CHAPTER XII.
EL MESON.
The day on which our story commences the village of the Paso del Nortepresented an extraordinary appearance. The bells were ringing out fullpeals, for the three hundredth anniversary of its foundation wascelebrated. The population of Paso, greatly diminished since theproclamation of Mexican independence, was hurrying to the churches,which flashed with silver and gold. The houses were decorated with richtapestry, and the streets strewn with flowers.
Toward nightfall the inhabitants, whom the intolerable heat of thetropical sun had kept prisoners in the interior of the houses, flockedout to inhale the sharp perfumes of the desert breeze, and bring back alittle fresh air into their parched lungs. The town, which had forseveral hours appeared deserted, suddenly woke up: shouts and laughterwere heard afresh. The walks were invaded by the mob, and in a fewminutes the _mesons_ were thronged with idlers, who began drinkingpulque and mezcal, while smoking their cigarettes, and strumming thejarabe and vihuela.
In a house of poor appearance, built like all its neighbours, of earthbricks, and situated at the angle formed by the Plaza Mayor and theCalle de la Merced, some twenty-five fellows, whom it was easy torecognise as adventurers by the feather in their hats, their upturnedmoustaches, and specially by the long bronzed-hilted sword they wore onthe thigh, were drinking torrents of aguardiente and pulque at thegambling tables, while yelling like deaf men, swearing like pagans, andthreatening at every moment to unsheathe their weapons.
In a corner of the room occupied by these troublesome guests two men,seated opposite each other at a table, seemed plunged in deep thought,and looked round them absently, not thinking about drinking the contentsof their glasses, which had not been emptied for more than half an hour.These two men presented the most striking contrast. They were stillyoung. The first, aged twenty-five at the most, had one of those frank,honest, and energetic faces which call for sympathy, and attractrespect. His pallid brow, his face of a delicate hue, surrounded by hislong black curls, his straight and flexible nose, his mouth filled witha double row of teeth of dazzling whiteness, and surmounted by a slightbrown moustache, gave him a stamp of distinction, which was the morestriking owing to the strict, and perhaps common, style of his attire.
He wore the costume of the wood rangers; that is to say, the Canadian_mitasse_, fastened round the hips, and descending to the ankle; _botasvaqueras_ of deer skin, fastened at the knee; and a striped zarape ofbrilliant colours. A panama straw hat was thrown on the table, withinreach of his hand, by the side of an American rifle and twodouble-barrelled pistols. A machete hung on his left side, and the hiltof a long knife peeped out of his left boot.
His companion was short and thick-set; but his well-knit limbs and hisoutstanding muscles indicated no ordinary strength. His face, thefeatures of which were commonplace enough, had a cunning look, whichsuddenly disappeared to make room for a certain nobility whenever underthe influence Of any sudden emotion; his eyebrows contracted; and hisglance, ordinarily veiled, flashed forth. He wore nearly the same garbas his comrade; but his hat stained with rain, and the colours of hiszarape faded by the sun, evidenced lengthened wear. Like the first onewe described, he was well armed.
It was easy to see at the first glance that these two men did not belongto the Hispano-American race, indeed, their conversation would haveremoved any doubts on that head, for they spoke in the French dialectemployed in Canada.
"Hum!" the first said, taking up his glass, which he carelessly raisedto his lips. "After due consideration, Harry, I believe we shall dobetter by mounting our horses again, and starting, instead of remainingin this horrible den, amid these _gachupinos_, who croak like frogsbefore a storm."
"Deuce take your impatience!" the other replied ill-temperedly. "Can'tyou remain a moment at rest?"
"You call it a moment, Harry. Why, we have been here an hour."
"By Jove! Dick, you're a wonderful fellow," the other continued with alaugh. "Do you think that business can be settled all in a moment?"
"After all, what is our game? For may the old one twist my neck, or agrizzly give me a hug, if I know the least in the world! For five yearswe have hunted and slept side by side. We have come from Canada togetherto this place. I have grown into a habit--I cannot say why--of referringto you everything that concerns our mutual interests. Still I should notbe sorry to know, if only for the rarity of the fact, why on earth weleft the prairies, where we were so well off, to come here, where we areso badly off."
"Have you ever repented, up to today, the confidence you placed in me?"
"I do not say so, Harry. Heaven forbid! Still I think--"
"You think wrong," the young man sharply interrupted. "Let me alone, andbefore three months you shall have three times your hat full of massivegold, or call me a fool."
At this dazzling promise the eyes of Dick, the smaller of the hunters,glistened like two stars. He regarded his comrade with a species ofadmiration.
"Oh, oh!" he said in a low voice, "It is a placer, is it?"
"Hang it!" the other said, with a shrug of his shoulders, "were it not,should I be here? But silence, our man has arrived."
In fact, a man entered at this moment. On his appearance a suddensilence fell on the meson; the adventurers gambling and cursing at allthe tables, rose as if moved by a spring, respectfully took off theirplumed hats, and ranged themselves with downcast eyes to let him pass.The man remained for an instant on the threshold of the venta, took aprofound glance at the company, and then walked toward the two hunters.
This man wore the gown of a monk; he had the ascetic face, with theharsh features and sharply-marked lines, that forms, as it were, thetype of the Spanish monks of which Titian has so admirably caught theexpression on his canvas. He passed through the adventurers, holding outright and left his wide sleeves, which they reverentially kissed. Onapproaching the two hunters he turned round.
"Continue your sports, my sons," he said to the company; "my presenceneed not disturb your frolics, for I only wish to speak for a fewmoments with those two gentlemen."
