CHAPTER XXIV.
THE LANDING.
Immediately on reaching his anchorage, Captain Johnson, after conversingfor a moment privately with El Alferez, gave orders that CommandantRodriguez and his officers should be brought into his presence. TheCommandant, despite the politeness with which he had been treated, andthe kindness the privateer's men had shown him, could not forgive themthe way in which they had seized his vessel; he was sad, and hadhitherto only answered the questions asked him by disdainful silence, orinsulting monosyllables. When the officers of the corvette wereassembled in the cabin, Captain Johnson, turning politely to theMexicans, said:
"Gentlemen, I am really most sorry for what has occurred. I should beglad to set you at liberty immediately, but your Commandant's formalrefusal to pledge himself not to serve against us for a year and a day,obliges me, to my great regret, to keep you prisoners, at leasttemporarily. However, gentlemen, be assured that you will be treated asCaballeros, and everything done to alleviate the sorrow this temporarycaptivity must occasion you."
The officers, and even the Commandant, bowed their thanks, and theCaptain continued:
"All your property has been placed in the boat I have ordered to be gotready, to convey you ashore. You will, therefore, lose nothing thatbelongs to you personally; if war has terrible claims, I have tried, asfar as lay in my power, to spare you its bitterest conditions. Ifnothing retains you here, be kind enough to get ready to land."
"Would it be indiscreet, Captain, to ask you whither you have givenorders to have us taken?" Commandant Rodriguez asked.
"Not at all, Commandant," the Captain replied; "you are about to betaken to the Port of the Point, whose walls will serve as your prison,until fresh orders."
"What!" the old sailor exclaimed in astonishment; "The Fort of thePoint?"
"Yes," the Captain answered with a smile; "the fort which some of myfriends seized, while I had the honour of boarding your fine corvette,Commandant."
The Captain could have gone on talking thus for some time: the oldofficer, confounded by what he had just heard, was incapable ofconnecting two ideas. At length, he let his head fall wearily on hischest, and making his officers a sign to follow him, went on deck. Aboat, with a crew of ten men, was balancing at the starboardaccommodation ladder, which the Commandant, still silent, entered, andhis staff followed his example.
"Push off!" El Alferez ordered, who was holding the yoke lines.
The boat started and speedily disappeared. For some minutes the cadencedsound of the oars dipping in the water could be heard, and then allbecame silent again. The Captain had watched the departure of hisprisoners; when the boat had disappeared in the gloom, he gave MasterLovel orders to weigh and stand out to sea, and then returned to hiscabin, where a man was waiting for him. It was Tranquil, the oldTigrero.
"Well!" the hunter asked.
"They have gone, thank Heaven!" the Captain said, as he sat down.
"Then we are at liberty?"
"Quite."
"When shall we land?"
"This night; but is your information positive?"
"I believe so."
"Well, we shall soon know how matters stand."
"May Heaven grant that we succeed!"
"Let us hope it. Do you think the coast is guarded?"
"I fear it, for your vessel must have been signalled all along theshore."
"Do you know whether the Mexicans have other ships observing the ports,in addition to the corvette we have captured?"
"I think they have three more, but smaller than the _Libertad_."
"Hang it all! We must act prudently, then; however, whatever may happen,I will not desert so old a friend as yourself when unfortunate. We havestill three hours before us, so try and sleep a little, for we shallhave a tough job."
Tranquil smiled at this recommendation; but to please his friend, whohad already laid himself down in his bunk, in the position of a manpreparing to sleep, he wrapped himself in his zarap?, leant back in hischair, and closed his eyes.
The night, which at the beginning had been very bright and clear, hadsuddenly become dark and stormy; black clouds surcharged withelectricity covered the whole of the sky; the breeze moaned sadly in therigging, and mingled with the dash of the waves against the sides of thevessel. The brig was sailing slowly close to the wind, the only sails itcarried being double-reefed topsails, the fore staysail, and thespanker.
