In the evening I sat in my room waiting for Saint Vrain. His voice
reached me from without--
"`Las ninas de Durango
Commigo bailandas,
Al cielo--!'
"Ha! Are you ready, my bold rider?"
"Not quite. Sit down a minute and wait."
"Hurry, then! the dancing's begun. I have just come that way. What!
that your ball-dress? Ha! ha! ha!" screamed Saint Vrain, seeing me
unpack a blue coat and a pair of dark pantaloons, in a tolerable state
of preservation.
"Why, yes," replied I, looking up; "what fault do you find? But is that
your ball-dress?"
No change had taken place in the ordinary raiment of my friend. The
fringed hunting-shirt and leggings, the belt, the bowie, and the
pistols, were all before me.
"Yes, my dandy; this is my ball-dress: it ain't anything shorter; and if
you'll take my advice, you'll wear what you have got on your back. How
will your long-tailed blue look, with a broad belt and bowie strapped
round the skirts? Ha! ha! ha!"
"But why take either belt or bowie? You are surely not going into a
ball-room with your pistols in that fashion?"
"And how else should I carry them? In my hands?"
"Leave them here."
"Ha! ha! that would be a green trick. No, no. Once bit, twice shy.
You don't catch this 'coon going into any fandango in Santa Fe without
his six-shooters. Come, keep on that shirt; let your leggings sweat
where they are, and buckle this about you. That's the _costume du bal_
in these parts."
"If you assure me that my dress will be _comme il faut_, I'm agreed."
"It won't be with the long-tailed blue, I promise you."
The long-tailed blue was restored forthwith to its nook in my
portmanteau.
Saint Vrain was right. On arriving at the room, a large sala in the
neighbourhood of the Plaza, we found it filled with hunters, trappers,
traders, and teamsters, all swaggering about in their usual mountain
rig. Mixed among them were some two or three score of the natives, with
an equal number of senoritas, all of whom, by their style of dress, I
recognise as poblanas, or persons of the lower class,--the only class,
in fact, to be met with in Santa Fe.
As we entered, most of the men had thrown aside their serapes for the
dance, and appeared in all the finery of embroidered velvet, stamped
leather, and shining "castletops." The women looked not less
picturesque in their bright naguas, snowy chemisettes, and small satin
slippers. Some of them flounced it in polka jackets; for even to that
remote region the famous dance had found its way.
"Have you heard of the electric telegraph?"
"No, senor."
"Can you tell me what a railroad is?"
"Quien sabe?"
"La polka?"
"Ah! senor, la polka, la polka! cosa buenita, tan graciosa! vaya!"
The ball-room was a long, oblong sala with a banquette running all round
it. Upon this the dancers seated themselves, drew out their husk
cigarettes, chatted, and smoked, during the intervals of the dance. In
one corner half a dozen sons of Orpheus twanged away upon harp, guitar,
and bandolin; occasionally helping out the music with a shrill
half-Indian chant. In another angle of the apartment, puros, and Taos
whisky were dealt out to the thirsty mountaineers, who made the sala
ring with their wild ejaculations. There were scenes like the
following:--
"Hyar, my little muchacha! vamos, vamos, ter dance! Mucho bueno! Mucho
bueno? Will ye?"
This is from a great rough fellow of six feet and over, addressed to a
trim little poblana.
"Mucho bueno, Senor Americano!" replies the lady.
"Hooraw for you! Come along! Let's licker fust! You're the gal for my
beaver. What'll yer drink? Agwardent or vino?"
"Copitita de vino, senor." (A small glass of wine, sir.)
"Hyar, yer darned greaser! Set out yer vino in a squ'll's jump! Now,
my little un', hyar's luck, and a good husband!"
"Gracias, Senor Americano!"
"What! you understand that? You intende, do yer?"
"Si, senor!"
"Hooraw, then! Look hyar, little 'un, kin yer go the b'ar dance?"
"No entiende."
"Yer don't understan' it! Hyar it is; thisa-way;" and the clumsy hunter
began to show off before his partner, in an imitation of the grizzly
bear.
"Hollo, Bill!" cries a comrade, "yer'll be trapped if yer don't look
sharp."
