CHAPTER XVI.
A HAVEN WORSE THAN THE STORM.
What a difference between this rough country, where the earth was fullof pits as a prairie dogs' village, and that old European soil teemingwith hotels and inns, where the wealthy traveller could count upon asmiling welcome.
Mr. Gladsden's surprise was tempered with awe. All his ideas wereperturbed. His notions of the true and false were upset. His educationturned against him, and the instinct of self-preservation made himgreet with joy all that he had acquired now of utility in thatadventurous passage in his life which he had begun to deplore, andwhich he took the utmost care his growing sons should never know indetail.
He congratulated himself on having been prompted not to neglectphysical experience in favour of the moral, and to fill his mind withpractical learning. Intelligence was an important factor, but it had tobe backed up by strength and skill to be a conqueror in the desert.
If ever he had felt the European aristocrat's conceit over the WesternAmericans, he withdrew any injurious depreciation, for he saw clearlythat this New World belonged to the clear head and strong arm, and thatthere was no more desirable comrade than this embodiment beside him ofthe Great Republic, who had supplemented his inborn powers with thesavage's sharpness, strategy, and address.
In other days, he had lightly confronted similar perils from sheerignorance of their extent; but now, drawn back into the terriblewhirlpool from the metropolitan centre of refinement, he felt hisheart squeezed by a sudden weight; he was no longer sure of himselfas danger, hydra-headed, appeared under new, frightful and multipliedforms.
It was in vain that he sought to recover the plenitude of hisjudgment. Nothing but the extreme stubbornness which was his racialcharacteristic, enabled him to master the strange emotions which heexperienced, but, if he had lacked for daring and impulse of pride notto show the white feather before a man who he esteemed near enoughof his kin to constitute a judge, this determined him to impressfavourably at any cost.
While he was fortifying his will, Oliver had completed the preparationsfor a flight, taking it for granted that his obligation was notdischarged till, this time, the English gentleman owned he wasperfectly safe.
They mounted, and gradually increasing the pace, went on for upwards ofthree hours without exchanging one syllable or tightening the rein.
They kept the source stream of the Yaqui on the north, racing throughwoodland where the guide eluded the branches with miraculous dexterity,and selected "lanes" through which his companion could ride, withlowered head and knees pressed in, without too much risk of an accidentlike Absalom's.
About ten o'clock they came out on the plain, broken with isolatedwooded patches. The night was clear, warm and starry. The cold andpale spring moon shed a saddening light, confusing the ground objects,and impressing the prominences of the landscape with an aspect bothfantastic and solemn.
Soon there loomed up a definite form on the horizon. A light gleamedand then glimmered in the midst of a thicket of tulipwood andmagnolias. Towards this beacon Oregon Ol. directed their way.
"We are running rusty," he said, "hyar we kin ile up."
Soon the chaparral began to "hedge" away on both sides, and a ratherlarge building gladdened the sight of the Englishman. Oliver showed notokens of being similarly charmed.
This edifice, built of mud bricks, sunbaked, and whitened withlimewash, was pierced with six mere loophole windows high up on thefront; it ranked midway between the ranch and the hacienda, that is,the shanty and the grange house. Like all Mexican dwellings, it had abroad verandah sustained by pillars before the doorway, and a soddedflat roof in the Italian mode. All around it was a defiant wall in livecactus.
Altogether, as the Englishman thought, a most agreeable and picturesquehabitation.
When the pair of horsemen were only a few strides away, the Americanpulled in a little, and, bending towards his companion at his knee,muttered:
"A regular whiskey hole I am taking you into, sir. But thar's no placeelse whar we kin halt for rest. Don't show disgust or astonishment atanything; let me have all 'the say,' and you kin lay high that we shellsleep as peaceably in that air den as in the best railroad hotel on theGreat Pacific."
"The horses seem strong on their legs still. Why should we not press onto that village of which I perceive the roofs on the skyline, shiningas if snow coated them? Is it not Fronteras?"
"Nothing of the sort! Fronteras is the other side of the water--thatstreak of olive green with reddish shadow. That is no town, but avillage of no account, a cluster of peons' cabins around the farmhouse.The sheep dogs would have to be beaten off from springing on ourhorses, and the labourers don't like _hereticos_, anyhow. No, oursafety and comfort says: Camp down hyar."