At the moment when the helmsman struck the two double strokes on thebell, indicating ten o'clock, Captain Johnson and Tranquil appeared ondeck. The Captain was dressed in a thick blue pilot coat, a leathernbelt, through which were passed a cutlass, a pair of pistols and an axe,was fastened round his waist; a cloak was thrown over his shoulders, anda broad-brimmed felt hat completely concealed his features. TheCanadian wore his hunter's garb, though, through the dangerous nature ofthe affair, he had added a brace of pistols to his ordinary armament.
The Captain's orders have been carried out with that minuteconsciousness which Master Lovel displayed in everything connected withduty. The boarding netting was braced up, and the running riggingsecured as if for action. At the starboard ladder the longboat wastossing with its crew of thirty men, all armed to the teeth, and holdingtheir oars aloft ready to dash into the water. They were, however,muffled, so as to stifle, as far as possible, the sound of rowing, andfoil the vigilance of the Mexicans.
"That is well, lads," the Captain said, after giving a pleased glance attheir preparations, "let us be off. Mind, father," he added, turning toFather Lovel, "that you keep a good watch. If we are not on board againby four in the morning, stand out to sea, and do not trouble yourselffurther about us; for it will be useless to wait for us longer, as weshall be prisoners of the Mexicans; and any lengthened stay in thesewaters might compromise the safety of the brig. Be of good cheer,though, for I have hopes of success."
And after kindly pressing the old sailor's hand, he went down to theboat, seated himself in the sternsheets by the side of the hunter, tookup the yoke lines, and said, in a low voice, "Push, off!"
At this command the painter was cast off, the oars dashed together intothe sea, and the boat started. When it had disappeared in the fog,Master Lovel ran at full speed to the stern of the brig, and leaned overthe taffrail. "Are you there?" he said.
"Yes," a suppressed voice answered him.
"Get ready," the Master added, and then said to an old sailor, who hadfollowed him: "You know what I recommended to you, Wells," he said; "Ireckon on you, and intrust the lookout to you."
"All right, Master," the sailor answered, "you can cut your cablewithout fear, I will keep a bright lookout."
"All right; get in, men, and double-bank the oars."
Some forty sailors, who were well armed, like their predecessors, letthemselves down, one after the other, by a rope that hung over thetaffrail, and got into a second boat, which Master Lovel had ordered tobe quietly got ready, and of which he took the command. He started atonce, and steered after the Captain's pinnace, whose direction he waspretty well acquainted with, saying every now and then to the rowers, inorder to increase their speed, "Give way, my lads, give way, all!" andhe added, as he chewed his enormous quid, with a cunning smile, "It wasvery likely I should let my old fellow have his face scored by thosebrigands of Mexicans, who are all as crafty as caimans."
So soon as he had left the ship, the Captain, leaving on his right handa small fishing village, whose lights he saw flashing through thedarkness, steered for a jutting-out point, where he probably hoped todisembark in safety. After rowing for about three-quarters of an hour, ablack line began to be vaguely designed on the horizon in front of theboat. The Captain gave his men a sign to rest on their oars for amoment, and taking up a long night glass, he carefully examined thecoast. In two or three minutes he shut up the glass again, and orderedhis men to give way.
All at once the keel of the pinnace grated on the sand: they had reachedland. After hurriedly exploring the neighbourhood, the crew le
apedashore, leaving only one man as boat keeper, who at once pushed off, soas not to be captured by the enemy. All was calm, and a solemn silencereigned on the coast, which was apparently deserted. The Captain havingassured himself that, for the present, at any rate, he had nothing tofear, concealed his men behind some rocks, and then addressed Tranquil.
"It is now your turn, old hunter," he said.
"Good!" the latter replied, not adding another word.
He left his hiding place, and walked forward, with a pistol in one hand,and a tomahawk in the other, stopping at intervals to look around him,and listen to those thousand sounds, without any known cause, which atnight trouble the silence, though it is impossible to guess whence theycome, or what produces them. On getting about one hundred yards from thespot where the landing was effected, the hunter stopped, and begangently whistling the first strains of a Canadian air. Another whistleanswered his, and finished the tune he had purposely broken off.Footsteps were heard, and a man showed himself. It was Quoniam, theNegro.
"Here I am," he said. "Where are your men?"
"Hidden behind the rocks close by."
