QUONIAM'S RETURN.
The meal did not take long; each of the guests, busied with secret
thoughts, ate quietly and silently. Tranquil, though he did not dare ask
any questions of Black-deer or Loyal Heart, for all that, burned to
learn by what concourse of extraordinary events these two men, who had
started from diametrically opposite points, had eventually grown into
such close intimacy.
Nor did he understand any better how a white man of a pure race, young,
and who appeared to have received a certain education, had so completely
given up relations with men of his ideas, to adopt, as Loyal Heart had
done, the mode of life of the Redskins, and become, as it were, a part
of one of these nations.
But the tiger killer was too well acquainted with prairie manners to try
and lead the conversation to a topic which might perhaps have displeased
his comrades, and which, at any rate, would have displayed a curiosity
on his part unworthy of an old wood ranger; he therefore contented
himself with cudgelling his brains to try and strike a spark which might
guide him to the discovery of the truth, without permitting himself the
slightest allusion to a subject which he longed to know all about.
Carmela felt a great friendship for Singing-bird, and so soon as the
meal was ended, led her off to the jacal, where both began chattering.
In accordance with the arrangements the hunters had made, Loyal Heart
and Tranquil took their rifles, and entered the forest on opposite
sides, to go in quest of game. Black-deer and Lanzi remained behind to
protect the women in the slightly probable event of an attack.
The two men, lying on the ground side by side, slept or smoked with that
apathy and careless indolence peculiar to men who despise talking for
the sake of talking, and thus expending energy which they may require at
any moment. Several hours passed away thus, nothing occurring to trouble
the calmness and silence that reigned over the bivouac, except at
intervals the joyous laughter of the two young women, which vibrated
harmoniously on the ears of the hunters, and brought a slight smile to
their lips.
A little before sunset the hunters returned, almost simultaneously,
bending beneath the weight of the game they had killed. Loyal Heart,
moreover, had lassoed a horse, which he brought in for Black-deer, who
had not one. The sight of this animal caused the adventurers some alarm,
and numerous conjectures. It was not at all wild; it had allowed Loyal
Heart to approach it without difficulty, who made a prisoner of it
almost without opposition. Moreover, and this increased the restlessness
of its new owners, it was completely equipped in the Mexican fashion.
Tranquil concluded from this, after reflecting for a moment, that the
freebooters had attacked the conducta de plata, and the animal, whose
rider had probably been killed, had escaped during the action. But which
side had gained the day, no one was able to conjecture.
After a rather lengthy discussion, it was at last agreed that so soon as
night had completely set in, Black-deer should go reconnoitring, while
those who remained in the camp redoubled their vigilance, through fear
of a surprise, either from the border ruffians or the Mexican soldiers;
for although the adventurers were known to both parties, they justly
feared the excesses to which they might give way in the intoxication of
victory.
This fear, correct perchance as far as the troops were concerned, was
not at all so with the men commanded by the Jaguar, and merely proved
that the worst, and at the same time most erroneous opinion was
entertained of them.
The sun was just disappearing behind the dense mass of lofty mountains
that marked the horizon, when the hurried paces of a horse were heard a
short distance off. The hunters seized their weapons, and posted
themselves behind the enormous boles of the sumach trees that surrounded
them, in order to be ready for any event. At this moment the cry of the
blue jay was repeated twice.
"Take your places again at the fire," Tranquil said, "'tis a friend."
In fact, a few moments later, the branches cracked, the shrubs were
smartly thrust aside, and Quoniam made his appearance. After nodding to
the company, he dismounted, and sat down by the side of the
Panther-killer.
"Well, gossip," the latter asked him at once; "what news have you?"
"Plenty," he answered.
"Then, I suppose, you have been reconnoitring?"
"I did not have the trouble to ask questions; I only required to listen
in order to learn in an hour more news than I could have discovered in a
year."
"Oh, oh," the Canadian said, "eat something, compadre, and when your
appetite is satisfied, you will tell us all you have learnt."
"I wish for nothing better, especially as there are sundry matters it is
as well for you to know."
"Eat then without further delay, that you may be able to talk to us all
the sooner."
The Negro did not let the invitation be repeated, and began vigorously
attacking the provisions which Tranquil had put aside, and which Loyal
Heart now spread on the ground. The hunters were eager to hear the news
of which Quoniam stated himself to be the bearer; after all they had
been able to see during the past few days, they must possess
considerable importance. Still, however great their curiosity might be,
they succeeded in hiding it, and patiently waited till the Negro had
finished his meal. The latter, who suspected what thoughts were crossing
their minds, did not put their patience to a long trial; he ate with the
proverbial rapidity of hunters, and had finished in a twinkling.
