THE BATTLE OF CONDERKANKI.
It was the fourth of October.
The Araucano warriors came out proudly from their entrenchments, and
drew up in order of battle to the sound of their warlike instruments.
The Araucanos have a system of battle from which they never deviate:
this unchangeable order is as follows: the cavalry form the two wings,
and the infantry is in the centre, divided by battalions. The ranks of
these battalions are by turns composed of men armed with pikes and men
armed with clubs, so that between two pikes there is always one club.
The vice-Toqui commands the right wing, an Apo-Ulmen the left wing. As
to the Toqui, he flies to all points, exhorting the troops to fight
courageously for liberty.
The Araucanian army, drawn up as we have described, had an imposing and
martial appearance. All these warriors knew they were supporting a lost
cause, that they were marching to an almost certain death, and yet they
waited impassively, their eyes burning with ardour for the signal for
battle. Antinahuel, with his right arm tied down to his body by leather
strap, brandishing a heavy club in his left hand, mounted a magnificent
courser, as black as jet, which he governed with his knees, and rode
through the ranks of his warriors.
Before leaving the camp, General Bustamente exchanged a few words with
the Linda. Their short conversation ended with these words, which did
not fail to make an impression upon the woman's heart--
"Farewell, señora!" he said, in a melancholy voice; "I am going to
die--thanks to the bad influence you have exercised over me--in the
ranks of those to whom my duty orders me to be opposed! I am going to
die the death of a traitor, hated and despised by all! I pardon you the
evil you have done me. Repent!--there is still time! Farewell!"
He coldly bowed to the dejected Doña Maria, and rejoined the troop.
The Chilian army was formed in squares of echelons.
At the instant Don Tadeo was leaving his tent he uttered an exclamation
of joy at beholding two men.
"Don Louis! Don Valentine!" he exclaimed; "you here?"
"Faith! yes, here we are," Valentine replied, laughing; "Cæsar and
all, who has a great inclination to taste an Araucano; haven't you, old
dog?" he said.
"We thought," said the count, "that on a day like this you could not
have too many of your friends round you; we have left the two chiefs
concealed in the woods a short distance off, and have come to you."
"I thank you. You will not leave me, I hope."
"Pardieu! we came on purpose to stick to you."
Don Tadeo ordered each to be furnished with a superb charger, and all
three set off at a gallop to place themselves in the centre square.
The plain of Conderkanki, into which Don Tadeo had at length succeeded
in driving the Indians, has the form of an immense triangle. The
Araucanos occupied the summit of the triangle, and found themselves
hemmed in between the sea and the mountains.
"Well," Valentine asked Don Tadeo, "is not the battle going to begin?"
"Directly," the latter replied, "and be assured you will find it sharp
enough."
The dictator then raised his sword. The drums beat, the bugles sounded
the charge, and the Chilian army advanced at quick step. The signal
being given, the Araucanos advanced in their turn resolutely, uttering
frightful yells. As soon as their enemies were within a proper distance
the Chilian lines opened--a discharge of artillery roared forth its
thunders, and swept the front ranks of the Araucanos; then the squares
as suddenly closed, and the soldiers waited in their ranks, with
bayonets at charge.
The shock was terrible. The Aucas, decimated by the artillery which
ploughed their ranks, front, flank, and rear, faced about on all
sides at once, and rushed with fury upon the Chilian bayonets. As
soon as the first rank succumbed beneath the bullets, the second and
third resolutely replaced it. And yet the savage warriors retained
self-command in all their eagerness; they followed with exactness and
rapidity the orders of their Ulmens, and executed with the greatest
regularity the various evolutions which were commanded.
In spite of the close discharges of the musketry which cut them to
pieces, they rushed headlong upon the front ranks of the Chilians, and
at length attacked them hand to hand. The Chilian cavalry then dashed
in, and charged them to the very centre.
But General Bustamente had foreseen this movement. On his side he
executed the same manoeuvre, so that the two bodies of cavalry came in
contact with a noise like thunder. Calm and cool at the head of his
squadron, the general charged.
As Don Tadeo had predicted to Valentine, the battle was rudely
contested along the whole line; the Araucanos, with their tenacity
which nothing can repel, and their contempt of death, allowed
themselves to be slaughtered by the Chilian bayonets without yielding.
Antinahuel was in the van of his warriors, animating them with his
gestures and his voice.
"What men!" the count could not refrain from exclaiming; "what mad
rashness!"
"Is it not?" Don Tadeo replied; "They are demons."
"Pardieu!" Valentine cried. "What brave soldiers! Why, they will all be
killed if they go on so."
"All!" Don Tadeo replied.
The principal efforts of the Araucanians were directed against the
square where the general-in-chief was, surrounded by his staff. There
the fight was changed into a butchery; firearms had become useless,
bayonets, hatchets, sabres, and clubs furrowed breasts and crushed
skulls. Antinahuel looked around him. His followers were falling like
ears of ripe corn; the forest of bayonets which barred their passage
must be broken through at all hazards.
"Aucas!" he cried, in a voice of thunder "forward!"
With a movement rapid as thought, he lifted his horse, made it plunge,
and hurled it upon the front ranks of the enemy. The breach was opened
by this stroke of extraordinary audacity; the warriors rushed in after
him. A frightful carnage ensued--a tumult impossible to be described!
With every blow a man fell. The Aucas had plunged like a wedge into the
square, and had broken it.
"Well," Don Tadeo asked of Valentine, "what do you think of these
adversaries?"
"They are more than men!" he answered.
"Forward, forward! Chili! Chili!" Don Tadeo shouted, urging on his
horse.
Followed by about fifty men, among whom were the two Frenchmen, he
plunged into the thickest of the enemy's ranks. Don Gregorio and
General Fuentes had divined from the persistency with which the
Araucanos attacked the great square that their object was to take
the general-in-chief prisoner. Therefore, they had hastened their
movements, effected their junction, and enclosed the Aucas within a
circle of steel.
At a glance Antinahuel perceived the critical position in which he was
placed. He shouted to Bustamente a cry of anxious appeal. He also was
aware of the dangerous position of the Indian army.
"Let us save our warriors," he shouted.
"We will save them," the Indians howled.
All at once the general found himself immediately opposed to the
squadron commanded by Don Tadeo.
"Oh!" he cried, "I shall die at last."
From the commencement of the action Joan had fought by the side of Don
Tadeo, who, intent upon his duties as leader, often neglected to parry
the blows aimed at him; but the brave Indian parried them for him, and
seemed to multiply himself for the sake of protecting the man he had
sworn to defend. Joan instinctively divined the intention of General
Bustamente.
"Oh!" the general shouted; "my God, I thank thee. I shall not die by
the hand of a brother."
Joan's horse came full in contact with that of the general.
"Ah! ah!" the latter murmured, "you also are a traitor to your country;
you also are fighting against your brothers. Die, wretch!"
And he aimed a heavy sabre stroke at the Indian. But Joan avoided it,
and seized the general round the body. The two horses, abandoned to
themselves, and rendered furious by the noise of the battle, dragged
along the two men, who clung to each other like serpents. This furious
struggle could not last long, and both men rolled on the ground. They
disengaged themselves from their stirrups, and instantly stood face to
face. After a contest of skill for a few minutes, the general, who was
an expert swordsman, succeeded in planting a sabre cut which cleft the
skull of the Indian; but before falling Joan collected his strength,
and threw himself headlong upon his antagonist, who was surprised
by this unexpected attack, and plunged his poisoned dagger into his
breast. The two enemies staggered for a moment, and then fell, side by
side--dead!