"Call them up, for we have not a moment to lose."
Tranquil clapped his hands twice, and a moment later the Captain and hismen had rejoined him.
"Where is the person we have come to deliver concealed?" the Captainasked.
"At a rancho about two miles from here. I will lead you to it."
There was a moment's silence, during which the Captain studied theNegro's noble face, his black flashing eye, which glistened withboldness and honour; and he asked himself whether such a man could be atraitor? Quoniam seemed to read his thoughts, for he said to him, as helaid his hand on the Canadian's shoulder--
"If I had intended to betray; you, it would have been done ere now.Trust to me, Captain; I owe my life to Tranquil. I almost witnessed thebirth of the maiden you wish to save. My friendship and gratitude answerto you for my fidelity. Let us start."
And without saying anything further, he placed himself at the head ofthe band, which followed him along a hollow way that ran between twohills.
While the incidents we have just described were taking place on thebeach, two persons, male and female, seated in a room, modestly, thoughcomfortably, furnished, were holding a conversation, which, judging fromthe angry expression of their faces, seemed to be most stormy. These twopersons were Carmela and the White Scalper.
Carmela was half reclining in a hammock; she was pale and suffering, herfeatures were worn, and her red eyes showed that she had been weeping.The White Scalper, dressed in the magnificent costume of a MexicanCampesino, was walking up and down the room, champing his greymoustaches, and angrily clanking his heavy silver spurs on the floor.
"Take care, Carmela!" he said, as he suddenly halted in front of theyoung woman, "you know that I crush all who resist me. For the last timeI ask you: Will you tell me the reason of your constant refusals?"
"What good to tell you?" she answered, sadly, "for you would notunderstand me."
"Oh! This woman will drive me mad," he exclaimed, clenching his fists.
"What have I done, now?" Carmela asked with ironical surprise.
"Nothing, nothing," he answered, as he resumed his hurried walk. Then atthe end of a moment, he returned to the maid and said, "You hate methen?"
Carmela replied by shrugging her shoulders, and turning away from him.
"Speak!" he said, seizing her arm, and squeezing it fiercely in hispowerful hand.
Carmela liberated herself from his grasp, and said bitterly:
"I fancied that since you left the western prairies, you contentedyourself with ordering your slaves to torture your victims, and did notdescend to the part of hangman."
"Oh!" he said, furiously.
"Come," she continued, "this farce wearies me, so let us bring it to afinale. I know you too well now, not to be aware that you would nothesitate to proceed to odious extremities, if I would not submit to yourwishes. Since you insist on it, I will explain my thoughts to you."
Drawing herself up to her full height, and fixing on him a bright andchallenging glance, she continued in a firm and distinct voice--
"You ask me if I hate you? No, I do not hate you, I despise you!"
"Silence, wretched girl!"
"Yourself ordered me to speak, and I shall not be silent till I havetold you all. Yes, I despise you, because, instead of respecting a poorgirl whom you, coward as you are, carried off from her relations andfriends you, torture her, and become her executioner. I despise you,because you are a man without a soul; an old man who might be my father,and yet you do not blush to ask me to love you, under some ignoblepretext of my resemblance with some woman I have no doubt you killed."
"Carmela!"
"Lastly, I despise you, because you are a furious brute, who onlypossess one human feeling, 'the love of murder!' because there isnothing sacred in your sight, and if I was weak enough to consent toyour wishes, you would make me die of despair, by taking a delight inbreaking my heart."
"Take care, Carmela!" he exclaimed furiously, as he advanced a steptoward her.
"What, threats!" she continued in a loud voice. "Do I not know that allis ready prepared for my punishment. Summon your slaves, Master, and bidthem torture me! But know this, I will never consent to obey you. I amnot so abandoned as you may feel inclined to suppose; I have friends Ilove, and who love me in return. Make haste, for who knows whether I maynot be liberated tomorrow, if you do not kill me to day?"
"Oh, this is too much," the White Scalper said in a low and inarticulatevoice, "so much audacity shall not pass unpunished. Ah! you reckon,foolish child, on your friends! But they are far away," he said with abitter laugh; "we are safe here, and I shall make you yield to mywill."
