CHAPTER XII.
DIAMOND CUT DIAMOND.
Red Cedar did not remain long under the effect of the startling insulthe had received. Pride, wrath, and, before all, the desire to avengehimself restored his strength, and a few minutes after Don PabloZarate's departure the squatter had regained all his coolness andaudacity.
"You see, senor padre," he said, addressing the monk, "that our littleplans are known to our enemies; we must, therefore, make haste if we donot wish to see persons break in here, from whom it is of the utmostimportance to conceal ourselves. Tomorrow night at the latest, perhapsbefore, we shall start. Do not stir from here till my return. Your faceis too well known at Santa Fe for you to venture to show it in thestreets without imprudence."
"Hum!" the monk muttered, "That demon, whom I fancied dead, is a rudeadversary. Fortunately we shall soon have nothing more to fear from hisfather, for I hardly know how we should get out of it."
"If the son has escaped us," Red Cedar said with an ugly smile, "that isfortunately not the case with the father. Don't be alarmed; Don Miguelwill cause us no further embarrassment."
"I wish it most earnestly, _canarios!_ for he is a determined man; but Iconfess to you that I shall not be entirely at my ease till I have seenhim fall beneath the bullets of the soldiers."
"You will not have long to wait. General Ventura has ordered me to goand meet the regiment of dragoons he expects, in order to hurry them on,and bring them into the town this very night, if possible. So soon asthe governor has an imposing force at his disposal he will no longerfear a revolt on the part of the troops, and give the order forexecution without delay."
"May Heaven grant it! But," he added with a sigh of regret, "what a pitythat most of our scamps deserted us! We should have almost arrived atthe placer by this time, and been safe from the vengeance of ourenemies."
"Patience, senor padre; all is for the best, perhaps, trust to me.Andres, my horse."
"You will start at once, then?"
"Yes. I recommend you to watch carefully over our prisoner."
The monk shrugged his shoulders.
"Our affairs are tolerably well embarrassed already; then why burdenourselves with a woman?"
The squatter frowned.
"That is my business," he exclaimed in a peremptory tone. "Keep allstupid observations to yourself. A thousand devils! I know what I amabout. That woman will possibly prove our safeguard at a later date."
And mounting his horse, Red Cedar galloped out of Santa Fe.
"Hum!" Andres Garote said as he watched him depart, "what a diabolicaleye! Though I have known him several years, I never saw him like thatbefore. How will all this end?"
Without further remarks he arranged matters in the rancho, repairing aswell as he could the disorder caused by the previous struggle; then hetook a look round him. The monk, with his elbows on the table and acigarette in his mouth, was drinking the fluid left in the bottle,doubtless to console himself for the _navajada_ with which Don Pablo hadfavoured him.
"Why, senor padre," the ranchero said in an insinuating voice, "do youknow that it is hardly five o'clock?"
"Do you think so?" the other answered for the sake of saying something.
"Does not the time seem to you to go very slowly?"
"Extraordinarily so."
"If you liked we could easily shorten it."
"In what way?"
"Oh, for instance, with these."
And Andres drew from his boot a pack of greasy cards, which hecomplacently spread out on the table.
"Ah! That is a good idea," the monk exclaimed with sparkling eyes. "Letus have a game of monte."
"At your orders."
"Don Andres, you are a most worthy gentlemen. What shall we play for?"
"Ah, hang it! That is true; we must play for something," the rancherosaid, scratching his head.
"The merest trifle, simply to render the game interesting."
"Yes, but to do that man must possess the trifle."
"Do not let that trouble you. If you permit me I will make you aproposal."
"Do so, senor. You are a remarkable clever man, and can have none butbright ideas."
The monk bowed to his flattering insinuation.
"This is it: we will play, if you like for the share of the gold weshall receive when we reach the placer."
"Done!" the ranchero shouted enthusiastically.
"Well," the monk said, drawing from his pocket a pack of cards no lessdirty than the others, "we can at any rate kill time."
"What! You have cards too?" the ranchero remarked.
"Yes, and quite new, as you see." Andres bowed with an air ofconviction.
