THE PIRATES OF THE PRAIRIES.
The White Scalper gave an imperceptible start at the unexpected
apparition of the strangers; but he had sufficient power over himself
apparently to preserve that coolness and stoicism which the Redskins and
wood rangers make a point of honour. He did not alter the careless
attitude he was in, and though he appeared to look at the newcomers
absently, he, however, examined them attentively.
They were at least twenty in number, for they had risen from all sides
at once, and in a twinkling surrounded the travellers. These men, mostly
clad in the trapper's hunting shirt and fox skin cap, had a vigorous
appearance, and a ferocious look, not at all adapted to inspire
confidence; moreover, they were armed to the teeth, not only having the
rifle and machete, but also the scalping knife and tomahawk employed by
the Indians.
The man who appeared to be their Chief was at the most thirty-five years
of age, tall, well-built and proportioned; his wide forehead, black
eyes, Grecian nose, and large mouth, made up a face pleasing at the
first glance, though on examining it more closely, you soon perceived
that his glance was false, and that a sardonic smile constantly played
round his thin and pale lips. His face was framed in by thick black
curls, which fell in disorder on his shoulders and mixed with a large
beard, which the fatigues of a wandering and adventurous life were
beginning to silver at places.
The four Texan adventurers had not made a move; the Chief of the
strangers looked at them for a moment with his hands crossed on his
rifle barrel, the butt of which rested on the ground. At length, by a
movement that was familiar to him, he threw back his curls, and
addressed Ruperto--
"Halloh, gossip," he said, "you here? What has brought you into our
parts?"
"A wish to see you, gossip," the other answered, as he carelessly struck
a light for the cigarette he had just finished rolling.
"Nonsense! Only that?" the stranger continued.
"What other motive could I have, Master Sandoval?"[1]
"Who knows?" the other said with a shake of his head; "Life has such
strange changes."
"This time you are mistaken. Nothing disagreeable forces me to pay you a
visit."
"That is more and more extraordinary. Then, you have come on your own
accord, nothing compelling you to do so?"
"I do not say that, for my visit necessarily has a motive. Still, it is
not at all of the nature you suppose."
"Canarios! I am glad to see that I am not so far from the truth as it
appeared at first."
"All the better!"
"But why did not you come straight to our encampment, if you were
seeking us, as you say?"
Ruperto burst into a laugh.
"That would have been a fine idea, to be welcomed with a shower of
slugs! No, I think I acted more wisely as I have."
"We have been on your trail for three days."
"Why did you not show yourselves sooner?"
"I was not quite certain it was you."
"Well, that is possible. Will you not sit down?"
"What for? Now that we have met, I hope you will come to our camp?"
"I did not like to propose it; you see we are not alone, but have a
stranger with us."
"What matter, if you answer for him?"
"With my life."
"Well, then, the friends of our friends are ours, and have a claim to
our attention."
"I thank you, Caballero," the Scalper replied with a bow; "I trust you
will have no cause to repent having offered me hospitality."
"The company in which I find you is an excellent guarantee to me,
Señor," the adventurer continued with a courteous smile.
"Do you intend to lead us to your camp tonight?" Ruperto asked.
"Why not? We are not more than fifteen miles from it at the most."
"That is true; but this caballero is wounded, and so long a distance
after a fatiguing day--"
"Oh, I feel very well, I assure you. My strength has almost entirely
returned; I even believe that, were it absolutely necessary, I could sit
a horse. Hence do not put yourself out of the way for me, I beg," the
old man said.
"As it is so, we will start whenever you like."
"All right," said Sandoval; "however, I will undertake to lead you by a
road which will shorten your distance one half."
All being thus arranged, the horses were saddled afresh, and they
started. The strangers were on foot; the Scalper would not enter the
litter, and even insisted on it being left behind, declaring that he did
not want it, and cutting a rather long branch, he converted it into a
staff. He then took his place by Sandoval's side, who, delighted by his
manner, gave him a glance of satisfaction.
Sandoval, as we have said, was the Chief of the men who had so suddenly
fallen on the bivouac of the adventurers. These men were pirates of the
prairies. In a previous work, we have described what they are; but as it
is probable that many of our readers do not know the book to which we
allude, we will explain, in as few words as possible, what sort of
persons these gentry are. In the United States, and most of the
countries of the new world, men are encountered who, not being
restrained by any species of moral obligation or family consideration,
yield themselves without restraint to all the violence of their evil
passions. These men, led in the first instance into debauchery by
indolence, and almost certain of impunity in countries where the police
are powerless to protect honest people and enforce the laws, at length
grow to commit the most atrocious crimes in open daylight, though this
is common enough in those countries where the strongest make the laws.