"Never!" she exclaimed with exaltation, and rushing toward him, shestopped almost within grasp, adding,--
"I defy you, coward who threaten a woman!"
"Help!" the White Scalper exclaimed, with a tiger yell.
All at once the window was noisily burst open and Tranquil entered.
"I think you called, Se?or?" he said, as he leaped into the room andadvanced with a firm and measured step.
"My father! My father!" the poor girl shrieked, as she threw herselfinto his arms with delight; "you are come at last!"
The White Scalper, utterly astonished and startled by the unexpectedappearance of the hunter, looked around him in alarm, and could notsucceed in regaining his coolness. The Canadian, after lovingly replyingto the maiden's warm greeting, laid her gently on the hammock, and thenturned to the White Scalper, who was beginning to come to himself again.
"I ask your pardon, Se?or," he said with perfect ease, "for not havingadvised you of my visit; but you are aware we are on delicate terms,and, as it is possible that if I had written, you would not havereceived me, I preferred bringing matters to the point."
"And pray what may you want with me, Se?or?" the Scalper drily asked.
"You will permit me to remark, Se?or," Tranquil replied still with thesame placid air, "that the question appears to me singular at the leastin your mouth. I simply wish to take back my daughter, whom you carriedoff."
"Your daughter?" the other said ironically.
"Yes, Se?or, my daughter."
"Could you prove to me that this young person is really your daughter?"
"What do you mean by that remark?"
"I mean that Do?a Carmela is no more your daughter than she is mine;that consequently our claims are equal, and that I am no more obliged tosurrender her than you have a right to claim her."
"That is very vexatious," the hunter said mockingly.
"Is it not?" the White Scalper said.
Tranquil gave an ironical smile.
"I fancy you are strangely mistaken, Se?or," he said with his oldcalmness.
"Ah!"
"Listen to me for a few moments. I will not encroach on your time, whichno doubt is valuable. I am only a poor hunter, Se?or, ign
orant ofworldly affairs, and the subtleties of civilization. Still, I believethat the man who adopts a child in the cradle, takes care of it, andbrings it up with a tenderness and love that have never failed, is moretruly its father than the man who, after giving it life, abandons it andpays no farther attention to it; such is my idea of paternity, Se?or.Perhaps I am mistaken; but, in my idea, as I have no lessons or ordersto receive from you, I shall act as I think proper, whether you like itor no. Come, my dear Carmela, we have remained here too long as it is."
The maiden bounded to her feet, and placed herself by the hunter's side.
"One moment, Se?or," the Scalper exclaimed; "you have learned how toenter this house, but you do not yet know how to leave it."
And seizing two pistols lying on a table, he pointed them at the hunter,while shouting--"Help! help!"
Tranquil quietly raised his rifle to his shoulder.
"I should be delighted at your showing me the road," he said peaceably.
A dozen slaves and Mexican soldiers rushed tumultuously into the room.
"Ah, ah!" said the Scalper, "I fancy I have you at last, oldTiger-killer."
"Nonsense," a mocking voice replied; "not yet."
At this moment the Captain and his men dashed through the window whichhad afforded the Canadian a passage into the room, and uttered a fearfulyell. An indescribable medley and confusion then began: the lights wereextinguished, and the slaves, mostly unarmed, and not knowing with howmany enemies they had to deal, fled in all directions. The Scalper wascarried away by the stream of fugitives, and disappeared with them. TheTexans took advantage of the stupor of their enemy to evacuate therancho, and effect their retreat.
"Father," the maiden exclaimed, "I felt certain you would come."
"Oh!" the hunter said with ineffable delight, "you are at lengthrestored to me."
"Make haste! Make haste!" the Captain shouted; "Who knows whether we maynot be crushed by superior forces in an instant?"
At his orders, the sailors, taking the maiden in their midst, ran off inthe direction of the seashore. In the distance, drums and bugles couldbe heard calling the soldiers under arms, and on the horizon the blackoutline of a large body of troops hurrying up, with the evidentintention of cutting off the retreat of the Texans, could bedistinguished. Panting and exhausted, the latter still ran on; theycould see the coast; a few minutes more and they would reach it. All atonce a band, commanded by the White Scalper, dashed upon them,shouting--
"Down with the Texans! kill them! kill them!"
