Day had just dawned when I rose to join Mariano at the fire he had
already kindled to heat the water for his early _maté_. I did not like
the idea of lying there concealed amongst the trees like some hunted
animal for an indefinite time; moreover, I had been advised by Santa
Coloma to proceed directly to the Lomas de Rocha, on the south coast, in
the event of a defeat, and this now seemed to me the best thing to do.
It had been very pleasant lying there “under the greenwood tree,” while
those veracious stories of hags, lampalaguas, and apparitions had proved
highly entertaining; but a long spell, a whole month perhaps, of that
kind of life was not to be thought of; and if I did not get to Rocha
now, before the rural police were set to catch runaway rebels, it would
perhaps be impossible to do so later on. I determined, therefore, to go
my own way, and, after drinking bitter _maté_, I caught and saddled
the dun horse. I really had not deserved the severe censure Lechuza had
passed on me the previous evening in reference to horse-stealing, for
I had taken the dun with very little more compunction than one is
accustomed to feel in England when “borrowing” an umbrella on a rainy
day. To all people in all parts of the world, a time comes when to
appropriate their neighbour's goods is held not only justifiable, but
even meritorious; to Israelites in Egypt, Englishmen under a cloud in
their own moist island, and to Orientals running away after a fight. By
keeping the dun over thirty hours in my possession I had acquired a kind
of prescriptive right to it, and now began to look on it as my very own;
subsequent experience of his endurance and other good qualities enables
me to endorse the Oriental saying that a “stolen horse carries you
well.”
Bidding farewell to my companions in defeat, who had certainly not been
frightened out of their imaginations, I rode forth just when it
was beginning to grow light. Roads and houses I studiously avoided,
travelling on at an easy gallop, which took me about ten miles an hour,
till noon; then I rested at a small _rancho_, where I fed and watered my
horse and recruited my own energies with roast beef and bitter _maté_.
On again till dark; by that time I had covered about forty miles, and
began to feel both hungry and tired. I had passed several _ranchos_ and
_estancia_ houses, but was shy of seeking entertainment at any of them,
and so went farther, only to fare worse. When the brief twilight was
darkening to night I came upon a broad cart-track, leading, I suppose,
to Montevideo from the eastern part of the country, and, seeing a long,
low _rancho_ near it, which I recognized as a _pulperia_, or store, by
the flagstaff planted before it, I resolved to purchase some refreshment
for myself, then to ride on a mile or two and spend the night under the
stars--a safe roof if an airy one. Tying my horse to the gate, I went
into the porch-like projection at the end of the _rancho_, which I found
divided from the interior by the counter, with its usual grating of
thick iron bars to protect the treasures of gin, rum, and comestibles
from drunken or quarrelsome customers. As soon as I came into the porch
I began to regret having alighted at the place, for there, standing at
the counter, smoking and drinking, were about a dozen very rough-looking
men. Unfortunately for me, they had tied their horses under the shadow
of a clump of trees some distance from the gate, so that I had missed
seeing them on my arrival. Once amongst them, however, my only plan was
to disguise my uneasiness, be very polite, get my refreshments, then
make my escape as speedily as possible. They stared rather hard at
me, but returned my salutation courteously; then going to a disengaged
corner of the counter, I rested my left elbow on it and called for
bread, a box of sardines, and a tumbler of wine.
“If you will join me, señores, the table is spread,” said I; but they
all declined my invitation with thanks, and I began to eat my bread and
sardines.
They appeared to be all persons living in the immediate neighbourhood,
for they addressed each other familiarly and were conversing about love
matters. One of them, however, soon dropped out of the conversation,
and, edging away from the others, stood a little space apart, leaning
against the wall on the side of the porch farthest from me. I began to
notice this man very particularly, for it was plain to see that I had
excited his interest in an extraordinary manner, and I did not like his
scrutiny. He was, without exception, the most murderous-looking villain
I have ever had the misfortune to meet: that was the deliberate opinion
I came to before I formed a closer acquaintance with him. He was a
broad-chested, powerful-looking man of medium height; his hands he kept
concealed under the large cloth _poncho_ he wore, and he had on a slouch
hat that just allowed his eyes to be seen under the rim. They were
truculent, yellowish-green eyes, that seemed to grow fiery and dim and
fiery again by turns, yet never for a single instant were they averted
from my face. His black hair hung to his shoulders, and he also had a
bristly moustache, which did not conceal his brutal mouth, nor was there
any beard to hide his broad, swarthy jowl. His jaws were the only part
of him that had any motion, while he stood there, still as a bronze
statue, watching me. At intervals he ground his teeth, after which he
would slap his lips together two or three times, while a slimy froth,
most sickening to see, gathered at the corners of his mouth.
