The two brigands remained for some time without saying a word, both
reflecting on the scheme of murder and pillage which they now
premeditated. At this moment the tent flap was raised, and a figure
appeared in the entrance. It was a woman of masculine mien--a true
virago--robust and hale; but whose countenance betrayed the ravage of
evil passions rather than time. Her coarse hair clubbed around her
head, and held in its place by a large tortoiseshell comb with gold
pendants, showed no sign of advanced age. It was black as ebony.
Around her neck were hung numerous chains of gold and glass beads, to
which were attached a number of crosses, scapularies, and other golden
ornaments; but in spite of this gaudy adorning her countenance was
hideous to behold, and did not belie the portrait of Arroyo's wife which
had been sketched by Bocardo, for it was she. As she presented herself
at the opening of the tent, rage was depicted in her countenance,
exhibiting itself in the swollen veins of her neck and forehead, and in
the rolling of her bloodshot eyes.
"A shame on you!" cried she, casting on Bocardo, whom she both hated and
despised, the angry look she feared to give her husband, "a shame on
you, that after the oath you have taken, there should still remain a
stone of this nest of vipers, or a man to defend it!"
"Well--what now?" demanded Arroyo, in an ill-humoured tone. "What nest
of vipers are you speaking of?"
"The hacienda Del Valle--what other should it be? There our men--the
greater number of them at least--have been besieging it for three days
without any result. No, not without result, for I've just this moment
learnt that three of our people have been killed in a sortie, and that
this accursed Catalan, who commands the place, has nailed their heads
over the door of the hacienda!"
"Who has told you this?" quickly demanded Arroyo.
"Gaspacho. He is outside awaiting your orders. He has been sent to ask
for a reinforcement."
"By all the devils!" cried Arroyo in a rage. "Woman! who has given you
the privilege of interrogating the couriers that are sent me?"
As he put this interrogatory the brigand sprang to his feet; and,
seizing the bullock's skull upon which he had been seated, made a motion
as if he would crush with it that of his amazonian partner. Perhaps,
influenced by the late councils of Bocardo, he would have decided on
bearing the public execration upon his own shoulders, had it not been
for that scapulary blessed by the Pope, and whose fatal influence he at
the moment remembered.
Bocardo paid no attention to the threatening demonstration of his
associate, but sat phlegmatically silent.
"_Maria Santissima_!" exclaimed the virago, as she retreated before the
angry menace of her husband. "Will you not protect me, Senor Bocardo?"
"Hum!" replied the latter, without moving from his seat, "you know the
proverb, worthy Senora? Between the tree and the bark--you understand?
These little domestic broils--"
"Must not occur any more," interposed Arroyo, quieting down; "and now,
Senora," continued he, addressing himself to his helpmate, "before
receiving Gaspacho, I have a commission for you to execute."
"What may that be?" brusquely demanded the woman, elevating her tone in
proportion as that of her husband became lowered.
"It is a magnificent scheme conceived by me," interrupted Bocardo.
"Ah!" exclaimed the virago, "if you had only as much courage as
intelligence, Senor Bocardo!"
"Bah! Arroyo has courage enough for both of us."
"That," said Arroyo, suddenly turning his anger upon his associate, who
had not the advantage of possessing a charmed scapulary, "that is as
much as to say that you have the intelligence for both of us?"
"God forbid I should either say or think so," rejoined Bocardo in an
humble tone; "you are as intelligent as you are brave, Senor Arroyo."
"Wife!" continued Arroyo, without appearing to listen to the fulsome
flattery of his associate, "go and interrogate once more the prisoner we
have taken. Find out if possible what errand he was on--"
"The bird still sings the same tune," responded the woman; "he repeats
that he is in the service of Don Mariano de Silva; and that he is the
bearer of a message to that mad Colonel, as you call him, Don Rafael
Tres-Villas."
At this hated name the shade deepened upon the brow of the bandit.
"Have you found out what this message is?" he inquired.
"The fellow insists upon it that it is of no importance. What do you
suppose I found in his pockets, when we were searching him?"
"A vial of poison, perhaps?"
"No; but something equally droll. A packet carefully put up, enclosing
a small cambric handkerchief, sweetly scented with perfume, and inside
this a tress of hair--a woman's hair, long and beautiful, by my faith!"
"Indeed!" exclaimed Bocardo, in a significant tone; "and what have you
done with it, Madame Arroyo?"
"What should I have done with it?" said the virago, with a disdainful
toss of her head--"what but fling it back in the face of the messenger--
the worthless thing. No doubt it is a love-token sent to this colonel
of the devil."
"The messenger took it back then?"
"Ah, indeed--with as much eagerness as if it had been a chain of gold."
"So much the better," said Bocardo, with a significant gesture. "I have
an idea," he continued, "if I am not mistaken--a superb idea! With this
messenger and this love-token, we can give the Colonel Tres-Villas a
rendezvous, where, instead of meeting his sweetheart, he may tumble into
the middle of a score of our fellows, who may take him alive without the
slightest difficulty. The thing's as good as done. Only put me in
communication with this messenger, and I'll answer for the rest. What
say you, Arroyo? What shall we do with the Colonel Tres-Villas?"
"Burn him over a slow fire--roast him alive!" responded the guerillero,
with an expression of ferocious joy.
"But your wife will intercede for him?" ironically added Bocardo.
"_Carrambo_! Yes!" exclaimed the hag, "to burn him over the slow fire,
and roast him alive--that I shall."
And with a hideous laugh she walked out of the tent to give place to
Gaspacho, who the next moment entered.
The courier thus named had all the appearance of an original character.
He was tall and thin as the blade of a rapier, with a cynical expression
of countenance, and long snaky tresses of hair hanging down over his
shoulders, like thongs of smoked leather.
