PITIC.
The distance is not great from Guaymas to Pitic, and the count covered
it in a few hours.
Pitic, or Hermosillo, is a delightful town, enclosed with walls, and
surrounded by kitchen gardens, whose produce is rather important.
Unfortunately, the night had completely set in when the count arrived
there, and he could only take a vague glance at the scenery, which, seen
through the obscurity, had entirely changed its character, and assumed a
gloomy appearance, which painfully contracted the adventurer's heart.
The count had considerably recovered from his first illusions; the
paltry annoyances of which he was the object now made him see the future
under a different light, and he already doubted the success of an
enterprise against which, from the outset, so many underhand obstacles
were raised.
At the moment of mounting his horse, he had received from the general
commandant of the province a note giving him peremptory orders to remain
at Guaymas, with his company, and not to march forward until more ample
information, that is to say, until the general had received positive
instructions on the subject, from the central government at Mexico. As
may be easily supposed, this order, intimated in so brutal a manner
after all that had passed, had obtained the sole result of pressing the
count's departure; for he was outraged by this flagrant violation of all
the conditions stipulated in his treaty.
The little band entered Pitic without exciting the slightest attention.
At this hour the streets were nearly deserted; and the few travellers
they met _en route,_ deceived by their Mexican costume, did not even
take the trouble to look at them. The count dismounted in the Calle San
Agostino, before a house which he had got in readiness for the occasion,
without saying a word to anyone. After a gentle rap at the door, it
opened, and the party entered. The house belonged to a Frenchman, who
had gone on a journey in the interior, for commercial reasons; but
during his absence, the servants, in obedience to his instructions,
received the count with the utmost attention. The latter, after
whispering a few words to Don Cornelio, who went out at once, retired to
the cuarto prepared for him.
Don Louis was a man of powerful and energetic temper, a man of action
before all. He understood that, after the turn that matters had taken,
he must act energetically and without losing a moment, unless he wished
to receive an irreparable check. His plan was formed, and he prepared to
carry it out without delay.
Don Cornelio returned at the moment when the count, who had changed his
costume, was giving a final glance at his appearance.
"Already!" he said, on perceiving the Spaniard.
"I have found the house, it is only a few paces from here."
"All the better, we shall have less distance to go."
"Five minutes at the most."
"Is General Guerrero in Pitic?"
"He is. Still I fancy you would do better by delaying your visit till
tomorrow."
"Why so?"
"Because there is a _tertulia_ this evening at the palace."
The count turned.
"What difference does that make?" he asked.
"Oh, as you please, señor; but, perhaps, you do not know what a tertulia
is."
"Not exactly; but you will explain it to me?"
"Nothing more easy. A tertulia is a party, a festival--a ball, in a
word."
"I understand. And you are sure, Don Cornelio, that there is a tertulia
this evening at the governor's palace?"
"Positively sure, your excellency."
"Bravo! That will do our business."
The Spaniard looked at him in amazement.
"Don Cornelio," the count continued, "change your travelling dress. I
mean to take you with me."
"The fact is----," he said hesitating.
"What then?"
"I must confess to you, señor conde, that I have no other clothes save
those I wear."
"Ah, that is of no consequence," the count replied with a smile,
pointing at the same time to a heap of clothes thrown pell-mell on the
furniture. "I suppose that you are sufficiently my friend not to feel
annoyed at the cool way in which I treat you."
"Oh, not at all," the Spaniard exclaimed, with a movement of joy.
"I must ask you to make haste, though; for I am waiting."
"I only ask for five minutes."
"I give you ten. You will find me in the patio; I am going to give my
escort orders to mount."
The count went out, and Don Cornelio eagerly set to work obeying him. We
must add, to the glory of the Spaniard, that Don Louis' treatment of
him, so far from annoying him, had caused him to feel a deep gratitude.
The Spaniard was not mistaken; there was really a tertulia at the
governor's palace. General Guerrero was extremely rich: hence, the ball
he gave this evening was sumptuous, and in every way worthy of the
exalted post he occupied in the province.
The crowd filled his rooms, which glistened with light and dazzled with
gilding. All the higher society of Pitic was assembled at the palace;
tables, covered with gold, were surrounded by players, who, with that
proud carelessness characteristic of Mexicans, risked enormous sums on a
card. In a vast hall, a band, perhaps rather wild to European ears,
regulated the movements of the dancers; while a private room was
reserved for the ladies. Doña Angela, ravishingly beautiful, was seated
on her throne, in the midst of this bevy of pretty women.
But, despite all the general's efforts to please his guests, and excite
them to amuse themselves, the festivities languished. The young ladies,
generally so impassioned for dancing, refused all invitations; they
preferred to remain talking together in the apartment reserved for them.