"Nuther item: we have twice crossed a warm, broad trail of Apaches, Icalc'late, over a hundred strong, smelling like p'ison of war paint,and I go into cover when thar air so heavy odds. Yes, this child do.Yonder hacienda is called that of the _Ojo Agotado_, the exhaustedspring, or we plainsmen and mountain men say: 'the Gi'n-out.' We shallnot be received frien'ly thar. I say agen. Here, though, I can rely onbeing taken in cheerily, for the host would have lost his ears only Icame along by the oak tree where he had been nailed up by them--littlefriskiness on the part of the ragamuffin warriors of One-leg Pedrillo'sgang. Don't you fret; the Rancho Verde will house us, and youpertickler, first-chop, as the Chinee says."
"I do not understand, but I am wholly in your hands."
"That's the best place to put yourself. You kin offer me a testimonialin a gold frame hereafter."
They moved on once more at a good pace. As they approached their goalthe light of guidance seemed to spread out. Soon they could make outthat an immense glare flamed from the open portals as from a crater,and they heard singing, whistling on war whistles, shouts, wildlaughter, all jumbled up with the shrill twang of a guitar, of whichthe far from harmonious notes blended more or less satisfactorily withthe rumble of a tambourine.
"Having a jamboree," said the hunter, drawing rein at the blazingdoorway.
"Some unfort'nat' has lost his ducats. Uncle's swarming with robberstonight."
The ground was hard as flint, and the clatter of the horses' hoofs hadattracted to the mudsill (for the doorstep was embedded in the earthof the floor) a stout knave of some forty years, with a sullen eye, aferocious mien, and cars as tattered as a fighting dog's. His peculiarcomplexion, yellowish, and muddy, and oily hair, denoted him to beno regular blooded white. This burly rogue, stiffly standing in theentrance, eyed the strangers sullenly without speaking.
The American uttered the religious greeting customary among theMexicans, to which the regular counter speech was grumblingly accorded,and, alighting, he subjoined:
"Well, _Tio Camote_ (Uncle Sweet-potato), _hosquillo_ as ever! Ay,even more gloomy! But how much longer air you going to keep an oldcompanyero at the head of his nag? Don't you see with half an eye thatmy pard. an' me have rattled along as if your granddad Old Horny was atour hosses' tails, and that we want food and sleep as much as they doto bury their muzzles in oats?"
"Why!" ejaculated the individual, who, by the rule of contrary whichpervades the popular idea of fun, had been nicknamed "_Sweet_ Potato,""Heaven forgive me, but, as true as I am a sinner, we have here SenorDon Olivero. Just overlook my not having recognised your senory at thefirst peep."
"So I will, Aluino,--so I will! Only get the animals into the stablesright smart."
"Like a shot, Senor," said the changed man with alacrity, and takingboth bridles with no more pride than a hostler.
"Half a minute, uncle," interposed the hunter, taking him by one of thesplit cars playfully, and yet with significance. "I want you to keep inmind, Potato of Sweetness," he continued, "that your brother trusts theintire consarn to you,--cattle, harness, bags, and inn'ards,--the wholeconsarn, you savey?"
"Yo sabe," was the reply, tranquilly made, but the half-breed made awry face which did not beautify its everyday expression.
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"Now, that's talking. You know me right down to my boots. So, git yougone, but don't go to sleep, for I have something to talk about."
"In ten minutes I shall be at your senorship's orders."
"Good boy, Uncle Al!"
The hotelkeeper went away grumbling louder and louder, with the horsesfor the _corral_ (enclosure).
"Stick your pistols in your belt, and follow me. You air going to seeno end of a curious circus," resumed Oliver to his companion. "Keepcool, and a little swagger does no harm. These here tough men and roughmen must think you no tenderfoot; I rayther guess they'll figger me upfirst pop, as raised right hyar on the plantation."
"I hope you'll be content with me," returned Mr. Gladsden; "I have madeup my mind. I am not going to back out, but sail right over the bar,whatever the quantity of broken glass."
He laughed quietly, and assumed the bearing which he believed he hadworn at the time he was clad in red flannel shirt and corduroy trouserstucked into cowhide boots when up the country, not a thousand milesfrom that spot, fifteen years before.
"That looks the ticket. I believe we are going to see some fun."
