CHAPTER SEVENTY ONE.
THE CAPTURE OF SAN CARLOS.
A few minutes sufficed for the performance of his sacred duty; and DonRafael, returning to the courtyard, placed himself at the head of histroopers--already in their saddles. There were eighty in all orderedupon the expedition--only a small garrison of twenty men being left--just sufficient to defend the fortress. Two pack-mules accompanied theparty--one carrying a small howitzer, while the other was laden with thenecessary _caisson_ of ammunition.
At a given signal the great gate of the hacienda was thrown open, andthe troopers filing through, passed on down the avenue at a rapid trot,and in silence.
A dozen or so of light cavalry went in advance of the main body--for thepurpose of reconnoitring the ground--and at the head of these was DonRafael himself with the Lieutenant Veraegui.
On the way the Lieutenant, in brief language, rendered an account to hissuperior of the events that had happened since his last despatch tohim--to all of which Don Rafael listened far from attentively. Absorbedin his thoughts, he sat abstractedly in his saddle until after they hadforded the Ostuta.
On the other side of the river the advance guard halted to give the mainbody time to come up; and here Don Rafael ordered the domestic of DonFernando to be brought into his presence.
"Do you know," said he, addressing the man, "if there be any road bywhich we can get round the hacienda, and approach it from the oppositeside?"
The domestic replied in the affirmative. He knew a path by which hecould conduct the troopers to the rear of the building, and by whichthey might advance up to the very walls without their approach beingdiscovered.
"Go ahead then along with the scouts!" directed Don Rafael. "It isnecessary we take these robbers by surprise, else they may get off fromus as they have done before."
The guide obeyed the order, and placing himself at the head of theadvance guard, the march was resumed.
The path by which the domestic conducted them made a detour round thefoot of the hill, upon which the hacienda stood, and where, but a fewhours earlier, Don Cornelio Lantejas had seen the flames shining sobrightly through the windows. All was now silent as the tomb; and nosound of any kind announced that the approach of the assailing party wassuspected.
A little further on the guide halted and pointed out to Don Rafaelseveral paths that branched off from the one they were following, and bywhich the party, separating into several detachments, might completelyencompass the hacienda. This was exactly what Don Rafael wanted.
Reserving to himself the command of the main body, he detached threesmaller parties by these paths--one under the direction of Veraegui, theothers each commanded by an alferez. These, at a given signal, were toattack on right, left, and in the rear; while Don Rafael himself withthe howitzer would storm the building in front. Each party was providedwith a supply of hand-grenades, to be thrown into the courtyard of thehacienda, or into such other places as the enemy might seek refuge in.
So long as the assailants were sheltered from view by the trees andshrubs that skirted the hill, they approached without being discovered:but the moment they became uncovered, on getting nearer to the walls,shouts of alarm and shots fired by the sentries summoned the garrison tothe defence; and an irregular fusillade was commenced from the azotea ofthe building.
The different parties of the attacking force, without heeding this, kepton throwing their grenades as they advanced; while the party of DonRafael, on arriving in front of the building, at once mounted thehowitzer upon its carriage, and opened fire upon the main gateway.
The first shot crushed through the heavy timbers, carrying away one ofthe posterns of the gate.
Meanwhile, the grenades, falling within the courtyard began to burstupon the pavement--frightening the horses of the guerilleros to such anextent, that the animals broke from their fastenings, and gallopedabout, causing the greatest confusion. The shouts of alarm, the groansof the wounded, and the furious imprecations of the bandits, was for atime the only answer made to the reports of the bursting grenades, whichwere making such havoc in their ranks.
The loud explosion of the howitzer proclaimed a second discharge; andthis time the shot penetrated into the courtyard, and cut its waythrough a mass of insurgents crowded near the further end of it.
"Once more! once more!" cried Don Rafael. "Batter down the other wingof the gate, and then, sword in hand, let us enter!"
So quickly did the practised artillerists of Veraegui handle theirpiece, that almost on the instant it was loaded and discharged for thethird time. The ball passed once more through the heavy door; the leafgave way and fell back with a crash, leaving the entrance open.
