CHAPTER THIRTY ONE.
"Ha! ha! ha! A capital joke, by my honour!" continued Roblado, laughingas he puffed his cigar. "It's the only piece of fun I've enjoyed sincewe came to this stupid place. Even in a frontier post I find that one_may_ have a little amusement if he know how to make it. Ha! ha! ha!After all, there was a devilish deal of trouble. But come, tell me, mydear Comandante--for you know by this time--in confidence, was it worththe trouble?"
"I am sorry we have taken it," was the reply, delivered in a serioustone.
Roblado looked straight in the other's face, and now for the first timenoticed its gloomy expression. Busied with his cigar, he had notobserved this before.
"Hola!" exclaimed he; "what's the matter, my colonel? This is not thelook a man should wear who has spent the last twelve hours as pleasantlyas you must have done. Something amiss?"
"Everything amiss."
"Pray what? Surely you were with her?"
"But a moment, and that was enough."
"Explain, my dear colonel."
"She is mad!"
"Mad!"
"Having mad! Her talk terrified me. I was but too glad to come away,and leave her to the care of Jose, who waits upon her. I could not bearto listen to her strange jabberings. I assure you, camarado, it robbedme of all desire to remain."
"Oh," said Roblado, "that's nothing--she'll get over it in a day or so.She still thinks herself in the hands of the savages who are going tomurder and scalp her! It may be as well for you to undeceive her ofthis as soon as she comes to her senses. I don't see any harm inletting _her_ know. You must do so in the end, and the sooner thebetter--you will have the longer time to get her reconciled to it. Nowthat you have her snug within earless and eyeless walls, you can managethe thing at your leisure. No one suspects--no one _can_ suspect. Theyare full of the Indians to-day--ha! ha! ha! and 'tis said her inamorato,Don Juan, talks of getting up a party to pursue them! Ha! ha! He'llnot do that--the fellow hasn't influence enough, and nobody cares eitherabout his cattle or the witch's daughter. Had it been some one else thecase might have been different. As it is, there's no fear of discovery,even were the cibolero himself to make his appearance--"
"Roblado!" cried the Comandante, interrupting him, and speaking in adeep earnest voice.
"Well?" inquired the captain, regarding Vizcarra with astonishment.
"I have had a dream--a fearful dream; and that--not the ravings of thegirl--it is that is now troubling me. _Diablos_! a fearful dream!"
"You, Comandante--a valiant soldier--to let a silly dream trouble you!But come! what was it? I'm a good interpreter of dreams. I warrant Iread it to your bettor satisfaction."
"Simple enough it is, then. I thought myself upon the cliff of La Nina.I thought that I was alone with Carlos the cibolero! I thought that heknew all, and that he had brought me there to punish me--to avenge_her_. I had no power to resist, but was led forward to the brink. Ithought that we closed and struggled for a while; but at length I wasshaken from his grasp, and pushed over the precipice! I felt myselffalling--falling! I could see above me the cibolero, with his sister byhis side, and on the extremest point the hideous witch their mother, wholaughed a wild maniac laugh, and clapped her long bony hands! I feltmyself falling--falling--yet still not reaching the ground; and thishorrible feeling continued for a long, long time--in fact, until thefearful thought awoke me. Even then I could scarce believe I had beendreaming, so palpable was the impression that remained. Oh, comrade, itwas a dreadful dream!"
"And _but_ a dream; and what signifies--"
"Stay, Roblado! I have not told you all. Within the hour--ay, withinthe quarter of that time--while I was on this spot thinking over it, Ichanced to look up to the cliff; and yonder, upon the extreme point, wasa horseman clearly outlined against the sky--and that horseman the veryimage of the cibolero! I noted the horse and the seat of the rider,which I well remember. I could not trust my eyes to look at him. Iaverted them for a moment--only a moment; and when I looked again he wasgone! So quickly had he retired, that I was inclined to think it wasonly a fancy--that there had been none--and that my dream had producedthe illusion!"
"That is likely enough," said Roblado, desirous of comforting hiscompanion; "likely enough--nothing more natural. In the first place,from where we stand to the top of La Nina is a good five thousand varasas the crow flies; and for you, at that distance, to distinguish Carlosthe cibolero from any other horseman is a plain impossibility. In thesecond place, Carlos the cibolero is at this moment full five hundredmiles from the tip of my cigar, risking his precious carcase for acartload of stinking hides and a few bultos of dried buffalo-beef. Letus hope that some of his copper-coloured friends will raise hishay-coloured hair, which some of our poblanas so much admire. And now,my dear Comandante, as to your dream, that is as natural as may be. Itcould hardly be otherwise than that you should have such a dream. Theremembrance of the cibolero's feat of horsemanship on that very cliff,and the later affair with the sister, together with the suspicion youmay naturally entertain that Senor Carlos wouldn't be too kind to you ifhe knew all and had you in his power--all these things, being in yourthoughts at one time, must come together incongruously in a dream. Theold woman, too--if she wasn't in your thoughts, she has been in mineever since I gave her that knock in the doorway. Who could forget sucha picture as she then presented? Ha! ha! ha!"
The brutal villain laughed--not so much from any ludicrous recollection,as to make the whole thing appear light and trivial in the eyes of hiscompanion.
"What does it all amount to?" he continued. "A dream! a simple,everyday dream! Come, my dear friend, don't let it remain on your mindfor another instant!"
"I cannot help it, Roblado. It clings to me like my shadow. It feelslike a presentiment. I wish I had left this paisana in her mud hut. ByHeaven! I wish she were back there. I shall not be myself till I havegot rid of her. I seem to loathe as much as I loved the jabberingidiot."
"Tut, tut, man! you'll soon change your way of thinking--you'll soontake a fresh liking--"
"No, Roblado, no! I'm disgusted--I can't tell why but I _am_. Would toGod she were off my hands!"
"Oh! that's easy enough, and without hurting anybody. She can go theway she came. It will only be another scene in the masquerade, and noone will be the wiser. If you are really in earnest--"
"Roblado!" cried the Comandante, grasping his captain by the arm, "Inever was more in earnest in my life. Tell me the plan to get her backwithout making a noise about it. Tell me quick, for I cannot bear thishorrid feeling any longer."
"Why, then," began Roblado, "we must have another travestie of Indians--we must--"
He was suddenly interrupted. A short, sharp groan escaped fromVizcarra. His eyes looked as though about to start from his head. Hislips grow white, and the perspiration leaped into drops on his forehead!
What could it mean? Vizcarra stood by the outer edge of the azotea thatcommanded a view of the road leading up to the gate of the Presidio. Hewas gazing over the parapet, and pointing with outstretched arm.
Roblado was farther back, near the centre of the azotea. He sprangforward, and looked in the direction indicated. A horseman, coveredwith sweat and dust, was galloping up the road. He was near enough forRoblado to distinguish his features. Vizcarra had already distinguishedthem. It was Carlos the cibolero!