NOCOBOTHA.
A struggle to the death was preparing between these irreconcilable
enemies, the bomberos and the Indians; and on this occasion it seemed
as if the advantage would be on the side of the brothers.
Mercedes, who had recovered from her fainting fit, felt so terrified
that she regretted that she had awoken again.
After the first collision, Nocobotha fell back a step, lowered his
weapon, made Pincheira a sign to imitate him, and with folded arms
walked towards the brothers.
"Stay," he cried, "this fight will not take place; it is not proper for
men to risk their lives in disputing for the possession of a woman."
An ironical smile contracted the bronzed faces Of Pedrito's brothers,
while Pincheira stamped his foot impatiently. The Indian chief
continued, without heeding these marks of disapproval--
"A man's blood is precious. Take away your sister, my good fellow. I
give her to you; may she be happy with you."
"Our sister!" the three young men exclaimed with amazement.
"Yes," Pedrito said; "but what conditions do you exact?"
"None," the chief answered nobly.
Nocobotha's generosity was the more disinterested because the bomberos
perceived by the first rays of the rising sun a band of nearly one
thousand Indians, well equipped, and painted and armed for war, who had
silently advanced and formed a a circle round them.
"Can we," Pedrito asked, "trust to your word, and have we no cause to
fear a trap?"
"My word," the Ulmen answered haughtily, "is more sacred than that of
a white man. We have, like you, noble feelings, more so, perhaps, than
others," he added, pointing to a red line that traversed his face;
"we know how to forgive. You are free, and no one will disturb your
retreat."
Nocobotha followed the thoughts of the bomberos on their faces. The
latter felt themselves conquered by the magnanimity of the chief, who
smiled triumphantly on divining their astonishment and confusion.
"My friend," he said to Pincheira, "let fresh horses be given to these
men."
Pincheira hesitated.
"At once," he said, with a gesture full of supreme grace.
The Chilian, who was a semi-savage, yielding involuntarily to
Nocobotha's superiority, obeyed, and five horses of great value, and
ready saddled and bridled, were led up by two Indians.
"Chief," Pedrito said, in a slightly shaking voice, "I am not grateful
for my life, as I do not fear death; but, in my brothers' names and
my own, I thank you for our sister. We never forget an insult or a
kindness. Farewell! Perhaps I shall someday have the opportunity to
prove to you that we are not ungrateful."
The chief bowed without answering. The bomberos grouped round Mercedes,
returned his salute, and went off slowly.
"Well, it was your wish," Pincheira said, shrugging his shoulders in
vexation.
"Patience!" Nocobotha answered, in a deep voice.
During this time an immense fire had been kindled at the foot of the
tree of Gualichu, where the Indians, whose superstitious fears had
been dissipated with the darkness, had again assembled in council.
A few paces behind the chiefs, the Aucas and Puelche horsemen formed
a formidable cordon round the council fire, while Patagonian scouts
dashed about the desert to scare away intruders, and insure the secrecy
of the deliberations.
In the east the sun was darting forth its flames, the dry and naked
desert was blended with the illimitable horizon; in the distance the
Cordilleras displayed the eternal snow of their peaks. Such was the
landscape, if we may call it so, in which these barbarous warriors
stood, dressed in strange costumes near the symbolic tree. This
majestic scene involuntarily recalled other times and other climates,
when, by the light of burning towns, the ferocious companions of Attila
rushed to the conquest, and rejuvenescence of the Roman world.
Nocobotha took up his speech at the point where it had been interrupted
by the unexpected interference of the bombero.
"I thank my brother Metipan," he said, "for the gift of the white
slave. From this day our disagreement ceases; his nation and mine will
form one and the same family, whose herds will peacefully graze on the
same pasturage, and whose warriors will sleep side by side on the war
track."
The matchi then lit a pipe, drew a few puffs, and handed it to the two
chiefs, who smoked in turn, passing the pipe to each other till the
tobacco was entirely consumed. Then the pipe was thrown on the fire by
the matchi.
"Gualichu," he said, solemnly, "has heard your words. Swear that your
alliance will not be broken until you can again smoke this pipe which
is already reduced to ashes."
"We swear it."
The two Ulmens laid the left hand on the other's right shoulder,
stretched out the right hand to the sacred tree, and kissed each other
on the lips, saying--
"Brother, receive this kiss. May my lips wither and my tongue be torn
out if I betray my oath."
All the Indians came, one after the other, to give the kiss of peace to
the two Ulmens with marks of joy that were the more lively because they
knew what great misfortunes this feud had already cost them, and how
many times it had compromised the independence of the Indian tribes.
When the chiefs had returned to their places at the council fire,
Lucaney bowed to Nocobotha.
"What communications did my brother wish to make to the Ulmens? We are
ready to hear him."
Nocobotha seemed to reflect for a moment, and then looked confidently
round the assembly.
"Ulmens of the Puelches, Araucanos, Pehuenches, Huileches, and
Patagonians," he said, "for many moons past my mind has been sad. I
see with grief our hunting grounds invaded by the white men, and daily
growing more and more contracted. We whose countless tribes only a few
centuries ago covered the vast tract of land contained between the
two seas, are now reduced to a small band of warriors, who, timid as
llamas, fly before our despoilers. Our sacred cities, the last refuges
of the civilization of our fathers the Incas, are about to become the
prey of these human-faced monsters who have no other God but gold. Our
dispersed race will soon disappear from this world which it so long
possessed and governed alone."
