THE HACIENDA DEL MILAGRO.
The road from Hermosillo to the Hacienda del Milagro is perfectly well
traced, straight and wide along the entire distance. Although the night
was gloomy and unlit by the moon, as the five horsemen galloped on side
by side, it would have been impossible for them to pass Don Cornelio
without seeing him, had they caught him up; but they reached the
hacienda without receiving any tidings of him.
The road had been so trampled in every direction during the last few
days, both by French and Mexicans, that it was impossible for these
experienced hunters to distinguish or take up any imprint which could
serve to guide them in their researches. The traces of horses, wagons,
and men were so interlaced in each other, that they were completely
illegible, even to the most practised eye. Several times Valentine
tried, though in vain, to read this book of the desert. Hence, the
nearer the hunters drew to their destination, the more alarmed and
anxious they became.
It was about eight in the morning when they reached the hacienda: they
had travelled the whole night through without stopping, save to search
for traces of the man they were pursuing. The hacienda was tranquil; the
peons were engaged in their ordinary labours; the ganado was grazing
at liberty on the prairies. When the hunters entered, Don Rafaël was
preparing to mount on horse, seemingly to take a ride round his farm.
A peon was holding a magnificent mustang, which champed its bit and
snorted impatiently at being held so long. When the hacendero perceived
the newcomers he ran toward them, playfully menacing them with his
chicote.
"Ah!" he said with a laugh, "here are my deserters returned. Good
morning, gentlemen."
The latter, astonished at this merry reception, which they did not at
all comprehend, remained dumb. Don Rafaël then noticed their gloomy and
embarrassed air.
"Hilloh! what is the matter with you?" he asked seriously. "Are you the
bearers of ill news?"
"Perhaps so," Valentine answered sadly. "May Heaven grant that I am
mistaken!"
"Speak--explain yourself. I was mounting to go and obtain news about
you; but as you are here, it is unnecessary."
The hunters exchanged an intelligent glance.
"Of course we will furnish you with all the details you may wish for."
"All the better. In the first place, then, dismount and come into the
house, where we shall converse more at our ease."
The hunters obeyed, and followed Don Rafaël into a vast apartment which
served as the hacendero's business room. When they entered Valentine
opposed the closing of the door.
"In that way," he said, "we shall not have to fear listeners."
"Why such precautions?"
"I will tell you. Where are Doña Angela and Doña Luz at this moment?"
"They are probably still asleep."
"Very good. Tell me, Loyal Heart, have you received any visitor during
the last twenty-four hours?"
"I have not seen a living soul since the departure of the Count de
Prébois Crancé."
"Ah!" the hunter said, "then a courier did not arrive last night?"
"None."
"So that you are ignorant of the deeds accomplished yesterday?"
"Utterly."
"You are not aware that the count fought a battle yesterday?"
"No."
"That he took Hermosillo by assault?"
"No."
"And that General Guerrero's army is utterly routed?"
"No. Is what you tell me really the truth?"
"The most perfect truth."
"In that case the count is victor?"
"Yes, and is now installed at Hermosillo."
"It is almost incredible. And now, my friend, as I have answered all
your questions frankly and without comment, will you do me the kindness
to tell me why you asked them?"
"Yesterday, so soon as the count was master of Hermosillo, he thought of
you, perhaps of somebody else, and he sent off a courier ordered to give
you a letter."
"Me! That is strange. The courier was doubtlessly a native, an Indian?"
"No, he was Don Cornelio Mendoza, a Spanish gentleman, whom you probably
remember."
"Certainly--a jolly, excellent companion, who was continually strumming
the vihuela."
"The same man," Valentine said ironically. "Well, this jolly, excellent
companion, who was continually strumming the vihuela, my dear Loyal
Heart, is simply a traitor who sold all our secrets to the enemy."
"Oh, Valentine! you must be very sure ere you bring such an accusation
against a caballero."
"Unfortunately," the hunter said sadly, "the slightest doubt on the
subject is impossible; the count holds in his hands all the fellow's
correspondence with General Guerrero."
"_Cuerpo de Cristo!_" Don Rafaël exclaimed, "do you know, my friend,
this is very serious?"
"I am so fully of your opinion that, in spite of the fatigue that
overpowered me, I begged these gentlemen to accompany me, and started
at full gallop, hoping to surprise him on the road and seize him; for,
beside the letter he had to deliver to you, he had others of a most
compromising nature, addressed to several influential persons in the
province."
"That is an awkward affair," Loyal Heart said with a pensive air: "it is
evident that the scoundrel, instead of coming here, has gone straight to
hand the papers to the general."
