CHAPTER THIRTY SIX.
THE PEDREGAL.
Interesting as is the Mexican Valley in a scenic sense, it is equally soin the geological one; perhaps no part of the earth's crust of likelimited area offering greater attractions to him who would study thelore of the rocks. There he may witness the action of both Plutonic andVolcanic forces, not alone in records of the buried past, but stillexisting, and too oft making display of their mighty power in theearthquake and the burning mountain.
There also may be observed the opposed processes of deposition anddenudation in the slitting up of great lakes, and the down wearing ofhills by tropical rain storms, with the river torrents resulting fromthem.
Nor is any portion of this elevated plateau more attractive to thegeologist than that known as "El Pedregal"; a tract lying in itssouth-western corner, contiguous to the Cerro de Ajusco, whose summitrises over it to a height of 6,000 feet and 13,000 above the level ofthe sea.
It is a field of lava vomited forth from Ajusco itself in ages longpast, which, as it cooled, became rent into fissures and honey-combedwith cavities of every conceivable shape. Spread over many square milesof surface, it tenders this part of the valley almost impassable. Nowheeled vehicle can be taken across it; and even the Mexican horse andmule--both sure-footed as goats--get through it with difficulty, andonly by one or two known paths. To the pedestrian it is a task; andthere are places into which he even cannot penetrate without scalingcliffs and traversing chasms deep and dangerous. It bristles withcactus, zuccas, and other forms of crystalline vegetation,characteristic of a barren soil. But there are spots of greatfertility--hollows where the volcanic ashes were deposited--forminglittle _oases_, into which the honest Indian finds his way for purposesof cultivation. Others less honest seek refuge in its caves andcoverts, fugitives from justice and the gaols--not always criminals,however, for within it the proscribed patriot and defeated soldier oftfind an asylum.
In the four individuals who had now entered there was all this variety,if he who directed their movements was what the Condesa Almontedescribed him. In any case, he appeared familiar with the place and itsways, saying to Kearney, as they went on--
"No thanks to me for knowing all about the Pedregal. I was born on itsedge; when a boy bird-nested and trapped armadilloes all over it.Twisted as this path is, it will take us to a spot where we needn't fearany soldiers following us--not this night anyhow. To-morrow they may,and welcome."
Their march was continued, but not without great difficulty, and muchexertion of their strength. They were forced to clamber over masses ofrock, and thread their way through thickets of cactus, whose spines,sharp as needles, lacerated their skins. With the coupling-chains stillon, it was all the more difficult to avoid them.
Luckily, they had not far to go before arriving at the place where theirconductor deemed it safe to make a stop. About this there was nothingparticular, more than its being a hollow, where they could stand uprightwithout danger of being seen from any of the eminences around.Descending into it, Rivas said--
"Now, Don Florencio, you can finish the little job you were interruptedat, without much fear of having to knock off again."
At which he raised the chain, and held it rested on something firmerthan the cushion of a carriage. So placed, the file made betterprogress, and in a short time the link was cut through, letting themwalk freely apart.
"_Caballero_!" exclaimed the Mexican, assuming an attitude as if aboutto propose a toast; "may our friendship be more difficult to sever thanthat chain, and hold us longer together--for life, I hope."
Kearney would not have been a son of Erin to refuse reciprocating thepretty compliment, which he did with all due warmth and readiness.
But his work was not over. Rock and Zorillo had yet to be uncoupled;the former, perhaps, longing to be delivered more than any of the four.He had conceived a positive disgust for the hunchback; though, asalready said, less on account of the creature's physical than moraldeformity, of which last he had ample evidence during the short whilethey were together. Nor had it needed for him to understand what thelatter said. A natural physiognomist, he could read in Zorillo's eyesthe evil disposition of the animal from which he drew his name.
As Kearney approached him with the file, the Texan raising his foot, andplanting it on a ledge of rock, said--
"Cut through thar, Cap--the link as air nixt to my ankle-clasp."
This was different to what had been done with the other, which had beensevered centrally. It was not intended to take off the whole of thechains yet. The Mexican said there was no time for so much filing; thatmust be done when they got farther on.
"Yer see, Cap," added Rock, giving a reason for the request, "'fore it'sall over, who knows I mayn't need full leg freedom 'ithoot any hamper?So gie the dwarf the hul o' the chain to carry. He desarve to hev it,or suthin' else, round his thrapple 'stead o' his leg. This chile havebeen contagious to the grist o' queer company in his perambulationsroun' and about; but niver sech as he. The sight of him air enough togive a nigger the gut ache."
And in his quaint vernacular he thus rambled on all the time Kearney wasat work, his rude speech being an appropriate symphony to the rasping ofthe file.
He at the other end of the coupling-chain lay squatted along the ground,saying not a word, but his eyes full of sparkle and mischief, as thoseof an enraged rattle-snake. Still, there was fear in his face; forthough he could not tell what was being said, he fancied it was abouthimself, and anything but in his favour. He was with the other three,but not of them; his conscience told him that. He was in their way,too; had been all along, and would be hereafter. What if they took intotheir heads to rid themselves of him in some violent manner? They mightcut his throat with one of the knives he had seen them make suchdexterous use of! Reflecting in this fashion, no wonder he wasapprehensive.
Something was going to be done to him different from the rest, he feltsure. After the chain had been got apart the other three drew off to adistance, and stood as if deliberating. It must be about himself.
And about him it was--the way to dispose of him.
"I hardly know what we're to do with the little beast," said Rivas."Leave him here loose we daren't; he'd slip back again, good as certain,and too soon for our safety. If we tie him he will cry out, and mightbe heard. We're not far enough away. _Oiga_! They're beating up thecover we've just come out of. Yes; they're in the _chapparal_ now!"
It was even so, as could be told by the occasional call of a buglesounding skirmish signals.
"Why not tie and gag him, too?" asked Kearney.
"Sure we could do that. But it wouldn't be safe either. They mightfind their way here at once. But if they didn't find it at all, and noone came along--"
"Ah! I see," interrupted the Irishman, as the inhumanity of the thingbecame manifest to him. "He might perish, you mean?"
"Just so. No doubt the wretch deserves it. From all I've heard of him,he does richly. But we are not his judges, and have no right to be hisexecutioners."
Sentiments not such as might have been expected from the lips of abandit!
"No, certainly not," rejoined Kearney, hastening to signify his approvalof them.
"What do _you_ think we should do with him, Rock?" he added, addressinghimself to the Texan, who quite comprehended the difficulty.
"Wal', Cap; 't 'ud be marciful to knock him on the head at onc't, thanleave him to gasp it out with a stopper in his mouth; as ye say theMexikin thinks he mout. But thar ain't no need for eyther. Why nottoat him along? Ef he should bother us I kin heist him on my back, easyenuf. A ugly burden he'd be, tho' 'tain't for the weight o' him."
The Texan's suggestion was entertained, no other course seeming safe,except at the probable sacrifice of the creature's life. And that noneof them contemplated for a moment. In fine, it was determined to takehim on.
The colloquy now coming to an end, Rivas and the Irishman caught up thepieces of chain still attached to t
heir ankles, each making the end ofhis own fast round his wrist, so as not to impede their onward march.This done, they all moved on again, the Mexican, of course, foremost,Kearney at his heels. After him, Cris Rock, chain in hand, halfleading, half-dragging the dwarf, as a showman might his monkey.
In this way there was no danger of his betraying them. He could shoutand still have been heard by those behind. But an expressive gesture ofthe Texan admonished him that if he made a noise, it would be the lastof him.