ARMING THE SLAVES
The estancia house at Los Pajonales was a large brick building with a
flat roof, surrounded by a stockade of posts. There were also three
ranchos detached within the stockade, and outside a considerable extent
of ground was enclosed by a ditch and cultivated, the negro slaves who
were kept for this work having their huts at a distance at the far side
the enclosed ground.
When Marcelino Ponce de Leon reached the estancia he was conducted at
once to the sala, being met at the door by Don Fausto Velasquez, a
middle-aged man, tall and of striking presence, who was dressed with
great neatness in light linen clothing suitable to the season, and wore
his hair powdered and tied behind his head with a ribbon. Don Fausto
bowed low with great formality to Marcelino as he entered, and then
taking his hand led him up to his mother, a dignified old lady with
silvery hair, who was dressed in black silk and reclined on cushions at
one end of a low estrade which ran all down one side of the room. She
received him very graciously and inquired particularly after his mother,
who had been a great favourite of hers in days gone by; then with an
approving smile and a graceful inclination of the head she dismissed
him.
Several other ladies were present, all of whom were seated or reclined
on cushions on this estrade, some were sewing or knitting, others were
sucking mate, which was served to them by two little negro girls. One of
these ladies was the wife of Don Fausto, a stout, well-developed woman,
with regular features, an exceedingly white skin, and with large,
lustrous black eyes, but with a languid manner about her which lessened
considerably the effect of their brilliance. She was a sister, many
years younger, of the lady who had been the second wife of Don Gregorio
Lopez, and was thus grand-aunt to Marcelino, though younger than his own
mother. At her feet there rolled a stout, active little boy about five
years old, whom she caressed occasionally in her languid way, calling
him her "son," her "Justito," who seemed to find great pleasure in vain
attempts to prevail upon her to join him in a game of romps.
After being introduced to the other ladies and to two or three men who
were present, and after a cordial exchange of greetings with Don
Gregorio Lopez and Lieutenant Gordon, Marcelino drew forward a heavy,
straight-backed chair, the seat of which was of embossed leather, and
placed himself in front of his aunt, whom he had not seen for several
years, Don Fausto having resided for that time on his estancia in
consequence of some trouble he had had with the Spanish authorities of
Buenos Aires. For Don Fausto, though a Creole, was a proud man and a
wealthy, and thought himself the equal of any Spaniard, an idea which in
those days was apt to bring any free-spoken Creole into trouble. The
other men were mostly walking about, sucking mate when their turn came,
and occasionally addressing a few words to one or other of the ladies,
but the conversation was far from animated.
Other than the cushioned estrade on which the ladies were seated, the
room was very bare of furniture, a couple of small tables and a few
high-backed, very uncomfortable-looking chairs comprised the whole of
it; but upon the walls hung some very choice paintings, several of which
were said to be the works of Velasquez, a famous Spanish painter, who
was claimed by Don Fausto as one of his ancestors. The art of painting
was held in small repute in Buenos Aires at that time; Don Fausto knew
nothing of it, only preserved these paintings out of respect for the
memory of his father, who had set great store by them, and was both
surprised and pleased at the great admiration of them which was
expressed by his English guest Lieutenant Gordon. He strove in vain to
see any beauty in them himself, but he was proud to see them appreciated
by another who came from the Old World.
Marcelino talked long with his aunt, telling her of his adventures in
Buenos Aires during the English occupation. As he told of the affair at
Perdriel and of the defeat of the English on the 12th August, she caught
up her little son in her arms, pressing him to her bosom with unwonted
animation, saying as she caressed him:
"Ah, Justiniano, my little son! your mother will take better care of
you, she will never let you run away from her, nor fight fierce soldiers
who come over the sea!"
"The soldiers, mamita!" said the boy laughing, and patting her cheek
with his little hand; "I have never seen a soldier, but when I am big
like this one then I will put myself to kill the English. All of them,
mamita, all of them."
As he said this he struggled from his mother's arms, and rolling over a
cushion, clambered down from the estrade, and running up to Lieutenant
Gordon clenched his little fist and struck him on the leg.
"This is one," he said; "some day when I am big I will kill you."
Marcelino rose hurriedly from his chair, and Don Fausto walked quickly
to the spot with a look of great annoyance on his face, but Gordon
stooping down to the boy lifted him up in his arms and kissed him,
saying with a merry laugh:
"When you are as big as I am, my little man, we English will be great
friends with you, and will know better than to come here to fight you."
"Thanks, my friend, thanks," said Don Fausto, taking his free hand in
both his own. "With years we shall all of us learn a little wisdom."
Justiniano looked wonderingly from one to the other with a finger in his
mouth to aid his reflections, then seizing hold of one of Gordon's
whiskers he whispered in his ear:
"You no, don't be frightened, you are not one of the bad ones. Always we
will be friends."
"Mind you remember that, little rascal," said Marcelino, patting him on
the cheek.
"If he ever forgets it you will remind him," said Gordon: then raising
the boy to his shoulder he danced with him up and down the long room,
the child shouting and tossing his arms about with delight.
