CHAPTER FORTY EIGHT.
THE MORN OF THE BATTLE.
Not until several hours after the arrival of Don Cornelio did theinsurgent Colonel warn his troops of the coming event. Then they wereinstructed to be ready at the first dawn of day, for a sortie againstthe Royalist camp--which at the same instant of time was to be attackedby Morelos on the opposite side.
While the shadows of night were still hanging above the beleagueredtown, a singular noise was heard proceeding from the Piazza. Itresembled the creaking of a watchman's rattle, or rather half-a-dozen ofthese instruments that had been sprung together. Such in reality itwas: for since the church bells had been converted into cannon, therattles of the _serenos_ had been substituted as a means by which tosummon the inhabitants to prayers!
According to the monastic regulation, which Trujano had imposed upon thebesieged, they were each day called together to _oration_. On thismorning, however, their reunion was earlier than usual: since it had forits object not only the ordinary prayers, but preparation for the combatthat was to decide the issue of a long and irksome siege.
At the same hour the Royalist camp was aroused by the beating of drumsand bugles sounding the _reveille_; while behind the chain of hills thatbounded the plain Morelos was silently setting his army in motion.
In a few minutes the Piazza of Huajapam was filled with citizens andsoldiers, all armed for the fight. They stood in silent groups,awaiting the prayer that would endue them with the necessary energy andenthusiasm. The horsemen were dismounted--each man standing by the headof his horse, and in the order in which they were accustomed to rangethemselves.
Trujano appeared in his turn, his countenance solemn, yet smiling, withconfidence in his heart as upon his lips. He was armed, according tohis custom, with a long two-edged sword, which he had oft-times wieldedwith terrible effect. By his side marched Captain Lantejas, who for thetime being was acting as an aide-de-camp. Behind them came a soldier,holding in hand two horses fully equipped for the field. One of thesewas the war-horse of Trujano himself; the other was intended for theaide-de-camp. Over the withers of the animal destined for theex-student of theology rose a long lance, strapped to the stirrup andthe pummel of the saddle.
Don Cornelio would have had a difficulty in declaring why he had armedhimself in this fashion. In reality, the lance was not a weapon of hisown choosing, since he had never had any practice in the handling ofone; but the horse had been brought to him thus equipped, and hepassively accepted the lance, for the same reason that he was allowinghimself to be led into the fight:--because he could not help it.
The matin prayers were not extended to any great length of time. Thedawn was already commencing to show itself in the east; and it would notbe a great while before the sun would cast his golden bearing over theplains of Huajapam.
The religious insurgent was deeply versed in Scripture. Many portionsof the Bible were so familiar to him, that he could correctly repeatthem without referring to the sacred book. In a voice, every tone ofwhich was heard to the most distant corner of the Piazza, he repeatedthe following verses--the meaning of which was rendered more solemn bythe circumstances under which they were recited:--
"The people who walk in darkness have seen a great light. The dawn iscome to those who dwell in the region of the shadow of death."
"Lord, thou hast blessed thy land; thou hast delivered Jacob fromcaptivity. Glory to the most high."
A thousand voices repeated "Glory to the most high!"
By little and little the eastern horizon exhibited a brighter dawn; andthe clouds that floated over the heads of those people so piously bent,becoming tinged with purple, announced the rising of the sun.
It will be remembered that, at the council of war, the Spanish generalhad decided not to make his attack till after the hour of noon. Nopreparations, therefore, had as yet been made in the Royalist camp.
As Bonavia was still ignorant both of the proximity of Morelos andTrujano's intention to make a sortie, the double attack was likely tofall upon the Spanish camp with the suddenness of a thunderbolt.
The Spanish army was divided into three brigades, that might almost besaid to occupy three separate encampments. The first, commanded byRegules, held position nearest to the walls of the town. The second,under the immediate orders of Bonavia himself, occupied the centre;while the third, in command of Caldelas, formed the rearguard.
According to this disposition, Trujano, in sallying from the town, wouldcome immediately into collision with the brigade of Regules; whileMorelos, approaching from the mountains, would direct his attack againstthat of Caldelas. In this case, Bonavia, from the centre, could marchto the assistance of whichever of his two brigadiers should stand mostin need of it.
The Colonel Tres-Villas was second in command in the brigade ofCaldelas, and his tent was of course in the rear.
During the night he had slept but little.
Sometimes during a storm the thick mantle of clouds which covers the skybreaks suddenly apart, disclosing an almost imperceptible portion of theazure canopy. Only for a moment the blue spot is visible, after whichthe dull vapoury mass closes over it, and again hides it from view.
Such was the ray of hope that had lately shone into the heart of DonRafael. His habitual melancholy had assumed the ascendant, and thecloud had returned.
The man who passionately loves, and he who scarce loves at all, areequally unable to tell when their love is reciprocated. His violentpassion blinds the judgment of the one; while indifference renders theother inattentive. Neither is capable of perceiving the tokens of lovewhich he may have inspired, and which pass unnoticed before his eyes.
In the former situation was Don Rafael. Despite the proofs whichGertrudis had given him, his thought was, _not that he was no longerloved, but that he had never been loved at all_! He, who had almostsacrificed his love to his pride, could not perceive that the pride of awoman may also have its days of revolt against her heart. Hence arosethe profound discouragement which had taken possession of him, andextinguished the ray of hope that had gleamed for a moment in hisbreast.
Wearied with tossing upon a sleepless couch, he rose at the first callof the _reveille_ bugle; and ordering his horse to be saddled, he rodeforth from the camp, in hopes that a ride would afford some distractionto his thoughts.
The aspect of the desolated fields--from which every vestige of a crophad disappeared--reminded him of his own ruined hopes: like the bud of aflower plucked from its stem, before it had time to blossom.
Occupied with such reflections, he had ridden nearly a league beyond thelines of the camp, without taking note of the distance. In the midst ofthe deep silence which reigned around him, he all at once heard anoise--at first low, but gradually becoming louder. This instantlyroused him from his reverie--causing him to draw bridle and listen.
During the different campaigns he had made, Don Rafael had learnt todistinguish all the sounds which indicate the march of a _corpsd'armee_. The cadenced hoof-stroke, the distant rumbling ofgun-carriages and _caissons_, the neighing of horses, and the clankingof steel sabres were all familiar to his ear--and proclaimed to him themovement of troops, as plainly as if they were passing before his eyes.
He had no doubt that what he now heard was the approach of a body of theinsurgents, advancing to the relief of the town. The alarm given by thesentinels upon the preceding night--the death of one of the number--thevivas and other strange exclamations of the besieged, within the town--left him no room to question the correctness of his conjecture.
Sure of the fact--and not wishing to lose a moment by listening longer--he wheeled around; and, putting spurs to his horse, galloped back to thecamp where, on his arrival, he at once gave the alarm.