"Speak!" commanded Arroyo, as he entered. "Thou bearer of evil tidings,
what have you to tell us now?"
"Perhaps, Senor Captain," responded the brigand, who, notwithstanding
his habitual air of importance, was evidently cowed by the scowl of his
superior, "perhaps I have some good news as well?"
"First, then, deliver your bad ones!"
"Well, then, Senor Captain, there are not enough of us to take this
hacienda by assault. The den of coyotes has proved stronger than we
expected; and I am sent to ask for a reinforcement of men."
"Who has sent you?--Lieutenant Lantejas?"
"Lieutenant Lantejas will never send another message. This morning his
head was nailed over the gate of the hacienda along with that of
Sergeant Yanez."
"Tripes of the fiend!" exclaimed the guerilla leader, "Yanez, too!"
"Their heads are not the only ones, Captain. Besides them are those of
Salinas and Tuerto, to say nothing of Matavidas, Sacamedios, and
Piojento, who were taken prisoners and hung alive by the feet from the
parapet of the building. We had to fire at them and kill them with our
carbines, in order to put an end to their sufferings."
"They deserved it--a fig for their lives! Why did they allow themselves
to be taken alive?"
"That's just what I told them," said Gaspacho, with an air of assent.
"I warned them that your honour would be very angry about it. But they
did not mind what I said for all that."
"So then there are now only forty-four of you laying siege to the
accursed place?"
"Your pardon, Captain. I did not yet mention four others who have been
hung up by the necks. Upon these we were not obliged to spend our
powder--as they were dead enough already."
"_Carajo_!" vociferated the brigand with a furious accent. "Ten of my
men gone already! _Demonios_! Am I to lose this band like the other?
Go on! You have given me enough of ill news. Let me hear some of what
you call good ones!"
"Yesterday evening a horseman approached the hacienda riding towards it,
as if he had nothing to do but present himself at the gate and be
admitted. Before getting near, however, he was seen by two of our
videttes, who at once charged upon him. After a fight, in which the
horseman made a fierce resistance, he managed to escape."
"_Carajo_!--the stupids!"
"Don't be angry with the poor fellows, Senor Captain. I assure you they
did not let him go without a struggle, which ended in one of them
getting his shoulder fractured by a pistol-shot, and the other having
his horse fall under him. Pressed by the latter, the Royalist horseman
turned upon him, and rushing against his horse, brought the animal to
the ground. Then grasping the vidette by the collar, he lifted him
clean out of his stirrups, and dashed him to the earth, as one would do
a cocoa-nut to break its shell. It was full two hours before the poor
fellow came to his senses."
"I know only one man strong enough to accomplish that feat," said
Bocardo, turning pale--"the damned Colonel Tres-Villas. It was just in
that way that he killed Antonio Valdez."
"It was Colonel Tres-Villas," added Gaspacho. "Pepe Lobos is sure of
it. He heard the snorting of that strange horse--the same he rode upon
the day he came to Las Palmas. Besides, Pepe recognised his figure, and
the sound of his voice--notwithstanding that it was in the night. Ten
of our men have gone in pursuit of him, and by this he ought to be
taken."
"Holy Virgin!" exclaimed the guerillero chief, turning his eyes towards
heaven, "I promise you a wax candle as big as a palm tree, if this man
falls into our hands!"
"As big as a palm tree!" exclaimed Bocardo in astonishment.--"Camarado,
do you mean it?"
"Hush!" said the other in a low voice. "Hold your tongue, Bocardo; it's
only to humbug the Virgin!"
"Well," replied Bocardo, "whether they capture him or not, it don't much
matter. We shall take him all the same. If I understand his history,
and the meaning of the message which this coyote has for him, he can be
lured by it to the farthest corner of the earth."
At this moment the wife of Arroyo re-entered the tent, her face
exhibiting a still stronger expression of fury than before.
"The cage is empty!" cried she, "the bird has flown, and along with it
the guardian left to watch it--the worthless Juan de Zapote!"
"Blood and fire!" vociferated Arroyo, "quick, pursue them! Hola!"
continued he, raising the flap of his tent, "twenty men to horse! Scour
the woods and the river banks. Bring back the two fugitives bound hand
and foot. Above all, bring them back _alive_!"
The order created a brisk movement throughout the camp, where each
seemed to compete with his fellow as to who should be the first to enter
on the pursuit.
"_Jesus Santo_!" muttered Bocardo to himself, "if this Colonel should
escape, and also the messenger, adieu to all my fine combinations!
Well!" he continued, after the wife of Arroyo had gone out of the tent
to hasten the departure of the pursuers. "Well, Senor Arroyo! if he
should get away from us it will be a great pity sure enough. Still we
shall find consolation at the hacienda San Carlos."
"True," replied the other, "and I have need of some distraction just
now. This evening I mean to amuse myself. To-morrow we shall storm the
fortress of Del Valle with all our force; and may the devil scorch me,
if I leave one stone of it standing upon another!"
"Yes; to-morrow let us set seriously about it," said Bocardo, gleefully
rubbing his hands together. "But see!" he continued, glancing out of
the tent, "our fellows are ready to start. If you take my advice,
instead of twenty men, you'll send only ten. That will be quite
sufficient to capture those two droll devils who have escaped from us.
After you have sent the reinforcement to Del Valle we'll have no great
number of men to remain at head-quarters here."
The guerillero chief yielded to the counsel of his associate; and
choosing from the horsemen that were ready ten of the best mounted, he
directed them to enter upon the pursuit. The others were at the same
time ordered to proceed to the hacienda Del Valle to reinforce the party
already besieging the place.