CHAPTER FIFTY FOUR.
AN UNEXPECTED RENCONTRE.
As I rode off from the mountain foot, the white peak glistened at adistance of thirty miles. There was not a hillock between: not a brakeor bush, excepting the low shrubs of the artemisia.
It was not yet noon. Could I reach the snowy mountain before sunset?If so, I trusted in being able to follow our old trail to the mine.Thence, I might keep on to the Del Norte, by striking a branch of thePaloma or some other lateral stream. Such were my plans, undefined as Irode forth.
I knew that I should be pursued almost to the gates of El Paso; and,when I had ridden forward about a mile, a glance to the rear showed methat the Indians had just reached the plain, and were striking out afterme.
It was no longer a question of speed. I knew that I had the heels oftheir whole cavalcade. Did my horse possess the "bottom"?
I knew the tireless, wiry nature of the Spanish mustang; and theiranimals were of that race. I knew they could gallop for a long daywithout breaking down, and this led me to fear for the result.
Speed was nothing now, and I made no attempt to keep it up. I wasdetermined to economise the strength of my steed. I could not beovertaken so long as he lasted; and I galloped slowly forward, watchingthe movements of my pursuers, and keeping a regular distance ahead ofthem.
At times I dismounted to relieve my horse, and ran alongside of him. Mydog followed, occasionally looking up in my face, and seeminglyconscious why I was making such a hurried journey.
During all the day I was never out of sight of the Indians; in fact, Icould have distinguished their arms and counted their numbers at anytime. There were in all about a score of horsemen. The stragglers hadgone back, and only the well-mounted men now continued the pursuit.
As I neared the foot of the snowy peak, I remembered there was water atour old camping-ground in the pass; and I pushed my horse faster, inorder to gain time to refresh both him and myself. I intended to make ashort halt, and allow the noble brute to breathe himself and snatch abite of the bunch-grass that grew around the spring. There was nothingto fear so long as his strength held out, and I knew that this was theplan to sustain it.
It was near sundown as I entered the defile. Before riding in among therocks I looked back. During the last hour I had gained upon mypursuers. They were still at least three miles out upon the plain, andI saw that they were toiling on wearily.
I fell into a train of reflection as I rode down the ravine. I was nowupon a known trail. My spirits rose; my hopes, so long clouded over,began to assume a brightness and buoyancy, greater from the veryinfluence of reaction. I should still be able to rescue my betrothed.My whole energies, my fortune, my life, would be devoted to this oneobject. I would raise a band stronger than ever Seguin had commanded.I should get followers among the returning employes of the caravan;teamsters whose term of service had expired. I would search the postsand mountain rendezvous for trappers and hunters. I would apply to theMexican Government for aid, in money--in troops. I would appeal to thecitizens of El Paso, of Chihuahua, of Durango.
"Ge-hosaphat! Hyur's a fellur ridin' 'ithout eyther saddle or bridle!"
Five or six men with rifles sprang out from the rocks, surrounding me.
"May an Injun eat me ef 'tain't the young fellur as tuk me for agrizzly! Billee! look hyur! hyur he is! the very fellur! He! he! he!He! he! he!"
"Rube! Garey!"
"What! By Jove, it's my friend Haller! Hurrah! Old fellow, don't youknow me?"
"Saint Vrain!"
"That it is. Don't I look like him? It would have been a harder taskto identify you but for what the old trapper has been telling us aboutyou. But come! how have you got out of the hands of the Philistines?"
"First tell me who you all are. What are you doing here?"
"Oh, we're a picket! The army is below."
"The army?"
"Why, we call it so. There's six hundred of us; and that's about as bigan army as usually travels in these parts."
"But who? What are they?"
"They are of all sorts and colours. There's the Chihuahuanos andPassenos, and niggurs, and hunters, and trappers, and teamsters. Yourhumble servant commands these last-named gentry. And then there's theband of your friend Seguin--"
"Seguin! Is he--"
"What? He's at the head of all. But come! they're camped down by thespring. Let us go down. You don't look overfed; and, old fellow,there's a drop of the best Paso in my saddle-bags. Come!"
"Stop a moment! I am pursued."
"Pursued!" echoed the hunters, simultaneously raising their rifles, andlooking up the ravine.
"How many?"
"About twenty."
"Are they close upon you?"
"No."
"How long before we may expect them?"
"They are three miles back, with tired horses, as you may suppose."
"Three-quarters--halt an hour at any rate. Come! we'll have time to godown and make arrangements for their reception. Rube! you with the restcan remain here. We shall join you before they get forward. Come,Haller!--come!"
Following my faithful and warm-hearted friend, I rode on to the spring.Around it I found "the army"; and it had somewhat of that appearance,for two or three hundred of the men were in uniform. These were thevolunteer guards of Chihuahua and El Paso.
The late raid of the Indians had exasperated the inhabitants, and thisunusually strong muster was the consequence. Seguin, with the remnantof his band, had met them at El Paso, and hurried them forward on theNavajo trail. It was from him Saint Vrain had heard of my capture; andin hopes of rescuing me had joined the expedition with about forty orfifty employes of the caravan.
Most of Seguin's band had escaped after the fight in the barranca, andamong the rest, I was rejoiced to hear, El Sol and La Luna. They werenow on their return with Seguin, and I found them at his tent.