“Gandara, you are not drinking,” said one of the gauchos, turning to
him. He shook his head slightly without speaking or taking his eyes
off my face; whereupon the man who had spoken smiled and resumed his
conversation with the others.
The long, intense, soul-trying scrutiny this brutal wretch had subjected
me to came to a very sudden end. Quick as lightning a long, broad
knife flashed out from its concealment under his _poncho_, and with one
cat-like bound he was before me, the point of his horrid weapon touching
my _poncho_ just over the pit of my stomach.
“Do not move, rebel,” he said in a husky voice. “If you move one hair's
breadth, that moment you die.”
The other men all ceased talking and looked on with some interest, but
did not offer to interfere or make any remark.
For one moment I felt as if an electric shock had gone through me, and
then instantly I was calm--never, in fact, have I felt more calm and
collected than at that terrible moment. 'Tis a blessed instinct of
self-preservation which nature has provided us with; feeble, timid men
possess it in common with the strong and brave, as weak, persecuted wild
animals have it as well as those that are fierce and bloodthirsty. It is
the calm which comes without call when death suddenly and unexpectedly
rises up to stare us in the face; it tells us that there is one faint
chance which a premature attempt to escape or even a slight agitation
will destroy.
“I have no wish to move, friend,” I said, “but I am curious to know why
you attack me?”
“Because you are a rebel. I have seen you before, you are one of Santa
Coloma's officers. Here you shall stand with this knife touching you
till you are arrested, or else with this knife in you here you shall
die.”
“You are making a mistake,” I said.
“Neighbours,” said he, speaking to the others, but without taking his
eyes from my face, “will you tie this man hand and foot while I stand
before him to prevent him from drawing any weapon he may have concealed
under his _poncho_?”
“We have not come here to arrest travellers,” returned one of the men.
“If he is a rebel it is no concern of ours. Perhaps you are mistaken,
Gandara.”
“No, no, I am not mistaken,” he returned. “He shall not escape. I saw
him at San Paulo with these eyes--when did they ever deceive me? If you
refuse to assist me, then go one of you to the Alcalde's house and tell
him to come without delay, while I keep guard here.”
After a little discussion one of the men offered to go and inform the
Alcalde. When he had left, I said, “My friend, may I finish my meal? I
am hungry, and had just begun to eat when you drew your knife against
me.”
“Yes; eat,” he said; “only keep your hands well up so that I can see
them. Perhaps you have a weapon at your waist.”
“I have not,” I said, “for I am an inoffensive person and do not require
weapons.”
“Tongues were made to lie,” he returned, truly enough. “If I see you
drop your hand lower than the counter I shall rip you up. We shall then
be able to see whether you digest your food or not.”
I began to eat and sip my wine, still with those brutal eyes on my face
and the keen knife-point touching my _poncho_. There was now a ghastly
look of horrible excitement on his face, while his teeth-grinding
performances became more frequent and the slimy froth dropped
continually from the corners of his mouth on to his bosom. I dared not
look at the knife, because a terrible impulse to wrest it out of his
hands kept rising in me. It was almost too strong to be overcome, yet I
knew that even the slightest attempt to escape would be fatal to me; for
the fellow was evidently thirsty for my blood and only wanted an excuse
to run me through. But what, I thought, if he were to grow tired of
waiting, and, carried away by his murderous instincts, to plunge his
weapon into me? In that case I should die like a dog, without having
availed myself of my one chance of escape through over-caution. These
thoughts were maddening, still through it all I laboured to observe an
outwardly calm demeanour.
My supper was done. I began to feel strangely weak and nervous. My lips
grew dry; I was intensely thirsty and longed for more wine, yet dared
not take it for fear that in my excited state even a very moderate
amount of alcohol might cloud my brain.