"There is not, unfortunately, the least doubt of that."
"What is to be done?" Don Rafaël muttered mechanically.
There was a moment's silence: each reflected on the means to be employed
in order to neutralise the effects of this treachery. Curumilla and
Eagle-head rose, and prepared to leave the room.
"Where are you going?" Valentine asked them.
"While our brothers are consulting," the Araucano replied, "the Indian
chiefs will go on the discovery."
"You are right, chief: go, go," the hunter said. "I do not know why," he
added mournfully, "but I have a foreboding of misfortune."
The two Indians went out.
"Do you know the contents of the letter the count wrote me?" Don Rafaël
asked presently.
"On my faith, no; but it is probable that he told you of the victory,
and begged you to conduct Doña Angela to Hermosillo. In any case the
letter was most compromising."
"As for that, I am very slightly alarmed, for General Guerrero will
think twice before he attacks me.
"What is the use of this long deliberation, and such a loss of precious
time? We have only one thing to do, and that is to go to Hermosillo as
escort to Doña Angela," Belhumeur said.
"In truth, that is the most simple," Valentine said in confirmation.
"Yes," Don Rafaël remarked; "the count can only be pleased with that
course."
"Come, let us carry out the plan without further delay," Belhumeur
continued. "While Black Elk and myself make all the preparations for
the journey, do you, Loyal Heart, go and inform Doña Angela of the
determination we have come to."
"Do so, and, above all, make haste," Valentine said. "I do not know
why, but I should have liked to be off already."
Without further words they separated, and the hunter remained alone. In
spite of himself Valentine was a prey to the most poignant uneasiness.
He walked in agitation up and down the room, stopping at times to listen
or look out of the windows, as if he expected to see an enemy rise. At
length, no longer able to endure the uncertainty, he went out.
The two hunters were busily engaged in lassoing horses and saddling
them, while the peons were bringing in mules to carry the baggage.
Valentine felt his disquietude augmented with every moment. He helped
his comrades with feverish impatience, and urged each to make haste. An
hour passed away. All was then ready, and they only awaited Doña Angela,
who arrived, accompanied by Doña Luz and Don Rafaël.
"At last!" Valentine exclaimed. "To horse, to horse! Let us start at
once!"
"Let us go," his friends repeated.
Each mounted; but suddenly a great noise was heard outside, and
Curumilla appeared with agitated features, and panting violently.
"Fly, fly!" he shouted; "they are coming."
"Forward!" Valentine exclaimed.
But an insurmountable obstacle rose before them. At the moment they were
passing through the gate of the hacienda it was suddenly blocked up by
the cattle the peons were driving back from the fields, probably to
prevent them being carried off by marauders. The poor beasts pressed
into the gateway, each anxious to be first, while uttering lamentable
moans, and goaded behind by the peons. It was useless to hope getting
out before the ganado had entered, and there was no chance of clearing
the gateway by driving it back. Hence the fugitives were compelled to
wait, whether they would or not. Valentine was half mad with anger.
"I knew it, I knew it," he muttered in a hoarse voice, and clenching his
fists in rage.
At length, after nearly an hour (for Don Rafaël possessed numerous
herds), the gate was free.
"Let us be off in Heaven's name!" Valentine shouted.
"It is too late," Eagle-head said, appearing suddenly in the gateway.
"Maldición!" the hunter yelled as he rushed forward.
Valentine looked around him, and uttered a cry of alarm. The hacienda
was completely surrounded by nearly five hundred Mexican cavalry, in the
midst of whom General Guerrero could be distinguished.
"Ah, the wretched traitor!" the hunter exclaimed.
"Come, let us not be discouraged," Loyal Heart said. "_Cuerpo de
Cristo!_ it is not so long since I gave up desert life that I should
have forgotten all its stratagems. We will not give these troops time to
look about them. Let us charge, and make a hole through them."
"No," Valentine said authoritatively; "close and bar the gate,
Belhumeur."
The Canadian hastened to obey.
"Stay," Don Rafaël said.
"Loyal Heart," Valentine continued, "you are no longer the master to act
as you please, and throw yourself headlong into desperate enterprises.
You must live for your wife and your children; besides, can we expose
Doña Angela to the risk of being killed among us?"
"That is true," he answered. "Pardon me; I was mad."
"Oh!" Doña Angela exclaimed, "what do I care about death if I am not to
see again the man I love?"