Doña Josefina, the boy's mother, had meanwhile sunk back again upon her
cushions, following him with her eyes, and seemed to care little whether
Marcelino resumed the conversation or not, but there were other ladies
there younger than she, who had listened eagerly to what Marcelino had
told them of the English invasion, and wished to hear more. The twilight
deepened into darkness, the mate-pot ceased its rounds amongst them,
lamps were lighted, fresh faces were seen in the room, and others who
had been there disappeared, but still Marcelino talked on in glowing,
enthusiastic language of the changes during the last sixteen months in
the city of Buenos Aires, and of the greater changes which he foresaw in
the future. He had often talked thus before among men of his own age and
of his own class, and he had seen weariness in their faces, and scorn
curling on their lips; he had talked thus to men his seniors in age, and
had been treated as a visionary, or had been silenced by a stern rebuke;
but here he found an audience who hung upon his words, who sympathised
in his hopes, and saw no folly in his wildest aspirations; it was an
audience of women, of women learned in needlework and household lore,
skilled in the art of dressing themselves and making the most of the
natural graces to which they were born, of beautiful women who could
barely write their own names, who knew little of the world in which they
lived, and nothing of the world which had passed away. These women were
incapable of following out the abstruse reasonings by which at times he
sought to elucidate his argument, the illustrations he drew from history
conveyed no lesson to their minds, his logic was thrown away upon them,
yet they understood him and sympathised with him, and learned from him
to believe that their country would one day be a great nation, governed
by its own laws, and free from all foreign control.
Several of them joined in conversation with him, asking him questions,
making shrewd observations of their own and deductions from his
arguments, some of which were very wide of the conclusion to which he
wished to point. One of them, a young girl, plainly dressed, and of very
plain features, with a sallow complexion and brown hair, asked him no
questions, and spoke to him no word. Listening to him, she had crept
nearer till she leaned upon Doña Josefina, resting her folded hands upon
her shoulder, and her chin upon them, her thin lips pressed tightly
together, and her whole life seemingly concentrated in her large grey
eyes.
Marcelino felt her gaze and moved uneasily on his chair, but he
continued the conversation without pause till one of his audience,
drawing herself up and pressing her hands together, exclaimed:
"Look! look at Malena!"
"What have you, Niña?" said Doña Josefina.
Malena, raising herself from her leaning posture, heaved a deep sigh,
and looked round her in a bewildered sort of manner as though she had
just awakened from a dream.
After supper it was the custom for Don Fausto and his guests to repair
to the verandah and to spend an hour or two there smoking and talking
together while coffee was handed round, but on this evening Gordon found
himself alone there before he had finished his first cigar; after
drinking their coffee the others had walked off, Marcelino saying to him
as he went:
"Wait for me here."
Don Fausto had invited such neighbours of his, landed proprietors and
slave-owners, as resided within a day's gallop of his estancia, to visit
him that day for the purpose of discussing together the project of
raising a regiment of slaves, which had been started by Marcelino Ponce
de Leon. After coffee they assembled together in a small room; four only
had accepted the invitation of Don Fausto. Don Fausto explained to them
the purpose for which they were met together, and then left Marcelino to
himself to argue his case with them. Marcelino spoke long and eagerly to
them, but they looked upon it as a scheme full of danger in the future,
and he would probably have given up the idea but for the aid of Don
Gregorio Lopez, who struck in to his assistance.
"Our slaves," he said, "are not as a rule hard-worked, they will not
lead more easy lives under strict military discipline than they do at
present, therefore I do not think a few months' military service will
make them any the worse workmen afterwards."
"It will make them better workmen," said Marcelino, "for it will make
them more active and more obedient than they now are. The objection I
see, which none of you have mentioned, is that they will not give up
their present easy life for one of hardship and danger. I do not want
unwilling recruits, I want volunteers, and I anticipated more difficulty
with them than with you."
"As far as my slaves are concerned you will have no difficulty," said
Don Gregorio. "If we defeat the English I will give one in every ten of
them who may serve under you his liberty; that will be reward enough to
bring you volunteers."
"If all the proprietors would do that, then I should soon raise my
regiment," said Marcelino.
"But I do not see yet why such a step is necessary," said one of the
strangers. "With the new regiments, Liniers has sufficient infantry in
the city, and in the campaña we can collect thousands of partidarios in
an emergency."
"Yes, you can," replied Marcelino, "and they would give very efficient
assistance to drilled troops on a field of battle, but they could not
stop the advance of an army from the coast, and in the city they would
be useless. And again the militia and the Spanish regiments who are kept
embodied in the city will defend entrenchments to the last, but they
cannot manoeuvre in the open against the well-drilled soldiers of the
English. They are only of use to defend the city, so that if the English
land again at Quilmes, Liniers has no troops fit to meet them. But if I
can raise and drill 2000 negroes, and teach them to march and
manoeuvre, then Liniers will have a small force upon which he can rely
for any rapid movement, and can trust the defence of the line of the
Riachuelo to his other infantry, and to the partidarios."
"Two thousand!" exclaimed Don Fausto; "you can never collect 2000 slaves
from this district."
"No, I cannot, but if I can commence here with 200, then others will
come forward from all the country."