With that they entered the tavern with steady foot.
The uproar that hailed their entrance seemed louder than before.Neither of them, however, was affected by the malevolent greeting, butstrode to a heavy table, hewn into shape with the broad axe, where theyinstalled themselves, and proceeded to take a disdainful survey of thepatrons of the drinking den. For their part they devoured the intruderswith most ravenous eyes.
A pen dipped in vitriol would not adequately describe this vile hauntof all the scum of the border. The dozen guests were men of all mixedcastes and hues, with hangdog faces and in squalid rags. They weresodden already with the coarse liquor. The muddy, smoky, ignoble roomwas furnished with massive benches, stools, and tables, soaked withblood and spilt beverages. The bar had two 'tenders, men as sturdy asCamote himself, who carried pistols in hip pockets and long knivesin sheaths at the back of their necks, more as if they were besiegedbehind the counter than anything else, so precious was the poisonthey served out. Their patrons sang, shouted, yelled, quarrelled,all through thick cigar smoke, played with greasy cards and yelloweddice, whilst one resumed pulling at his _heaca's_ homemade strings.The gamblers, however, pulled out handfuls of gold and silver from thesecret pouches in their bedraggled and tattered garments, worn fromchoice of slovenliness.
The scene was illumined by several smoky wicks swimming like decayingserpents in as foul green oil, in open lamps as antique in fashion asthose now and again dug up in Old Spain. Each man had his own bottle,and the aguardiente, tepache, rum, and Californian wine, labelledfalsely "Catalonia," flowed so profusely that someone was gurgling atthem constantly.
Such was this palace of prairie pleasures.
The arrival of strangers had considerable effect. Far from benevolentsquints, we repeat, were directed upon them fixedly, while murmurs ofevil augury began to be heard. The objects of this growing ill feelingreplied by the most complete indifference to the provocations whichwere more and more emphasized.
"Warm," remarked Oliver sententiously.
"We are in a hot box," rejoined Mr. Gladsden.
"Yes, I reckoned it would be a mixed lot, 'stead o' which, they are allof a gang. All the _honest_ ruffians have been cleared out."
As Camote did not hasten in, Oliver rose, went up to the counter, threwdown a dollar, took up a bottle at hazard, spite of the nearer bar'tender's scowls, and returned. He clapped it on the table, knockedoff the ring of glass round the mouth and its cork a-flying, with adexterous cut of the back of his knife, and poured out brimmers ofwine for himself and his friend in the pannikin which, like a goldprospector, he always carried at his waist, and in the silver mountedcup cover of Mr. Gladsden's brandy pistol.
"Here's to well-out-of-this!" he murmured in English.
"I concur," added Gladsden heartily, and they drank.
"The music is over. The dance is going to begin," said Oliver, puttinghis tin cup up in place.
Indeed, the guitar, so noisy, was silenced. The player, a tall,haggard, lengthened rascal, who seemed to have been once hanged andpulled out by the feet, suspended the instrument carefully up on thewalls and advanced in a swaggering way towards the latest comers, hishat outrageously cocked on one side, as much to cover a patch whence aportion of the scalp had been removed as to look rakish, resting onefist upon his bony, prominent hip, and the other hand on the steel hiltof a very fine old rapier of enormous length. On gazing most closelyat Oliver, who happened to be the nearer to him, when he stopped in aninsolent attitude, he remarked the additional pistol and knife in hisbelt acquired by right of conquest from the spy whom he had shot, and,after a moment's hesitation, his colour coming again more deeply, hecried, _ex abrupto_:
"Flames of purgatory! Gentlemen, I never knew of greater impudence thanfor you to present yourselves, after having murdered my brother-in-armsLa Gallina."
"Caballero, what do you mean by that?" returned the American, as muchsurprised as all the auditors by this denunciation.
"Do you think I do not recognise the Chicken heart's pistol of twoshots, by the handle nicked with cuts for the men he has slain? Was itnot mine first, and did we not exchange firearms when we became sworncomrades in life to death?"
"Caballero," said the hunter again, with killing politeness, "I believeI did shoot some skunk that came prowling round me at suppertime. But,the fact is, I hate to be riled when I am eating, _or drinking,_ andI'll put a bullet out of the same barrel into anyone who repeats theannoyance. You hear me?"
