THE FIRST FORTNIGHT.
A man must have been essentially a pessimist, or thoroughly acquainted
with the Mexican character, to apprehend treachery on seeing the warm
reception accorded to the Frenchmen by the inhabitants of Guaymas. It
was a madness--a delirium impossible to describe. Leperos, rancheros,
campesinos, rich hacenderos, all pressed round the French, vying with
each other in offering them a hearty welcome. It seemed as if this
little band of adventurers, who were only passing through the town,
brought to Sonora peace, tranquillity, and liberty; in a word, all those
things the Mexicans want, and for which they sigh in vain. The cries
of, _Viva los Franceses! Viva el conde!_ rose on all sides with a
deafening sound.
So soon as the company landed, by Don Louis' orders, the ranks were
speedily formed; and the count, having Colonel Florés on his right hand,
Don Antonio on his left, led his men to the barrack prepared for them,
clearing his way with difficulty through the dense masses of spectators.
In front of the barrack the alcalde mayor, and the juez de letras--that
is to say, the two principal authorities of the town--flanked by their
ragged alguaciles, were awaiting the arrival of the company; and on
perceiving them, Don Louis commanded a halt.
The two magistrates then walked a few paces toward the count, whom they
saluted respectfully, and began a long address stuffed with all sorts of
pompous Mexican hyperboles, from among which Don Louis managed to
discover that the Sonorians rejoiced in the depths of their hearts at
the arrival of the valiant French company; that they set on his courage
all their hope of being protected against their ferocious neighbours,
the Apaches; that the French had not landed on a foreign shore, but amid
brethren and sincere friends, who would be delighted to have it in their
power to prove their devotion; and a thousand other things too long to
repeat here.
When the alcalde mayor had ended his discourse amid the warm applause of
the crowd, the juez de letras began one in his turn, equally long,
equally diffuse, and equally perfidious as the first, and which met with
the same success.
We will remark here that the Mexicans adore long speeches.
At length, when the two magistrates had finished speaking, the count
bowed gracefully, and replied to them with a few of those words which
come straight from the heart. They produced a perfect frenzy. The crowd
yelled with joy, waving their hats and handkerchiefs; while from every
window a perfect shower of flowers escaped from the dainty hands of the
señoritas, and literally inundated the adventurers, who cordially
responded to this delicate attention.
The company then entered the barrack; it was a large house, with an
enormous inner court, admirably adapted for the use to which it was put
at this moment. Within an hour, the adventurers, with that eminent knack
peculiar to Frenchmen, were comfortably installed, and appeared to have
occupied their quarters for the last six months.
The count fancied he had got rid of the alcalde and juez de letras: but
it was not so; they had still several requests to make of him before
they left him at liberty, and would not neglect them.
As in all other centres of population in Mexico, at Guaymas everyone
lives pretty much as he pleases, without troubling himself greatly about
the authorities. This liberty, or rather license, may be advantageous to
one portion of the population, but is evidently extremely prejudicial to
the other; in this sense, that the rascals, having entire liberty to
commit all the wicked actions Satan constantly breathes in their ear,
the honest people are obliged to defend themselves, and not count in
any way upon the protection of a problematical police, which, if it
happen to exist, naturally makes common cause with the brigands.
The magistrates had judged in their wisdom to profit by the stay of the
Frenchmen at Guaymas, in order to disperse the scoundrels of every
description, with whom the city abounds, with a salutary terror.
Consequently, they begged the count to guard the principal posts of the
pueblo with men belonging to his company, and to organise patrols to
traverse the streets by night, and watch over the tranquillity of the
citizens and public security.
When, after much circumlocution, the magistrates at length ventilated
their request, the count answered them with a smile, that he was
entirely at the service of the Mexican government, and if they
considered his assistance useful, they might dispose of him and his men
as they thought proper. The magistrates thanked him heartily, and,
incited by the facility with which the count granted their first
request, they ventured to bring forward the second, which, in their idea
being of much more delicate nature, they feared would be refused. It was
as follows:--
_Corpus Christi_ is the most important religious ceremony of Mexico.
This festival, to augment the splendour of which the people undergo the
heaviest sacrifices, fell this year just a few days after the arrival of
the French in Sonora. They wished the count to promise to have his
little mountain guns fired during the whole period the procession went
about the streets.