Seguin welcomed me as the bearer of joyful news. They were still safe.That was all I could tell him, and all he asked for during our hurriedcongratulation.
We had no time for idle talk. A hundred men immediately mounted androde up the ravine. On reaching the ground occupied by the picket, theyled their horses behind the rocks, and formed an ambuscade. The orderwas, that all the Indians must be killed or taken.
The plan hastily agreed upon was, to let them pass the ambushed men, andride on until they had got in sight of the main body; then bothdivisions were to close upon them.
It was a dry ravine above the spring, and the horses had made no tracksupon its rocky bed. Moreover, the Indians, ardent in their pursuit ofme, would not be on the outlook for any sign before reaching the water.Should they pass the ambuscade, then not a man of them would escape, asthe defile on both sides was walled in by a precipice.
After the others had gone, about a hundred men at the spring leaped intotheir saddles, and sat with their eyes bent up the pass.
They were not long kept waiting. A few minutes after the ambuscade hadbeen placed, an Indian showed himself round an angle of the rock, abouttwo hundred yards above the spring. He was the foremost of thewarriors, and must have passed the ambushed horsemen; but as yet thelatter lay still. Seeing a body of men, the savage halted with a quickjerk; and then, uttering a cry, wheeled and rode back upon his comrades.These, imitating his example, wheeled also; but before they had fairlyturned themselves in the ravine, the "cached" horsemen sprang out in abody from the rocks and came galloping down.
The Indians, now seeing that they were completely in the trap, withoverpowering numbers on both sides of them, threw down their spears andbegged for mercy.
In a few minutes they were all captured. The whole affair did notoccupy half an hour; and, with our prisoners securely tied, we returnedto the spring.
The leading men now gathered around Seguin to settle on some plan forattacking the town. Should we move on to it that night?
I was asked for my advice, and of course answered, "Yes! the
sooner thebetter, for the safety of the captives."
My feelings, as well as those of Seguin, could not brook delay.Besides, several of our late comrades were to die on the morrow. Wemight still be in time to save them.
How were we to approach the valley?
This was the next point to be discussed.
The enemy would now be certain to have their videttes at both ends, andit promised to be clear moonlight until morning. They could easily seesuch a large body approaching from the open plain. Here then was adifficulty.
"Let us divide," said one of Seguin's old band; "let a party go in ateach end. That'll git 'em in the trap."
"Wagh!" replied another, "that would never do. Thar's ten miles o'rough wood thar. If we raised the niggurs by such a show as this,they'd take to them, gals and all, an' that's the last we'd see o'them."
This speaker was clearly in the right. It would never do to make ourattack openly. Stratagem must again be used.
A head was now called into the council that soon mastered thedifficulty, as it had many another. That was the skinless, earless headof the trapper Rube.
"Cap," said he, after a short delay, "'ee needn't show yur crowd tillwe've first took the luk-outs by the eend o' the kenyun."
"How can we take them?" inquired Seguin.
"Strip them twenty niggurs," replied Rube, pointing to our captives,"an' let twenty o' us put on their duds. Then we kin take the youngfellur--him hyur as tuk me for the grizzly! He! he! he! Ole Rube tukfor a grizzly! We kin take him back a pris'ner. Now, cap, do 'ee seehow?"
"You would have these twenty to keep far in the advance then, capturethe videttes, and wait till the main body comes up?"
"Sartinly; thet's my idee adzactly."
"It is the best, the only one. We shall follow it." And Seguinimmediately ordered the Indians to be stripped of their dresses. Theseconsisted mostly of garments that had been plundered from the people ofthe Mexican towns, and were of all cuts and colours.
"I'd recommend 'ee, cap," suggested Rube, seeing that Seguin was lookingout to choose the men for his advance party, "I'd recommend 'ee to takea smart sprinklin' of the Delawars. Them Navaghs is mighty 'cute andnot easily bamfoozled. They mout sight white skin by moonlight. Themo' us that must go along 'll have to paint Injun, or we'll be fooledarter all; we will."
Seguin, taking this hint, selected for the advance most of the Delawareand Shawano Indians; and these were now dressed in the clothes of theNavajoes. He himself, with Rube, Garey, and a few other whites, made upthe required number. I, of course, was to go along and play the role ofa prisoner.
The whites of the party soon accomplished their change of dress, and"painted Injun," a trick of the prairie toilet well known to all ofthem.
Rube had but little change to make. His hue was already of sufficientdeepness for the disguise, and he was not going to trouble himself bythrowing off the old shirt or leggings. That could hardly have beendone without cutting both open, and Rube was not likely to make such asacrifice of his favourite buckskins. He proceeded to draw the othergarments over them, and in a short time was habited in a pair ofslashing calzoneros, with bright buttons from the hip to the ankle.These, with a smart, tight-fitting jacket that had fallen to his share,and a jaunty sombrero cocked upon his head, gave him the air of a mostcomical dandy. The men fairly yelled at seeing him thus metamorphosed,and old Rube himself grinned heartily at the odd feelings which thedress occasioned him.
Before the sun had set, everything was in readiness, and the advancestarted off. The main body, under Saint Vrain, was to follow an hourafter. A few men, Mexicans, remained by the spring, in charge of theNavajo prisoners.