CHAPTER XII.
ON THE ROAD.
The brilliant gleams of dawn were already colouring the crests of thedistant mountains; the warm beams of the rising sun, issuing from amass of golden and purple clouds, dissipated the fog; the vapour roselike a curtain and revealed in all its majestic grandeur the splendidlandscape of which the Hacienda del Barrio formed the centre. On theright extended the verdant valley through which the Rio Grande delNorte forced its capricious windings. On the left, in the midst of aprofusion of clumps of trees, rocks and hills, girt with a garland ofverdure, extended a great lake, whose surface, slightly ruffled by thepure and refreshing morning breeze, sparkled in the sunbeams. Loftymountains, scarped rocks, and banks, on which grew sumachs, mahoganies,and cork trees, framed in this magnificent sheet of water, and theharmonious rustling of the dew-laden leaves seemed to impart a sort oflife to this calm scenery which the hand of man had not yet deformed,and which rose radiant beneath the powerful breath of the Creator.
The coming dawn had scarce begun to disperse the gloom ere all was inmotion at the hacienda. The peons fetched the animals from the corralswhile the cavaliers led their horses to the watering place, or wentin search of dry wood to rekindle the bivouac fires and prepare themorning repast. Don Anibal's numerous visitors gave their followersorders to load the mules and saddle the horses, so as to be ready tostart at the first signal.
The Count de Melgosa quitted the apartment in which he had passed thenight, and accompanied by the hacendero, who insisted on seeing himoff, he proceeded to the first patio, where his people were alreadywaiting, as was the Canadian adventurer, who, at the first beam of day,left without much regret the hard bed on which he had slumbered foronly two or three hours.
"What!" Don Anibal said with surprise, on seeing the count's smallescort, "Did you venture to come here so weakly escorted in this timeof trouble and disorder?"
"Why not?" the count said, carelessly; "The six men you see are devotedto me; they are old soldiers, accustomed to fire. Moreover, what have Ito fear?" he added with an ironical smile. "Are we not at peace?"
"Yes, for the present at any rate; but the long wars we have hadto endure have, as you know, ruined and reduced many people todesperation; the country is infested with marauders, and this frontierespecially, exposed to the continual incursions of the Indians, isanything but safe. I repeat, Senor Conde, that you committed a seriousact of imprudence in bringing so few people with you, and, with yourpermission, I will give you an escort to protect you from all danger."
"Do nothing of the sort, my friend," the count answered, quickly;"although I sincerely thank you for the solicitude you display, I amconvinced that your fears are exaggerated."
"Still--" the hacendero continued.
"Not a word more on the subject, I beg; you would seriously annoy me bypressing it further. Moreover," he said with a laugh, as he pointed tothe Canadian, "my escort is augmented by an ally who, in case of need,I am persuaded, would not hesitate to come to my help. So, say no moreabout it, and good-bye. Excuse my leaving you so suddenly, but we havea long ride before us along roads which, you know as well as I do, arevery bad, and it is time for me to start."
"Since you insist, count, I can only wish you a prosperous journey, andtake my leave of you."
"Good-bye, my friend," he said, as he affectionately pressed DonAnibal's hand. "I trust that we shall soon meet again, undercircumstances more agreeable to you and me."
"Whatever may happen, or whatever fate destiny reserves for us, beassured that nothing can alter the friendship I feel for you."
"I know it, and thank you," the count said, as he got into the saddle."Are you ready to accompany me, senor?" he asked the Canadian.
"I have been waiting some time for you, senor," the latter answered, inhis usual rough way.
The count examined him for a moment, smiled slightly, shrugged hisshoulders, but made no remark. After exchanging a few more affectionateremarks with the hacendero, he slightly raised his hat, gave the orderto depart, and the little band left the hacienda at a sharp trot. Thehorsemen, splendidly armed, and rifle on thigh, traversed in good orderthe camp formed outside the hacienda, without replying to the sarcasmsor jests of the Mexicans, who collected as they passed, and showered onthem witticisms, which were at times offensive. The count rode gravelyat the head of the little party, looking neither to the right nor left,apparently indifferent to the coarse jokes levelled upon him.
