SAN LUCAR.
When Don Fernando left them, the governor and the major remained
perfectly mute a while, overcome by the gravity of the news they had
just received. But a state of prostration so much at variance with the
character of the two veterans, whose life had been spent in active
service, could not last long. They soon recovered their animation, like
two noble steeds who prick up their ears at the signal for the charge;
their features resumed their usual expression of imperturbability; and,
having exchanged a shake of the hand; they left the apartment.
"The shock has been a rude one, and I was far from expecting it," said
the colonel; "but, _¡vive Dios!_ the pagans shall find out whom they
have to deal with. Major, have the officers' call sounded we will hold
a council of war, to concert measures of defence."
"That is right," replied the major; "just what you ought to do. I had
rather see you thus--proud, resolute, and stern--than troubled and
anxious, as you have looked these last few days. _Caray!_ you are
yourself again, now, my good friend."
"Well," said the governor, smiling, "you ought not to be astonished
at the change, my dear Barnum. For some time past I have been sadly
oppressed by vague forebodings, and the ill they threatened seemed the
greater, because I could not divine what it might be. Now the stroke
has fallen, I know what I have to do. I have not the least doubt that
the danger which menaces us is immense, but we know what the result
will be."
"Quite true," said the major, leaving him to obey the orders he had
received from his chief.
The officers of the garrison were soon assembled around the governor;
there were six of them, without counting the major and colonel. Don
José Kalbris invited them to be seated, and then addressed them:
"_Caballeros_, you are aware why I have sent for you: the Indians
threaten us once more. I have just got the information from one of our
bravest scouts--in fact, the most faithful and intelligent of them all.
It is a grave case, señores; for the Indians have leagued themselves
together, and are marching against us in great force. I have caused
you to meet here, in order to organise a vigorous defence, and to
endeavour to discover the means of giving these savages so sharp a
lesson, that it will be a long time before they dream of invading our
territories again. But, first of all, let us see what means are at our
disposal."
"We have plenty of arms and ammunition," said the major. "We have
two hundred thousand pounds of powder, abundance of muskets, sabres,
lances, and pistols; and the guns are in good condition, and amply
supplied with round shot and grape."
"A capital account," said the colonel, rubbing his hands for joy.
"Unfortunately," continued the major, "although we have plenty of arms,
we have very few men fit for service."
"How many men have we?"
"The effective state should be two hundred and seventy; but, unluckily,
disease, death, and desertion have reduced them to a hundred and
twenty."
"The deuce!" said the colonel, shaking his head; "But I think we
might manage to increase the number. We are in one of those critical
positions where the end sanctifies the means: we must not be nice in
our choice. Besides, the common safety is in question. I trust to meet
with no opposition to the execution of a plan which I hope will save us
all."
"What is it? We all go hand and hand with you."
"I know that very well. I do not allude to you, señores, but to the
inhabitants of the town, who will reject it, and with whom we shall
be obliged to have recourse to forcible measures. It is of the last
importance to make an imposing show of men on the walls. Now, this is
what I propose: all the _peones_ of the _haciendas_ shall be enrolled,
and formed into companies; the merchants shall form another corps; the
haciendas, well mounted and armed, shall defend the approaches, and
patrol the plain. By these means, we shall muster an effective force
of about eleven hundred men,--a number quite sufficient to hold the
savages in check, and force them to retreat precipitately to their
villages."
"You must recollect, colonel, that the greater number of the _vaqueros_
here are criminals, to whom any disturbance is a pretext for plunder."
"For that reason, I have appointed them the exterior defence of the
place. They shall encamp outside the _presidio_, into which they shall
not enter on any pretence. To lessen the chance of a mutiny amongst
them, they shall be formed into two divisions--one of which shall be
constantly employed in scouring the neighbourhood, while the other
remains in camp. Thus, by keeping them always at work, we shall have
nothing to fear from them."
"As for the creoles, and the strangers at present in the _presidio_,"
said the major, "I think you had better order them to assemble in the
fort every night: we shall be able to use them in case of necessity."
"Very good. You will also double the number of scouts, the better
to avoid a surprise. You will also have the entrances to the place
barricaded, to check the tremendous charges the Indians make when they
attack a position."
