CHAPTER FORTY SIX.
A WALKING CORPSE.
While the mass was being performed in the Piazza, the Spanish sentries,who guarded the trenches outside, could distinctly hear the voices ofthose who took part in it; and could even distinguish the words of thesacred song, which alone broke the silence of the night.
The sentinel whose post was nearest to the entrenchments of the town,had for his companions a number of dead bodies of the enemy, who hadfallen during a sortie of the insurgents, and whose corpses theircomrades had no opportunity of interring. These, as already mentioned,were all more or less mutilated by their cruel foes, who oft-timesrevenged themselves on the dead for defeats they had suffered from theliving.
The sentry in question walked to and fro upon his prescribed rounds,alternately turning face and back upon the mangled corpses. On eachoccasion, as he faced round half mechanically he counted them, by way ofkilling the time, at the same time preserving between them and himself arespectable distance.
After a short while spent in this melancholy pastime, the soundsaccompanying the ceremony of the mass attracted his attention; and, as achange, he commenced endeavouring to make out the words that were beingspoken or chaunted.
A distant voice exclaimed--
"A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right-hand;but it shall not come nigh thee."
"What the devil can it mean?" soliloquised the soldier. "Latin it mustbe! Some prayer for these dead rebels, I suppose!"
While thus alluding to the corpses that lay near, he once more glancedtowards them. All at once it appeared to him that their number hadincreased!
"I must have made a mistake," muttered he to himself; "I surely countedonly nine of them a moment ago; and yet now there was surely ten--one,two, three--yes, ten!"
He again lent his ears to listen to the chaunting of the psalm--
"Thou shalt tread upon the lion and the adder; the young lion and thedragon shalt thou trample under foot."
"Ah!" exclaimed the sentry, "they are talking of dragoons--the Queen'sdragoons, I suppose?"
On making this remark, he paused suddenly in his steps. He had beentiming his paces with that regular tread habitual to sentries, and insuch a fashion as to maintain the same distance between himself and thecorpses--which he had no inclination to approach. This time, on turninghis face, it appeared to him that he had got much nearer to one of them;and at the next turn nearer still! This induced him to count the stepshe was taking; and though on each round he made exactly the same number,he could not resist the conviction that he was constantly approximatingto the corpse. Either he must be mistaken, or the dead body must havemoved from its place! The latter was, of course, the more probablesupposition; but, to assure himself, he approached the corpse to examineit.
The dead man was lying upon his side; and a blotch of crimson colourconspicuous behind his cheek, marked the place where his ear had beencropped off.
A brief examination satisfied the sentry that the man was dead. Itfollowed, therefore, that he himself must have been labouring under anillusion as to the distance. He almost gave way to an impulse to thrusthis bayonet through the corpse; but a dead body, seen under the shadowsof night, inspires a certain air of imposing solemnity, which repelsprofanation; and this, acting upon the spirit of the sentinel, hinderedhim from yielding to the temptation.
"If it were possible for dead men to get upon their legs and walk, Ishould say these fellows could do so. I am almost sure I counted onlynine at first. Now there are ten; and devil take me if that fellow,whom I have examined, does not look as if he wished to have a chat withme, for the fun of the thing. _Carrambo_! the voices of those rebels inthe town are not very gay at the best; but for all that, they arepleasanter to bear than the silence of these companions here. Theregoes the sing-song again!"
The chaunt continued--
"Lift your hands through the night, and bless the Lord. His truth shallbe thy shield and buckler. Thou shalt not be afraid of the terror bynight!"
Although to the ears of the sentry the chaunting of the besieged wasmerry as a drinking song compared with the melancholy silence of thedead bodies, yet the time seemed long enough to him; and every now andthen he looked towards the camp, in hopes of hearing some sound thatwould indicate the approach of the relief guard.
None was heard; and he continued to walk his round, as before measuringthe ground with exact steps.
The dead body which was nearest appeared to remain in the same place;and the mind of the soldier was becoming gradually tranquillised, whenall at once, on turning sharply round, he perceived that this corpse wasno longer where he had last seen it. At the same instant his eye caughtthe shadow of an upright figure gliding rapidly off, in the direction ofthe town!
Terror at the unexpected resurrection hindered him for a while frommaking any movement; and when this had passed, and he was able toreflect more calmly, he comprehended all. He had simply been duped byan Indian ruse; which explained the mysterious addition to the number ofthe corpses, and the lessened distance between himself and that whichhad been lying nearest.
It was now too late to arrest the progress of the Indian by firing afterhim; and, as the giving an alarm would only be to disclose his ownnegligence, the sentry prudently maintained silence, and permitted theman to continue his course.
To account for the absence of ears, which had led the soldier to mistakethe Indian for a corpse, it is necessary to mention an episode of theinsurrectionary war, which had happened some weeks before. The scene ofthe episode was the village of Yanguitlan, where the cruel Spanishgeneral, Regules, having captured a number of Indian insurgents, hadcaused the ears of a score of them to be cropped off, so close to theirheads, that many of them died of the haemorrhage which followed. Theothers succeeded in making their way to Huajapam; and the Indian, whohad so cleverly duped the Spanish sentry--and who was no other than themessenger whose return was at that moment being prayed for within thetown--was one of the survivors of the horrible outrage.
It was to this affair that Caldelas had derisively alluded during thesitting of the war council.
"_Mil Rayos_!" hissed out the sentry, in a frenzy of rage and chagrin;"_Demonios_! there may be more of these fellows alive! I shall takecare that no other gets to his feet, and runs off like the one who hasso cleverly tricked me. Now, then!"
Saying these words the sentry turned his fusil in his hands; and,rushing towards the corpses, did not leave off thrusting till he hadpassed his bayonet two or three times through each of them.
Not one of the bodies showed the slightest signs of life; and the onlysounds that troubled the tranquillity of the scene, were the angrybreathings of the soldier, as he performed his ghastly work, and thechaunting of the besieged that still swelled in melancholy intonationupon the night air.
"Chaunt away, you cowardly devils," cried the terrified soldier; "chauntaway! You have reason, if it were only to mock me for keeping suchcareful guard over you. _Chingarito_!"
And the Spaniard, as he uttered this emphatic shibboleth, gnashed histeeth with vexation.
Shortly after, the voices within the Piazza became hushed. As we havestated, the messenger had arrived, and delivered his welcome tidings tothe insurgent leader.