THE BELEAGUERED CAMP.
"Now I will post a sentinel on yon hillock, and then we will pass the
day as easily as we can. I and my fellows will lay poor Sergeant Davis
in the earth, which, if it be not consecrated, will at least shield him
from the ravening wolf and the loathsome vulture."
The sabres of his dragoons, and an axe or two, which had been brought
with them as part of the camp equipments, sufficed to scoop out
a little hollow in the rich soil of the moist basin, hard by the
streamlet's bed, and in it, wrapped in his watch-cloak, with his plumed
shako on his head, and his good sword on his thigh, all that was
earthly of the gallant veteran was laid to take its long sleep.
Gordon secured his telescope, and, mounting a steep hill, surveyed the
country, expecting to see the Partisan.
All at once he exclaimed in a full, manly, and clear tone:
"Julia, huzza! huzza! He is here--come forth and greet him. The
Partisan is here already."
And just as the highly-bred brown horse bore him up the low bank from
the rivulet's bed, she came out quickly from the little tent with a
warm flush on her soft cheeks and a bright light in her clear blue eye,
and a fleet step, and an out-stretched hand, which showed that the
joy which she manifested at his coming was from the heart, sincere and
earnest.
"Oh!" she cried, "Major Delacroix!" and her sweet low voice faltered
as she spoke, as if she were on the point of bursting into tears, "how
glad, how very glad I am to see you."
"Too glad, I am afraid, dear lady," answered the gallant soldier,
bowing almost to the saddle bow, "too glad, I am afraid; for your
pleasure almost looks as if you thought I had deserted you."
"Oh! no, indeed--indeed!" she answered, clapping her hands together in
the intensity of her earnestness; "I knew that you would die a thousand
deaths before you would desert me--before you would desert, I mean,"
she added, with some slight embarrassment, "any woman in distress or
danger."
"You need not have modified your first expression, lady," replied the
Partisan, quietly; "as for dying a thousand deaths, I cannot say for
that, but certainly so far as risking the one life I do possess, I
would do that for _you_, willingly."
Julia Gordon was a high-minded, artless, innocent woman, if ever
such an one breathed the breath of life; but still she was a woman.
She perceived at once that she had struck and fascinated the wild
Partisan at first sight, and though she would not for the universe have
intentionally caused him a single pang, she did unconsciously encourage
him, and lead him on to wilder and more wandering fancies than he had
ever entertained before.
"You flatter me, fair lady," he replied, with a smile, as he dismounted
from his good horse; "and flattery from such lips as yours were
perillous, indeed, to a younger man than I, and to one alienated from
the hopes, the wishes, the delights of civilized society. But let us
go in to your tent," he continued, "and you shall bestow upon me your
hospitality to-day, in requital of the poor meal I set before you on
the other side of the Bravo."
When the repast was ended, and coffee set before them, he produced his
pipe, and filling it with his favourite mixture of tobacco, applied
himself for a few minutes to smoking silently, Gordon following his
example, and Julia awaiting patiently the relation, which, with the
true woman's instinct, she foresaw to be close at hand.
"Now then, lieutenant, since we are about to start, it were, perhaps,
as well that we should determine whither."
"Whither," exclaimed Gordon, starting, and looking very anxiously in
the old soldier's face. "I thought that had been determined long ago. I
thought we were in full route for Taylor's camp before Monterey."
"It is impossible," replied the Partisan. "I did hope at first
to effect it, but the hope was delusive--the thing is a sheer
impossibility. We are in the midst of out-laying parties of regulars
and, what is worse yet, of guerrillas; and, worst of all, of these
accursed Comanches."
"And to return?" asked Gordon.
"Is equally impossible."
"What then? For the love of Heaven, speak," cried the young husband,
actually trembling with the violence of his anxiety and apprehension.
"It is impossible for a party, at once too strong to avoid discovery,
and too weak to resist an enemy, to push on to Monterey, even if we
had not a lady with us. I could, myself, run the gauntlet thither, and
arrive in safety, though even that is doubtful. You, or she, at least,
must remain in concealment until I can bring you such succour as will
suffice to her safety."
"Remain in concealment, here?"
"Not here, exactly, nor yet very far distant."
"Can it be done?"
"I think it can, with safety--else had not named it."
"And whence will you seek succour?"
