For twenty years the murderer of the Countess de Mediana had gone
unpunished. For twenty years the justice of heaven had remained
suspended; but the time of its accomplishment was not far off. Soon was
it to open its solemn assizes; soon would it call together accuser and
criminal, witness and judge--not from one part of a country to another,
but from opposite sides of the globe; and, as if led by some invisible
hand, all would have to obey the terrible summons.
Fabian de Mediana and the Canadian sailor lay side by side--just as they
had done twenty years ago, at three thousand leagues distance from
Sonora. And yet they had no suspicion of ever having met before, though
a single chance word might at that moment have brought either to the
memory of the other.
It was just about this time that Don Estevan and his party rode off from
the hacienda.
The Canadian, according to the counsel of his comrade Pepe, slept with
one eye open. At short intervals he contrived to awake himself, and
raising his head slightly, cast around him a scrutinising glance. But
on each of these occasions, the light of the fire showed him Tiburcio
still tranquilly asleep; and this appearing to satisfy him, he would
again compose himself as before.
About an hour had passed, when the sound of heavy footsteps awakened him
once more, and listening a moment, he distinguished them as the
hoof-strokes of a horse.
A few moments after, Pepe made his appearance within the circle of the
blaze, leading a horse at the end of his lazo--a magnificent animal,
that snorted and started back at sight of the fire. Pepe, however, had
already given him more than one lesson, and his obedience was nearly
complete; so that, after a short conflict, the trapper succeeded in
bringing him nearer and attaching him to the trunk of a tree.
"Well," said Pepe, wiping the perspiration from his forehead with an old
ragged handkerchief, "I've had a tough struggle with him; but he's worth
it, I fancy. What think you, Bois-Rose? Isn't he the most splendid
quadruped that ever galloped through these woods?"
In truth it was a beautiful creature, rendered more beautiful by the
terror which he was exhibiting at the moment, as he stood with his fine
limbs stretched, his head thrown high in the air, his mane tossed over
his wild savage eyes, and his nostrils spread and frothy. Strange
enough that fear, which renders vile and degraded the lord of the
creation, should have an opposite effect on most of the lower animals--
especially on the horse. This beautiful creature under its impulse only
appears more beautiful!
Little as Bois-Rose delighted in horse-flesh, he could not withhold his
approval of the capture which his comrade had made.
"He looks well enough," was his sober reply; "but he'll be a rough
mount, I reckon."
"No doubt of that," assented Pepe. "I know he'll be rough at first; but
the main thing was to get hold of him. I had a lucky hand to hook him
as I did."
"I hope your neck will prove as lucky as your hand. For my part, I'd
rather walk ten leagues than be on his back for ten minutes. But see,
comrade!" continued the big trapper, pointing to the stars, "they're
gone down yonder! you'll need some sleep before morning. Lie down while
I take my turn of the watch."
"I'll take your advice," replied Pepe, at the same time stretching
himself out upon his back, with his feet to the fire--in which attitude
he was soon asleep.
The Canadian rose to his feet, took several turns round the fire--as if
to drive away any remains of sleep that might be lurking in his eyes--
then sat down again, with his back resting against the stump of a tree.
He had not been long seated before he got up once more, and, approaching
with caution, stood over Tiburcio. For several minutes he remained in
this attitude, attentively examining the features of the young man: he
then returned to his seat by the stump.
"Just about _his_ age, if he is still living," muttered he to himself.
"But what chance have I to recognise in a grown man the features of an
infant scarce four years old?"
A smile of disdain played for an instant on his lips, as if he were
chiding himself for the silliness of his conjectures.
"And yet," he continued, his countenance changing its expression, "I
have seen and taken part in too many strange events--I have been too
long face to face with Nature--to doubt the power of Providence. Why
should I consider this a miracle? It was not one when I chanced upon
the boat adrift that carried that poor infant and its murdered mother!
No, it was the hand of God. Why might not the same hand restore him to
me in the midst of the desert? The ways of Providence are inscrutable."
As if this reflection had given birth to new hopes, the Canadian again
rose to his feet, and approaching, stooped once more over the prostrate
form of Tiburcio.
"How often," said he, "have I thus gazed on my little Fabian as he
slept! Well, whoever you are, young man," continued he, "you have not
come to my fire without finding a friend. May God do for my poor Fabian
what I am disposed to do for you!"
Saying this, he once again returned to his seat, and remained for a long
time reflecting upon incidents that had transpired twenty years before
in the Bay of Biscay.
It should here be stated that up to this hour Bois-Rose and Pepe had not
the slightest suspicion that they had ever met, before their chance
encounter upon the prairies of America. In reality they had never met--
farther than that they had been within musket-range of each other. But
up to this hour Pepe knew not that his trapping comrade was the gigantic
smuggler he had fired at from the beach of Ensenada; and Bois-Rose was
equally ignorant that Pepe was the coast-guard whose "obstinacy and
clumsiness" he had spoken of to his lieutenant.