"Tracked like wild animals, brutalized by the firewater, and decimated
by the sword and Spanish disease, our wandering hordes are but the
shadow of a people. Our conquerors despise our religion, and they wish
to bow us beneath the tree of the crucified man. They outrage our
wives, kill our children, and burn our villages. Has the blood of your
fathers become impoverished in the veins of all you Indians who are
listening to me? Answer, will you die slaves, or live as free men?"
At these words, uttered in a masculine and penetrating voice, and whose
effect was heightened by the most majestic gestures, a quiver ran along
the assembly; they raised their heads haughtily and every eye flashed.
"Speak, speak again!" the electrified Ulmens shouted simultaneously.
The great Ulmen smiled proudly, and continued--
"The hour has at length arrived, after so much humiliation and
wretchedness, to shake off the disgraceful yoke that presses on us.
Within a few days, if you are willing, we will drive the whites far
from our borders, and requite them all the evil they have done us. I
have long been watching the Spaniards, and I know their tactics and
resources; and in order to annihilate them we only need skill and
courage."
The Indians interrupted him, with shouts of joy.
"You shall be free," Nocobotha continued. "I will restore you the rich
valleys of your ancestors. This project has, ever since I have become
a man, been fermenting in my head, and it has grown the life of my
life. Far from you and me be the thought that I have any intention to
force myself on you as chief and grand Toqui of the army! No; you
must choose your leader freely, and after having elected him, obey him
blindly, follow him everywhere, and pass through the most formidable
perils. Do not deceive yourselves, warriors; our enemy is strong,
numerous, and well disciplined, and, before all, is habituated to
conquer us. Appoint a supreme chief--select the most worthy, and I will
joyfully march under his orders. I have spoken: have I spoken well,
powerful men?"
And, after bowing to the assembly, Nocobotha mingled with the crowd of
chiefs, with a serene brow, but with his heart devoured by anxiety and
hatred.
This eloquence, which was novel to the Indians, seduced, carried them
away, and cast them into a species of frenzy. They almost regarded
Nocobotha as a genius of a superior essence to their own, and bowed
the knee to worship him, so straight had he gone to their hearts. For
a long time the council was affected by a species of delirium, all
speaking at once. When tranquillity was restored, the wisest among the
Ulmens discussed the opportunity of taking up arms and the chances
of success, and in the end the opinion was unanimous in favour of a
general insurrection. The ranks, momentarily broken, were restored,
and Lucaney, who was invited by the chiefs to make known the decision
of the council, spoke as follows;--
"Ulmens, listen, listen, listen! This seventeenth day of the moon of
Kekil-kiven it has been resolved by all the chiefs, each representing
a nation or a tribe, assembled round the council fire in front of the
sacred tree of Gualichu, and after the performance of the sacred rites
to render the spirit favourable to us, that war is declared against
the Spaniards, our despoilers. As the war is holy, and has liberty
for its object, all will be expected to take part in it--men, women,
and children; all to the extent of their strength. This very day the
_quipus_ will be sent to all the Indian nations."
A long cry of enthusiasm cheered Lucaney, but he continued after a
while--
"The chiefs, after careful consideration, have chosen as supreme Toqui
of all the nations, with uncontrolled and unlimited power, the wisest,
the most prudent, and the man most worthy to command us. This warrior
is the chief of the Aucas whose race is so ancient, Nocobotha is the
descendant of the Incas, the son of the sun."
A thunder of applause greeted these last words Nocobotha walked into
the centre of the circle, bowed to the Ulmens, and said, in a proud
accent, "I accept. Ulmens, my brothers, in a year you shall be free, or
myself dead."
"Long live the great Toqui!" the crowd shouted.
"War to the Spaniards!" Nocobotha continued; "A war without respite or
mercy--a true wild beast hunt, such as they are accustomed to make on
us. Remember the law of the Pampas: 'an eye for an eye, and a tooth for
a tooth.' Each chief will send the quipus to his nation, for at the end
of this moon we will arouse our enemies by a thunderclap. Go, and lose
no time. This night at the fourth hour we will meet again at the pass
of the Guanaco, to elect the secondary chiefs, count our warriors, and
fix the day and hour of attack."
The Ulmens bowed without replying, rejoined the escort, and soon
disappeared in a cloud of dust.
Nocobotha and Pincheira remained alone, a detachment guarding them a
little distance away. Nocobotha, with his arms folded, drooping head,
and frowning brow, seemed plunged in profound thoughts.
"Well," Pincheira said, "we have succeeded."
"Yes," he answered; "war is declared, and I am the supreme chief; but
I tremble at such a heavy task. Do those primitive men thoroughly
understand? Are they ripe for liberty? Perhaps they have not as yet
suffered enough. Oh! if I succeed!"
"You startle me, friend. What, then, are your plans?"
"It is true, you know nothing, but you are worthy of such an
enterprise. I wish, understand me thoroughly; I wish--"
At this moment an Indian, whose horse, reeking with perspiration,
seemed to breathe fire through its nostrils, came up to the two Ulmens,
before whom he shopped dead, by a prodigy of horsemanship, as if
converted into a granite statue. He bent down to Nocobotha's ear.
"Already!" the latter exclaimed; "Oh, there is not a moment to lose.
Quick, my horse."
"What is the matter?" Pincheira asked him.
"Nothing that can interest you. Tonight at the pass of the Guanaco you
shall know all."
"Are you going alone?"
"I must. Tonight we meet again."
Nocobotha's horse snorted, and dashed off like an arrow from a bow.
Ten minutes later all the Indians had disappeared, and solitude and
silence reigned round the tree of Gualichu.