The game began at once, and soon the two men were completely absorbed inthe combinations of the _seis de copas,_ the _as de bastos_, the _dos deoro_, and the _cuatro d'espadas_. The monk, who had no necessity tofeign at this moment, as he was in the company of a man thoroughlyacquainted with him, yielded frenziedly to his ruling passion. InMexico, and throughout Spanish America, the _angelus_ rings at sunset.In those countries, where there is no twilight, night arrives withouttransition, so that ere the bell has done tinkling the gloom is dense.At the last stroke of the angelus the game ceased, as if by commonagreement between the two men, and they threw their cards on the table.
Although Garote was a passed master in trickery, and had displayed allhis science, he found in the monk so skilful an adversary that, aftermore than three hours of an obstinate struggle, they both foundthemselves as little advanced as at the outset. The monk, however, oncoming to the rancho, had an object which Red Cedar was far fromsuspecting.
Fray Ambrosio rested his arms on the table, bent his body slightlyforward, and while carelessly playing with the cards, which he amusedhimself by sorting, he said to the ranchero, as he fixed a scrutinisingglance upon him,--
"Shall we talk a little, Don Andres?"
"Willingly," the latter replied, who had partly risen, but now fell backon his chair.
By a secret foreboding Andres Garote had guessed that the monk wished tomake some important proposal to him. Hence, thanks to that instinctiveintuition which rogues possess for certain things, the two men read eachother's thoughts. Fray Ambrosio bit his lips, for the gambusino'sintelligence startled him. Still the latter bent upon him a glance sofull of stupid meaning, that he continued to make a confidant of him, asit were involuntarily.
"Senor Don Andres," he said in a soft and insinuating voice, "what ahappiness that your poor brother, on dying, revealed to me the secret ofthe rich placer, which he concealed even from yourself!"
"It is true," Andres answered, turning slightly pale; "it was veryfortunate, senor padre. For my part, I congratulate myself on it daily."
"Is it not so? For without it the immense fortune would have been lostto you and all else."
"It is terrible to think of."
"Well, at this moment I have a horrible fear."
"What is it, senor padre?"
"That we have deferred our departure too long, and that some of thoseEuropean vagabonds we were speaking of just now may have discovered ourplacer. Those scoundrels have a peculiar scent for finding gold."
"_Caray_, senor padre!" Andres said, striking the table with a feignedgrief (for he knew very well what the monk was saying was only a cleverway of attaining his real point), "that would drive me mad--an affair sowell managed hitherto."
"That is true," Fray Ambrosio said in corroboration. "I could neverconsole myself."
"_Demonios_! I have as great an interest in it as yourself, senorpadre," the gambusino replied with superb coolness. "You know that anuninterrupted succession of unfortunate speculations robbed me of myfortune, and I hoped thus to regain it at a stroke."
At these words Fray Ambrosio had incredible difficulty in repressing asmile; for it was a matter of public notoriety that senor Don AndresGarote was a lepero, who, as regarded fortune, had never possessed afarthing of patrimony; that throughout his life he had never been aughtbut
an adventurer; and that the unlucky speculations of which hecomplained were simply an ill luck at monte, which had recently strippedhim of 20,000 piastres, acquired Heaven alone knew how. But senor DonAndres Garote was a man of unequalled bravery, gifted with a fertile andready mind, whom the accidents of life had compelled to live for alengthened period on the _llanos_ (prairies), whose paths he knew asthoroughly as he did the tricks of those who dwelt on them. Hence, andfor many other reasons, Andres Garote was an invaluable comrade for FrayAmbrosio, who had also a bitter revenge to take on the monte table,because he pretended to place the most sincere faith in what it pleasedhis honourable mate to say touching his lost fortune.
"However," he said, after an instant's reflection, "supposing that theplacer is intact, and that no one has discovered it, we shall have along journey to reach it."
"Yes," the gambusino remarked, significantly; "the road is difficult andbroadcast with perils innumerable."
"We must march with our chins on our shoulders, and finger on the rifletrigger--"
"Fight nearly constantly with wild beasts or Indians--"
"In a word, do you not believe that the woman Red Cedar has carried offwill prove a horrid bore?"