"Well, if Don Gregorio will let you pick fifty from among his slaves I
will give you twenty from mine; I will run the risk of some of them
being killed."
"Conforme," said Don Gregorio; "the thing is to commence at once; where
do you intend to fix your headquarters?"
"If you will permit me, grandpapa, I should like to establish myself at
your large chacra close to the Guardia, the Chacra de Los Sauces. I
shall encamp my men on the open ground, and there is a rancho I marked
there which will do for me. The commandant of the Guardia has promised
me a sergeant and three corporals to assist me in drilling them."
"Agreed," replied Don Gregorio. "Then, gentlemen, if you will promise
nothing definite, you will let us hope that when the danger becomes more
pressing you will let my grandson seek more recruits among your slaves."
"I will let you have twenty as soon as the wheat is cut," said one.
"Come, we have not done so badly," said Don Gregorio to his grandson;
"the thing is to make a beginning."
Marcelino was disappointed to find his idea meet with so cold a
reception, nevertheless he returned to the verandah in very good
spirits, and met with more sympathy in his scheme from his English
friend than he had done from his own countrymen. Don Fausto had promised
to call all his slaves together the following morning for inspection by
Marcelino, and ere the sun was up the latter was awakened by someone
shaking him by the shoulder. Opening his eyes drowsily, he saw his
friend Gordon standing by his bed.
"Get up, my friend," said the latter; "if you would be a soldier you
must learn to parade your men every morning at sunrise."
Laughing at his eagerness, Marcelino sprang from his bed.
"Why you take as much interest in it as I do," said he.
"Ah! if it were only not against us, I would be the first of your
recruits myself."
"The day will come yet," answered Marcelino, "when we shall fight side
by side."
Rejecting youths and old men, Marcelino found it easy to select twenty
stalwart negroes from among the many slaves who were brought together by
Don Fausto for his inspection, but when he commenced to make a speech to
them, asking them to show themselves men by volunteering under his
orders for the defence of their native country, his host cut him short,
and spoke to them himself.
"Boys," said he, "our country has need of your services. Go with my
young friend here, and obey him as you would obey me. You are henceforth
under military discipline; disobedience or desertion will be punished
with death. If you behave yourselves bravely a reward shall not be
wanting to each one of you; to any two of you who may be specially
recommended to me by Don Marcelino, I will give freedom on your return.
To-day you are at liberty to make what preparations you require,
to-morrow at sunrise you march."
Several of the "volunteers" looked far from joyful as they listened to
this speech, and many of the women collected round burst into loud
lamentations as the word passed among them that these twenty had been
selected to go and fight the English. Marcelino would willingly have
exchanged two or three of them who had families for others of those he
had passed over, but Don Fausto would not hear of it.
"The first duty of a slave, as of a soldier, is unquestioning
obedience," said he.
"Give them plenty to eat and keep them hard at work, and they will be
quite happy," said Don Gregorio. "You have made a good selection, and I
believe if you are strict with them you will soon drill them into very
good soldiers."
Later on in the day word was brought to Marcelino that one of the twenty
had made off from the negro huts towards a dense pajonal about
half-a-league from the estancia. Don Fausto immediately mounted several
peons, and started in pursuit. Before sundown he returned, bringing back
the runaway, tied hands and feet, on the back of a spare horse.
"There is your deserter," said he to Marcelino; "I should advise you to
shoot him at once, as a warning to the others."
"No, that would be a poor commencement," replied Marcelino. Then
summoning the other nineteen, he ordered them to drive four stout stakes
into the ground in the form of a square, and to lash the runaway to them
by the ankles and wrists with flat strips of raw hide; after which he
told off four of them to keep guard over him till the following morning,
giving him food and water as he required, but allowing no one to
approach him or speak to him.
During the evening Marcelino visited his prisoner once every two hours,
and found his guards always at their posts, till midnight, when, on the
runaway promising that he would make no further effort to escape, he
told the others to cut the thongs so that he might sleep at ease, but
warned him that if he repeated the offence he would shoot him on the
spot where he found him.
"I am glad you did not shoot him," said Gordon, who was with Marcelino
at the time; "but with these men you will find it necessary to be very
severe."
Next morning at sunrise Marcelino and his twenty men marched away,
Marcelino riding, but the men marching on foot, each man with a bundle
of spare clothes and provisions, and a stout stick. Don Gregorio and
Gordon set off at the same time, attended by peons driving a tropilla
before them, and reached the Guardia Chascomus before midday.
The next day Marcelino and his recruits reached the Chacra de Los
Sauces, where Don Gregorio had collected the most robust of his slaves
from his various establishments round about. From these Marcelino
selected fifty, and with the seventy men he had thus under his orders
he formed an encampment on some open ground by the edge of the Laguna de
Chascomus, and, aided by the sergeant and corporals sent him by the
commandant of the Guardia, proceeded at once to drill them into
soldiers.
He had not been many days at work ere, greatly to his surprise and
pleasure, he received a fresh detachment of recruits, ten stout slaves,
sent to him by his father, who also wrote him a letter expressing the
warmest interest in his project, and offering him any further assistance
in his power.