CHAPTER TWELVE.
THE CHASE OF CRUSADER.
By El Cascabel's orders, repeatedly are the big muskets re-loaded andfired into the _corral_, till every wagon has had a bullet through it,and the tent is pierced in several places. But all with the sameeffect, the shots eliciting no other response than their own echoes.Now the Indians know for sure that the camp is unoccupied; and, but fortheir foreknowledge of the topography of the place, would be mystifiedindeed. But most of them have themselves been on the summit ofNauchampa-tepetl, and their eyes turn interrogatively towards it.Thither the white men must have retreated, leaving everything below.
They see nothing, however; not as much as a face. For Don Estevan hasdirected those by the head of the gorge to keep well under cover, inhopes of tempting the savages to an ascent in the face of his formidablebattery.
But the Coyotero chief is too astute for that, knowing, moreover, thatthere is no chance for the despised enemy to escape him. Wrathful he iswithal, at having been in a way outwitted, angry at himself for havingmade the surround so slowly. It will cost him a siege, he knows not howlong, interfering with the expedition to the Horcasitas, perhaps to itsabandonment. But there is some compensation in the plunder sounexpectedly come upon, and from what he sees it should be an ample one.Six large wagons with a grand _tienda--litera_ also--visible, to saynothing of the numerous animals, a travelling party so well-appointedshould also have commodities in correspondence, promising a rich prize.
The camp is good as captured already; but instead of hastening on totake possession, he proceeds slowly and systematically as ever; fornothing can be gained by speed now, and some thing may be lost--theloose animals. They are still crowded up in the embayment between thecliffs, but with heads aloft and ears apeak, neighing, snorting, andrestless, as if about to make a break.
"Leave aside arms, all--guns, and spears!" commands the chief. "Getready the _riatas_!"
All together drop down from their horses, those who carry spearssticking them upright in the ground, those with firelocks laying themalong it. Any _impedimenta_ of baggage and accoutrements are alsopulled off and flung beside. Then they vault back upon their animals,each with but his trail-rope carried in coil over the left arm, to beused as a _lazo_.
Thus disencumbered and equipped, they at length advance, not for thecamp, but the _caballada_; but ere they can close up the mouth of thecove the white men's animals become more affrighted than ever, and makethe burst they had been threatening--horses, mules, and oxen alltogether. With a noise of thunder, the ground echoes the tread of theirhundreds of hooves, as in frenzied madness they rush out for the openplain. Little chance would there be of their reaching it but that theIndian horses catch the stampede, too, many of them becomingunmanageable. The enfilading line is broken, and through its rivenranks the camp animals sweep as a hurricane. One is in the lead--alarge horse, coal-black, on whom many an Indian had set eye, with _lazo_ready for his capture. Crusader it is, his neigh heard above allothers, as, with head on high, mane tossed, and tail streaming afar, hedashes at the severed line; again uttered, as it were exultingly, when,having cleared it, he sees no enemy before him. Half a dozen nooses areflung at and after him, all ill-directed; all fall short, and slide fromhis glistening flanks, while as many disappointed cries follow him inchorus.
All is scamper and confusion now; the surround has failed, the stampedetaken place, and the stampeded animals, such as succeeded in gettingoff--for not all went clear--can only be captured after a chase. Butthe Indian horses quickly get over their scare, and are laid on thepursuit till a stream of them stretches out on the _llano_. Fresher andin better condition than the camp animals, these are soon overtaken andnoosed, now one, now another, till at length only a single horse is seenbeyond the pursuing line.
Followed still, but so far beyond it, at each bound widening thedistance, that a pair of eyes watching the chase, at firstapprehensively, now sparkle with delight. For they are the eyes of hisown master, Henry Tresillian, standing on the _mesa's_ summit behind ascreening tree.
Half a score of the savages still continue the pursuit, among them theirchief himself. For he would give much to be the owner of that matchlesssteed, and now strains his own to the utmost. All in vain. Crusaderforges farther and farther away, till he is but a speck upon the plain.Then the baffled pursuers, one after another, give up discouraged, atlength El Cascabel also coming to a stop, and turning to ride back withan air of angry disappointment.
The English youth, yielding to a thrill of proud exultation, waves hiscap in the air, giving utterance to a triumphant "Hurrah!"
"I'm so glad he's got away from them," he says, to Vicente, by his side;"wherever he may go or whatever become of him. My noble Crusader! Butwasn't it clever? Wasn't it grand?"
"Wonderful!" responds the _gambusino_, alike moved to admiration. "Inever saw horse behave so in all my born life. _Santissima_! he must bea witch, if not the _demonio_ himself."
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The Indians, leading back the captured animals, and recovering theirarms, no longer delay entering the camp. Which, to their chagrin, theyfind not only abandoned, but wellnigh despoiled, as if other plunderershad been there before them! That much has been carried off, and ofcourse of the most valuable kind, is evinced by boxes broken open, balesunroped and the contents extracted, with here and there empty spaces inthe wagons, where evidently something had been stored. There is littleleft for them save the refuse, or effects of a nature to be of no use tothem. What care they for mining tools and machinery?
More than ever are they angry and regretful of their ill-judged delay;but vow deadlier vengeance, when the time comes for it.
Still that may not be soon. The very fashion of retreat shows it tohave been made with deliberation, and that the white men intend standinga siege, with the hopes and the wherewithal to hold out ever so long.And they, the Indians, knowing the danger of breasting that steep in theface of resolute defenders, have no thought of attempting it. But thegoods that have been carried up must remain there, and sooner or laterfall into their hands.
So consoling themselves, the new occupants of the camp settle down tothe siege, after having secured their animals--both their own and thosethey have just come into possession of. All are put out to grass,"hoppled" or tethered on trail-ropes. Then the fires, foundsmouldering, are replenished with fresh fuel, and blaze up brightly asever, with spits and roasting joints all round them.
This day the Coyoteros dine on beef, instead of their customary diet of_mezcal_ and baked horseflesh. And a plenteous repast they make. Notfor a long time have they had such an opportunity of gormandising. Intheir desert land of Apacheria provisions are scarce--often tostarvation-point; and they now feast gluttonously, as if to make up formany a fast.
Nor are they without drinkables, though none brought they along withthem. In a corner of one of the wagons is a cask--which on being tappedis found to be filled with _chingarita_--a fiery spirit distilled fromthe very plant, chief staple of their food--the _mezcal_. The Coyoterosknow it well, and though they do not themselves distil, they drink it,and are so fond of it as to wonder why the cask is there, and not alsocarried up the mountain!
Drawn out, and rolled to the middle of the _corral_, they dance indelight around it, repeatedly quaffing from their calabash cups, withsuch an accompaniment of noises that the camp, lately occupied by menand women, might seem to have come into the possession of devils.
And so on till night. Then demon-like indeed are the forms seenflitting around its fires, and as much the faces, lit up by the redglare from blazing fagots of _mezquite_ and _pinon_--both resinoustrees. Still more the discordant sounds, a chorus of cries andejaculations, in mad wild yelling, as of Bedlam broke loose.