THE ANGELITO.
The hall into which the strangers were ushered by the host offered a
most strange and striking aspect.
It was magnificently furnished, and gorgeously illuminated by numerous
crystal chandeliers, crowded with rose wax tapers, and hung from the
ceiling. The walls had been covered with rare and thick old tapestry
of exquisite work. The richness of the sculptured furniture in oak,
mahogany, black walnut, and ebony, surpassed in solidity anything seen
abroad. The very catches, bolts, hinges, and locks, were in cut silver.
The whole floor was covered with very fine palm matting, or _petate_.
Two carpet covered platforms were erected, one at each end of this
hall, wherein some three hundred persons were looking at the principal
stage, and the sole one tenanted since, at a command from don Benito,
the musicians had vacated the other, intended only for them.
This second dais was arranged as an alcove, curtained in. Religious
emblems, in gold and jewels, decorated the depths. The poor little
child, victim of the Apache's missiles, powdered and rouged, was
propped up in a draped chair, clad in white satin and lace, and covered
with flowers, many more fading blooms strewing the floor.
The mother of this grandchild of don Benito was seated near her little
one.
She was a very young wife, of scarcely more years than doña Perla;
of equally rare beauty, but of corpselike pallor from her vigils and
sorrow, which, was rendered the more palpable by her cheeks being
thickly reddened with paint. Her fixed eyes, circled with black, gazed
into vacancy with wild feverishness. She tried to wear a calmly joyful
smile; but often a painful spasm convulsed her features, set her lips
quivering, her limbs shivering, and shook muffled sobs from her bosom.
About her were seated ladies, mostly young and fair, who were
attempting not to console the poor mother, but to cheer her up, as
their belief dictated.
The other guests were grouped around, chatting, smoking, and taking
refreshment from sideboards.
Don Benito saw, and perhaps in a measure comprehended, the reproving,
or, at least, pained look in the eyes of both the European and the
American shocked at such a scene when they were so full of perturbation
for the impending conflict.
"Conduct the reverend Father Serafino hither," he said to a servant.
A handsome and haughty youth, whom Mr. Gladsden recognised at once
by his resemblance to his father, came up to the newcomer, and
affectionately threw himself into his arms. It was don Jorge, the
bereaved father, though quite a boy in Mr. Gladsden's opinion.
"Caballero," said he; "nothing but your coming, the dearest, oldest
friend of my father, could have given me this moment's distraction
in my grief over my firstborn. Yours was the kindness that united
my father and mother. However can we repay the obligation we, their
children, lie beneath?"
"By showing me as much affection as I shall do to you, Jorge, my boy.
Upon my word, if I required any reward, I have it now amply, by shaking
the hand of so promising a namesake."
The young mother made an effort, smiled dolefully, and let her burning
hand rest in Mr. Gladsden's, while he kissed her equally heated
forehead, and then threw a few of the already wilting spring flowerets
upon the lap of the little corpse.
During this, Father Serafino had come into the hall. Instantly on
seeing him all chatter ceased, and on every side the ladies and
gentlemen respectfully saluted him.
Meanwhile, Gladsden turned sorrowfully to a lady in black and rose
satin, covered with jewelry, in whom he well knew again, spite of a
loss of slenderness, the graceful Dolores who had been his passenger on
the _Little Joker_.
Her emotion was too full for words as she clasped his proffered hand in
both hers, shining with rings, among which emeralds and pearls gleamed,
due to that hoard he had inherited and shared with this noble family.
They had no leisure for a conversation, as the priest, at the
suggestion of the host, had slowly mounted the musicians' platform, and
now said in a sympathetic but firm voice:--
"Young mother, retire now into your private apartments and there give
way way to your woes. Go, and in praying forget not, together with your
blessed babe, all those who are within the precincts of this house,
inasmuch as an unexampled danger menaces them. And you, my sisters," he
continued, addressing the other ladies, "accompany your kinswoman and
friend, console her and join in her prayers. Your place is no longer
here."
The young mother rose with a sudden sob, and in an instant her face
was flooded with tears. Her mother stepped in between her and the
dead child whereupon, as though that interposition and eclipsing of
her lost treasure had broken a binding link, don Jorge's wife swooned
away in the arms of her friends. They all clustered round, and she and
her mother were borne away in their midst, amid softened wailing and
muttered sympathy.
The rest of the guests not in the secret were overwhelmed by stupor;
and, indeed, had anyone but the priest thus put an end to the important
ceremony, they would have loudly protested and even hushed him up.
"My brethren," resumed he, in a clear, full voice, "hearken to my
words and gather up all your courage. Throughout this entire province,
the Yaqui Indians have broken their bondage. They threaten Ures
and Hermosillo; already they have overswarmed I know not how many
farms--those houses are smouldering, their people are stiffening after
indescribable tortures! I come hither to warn our friend that Monte
Tesoro is the object of the rebels' march. Tonight, the attack will
come, peradventure in one short hour! Brethren, verily I bid ye not
forget that the enemies who threaten ye are ferocious pagans from
whom you can expect no mercy! Resist them you must, forasmuch as in
resisting them you preserve the people and the habitations deeper in
the land, as well as all the women and youth providentially here.
Thankful am I that the heavenly Hand hath guided me hither to warn
you of the wrath let loose, to cheer you in your tribulations! Hence,
silenced be merriment! Cessation to all frivolous feasting! On our
knees, brethren, and let us all beseech the good and merciful Power,
without whom man is as naught, to make ye invincible."
It was a still more singular sight, more grand and impressive, when the
gay guests knelt in that glittering hall, redolent with flowers, smoke
of funeral meats, and incense, whilst the only upright thing was the
baby corpse in its chair of state, seeming to smile with a blushing
face, like an infant prince receiving homage.