"I'm dog-gone, Jim, if I don't feel queery about hyar," replies the
hunter, spreading his great paw over the region of the heart.
"Don't be skeert, man; it's a nice gal, anyways."
"Hooray for old Missouri!" shouts a teamster.
"Come, boys! Let's show these yer greasers a Virginny break-down.
`Cl'ar the kitchen, old folks, young folks.'"
"Go it hoe and toe! `Old Virginny nebir tire!'"
"Viva el Gobernador! Viva Armijo! Viva! viva!"
An arrival at this moment caused a sensation in the room. A stout, fat,
priest-like man entered, accompanied by several others, it was the
Governor and his suite, with a number of well-dressed citizens, who were
no doubt the elite of New Mexican society. Some of the new-comers were
militaires, dressed in gaudy and foolish-looking uniforms that were soon
seen spinning round the room in the mazes of the waltz.
"Where is the Senora Armijo?" I whispered to Saint Vrain.
"I told you as much. She! she won't be out. Stay here; I am going for
a short while. Help yourself to a partner, and see some tun. I will be
back presently. _Au revoir_!"
Without any further explanation, Saint Vrain squeezed himself through
the crowd and disappeared.
I had been seated on the banquette since entering the sala, Saint Vrain
beside me, in a retired corner of the room. A man of peculiar
appearance occupied the seat next to Saint Vrain, but farther into the
shadow of a piece of furniture. I had noticed this man as we entered,
and noticed, too, that Saint Vrain spoke to him; but I was not
introduced, and the interposition of my friend prevented me from making
any further observation of him until the latter had retired. We were
now side by side; and I commenced a sort of angular reconnaissance of a
face and figure that had somewhat strangely arrested my attention. He
was not an American; that was evident from his dress; and yet the face
was not Mexican. Its outlines were too bold for a Spanish face, though
the complexion, from tan and exposure, was brown and swarth. His face
was clean-shaven except his chin, which carried a pointed, darkish
beard. The eye, if I saw it aright under the shadow of a slouched brim,
was blue and mild; the hair brown and wavy, with here and there a strand
of silver. These were not Spanish characteristics, much less
Hispano-American; and I should have at once placed my neighbour
elsewhere, but that his dress puzzled me. It was purely a Mexican
costume, and consisted of a purple manga, with dark velvet embroidery
around the vent and along the borders. As this garment covered the
greater part of his person, I could only see that underneath was a pair
of green velveteen calzoneros, with yellow buttons, and snow-white
calzoncillos puffing out along the seams. The bottoms of the calzoneros
were trimmed with stamped black leather; and under these were yellow
boots, with a heavy steel spur upon the heel of each. The broad peaked
strap that confined the spur, passing over the foot, gave to it that
peculiar contour that we observe in the pictures of armed knights of the
olden time. He wore a black, broad-brimmed sombrero, girdled by a thick
band of gold bullion. A pair of tags of the same material stuck out
from the sides: the fashion of the country.
The man kept his sombrero slouched towards the light, as I thought or
suspected, for the concealment of his face. And vet it was not an
ill-favoured one. On the contrary, it was open and pleasing; no doubt
had been handsome beforetime, and whatever caused its melancholy
expression had lined and clouded it. It was this expression that had
struck me on first seeing the man.
Whilst I was making these observations, eyeing him cross-wise all the
while, I discovered that he was eyeing me in a similar manner, and with
an interest apparently equal to my own. This caused us to face round to
each other, when the stranger drew from under his manga a small beaded
cigarero, and, gracefully holding it out to me, said--
"Quiere a fumar, caballero?" (Would you smoke, sir?)
"Thank you, yes," I replied in Spanish, at the same time taking a cigar
from the case.
We had hardly lit our cigarettes when the man again turned to me with
the unexpected question--
"Will you sell your horse?"
"No."
"Not for a good price?"
"Not for any price."
"I would give five hundred dollars for him."
"I would not part with him for twice the amount."
"I will give twice the amount."
"I have become attached to him: money is no object."
"I am sorry to hear it. I have travelled two hundred miles to buy that
horse."
I looked at my new acquaintance with astonishment, involuntarily
repeating his last words.
"You must have followed us from the Arkansas, then?"