"Now I am quite at your service," he said, as he wiped his mouth on the
skirt of his hunting shirt, "and ready to answer all your questions."
"We have none to ask you," Tranquil said; "we wish you, gossip, to give
us a short narrative of all that has happened to you."
"Yes, I fancy that will be the best; in that way it will be clearer and
more easy for you to show the conclusions you think the most suitable."
"Excellently reasoned, my friend; we are listening to you."
"Do you know why I left you?" Quoniam began.
"Yes, I was told, and approved of it highly."
"All the better, because I fancied for a moment that I did wrong in
going without informing you, and I was on the point of returning."
"You would have done wrong."
"At present I am convinced of that, and congratulate myself on having
pushed forward. It is not a long ride from here to the Larch-tree
hacienda in a straight line; my horse is good; I went straight ahead,
and covered the distance in eight hours."
"That was good riding."
"Was it not? But I was in a hurry to join you again, and most anxious
not to lose any time on the road. When I reached the Larch-tree, there
was a great confusion at the hacienda. The peons and vaqueros collected
in the patio were talking and shouting all together, while the Capataz,
the Major-domo, and even the Signor Haciendero himself, pale and
alarmed, were distributing arms, raising barricades before the gates,
placing cannon on their carriages--in short, taking all the precautions
of men who expect an attack at any moment. It was impossible for me to
make myself heard at first, for everybody was speaking at once--women
crying, children screaming, and men swearing. I might have fancied
myself in a madhouse, so noisy and terrified did I find everybody; at
length, however, by going from one to the other, questioning this man,
and bullying that one, I learned the following, which enabled me to
comprehend the general terror; the affair, I swear to you, was worth the
trouble."
"Out with it, friend," Loyal Heart exclaimed, with ill-restrained
impatience.
Quoniam had never during life raised any pretensions to be an orator.
The worthy Negro, who was naturally very modest, even experienced a
certain difficulty in speaking at all. The hunter's unexpected
interruption troubled him so that he stopped short, and was unable to
find a single word. Tranquil, who had so long known his comrade, hastily
interposed.
"Let him tell his story in his own way," he said to Loyal Heart; "if
not, it will be impossible for him to reach the end. Quoniam has a way
of telling things peculiar to himself; if interrupted, he loses the
thread of his ideas, and then he grows confused."
"That is true," said the Negro; "I do not know whence it comes, but it
is stronger than I: when I am stopped, it is all up with me, and I get
in such a tangle that I cannot find my way out."
"That arises from your modesty, my friend."
"Do you think so?"
"I am sure of it, so do not alarm yourself any more, but go on in the
full confidence that you will meet with no further interruption."
"I am most ready to go on, but I have forgotten where I left off."
"At the information you had succeeded in obtaining," Tranquil said,
giving Loyal Heart a look which the latter understood.
"That is true: this, then, is what I learned:--The conducta de plata,
escorted by Captain Melendez, was attacked by the Border Rifles, or the
Freebooters as they are now called, and after a desperate fight, all the
Mexicans were killed."
"Ah!" Tranquil exclaimed, in stupor.
"All," Quoniam repeated; "not one escaped; it must have been a frightful
butchery."
"Speak lower, my friend," the hunter remarked, as he looked in the
direction of the jacal, "Carmela might hear you."
The Negro gave a nod of assent.
"But," he continued, in a lower key, "this victory was not very
productive to the Borderers, for the Mexicans had been careful to hurl
the gold they carried into a barranca, whence it was impossible to get
it out."
"Well played, by Heaven!" the Canadian exclaimed; "The Captain is a
brave fellow."
"Was so, you mean," said Quoniam.
"That is true," the Canadian remarked, sadly; "but go on, my friend."
"This victory fired the mine; the whole of Texas has risen; the towns
and pueblos are in full revolt, and the Mexicans are pursued like wild
beasts."
"Is it so serious as that?"
"Much more than you suppose. The Jaguar is at this moment at the head of
a real army; he has hoisted the flag of Texan independence, and sworn
that he will not lay down arms till he has restored liberty to his
country, and driven the last Mexican beyond the frontier."
There was a moment of stupor among his audience.