"When God and the fortunes of war shall send it. Perhaps not higher
than the general's camp--perhaps I may stumble on Jack Hays, or Walker,
or McCulloch, or Gillespie's rangers. They are on the scout almost
all the time, either in the van or rear of the army; and now I think
it likely they will be down here away, with the intent to open our
communication. God send that they may."
"God send it so, indeed," replied Arthur Gordon, earnestly. "But what
has led you so completely to alter your views and intentions?"
"That which I have seen with my own eyes, or heard with my own ears,
last night."
"And what may that have been?"
"Listen. I was awakened last night by the sound of a scuffle and a
faint groan. Before I could get on my feet, however, I had the pleasure
of seeing that scoundrel, whose life we spared in the morning--and a
stupid thing we did in sparing it--lead his horse out of the circle and
leap on his back. There was no use in awakening you, so I untethered
Emperor as quickly as I could, and out in pursuit of him. For all
the speed I could make, he had got full a half mile away on the open
prairie before I was in the saddle; but I cared little enough for that,
seeing that in a five miles' race, I knew well enough that I could make
up such a gap as that, and overhaul him, too, without much trouble.
But what _did_ vex me, and set me to thinking, was, that instead of
making the best of his way back over the ground we had traversed in the
morning, he struck off here to the north-west, riding as straight as if
he had been following a beaten track, without a sign of hesitation, or
so much as looking behind him."
"That was strange," said Gordon.
"I soon found out whither he was bound, and I was thinking of taking
a straight course for the rancho, at which I saw he was aiming, when
all at once I heard a yell in the forest, scarcely three hundred yards
ahead of me, and before I had time to think, out galloped forty or
fifty red skins from the forest, and drove right across the open ground
right down upon our runaway. He felt that he was lost, I think, as
soon as he saw them, for he made but a very sorry race of it, wheeling
and turning to and fro, as if he knew not whither to fly, and the
consequence was that they ran him down in less than ten minutes, and
that within less than a hundred yards of the brake which hid me. If I
had just then had ten rangers with me, armed with good western rifles,
they never would have served him as they did, nor would one of them got
off scot free. But what could I do? I was but one against fifty, and I
knew not how soon my own turn might come: so I had only to stand by and
look on while they--"
"Murdered him!" exclaimed Julia, covering both her eyes with her fair
hands; "good God! how terrible!"
"Burnt him alive, lady," said the Partisan, coolly.
"Burnt him alive!" exclaimed Julia, whose hands had dropped from before
her eyes into her lap at the first words of his reply. "Burnt him
alive, and before your eyes!"
"Before my eyes, lady. Not a prayer, not a shriek, not a groan of the
wretched devil escaped my ears, and the smell of his roasting flesh
sickened and almost choked me," cried the Partisan.
"And why, why did you hold back?" exclaimed Julia, wildly catching him
by the arm, "why did you not rush upon them?"
"I could but have died with him."
"Then should you have died with him," she cried, scarce knowing what
she said. "Not to have done so, is not like the man I have heard you
called--not like the man I took you for."
"Hush, Julia, hush!" cried her husband, springing to his feet. "Be
silent, child, if you cannot speak reason--"
But Delacroix interrupted him, speaking very slowly, and with an
inexpressibly mournful intonation of voice.
"Let her go on," he said. "It was for _her_ sake I did it, and most meet
it is that she should pay me for it with ingratitude. Who ever served
or loved a woman and met with other guerdon for his services? I was a
fool--I am a fool, but I did not expect this at her hands."
He hung down his bold head as he spoke, and one or two big tears, the
first he had shed for years, rolled down his swarthy cheeks.
"And now bid your men strike the tent, and pack just what baggage your
lady cannot spare. Pack it on the dragoon horse, whose saddle is left
empty by that murderer's deed, who has dearly rued it. The rest with
the tent and pontoon must be abandoned, and the mules that bore them
must be slain. Let them hide everything in the chaparral; the sun will
have set within an hour. Meanwhile, I will go forth and see that the
coast is clear."
"But whither, whither are you about to lead us?" inquired Gordon,
anxiously.
"If you trust me you will follow me, lieutenant, whithersoever I lead
you. If not, you will not follow me at all, for if it be my intent to
deceive you, I can do so by words as well as by actions.
"Oh, Major Delacroix!" exclaimed Julia, who had recovered from her
bewilderment, and was sensible of the error she had committed, "you
are offended, you are angry with me, and justly--I have been most
ungrateful."