"Dreadfully so," Andres made answer, with an intelligent glance.
"What is to be done?"
"Hang it! That is difficult to say."
"Still we cannot run the risk, on account of a wretched woman, of havingour hair raised by the Indians."
"That's true enough."
"Is she here?"
"Yes," the gambusino said, pointing to a door; "in that room."
"Hum!"
"You remarked--"
"Nothing."
"Could we not--"
"What?"
"It is perhaps difficult," Andres continued, with feigned hesitation.
"Explain yourself."
The gambusino seemed to make up his mind.
"Suppose we restore her to her family?" he said.
"I have thought of that already."
"That is strange."
"It must be all managed very cleverly."
"And the relations pay a proper ransom."
"That is what I meant to say.".
There was a silence.
Decidedly these two honourable persons were made to understand oneanother.
"But who is to undertake this delicate mission?" asked the monk.
"I, _con mil demonios!_" the gambusino exclaimed, his eyes sparklingwith greed at the thought of the rich ransom he would demand.
"But if Red Cedar were to find out," the monk remarked, "that wesurrendered his prisoner?"
"Who will tell him?"
"I am sure I shan't."
"Nor I."
"It is very easy; the girl will have escaped."
"Quite true."
"Do not let us lose time, then. You have a horse?"
"I have two."
"Bravo! You will place Dona Clara on one, and mount the other yourself."
"And go straight to the Hacienda de la Noria."
"That is it. Don Pablo will be delighted to recover his sister, whom heexpected never to see again, and will not haggle over the price he paysfor her deliverance."
"Famous! In that way we run no risk of not reaching the placer, as ourparty will only consist of men."
"Excellently reasoned!"
Andres Garote rose with a smile which would have caused the monk toreflect, had he seen it; but at the same moment the latter was rubbinghis hands, saying in a low voice, and with a most satisfied air,--
"Now, my scamp, I've got you."
What secret thought possessed these two men, who were carrying on amutual deceit, none save themselves could have said. The gambusinoapproached the door of the room where Dona Clara was confined, and putthe key in the lock. At this moment two vigorous blows were dealt on thedoor of the rancho, which had been carefully bolted after Red Cedar'sdeparture. The two accomplices started.
"Must I open?" Andres asked.
"Yes," the monk answered; "hesitation or refusal might create alarm. Inour position we must foresee everything."
The ranchero went to open the door, which the newcomer threatened tobreak in. A man walked in, who took a careful glance around, then doffedhis hat and bowed. The confederates exchanged a glance of vexation onrecognising him, for he was no other than Shaw, Red Cedar's youngestson.
"I am afraid I disturb you, gentlemen," the young man said, with anironical smile.
"Not at all," Andres made answer; "on the contrary, we are delighted tosee you."
"Thanks!"
And the young man fell back into a butaca.
"You are very late at Santa Fe," the monk remarked.
"It is true," the American said, with some embarrassment; "I am lookingfor my father, and fancied I should find him here."
"He was so a few hours back, but he was obliged to leave us."
"Ah!"
This exclamation was rather drawn from the young man by the necessity hefelt of replying, than through any interest he took in the informationafforded him. He was evidently preoccupied; but Fray Ambrosio did notappear to notice it, as he continued,--
"Yes: it appears that his Excellency the Governor ordered your father togo and meet a regiment of dragoons intended to reinforce the garrison,and hasten its march."
"That is true; I forgot it."
The monk and the miner did not at all understand the American's conduct,and lost themselves in conjectures as to the reasons that brought him tothe rancho. They guessed instinctively that what he said about hisfather was only a pretext or means of introduction; and that a powerfulmotive, he would not or dared not avow, had brought him. For his part,the young man, in coming to the Rancho del Coyote, where he knew thatDona Clara was imprisoned, expected to find Andres alone, with whom hehoped to come to an understanding in some way or another. The presenceof the monk disturbed all his plans. Still, time was slipping away hemust make up his mind, and, before all, profit by Red Cedar'sprovidential absence, which offered him an opportunity he could hardlydare to hope again.