The adventurers did not let the invitation be repeated, but took theirplaces again tumultuously, and soon cries and oaths recommenced withequal intensity. The monk smiled, took a butaca, and seated himselfbetween the two hunters, while bending a searching glance on them. Thelatter had followed with a mocking eye all the interludes of this littlescene, and without making a movement, they let the monk seat himself bytheir side. So soon as he had done so, Harry poured him out a largeglass of pulque, and placed within his reach the squares of maize leafand tobacco.
"Drink and smoke, senor padre," he said to him.
The monk, without any observation, rolled a cigarette, emptied the glassof pulque at a draught, and then leaning his elbows on the table andbending forward, said,--
"You are punctual."
"We have been waiting an hour," Dick observed in a rough voice.
"What is an hour in the presence of eternity?" the monk said with asmile.
"Let us not lose any more time," Harry continued. "What have you topropose to us?"
The monk looked around him suspiciously, and lowered his voice.
"I can, if you like, make you rich in a few days."
"What is the business?" Dick asked.
"Of course," the monk continued, "this fortune I offer you is a matterof indifference to me. If I have an ardent desire to obtain it, it is,in the first place, because it belongs to nobody, and will permit me torelieve the wretchedness of the thousands of beings confided to mycharge."
"Of course, senor padre," Harry answered seriously. "Let us not weighlonger on these details. According to what you told me a few days back,you have discovered a rich placer."
"Not I," the monk sharply objected.
"No consequence, provided that it exists," Dick answered.
"Pardon me, but it is of great consequence to me. I do not wish to takeon myself the responsibility of such a discovery. If, as I believe,people will go in search
of it, it may entail the death of severalpersons, and the church abhors bloodshed."
"Very good: you only desire to profit by it."
"Not for myself."
"For your parishioners. Very good; but let us try to come to anunderstanding, if possible, for our time is too precious for us to wasteit in empty talk."
"_Valgame Dios_!" the monk said, crossing himself, "How you haveretained the impetuosity of your French origin! Have a little patience,and I will explain myself."
"That is all we desire."
"But you will promise me--"
"Nothing," Dick interrupted. "We are honest hunters, and not accustomedto pledge ourselves so lightly before knowing positively what is askedof us."
Harry supported his friend's words by a nod. The monk drank a glass ofpulque, and took two or three heavy puffs at his cigarette.
"Your will be done," he then said. "You are terrible men. This is theaffair."
"Go on."
"A poor scamp of a gambusino, lost, I know not how, in the great desert,discovered at a considerable distance off, between the Rio Gila and theColorado, the richest placer the wildest imagination can conceive.According to his statement the gold is scattered over the surface, foran extent of two or three miles, in nuggets, each of which would make aman's fortune. This gambusino, dazzled by such treasures, but unable toappropriate them alone, displayed the greatest energy, and braved theutmost perils, in order to regain civilised regions. It was only throughboldness and temerity that he succeeded in escaping the countlessenemies who spied, and tracked him on all sides; but Heaven at lengthallowed him to reach Paso safe and sound."
"Very good," Dick observed. "All this may very possibly, be true; butwhy did you not bring this gambusino, instead of talking to us about theplacer, of which you know as little as we do? He would have supplied uswith information which is indispensable for us, in the event of ourconsenting to help you in looking for this treasure."
"Alas!" the monk replied, hypocritically casting his eyes down, "theunhappy man was not destined to profit by this discovery, made at theprice of so many perils. Scarce two days after his arrival at Paso, hequarrelled with another gambusino, and received a stab which sent him afew hours later to the tomb."
"In that case," Harry observed, "how did you learn all these details,senor padre?"
"In a very simple way, my son. It was I who reconciled the poor wretchin his last moments with Heaven; and," he added, with an air ofcompunction splendidly assumed, "when he understood that his end was athand, and that nothing could save him, he confided to me, in gratitudefor the consolation I bestowed on him, what I have just told you,revealed to me the situation of the placer, and for greater certaintygave me a clumsy chart he had drawn out on the spot. You see that we canproceed almost with certainty."
"Yes," Harry said, thoughtfully; "but why, instead of first applying tothe Mexicans, your countrymen, did you propose to us to help you in yourenterprise?"
"Because the Mexicans are men who cannot be trusted, and before reachingthe placer we should have to fight the Apaches and Comanches, on whoseterritory it is situated."
After these words, there was a lengthened silence between the threespeakers: each was reflecting deeply on what he had just heard. The monktried to read with cunning eye the impression produced on the hunters byhis confidence; but his hopes were deceived. Their faces remainedunmoved. At length Dick spoke in a rough voice, after exchanging ameaning look with his comrade.
"All that is very fine," he said; "but it is absurd to suppose that twomen, however brave they may be, can attempt such an enterprise inunknown regions peopled by ferocious tribes. It would require at leastfifty resolute and devoted men, otherwise nothing could be possible."
"You are right, and hence I did not calculate on you alone. You willhave determined men under your orders, chosen carefully by myself, and Ishall also accompany you."
"Unluckily, if you have counted on us, you are mistaken, senor padre,"Harry said, peremptorily. "We are honest hunters; but the trade of agambusino does not at all suit us. Even if we had a chance of gaining anincalculable fortune, we would not consent to take part in an expeditionof gold seekers."
"Not even if Red Cedar were at the head of the expedition, and consentedto take the direction?" the monk said in a honeyed voice, and with aside glance.
The hunter started, a feverish blush suffused his face, and it was in avoice choked by emotion that he exclaimed,--
"Have you spoken with him about it?"
"Here he is; you can ask him," the monk answered.
In fact, a man was entering the meson at this moment. Harry looked downin confusion, while Dick tapped the table with his dagger and whistled.A smile of undefinable meaning wandered over the monk's pallid lips.