"Not angry, lady--not offended. A man cannot be angry with such a one
as you, do what you will with him. I _am_ disappointed, perhaps hurt,
but certainly neither angry nor offended."
"You must forgive me," she exclaimed, springing passionately forward,
and catching his hand in both her own, "you must--you must forgive me.
I knew not _then_, I know not even now, what it was I said--will you
but forgive me?"
"Surely I would, had I anything to forgive, sweet lady," he replied,
with a grave, sad smile. "But I have nothing, unless it be," he added,
with a low sigh, "my own folly. But a truce to this, we have indeed no
time for parleying. Will you trust me and follow me? As we ride onward
I will tell you whither."
"To the world's end," answered the beautiful girl, clasping her hands
and blushing crimson with the violence of her own emotions. "To the
world's end, if you will not forgive me."
"Now will you be so kind as to issue your orders to your men,
lieutenant, and you, madam, to make your preparations for a ride which
may extend through the night until day-break to-morrow?"
He spoke so decidedly that there was no excuse for attempting to
prolong the conversation, and Gordon left the little tent immediately
in order to give his directions, while the Partisan lifted his rifle
from the ground where he had deposited it on entering, and turned to
follow the young officer without saying another word.
But ere he had reached the entrance, Julia, who had been standing with
down-cast eyes and a strange expression, half sad, half passionate on
her beautiful features, sprang forward to intercept him, and again
caught him by the arm.
"What have I done," she cried, passionately, "what have I done that you
thus spurn me--thus despise me?"
"I, lady!" and he gazed at her in blank astonishment; "I despise you?"
"Yes, yes, miserable _me_, and I deserve it all, aye, more than
all. Oh, God! oh, God! I shall go mad. What shall I do to win your
forgiveness?"
"I have said, madam," he replied, mastering himself and retaining his
self-composure with a mighty effort, "that I had nothing to forgive.
But now it is my turn to ask," and his voice assumed a deeper tone
of feeling, and his whole manner showed an intenser meaning, "will
_you_ spare _me_? You know what I mean, lady--all women _know_ their
power, and, I suppose, all _abuse it_. But as I have endeavoured to
serve you truly, as I intend to do to the end--as I am resolved to
die for you--will you spare _me_, I say? Spare me my self-respect, my
consciousness of right, nay manhood, my repose of soul, my honour.
If you will, lady, I forgive, I bless you. If not--if not, tremble,
I say, tremble, not at the thought of my vengeance, but of your own
remorse. Think of this, lady, and fare you well. We speak no more alone
together--no more, forever!"
And he flung her hand, which he had held tightly clasped in his own
while he spoke, away from him contemptuously, half indignantly, turned
on his heel and left her.
She gazed on him for a moment wistfully, and then sank down upon the
bearskin on which he had been sitting, buried her face in the fur, and
wept bitterly, as might be seen from the convulsive sobs which shook
her whole frame as she lay prostrate in her desperate sorrow.
Within an hour the Partisan returned to the camp which had been the
scene of so much mental suffering and excitement to all the parties who
had passed the last weary, long hours within its guarded precincts. But
when he did return, he had fully mastered his composure, for he now
fully understood his own feelings, and perceived the peril of indulging
them. And he found all his comrades collected and self-possessed, at
least in appearance, and prepared to set forth at a moment's notice.
The horse of the unhappy sergeant had been equipped, instead of his
own demipique, with the pack-saddle of the poor predestined mule,
and stood, seemingly conscious of his degradation, loaded with such
necessary baggage as could in no way be dispensed with.
The appearance of the Partisan, and the first quick gesture of his
hand, gave the signal; and all the men vaulted at once into their
saddles.
"All is safe!" he exclaimed, cheerfully. "To horse, to horse, and away!"
And with the word, he laid his hand on the pummel of the brown
charger's demipique, and, without setting his foot into the stirrup,
sprang at one bound to his back.
Then, after saying a few words in a low voice to Arthur, who
communicated them in turn to one of the dragoons, he bowed to the lady,
saying:
"And now, if you are ready, we will proceed at once," and rode at an
easy gait out of the gorge, followed by all the party.
The heart of Julia sank as she gazed around; and she felt that the
least addition to the sense of dread and half superstitious awe which
now beset her, would be too much for her powers of endurance. Yet,
while she thought thus, another item _was_ added--it was the sharp and
sudden crack of two rifles, discharged, almost simultaneously, in the
small amphitheatre from which they had just departed.