This goes on until the reprobation becomes general, and public
indignation at last growing stronger than the terror inspired by these
villains, they are compelled to fly from town to town in order to escape
the exemplary punishment of Lynch-law. Everywhere pursued like wild
beasts, abandoned by all, even by their accomplices, they draw nearer
and nearer to the Indian border, which they eventually cross, and are
henceforth condemned to live and die in the desert. But there, too,
everything is hostile to them--white trappers, wood rangers, Indian
warriors, and wild beasts--they are compelled to endure a daily and
hourly struggle to defend their life, which is incessantly assailed. But
they have before them space, the hiding places on the mountains and in
the virgin forests, and hence can sustain the combat to a certain point.
Still, if they remained isolated they would infallibly succumb to cold,
hunger, and wretchedness, even supposing they were not surprised,
scalped, and massacred by their implacable enemies.
These outlaws from society, whom every man thinks he has a right to hunt
down, frankly accept their position. They feel proud of the hatred and
repulsion they inspire, and collect in numerous bands to requite the
anathema cast upon them. Taking as their rule the pitiless law of the
prairies, eye for eye and tooth for tooth, they become formidable
through their numbers, and repay their enemies the injuries they receive
from them. Woe to the trappers or Indians who venture to traverse the
prairies alone, for the pirates massacre them pitilessly. The emigrant
trains are also attacked and pillaged by them with refined and atrocious
barbarity. Some of these men who have retained a little shame, put off
the dress of white men to assume that of Redskins, so as to make those
they pillage suppose they have been attacked by Indians; hence their
most inveterate enemies are the Indians, for whom they try to pass.
Still, it frequently happens that the pirates, ally themselves with
Redskins belonging to one nation to make war on another.
All is good for them when their object is plunder; but what they prefer
is raising scalps, for which the Government of the United States, that
patriarchal government which protects the natives, according to some
heartless optimists, are not ashamed to pay fifty dollars a-piece.
Hence, the pirates are as skilful as the Indians themselves in raising
hair; but with them all scalps are good; and when they cannot come
across Indians, they have no scruple about scalping white men; the more
so, because the United States does not look into matters very closely,
and pays without bargaining or entering into details, provided that the
hair be long and black.
Captain Sandoval's band of pirates was one of the most numerous and best
organised in Upper Arkansas; his comrades, all thorough food for the
gallows, formed the most magnificent collection of bandits that could be
imagined. For a long period, Fray Antonio, if not forming part of the
band, had taken part in its operations, and derived certain though
illegal profit by supplying the captain with information about the
passage of caravans, their strength, and the road they intended to
follow. Although the worthy monk had given up this hazardous traffic,
his conversion had not been of so old a date for the pirates to have
completely forgotten the services he had rendered them; hence, when he
was compelled to abandon White Scalper he thought at once of his old
friends. This idea occurred to him the more naturally, because White
Scalper, owing to the mode of life he had hitherto led in the desert,
had in his character some points of resemblance with the pirates, who,
like him, were pitiless, and recognised no other law than their caprice.
In the band of Freebooters the monk had organised since his reformation
were some men more beaten than the others by the tempest of an
adventurous life. These men Fray Antonio had seen at work, and set their
full value upon them; but he kept them near him, through a species of
intuition, in order to have them under his hand if some day fate desired
that he should be compelled to have recourse to an heroic remedy to get
out of a scrape, which was easy to foresee when a man entered on the
life of a partisan. Among these chosen comrades was naturally Ruperto;
hence it was to him he entrusted the choice of three sure men to escort
the wounded man to the camp of Captain Sandoval, in Upper Arkansas. We
have seen that the monk was not mistaken, and in what way Ruperto
performed the commission confided to him.
It has frequently been said that honest men always recognise each other
at the first glance; but the statement is far truer when applied to
rogues. The White Scalper and the Pirate Chief had not walked side by
side for ten minutes ere the best possible understanding was arrived at
between them. The Captain admired as an amateur, and especially as a
connoisseur, the athletic stature of his new companion. His rigid
features, which seemed carved in granite, for they were so firm and
marked, his black and sparkling eyes, and even his blunt and sharp mode
of speech, attracted and aroused his sympathy. Several times he
proposed to have him carried on the shoulders of two of his most
powerful comrades across awkward spots; but the old man, although his
ill-closed wounds caused him extreme suffering, and fatigue overpowered
him, constantly declined these kind offers, merely replying that
physical pain was nothing, and that the man who could not conquer it by
the strength of his will, ought to be despised as an old woman.