"Shoot me!" cried the bandit in a furious voice, as he drew the longblade. "A thousand demons."
"Yes, you! Right away too, you candidate for the gallows," rejoined thehunter, rising.
"We'll see about that,--iCaray!"
"I guess _you_ won't see much of it, though the principal bodyconsarned!"
Already the hunter had jumped forward to seize the fellow by the neckand the sword belt; he raised the bag of bones as easily as if he hadbeen a toy balloon, and getting him "on the swing," by an irresistiblemotion, forced him to fly twenty feet aloof.
"Excuse me not telling you, gentlemen, your friend was coming," heremarked, sarcastically.
The bandit almost flattened against the doorpost, and fell senselessjust outside the opening, only his long arms within.
"Some folks air so dull, a man's obleeged to give them a warning,"added the Oregonian, resuming his seat.
This feat had been executed so quickly that the spectators remainedmotionless with amazement; but on their anger enlivening them theysprang up, every man of them, and rushed towards the strangers withdrawn swords and knives, yelling for blood and death.
The very brutality and causelessness of this fresh attack made it themore mortal and savage. These drunken vagrants were too much on theirguard against each other, and, besides, knew their own opponents'abilities too well to fight among themselves, so that to fall uponstrangers was always deemed more profitable. It was not, therefore,so much to avenge their fallen comrades as to obey the sanguinaryinstincts which the rudely fabricated alcohol had inflamed, that theyrenewed this charge. They cared very little whether Gallina or hisblood companion had been killed by the men before them, they foughtmerely for the pleasure of bloodspilling. Such a conflict of twelve totwo was one of those merry byplays which varied the joys of debauchery,and would afford them foundation for bragging at the refreshment barduring the fandango. These men, moreover, being mongrels, hated thepure whites inveterately, and to exterminate them would be an excessivepleasure.
But as such barroom squabbles are common occurrences in the life ofa hunter, always incurred by him when he comes to the outposts ofcivilisation, they did not daunt Oregon Oliver in the slightest degree.The storm he had raised by the summary correction of the spoil-feastdid not make him blench. No more was his companion appalled. Thepresent peril had transformed the gentleman. His features beamedwith that g
low of battle which irradiates the pages of Froissart whenhe speaks of the English knights travelling as far as Spain to warin fratricidal struggles which in no way really interested them. Heeven smiled, and aided his associate with charming readiness in hisdefensive preparations. These were neither long nor difficult to carryout.
They merely overturned the solid table on its side, one end againsta cask, the other against the sidewall, their backs to the rear ofthe den of thieves. Kneeling behind this barricade they were sure notto be surrounded, had enough elbow play, and could await the issuecomplacently enough. The banditti had barked their shins against thetable, and recoiled on being faced by the two men, shielded from theknee to the chin, with flashing eyes between four revolver muzzles.They consulted in an undertone for a few instants.
"They see the tables are turned indeed!" observed Mr. Gladsden.
Meanwhile the cause of this disturbance, the tall varlet, had scrambledto his feet, clinging to the doorpost; he was bruised all along hisbody by the shock, and he came in among his fellows limping, foamingwith pain and rage, and aching for revenge.
"You are pretty mates o' mine to shrink!" he sneered, "Afeard of acouple of Yankees!"
"Who's afeard?" retorted the precious crew, pushing one another.
"It looks so," went on he, with a grin of pain. "You are ten to two,and you plot and plan together when I, at least, pitched into themalone. If this be not fear it is an extreme prudence, which is itssister. Are you not bound to avenge La Gallina's death?"
"Yes, we are bound to avenge a comrade's death; but just count theshots in those pepperboxes. It is not the question of our gettingkilled, but of smashing those, our enemies. We're in a lump here, inthe open, and they are covered. I conjecture our order of battle isvery defective."
"Right he is," chorused the fellows of this orator.
"You are a flock of prairie hens! Haven't you firearms as well?"
"You won't see that they have those cursed repeating rifles also attheir backs! Besides, these Yanks have longer heads than us. Ah, if theCaptain were here! He knows all the tricks of the norteamericanos, andcan match their cards at any game."
"That's very true; but _El Manco_ (the Maimed) is not at hand. He isnot due yet. We must do our own work--so, have at them with what heartye may!"