She started in her saddle as if she had received a blow, and would have
fallen from her seat had not her husband thrown his powerful arm around
her, and supported her frame on the back of her palfrey.
"It is nothing," he whispered; "it is nothing only the poor mules which
we were compelled to shoot, as we could not bring them with us, and
dared not leave them to follow, and, by following, betray us."
"More blood!" cried Julia, bursting into a paroxysm of tears; "more
blood! my God! when will this have an end?"
"You should have thought of that Julia," replied the young soldier,
sharply and bitterly, "before you married a soldier. That done, such
thoughts are too late."
"Alas, alas! they are, indeed, too late."
"And do you cry alas! for that, false girl?" exclaimed Gordon, in
so loud a tone that his words reached the ears of the Partisan, who
instantly reined back his horse, and laying his hand kindly on the
young man's arm, said, in a low voice:
"Oh, peace, peace, for shame! Consider what she has borne, what she has
yet to bear--and all for you."
"I wish I were in my grave," she answered, raising her mild, soft eyes
to meet his. "I never shall be happy more till I lie in it."
"Nay, lady, speak not thus," returned the veteran, warmly. "Death, at
the best, is a dread mystery. In God's good time, we must all come
to that; to His good wisdom, therefore, let us leave it. And, oh, by
no levity or petulance of ours, let us call down His anger on our
heads. But, I assure you, it is no gloomy place, no fearful or dark
abiding-place, that I hope to conduct you, but to a sort of fairy
bower, inhabited," he added, assuming a tone of gayety which he perhaps
scarcely felt "by what I thought, till I met your blue eyes, Mistress
Gordon, the loveliest woman I e'er looked upon."
Despite herself, Julia Gordon was interested and amused, and yielding,
womanlike to the immediate impulse, she cried: "What! a fairy bower,
and a fair woman, in this howling wilderness?"
"Aye, lady, even so! and thereby hangs a tale, which, as you will
be thrown, I think, upon her hospitality, and as it may beguile the
tediousness of our night-march, I will relate to you, if you choose to
hear it."
"Oh, tell it, by all means, Partisan," cried Gordon, eager to atone for
his late petulance, and to divert his wife's apprehension; "I hope it
is a love tale."
"'Cato's a proper person'" answered Delacroix, laughing. "You see I
quote, lieutenant. But here goes my story.
"It was a little better than a year ago," he began, "that I first
visited this part of the country, which I know--every pass, glen, and
pond, and rivulet of it--as if it were my own garden. All then was
violence, and fierce, irregular strife, and vengeful indiscriminate
warfare and confusion.
"I was alone on this good horse which I now ride, and armed as you now
see me. At times I would join this or that band of rangers, when on
some actual service which promised excitement and the chance of action,
I for the most part scouted by myself.
"On this occasion, however, I had a special duty to perform, being
charged with dispatches from the general to the chief of the band,
which will not name, nor otherwise designate, except as being ever the
most daring and successful in the onslaught, although too often the
most merciless in the moment of victory."
"Well, it was a lovely summer's evening, as ever shone out of Heaven,
when I passed through this belt of forest; not exactly here, or
in this direction, for I came in farther to the southeastward, and
approached the clearing which surrounds the plantation, whither we now
are bound. When suddenly, as I rode along, following the track of the
horse hoofs, which I could easily distinguish in the mossy greensward,
and judging by many certain indications that I could not now be far
behind them, though I heard nothing to denote their vicinity; when
suddenly--I say, I caught the distant sounds of merriment, and revelry;
the light cadences of the guitar, the merry laugh of girls, the deep
rich voices of the male singers, in the harmonious Spanish tongue, and
all the glee and anxiety of fandango.
"I felt a momentary sense of pleasure, for I knew that I was in time,
which I had feared might not be the case; and that the attack, which
it was my mission to prevent or at least to render bloodless, had not
as yet taken place. The next instant a sudden doubt, a great fear fell
upon me. How could it be that I should be so close to the rancho and
the band, of which I was in pursuit, yet closer, but unseen, unheard
and unsuspected. I knew that not a moment must be lost. That even now
the rangers must be stealing with ready arms upon their victims; that
even now the doom of the gay lancers must be sealed, unless my presence
should arrest it. I gave my good horse the spur, and throwing the rein
upon his neck, galloped at the top of his speed along the intricate and
mazy wood-track.
