Directing one half of the men to keep their places--and cover our
approach with their rifles--with the other half I started towards the
dwelling.
With a rapid rush we reached it--coming to a stop in front of the
doorway.
There was no need for such haste. We were permitted to make approach
unmolested. No shout heard--not a shot fired--not a missile hurled from
above!
We stayed not to give expression to our surprise. The door was
instantly assailed; and, before the strokes of the Collin's axe, soon
gave way--going inside with a crash.
We entered in a confused crowd--unopposed, not caring for opposition.
We did not expect it. Despite its improbability, we were more than half
prepared to find the fortress forsaken.
And so did we find it. The bandits had gone off; and, O God, they had
again carried _their captives along with them_!
There was no mystery about their disappearance. The mode by which they
had made escape--as well as the way taken--was before our eyes the
instant we entered the hut.
There was another doorway at the back--with a door upon it, standing
slightly ajar.
Hastening across the floor, and drawing it wide open, I looked out.
At a glance everything was accounted for.
A swing bridge (_puente-hamaca_), constructed of _llianas_, with sticks
laid across, extended over the chasm. One end was attached to the door
post; the other to a tree standing out from the opposite cliff.
At its farther extremity were two men, engaged as if hammering upon an
anvil. But instead of hammers their tools were _machetes_; and I saw
they were hacking at the suspenders of the bridge.
They succeeded in completing their task--in spite of the shots fired to
prevent them.
It was the last act of their lives. Both went headlong into the abyss
below; but along with their bodies, went the bridge they had been so
eager in destroying!
Mingling with their last cries came a peal of laughter from the opposite
side of the chasm. It would have sounded fiendish enough without this.
It was from the throat of Torreano Carrasco!
I saw him standing upon the cliff--near the point of a projecting rock.
He was not using it as a screen. He was sheltered as before. Mercedes
was still in front of him. His arm was around her waist. He was
holding her in a hug!
Near at hand was her sister Dolores--shielding a second of the ruffians
in a similar manner!
"_Hola_!" cried the robber-chief, intentionally restraining his
laughter, and speaking in a tone of loud exultation. "_Hola! mio
amigo_! Very clever of you to have made your way into my mountain
mansion? And so quick you've been about opening the door? For all
that, you see you are too late. Never mind. You can make your morning
call upon some other occasion; when perhaps you may find me at home.
Meanwhile I have some business with this lady--the Dona Mercedes
Villa-Senor--that will carry us a little further up the mountain.
Should you want to see her again, you may come after--_if you can_!"
Another peal of coarse laughter--in which his comrades, hidden behind
the rocks, were heard to join--interrupted his taunting speech.
"_Hasta luego_!" he again cried out. "Good morning, noble captain! I
leave you to your matins; while I go to enjoy a little stroll in company
with the sweet Mercedes. _Va con Dios--o' si gusta V. al Demonio_!"
(Go with God, or to the Devil, if you like it better!)
At the close of this profane speech, he commenced making approach to the
rock, taking Mercedes along with him.
Rifle in hand I watched his movements, with an earnestness I cannot
describe. The feverish anxiety, with which the stalker regards the
shifting of the stag, can give but a faint idea of that stirring within
me.
I had hopes that the coward might become separated from the fair form he
was using as a shield. Six inches would have satisfied me: for his last
brutal innuendo proclaimed a terrible emergency; and with six inches of
his carcase clear I should have risked the shot.
But, no! He did not allow me even this trifling chance. He seemed to
divine my intent; and inch by inch, keeping her body straight between
us--O God, to see her in that swarth embrace!--he sidled behind the
stone!
The other followed his example, taking Dolores; and before another word
could be spoken, both robbers and captives had passed out of sight!
The instant after, half a score of hats started suddenly out of the
bushes, that skirted the edge of the cliff; and we were saluted by a
volley from a like number of _escopetas_.
A rifleman, standing in the door by my side, threw up his arms with a
shriek, and fell forward upon the stoup.
As I caught hold, to hinder him from going over the cliff, something hot
came spurting against my cheek.
It was the life-blood of my comrade, who had been killed by the bullet
of an escopeta.
I saw that I was dealing with a dead body; and desisted from the
struggle to sustain it.
It glided from my grasp, and fell with a heavy plash upon the swift
water below!
My men were by this time more than half mad. It needed not the death of
their comrade to excite them to frantic action. The sight of the
captive ladies; the disappointment caused by our being unable to rescue
them--after supposing ourselves sure of it--and perhaps, as much as
anything else, the trick that had been played upon them--rendered one
and all thirsty for vengeance.
I need not say that I shared this thirst--so much that I no longer cared
for consequences, and had lost even the perception of danger.
I stood upon the projecting doorstep; not looking after the body which
had gone below, but across the chasm, in hopes of getting sight of a
brigand. Any one now: since I knew there was not much chance of again
seeing their chief.
I heeded not the stray shots that came hurtling around my head; and, in
all likelihood, one would have consigned me to a fate, similar to what
had befallen my comrade, had I been left to a much longer indulgence in
my reckless mood.
But I was not. A strong arm seizing me from behind--it was that of my
sergeant--drew me back within the cabin; whose thick wooden walls were
proof against the bullets of either carbine, or _escopeta_.