There could be no reply to such a peremptory mode of reasoning, so
Sandoval merely contented himself with nodding an assent, and they
continued their march in silence. Night had fallen for some time, but it
was a bright and starry night, which allowed them to march in safety,
and have no fear of losing their way. After three hours of a very
difficult journey, the travellers at length reached the crest of a high
hill.
"We have arrived," Sandoval then said, as he stopped under the pretext
of resting a moment, but in reality to give his companion, whom he saw
to be winded, though he made no complaint, an opportunity to draw
breath.
"What, arrived?" the Scalper said in surprise, looking round him, but
not perceiving the slightest sign of an encampment.
In fact, the adventurers found themselves on a species of platform about
fifteen hundred yards long, entirely denuded of trees, save in the
centre, where grew an immense aloe, more than sixty feet in
circumference, which looked like the king of the desert, over which it
soared. Sandoval allowed his comrade to look around him for a moment,
and then said, as he stretched out his arm to the giant tree---
"We shall be obliged to enter by the chimney. But once is not always,
and you will not feel offended at it when I tell you that I only do this
to shorten our journey."
"You know that I did not at all understand you," the Scalper answered.
"I suspected it," Sandoval said with a smile. "But come along, and you
will soon decipher the enigma."
The old man bowed without replying, and both walked toward the tree,
followed by their comrades, who were smiling at the stranger's
amazement. On reaching the foot of the tree, Sandoval raised his head--
"Ohé!" he shouted, "Are you there, Orson?"
"Where should I be if I was not?" a rough voice answered, issuing from
the top of the tree. "I was obliged to wait for you here, as you have
taken it, into your head to wander about the whole night through."
The pirates burst into a laugh.
"Always amiable!" Sandoval continued; "it is astonishing how funny that
animal of an Orson always is! Come, let down the ladder, you ugly
brute!"
"Ugly brute, ugly brute!" the voice growled, although its owner still
remained invisible; "That is the way in which he thanks me."
In the meanwhile, a long wooden ladder was let down through the
branches. Sandoval caught hold of it, secured it, and then turned to the
wounded man--
"I will go first to show you the way."
"Do so," the Scalper said resolutely; "but I swear that I will be the
second."
"Halloh!" the Captain said, turning round, "Why you are a Yankee."
"What does it matter to you?" the other said roughly.
"Not at all. Still, I am not sorry to know the fact."
"Well, you know it. What next?"
"Next?" Sandoval answered with a laugh; "You will be among countrymen,
that is all."
"It makes little difference to me."
"Canarios, and how do you suppose it concerns me?" the Captain said,
still laughing, and ascended.
The wounded man followed him step for step. The ladder was resting
against a platform about two yards in width, completely concealed in a
mass of inextricable foliage. On this platform stood the giant to whom
his Chief had given the name of Orson, a name which was exactly
suitable, so rough and savage did he appear.
"Any news?" the Captain asked, as he stepped on the platform.
"None," the other answered laconically.
"Have all the detachments returned?"
"All except you."
"Are the Gazelle and the American girl in the grotto?"
"They are."
"That is well. When all the people have come up, you will remove the
ladder and join us."
"All right, Caray, I suppose I know what I have to do."
Sandoval contented himself with shrugging his shoulders.
"Come," he said to the Scalper, who was a silent witness of this scene.
They crossed the platform. The centre of the tree was entirely hollow,
but it had not been rendered so by human agency; old age alone had
converted the heart of the tree into dust, while the bark remained green
and vigorous. The pirates, who had for many years inhabited a very large
cave that ran under the hill, had one day seen the earth give way at a
certain spot, in consequence of a storm; this was the way in which the
chimney, as they called it, had been discovered.
The pirates, like all plundering animals, are very fond of having
several issues to their lairs; this new one, supplied to them by
accident, caused them the greater pleasure, because by the same occasion
they obtained an observatory, whence they could survey an immense extent
of country, which enabled them to see any enemy who might attempt to
take them by surprise. A platform was formed at a certain height to keep
the bark intact; and by means of two ladders, fitted one inside and one
out, a communication was established.
