hands on their weapons; but they let them fall
again and remained motionless, with pallid cheeks and eyes fixed and
dilated by terror. At fifty paces from them, on the skirt of the
clearing, and fantastically illumined by a moonbeam which threw its
light full upon her, stood straight and upright the vague form of a
woman, whose proportions appeared gigantic to the terrified travellers.
Garments of a dazzling whiteness fell in folds round this undefinable
being, who held in her right hand a long sword whose flashing blade
emitted sinister reflections. Her beautiful and regular face was of
a cadaverous hue, which formed a contrast with the raven hue of her
hair, which fell in disorder on her shoulders, and descended lower
than her girdle, which was a golden circlet two burning eyes lit up
this face and gave it an expression rendered even more sinister by the
heart-rending and despairing smile which slightly parted her lips.
This strange apparition, whether man, woman, or demon, fixed on the
startled travellers a look in which sorrow and wrath were mingled.
These brave men, whom no human peril could have terrified, underwent a
moment of supreme hesitation--they were afraid!
The very horses, as if they understood what was going on, and
instinctively shared the fear which overpowered their masters, left off
eating their food. With ears laid back, legs apart, and head stretched
out in the direction of this terrible apparition, they neighed and
snorted violently. Moonshine, at length ashamed of the feeling of fear
he experienced, moved forward a step and boldly cocked his rifle.
"Who goes there?" he shouted for the second time, in a voice rendered
firmer by the assurance of being supported by his comrades, although
the latter, growing more and more alarmed, did not appear at all
disposed to help him. "Who's there? Speak, or, by Heaven, whether you
are an angel or demon, I will lodge a bullet in your head, and I warn
you that I never miss my mark."
Fear makes men talkers; the hunter only made so long a speech through
the terror with which the incomprehensible being he was addressing
inspired him, and whom his threats did not at all appear to disturb.
The apparition stretched out its left arm to the hunter, and said in a
loud though melodious voice--
"What use is it to threaten what you cannot perform? Have you such a
stock of ammunition that you are not afraid of wasting it?"
By an instinctive movement, which was independent of his will, the
Canadian lowered his weapon, and let the butt sink to the earth again.
"What are you doing here?" the fantastic being continued. "You are
sleeping like brute beasts, when you ought to be galloping. Your
enemies are on the watch to surprise you; if you remain any longer
here, on reaching the meeting place tomorrow you will only find the
corpses of your friends lying all bloody on the ruins of the hacienda,
where they are expecting you. You have not a moment to lose: to horse!
To horse! And you," she added, turning to the two Canadians, "do you
follow them; and, as you say that you are flying from despotism and
seeking liberty, fight for it!"
"Who are you? What faith can we place in your words?" asked Don
Aurelio, who had overcome his first terror.
"What matter who I am," the apparition replied, forcibly, "if the
advice I give you be good. I come, maybe from heaven, maybe from hell,
who can say?" she added with a sarcastic laugh. "Perhaps, I am the
spirit of this clearing. Obey the order I give you; then, when the task
you have undertaken is accomplished, you may try to find me out, if you
are still curious."
"¡Viva Dios! I will not be fobbed in this way!" the Mexican shouted. "I
will know what this means, and who is the being that thus counsels me."
And before his comrades could oppose the execution of the plan he had
formed, he rushed forward impetuously, with a pistol in each hand.
"Madman!" the apparition continued, "For wasting your time in trying
to pursue a chimera, when an imperious duty summons you. Catch me if
you can."
"Aye, if I perish," Don Aurelio shouted. But at the same instant his
feet were entangled in a liana, which he had not noticed in his hurry,
and he rolled full length on the ground, and both his pistols, whether
accidentally or purposely, were discharged in his fall. The Mexican
rose again with a savage imprecation, but the phantom had disappeared.
"Malediction!" he shouted, as he looked searchingly around him.
A long laugh responded to him, and then a voice, momentarily growing
weaker, said three distinct times--
"To horse, to horse, to horse!"
The travellers were startled; all had been witness of this strange
apparition, which had suddenly disappeared as if the earth had
swallowed it up, and there was no chance of guessing whither it had
gone; hence all these brave men trembled like leaves agitated by the
wind, and exchanged silent glances of terror, without daring to make a
movement.