"Señorita," the hunter said sententiously, "allow events to follow their
course. Who knows if things are not better so? For the present return to
the house, and leave us to manage this affair."
"Come, my child, come," Doña Luz said to her affectionately; "your
presence is useless here, and perhaps it may soon become injurious."
"I obey you, señora," the maiden said sadly; and she retired slowly,
leaning on the arm of Doña Luz, who lavished on her all the consolations
her heart dictated. Don Rafaël had given all his servants orders to arm,
and hold themselves in readiness to offer a vigorous resistance in case
the hacienda was attacked, an event which, from the orders given by the
general to his troops, might be expected at any moment. The peons of the
hacienda were numerous, and devoted to their master; hence the struggle
threatened to be serious.
Suddenly repeated blows were struck on the gate. Valentine, who had
been thinking deeply for several moments, bent down to Don Rafaël's ear,
and whispered a few words.
"Oh!" the latter replied, "that is almost cowardice, Don Valentine."
"You must," the hunter said obstinately.
And while Loyal Heart proceeded very unwillingly to the gate, he quickly
entered the house. Don Rafaël opened a trap door in the gate, and asked
who was there, and what was wanted; then, to the great surprise of all,
after negotiating for a few moments with the men who demanded entrance
in so peremptory a manner, he ordered the gate to be unbarred. In an
instant it was thrown open, and the general appeared, accompanied by
several officers, with whom he rode boldly in.
"I beg your pardon for keeping you waiting, general, but I did not know
it was you," Don Rafaël said to him.
"Caramba! amigo," the general remarked with a smile as he looked round,
"you have a numerous garrison here, as far as I can judge."
"After the late events that have taken place in Sonora the roads are
infested with marauders," Don Rafaël replied: "it is wise to take
precautions."
The general shrugged his shoulders.
"Very good, caballero," he replied dryly; "but it does not please me
to see so many men armed without any legal motive. Lay down your arms,
gentlemen."
The peons looked at their master; the latter bit his lips, but made
them a sign to obey. All the weapons were then thrown on the ground.
"I am very vexed, Don Rafaël, but I am about to leave a garrison in your
hacienda. You and all the persons present are my prisoners. Get ready to
follow me to Guaymas."
"Is that the reward for allowing you to enter my house?" Don Rafaël said
bitterly.
"I should have entered in any case," the general replied sternly. "And
now send my daughter here at once."
"Here I am, my father," the young lady said as she appeared at the head
of the steps.
Doña Angela came down slowly into the courtyard, walked toward her
father, and stopped two paces from him.
"What would you of me?" she said to him.
"Give you the order to follow me," he answered dryly.
"I can do no other than obey you. Still you know me, father: my
resolution is inflexible. I have in my hands the means to liberate
myself from your tyranny when it appears to me too heavy for endurance.
Your conduct will regulate mine. Now let us start."
The only affection that remained warm and pure in the heart of the
ambitious man was his love for his daughter; but that love was immense
and unbounded. This man, who recoiled before no deed, however cruel it
might be, to attain the object he proposed to himself, trembled at a
frown from this child of sixteen, who, knowing the tyrannical power she
exercised over her father, abused it unscrupulously. On his side, Don
Sebastian knew the iron will and untamable character of his daughter.
Hence he trembled in his heart on listening to her cold declaration,
although he allowed nothing to be seen. He turned away with an air of
disdain, and gave orders for departure.
A quarter of an hour later all the prisoners were _en route_ for
Guaymas, and no one was left at the hacienda but General Don Ramon and
Doña Luz, who were watched by a garrison of fifty men, commanded by an
officer, who had orders not to let them communicate with anybody.
Valentine, on seeing the general so speedily recovered from his defeat,
judged the position of affairs at a glance. With his usual perspicuity
he understood that, owing to Don Cornelio's treachery, the pueblos would
not rise, that the hacenderos who had pledged their word would keep
aloof, that the revolt would prove abortive, and that the count, ill and
abandoned by everybody, would probably soon be reduced to treat with the
man he had conquered. This was the reason why he urged Don Rafaël not
to attempt a useless resistance, which could only have compromised him;
and, at the same time, he persuaded Doña Angela to feign acceptance of
her father's conditions, and return with him.
We see that the hunter had reasoned well, and that his previsions were
correct. Still he was mistaken in supposing that he would manage to
advise his foster-brother of all that had occurred. The orders given
by the general in reference to the prisoners were executed with such
extreme precision, that it was impossible even to tell the count of his
whereabouts. And now that we have recounted the events that took place
at the hacienda, we will approach the conclusion of this long drama.