DELIRIUM.
It had been very unwillingly that Don Tadeo de León consented to resume
that power which he had so gladly once laid down when he thought
tranquillity was re-established. Dull and silent he followed the troop,
who appeared rather to escort a state prisoner than the man they judged
to be alone able to save his country.
For some time the storm had been expending its fury, and Don Tadeo
seemed to be revived by the fiery breath of the tempest; he cast away
his hat, that the rain might bathe his burning brow; with his hair
flowing in the wind and his eyes flashing wildly, he dug his spurs into
his horse's sides, and rushed forward shouting--
"Hurrah! hurrah! my faithful fellows! hurrah for our country! forward!
forward!"
His companions, in the sinister flashes of the lightning, caught
occasional glimpses of the imposing shadow galloping before them, his
horse bounding over every obstacle that came in his way. Suddenly
electrified by this strange vision, they rushed wildly forward in
pursuit of him, uttering cries resembling his own, across the inundated
plain, through trees twisted and tortured by the powerful hand of the
hurricane, which roared furiously. A mad ride, beyond the power of
language to describe, then ensued. Don Tadeo, with his eyes flashing
fire, felt himself fatally carried away by the furious delirium which
compressed his temples like a vice. At intervals he turned sharply
round, uttering inarticulate cries, and then, as suddenly, he lifted
his horse with his spurs and his knees, and galloped forward in pursuit
of some imaginary enemy.
The soldiers, terrified at this terrible crisis, of which they could
not divine the cause, and filled with grief at seeing him in this
unhappy state, rode after him without knowing in what way to restore
him the reason which seemed to be abandoning him.
On approaching Valdivia, although still at some distance from it, they
were surprised to see, at this advanced hour of the night, innumerable
lights shining in the direction of the city. Don Gregorio, Don Tadeos
most faithful friend, was overpowered with grief at beholding him in
such a dreadful state, and tried every means to restore to him that
reason which appeared every moment to be about to leave him perhaps for
ever.
All at once an idea struck him, and Don Gregorio urged his horse
forward, pricking it with point of his dagger to increase its speed.
The noble animal lowered its head, snorted loudly, and darted off like
an arrow. After a few minutes of this wild course, Don Gregorio turned
his horse short round upon its hind quarters, and without relaxing his
speed, retraced his steps like a whirlwind. He and Don Tadeo were now
galloping in a contrary direction, and must inevitably cross or clash.
As they met, Don Gregorio seized the curb rein of his friend's horse
with a grasp of iron, and giving it a sudden check, stopped it short.
"Don Tadeo de León!" Don Gregorio cried; "have you forgotten Doña
Rosario, your daughter?"
At the name of his daughter, a convulsive trembling ran over Don Tadeos
limbs.
"My daughter!" he cried in a piercing tone, "oh I restore me my
daughter!"
Suddenly a cadaverous paleness covered his countenance, his eyes
closed, the reins dropped from his hands, and he sank backwards. But,
quick as thought, his friend had sprung to the earth, and caught him in
his arms; Don Tadeo had fainted.
"He is saved!" said Don Gregorio.
All these rough soldiers, whom no danger had the power to astonish or
move, breathed a sigh of relief at hearing this word of hope. Several
blankets and cloaks were quickly suspended to the branches of the
tree under which the chief was placed for shelter. And all, mute and
motionless, with their bridles passed under their arms, stood awaiting
with anxiety the restoration to life of the man whom they loved as a
father.
Nearly an hour passed away. Don Gregorio, bending over his friend,
watched with an anxious eye the progress of the crisis. By degrees, the
convulsive trembling which shook the body grew calmer, and he sank into
complete immobility. Then Don Gregorio tore open Don Tadeo's sleeve,
stripped his right arm, drew his dagger and opened a vein. No blood
issued at first; but, at length, after a few seconds, a black drop,
of the size of a pins head, appeared at the mouth of the wound; it
increased progressively, and, at length, then followed by a second, and
at the expiration of two minutes, a long stream of foaming black blood
sprang from the orifice.
At length his teeth, which had remained clenched moved, and he heaved
a sigh. The blood had lost the bituminous colour it at first wore, and
had become red. He opened his eyes, and cast around an astonished look.
"Where am I?" he murmured faintly.
"Thank God! you are safe, dear friend!" Don Gregorio answered, he
placed his thumb upon the wound; "what a fright you have given us!"