Guaymas had many guns in the forts; but unfortunately they were
dismounted, and completely honeycombed with rust.
It may be easily understood, that in the mind of the superstitious
Sonorians, on so solemn a festival as this, the bells were not
sufficient, and that the ceremony would entirely lose its solemn
character, unless a few gunshots were fired.
The worthy magistrates little expected that they were causing the count
a lively pleasure, by asking of him two things as a favour, which, had
he dared, he would have claimed as a right, for the following reasons.
Since the discovery of gold, so many scamps of every description had
sought refuge in San Francisco, that the Californian population justly
enjoyed a frightful reputation for vice, crime, and debauchery, in all
the adjacent countries, and especially in the Pacific ports, on which
they sometimes pounced like swarms of predacious birds. The count
ardently desired on behalf of his undertaking, to show the Sonorians
among whom they were destined to live, that the French emigrants had
nothing in common with these sinister bandits, and that the men he had
the honour to command were brave men, resolved to behave themselves
properly, wherever chance took them, and never to molest the Mexican
population.
As for the second question, it was even more serious in the count's
eyes. The Mexicans are not only ignorant and superstitious, but even
more. Although they do not understand a syllable of the religion they
profess, or perhaps on account of that, they are exaggerated fanatics,
and sooner pardon a murder than an insult, however slight in its nature,
not to the religion itself, but merely to its exaggerated ceremonial.
This fanaticism, carefully maintained during the Spanish dominion, was
intended to keep foreigners, that is to say the English, whom they
feared greatly, from the shores of New Spain. At that time, indeed, the
English were almost the only Europeans who ventured to visit the Spanish
colonies.
The monks profited by the difference of our religion, to make the most
exaggerated portraits of the English to their parishioners, investing
them with horns and claws, as the children of Lucifer must necessarily
have. The Indians, credulous as babes, accepted, with closed eyes, all
the fables the monks thought proper to tell them; and, with them, every
foreigner became an Englishman, that is to say a heretic, a gringo.
The declaration of independence, while enabling the Mexicans to see
foreigners of all nations, made no change in their convictions; for it
is not so easy to destroy a prejudice rooted for centuries. They
continued, as in the past, to see in foreigners only Englishmen, and
consequently gringos; hence, that smouldering hatred which breaks out
every time that occasion offers, and that secret horror they experience
at the sight of every European.
Being on the point of burying himself with his company in the heart of
Mexico--of passing through fanatic, credulous, and ignorant tribes, with
whom it was important to live in peace, and give them no pretext for
quarrelling--it was of the highest interest to the count to show by an
undeniable proof that the French were not gringos, but, on the contrary,
as good catholics as the Sonorians.
Hence he favourably greeted the magistrates' request--a request which
probably concealed a trap--and promised them not only that the guns
should thunder during the whole period of the procession, but that the
company would be happy to accompany the holy sacrament during its
progress through the streets of the town. The more so, the count added,
because the French were catholics, and would eagerly seize the
opportunity to manifest their fervour for their revered religion.
The magistrates, having at length obtained all they desired, took leave
of the count with great demonstrations of gratitude and respect. The
count breathed again, for the _sederunt_ had been long. Still, all was
not over yet, as the count soon perceived.
Don Antonio, and his inseparable friend the colonel, would not so easily
loose their hold, and only consented to withdraw when the count promised
to be present that same evening with all his officers at a banquet Don
Antonio had prepared, to _fête_ the arrival of the French company. The
count gave his word, and was at length left at liberty for a few hours.
Now that the company had arrived at Guaymas, that is to say, the first
halt on the road to the mines, the expedition had really commenced, the
first obstacles were cleared. According to the count's idea, all
required now was to give his men a few days' rest, and then push
resolutely onward.
Profiting by the first impression produced by the Frenchmen, the count,
without loss of a moment, had his papers put in order, and easily
obtained his passports for the interior. Several days passed thus, the
French reigned as masters in Guaymas, petted and caressed by the
inhabitants whom their gaiety and carelessness pleased above all, and
who, having hitherto seen a few ragged outcast Mexican soldiers, could
not leave off admiring the training, martial aspect, and the perfect
dexterity with which the foreigners manoeuvred and managed their
weapons.