"No, I came from the Rio Abajo."
"The Rio Abajo! You mean from down the Del Norte?"
"Yes."
"Then, my dear sir, it is a mistake. You think you are talking to
somebody else, and bidding for some other horse."
"Oh, no! He is yours. A black stallion with red nose and long full
tail, half-bred Arabian. There is a small mark over the left eye."
This was certainly the description of Moro; and I began to feel a sort
of superstitious awe in regard to my mysterious neighbour.
"True," replied I; "that is all correct; but I bought that stallion many
months ago from a Louisiana planter. If you have just arrived from two
hundred miles down the Rio Grande, how, may I ask, could you have known
anything about me or my horse?"
"Dispensadme, caballero! I did not mean that. I came from below to
meet the caravan, for the purpose of buying an American horse. Yours is
the only one in the caballada I would buy, and, it seems, the only one
that is not for sale!"
"I am sorry for that; but I have tested the qualities of this animal.
We have become friends. No common motive would induce me to part with
him."
"Ah, senor! it is not a common motive that makes me so eager to purchase
him. If you knew that, perhaps--" he hesitated a moment; "but no, no,
no!" and after muttering some half-coherent words, among which I could
recognise the "Buenos noches, caballero!" the stranger rose up with the
same mysterious air that had all along characterised him, and left me.
I could hear the tinkling of the small bells upon the rowels of his
spurs, as he slowly warped himself through the gay crowd, and
disappeared into the night.
The vacated seat was soon occupied by a dusky manola, whose bright
nagua, embroidered chemisette, brown ankles, and small blue slippers,
drew my attention. This was all I could see of her, except the
occasional flash of a very black eye through the loophole of the rebozo
tapado. By degrees, the rebozo became more generous, the loophole
expanded, and the outlines of a very pretty and very malicious little
face were displayed before me. The end of the scarf was adroitly
removed from the left shoulder; and a nude, plump arm, ending in a bunch
of small jewelled fingers, hung carelessly down.
I am tolerably bashful; but at the sight of this tempting partner, I
could hold in no longer, and bending towards her, I said in my best
Spanish, "Do me the favour, miss, to waltz with me."
The wicked little manola first held down her head and blushed; then,
raising the long fringes of her eyes, looked up again, and wits a voice
as sweet as that of a canary-bird, replied--
"Con gusto, senor." (With pleasure, sir.)
"Nos vamos!" cried I, elated with my triumph; and pairing off with my
brilliant partner, we were soon whirling about in the mazy.
We returned to our seats again, and after refreshing with a glass of
Albuquerque, a sponge-cake, and a husk cigarette, again took the floor.
This pleasurable programme we repeated some half-dozen times, only
varying the dance from waltz to polka, for my manola danced the polka as
if she had been a born Bohemian.
On one of my fingers was a fifty-dollar diamond, which my partner seemed
to think was _muy buenito_. As her igneous eyes softened my heart, and
the champagne was producing a similar effect upon my head, I began to
speculate on the propriety of transferring the diamond from the smallest
of my fingers to the largest of hers, which it would, no doubt, have
fitted exactly. All at once I became conscious of being under the
surveillance of a large and very fierce-looking lepero, a regular
pelado, who followed us with his eyes, and sometimes _in persona_, to
every part of the room. The expression of his swarth face was a mixture
of jealousy and vengeance, which my partner noticed, but, as I thought,
took no pains to soften down.
"Who is he?" I whispered, as the man swung past us in his chequered
serape.
"Esta mi marido, senor," (It is my husband, sir), was the cool reply.
I pushed the ring close up to the root of my finger, shutting my hand
upon it tight as a vice.
"Vamos a tomar otra copita!" (Let us take another glass of wine!) said
I, resolving to bid my pretty poblana, as soon as possible, a
good-night.
The Taos whisky had by this time produced its effect upon the dancers.
The trappers and teamsters had become noisy and riotous. The leperos,
who now half-filled the room, stimulated by wine, jealousy, old hatreds,
and the dance, began to look more savage and sulky. The fringed
hunting-shirts and brown homespun frocks found favour with the dark-eyed
majas of Mexico, partly out of a respect for, and a fear of, courage,
which is often at the bottom of a love like theirs.