The fact was, they were discussing at this moment a most interesting
point, which had the privilege of arousing feminine curiosity to the
highest pitch. The news of the French landing at Guaymas supplied the
staple of the conversation.
"Good gracious!" a young woman said, with a charming smile, "will the
English come here?"
"Doubtlessly," another observed; "but they are not English, _Querida_."
"Oh, you are mistaken, Carmencita. All foreigners are English, that is
to say heretics; my confessor told me so."
"They must be hideous," a third asserted, advancing her head in
curiosity.
"Indeed not, I assure you; they are men like others," the second speaker
observed, a pretty brunette, with black eyes that sparkled with malice.
"I spent Corpus Christi with my uncle at Guaymas, and saw them. Some of
them, indeed, are very good-looking."
"That is impossible!" they exclaimed in chorus. "They are heretics!"
"They will massacre us."
"They are said to be very cruel."
"Their chief especially."
Till then Doña Angela had remained silent, absorbed in silent thought;
but at this remark she suddenly raised her head.
"Their chief is a caballero," she said in a loud voice. "He is a conde
in his own country; and if he has come to Sonora, it is probably only on
our behalf."
All the young women were silent; for they were amazed at this strange
outbreak on the part of Doña Angela; then they began chattering
together. The young lady, vexed at having thrust herself forward so
imprudently, bit her lips, blushed slightly, and fell back in her
reverie. At this moment Don Sebastian entered the room.
"Ah, here is the general!" three or four young girls exclaimed gaily, as
they rose and eagerly surrounded him.
"Yes, here I am, señoritas," he answered with a smile. "What do you want
of me?"
"Merely some information."
"About what?"
"We wish to know," Doña Carmencita began; then she corrected herself.
"It is not I, general, but these ladies."
"I am persuaded of that," Don Sebastian said, gallantly; "be good
enough, then, to be their interpreter. What do they desire to know?"
"Who are the Ingleses?"
"What Ingleses?"
"Those who have landed at Guaymas."
"Ah! Very good."
"You will tell us, will you not, general?" they all exclaimed at once.
"If it is agreeable to you."
"Oh! Greatly so."
"In the first place, they are not English."
"They must be, as they are foreigners."
The general smiled at this simple observation; but mentally recognising
the impossibility of destroying an opinion so deeply rooted, he turned
the question.
"These men are two hundred and odd in number."
"So many as that?" two or three young ladies exclaimed, with a gesture
of terror.
"Yes, indeed, so many as that, señoritas; but reassure yourselves--you
have nothing to fear from them. They are kind and obliging, and their
chief is a perfect caballero."
"But why do they come here?"
"They came for the purpose of working certain mines."
"I beg your pardon, papa," Doña Angela observed, who had been
attentively listening to the conversation. "Did you not say they came?"
"Yes, my child, I said so."
"But they are still at the port, I think?"
"Yes, they are; but it is probable that they will soon depart."
"For the mines?"
"No. To return whence they came."
Doña Angela contracted her eyebrows, a movement in her which denoted
grave annoyance and great mental preoccupation, and was silent again.
"All the better. Let them go, the heretics!" one of the ladies
exclaimed. "These accursed English only come to our country to plunder
us."
"That is true." The majority warmly supported her.
"Besides, I do not care what is said; I assert that they are frightfully
ugly."
"Well!" a young lady said, with a delicious pout, "I should have liked
to see one--only one--to know what to think about them."
"I am very much afraid, Doña Redempción," the general remarked with a
smile, "that it will now be impossible to satisfy your curiosity."
"All the worse; for a heretic must be an extraordinary animal. Are they
as ugly as the Indios Bravos?"
"That is a different matter."
"Ah! And are you certain, general, that I shall not be able to see one?
That annoys me."
"I regret it, señorita."
"And I, too. But supposing one of them were to come to Hermosillo?"
"That is peremptorily forbidden them. They will be cautious not to
disobey the order they have received."
"Ah!" she said with a pout.
At the same moment, a door was thrown open with a crash; and a servant
announced in a loud and perfectly distinct voice,--
"His Excellency the Count Louis de Prébois. His Excellency Don Cornelio
Mendoza."
If the count purposed to produce an effect, his object was completely
attained. His sudden entrance was a regular tableau, and caused a
general emotion, whose immense extent it was certainly impossible for
him to calculate.
All the ladies had risen, and, grouped round the general, examined with
a curious and timid eye the chief of the adventurers.
The count, whose splendid ranchero costume, which he wore with
inimitable grace, added to the fascinating charm spread over his whole
person, walked a few steps with a smile, bowed around with a gesture
full of elegance, and waited. The general had suddenly turned of a livid
pallor.