"Never, in all my life, did I spur so hard; and never did a road
seem so long, or so devious; nor was this the effect of imagination
only; for I have since ascertained by actual inspection although the
distance, as the bird flies from the spot, where I first heard the
music, to the rancho whence it proceeded, is but a short mile, the road
by which alone you can reach it, measures three at the least, winding
it to and fro to avoid pathless brakes and deep barrancas, and is
exceedingly deep and miry.
"The sound of my horse's tramp, splashing through the deep clay, was
already heard by the lancers, and heard, alas! by their ambushed foes,
when I fear it spurred to accelerated action; when suddenly from the
wood to my left, the shrill blast of the bugle rose piercingly upon the
night air, and was answered by a second at a little distance. There
was an instant's pause, breathless and awful as the lull that precedes
the burst of a thunderstorm; and then a long loud shout burst out on
all sides, and the quick running rattle of a hundred rifle-shots fired
in quick succession. God! what a shriek succeeded! And then the clash
of blades, and the blasphemies and yells of the charging Texans, and
the deep oaths and dying groans of the slaughtered Spaniards and the
howling of hounds and mastiffs; and, above all, piercing my very brain,
the maddening screams of women pealed up in horrid dissonance to the
peaceful heavens, which, in a moment afterward, were crimsoned with the
glare of the rushing flames, making the twilight scenery of the calm
forest lurid and ruddy as the fabulous groves of hell!
"When I heard that tremendous uproar, and saw the outburst of that
furious conflagration, I spurred my horse the faster, and at last,
issuing from the forest, came upon such a scene of horror, blood and
devastation, as I trust it may never be my fate to look upon again.
"The rancho or country dwelling-house which had been attacked was of
unusually large dimensions, consisting of many buildings, with barns,
stables, cattle-folds, and out-houses of every kind.
"Suddenly a pistol shot or two startled me, followed by a shout and the
clashing of swords from a distant quarter of the garden.
"I was still mounted, and with the speed of light I galloped toward
the spot whence those sole sounds of human life proceeded. Across
the smoothly-shaven lawn and luxuriant flowerbeds I drove my charger
recklessly. I came up. I was yet in time! It was a small, low building
of two rooms only, the inmost of which had windows reaching to the
ground, secured with jalousies, and perfectly embowered by the rich
leaves and vagrant tendrils of a hundred climbing parasites.
"And this lone bower, evidently the abode of some Spanish beauty,
was now the last citadel of the hapless inhabitants, mercilessly
attacked and desperately defended. It was fortunate for those within
it that the Texans had discovered it from the court-yard, with which
it communicated only by one door in a massive wall of stone--all its
windows opening into the secluded quarter of the garden, which they had
not as yet discovered.
"From the court-yard, separated from the garden in which I stood by the
high and massive wall I have named, the shouts and rush of armed men
came clearly to my ears; and, by the English tongue, the wild oaths,
and the bitter denunciating, I readily perceived that it was the band
of whom I was in pursuit, and that they were forcing their way into
the building, in despite of all opposition. Still it was evident to
me, by the silence which prevailed in the inner room--opposite to the
casements of which I stood--that this last sanctum was yet unforced,
though the rapid discharge of pistol and rifle shots, and the clash of
rapier and bowie-knife at the door, announced that its security was
menaced, and could not certainly be maintained many minutes longer.
"There was not a second to be lost. Springing down from my horse, with
one pistol in my left hand, a second in my belt, my good broad-sword in
my right hand, and my wood-knife between my teeth, I drove the frail
jalousies asunder with one blow of my foot, and stood the next moment
in the scene of terror. And God of mercy! what a scene that was! Should
I live centuries I never can forget it. It was but a second that I
gazed around me; yet in that fleeting second I took in more minute
details than I could recount to you in an hour.
"The chamber was the sleeping-room of some young female. Yet this spot
was already the abode of death--might even be the scene of outrage
worse than death.
"On the low, virgin bed was stretched--where it had been hastily
deposited by the alarmed bearers--the lifeless corpse of an old man--an
old Spanish gentleman. A small, round, livid hole in the centre of
his forehead, surrounded by a discoloured spot, and the blood which
had flowed from the back of his head and deluged all the cambric
pillow-covers, showed plainly that he had fallen by the unerring
missile of a Texan rifle. I learned afterward that he was killed, in
the very act of offering hospitality, by the first shot discharged that
day, on his own threshold; and I do not regret that the perpetrator of
the atrocious deed fell, that same day, by my hand and this good weapon.
