CHAPTER NINE.
"IT'S THE RATTLESNAKE."
On again reaching the summit Henry Tresillian finds his father therewith Don Estevan and most of the men. These last, under the directionof the _ci-devant_ soldier, are collecting large stones, and laying themall round the head of the gorge.
One might fancy them building a breastwork, but nothing of that kind istheir intention, none such being needed. As Vicente had said, it is afortress of nature's construction, stronger than any ever built by thehand of man, and would defy breaching by all the artillery in the world.Ammunition is what the stones are being collected for, to be rolleddown the slope in case the enemy should attempt scaling it. Most ofthem have to be brought up out of the gorge itself, as but few lie looseon the summit. A work that, with so many and willing hands, takes upbut short time, and soon a ridge appears in horseshoe shape around thespot where the path leads out upon the level.
Others of the men have gone on to the glade by the spring, where thewomen and children are now assembled, the effects brought up from belowlying scattered about them. Some, still in affright, are movingexcitedly to and fro; others, with greater courage and calmness, havetaken seats on the boxes and bundles.
The senora and her daughter, with the family servants, form a groupapart, the eyes of Gertrude scanning with anxious interrogative glanceeach new party as it appears on the edge of the opening. She has beentold that Henrique is still upon the plain, and fears he may lingerthere too long.
As yet no move has been made to set up the tents, or otherwise establishcamp. There are some who cling to the hope that after all it may not benecessary. The Indians have not yet shown themselves at the southernend, and nothing is known of their character save by conjecture. Asthat is based on but a distant view of them, it is little reliable; andthe guide is directed by Don Estevan to hasten north again, and see whatcan be seen further.
This time he takes the telescope with him, and signals are arrangedbefore starting. Gun signals, of course: a single shot to say theIndians are still advancing towards the Cerro; two, that they are near;a third, denoting their character made out; while a fourth will proclaimthem _bravos_, and of some hostile tribe.
By this it might appear as if the _gambusino_ bore upon his person avery battery of small arms; while in reality he has only his rifle, witha pair of single-barrelled pistols of ancient fashion and doubtful fire.But, as before, he is to be accompanied by Henry Tresillian, whosedouble gun will make good any deficiency in the signal shots--should allfour be needed.
This settled, off the two go again on their old track, first passingthrough the glade by the _ojo de agua_. There the English youth tarriesa moment--only a brief one--to exchange a word with the senora, and atender glance with Gertrude, whose eyes follow him no longer in fear,but now all admiration. She has been told of the strange partingbetween him and his favourite steed--her favourite as well--and thefearlessness he displayed, staying down upon the plain after all theothers had left it.
"Such courage!" she mentally exclaims, as she sees him dash on after theguide. "_Dios mio_! he dare do anything."
Proceeding at a run, in less than fifteen minutes' time the videttesarrive at their former place of observation on the projecting point ofthe cliff; and without delay Vicente lengthens out the telescope,raising it to his eye. To see, at first view, what justifies theirsounding the first and second signals: the savages still coming on forthe Cerro, and now near!
"Fire off both your barrels!" he directs on the instant; and, withoutlowering the glass, "Allow a little time between, that our people mayn'tmistake it for a single shot."
The English youth, elevating the muzzle of his gun, presses the fronttrigger, and then, after an interval, the back one, and the shots insuccession go reverberating along the cliff in echo upon echo.
Scarce have these died away when the Mexican again speaks, this time notonly to say the other two signals are to be given, but with words and intone telling of even more. "_Carramba_!" he cries out, "just as Iexpected, and worse! Apaches, and the cruellest, most hostile of all,Coyoteros! Quick, _muchacho_!" he continues, still keeping thetelescope to his eye, "pull the pistols out of my belt and fire offboth."
Again two loud cracks, with a few seconds of time between, resound alongthe cliff, while the dusky horsemen, now near enough for theirindividual forms to be distinguishable by the naked eye, are seen tohave come to a halt, seated on their horses and gazing upward. Butthrough the glass Vicente sees more, which still further excites him.
"_Por todos demonios esta El Cascabel_!" (By all the devils it's theRattlesnake!)
"El Cascabel!" echoes the English youth, less puzzled by the odd namethan surprised at the manner of him who has pronounced it. "Who is he,Don Pedro?"
"Ah, senorito! you'll find that out too soon--all of us, I fear, to ourcost. Yes!" he goes on talking, with the telescope still upheld, "'tisEl Cascabel, I can make out the death's head on his breast, originalpattern of that on my own. He and his made the copy, the brutes burningit into my flesh in sheer wanton mockery. _Malraya_! we're in for itnow; a siege till the crack of doom, or till all of us are starved dead.No hope of escaping it."
"But if we surrender, might they not be merciful?"
"Merciful! surrender to the Rattlesnake! That would be as puttingourselves in the power of the reptile he takes his name from. Youforget Gil Perez and his massacre."
"No, indeed. But was it Coyoteros he massacred?"
"Coyoteros; and of this very band. El Cascabel's not like to haveforgotten that; and will now make us innocent people pay for it. _Ay demi_!"
With this final exclamation, uttered in a tone of deep despondence, theMexican relapses into silence. But only for a few seconds longer, tolook through the telescope. He has seen enough to know all which can beknown, and too truly conjectures what is likely to ensue.
The party of Indians, led by El Cascabel, is again moving onward, and asweep of the glass around to the north-west shows the other party makingto turn the mountain on its western side. The _gambusino_ can countthem now; sees that they number over two hundred, enough to put all hopeof a successful encounter with them out of the question. As forretreat, it is too late for that. Surrounded are the luckless miners,or soon will be; besieged on the summit of a mountain as within thewalls of a fortress, and as far removed from any chance of succour ascastaways on a desert isle in mid-ocean.