THE END OF DON RAMÓN'S JOURNEY.
In the meantime Don Ramón had left Valdivia. This time the senator
was alone--alone with his horse, a poor, lean, half-foundered beast,
which hobbled along with its head and ears down, and appeared in all
points to harmonise with the sad thoughts which doubtless occupied its
master's mind.
The future by no means appeared to him pleasant. He had left Valdivia
under a threat of death; at every step he expected to be aimed at by
some invisible gun. Being conscious that he could not impose upon the
enemies, doubtless disseminated over his route, by any appearance
of strength or power, he determined to impose upon them by his
weakness--that is to say, he got rid of all his arms. At a few leagues
distance from Valdivia he had been passed by Joan. Don Ramón watched
him for a long time with a look of envy.
"What happy fellows these Indians are!" he grumbled; "the desert
belongs to them. Ah!" he added, with a sigh; "if I were but at Casa
Azul."
Casa Azul was the senator's quinta--that quinta with white walls, green
blinds, and leafy bowers, which he so much regretted having left in a
moment of silly ambition, and which he never hoped to see again. When
he passed by a wood, or along a narrow way between two mountains, he
cast terrified glances around him, and entered the suspicious passage,
murmuring--
"This is where they are waiting for me!"
And when the wood was passed, and the dangerous lane cleared, instead
of felicitating himself upon being still safe and sound, he said, with
a shake of the head--
"Hum! the Pícaros! they know very well I cannot escape them, and they
are playing with me as a cat does with a mouse."
And yet two days had passed away without a mishap, nothing had occurred
to corroborate the senator's suspicions and uneasiness. He had that
morning crossed the ford of the Carampangne, and was drawing near to
the Bio Bio which he hoped to reach by sunset.
But the Bio Bio had to be crossed, and there lay the difficulty. The
river has but one ford, a little above Concepción. The senator knew it
perfectly well but a secret presentiment told him not to approach it.
Unfortunately Don Ramón had no choice, he could take no other road.
The senator hesitated as long as Cæsar did at the famous passage of
the Rubicon; at length, as there were no means of doing otherwise, Don
Ramón very unwillingly spurred on his horse, and advanced towards the
ford, recommending himself to the protection of all the saints of the
Spanish golden legend.
The horse was tired, but the smell of the water renovated its strength,
and it cantered gaily on with the infallible instinct of these noble
beasts, without pausing in the inextricable windings which crossed
each other in the high grass. Although the river was not yet visible,
Don Ramón could hear the roaring of the waters. He was passing by,
at the moment, a dark hill, from the thickly-wooded sides of which
proceeded, at intervals, sounds which he could not make out. The animal
too, as much alarmed as its master, pricked up its ears and redoubled
its speed. Don Ramón scarcely ventured to breathe, and looked in all
directions with the greatest terror. He was close to the ford, when
suddenly a rough voice smote his ear and rendered him as motionless
as if he had been changed into a block of marble. Half a score Indian
warriors surrounded him on all sides; these warriors were commanded by
Black Stag.
It was a strange circumstance, but when the first moment of terror
was past, the senator completely recovered himself--now that he knew
what he had to trust to, the danger which he had so long dreaded was
before him, but less terrific than he had supposed it to be. Black
Stag examined him carefully, and at length placed his hand upon the
bridle of his horse, saying, as he endeavoured to recall a half-effaced
remembrance--
"It seems to me that I have seen the paleface somewhere?"
"To be sure," the senator replied; "we are old friends."
"I am not the friend of the Huincas," the Indian said, sternly.
"I mean," Don Ramón corrected himself, "we are old acquaintances."
"Good! what is the Chiapla doing here?"
"Hum!" the senator said; "I am doing nothing."
"Let the paleface reply clearly; a chief is questioning him," Black
Stag said, frowning.
"I ask no better," Don Ramón replied, in a conciliating tone. "Question
me."
"Where is the paleface going?"
"Where am I going? When you stopped me I was preparing to cross the Bio
Bio."
"Good! And when you had crossed the Bio Bio?"
"Oh, then I should have hastened to gain my quinta, which I am very
sorry I ever quitted."
"Doubtless the paleface is charged with some mission?"
"Who, I?" said the senator, in the most careless way possible; "Who do
you think would charge me with a mission?"