"Oh, my God!" Carmela exclaimed, falling on her knees, and clasping herhands fervently; "will you abandon us?"
"Lads," the Captain said, addressing his sailors, "we cannot talk aboutconquering, but we will die."
"We will, Captain," the sailors answered unanimously, as they formedfront against the Mexicans.
"Father," said Do?a Carmela, "will you let me fall alive into the handsof that tiger?"
"No," said Tranquil, as he kissed her pale forehead; "here is my dagger,child?"
"Thanks!" she replied, as she seized it with eyes sparkling with joy."Oh, now I am certain of dying free."
Lest they should be surrounded, the Texans leant their backs against arock, and awaited with levelled bayonets the attack of the Texans.
"Surrender, dogs!" the Scalper shouted contemptuously.
"Nonsense!" the Captain answered; "you must be mad, Se?or. Do men likeus ever surrender?"
"Forward!" the Scalper shouted.
The Mexicans rushed on their enemies with indescribable rage. A heroicand gigantic struggle then began, a combat impossible to describe ofthree hundred men against thirty: a horrible and merciless carnage, inwhich none demanded quarter, while the Texans, certain of all falling,would not succumb till buried under a pile of hostile corpses. Aftertwenty minutes, that lasted an age, only twelve Texans remained on theirlegs. The Captain, Tranquil, Quoniam, and nine sailors, remained alone,accomplishing prodigies of valour.
"At last!" the Scalper shouted, as he dashed forward to seize Do?aCarmela.
"Not yet," Tranquil said, as he dealt a blow at him with his axe.
The Scalper avoided the blow by leaping on one side, and replied withhis machete; Tranquil fell on his knee with a pierced thigh.
"Oh!" he said in despair; "She is lost! My God, lost!"
Carmela understood that no hope was left her; she therefore placed thedagger against her bosom, and said to the Scalper--"One step further,and I fall dead at your feet!"
In spite of himself, this savage man, terrified by the resolution he sawflashing in the maiden's eye, hesitated for a second, but, reassumingalmost immediately his old ferocity, he shouted--"What do I care, solong as you belong to no one else!"
And he rushed toward her, uttering a fearful yell. Terrified at theimmense danger to which his daughter was exposed, the hunter collectedall his strength, and by a superhuman effort, once more stood menacinglybefore his enemy. The two men exchanged a terrible glance, and rushed oneach other.
Carmela, almost dead with terror, lay stretched out between the twofoes, forming with her person a barrier they did not dare to pass, butover which they crossed their machetes, whose blades met with anill-omened clang. Unfortunately, Tranquil, weakened by his wound, couldnot, despite his indomitable courage, sustain this obstinate contest forany length of time, and consequently he only delayed for a few momentsthe fearful catastrophe he wished to prevent. He understood this; for,while wielding his machete with far from common dexterity, and notallowing his enemy time to breathe, he looked anxiously around him:Quoniam was fighting like a lion by his side.
"Friend!" he said in a heart-rending voice; "in the name of what youhold the dearest, save her--save Carmela!"
"But yourself?"
"Well," the hunter said nobly, "it is no matter what becomes of me,providing that she escapes this monster, and is happy."
Quoniam hesitated for a moment; a feeling of regret and pain renderedhis face gloomy. But at a last glance from the hunter, a glance ladenwith an expression of despair impossible to describe, he at lengthdecided on obeying him, and lowering his axe, which was dripping withblood, and red up to the wood, he stooped down to the maiden. But shesuddenly started up, and bounding like a lioness, shrieked frenziedly--
"Leave me! leave me! He is dying for me, and I will not abandon him."
And she resolutely placed herself by her father's side. At this movementof the girl, for whom they were fighting so desperately, the two menfell back a step, and lowered the points of their machetes; but thistruce was but of shout duration, for after a moment of respite, theyrushed once more on each other. Then, Texans and Mexicans recommencedthe fight with new fury, and the contest went on more terrible thanbefore.