Sandoval, in his heart, enjoyed his guest's surprise. In fact, the
pirate's ingenious arrangement seemed marvellous to White Scalper, who,
forgetting his phlegm and stoicism, allowed his surprise to be seen.
"Now," he said to him, pointing to a second ladder, which descended a
considerable depth into the ground, "we will go down."
"At your service, at your service," the stranger answered. "It is really
admirable. Go on, I follow you."
They then began descending cautiously owing to the darkness, for the
pirate placed as sentry on the _Mirador_ had, either through
forgetfulness or malice, neglected to bring torches, not supposing, as
he said, that his comrades would return so late. White Scalper alone had
followed the pirates by the strange road we have indicated. This road,
very agreeable for foot passengers, was, of course, completely
impracticable for horsemen; hence Ruperto and his three comrades quitted
Sandoval at the foot of the hill, and making a rather long detour,
sought the real entrance of the cave, with which all four had been long
acquainted.
As the two men gradually descended, the light increased, and they seemed
to be entering a furnace. On setting foot on the ground, the Scalper
found himself in an immense cavern, lighted by a profusion of torches
held by pirates, who, grouped at the foot of the ladder, seemed to find
an honour in waiting the arrival of their Chief, and offering him a
grand reception. The grotto was of an enormous size; the spot where
White Scalper found himself was a vast hall, whence radiated several
galleries of immense length, and running in diametrically opposite
directions. The scene that offered itself to the Scalper in this hall,
where he arrived so unexpectedly, would have been worthy of Callot's
pencil. Here could be seen strange faces, extraordinary costumes,
impossible attitudes, all of which gave a peculiar character to this
multitude of bandits, who were hailing their Chief with shouts of joy,
and howls like those of wild beasts.
Captain Sandoval knew too well the sort of people he had to deal with,
to be affected in any way by the reception his bandits had improvised
for him; instead of appearing touched by their enthusiasm, he frowned,
drew up his head, and looked menacingly at the attentive crowd.
"What is this, Caballeros?" he said; "How comes it that you are all here
waiting for me? _Viva Dios!_ Some mistake must have occurred in the
execution of my orders to make you collect so eagerly round me. Well,
leave me, we will clear that up on another occasion, for the present I
wish to be alone: begone!"
The bandits, without replying, bowed to the Chief, and immediately
withdrew, dispersing so promptly in the side galleries, that in less
than five minutes the hall was entirely deserted. At the same moment
Ruperto appeared; he had left his companions with old comrades who had
undertaken to do them the honours of the grotto, and now came to join
the man who had been entrusted to his care. Sandoval offered his hand
cordially to the adventurer, but it was the cordiality of a man who
feels himself at home, which the Texan noticed.
"Halloh!" he said, "We are no longer on the prairie, it strikes me."
"No," the Captain answered, seriously, and he laid some stress on the
words, "you are in my house, but," he added, with a pleasant smile,
"that must not trouble you; you are my guests, and will be treated as
you deserve to be."
"Good, good," Ruperto said, who would not let himself be imposed on by
this cavalier manner, "I know where the shoe pinches, gossip. Well, I
will find a remedy," and he turned to Orson, who at this moment came
down the ladder with his rough and savage face; "beg White Gazelle to
come hither; tell her particularly that Captain Sandoval wishes to see
her."
The Chief of the pirates smiled and offered his hand to Ruperto.
"Forgive me, Ruperto," he said to him, "but you know how I love that
girl. When I am a single day without seeing her, I fancy that I want
something, and feel unhappy."
"Canarios! I am well aware of it," Ruperto answered, with a smile;
"hence, you see, that to restore you to your right temper I did not
hesitate to give Orson orders to fetch the only person you have ever
loved."
The Captain sighed, but made no answer.
"Come," the adventurer continued, gaily, "she will come, so recover your
spirits. Caramba! It would be a fine thing for you to feel any longer
vexed about a child who probably forgot to kiss you on your return
because she was at play. Remember, we are your guests, that we have the
claims which hospitality gives us, and that you must not, under any
pretext, look black at us."
"Alas, my friends," he answered, with a stifled sigh, "you know not, you
cannot know, how sweet it is for a wretch like me, an outlaw, to be able
to say to himself that there exists in the world a creature who loves
him for himself, and without afterthought."
"Silence," Ruperto said quickly, as he laid his hand on his arm, "here
she comes."
[1] See Trail-Hunter, same publishers.