Although the trading caravans supplied almost all the commerce of Santa
Fe, and it was clearly the interest of its inhabitants to be on good
terms with the traders, the two races, Anglo-American and
Hispano-Indian, hated each other thoroughly; and that hate was now
displaying itself on one side in bullying contempt, on the other in
muttered _carrajos_ and fierce looks of vengeance.
I was still chatting with my lively partner. We were seated on the
banquette where I had introduced myself. On looking casually up, a
bright object met my eyes. It appeared to be a naked knife in the hands
of _su marido_ who was just then lowering over us like the shadow of an
evil spirit. I was favoured with only a slight glimpse of this
dangerous meteor, and had made up my mind to "'ware steel," when someone
plucked me by the sleeve, and turning, I beheld my quondam acquaintance
of the purple magna.
"Dispensadme, senor," said he, nodding graciously, "I have just learned
that the caravan is going on to Chihuahua."
"True, there is no market here for our goods."
"You go on then, of course?"
"Certainly, I must."
"Will you return this way, senor?"
"It is very likely; I have no other intention at present."
"Perhaps then you might be willing to part with your horse? You will
find many as good in the great valley of the Mississippi."
"Neither is likely."
"But, senor, should you be inclined to do so, will you promise me the
refusal of him?"
"Oh! that I will promise you, with all my heart."
Our conversation was here interrupted by a huge, gaunt, half-drunken
Missourian, who, tramping rudely upon the stranger's toes, vociferated--
"Ye--up, old greaser! gi' mi a char."
"Y porque?" (And why?) demanded the Mexican, drawing in his feet, and
looking up with astonished indignation.
"I'm tired jumpin'. I want a seat, that's it, old hoss."
There was something so bullying and brutal in the conduct of this man,
that I felt called upon to interfere.
"Come!" said I, addressing him, "you have no right to deprive this
gentleman of his seat, much less in such a fashion."
"Eh, mister? who asked you to open yer head? Ye--up, I say!" and at the
word, he seized the Mexican by the corner of his manga, as if to drag
him from his seat.
Before I had time to reply to this rude speech and gesture, the stranger
leaped to his feet, and with a well-planted blow felled the bully upon
the floor.
This seemed to act as a signal for bringing several other quarrels to a
climax. There was a rush through all parts of the sala, drunken shouts
mingled with yells of vengeance, knives glanced from their sheaths,
women screamed, pistols flashed and cracked, filling the rooms with
smoke and dust. The lights went out, fierce struggles could be heard in
the darkness, the fall of heavy bodies amidst groans and curses, and for
five minutes these were the only sounds.
Having no cause to be particularly _angry_ with anybody, I stood where I
had risen, without using either knife or pistol, my frightened _maja_
all the while holding me by the hand. A painful sensation near my left
shoulder caused me suddenly to drop my partner; and with that
unaccountable weakness consequent upon the reception of a wound, I felt
myself staggering towards the banquette. Here I dropped into a sitting
posture, and remained till the struggle was over, conscious all the
while that a stream of blood was oozing down my back, and saturating my
undergarments.
I sat thus till the struggle had ended. A light was brought, and I
could distinguish a number of men in hunting-shirts moving to-and-fro
with violent gesticulations. Some of them were advocating the justice
of the "spree," as they termed it; while others, the more respectable of
the traders, were denouncing it. The leperos with the women, had all
disappeared, and I could perceive that the Americanos had carried the
day. Several dark objects lay along the floor: they were bodies of men
dead or dying! One was an American, the Missourian who had been the
immediate cause of the fracas; the others were pelodos. I could see
nothing of my late acquaintance. My fandanguera, too--_con su marido_--
had disappeared; and on glancing at my left hand, I came to the
conclusion that so also had my diamond ring!
"Saint Vrain! Saint Vrain!" I called, seeing the figure of my friend
enter at the door.
"Where are you, H., old boy. How is it with you? all right, eh?"
"Not quite, I tear."
"Good heavens! what's this? why, you're stabbed in the hump ribs! Not
bad, I hope. Off with your shirt and let's see."
"First, let us to my room."
"Come, then, my dear boy, lean on me--so, so!"
The fandango was over.