The cause of this mutual ignorance of each other's past was that neither
of them had ever mentioned the word Elanchovi in the hearing of the
other. The Canadian had never thought of communicating the incidents of
that night to his prairie comrade; and Pepe, on his side, would have
given much to have blotted them altogether from the pages of his memory.
The night became more chilly as the hours passed on, and a damp dew now
fell upon the grass and the foliage of the trees. It did not wake the
sleepers, however, both of whom required a long rest.
All at once the silence was broken by the horse of Pepe, that neighed
loudly and galloped in a circle at the end of his lazo: evidently
something had affrighted him. Bois-Rose suddenly started from his
reverie, and crept silently forward, both ear and eye set keenly to
reconnoitre. But nothing could be heard or seen that was unusual; and
after a while he glided back to his seat.
The noise had awakened Tiburcio, who, raising himself into a sitting
posture, inquired its cause.
"Nothing," answered the trapper, whose denial, however, was scarce
sincere. "Something indeed," continued he, "has frightened the horse.
A jaguar, I fancy, that scents the skins of his companions, or, more
likely, the remains of our roast mutton. By the way, you can eat a bit
now; I have kept a couple of pieces for you."
And as he said this he handed two goodly-sized pieces of mutton to
Tiburcio.
This time the young man accepted the invitation to eat. Rest had given
him an appetite; and after swallowing a few mouthfuls of the cold
mutton, warmed up by a glass of the brandy already mentioned, he felt
both his strength and spirits restored at the same time. His features,
too, seemed to have suddenly changed their hue, and now appeared more
bright and smiling.
The presence of the hunter also added to the pleasure thus newly arisen
within his breast. He remembered the solicitude which the Canadian had
exhibited in dressing his wound--which he now extended even to giving
him nourishment--and the thought occurred to him that in this man he
might find a friend as redoubtable for his herculean strength as for his
dexterity and courage. He no longer felt so lone in the world--so
abandoned.
On the other hand, Bois-Rose sat looking at his _protege_ and apparently
delighted to see him enjoy his repast. The heart of the trapper was
fast warming into a strong friendship for this young man.
"Stranger!" said he, after a considerable interval of silence, "it is
the custom of the Indians never to inquire the name or quality of a
guest until after he has eaten of their bread. I have followed their
example in regard to you; and now may I ask you who you are, and what
happened at the hacienda to drive you forth from it?"
"I shall willingly tell you," answered Tiburcio. "For reasons that
would have no interest for you, I left my hut and started on a journey
to the Hacienda del Venado. My horse, overcome by thirst and fatigue,
broke down on the way. It was his dead body, as you already know, that
attracted the jaguars, so adroitly destroyed by you and your brave
comrade."
"Hum!" interrupted the Canadian, with a smile; "a poor feat that--but go
on. I long to hear what motive any one could have for hostility to a
mere youth scarce twenty years old, I should fancy."
"Twenty-four," answered Tiburcio, and then proceeded with his narrative.
"I came very near sharing the fate of my poor horse; and when, about
two hours after, you saw me at La Poza, I had just arrived there--having
been saved by the party in whose company you found me. But what motive
those gentlemen could have, first to rescue me from death, and then
afterwards attempt to take my life, is what I am unable to comprehend."
"Perhaps some rivalry in love?" suggested the Canadian, with a smile;
"it is usually the history of young men."
"I acknowledge," rejoined Tiburcio, with an air of embarrassment, "there
is something of that; but there is also another motive, I believe.
Possibly it is to secure to themselves the sole possession of an
important secret which I share with them. Certain it is, that there are
three men whom my life appears to discommode; there is one of them
against whom I have myself sworn vengeance, and although I am but one
against three I must accomplish the vow which I made at the death-bed of
a person who was very dear to me."
The three men whom Tiburcio meant--and whose names he repeated to
Bois-Rose--were Cuchillo, who had attempted to assassinate him; the
Senator, his rival: and Don Estevan, whom Tiburcio now believed to be
the murderer of Marcos Arellanos.
Bois-Rose tacitly applauded this exhibition of youthful ardour and
reckless courage.
"But you have not yet told me your name?" said he, interrogatively,
after a moment's hesitation.
"Tiburcio Arellanos," was the reply.
At the mention of the name the Canadian could not restrain a gesture
that expressed disappointment. There was nothing in the name to recall
the slightest souvenir. He had never heard it before.
The young man, however, observed the gesture.
"You have heard the name before?" he asked abruptly. "Perhaps you knew
my father, Marcos Arellanos? He has often been through the wildest
parts of the country where you may have met him. He was the most
celebrated gambusino in the province."