About a horse's length behind him, the Canadian, whose indifferencewas not at all feigned, for all he heard concerned him very slightly,was reflecting on the way in which he should perform the singularcommission so strangely entrusted to him, and though he was as yet onlyat the outset of the expedition, he was already beginning to feel alively desire to be freed from the company in which he found himself,and for which he felt no sympathy.
The other travellers, six in number, were, as the count had said to DonAnibal, old soldiers, regardless of danger, entirely devoted to theirmaster, and who, at a sign from him, would let themselves be bravelykilled, without taking the trouble to discover the motive for the ordergiven them. However, all these men, their master included, seemed topossess a considerable amount of gravity and pride, which did notconduce to confidence, and prevented any familiarity. The adventurerhad judged his companions at the first glance, and bravely put up withthe annoyance which they would cause him during the journey; hence heresolved to imitate them, and be equally reserved.
After traversing the camp, the small party turned to the left, andproceeded to the lake, whose umbrageous banks they intended to followfor several miles. As we have stated, the morning was magnificent, allnature was laughing, a multitude of birds of every description andcolour, hidden beneath the foliage, were singing merrily; squirrelsleapt from branch to branch, and splendid elks, terrified by theapproach of the travellers, bounded away a few yards from them, whilehideous alligators wallowed in the mud pell-mell with enormous frogswhich uttered frightful croaks.
Our travellers rode thus for some two hours, and not a word had beenspoken since the start, each seeming to be buried in thought, whensuddenly a great movement was heard beneath the trees and shrubsaround them. The birds suddenly became silent, and, leaving theirnests, went to the foot of the trees, where they timidly concealedthemselves in the grass, while the frogs croaking on the nymphaeasdashed into the water. At the same moment the shadow of two mightywings was visible on the sand; the Canadian mechanically raised hiseyes, and he perceived a white-headed eagle soaring in the blue sky.
The eagle, after hovering in wide circles for some minutes almostover the head of the travellers, dropped with lightning speed into acopse, whence it emerged almost immediately, holding in its powerfulclaws a luckless parrot, which uttered pitiable cries of distress, andstruggled vainly to escape from the deadly grasp of its implacablefoe. The eagle rose with extraordinary rapidity, and soon attained anenormous elevation. The Canadian had anxiously followed the incidentsof this drama, and perhaps instinctively cocked his rifle.
"All the worse," he muttered, at the moment when the eagle, which onlyappeared like a black dot in the air, was about to become invisible. "Iwill save it."
With a movement swift as thought he raised his rifle and pulledthe trigger. The Spaniards halted, and looked in amazement at theadventurer; but the latter, whose eyes were obstinately fixed on thesky, did not seem to notice the attention of which he was the object.The eagle, suddenly arrested in its flight, fell with headlong speed,turning in space. Suddenly its claws relaxed, and the delivered victim,half wild with terror, though unwounded, fell perpendicularly for someseconds with its enemy; but, suddenly opening its wings, the poorparrot soared, and then resumed its flight with a long cry of delight,while the eagle writhed in its death throe at the hunter's feet. TheCanadian's bullet had passed right through its body.
"Ah!" the wood ranger said, gladly; "Though a powder charge is preciousin the desert, I do not repent this one."
The Spaniards
could not restrain a cry of admiration at this miraculousdisplay of skill. The Canadian dismounted, and seizing his rifle by thebarrel, advanced upon the eagle, which, with body thrown back and wingsextended, looked undauntedly at him. With one blow of the butt, dealtwith no ordinary strength, the adventurer settled the bird, which didnot make the slightest effort to avoid the blow.
"Will you sell me that bird?" the count said, at the moment when thehunter stooped to pick up the royal bird.
"I will give it you if you like to accept it," the Canadian replied.
"Very good," the count said, making one of his men a sign to pick thebird up and place it on his horse.
The Canadian remounted, and they continued their silent march. At theend of an hour they reached the spot where the count proposed to stopand breakfast, and allow the great heat to pass before he startedagain. It was a rather large clearing, in the midst of which glisteneda pool of water so clear and limpid that the sky was reflected in it,with all its lights and shadows. This pool discharged its overflowinto the lake by means of a shallow stream, which ran murmuring over abed of pebbles, half hidden by the numerous tufts of nymphaeas whichbordered it. Singular to say, not a bird, not an insect, peopled thissolitude.