"Oh, we're choking with our hearts, Valentacho; but we don't care to beshot down like buffalo."
"Well, if it comes to that--if I must show you the lead again, here!Lo! I lead; only, let's have you stick to me."
"Like wax! Lead on."
"It's understood?"
"Plain as the Creed!"
"Then forward! And death to the gabachos--curse them!" yelled the tallrogue, waving his rapier as high as the ceiling would permit.
They all rushed forward with exceeding fury.
"Take heed!" muttered Oliver; "Two shots apiece, and fire low!"
Four shots of the revolvers stretched two Mexicans on the floor neverto rise again; another brace that had been "winged," removed themselvesout of the room altogether, probably to find the nearest surgeon. Butthe fillip had been given to flagging spirits; the rogues were excitedby the pistols' flash and smoke. Their rage redoubled, and they fellupon the edge of the oaken rampart and tried to chop down the twowhites within.
It was a horrible medley with the firearms spitting fire in alldirections, as hands were jostled and the eager ruffians interferedwith one another's movements.
Acting on Oliver's advice, the two besieged men wasted no more powder.Their rampart was the higher by three or four dead bodies hanging,bent in the middle, over the edge, and, standing up now, they met thecontestants' machetes with their scarcely less long hunting knives.
The robbers fairly howled with impotent rage, having never met such aprovoking resistance. Valentacho was the most persistent of any. Heclung to the table with one hand, trying to pull it over on its top,snarling like a wild animal, and showering blows of the cutlass on thefoe too active to receive one of them save on their own blades.
"See here!" cried Oliver, "You that's so n'isy! Wasn't that firstlesson good enough? Don't you know I'm keeping school here? Yes, OregonOl. is the schoolmaster right down hyar in Sonora, and it looks likeI'll have to send you home on one e-tarnal holiday!"
The bandit ceased to yell, and, leaning forward, managed to clutchthe _frazada_ (blanket) of the speaker, which he had rolled round hisleft arm, _more Hispanico_, and drew him towards him, in order that hemight, shortening his sword, stab him through and through.
"You are a liar, dog!" said he, fiercely, through his gritting teeth;"'Tis you who are about to die!"
With an upward sweep of his right hand, in which he had reversed hisrevolver and seized it by the barrel, Oliver dashed the coming rapieraside, and, with a downward blow of the pistol thus converted into ahammer, he visited the Mexican's skull so violently with a concussionto the brain that the outlaw let go the grasp on the blanket and of hissword, and fell back among his comrades without even a groan. No oxcould have been felled more swiftly.
The defeated and horrified rabble melted away in disorder. They hadhad their dose. They would have been only too glad to leave the sceneof combat, but for shame's sake, and the dread of their captain notfinding them at this tryst.
Oliver kicked away the cask which had prevented a flank attack, steppedclear from the corpses and his defences, and quietly going up to thebar, behind which the keepers had tranquilly watched as much of theaction as the smoke permitted, he said:
"Another bottle! As for you _gentecilla_, clear away your dead, and sityou down and clear up your glasses, too. If any man goes out withoutfinishing his liquor to my health, I'll not leave a mouth on him if arifle be any utility in my claws."
The cowed mob obeyed the double order grudgingly but faithfully.The smoke was wafted out and up the hole in the roof, which was thechimney, and a little order reigned in the barroom. But still thelandlord did not believe it healthy to make his appearance, though hisplace was surely here. The two visitors took their seats at anothertable, almost in the midst of the prairie depredators, but no oneinterrupted their conversation this time, and the other customers,without conferring with one another, soon glided out of the RanchoVerde, and finally all had disappeared.
"We've a clean ship, Oliver," said Mr. Gladsden; "our merry associateshave vacated this hall of rosy light."
"We kin histe in our nightcaps, then," replied the guide. "With sucha gap made in One-leg's band, always provided it is his cuadrilla,we need not fear they will come in the night to serenade us. By theway, that endless fellow has left his guitar. Shall I play somethingskippy?"
"You can play what you please," returned the Englishman. "Only I votefor a dance tune. It is my belief that we shall not want for dancers."
Indeed, there was a clatter of horses' hoofs, without.
"Correct you air, Injin!" said Oliver, lending his ear interestedly."Put fresh cartridges in! There seems an agreement by all hands that weshall not be let sleep in peace this night!"