Instead of calling Marcos Arellanos his father, had Tiburcio said his
_adopted father_, his explanation might have elicited a different
response from the Canadian. As it was, he only said in reply:
"It is the first time I have heard the name. It was your face that
recalled to me some memories of events that happened--long, long ago--"
Without finishing what he meant to have said, the Canadian relapsed into
silence.
Tiburcio, too, ceased speaking for a while; he was reflecting on some
hopes that had suddenly sprung up within him. His meeting with the two
trappers appeared to him not so much a mere chance as a providential
circumstance. The secret which he possessed, almost useless to him
alone, might be rendered available with the assistance of two
auxiliaries such as they--it might become the key to the favour of Don
Augustin. It was not without repugnance that he reflected on this means
of winning the heart of Rosarita--or rather of purchasing it at the
price of gold--for Tiburcio believed that it was closed against any more
tender appeal. He had mentally resolved never to return to the
hacienda; but notwithstanding this vow he still indulged in a slight
remnant of hope--perhaps the echo of his own profound passion. This
hope overcame his repugnance; and he resolved to make known his design
to the trappers, and endeavour to obtain assistance in carrying it out.
With this view he again opened the conversation.
"You are a hunter by profession--I think I have heard you say?"
"Yes; that is the vocation both of my comrade and myself."
"It is not a very profitable one, and yet attended with many dangers."
"Ah! it is a noble calling, my boy! My fathers followed it before my
time, and I, after a few years of interruption, have resumed the
profession of my fathers. Unfortunately I have no son to succeed me;
and I can say, without boasting, that when I am gone a brave and strong
race perishes with me."
"I, too," said Tiburcio, "follow the profession of my father--who, as I
have told you, was a gambusino."
"Ah! you are one of a race whom God has also created--in order that the
gold which He has given to the world should not be lost to the use of
man."
"My father," continued Tiburcio, "has left me a grand legacy--the
knowledge of a deposit of gold, not far from the frontier; and if two
men, such as you and your comrade, would join me in obtaining it, I
could promise to make you richer than ever you dreamt of becoming."
Tiburcio awaited the reply of the trapper, feeling almost certain of his
adhesion, notwithstanding the refusal the latter had made in his
presence to the proposal of Don Estevan. His astonishment, therefore,
was great when the Canadian, with a negative shake of the head, replied
as follows:
"Your proposal, young man, might be seductive to many--there was a time
when it would have been so to myself--but now it is no longer so. What
would gold be to me? I have no one to whom either to give it or leave
it. I have no longer a country. The woods and prairies are my home,
and gold would be of no service to me there. I thank you, young friend,
for your offer, but I must decline to accept it."
And as he said this, the Canadian covered his face with his huge hand,
as if to shut out from his eyes the seductive prospect which had been
offered to his view.
"Surely this is not your final answer?" said Tiburcio, as soon as he had
recovered from his surprise. "A man does not so readily refuse a
treasure that he has only to pick up from the ground?"
"Nevertheless," responded the trapper, "it is my resolution, fixed and
firm. I have other objects to follow. I have given myself, body and
soul, to aid my comrade there in an enterprise--my comrade of ten years'
standing."
During this conversation the words _gold_ and _treasure_, frequently
pronounced, appeared to produce their magic influence on Pepe. Every
now and then he turned himself, as if about to protest against the
refusal of Bois-Rose, so definitively given. It was evident he was not
sleeping very soundly while the talk was going on.
"This Don Estevan de Arechiza, of whom you speak," resumed the Canadian;
"he is the same we saw at La Poza is he not--the chief of the
expedition?"
"The same."
"Ha! is that the name he goes by here?" cried Pepe, suddenly rousing
himself from his apparent sleep.
"You know him, then?" said Tiburcio, interrogatively.
"Yes--yes," replied Pepe; "he is an old acquaintance, with whom I have
some back debts to settle--and that is why you see me in this part of
the country. But if you desire to have the whole story--and from what
has happened I fancy you will--I promise to tell it to you by-and-bye.
I begin to fancy that our cause is a common one; and if so, I shall be
able to lend you a hand. But there's a time for everything; and now,
the most important thing for me is to get some sleep, so as to be ready
for whatever turns up."
As Pepe said this, he made a movement to return to the horizontal
position from which he had temporarily raised himself.
"Stay! Pepe!" interrupted the Canadian, with an air of good-humour;
"one instant before you fall asleep, or I shall say that you deserved
the name of Pepe the Sleeper. Hear me! This young man has made us an
offer. He wishes us to accompany him to a _placer_ he knows of, where
you have only to stoop down and gather the gold in handfuls."
"Carramba!" exclaimed Pepe; "you have accepted the offer, of course?"
"On the contrary, I have refused it."
"Then you've done wrong, Bois-Rose! That's a thing that deserves
consideration; but we can talk it over by-and-bye--I must have some
sleep first." And as he uttered the last words he lay down again; and
the instant after a loud snore announced that he was soundly asleep!