THE TRAVELLERS.
About the same hour that the trappers issued from the grotto, and took
up the trail of the Comanches again, at twenty miles' distance from
them, a rather large party of white travellers halted upon the banks
of the great Canadian river and prepared to encamp for the night in a
magnificent position, where there were still some remains of an ancient
camp of an Indian hunting party.
The hunters and the half-breed Gambusinos who served as guides to the
travellers hastened to unload a dozen mules, which were escorted by
Mexican lanceros.
With the bales they made an enclosure of an oval form, in the interior
of which they lit a fire; then, without troubling themselves any further
about their companions, the guides united together in a little group and
prepared their evening repast.
A young officer, of about twenty-five years of age, of martial bearing,
with delicately marked features, went up respectfully to a palanquin
drawn by two mules and escorted by two horsemen.
"In what place would you wish, señor, the señorita's tent to be
pitched?" the young officer asked, as he raised his hat.
"Where you please, Captain Aguilar, provided it be quickly done; my
niece is sinking with fatigue," the cavalier, who rode on the right of
the palanquin, replied.
He was a man of lofty stature, with hard marked features, and an eagle
eye, whose hair was as white as the snows of Chimborazo, and who, under
the large military cloak which he wore, allowed glimpses to appear of
the splendid uniform, glittering with embroidery, of a Mexican general.
The captain retired, with another bow, and returning to the lanceros, he
gave them orders to set up in the middle of the camp enclosure, a pretty
tent, striped rose colour and blue, which was carried across the back of
a mule.
Five minutes later, the general, dismounting, offered his hand gallantly
to a young female, who sprang lightly from the palanquin, and conducted
her to the tent, where, thanks to the attentions of Captain Aguilar,
everything was so prepared that she found herself as comfortable as
circumstances would permit.
Behind the general and his niece, two other persons entered the tent.
One was short and stout, with a full, rosy face, green spectacles, and a
light-coloured wig, who appeared to be choking in the uniform of an army
surgeon.
This personage, whose age was a problem, but who appeared to be about
fifty, was named Jérome Boniface Duveux; he was a Frenchman, and a
surgeon-major in the Mexican service.
On alighting from his horse, he had seized and placed under his arm,
with a species of respect, a large valise fastened to the hinder part of
his saddle, and from which he seemed unwilling to part.
The second person was a girl of about fifteen years of age, of a forward
and lively mien, with a turn-up nose and a bold look, belonging to the
half-breed race, who served as lady's maid to the general's niece.
A superb Negro, decorated with the majestic name of Jupiter, hastened,
aided by two or three Gambusinos, to prepare the supper.
"Well! doctor," said the general, smiling, to the fat man, who came in
puffing like a bullock, and sat down upon his valise, "how do you find
my niece this evening?"
"The señorita is always charming!" the doctor replied gallantly, as he
wiped his brow, "Do you not find the heat very oppressive?"
"Faith! no," replied the general, "not more so than usual."
"Well, it appears so to me!" said the doctor with a sigh. "What are you
laughing at, you little witch?" added he, turning towards the waiting
maid, who, in fact, was laughing with all her might.
"Pay no attention to that wild girl, doctor; you know she is but a
child," the young lady said, with a pleasing smile.
"I have always told you, Doña Luz," persisted the doctor, knitting his
large eyebrows, and puffing out his cheeks, "that that little girl is a
demon, to whom you are much too kind, and who will end by playing you an
evil turn some of these days."
"Ooouch! the wicked picker up of pebbles!" the quadroon said with a
grin, in allusion to the doctor's mania for collecting stones.
"Come, come, peace!" said the general, "has today's journey fatigued you
much, my dear niece?"
"Not exceedingly," the young lady replied, with a suppressed yawn;
"during nearly a month that we have been travelling I have become
accustomed to this sort of life, which, I confess, at the commencement,
I found painful enough."
The general sighed, but made no reply. The doctor was absorbed by the
care with which he was classifying the plants and stones which he had
collected during the day.
The half-breed girl flew about the tent like a bird, occupied in putting
everything in order that her mistress might want.
We will take advantage of this moment of respite to sketch the portrait
of the young lady.
Doña Luz de Bermudez was the daughter of a younger sister of the general.
She was a charming girl of sixteen at most. Her large black eyes,
surmounted by eyebrows whose deep colour contrasted finely with the
whiteness of her fair, pure forehead, were veiled by long velvety
lashes, which modestly concealed their splendour; her little mouth was
set off by teeth of pearl, edged by lips of coral; her delicate skin
wore the down of the ripe peach, and her blue-black hair, when liberated
from its bands, formed a veil for her whole person.
Her form was slender and supple, with all the curves of the true line of
beauty. She possessed, in an eminent degree, that undulating, gracefully
serpentine movement which distinguishes American women; her hands and
feet were extremely small, and her step had the careless voluptuousness
of the Creole, so full of ever varying attractions.
In short, in the person of this young lady, might be said to be combined
all the graces and perfections.
Ignorant as most of her compatriots, she was gay and cheerful; amused
with the smallest trifle, and knowing nothing of life but the agreeable
side of it.
But this beautiful statue was not animated; it was Pandora before
Prometheus had stolen for her fire from heaven, and, to continue our
mythological comparison, Love had not yet brushed her with his wing, her
brow had not yet been contracted by the pressure of thought, her heart
had not yet beaten under the influence of passion.
