CHAPTER SEVENTY EIGHT.
VENGEANCE FORBORNE.
By a lucky accident Don Rafael, after leaving the hacienda of SanCarlos, had ascertained that the bandit chieftains were no longer withinits walls. He had also learnt the object that had carried them out--thesame which was influencing himself, only from a far different motive. Arenegade guerillero had made known to him the intentions of Arroyo inregard to Dona Marianita; and it is needless to say that the noblespirit of Don Rafael was, on hearing this report, only the morestimulated to overtake and destroy the bandit chieftain.
Guided by numerous signs--which the bandits, unsuspicious of beingpursued, had left along their track--Don Rafael and his party found nodifficulty in following them, almost at full speed. In less than anhour after leaving the hacienda, they had arrived within sight of Arroyoand his followers--still continuing the search for Dona Marianita, alongthe borders of the lake. The impetuosity of Don Rafael's vengeance hadhindered him from using caution in his approach--else he might at oncehave come hand to hand with the detested enemy. As it was, he hadadvanced towards them into the open ground; and going at full gallop,under the clear moonlight, his party had been discovered by the banditslong before they could get within shot range. Arroyo, from whosethoughts the terrible Colonel was never for a moment absent, at oncerecognised him at the head of the approaching troop, and, giving thealarm to Bocardo--who equally dreaded an encounter with Don Rafael--thetwo brigands put spurs to their horses and rode off in dastardly flight.Of course they were followed by their four comrades, who, recalling thefate of Panchita Jolas, had no desire to risk the reception of a similartreatment.
The sight of that hated enemy--for whom Don Rafael had so longfruitlessly searched--stirred within him all the angry energies of hisnature, and, involuntarily uttering a wild cry, he charged forward inpursuit.
At each moment the space between pursuers and pursued appeared to bediminishing, and Arroyo--notwithstanding a certain brute courage whichhe possessed while combating with other enemies--now felt his heartbeating convulsively against his ribs as he perceived the probability ofbeing overtaken by his dreaded pursuer.
For a moment there appeared a chance of his being able to save himself.The troopers of Don Rafael, not so well mounted as their chief, hadfallen behind him several lengths of his horse; and had Arroyo at thismoment faced about with his followers, they might have surrounded theColonel, and attacked him all at once.
Arroyo even saw the opportunity; but terror had chased away his habitualpresence of mind; and he permitted this last chance to escape him. Hewas influenced, perhaps, by his knowledge of the terrible prowess of hisenemy; and despaired of being able to crush him in so short a time aswould pass before his troopers could come up to his assistance.
The pursued party had now reached the eastern extremity of the lake.Before them stretched a vast plain, entirely destitute of timber orother covering. Only to the left appeared the outlines of a tract ofchapparal, or low forest.
The bandits, on looking forward, saw at a glance that the open groundwould give them no advantage. Their horses might be swifter than thoseof their pursuers, but this was doubtful; and from the snorting heard atintervals behind them, they knew that one at least was capable ofovertaking them. The bright moonlight enabled the pursuers to keep themin view--almost as if it had been noonday; and on the broad, treelesssavanna, no hiding-place could be found. Their only hope then lay inbeing able to reach the timber, and finding concealment within thedepths of the forest jungle.
To accomplish this, however, it would be necessary for them to swerve tothe left, which would give the pursuers an advantage; but there was nohelp for it, and Arroyo--whom fear had now rendered irresolute--rathermechanically than otherwise, turned towards the left, and headed for thechapparal.
Despite the fiery passions that agitated him, Don Rafael still preservedhis presence of mind. Watching with keen glance every gesture of thebandits, he had anticipated this movement on their parts; and, evenbefore they had obliqued to the left, he had himself forged farther outinto the plain, with a view of cutting them off from the woods. Onperceiving them change the direction of their flight, he had alsoswerved to the left; and was now riding in a parallel line, almost headfor head with Arroyo and Bocardo; while the shadow of himself and hishorse, far projected by the declining moon, fell ominously across theirtrack.
In a few seconds more the snorting steed was in the advance, and hisshadow fell in front of Arroyo. A sudden turn to the right broughtRoncador within a spear's length of the bandit's horse, and the pursuitwas at an end.
"_Carajo_!" cried Arroyo, with a fierce emphasis, at the same timedischarging his pistol at the approaching pursuer.
But the bullet, ill-aimed, passed the head of Don Rafael withouthitting; and the instant after, his horse, going at full speed, wasprojected impetuously against the flanks of that of the bandit, bringingboth horse and rider to the ground.
Bocardo, unable to restrain his animal, was carried forward against hiswill; and now became between Don Rafael and his prostrate foe.
"Out of the way, vile wretch!" exclaimed Don Rafael, while with one blowof his sabre hilt, he knocked Bocardo from his saddle.
Arroyo, chilled with terror, and rendered almost senseless by the fall,his spurs holding him fast to the saddle, vainly struggled to regain hisfeet. Before he could free himself from his struggling horse, thetroopers of Don Rafael had ridden up, and with drawn sabres halted overhim; while his four followers, no longer regarded, continued their wildflight towards the chapparal.
Don Rafael now dismounted, and with his dagger held between his teeth,seized in both his hands the wrists of the bandit. In vain Arroyostruggled to free himself from that iron grasp; and in another moment helay upon his back, the knee of Don Rafael pressing upon his breast--heavy as a rock that might have fallen from Monopostiac. The bandit,with his arms drawn crosswise, saw that resistance was vain; andyielding himself to despair he lay motionless--rage and fear strangelymingling in the expression of his features.
