CHAPTER V.
THE GROTTO.
We will now resume our narrative at the point where we left it at theend of our first chapter, and rejoin Red Cedar, who thanks to theweapons found in the cache, had regained all his ferocity and wasalready dreaming of revenge.
The bandit's position, however, was still very perplexing, and wouldhave terrified any man whose mind was not so strong as his own. Howeverlarge the desert may be--however perfect a man's knowledge may be of theprairie refuges--it is impossible for him, if alone, to escape for anylength of time the search of persons who have an interest in catchinghim.
This had just been proved to Red Cedar in a peremptory way: he did notconceal from himself the numberless difficulties that surrounded him,and could not dream of regaining his encampment. The enemies on histrack would not fail to catch him, and this time they would not allowhim to escape so easily.
This position was intolerable, and it must be put an end to at allrisks. But Red Cedar was not the man to remain crushed by the blow thathad struck him: he drew himself together again, in order to prepare hisvengeance promptly. Like all evil natures, Red Cedar regarded as aninsult all attempts persons made to escape from his perfidity. At thismoment he had a rude account to settle with whites and redskins. Aloneas he was, he could not think of rejoining his comrades and attackingthe enemies, who would have crushed him under their heel like a venomousserpent: he needed allies.
His hesitation was but short, and his plan was formed in a few minutes.He resolved to carry out the project for which he had left his comrades,and proceeded toward an Apache village, situate a short distance off.
Still, he did not intend to go there, for the present at least, for,after a rapid walk of more than three hours, he suddenly turned to hisright, and retiring from the banks of the Gila, which he had hithertofollowed, he left the road to the village, and entered a mountainousregion, differing entirely in its character from the plains he hadhitherto traversed.
The ground rose perceptibly, and was intersected by streams that randown to the Gila. Clumps of the ferns, drawing closer together, servedas the advanced guard of a gloomy virgin forest on the horizon. Thelandscape gradually assumed a more savage and abrupt aspect, and spursof the imposing Sierra Madre displayed here and there their desolatepeaks.
Red Cedar walked along with that light and springy step peculiar to menaccustomed to cover long distances on foot, looking neither to the rightnor left, and apparently following a direction he was perfectlyacquainted with. Smiling at his thoughts, he did not seem to notice thatthe sun had almost entirely disappeared behind the imposing mass of thevirgin forest, and that night was falling with extreme rapidity.
The howling of the wild beasts could be heard echoing in the depths ofthe ravines, mingled with the miauwling of the carcajous and the barkingof the prairie wolves--bands of which were already prowling at a shortdistance from the bandit. But he, apparently insensible to all thesehints about getting a resting place for the night, continued his advancein the mountains, among which he had entered some time previously.
On reaching a species of crossroad, if such a term can be employed inspeaking of a country where no roads exist, he stopped and looked allaround him. After a few moments' hesitation, he buried himself in anarrow path running between two hills, and boldly climbed up a verysteep ascent. At length, after a fatiguing climb, that lasted nearlythree-quarters of an hour, he reached a spot where the path, suddenlyinterrupted, only presented a gulf, in the bottom of which the murmursof invisible waters could be just heard.
The precipice was about twenty yards in width, and over it lay anenormous log, serving as a bridge. At the end of this was the entranceof a natural grotto, in which the flames of a fire flashed up atintervals. Red Cedar stopped--a smile of satisfaction curled his thinlips at the sight of the flames reflected on the walls of the grotto.
"They are there," he said, in a low voice, and as if speaking tohimself.
He then put his fingers in his mouth, and imitated with rare skill thesoft and cadenced note of the _maukawis_. An instant after, a similarcry was heard from the grotto; and Red Cedar clapped his hands thrice.
The gigantic shadow of a man, reflected by the light of the fire,appeared in the entrance of the grotto, and a rude and powerful voiceshouted in the purest Castilian--
"Who goes there?"
"A friend," the bandit answered.
"Your name, _caray_," the stranger continued; "there are no friends inthe desert at this hour of the night."
"Oh, oh!" Red Cedar continued; bursting into a hoarse laugh, "I see thatDon Pedro Sandoval is as prudent as ever."
"Man or demon, as you know me so well," the stranger said, in a somewhatsofter tone, "tell me what your name is, I say once again, or, byheaven, I'll lodge a couple of slugs in your skull. So do not let me runthe risk of killing a friend."
"Come, come, calm yourself, hidalgo; did you not recognise my voice, andhave you so short a memory that you have already forgotten Red Cedar."
"Red Cedar!" the Spaniard repeated in surprise, "then you are not hungyet, my worthy friend?"
"Not yet; to my knowledge, gossip. I hope to prove it to you ere long."
"Come across, in the devil's name; do not let us go on talking at thisdistance."
The stranger left the bridgehead, where he had stationed himself,probably to dispute the passage in case of necessity, and drew off,uncocking his rifle. Not waiting for a second invitation, Red Cedarbounded on to the tree and crossed it in a few seconds; heaffectionately shook the Spaniard's hand, and then they entered thegrotto together.
This grotto or cavern, whichever you please to call it, was wide andlofty, divided into several compartments by large frames of reeds,rising to a height of at least eight feet, and forming ten rooms orcells, five on either side the grotto, beginning at about twenty pacesfrom the entrance--a space left free to act as kitchen and dining room.The entrance to each cell was formed by a zarape, which descended to theground after the fashion of a curtain door.