"Permit me to propose, colonel, that a man to be depended upon should
be despatched to put the hacenderos on their guard, and warn them to
take refuge in the fort at the signal of three guns, to announce the
approach of the Indians."
"It shall be done, major; or these poor fellows would be all massacred
by the pagans. The inhabitants of the town must also be warned to
retire--the women into the fort--as soon as the Indians are visible,
or they may be carried off. The savages are partial to white women,
and in the last inroad carried off three hundred: such a piece of
misfortune must not happen again. I think, señores, we have taken every
precaution against the threatened danger; we have now only to do our
duty as brave men. Our fate is in the hands of God, who will surely not
abandon us in circumstances of such great peril."
The officers rose, and were preparing to take leave of their chief,
when another _vaquero_ was announced as bringing reports to the
governor.
Don José made signs to his officers to retain their seats, and ordered
the scout to be introduced.
It was Tonillo el Zapote, Pablito's friend. He had left the place where
they had hidden themselves to watch the movements of the Indians four
hours after his comrade, and yet had arrived at the _presidio_ only an
hour later,--sure proof of the importance of the news he bore.
He looked as impudent and sneering as ever. His face was pale, and
smeared with blood and powder; his dress was torn in many places; while
the bandage round his head, one arm in a sling, and, more than all,
three or four scalps which hung bleeding from his girdle, showed that
he had had a hard tussle with the Indians, and been obliged to cut his
way through them to reach the _presidio_.
"Zapote!" said the governor; "your comrade, Pablito, has just left me."
"I know, colonel," answered the _vaquero_.
"Have you brought us worse tidings than his?"
"That depends upon the light in which you look upon them, señores."
"What do your words imply?"
"Oh!" was the reply, while the speaker swayed himself carelessly from
side to side; "If you love your ease, it is very probable it would
be troubled before long, and, in that case, the news I bring cannot
be very pleasant to you; but if you are fond of mounting to meet the
redskins, you can easily gratify your whim, and all I have to tell you
will be very acceptable."
Notwithstanding the gravity of the situation and the anxiety they felt,
the governor and his officers could not help smiling at the singular
logic of the _vaquero_.
"Explain, Zapote," said Don José; "we shall then know what to think of
your tidings."
"Hardly ten minutes after my comrade left me, I was rummaging in the
bushes, which seemed to me to have an odd kind of motion, when I
discovered a _peon_, whose terror was so great, that it took me a
good half hour to get him to describe the dangers from which he had
escaped. The fellow belonged to a poor old man called Ignacio Rayal,
one of the two solitary individuals who escaped from the massacre
of the inhabitants of the peninsula of San-José by the Apaches in
the last invasion, twenty years ago. The _peon_ and his master were
looking for firewood, without dreaming of danger, when the Indians
suddenly started up close by. The former had time to hide himself in
a drain; but the old man, too feeble to save himself, fell into the
hands of the savages, who butchered him with all the refinements of
their horrid barbarity. His body was riddled with wounds, till his own
mother would not have known him; he had received twenty lance thrusts;
and his head was smashed to atoms with tomahawks. I left the _peon_ to
watch in our ambuscade, after I had restored his courage as well as I
could, and, proceeding in the direction he pointed out, was not long
in seeing a host of Indians driving before them a multitude of cattle
and prisoners. These fellows put everything to sack and fire on their
route; they were marching rapidly on the _presidio_, and detached
parties at intervals to destroy the haciendas on their road. The
haciendas of Piedra Rosa and San Blas are no longer standing; they are
now a heap of ashes, under which their unfortunate owners lie buried.
These are my tidings; make what you like out of them, señores."
"And these scalps?" said the governor, pointing to the bloody trophies
hanging at the _vaquero's_ girdle.
"Oh! These are nothing," he replied, with a smile of triumph; "as I had
got too near the Indians, in the hope of getting a better idea of their
force and intentions, they saw me, and naturally wanted to lay hands on
me; so we had a bit of a skirmish."
"I presume these Indians are a party of pillagers from the wilderness,
who want to steal cattle, and will retire when they have collected
enough booty."
"Hm!" said Tonillo, shaking his head; "I am not sure of that. There are
too many of them; they are too well equipped. Colonel, these fellows
have another object: unless I am greatly mistaken, they intend to wage
war to the knife against us."
The governor exchanged looks with his officers.