“How long will it take your friend to return with the Alcalde?” I asked
at length.
Gandara made no reply. “A long time,” said one of the other men. “I, for
one, cannot wait till he comes,” and after that he took his departure.
One by one they now began to drop away, till only two men besides
Gandara remained in the porch. Still that murderous wretch kept before
me like a tiger watching its prey, or rather like a wild boar, gnashing
and foaming, and ready to rip up its adversary with horrid tusk.
At length I made an appeal to him, for I began to despair of the Alcalde
coming to deliver me. “Friend,” I said, “if you will allow me to speak,
I can convince you that you are mistaken. I am a foreigner, and know
nothing about Santa Coloma.”
“No, no,” he interrupted, pressing the knife-point warningly against my
stomach, then suddenly withdrawing it as if about to plunge it intome.
“I know you are a rebel. If I thought the Alcalde were not coming I
would run you through at once and cut your throat afterwards. It is a
virtue to kill a Blanco traitor, and if you do not go bound hand and
foot from here then here you must die. What, do you dare to say that
I did not see you at San Paulo--that you are not an officer of Santa
Coloma? Look, rebel, I will swear on this cross that I saw you there.”
Suiting the action to the word, he raised the hilt of the weapon to his
lips to kiss the guard, which with the handle formed a cross. That pious
action was the first slip he had made, and gave the first opportunity
that had come to me during all that terrible interview. Before he had
ceased speaking, the conviction that my time had come flashed like
lightning through my brain. Just as his slimy lips kissed the hilt,
my right hand dropped to my side and grasped the handle of my revolver
under my _poncho_. He saw the movement, and very quickly recovered the
handle of his knife. In another second of time he would have driven the
blade through me; but that second was all I now required. Straight from
my waist, and from under my _poncho_, I fired. His knife fell ringing
on to the floor; he swerved, then fell back, coming to the ground with
a heavy thud. Over his falling body I leaped, and almost before he had
touched the ground was several yards away, then, wheeling round, I found
the other two men rushing out after me.
“Back!” I shouted, covering the foremost of the two with my revolver.
They instantly stood still.
“We are not following you, friend,” said one, “but only wish to get out
of the place.”
“Back, or I fire!” I repeated, and then they retreated into the porch.
They had stood by unconcerned while their cut-throat comrade Gandara was
threatening my life, so that I naturally felt angry with them.
I sprang upon my horse, but, instead of riding away at once, stood for
some minutes by the gate watching the two men. They were kneeling
by Gandara, one opening his clothes to look for the wound, the other
holding a flaring candle over his ashen, corpse-like face.
“Is he dead?” I asked.
One of the men looked up and answered, “It appears so.”
“Then,” I returned, “I make you a present of his carcass.”
After that, digging my spurs into my horse, I galloped away.
Some readers might imagine, after what I had related, that my sojourn in
the Purple Land had quite brutalised me; I am happy to inform them that
it was not so. Whatever a man's individual character may happen to be,
he has always a strong inclination in him to reply to an attack in the
spirit in which it is made. He does not call the person who playfully
ridicules his foibles a whitened sepulchre or an unspeakable scoundrel,
and the same principle holds good when it comes to actual physical
fighting. If a French gentleman were to call me out, I daresay I should
go to the encounter twirling my moustache, bowing down to the ground,
all smiles and compliments; and that I should select my rapier with a
pleasant kind of feeling, like that experienced by the satirist about to
write a brilliant article while picking out a pen with a suitable nib.
On the other hand, if a murderous brute with truculent eyes and gnashing
teeth attempts to disembowel me with a butcher's knife, the instinct of
self-preservation comes out in all its old original ferocity, inspiring
the heart with such implacable fury that after spilling his blood I
could spurn his loathsome carcass with my foot. I do not wonder at
myself for speaking those savage words. That he was past recall seemed
certain, yet not a shade of regret did I feel at his death. Joy at the
terrible retribution I had been able to inflict on the murderous
wretch was the only emotion I experienced when galloping away into the
darkness--such joy that I could have sung and shouted aloud had it not
seemed imprudent to indulge in such expression of feeling.