"What does all this mean?" said Don Tadeo, in a firmer voice; "tell me,
Don Gregorio, what has happened?"
"Faith! it is all my fault," the latter replied. "This will teach me to
choose my horses myself another time, and not leave it to a peon."
"Pray explain yourself, my friend; I do not understand you; I am so
weak."
"Well you may be; you have had a terrible fall."
"Ah!" said Don Tadeo, "do you think so?"
"Caspita! Do I think so? Ask these caballeros. A miracle has saved you!"
"It is very singular! I cannot recollect anything of what you speak.
When we left our friends all at once, the storm broke out."
"That was it! and your recollection is correct. Your horse took fright
at a flash of lightning and ran away. When we came up with you, you
were lying senseless in a ravine."
"What you say must be true, for I feel bruised, and my whole frame
seems weak and exhausted."
"That is it! But, I repeat, fortunately you are not wounded; only I
thought it best to bleed you."
"I thank you; the bleeding has done me good, my head is not so hot, my
ideas are more calm! Thank you, my friend," he added, taking his hand.
"Perhaps you are not strong enough yet to sit on horseback," he said.
"Yes, I assure you, my strength is completely restored; besides, time
presses."
Saying these words, Don Tadeo rose, and asked for his horse. A soldier
was holding it by the bridle. Don Tadeo examined it attentively. The
poor animal was filthy; it looked as if it had literally been rolled
in the mud. Don Tadeo knitted his brow; he could not make it out. Don
Gregorio laughed in his sleeve; it was by his orders that, to mislead
his friend, the horse had been put in this condition.
"I can but wonder," said Don Tadeo, "when looking at this poor beast,
how we both escaped!"
"Is it not incomprehensible?" Don Gregorio replied; "we can none of us
account for it."
"Are we far from the city?"
"A league at most."
"Let us hasten on, then;" and the troop set off at a gallop.
This time Don Tadeo and his friend rode side by side, talking as they
went, in a low voice of the means to be taken to thwart the attempts
of General Bustamente. Don Tadeo had recovered all his coolness. His
ideas had again become clear. One man alone was a stranger to all we
have related. This was Don Ramón Sandias. The poor senator, soaked with
rain, terrified at the storm, and muffled in his cloak up to the eyes,
seemed to live quite mechanically. He only wished for one thing, and
that was to gain some place of shelter; so he kept on and on, without
knowing what he did, or whether the others followed him or not. He
arrived in this manner at Valdivia, and was about to pass on when he
was stopped by a man who seized his bridle.
"Hola? eh, caballero, are you asleep?" a rough voice cried.
He started with fear, and ventured to uncover one eye.
"No," he said, in a hoarse voice; "on the contrary, I am but too wide
awake."
"Where do you come from, alone, so late?" the man who had before spoken
continued.
"What do you mean by 'alone'?" said Don Ramón, recovering his spirits a
little--"do you take my companions for nothing?"
"Your companions! What companions are you talking about?" cried several
voices.
Don Ramón looked round with a terrified air.
"Well, that's true!" he said. "I am alone. What on earth has become of
the others?"
"What others?" the first speaker rejoined; "we see nobody."
"Caramba!" the senator impatiently replied, "I mean Don Gregorio and
his soldiers."
"What! are you part of Don Gregorios troop?" the people cried from all
sides.
"To be sure I am," said the senator; "but pray let me get under
shelter, for the rain pours terribly."
"You need not mind that," said a joker; "you can't be wetter than you
are!"
"That's true," he replied.
"Do you know whether Don Gregorio has met with Don Tadeo de León?"
Several voices asked simultaneously.
"Yes, they are coming together."
"Are they far off?"
"How the devil can I tell?"
At hearing this, the people who had stopped him dispersed in all
directions, crying. "Don Tadeo is coming!" without taking any further
notice of the half-drowned senator, who implored them in vain to
direct him to a place of shelter. No one replied to him; all were busy
lighting torches, or rousing the inhabitants of the houses, either by
knocking at their doors, or calling them by their names.
"Válgame Dios!" the senator murmured in despair; "these people are all
mad to run about the streets in such weather as this! Am I going to be
present at another revolution?"
And spurring his horse, which was almost knocked up, he moved on with
much ado, shaking his head dismally, to seek some hospitable roof where
he might dry his clothes and get a few hours of repose.