"Thank you, Zapote," said he; "I am pleased with you. Your conduct
has been that of a loyal Mexican. Return to your post, and be doubly
vigilant."
"You may rely on my comrades and me, colonel. You know, we do not
exactly love the Indians," said Tonillo, who saluted and left them.
"You see, señores," said the governor, "that the situation grows more
critical every minute. We will lose no more time in deliberation. You
may go."
"One moment," said the major; "I have a piece of advice to give before
we separate."
"Let us hear it, old friend."
"No precaution must be omitted in the perilous circumstances which
surround us. We are here in an out-of-the-way place, far from any
speedy and efficacious support. We may have to sustain a siege in the
_presidio_, and run the risk of being starved out. I propose that a
vessel be immediately despatched to the governor general of the state,
to apprise him of our critical position, and to request reinforcements;
for it is impossible, with our scanty forces, to hold out long against
the invasion."
A profound and solemn silence followed this speech.
"What do you think of Major Barnum's advice?" said the colonel to his
officers.
"We agree to it," said one of them, speaking in the name of the others;
"and we think it ought to be put into execution without delay."
"I am of the same opinion," said Don José; "let it be so. Caballeros,
you may retire."
And now they began to organise the defence with an energy inconceivable
to those acquainted with the Spanish character, and the profound
laziness which is one of its principal failings.
The terrible danger menacing them made all the inhabitants of the
_presidio_ responsible for each other; it seemed to give courage to
those who had none, and redouble the ardour of the others.
Two hours later, troops of cattle were driven in and parked in the
town, the streets barricaded, the guns supplied with ammunition, and
the women and children shut up in the buildings within the fort.
A vessel had been despatched to the capital of the state, as had been
agreed on in council; and a hundred and fifty resolute men intrenched
themselves in the old _presidio_, the houses of which they loopholed,
in order to make head against the Indians when they appeared.
The governor and Major Barnum seemed to multiply themselves; they were
ubiquitous; encouraging the newly enlisted, helping the workmen, and
speaking hope to all.
About three o'clock in the afternoon, a strong wind arose, bringing
with it from the south-west volumes of thick smoke, obstructing the
view of objects at a distance. It was caused by the conflagration
throughout the country. The anxiety of the inhabitants increased
tenfold, as the direction from which it came proved that it could only
arise from the doings of the Indians.
The Indian tribes always have recourse to this measure when they intend
to invade the territories of the whites; an excellent aid to their
system of attack by surprise, for, by shrouding the country in smoke,
they prevent the scouts discovering them from afar, and are more easily
able to conceal their numbers and motions.
On the day in question, the Indians, unhappily for the Mexicans,
succeeded better than their wont; for the wind drove the smoke across
the open, and one could scarcely distinguish objects at ten paces off.
It must be allowed, that in a country so uniformly level as the
prairies, which afford no points to mask a march, and where nothing
is easier than to find out the enemy's whole strength, the stratagem
employed by the Indians is as simple as it is ingenious.
The scouts came galloping in one after the other, to report to
the governor the approach of the enemy, who, according to their
calculations, would reach the _presidio_ of San Lucar that same night.
The masses of Indians increased every moment. Their hordes covered
the open; they marched with inconceivable rapidity, and seemed to
concentrate all their forces on the luckless _pueblo_.
The governor ordered the three alarm-guns to be fired. Immediately
one saw the poor _rancheros_ (cottagers) of the plain trooping in
crowds into the town, bringing with them their cattle and furniture,
and shedding tears of rage and despair at the sight of their harvests
blazing in all directions.
The poor men encamped as they best could in the squares of the
_pueblo;_ and after sending their women and children into the fort, all
able to bear arms rushed to the barricades, resolved to make those pay
dearly who had been the cause of their ruin.
Terror and consternation reigned throughout the town: nothing was
heard but sighs and lamentation; and night came, to add horror to the
situation by enveloping the earth in darkness.
Strong patrols paraded the streets incessantly; and at times hardy
_vaqueros_, gliding like serpents through the obscurity, ventured two
or three hundred paces from the walls, to assure themselves that no
immediate danger threatened the _presidio_.