Brought up under the care of the general in almost cloistral seclusion,
she had only quitted it to accompany him in a journey he had undertaken
through the prairies.
What was the object of this journey, and why had her uncle so positively
insisted upon her making it with him? That was of little consequence to
the young girl.
Happy to live in the open air, to be constantly seeing new countries and
new objects, to be free in comparison with the life she had hitherto
led, she had asked nothing better, and took care never to trouble her
uncle with indiscreet questions.
At the period when we met her, then, Doña Luz was a happy girl, living
from day to day, satisfied with the present, and thinking nothing of the
future.
Captain Aguilar entered, preceding Jupiter, who brought in the dinner.
The table was decked by Phoebe, the waiting maid.
The repast consisted of preserved meats and a joint of roast venison.
Four persons took their places round the table; the general, his niece,
the captain, and the doctor.
Jupiter and Phoebe waited.
Conversation languished during the first course; but when the appetite
of the party was a little abated, the young girl, who delighted in
teasing the doctor, turned to him, and said,--
"Have you made a rich harvest today, doctor?"
"Not too rich, señorita," he replied.
"Well! but," she said, laughing, "there appears to me to be such an
abundance of stones on our route, that it only rested with yourself to
gather together enough to load a mule."
"You ought to be pleased with your journey," said the general, "for it
offers you such an opportunity for indulging in your passion for plants
of all sorts."
"Not too great, general, I must confess; the prairie is not so rich
as I thought it was; and if it were not for the hope I entertain of
discovering one plant, whose qualities may advance science, I should
almost regret my little house at Guadeloupe, where my life glided away
in such uniform tranquillity."
"Bah!" the captain interrupted, "we are as yet only on the frontiers
of the prairies. You will find, when we have penetrated further into
the interior, that you will not be able to gather the riches which will
spring from under your feet."
"God grant it may be so, captain;" said the doctor, with a sigh;
"provided I find the plant I seek I shall be satisfied."
"Is it then such a very valuable plant?" asked Doña Luz.
"What, señorita!" cried the doctor, warming with the question. "A plant
which Linnaeus has described and classified, and which no one has since
found! a plant that would make my reputation! And you ask me if it is
valuable?"
"Of what use is it, then?" the young lady asked, in a tone of curiosity.
"Of what use is it?"
"Yes."
"None at all, that I am aware of," the doctor replied, ingeniously.
Doña Luz broke into a silvery laugh, whose pearly notes might have made
a nightingale jealous.
"And you call it a valuable plant?"
"Yes--if only for its rarity."
"Ah! that's all."
"Let us hope you will find it, doctor," said the general in a
conciliatory tone. "Jupiter, call the chief of the guides hither."
The Negro left the tent, and almost immediately returned, followed by a
Gambusino.
The latter was a man of about forty, tall in stature, square-built,
and muscular. His countenance, though not exactly ugly, had something
repulsive in it for which the spectator was at a loss to account;
his wild, sinister-looking eyes, buried under their orbits, cast a
savage light, which with his low brow, his curly hair, and his coppery
complexion, made altogether a not very agreeable whole. He wore
the costume of a wood ranger; he was cold, impassible, of a nature
essentially taciturn, and answered to the name of _the Babbler_, which,
no doubt, the Indians or his companions had given him by antiphrasis.
"Here, my good fellow," said the general, holding out to him a glass
filled to the brim with a sort of brandy, called mescal, from the name
of the place where it is distilled, "drink this."
The hunter bowed, emptied the glass, which contained about a pint, at a
draught; then, passing his cuff across his moustache, waited.
"I wish," said the general, "to halt for a few days in some safe
position, in order to make, without fear of being disturbed, certain
researches; shall we be secure here?"
The eye of the guide sparkled: he fixed a burning glance upon the
general.
"No," he replied, laconically.
"Why not?"
"Too many Indians and wild beasts."
"Do you know one more suitable?"
"Yes."
"Is it far?"
"No."
"At what distance?"
"Forty miles."
"How long will it take us to arrive there?"
"Three days."
"That will do. Conduct us thither. Tomorrow, at sunrise, we will set
forward in our march."
"Is that all?"
"That is all."
"Good night."
And the hunter withdrew.
"What I admire in the Babbler," said the Captain, with a smile, "is that
his conversation never tires you."
"I should like it much better if he spoke more," said the doctor,
shaking his head. "I always suspect people who are so afraid of saying
too much; they generally have something to conceal."
The guide, after leaving the tent, joined his companions, with whom he
began to talk in a low voice, but in a very animated manner.
The night was magnificent; the travellers, assembled in front of the
tent, were chatting together, and smoking their cigars.
Doña Luz was singing one of those charming Creole songs, which are so
full of sweet melody and expression.
All at once a red-tinted light appeared in the horizon, increasing every
instant, and a dull continuous noise, like the growling of distant
thunder, was heard.
"What is that?" the general cried, rising hastily.
"The prairie is on fire," the Babbler replied, quietly.
At this terrible announcement, made so quietly, the camp was all in
confusion.
It was necessary to fly instantly, if they did not choose to run the
risk of being burnt alive.
One of the Gambusinos, taking advantage of the disorder, glided away
among the baggage, and disappeared in the plain, after exchanging a
mysterious signal with the Babbler.