The news of the count's arrival, spreading through the other rooms with
incomprehensible rapidity, suddenly stopped the dancing and gambling;
all the guests quitted the other rooms, and proceeded toward the one in
which the count was said to be.
Still, each second that elapsed added to the embarrassment of the
position; the general felt it, and sought in vain a mode of escape. Don
Louis understood, or rather guessed, the general's perplexity; hence,
advancing two paces, he said with exquisite politeness,--
"I am confounded, general, by the trouble I have involuntarily caused
among your guests. It seems that I was not expected at Pitic."
The general succeeded in regaining a little self-possession.
"I allow it, caballero," he replied. "Still the impromptu visit you have
deigned to make me must be most agreeable to me, be assured."
"I hope so, general; and yet, to judge by the glances directed upon me
from all sides, I may be permitted to doubt it."
"You are mistaken, señor conde," the general continued, attempting to
smile. "For the last few days fame has been so occupied with you, that
the eagerness of which you are now the object ought not at all to
astonish you."
"I should wish, general," the count said, with a bow, "that this
eagerness were more friendly. My conduct, since my arrival in Sonora,
should have attracted greater sympathy toward me."
"What would you? We are savages, señor conde," the general said with a
sarcastic smile; "we have the misfortune not to love what comes from
foreign parts; so you must forgive us. But enough on that subject, for
the present," he added, changing his tone. "As you have been kind enough
to become my guest, allow me to present you officially to these ladies,
who are burning to become better acquainted with you."
Don Louis yielded gracefully to the general's wishes. The latter then,
affecting the most exquisite courtesy, presented his guest, as he called
him, to the most influential persons at the ball. Then he led him to his
daughter, who, since the count's entrance, had stood motionless, with
her eyes obstinately fixed upon him.
"Señor conde," the general said, "my daughter, Doña Angela. Doña Angela,
the Count Don Louis de Prébois Crancé."
Don Louis bowed respectfully before the young lady.
"I have had the honour of knowing the count for a long while," she said
with a graceful smile.
"It is true," the general said, suddenly pretending to remember; "we
have been acquainted for a long time, caballero."
"It was not my place to remind you under what circumstances we met."
"That is true, count, it was mine; believe me that I have not forgotten
it."
"Nor I," the young lady murmured; "for I owe you my life, señor."
"Oh, señorita!"
"Permit me, permit me, señor conde," the general said, with an emphasis
assuredly affected; "we Mexican caballeros have a long memory for good
as for ill. You risked your life to defend mine, and that is one of the
debts we like to pay. I am your debtor, señor Don Louis."
"Are you speaking seriously, general?" the count asked, looking at him
fixedly.
"Certainly, caballero; the subject is too serious for me to treat it
otherwise. I will even add that my most lively desire would be soon to
find the occasion to acquit my debt."
"If that be so, general, I can offer you the occasion, if you will allow
me?"
"How so?" the general asked, somewhat taken aback by finding himself
taken at his word. "I am too happy to be agreeable to you. What do you
want of me?"
"I want nothing, general; I only wish to make a request of you."
"A request! You, Don Louis? Oh, oh, what is it? Pray speak."
"I would beg you to grant me a few moments of private conversation."
"This night?"
"This very instant."
"Come," the general continued, "I hoped to be free from business for a
few hours at least, but you order otherwise. Your request shall be
satisfied, Don Louis; a caballero has but his word."
"Pray pardon me, general. I am really confounded by pressing you so
greatly; but imperious reasons----"
"Not a word more, I implore you, Don Louis, or you will make me suppose
that you attach to this interview an importance which it cannot possibly
possess."
Don Louis contented himself with bowing in reply. The general then
turned to his guests, the majority of whom, their first curiosity
satisfied, had returned to the various amusements they had quitted for a
moment.
"Señoras and caballeros," he said, "I must ask you to pardon me for
leaving you for a few minutes; but as you see, Don Louis has my word,
and I must free it."
The guests bowed courteously. Doña Angela had summoned Don Cornelio to
her side, and, profiting by the liberty Mexican manners give young
girls, she was conversing with him in a low voice.
"Go, papa," she said with a soft smile, intended for the count; "but do
not keep Señor Don Louis too long. Now that the ladies know him, they
would like some conversation with him."
"Do not be alarmed, ladies; in ten minutes we shall return. Any
discussion between myself and the count cannot be long."
"Heaven grant that be true," Louis said in his heart; "but I believe the
contrary."
The general passed his arm through the count's, led him through the
saloons, and stopped at a door he opened.
"Go in, caballero," he said to him.
The count entered, and the general followed, carefully closing the door
behind him.