When the count had given orders to halt, all dismounted. Two menstationed themselves as sentries at either end of the path which ranthrough the clearing; two others took the horses by the bridle, and ledthem to drink from the lake, which was only one hundred yards distant;while the last two lit the fire and got breakfast ready, employing thewater they carried in their leathern bottles to boil the _frijoles_,as they would sooner reduce their stock than take water from thispool--which, however, was so inviting, especially for men wearied bya long ride in the burning beams of a tropical sun, and whose throatswere parched by thirst.
The fact was that this pond, apparently so inoffensive and pure,contained death in its waters--a frightful, inexorable, almostinstantaneous death. In a word, this water, though no one was ableto explain the cause, contained a violent poison, whose effects wereso terrible, that the very animals, whose admirable instinct neverdeceives them, did not dare drink it, but shunned its vicinity as if itwere impregnated with the poison it contained. This was the cause ofthe utter solitude which reigned in this clearing, which travellers,however, brought to these parts by accident, sought for its deliciouscoolness, and the security they enjoyed against the attacks of wildbeasts.
The adventurer, after carefully rubbing his horse down, hobbling it,and giving it its ration of maize on his zarape, lay down on the grass,and fumbling in his _alforjas_, produced a ship biscuit and a piece ofgoat's milk cheese, which he was preparing to eat with good appetite,when the count, who had curiously watched the arrangements of thisfrugal meal, walked up and bowed courteously to him.
"Caballero," he said, "will you do me the honour of sharing mybreakfast?"
The Canadian raised his head, and looked at the speaker in surprise.
"Why do you make me this offer, senor?" he asked.
"Because," the count answered frankly, "I wish to break the ice, andremove the coolness prevailing between us. What I have seen you dotoday," he added, pointing to the eagle's body, "proves to me that youare a man of heart. People of your stamp are rare, and I wish to haveyour esteem, if not your friendship."
"What I did to save a wretched bird, caballero, I would not hesitate,under any circumstances, to do for a man; but permit me to remark thatI see nothing in it but what is perfectly natural."
"Perhaps so; but, unhappily, few men comprehend their duties in thesame way."
"I pity them, caballero, though I dare not blame them, for each manacts according to the instincts which God has implanted in his heart."
"Do you accept the modest breakfast which I have had the honour ofoffering you?"
"Although I am naturally very sober, and usually content myself withthe smallest thing, I should think I was offering you an insult bydeclining, senor. Hence, I gratefully accept your invitation."
The two men sat down side by side, and a peon placed before them a fewdishes, which, though far from delicate, were of a quality superiorto the Canadian's repast. The count felt, perhaps unconsciously,an interest in the Canadian, the cause of which he could not haveexplained, and was attracted by this blunt but frank man, with hisshort but always honest remarks. He divined beneath this rough husk agood nature and a strong heart, which aroused his sympathy and were arelief after the roguery and cowardly adulation of the men with whomhe usually came in contact. While eating (the adventurer heartily, andthe count scarce touching what was served up), they talked without theslightest restraint. Oliver related, without any boasting or pride, theincidents of his life as a wood ranger, his hunts and fights with theIndians, his adventurous excursions at the head of his bold comrades,who had unanimously elected him their chief, and the incessant joysand sorrows of this varied existence. The count listened with everincreasing interest. When the adventurer came to his enrolment amongthe Mexican insurgents, his hearer interrupted him--
"This time," he said, "I think you have not acted consistently withyour principles."
"How so?" Oliver asked in surprise.
"Why," the count continued, "it appears to me that you let yourself beled away by the pride of rank and hope of gain."
"You are mistaken, senor, nothing would have induced me to join theMexicans if I had not been convinced in my heart that their cause was agood one. This reason alone decided me, and besides," he added in a lowvoice, as he took a sly glance at the other, "I had a personal motive."
The count shook his head dubiously, but made no answer, and theconversation stopped at this point.
Four hours later, the Spaniards started again in the hope of reachingtheir journey's end at eight in the evening. But the count and theadventurer now rode side by side conversing amicably together.