When the Mexican gentlemen rose, their eyes were sparkling with
courage, enthusiasm, and resolution.
"¡Alerta! ¡Alerta!" arose without, as the principal note and the only
intelligible one in the clamour, more and more loud.
And "¡Alerta!" shouted an old majordomo, bursting into the hall with
his white hair streaming. "Oh, master! The Indians approach! The
revolted peons are pursuing a track of blood and fire! The pueblos, as
far as the eye can reach, are ablaze. The hosts will be at our stockade
in an hour! Already the patio is crowded with a throng of fugitives!"
It was overabundant confirmation of the priest's announcement.
"There is my place, amongst these unfortunates," observed he. "You do
your duty in your own way, whilst I console the fugitives, heal the
wounded, and pray for those who fall."
"Gentlemen," cried don Benito, "I assume command of my faithful
tenantry, and I swear that the revolted redskins shall find my body the
next barrier behind my hacienda walls."
"Courage and hope!" said Father Serafino.
Mr. Gladsden rose to go with the American in his sortie, since he had
not sufficient acquaintance with Spanish to carry on conversation with
the besieged, strangers all to him as well.
"Since we are still to travel in a team," said Oliver, gladdened by
this arrangement, "put yourself inside a uniform like me. They've made
me a brigadier general, at the least," he added, facetiously admiring
himself in a well gold-laced coat.
Whilst the Englishman was apparelling himself in much such another
suit, he continued:--
"Thar hev been six score men picked out for my band. The don says these
hev had a brush with the smoke skins, and with wild cats, and can be
relied on. I don't vally them a dollar per ton myself, Hows'ever, we
shan't be shot by them in the back, as they are only trusted with long
sticking poles, being rigged out as _lancers_--about all the _heroes_
we shall find them, I opine."
"The lance is the Mexican national weapon," remarked Mr. Gladsden.
"I trust more to a dozen cowpunchers among 'em--the _vaqueros_ do know
how to swing the lasso, and that's a fact. Are you ready?"
"Your lieutenant is ready, Captain."
"Call me 'colonel.' They are all captains in my squad, I b'lieve. You
have come out a full-grown shiner. I feel like the big dog with a new
brass collar--how's your feel, too?"
In plain words, the pair looked a handsome and portentous couple in
their metamorphosis into Mexican officers. On going out they found don
Benito in the vestibule. He, too, had donned an old, but carefully
preserved, brilliant costume of his father's as President-General, and
was as the sun to a star in his superior effulgence beside them. A
black servant was holding a golden salver, with a decanter and glasses
rimmed with gold, at his elbow, grinning with awe and admiration at his
master being so superbly caparisoned.
"A parting cup," said the hacendero, "and away! We have no time for
coquetting."
"A loving cup," said Gladsden, tasting the cup, whilst Oliver refused
his.
"I have head enough as it is," he remarked, in excuse. "You are drefful
good, I will say that; but I am not overly grasping for liquor when
thar is a monstracious kickin' out in prospect. After the slaying of
the wild cattle, don, then I am 'on' for my share o' the b'ar steaks
and honey."
On going out into the courtyard they at once perceived the great
change. All the bonfires were beaten out, song and dance had been
hushed, and the gates were closed and barricaded. In the gloom could
only be distinguished the shadowy sentinels watching immovably in the
loops and gaps in the wall, and at peepholes in the palisades. As Monte
Tesoro was an eminence, these vigiladores could see fairly over the
whole plain. Oliver pointed out that, to both east and west, there was
a ruddy, tawny tinge.
"Villages burning. The enemy is coming on."
They crossed one immense corral, and then a still larger enclosure,
wherein the hundred and twenty sham lancers were awaiting, each man
standing by his horse, the bridle in the left hand, ready to vault into
the saddle like real troopers. Two peons held a couple of very fine
animals, completely harnessed and decked out, of which they presented
the reins to Oliver and the Englishman.
Don Benito paused. With him were several of the elders of his guests;
all wore grave expressions. Everyone was armed.
"Out!" said he.
He stepped over to the stockade, scrutinising it attentively for a
space, then, stooping a trifle, he bore his weight on one particular
pile, whereupon, all of a sudden, a piece of the palisade opened
widely, like the secret door that it was, quite noiselessly, and left
a broad gangway. Oliver waved his hand, signifying "come on!" and held
up three fingers, meaning "three at a time!"--sign language being
universal on the border where so many tongues are intermixed. The
horsemen passed him in review, three abreast, each leading his mount.
As, strangely enough, the hoofs drew no sound whatever from contact
with the soil, Mr. Gladsden stooped and examined the feet of his own
steed, upon which act all the enigma was solved. Like the old wars
man he was, Oliver had hinted that he wanted his troop with muffled
hoofs, and the delicate trick over which King Lear was ecstatic, had
been performed by swathing them in strips of blanket around cotton wool
pads.
The Englishman was the very last to march forth, still shaking the
hands of don Benito and his young namesake.
"Go with God!" said the sire, fervently; "You hold our fate in your
brave hands. You alone can save us."
"Keep up your spirits," was the rejoinder. "That friend of mine is no
common man, and, in any case, we are going to do our best. If I never
return, mind, as that scrap of writing I dashed off, records, I leave
my sons especially to you as a second father, and to you, Jorge, as an
elder brother."
As he mounted, and moved on to join his comrades, the secret door swung
to, and all dissolution of continuity in the barrier disappeared.
There was a ditch to leap, and its sloping front to slide down. There
the squadron formed. Oliver had taken to his side the oldest _tigrero_,
or "vermin" eradicator of the farm, as his pilot.
"Follow!" said the American, curtly, between this hunter and Gladsden,
"By threes, follow!"