"Is that all?" Tranquil at length asked.
"Not yet," Quoniam made answer.
"Have you further bad news to tell us?"
"You shall judge for yourself, my friend, when I have told you all I
know."
"Speak, then, in heaven's name!"
"This is the information I have picked up. Considering that you would
not be sorry to hear these important news as speedily as possible, I
hastened to finish my business with the Capataz. I had some difficulty
in finding him, as he was so busy; so soon as I got hold of him, instead
of giving me the money I asked him for, he answered me that I must be
off at once, and tell you to come to the hacienda as soon as you could,
for, under the circumstances, your presence there was indispensable."
"Hum!" said Tranquil, without any further explanation of his thoughts.
"Seeing," Quoniam went on, "that there was nothing more to expect of the
Capataz, I took leave of him and remounted my horse; but just as I was
leaving, a great noise was heard outside, and everybody rushed to the
gates, uttering shouts of joy. It seems that General Don José Maria
Rubio, who commands the province, considers that the position of the
hacienda is a very important point to defend."
"Of course," Tranquil said; "the Larch-tree commands the entrance of the
valley, and as long as it remains in the power of the Mexicans, insures
the entry of their troops into the state."
"That is it, though I do not remember the term they employed."
"Was it, strategetical position?"
"The very thing."
"Yes, the hacienda, built at the period of the conquest, is a perfect
fortress; its thick, battlemented walls, its situation on an elevation
which cannot be commanded, and which on one side holds under its guns
the mountain passes, and on the other the valley de los Almendrales,
render it a point of the utmost importance, which can only be carried by
a regular seige."
"That is what everybody said down there; it seems, too, that such is
General Rubio's opinion, for the cause of all the disturbance I heard
was the arrival of a large body of troops commanded by a Lieutenant
Colonel, who had orders to shut himself up in the hacienda, and defend
it to the last extremity."
"In that case war is declared?"
"Of course."
"Civil war," Tranquil continued, mournfully, "that is to say, the most
odious and horrible of all; a war in which fathers fight against sons,
brothers against brothers, in which friend and foe speak the same
tongue, issue from the same stem, have the same blood in their veins,
and through that very reason are the more inveterate and rend each other
with greater animosity and rage; civil war, the most horrible scourge
that can crush a people! May God grant in his mercy that it be short;
but, since divine patience is at length wearied, and the Omnipotent has
permitted this fratricidal struggle, let us hope that right and justice
may remain victorious, and that the oppressors, who are the cause of all
these misfortunes, may be for ever expelled from a territory which they
have too long sullied by their unworthy and odious presence."
"May God grant it!" his hearers replied, in a deep voice.
"But how did you succeed in escaping from the hacienda after the arrival
of the troops, Quoniam?" Tranquil continued.
"I saw that, if I amused myself by admiring the uniform and fine
appearance of the troops, when order was slightly restored, the gates
would be closed, and my hopes of escaping foiled for a long time.
Without saying a word, I dismounted, and leading my horse by the bridle,
glided through the mob so cleverly, that I at length found myself
outside. I then leaped into the saddle, and pushed straight ahead. I was
only just in time, I declare, for five minutes later all the gates were
closed."
"And then you came straight here?"
Quoniam smiled cunningly. "Do you think so?" he said.
"Hang it! I suppose so, at least."
"Well, you are mistaken, gossip; I did not return straight here: and yet
it was not my inclination that prevented it, I assure you."
"What happened, then?"
"You will see, for I have not finished yet."
"Go on, then; but be brief, if that is possible."
"Every man does what he can, and you have no right to ask more of him."
"That is true, speak as you think proper."
"Never," the Negro continued, "did I gallop in such good spirits; my
horse stretched out, so that it was a pleasure to see; and it seemed as
if the poor brute understood my impatience to get away from the
hacienda, so fast did it race. This ride lasted thus, without
interruption, for nearly five hours; at the end of that period I thought
it advisable to grant my horse a few minutes' rest, that it might regain
its breath, for animals are like men precisely--if you overwork them,
they break down all at once; and that would have happened to me had I
not been careful to stop in time. I therefore allowed my horse to rest
for two hours; then, after rubbing it down, I started again, but had not
yet reached the end of my adventures. I had scarce galloped an hour
longer ere I fell into a large party of horsemen, armed to the teeth,
who suddenly emerged from a ravine, and surrounded me ere I had even
time enough to notice them. The meeting was anything but agreeable--the
more so, as they did not appear at all well disposed toward me; and I do
not exactly know how I should have got out of the hobble, had not one of
the men thought proper to recognize me, though I do not remember ever to
have met him before, and burst out, 'Why, it is a friend; 'tis Quoniam,
Tranquil's comrade!' I confess that this exclamation pleased me; a man
may be brave, but there are circumstances in which he feels frightened,
and this is what happened to me at that moment."