"But to proceed. On the floor, close to the window by which I made
my entrance, lay stretched an aged woman, the wife apparently of him
who slept unconscious--happy that he was unconscious--of the horrors
which surrounded him. She, too, had been struck down as I judged, not
a moment before I entered, by a chance bullet; for she still breathed
a little, although life was fast ebbing from her veins in spite of
the efforts of the loveliest girl my eyes had then looked upon, who
knelt beside her, seemingly unaware of the fierce uproar which was
raging, nearer and nearer every moment, in the adjoining apartment; the
door of which stood wide open, allowing the horrid din, the hideous
imprecations, and the blue sulphurous smoke of the death-shots, which
rang incessantly without, to force their way, unhindered, into that
quiet chamber.
"I said that one quick glance showed me all this, and, to truth, I
had not leisure for a second, for I was not well within the chamber
when a tall young Spaniard staggered back to the threshold of the
door, and, discharging a pistol at the Texans while in the very act
of dropping, fell headlong on the floor upon his back, his left hand,
which still grasped the yet smoking pistol, striking the ground within
a few inches of the feet of that fair girl. She started at the dreadful
interruption, and, for the first time becoming aware of my presence,
uttered a long wild shriek; and, believing that her hour had come,
arose to her feet with an effort, and laying her hand on her bosom,
said, in a low, sweet voice, in the Spanish tongue, 'Strike, if you
will; but, in the name of the most Holy Virgin, harm not an orphaned
virgin!'
"Alarmed by her cry, a young gentleman richly dressed, who was
defending the door, with rapier and dagger, with all the valour of
despair, and whose back had been turned toward us, looked around
quickly, and as he did so received a sharp wound in the breast from
a Texan knife. The murderous weapon was raised to repeat the blow,
when I seized him violently by the shoulder, cast him back into the
middle of the room, crying, 'Amigo,' and thrust myself into his place,
confronting alone the infuriate assailants.
"The men knew me in an instant, but their blood was up, moreover; and
several of them to the intoxication of heated passions and unbridled
license had added the intoxication of wine; quantities of which had
been found on the premises, and had been drunk without stint.
"It was in vain that I called on them to hold, and demanded their
captain. My answer was, that they were all captains there alike, and
would take no command from any, coupled to an insolent warning to take
myself out of harm's way if I were wise, before worse should come of it.
"A moment or two before he reached the spot, he was informed of my
coming, and of the resistance I had met from his men. There was blood
on his face, on his hands, on the blade of his sabre, which he bore
still unsheathed. But so soon as his eye fell upon the group opposing
me, and saw that I was fighting on the defensive, it seemed positively
to flash fire--his white cheek gleamed with a red unnatural hectic--and
he actually gnashed his teeth with rage. 'Rascals! Dogs! Mutineers!'
he shouted. 'Do you dare to resist an officer? Down with them, Pierre;
down with the dogs! Spare them no longer! Give them the steel,' and
suiting the action to the word, as the hindmost man of the party,
turned aghast at finding himself as it were between two fires, he threw
himself upon him, and ran his sword through his body. The rest flung
down their arms, and with some difficulty I obtained their grace, for
he would hear at first of nothing but drum-head, court-martial, and
immediate execution.
"And now, my tale is told. That bower is the sole relic of a once rich
and noble residence--that fair, pale girl is, with the sole exception
of her brother, who was the wounded youth I mentioned, the last scion
of a race as noble as ever came from the shores of old Castile."
"But, tell me," exclaimed Julia, who had listened rather impatiently to
the late discussion--"her brother!--what became of her brother who was
wounded--whom you saved?"
"What could become of him? He pulled his sombrero over his eyes,
buckled his father's sword to his side, and his good spurs to his heel,
took lance and lasso, backed his best horse, and never since has given
quarter to a man who speaks with an English tongue. I would not bet a
dollar that he would spare my life, if I fell into his hands in action."
"And where is he now, or how engaged?" asked Gordon.
"Since Romano Fallon's troop has been broken up, he is Padre Taranta's
right hand man. He is the most dangerous enemy America now has in all
Mexico."
"And it is to his sister's dwelling that you are leading _me_?" asked
Julia, in astonishment.
"Even so, lady. If once you cross her threshold, you are safe against
all the force of Mexico, until such time as we can bring you succour,
or a flag under which you may enter the lines."