"Here!" cried Don Rafael, "some one tie this wretch!"
In the twinkling of an eye, one of the troopers wound his lazo eight orten times around the arms and legs of the prostrate guerillero, andfirmly bound them together.
"Now, then!" continued Don Rafael, "let him be attached to the tail ofmy horse!"
Notwithstanding the terrible acts of retaliation, which the royalistsoldiers were accustomed to witness, after each victory on one side orthe other, this order was executed in the midst of the most profoundsilence. They knew the fearful nature of the punishment about to beinflicted.
In a few seconds' time the end of the lazo, which bound the limbs of thebrigand, was tightly looped around the tail of the horse; and Don Rafaelhad leaped back into his saddle.
Before using the spur, he cast behind him one last look of hatred uponthe murderer of his father; while a smile of contempt upon his lips wasthe only reply which he vouchsafed to the assassin's appeal for mercy.
"Craven! you need not ask for life!" he said, after a time. "AntonioValdez met his death in the same fashion, like yourself meanly beggingfor mercy. You shall do as he did. I promised it when I met you at thehacienda Las Palmas, and I shall now keep my word."
As Don Rafael finished speaking, his spurs were heard striking againstthe flanks of his horse, that, apparently dismayed at the awful purposefor which he was to be used, reared violently upon his hind legs, andrefused to advance! At the same instant the bandit uttered a wild cryof agony, which resounded far over the lake, till it rang in echoes fromthe sides of the enchanted mountain. Like an echo, too, came thestrange snorting from the nostrils of Roncador, who, at a secondpricking of the spur, made one vast bound forward, and then suddenlystopped trembling and affrighted. The body of the bandit, suddenlyjerked forward, had fallen back heavily to the earth, while groans ofagony escaped from his quivering lips.
Just at this moment--this fearful crisis for the guerilla leader-
-twomen were seen running towards the spot, and with all the speed thattheir legs were capable of making. It was evident that they were insearch of Don Rafael with some message of great importance.
"A word with you, Colonel, in the name of God!" cried one of them, assoon as they were near enough to be heard. "For Heaven's sake do notride off till we have spoken to you. My companion and I have had theworst of luck in trying to find you."
The man who spoke, and who had exhausted his last breath in the words,was no other than the veritable Juan el Zapote, while his companion wasthe honest Gaspar.
"Who are these men?" indignantly inquired Don Rafael. "Ah! it is you,my brave fellows?" continued he, softening down, as he recognised thetwo adventurers whom he had met in the forest, and whose advice hadproved so advantageous to him. "What do you want with me? You see I amengaged at present, and have no time to attend to you?"
"True!" replied Juan el Zapote. "We see your honour is occupied; andthat we have arrived at an inconvenient time! Ah! it is the SenorArroyo with whom you are engaged! But your honour must know that wehave a message for you, and have been running after you for twenty-fourhours, without being able to deliver it. It is one of life and death."
"Mercy! mercy!" shrieked Arroyo, in a tone of piteous appeal.
"Hold your tongue, you stupid!" cried Juan el Zapote, reproachfullyaddressing his former chief. "Don't you see that the Colonel hasbusiness with us? You are hindering him from attending to it."
"A message of life and death!" repeated Don Rafael, his heart suddenlybounding with a triumphant hope. "From whom do you come?"
"Will your honour direct your people to step aside?" whispered Zapote."It is a confidential mission with which we are charged--a lovemessage," added he, in a still lower tone.
By a commanding gesture of the Colonel--for the communications of Zapotehad deprived him of the power of speech--the troopers moved off to oneside, and he was left alone with the messengers--to whom he now bentdownwards from his saddle, in order that their words might not be heard.
What they said to him need not be repeated: enough to know that whentheir message was finally delivered it appeared to produce a magicaleffect upon the Colonel, who was heard to give utterance to a stifledcry of joy.
Holding by one hand the withers of his horse--which he appeared to needas a support to hinder him from falling out of his saddle--with theother he was observed to conceal something in the breast of his coat,apparently a packet which the messengers had handed to him. They, intheir turn, were seen to bound joyfully over the ground at some wordwhich Don Rafael had spoken to them, and which seemed to have producedon Zapote an effect resembling the dance of Saint Vitus.
In another moment the Colonel drew his dagger from its sheath, andcalled out in a voice loud enough to be heard by all:--"God does notwill that this man should die. He has sent these men as the saviours ofhis life. I acknowledge the hand of God!"
And forgetting that he held in his power his most mortal foe, themurderer of his father--forgetting his oath, no more to be rememberedamidst the delicious emotions that filled his heart--remembering onlythe promise of mercy he had made to Gertrudis, herself--he leant backover the croup of his saddle, and cut the lazo by which the brigand wasattached to the tail of his horse.
Disdaining to listen to the outpouring of thanks which the craven wretchnow lavished upon him, he turned once more towards the messengers.
"Where is she who sent you?" inquired he in a low voice.
"There!" answered Zapote, pointing to a group of horsemen who at thatmoment were seen advancing along the shore as the escort to a _litera_which appeared in their midst.
Roncador, freed from the human body, which attached to his tail had sofrightened him, no longer refused to obey the spur; and in anothermoment he was bounding in the direction where the curtains of the_litera_ of Gertrudis were seen undulating under the last rays of thewaning moon.