PREPARATIONS FOR DELIVERANCE
The little troop of cavalry, at the head of which Antinahuel and the
Linda rode, advanced rapidly and silently along the road from San
Miguel towards the valley in which, the day before, the renewal of the
treaties had been accomplished. At sunrise they debouched into the
plain. They had scarcely advanced fifty paces when they saw a horseman
coming at full speed towards them. This horseman was Black Stag:
Antinahuel halted his escort.
"What is the use of this halt?" Doña Maria observed.
"Is my sister a soldier?" Antinahuel asked.
Doña Maria, mortified at this rude speech, reined in her horse and
remained a few paces in the rear, so that Antinahuel was left alone at
the head of his troop. At the expiration of five minutes Black Stag
pulled up his horse.
"Has my father returned among his children?" he said, bowing his head
as a salutation to the chief.
"Yes!" Antinahuel replied. "What has my son done during my absence?"
"I have executed the orders of my father."
"All of them?"
"All!"
"Good! Has my son received any news of the palefaces?"
"A strong body of the Chiaplos is preparing to quit Valdivia to repair
to Santiago."
"Good! With what purpose?"
"They are taking to Santiago the prisoner named General Bustamente."
Antinahuel turned towards the Linda, and exchanged a glance of
intelligence with her.
"For what day have the Huincas fixed their departure?"
"They are to set out the day after tomorrow."
Antinahuel reflected for a few minutes.
"This is what my son will do," he said. "In two hours he will strike
his camp, and direct his course toward the Canyon del Rio Seco, where I
will go and wait for him."
"I will obey!" said the Black Stag, bowing his head affirmatively.
"Good! My son is an experienced warrior; he will execute my orders with
intelligence."
The man smiled with pleasure at receiving this praise from his chief;
after bowing respectfully before him, he made his horse curvet
gracefully, and set off with his followers.
Antinahuel took the road towards the mountains at a sharp trot. After
riding silently for some time by the side of Doña Maria, he turned
towards her graciously, and said--
"Does my sister understand the tenor of the order I have just given?"
"No!" she replied, with a slight tinge of irony; "as my brother has
well remarked, I am not a soldier."
"My intentions are very simple," he replied; "the Canyon del Rio Seco
is in a narrow defile which the palefaces are obliged to cross. Fifty
chosen warriors can here contend with advantage against twenty times
their number. It is in that place I am determined to wait for the
Huincas. The Moluchos will take possession of the heights; and when the
palefaces have entered that passage without suspicion, I will attack
them on all sides."
"Does there, then, exist no other road to Santiago?"
"None; they must go that way."
"Then they are doomed!" she joyfully exclaimed.
"Without doubt!" he said proudly; "the Canyon del Rio Seco is
celebrated in our history."
"Then my brother can answer for saving Don Pancho Bustamente?"
"Yes, unless the sky falls!" he said, with a smile.