The company performed the police duties of the town with the greatest
care; thefts and assassinations ceased as if by enchantment; and the
Sonorians slept tranquilly, on the faith of their new friends.
On Corpus Christi day, as had been arranged, the French cannon were
fired during a portion of the day, and the adventurers accompanied the
procession, bearing bouquets in their muzzles, and behaving with the
greatest decency. Their presence at church produced all the effect the
count anticipated from it; and the certainty acquired by the inhabitants
that the strangers were good catholics, still further increased the
friendship they entertained for them.
Matters went on thus for several days, and nothing occurred to trouble
the azure of the count's projects. In fact, the most perfect harmony
prevailed between him and the magistrates, at least apparently; hence,
with the native frankness of his character, the count began to reproach
himself secretly for the distrust he had at first felt, or rather
Valentine inspired him with; and in his heart he accused his friend of
having yielded to unjust prejudices against men who seemed to study not
merely to satisfy him, but to anticipate the slightest desires of the
members of the expedition.
Indeed, how could the count suspect treachery? He had only come on the
entreaty of the Mexican government. It was that government which
demanded that his company should be trained, numerous, and well armed.
The chief authorities of the country had a greater interest in the
success of the enterprise, because they were nearly all shareholders. To
suppose that, under such circumstances, these persons intended to cheat
him, the count must have at first admitted that they were insane; for no
one ever carries on war at his own expense, and the Mexicans are
generally known to have a clutching hand for money.
In the meanwhile, time passed rapidly; the count was afraid, lest the
_morale_ of his comrades might suffer by a longer stay in the heart of a
Sonorian city. He was burning to set out; but, unfortunately, it was
impossible for him to do so, until depôts of provisions had been made
along the road, and the government of the state had arranged with him
the definitive movements of the company on its march to the mines.
Don Louis complained bitterly both to the colonel and Don Antonio of the
continual delays he was obliged to suffer, and the pretexts, more or
less plausible, employed to keep him in disgraceful inaction. The
governor, who declined to quit Pitic, only made evasive answers to his
letters, or declared that he had received no instructions.
This state of things could not, and must not, last longer. As there was
a risk of the company dissolving, and all the fruit of the preliminary
labours being lost, before the enterprise had been seriously entered on,
Don Louis resolved at all risks to emerge from this equivocal position.
Consequently, after having formally stated his wishes to Colonel Florés
and Don Antonio, he informed them that since General Guerrero did not
appear to understand the tenour of his letters, he was resolved to
proceed himself to Pitic, and have a categorical explanation with him.
The two men started with joy at this news; for they required the count's
absence for the success of the plans they had formed. Instead,
therefore, of turning him from his project, they urged him warmly to put
it in execution without delay, and start as soon as possible. Don Louis
had no need to be stimulated and urged on thus. So soon as he left the
two men, he proceeded to the barrack, assembled the company, and told
them of his speedy departure, which was joyfully heard by all these
energetic and ardent men whom rest fatigued, and on whom idleness began
to weigh heavily. The count intrusted the temporary command to one of
the officers on whom he thought he could most count, giving him the
order that, if he heard nothing from him within four days, the company
would start at once to join him, and after again urging the men to keep
up the strictest discipline, the count finally quitted the barrack.
At his house he found Valentine awaiting him. The latter approved his
conduct, but refused to accompany him, giving as his reason, that he
believed he should serve the good cause better by remaining at Guaymas.
The truth was, that the hunter did not wish to leave out of sight the
men he had undertaken to watch, until he had discovered their
machinations.
Louis did not insist. He knew that with a man of Valentine's character
there was no chance of discussing, when he had once formed a
determination. Followed by Don Cornelio and an escort of ten
well-mounted horsemen, the count set out, after once again pressing his
friend's hand, and proceeded toward Pitic, where--at least he hoped
so--he should at length find the word of the enigma.
"Hum!" Valentine muttered, following him with a thoughtful glance;
"either I am greatly mistaken, or, now that he is no longer here, to
thwart by his presence the gloomy machinations of the scoundrels who
wish to make him their dupe, we shall soon have something new."
After this aside, the hunter walked with his usual measured step toward
the barrack, where he arrived in a few moments, and found the
adventurers in a state of great excitement, produced by the departure of
their leader.