Things remained in this state till about two in the morning, when, in
the midst of the mournful silence brooding over the town, a slight
noise, scarcely perceptible at first, was heard. It grew louder every
moment, and all of a sudden, as if by enchantment, and without any
one being able to guess how they got there, the Apaches crowned the
barricades of the _presidio_, brandishing flaming torches and uttering
the war whoop.
For a moment the inhabitants thought the town was taken; but Major
Barnum, who commanded at this post, was too old a soldier, and too
accustomed to Indian warfare, to be deceived by their stratagem. At the
moment the Apaches were about to cross the barricades, a well-sustained
fire opened suddenly upon them, and drove them from the intrenchments
much faster than they had scaled them.
The Mexicans charged with the bayonet: for one moment there was a
frightful _mêlée_, from the midst of which rose cries of agony,
maledictions, and the sharp clang of steel crossing steel; then the
whites regained their position; the Indians disappeared; the town,
illumined for so short a time by the blaze of the torches, was again
enveloped in darkness; and the silence, broken by the few minutes of
onslaught, was once more complete.
This was the only attempt that night. The Indians were up to their
work; having failed in their bold _coup-de-main_, they would, in
all probability, convert the attack into a blockade, if they were
determined to take the town; or they might retreat altogether, if their
miscarriage had led them to despair of mastering it.
But at daybreak this latter illusion vanished; the Indians seemed to
have no inclination to beat a retreat.
The country presented a most afflicting spectacle; everything was
burnt down, and the disorder frightful. In one place a band of mounted
Apaches were driving before them the horses and cattle they had stolen;
in another, nearer the town, and facing towards it, a strong body of
warriors, with poised lances, watched the movements of the inhabitants
of the _presidio_, with the intention of repelling any sortie that
might be attempted; behind them, women and children were chasing the
cattle, which were lowing with anger at being forced to quit the
pastures; here and there prisoners, men, women, and children, driven on
by blows of the lance, lifted their hands in vain supplication, and
painfully dragged themselves forward amidst their captors. Lastly,
as far as the eye could see, long files of Indians were hastening up
on every side, while others drove in the pickets, or built _callis_
(huts); and the town was completely surrounded.
Then an unheard-of circumstance occurred--a circumstance which the
most experienced soldiers in the fort had never witnessed in all their
previous encounters with the Indians, viz. the order that ruled through
all this disorder; that is to say, the manner in which the _callis_
were grouped, the serried and disciplined march of the infantry, the
precision of their movements; and, what particularly upset all the
arrangements of the colonel and major, the drawing of a parallel about
the place, and throwing up an earthwork with immense rapidity, so as to
shelter the Apaches from the fire of the guns.
"_¡Sangre de Dios!_" exclaimed the colonel, with an angry stamp; "those
wretches have a traitor among them; they have never made war in this
fashion before."
"Hem!" said the major, pulling at his moustache; "We shall have to tilt
against rude jousters."
"Yes," replied the colonel; "and if succour does not arrive from the
city, I do not exactly see how this is to end."
"Badly, colonel. _¡Caray!_ I am afraid we shall lose our hides here.
Look! There are more than three thousand of them, without counting
those who are still coming and blackening the plain on all sides. But
what is the meaning of this noise?" he added, as he turned in the
direction whence the notes of a trumpet proceeded.
Four sachems, dressed in white, and preceded by an Indian bearing a
white flag, had halted at half-gunshot from the first barricade at the
old _presidio_.
"What can this mean?" said the colonel; "They seem to demand a parley.
Do they think I am fool enough to fall into the snare? Major, a hatful
of grape for that group of pagans! We'll teach them to take us for
dolts!"
"I think you are wrong, colonel, and that it would be better to parley
with them; in that way we shall learn their intentions."
"You may be right, my good friend; but who will be fool enough to risk
his life among these lawless bandits?"
"I, if you will permit me," answered the major.
"You!" cried Don José, in astonishment.
"Yes; is it not our duty to suffer no means to escape us by which we
may save the wretched people confided to our honour? I am only one
man; my life is of little importance to the defence of the _presidio_,
and the step I am about to take may save it."
The colonel stifled a sigh, pressed his old friend's hand
affectionately, and exclaimed, in a voice half choked with the emotion
he vainly endeavoured to suppress:
"Go, since you insist upon it."
"Thanks," said the major joyfully. And he turned with a firm step in
the direction of the barricade.