At the extremity of the passage that ran between the two rows of cellswas another compartment, serving as storehouses; and beyond this anatural passage ran through the mountain, and terminated almost a leagueoff, in an almost inaccessible ravine.
All proved that this grotto was not a bivouac chosen for a night or two,but an abode adopted for many years past, in which all the comfort hadbeen collected which it is possible to procure in these regions remotefrom any centre of population.
Round the fire, over which an enormous quarter of elk meat was roasting,nine men, armed to the teeth, were sitting and smoking in silence. OnRed Cedar's entrance, they rose and came up to shake his hand eagerly,and with a species of respect. These men wore the garb of hunters orwood rangers: their marked features, their ferocious and crafty faces,on which the traces of the most disgraceful and ignoble passions weremarked in indelible characters, strongly lighted up by the fantasticflashes of the fire, had something strange and gloomy about them, whichinspired terror and revulsion.
It could be guessed at the first glance that these men, the unclean scumof adventurers of all nations, lost in sin and compelled to fly to thedesert to escape the iron hand of justice, had declared an obstinate waragainst those who had placed them beyond the pale of the common law ofnations, and were, in a word, what are called, by common consent,pirates of the prairies.
Pitiless men, a hundredfold more ruffianly than the most ferociousredskins, who conceal a soul of mud and a tiger's heart under a humanappearance, and who, having adopted the savage life of the Far West,have assumed all the vices of the white and red races, without retainingone of their qualities. Villains, in a word, who only know murder androbbery, and for a little gold are capable of the greatest crimes. Suchwas the company Red Cedar had come so far to seek.
We are bound to add, and the reader will easily believe it, that he wasnot out of his place, and that his antecedents, on the contrary, gainedhim a certain degree of consideration from these band
its, with whom hehad been long acquainted.
"Caballeros," Sandoval said, bowing with exquisite politeness to thebrigands, his comrades, "our friend, Red Cedar, has returned among us;let us greet him like a jolly companion whom we have missed too long,and whom we are delighted to see again."
"Senores," Red Cedar answered, as he took a seat by the fire, "I thankyou for your cordial reception, and hope soon to prove to you that I amnot ungrateful."
"Well!" one of the bandits said, "Has our friend any good news to impartto us? It would be welcome, deuce take me! For a whole month we have hadto scheme a living."
"Are you really in that state?" the squatter asked, with interest.
"Quite so," Sandoval confirmed him; "and Perico has only spoken theexact truth."
"Hang it all!" Red Cedar went on, "I have come at the right moment,then."
"Eh?" the bandits said, pricking up their ears.
"And yet I fancy that, for some time past, caravans have been becomingmore numerous in the desert: there is no lack of white or red trappers,who every now and then can be saved the trouble of carrying their beaverskins. I have even heard speak of several parties of gambusinos."
"The gambusinos are as badly off as ourselves," Sandoval replied; "andas for trappers, they are the very men who injure us. Ah! My friend, thedesert is not worth a hang now; the white men are drawing too closetogether, they are gradually invading the territory of the redskins, andwho knows whether, in ten years from this time, we shall not have townsall round the spot where we now are?"
"There is some truth in your remark," Red Cedar observed, as he shookhis head thoughtfully.
"Yes," Perico said; "and, unfortunately, the remedy is difficult, if notimpossible to find."
"Perhaps so," Red Cedar went on, tossing his head in a way which causedthe Pirates to wonder what he was driving at. "In the meanwhile," headded, "as I have made a long journey, feel very tired, and have atremendous appetite, I will feed, with your permission, especially as itis late, and the meal is admirably cooked."
Without further ceremony, Red Cedar cut a large slice of elk, which heplaced before him, and began incontinently devouring. The piratesfollowed his example, and for some time the conversation was naturallysuspended. A hunter's meal is never long; the present one was soon over,owing to the impatience of the band, whose curiosity was aroused to thehighest degree by the few words dropped by the squatter.
"Well," Sandoval began again, as he lit a cigarette, "now that supper isover, suppose we have a chat. Are you agreeable, comrade?"
"Willingly," Red Cedar replied, as he settled himself comfortably, andfilled his pipe.
"You were saying then--" Sandoval remarked.
"Pardon me," the squatter interrupted him; "I was saying nothing. Youwere complaining, I believe, about the whites destroying your trade bycoming closer and closer to your abode."
"Yes, that was what I was saying."
"You added, if my memory serves me right, that the remedy was impossibleto find?"
"To which you answered, perhaps."
"I said so, and repeat it."
"Explain yourself, then."
"The affair I have come to propose to you is extremely simple: For someyears past the whites have been gradually invading the desert, which, ina given time which is not remote, will end by disappearing before theincessant efforts of civilisation."
"It is true."
"Well, if you like, within a month you shall be rich men."
"We will, _caray_," the bandits exclaimed in a formidable voice.
"I will tell you the affair in two words: I have discovered a placer ofincalculable wealth; twenty leagues from here, I have left one hundredmen devoted to my fortunes. Will you imitate them and follow me? Ipromise each of you more gold than he ever saw in his life or everdreamed of possessing."
"Hum!" said Sandoval; "It is tempting."
"I thought of you, my old comrades," Red Cedar continued withhypocritical simplicity, "and have come. Now, you know my plan; reflecton what I have said to you; tomorrow, at sunrise, you will give me youranswer."
And, without mingling further in the conversation, Red Cedar rolledhimself up in a zarape, and fell asleep, leaving the bandits to discussamong themselves the chance of success his magnificent proposal offered.