CHAPTER TWENTY ONE.
A PRODIGIOUS LEAP.
Needless to say that the failure of their scheme with such fatalconsequence has deepened the gloom in the minds of the besieged miners,already dark enough. Now more than ever do they believe themselvesdoomed. There seems no alternative left but surrender or starvation andas both are alike certain death, they dwell not on the first. True,starvation is not yet so close at hand; they have still provisions--someof the old caravan stores--sufficient for a couple of weeks, ifcarefully served out, while the live stock furnished by the _mesa_itself has not all been exhausted. Some animals as yet remainuncaptured, though how many they know not.
To make sure, another grand _battue_ is set on foot to embrace the wholesummit area. Every outlying corner and promontory are quartered andbeaten, so that no four-footed creature could possibly be there withoutbeing seen or shot. The result is a bag, of but small dimensions,though with large variety; a prong-horn antelope, the last of a bandthat had been daily getting thinned; several sage hares, a wolf, andthree or four coyotes. More of these last were startled, but notkilled, as they have lairs in the ledges of the cliffs to which theybetake themselves, secure from pursuit of hunter.
While the _battue_ is at its height, one large quadruped is put up whichmore than any other excites the ardour of those engaged. It is abighorn, or Rocky Mountain sheep, remnant of that flock first found uponthe _mesa_ by Vicente and Henry Tresillian; it is also a ram, a youngone, but with grand curvature of horns. One after another all the resthave been made mutton of, and their bones lie bleaching around the camp;but, though several times chased, this sole survivor has ever contrivedto escape, as though it had a charmed life. And now again it seemsstill under such protection; for at starting several shots are fired atit, none taking effect; and it bounds on, apparently unharmed, towardsan outlying projection of the plateau.
Those who have emptied their guns follow without staying to re-load; forthey form a line which, deployed crossways, cannot fail to enclose andcut off its retreat, making escape impossible. In fine, they effectthis purpose; some, with guns still charged, confidently advancing togive the animal its _coup de grace_. They are even aiming at it, when,lo! a leap upward and outward, with head bent down as one making a dive,and the bighorn bounds over the cliff.
Five hundred feet fall--shattered to atoms on the rocks below!--thistheir thought as they approach the precipice to see the prodigious leapthat must have been taken by the animal in its panic of fear. One,however, draws nigh with a different thought, knows there was method inthat seeming madness, and that the _carnero_ sprang over with a design.Pedro Vicente it is; and with the others soon upon the cliff's brow,and, gazing below, to their surprise they see no sheep there, dead andcrushed as expected. Instead, a live one out upon the _llano_, makingoff in strides long and vigorous.
Sure of its being the same they had just driven over, all are astounded,expressing their astonishment in loud ejaculations. Alone the_gambusino_ is silent, a pleased expression pervading his countenance,for that extraordinary feat of the horned creature has let a flood oflight into his mind, giving him renewed hope that they may still besaved. He says nothing of it to those around, leaving it for moremature consideration, and to be discussed in their council of the night.
But long after the others have returned to camp he lingers on the cliff,treading backwards and forwards along its crest, surveying it from everypossible point of vantage, as though in an endeavour to find out how thesheep made that extraordinary descent.
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Another night is on, and, as is their wont, the chief men of thosebesieged are assembled in the tent of Don Estevan. Not discouraged yet,for there is a rumour among them that some new plan has been thought offor passing the Indian sentries, less likely to be disastrous than thatwhich has failed. It has been the whisper of the afternoon, their guidebeing regarded as he who has conceived a scheme.
When all are together Don Estevan calls upon him to declare it, saying,
"I understand, Senor Vicente, you've thought of a way by which amessenger may yet elude the vigilance of their sentries, and get beyondthem?"
"I have, your worship."
"Please make it known."
"Nothing more simple; and I only wonder at not having thought of itbefore. After all, that would have been useless, for only this day haveI discovered the thing to be possible."
"We long to hear what it is."
"Well, then, senores, it's but to give them the slip. Going out by theback door, while they are so carefully guarding the front. That can bedone by our letting one down the cliff--two, if need be."
"But where?"
"Where the _carnero_ went over."
"What! five hundred feet? Impossible! We have not rope enough to reachhalf the distance."
"We don't need rope to reach much more than a third of it."
"Indeed! Explain yourself, Don Pedro."
"I will, your worship, and it is thus. I've examined the cliffcarefully, where the sheep went over. There are ledges at intervals; itis true not wide, but broad enough for the animal to have dropped uponand stuck. They can cling to the rocks like squirrels or cats. Some ofthe ledges run downwards, then zigzag into others, also with a downwardslope; and the ram must have followed these, now and then making aplunge, where it became necessary, to alight on his hoofs or horns, asthe case might be. Anyhow, he got safe to the bottom, as we know, andwhere it went down, so may we."
There is a pause of silence, all looking pleased for the words of the_gambusino_ have resuscitated hopes that had almost died out. They cansee the possibility he speaks of, their only doubt and drawback beingthe fear they may not have rope enough.
"It seems but a question of that," says Don Estevan, as if speakingreflectingly to himself.
The others are also considering, each trying to recall how much and howmany of their trail-ropes were brought up in that hasty _debendade_ fromtheir camp below.
"_Por Dios_! your worship," rejoins the _gambusino_, "it is no questionof that whatever. We have the materials to make cords enough, not onlyto go down the cliff, but all round the mountain. Miles, if it wereneeded!"
"What materials?" demanded several of the party, mystified.
"_Mira_!" exclaims the _gambusino_. "This!" He starts up from a bundleof dry _mezcal_-leaves on which he has been seated, pushing it beforehim with his foot.
All comprehend him now, knowing that the fibre of these is a flax, orrather hemp, capable of being worked into thread, cloth, or cordage; andthey know that on the _mesa_ is an unlimited supply of it.
"No question of rope, _caballeros_; only the time it will take us tomanufacture it. And with men such as you, used to such gearing, thatshould not be long."
"It shall not," respond all. "We'll work night and day till it bedone."
"One day, I take it, will be enough--that to-morrow. And if luck attendus, by this time to-morrow night we may have our messengers on the way,safe beyond pursuit of these accursed redskins."
Some more details are discussed maturing their plans for therope-making. Then all retire to rest, this night with more hopefulanticipations than they have had for many preceding.