"Lift your hands through the night, and bless the Lord. His truth shall
be thy shield and buckler. Thou shalt not be afraid of the terror by
night!"
Although to the ears of the sentry the chaunting of the besieged was
merry as a drinking song compared with the melancholy silence of the
dead bodies, yet the time seemed long enough to him; and every now and
then he looked towards the camp, in hopes of hearing some sound that
would indicate the approach of the relief guard.
None was heard; and he continued to walk his round, as before measuring
the ground with exact steps.
The dead body which was nearest appeared to remain in the same place;
and the mind of the soldier was becoming gradually tranquillised, when
all at once, on turning sharply round, he perceived that this corpse was
no longer where he had last seen it. At the same instant his eye caught
the shadow of an upright figure gliding rapidly off, in the direction of
the town!
Terror at the unexpected resurrection hindered him for a while from
making any movement; and when this had passed, and he was able to
reflect more calmly, he comprehended all. He had simply been duped by
an Indian ruse; which explained the mysterious addition to the number of
the corpses, and the lessened distance between himself and that which
had been lying nearest.
It was now too late to arrest the progress of the Indian by firing after
him; and, as the giving an alarm would only be to disclose his own
negligence, the sentry prudently maintained silence, and permitted the
man to continue his course.
To account for the absence of ears, which had led the soldier to mistake
the Indian for a corpse, it is necessary to mention an episode of the
insurrectionary war, which had happened some weeks before. The scene of
the episode was the village of Yanguitlan, where the cruel Spanish
general, Regules, having captured a number of Indian insurgents, had
caused the ears of a score of them to be cropped off, so close to their
heads, that many of them died of the haemorrhage which followed. The
others succeeded in making their way to Huajapam; and the Indian, who
had so cleverly duped the Spanish sentry--and who was no other than the
messenger whose return was at that moment being prayed for within the
town--was one of the survivors of the horrible outrage.
It was to this affair that Caldelas had derisively alluded during the
sitting of the war council.
"_Mil Rayos_!" hissed out the sentry, in a frenzy of rage and chagrin;
"_Demonios_! there may be more of these fellows alive! I shall take
care that no other gets to his feet, and runs off like the one who has
so cleverly tricked me. Now, then!"
Saying these words the sentry turned his fusil in his hands; and,
rushing towards the corpses, did not leave off thrusting till he had
passed his bayonet two or three times through each of them.
Not one of the bodies showed the slightest signs of life; and the only
sounds that troubled the tranquillity of the scene, were the angry
breathings of the soldier, as he performed his ghastly work, and the
chaunting of the besieged that still swelled in melancholy intonation
upon the night air.
"Chaunt away, you cowardly devils," cried the terrified soldier; "chaunt
away! You have reason, if it were only to mock me for keeping such
careful guard over you. _Chingarito_!"
And the Spaniard, as he uttered this emphatic shibboleth, gnashed his
teeth with vexation.
Shortly after, the voices within the Piazza became hushed. As we have
stated, the messenger had arrived, and delivered his welcome tidings to
the insurgent leader.