"Good! Where is the necklace?"
"What necklace do you mean?"
"The one which you have to deliver to the chief of Concepción."
"Who! I?"
"Yes, you."
"I have none."
"My brother speaks well: Aucas warriors are not women, they know how to
discover what is hidden."
Any resistance was impossible, and if it had not been, Don Ramón was
not the man to have attempted it; hence he obeyed, and his horse was
led away.
"The paleface will follow me," Black Stag commanded.
"Hum!" said Don Ramón, "where are you going?"
"To the Toqui and the Great Eagle of the Whites."
"Oh, dear! oh, dear!" said Don Ramón to himself.
The warriors led their prisoner among the coppice. After a short ascent
they arrived at the camp. General Bustamente and Antinahuel were
conversing as they walked about.
"What have you there?" asked the general.
"A prisoner," Black Stag replied.
"Eh, what!" said the general, "it is my honourable friend, Don Ramón!"
"Yes--worse luck--"
"How can that be? Were you not seeking me?"
"God forbid!" the senator cried.
"Look there, now; why, then, where were you going alone thus?"
"I was going to my own home."
The general and Antinahuel exchanged a few words.
"Come with us, Don Ramón," the general rejoined, "the Toqui wishes to
have some conversation."
"With pleasure," said Don Ramón; and cursing his evil star he followed
the two men into the toldo.
The warriors who had brought the senator remained without, to execute
the orders they might receive.
"You said," the general continued, as soon as they were in the toldo,
"that you were going home at Casa Azul."
"Yes, general."
"Why that sigh? nothing that I am aware of will be opposed to the
continuation of your journey."
"Do you mean that?" the senator exclaimed.
"Hum! that depends entirely upon yourself."
"How so?"
"Deliver up to the Toqui the order which Don Tadeo de León has charged
you."
"What order do you mean, general?"
"Why, the one you probably have."
"You are mistaken, general; I am not charged with any mission to
General Fuentes, I am sure."
"And yet the Toqui asserts the contrary."
"This man lies; he must have a necklace," said Antinahuel.
"It is very easy to ascertain that." said the general, coolly. "Black
Stag, my friend, please to have this caballero suspended by the thumbs
to the next tree."
The senator shuddered.
"I beg you to observe," the general continued, "that we do not commit
the rudeness of searching you."
"But I assure you I have no order."
"Bah! and I am certain you will find one--there is nothing like being
suspended by the thumbs."
"Come," said Black Stag.
The senator bounded away from him with fear.
"Well, I think I recollect----" he stammered.
"There, you see."
"That I am the bearer of a letter."
"Just as I said you were."
"But I am ignorant of its contents."
"Caramba! that is very likely."
"Well, to General Fuentes, I suppose. But if I give you up the paper
shall I be free?" he asked.
"Hum! the position is changed. If you had given it up with a good grace
I could have guaranteed your freedom."
"Still!"
"Come, give it to me."
"Here it is," said the senator, drawing it from his bosom.
The general took the paper, ran his eye rapidly over it, then drawing
Antinahuel to the other extremity of the toldo, they talked together
for some minutes in a low voice. At length the general turned towards
the senator.
"Unhappy fool!" he said, sternly; "Is it thus you betray me, after the
proofs of friendship I have given you?"
"I assure you, general--" the other began.
"Silence, you miserable spy!" the general replied; "You wished to sell
me to my enemies, but God has not permitted the execution of so black a
project."
The senator was annihilated.
"Take away this man," said Antinahuel.
The poor wretch struggled in vain in the hands of the Indian warriors,
who seized him roughly, and dragged him out of the toldo, in spite of
his cries and tears. Black Stag led them to the foot of an enormous
espino, whose thick branches formed a wide shadow on the hill. When
they arrived there, Don Ramón made a last and powerful effort, escaped
from the hands of his surprised guards, and darted away like a madman
up the steep acclivity of the mountain.
But this wild race lasted only a few minutes, and quite exhausted his
strength. When the Indian warriors overtook him, which they easily did,
terror had already nearly killed him. The warriors placed the noose
of a lasso round his neck, and then threw it up over the principal
branch of the espino. But he was dead when they hanged him--fright had
killed him. It was written that poor Don Ramón Sandias, the victim of a
foolish ambition, should never see Casa Azul again.