Tres-Villas, sword in hand, rushed into the gateway, followed by hisfaithful adherents.
"Where is the dog Arroyo?" cried he, bounding forward among the thick ofthe brigands, and cutting down every one within reach of his swordbefore an answer could be given. "On, my men!" he continued, "neitherprisoners nor quarter!"
"I shall hang by the feet all who surrender!" thundered the voice of theCatalan from behind.
But despite this moderate promise of mercy, not one of the banditsoffered to deliver himself up; and very soon the courtyard containedonly a pile of dead bodies of the insurgents--the few who still livedhaving betaken themselves to the upper rooms of the building, where theysecured themselves from present death by barricading the doors.
"Where is the dog Arroyo? A thousand pesos to the man who can lead meto the presence of the monster!" cried Don Rafael, vainly searching forthe guerilla leader.
But Arroyo and his associate Bocardo were sought for in vain: since itwill be remembered that both had gone off from the hacienda in search ofits fugitive mistress.
The dead bodies were examined one after the other, and with care, but noArroyo--no Bocardo--could be found among them.
"Let us on, Veraegui!" said Don Rafael. "We must attack them in theirstronghold. The chiefs must be hidden up yonder! There is no time tobe lost."
"Alas!" rejoined the Catalan, with a sigh, as he stood regarding thedead bodies with an air of regret, "I fear, Colonel, our ropes will beuseless after all. These fellows are all dead; and, as for theircomrades up there, we shall have to set fire to their retreat, and burnthem alive in it. If we attempt to dislodge them otherwise, it willcost us a goodly number of our people."
"Oh! do not set fire to the house, Senor Colonel!" interposed thefaithful domestic, in an appealing tone; "my poor master is there, andwould suffer with the rest. All his people, too, are with him, and inthe power of the brigands."
"It is true, what he says," rejoined Don Rafael, moved by the appeal ofthe domestic; "and yet it will never do to let these fiends escape. Ifwe attack them, entrenched as they are, and knowing that certain deathawait them, they may cost us, as you say, more men than they are worth.What is your advice, Lieutenant?"
"That we reduce them by a siege, and starve them into surrendering. Formy part, I don't wish to be baulked about the hanging of them--especially after the trouble we have taken in bringing these ropes alongwith us."
"It will cost time; but I agree with you, it seems the best thing we cando. They must soon yield to hunger; and perhaps before that time we mayfind some opportunity of getting Don Fernando out of their power. Atall events, let us wait for sunrise before renewing the attack.Meanwhile, I leave you to conduct the blockade. The poor lady,Marianita, is, no doubt, wandering about in the woods near at hand. Ishall myself go in search of her."
Saying this, and giving orders for half a dozen chosen men to followhim, Don Rafael leaped into his saddle, and rode off through the gatewayof the hacienda.
He had scarcely passed out of sight, when the sentinels placed byVeraegui were signalled by two men who wished to enter the courtyard.Both were afoot, and appeared to have come in such haste that they couldscarce get breath enough to proclaim their errand.
"What do you want?" asked the Catalan, before looking at the men. "Eh!my
droll fellows!" he continued, recognising Gaspar and Zapote, "it isyou, is it? How the devil did you get out of my guard-house?"
"The sentry allowed us to go, your honour," answered Zapote. "He knewthat you did not wish us to be detained, if the Colonel should be foundalive; and as we have an important message to him--"
"The Colonel is gone away from here," interrupted Veraegui.
"Gone!" exclaimed Zapote, with an air of extreme chagrin. "Where is hegone to, your honour?"
The Lieutenant, after pointing out the direction in which Don Rafael hadridden away, turned his back upon the two adventurers--who, instead ofbeing offended at this rudeness, were only too glad to terminate theirinterview with the dreaded Catalan. They lost no time, therefore, inmaking their exit from the courtyard; and, as fast as their legs couldcarry them, they started off in the direction taken by him whom they hadso long unsuccessfully followed.