The hunters smiled at the Negro's simple frankness, but were careful
not to interrupt him, as they felt instinctively that he had reached the
most interesting point of his long and prolix narration.
"At once," the latter continued, "the manner of these men changed
entirely; they became most polite and attentive, in proportion as they
had been, previously brutal. 'Lead him to the commandant,' said one of
them the others approved, and I gave in, because resistance would have
been folly. I followed without any remark, the man who led me to their
Chief, though inwardly cursing the wasps' nest into which I had fallen.
Fortunately I had not far to go. Can you guess, Tranquil, who this Chief
was to whom I was led?"
"The Jaguar," the hunter answered.
"What!" the Negro exclaimed, in amazement, "Have you guessed it? Well! I
swear to you that I did not suspect it in the least, and was greatly
surprised at seeing him. But I must do him the justice of saying that he
received me very well; he questioned me about a good many matters, which
I answered as well as I could--where I came from, what was doing at the
hacienda, where I was going, and so on. In short, he conversed with me
for more than an hour; then, doubtless, satisfied with the information I
had given him, he left me free to continue my journey, and began his
own. It seems that he is going straight to the Larch-tree hacienda."
"Does he intend to lay siege to it?"
"That is his intention, I believe; but, although he is at the head of
nearly twelve hundred determined bandits, I do not think his nails, and
those of his comrades, will be hard enough to dig a hole in such stout
walls."
"That is in God's hands. Have you finished your narrative?"
"Very soon."
"Go on, then."
"Before restoring me to liberty, the Jaguar inquired after you and Doña
Carmela with considerable interest. Then he wrote a few words on a piece
of paper, which he handed me, with a recommendation to be sure and give
it you so soon as I rejoined you."
"Good Heaven!" Tranquil exclaimed, in agitation, "And you have delayed
so long in executing your commission!"
"Was I not obliged to tell you first what had happened to me? But there
is no time lost, for here is the paper."
While saying this, Quoniam drew a paper from his pocket, and offered it
to Tranquil, who almost tore it out of his hands. The Negro, convinced
that he had carried out his commission excellently, did not at all
comprehend the hunter's impatience; he looked at him for a moment with
an air of amazement, then shrugged his shoulders almost imperceptibly,
filled his pipe, and began smoking, not troubling himself further about
what was going on around him.
The hunter quickly unfolded the paper; he turned it over and over in his
hands with an air of embarrassment, taking a side glance every now and
then at Loyal Heart, who had drawn a burning log from the fire, and now
held it within reading distance, for night had completely set in. This
went on for some minutes; at length, Loyal Heart, understanding the
reason of the hunter's hesitation, resolved on speaking to him.
"Well," he said, with a smile, "what does your friend Jaguar write?"
"Hum!" said the hunter.
"Perhaps," the other continued, "it is so badly written that you cannot
make out his scrawl. If you permit me, I will try."
The Canadian looked at him. The young man's face was calm; nothing
evidenced that he had a thought of making fun of the hunter. The latter
shook his head several times, and then burst into a hearty laugh.
"Deuce take all false shame!" he said, as he gave him the letter. "Why
should I not confess that I cannot read? A man whose life has been spent
in the desert ought not to fear confessing an ignorance which can have
nothing dishonouring for him. Read, read, my lad, and let us know What
our doubtful friend wishes."
And he took the log from the young man's hands.
Loyal Heart took a rapid glance at the paper. "The letter is laconic,"
he said, "but explicit. Listen:
"'The Jaguar has kept his word. Of all the Mexicans who accompanied the
conducta, only one is alive free and unwounded--Captain Don Juan
Melendez de Gongora. Will the friends of the Jaguar have a better
opinion of him?'"
"Is that all?" Tranquil asked.
"Yes."
"Well," the hunter exclaimed, "people may say as they please, but, by
Heavens! The Jaguar is a fine fellow."
"Is he not, father?" a gentle voice murmured in his ear.
Tranquil started at this remark, and turned sharply round. Carmela was
by his side, calm and smiling.