CHAPTER FORTY SIX.
SAINT AUGUSTINE OF THE CAVES.
One of the pleasantest villages in the valley of Mexico is San Augustinde las Cuevas--_Tlalpam_ by Aztec designation--both names due to someremarkable caverns in the immediate neighbourhood. It is some ten ortwelve miles from the capital, on the southern or Acapulco road, justwhere this, forsaking the valley level, begins to ascend the Sierra,passing over which by Cruz del Marques, it continues on through the_tierras calentes_ of Cuernavaca and Guerrero to the famed port of thePacific.
San Augustin is a _pueblo_, endowed with certain municipal privileges.It boasts of an _alcalde-mayor_ with other corporate officers, and astaff of alguezils, or policemen.
The heads of departments are mostly men of pure Spanish race--"gente derazon," as they proudly proclaim themselves--though many are in realityof mixed blood, Mestizos. Of this are the better class of shopkeepers,few in number, the _gente de razon_ at best forming a scarce discernibleelement in the population, which is mainly made up of the brownaborigines.
At a certain season of the year, however, paler complexions show in theascendant. This during carnival time--"_Las Pascuas_." Then thestreets of San Augustin are crowded with gay promenaders; whilecarriages and men on horseback may be seen in continuous stream passingto and fro between it and the capital. In Las Pascuas week, one daywith another, half Mexico is there engaged in a gambling orgie, asLondoners at Epsom during the Derby. More like Homburg and Monaco,though; since the betting at Tlalpam is not upon the swiftness ofhorses, but done with dice and cards. The national game, "monte," therefinds fullest illustration, grand marquees being erected for its play--real temples erected to the goddess Fortuna. Inside these may be seencrowds of the strangest composition, in every sense heterogeneous;military officers, generals and colonels, down to the lowest grade, evensergeants and corporals, sitting at the same table and staking on thesame cards; members of Congress, Senators, Cabinet Ministers, and, uponoccasions, the Chief of the State, jostling the ragged _lepero_, and notunfrequently standing elbow to elbow with the footpad and salteador!--Something stranger still, ladies compose part of this miscellaneousassemblage; dames of high birth and proud bearing, but in this carnivalof cupidity not disdaining to "punt" on the _sota_ or _cavallo_, whilebrushing skirts with bare-armed, barefooted rustic damsels, and_poblanas_, more elaborately robed, but with scantier reputation.
After all, it is only Baden on the other side of the Atlantic; and itmay be said in favour of San Augustin, the fury lasts for only a fewdays, instead of a whole season. Then the _monte_ banks disappear, withtheir dealers and croupiers; the great tents are taken down; thegamesters, gentle and simple, scatter off, most going back to the city;and the little _pueblo_ Tlalpam, resuming its wonted tranquillity, isscarce thought of till Carnival comes again.
In its normal condition, though some might deem it rather dull, it isnevertheless one of the pleasantest residential villages in the Valley.Picturesquely situated at the foot of the southern Sierras, which form abold mountain background, it has on the other side water scenery in thecurious Laguna de Xochimilco, while the grim Pedregal also approachesit, giving variety to its surroundings.
Besides its fixed population there is one that may be termed floating orintermittent; people who come and go. These are certain "ricos," whochiefly affect its suburbs, where they have handsome houses--_casas decampo_. Not in hundreds, as at San Anjel and Tacubaya, Tlalpam being ata greater and more inconvenient distance from the capital. Still thereare several around it of first-class, belonging to _familiasprincipales_, though occupied by them only at intervals, and for a fewdays or weeks at a time.
One of these, owned by Don Ignacio Valverde, was a favourite place ofresidence with him; a tranquil retreat of which he was accustomed toavail himself whenever he could get away from his ministerial duties.Just such an interregnum had arisen some time after the stirringincidents we have recorded, and he went to stay at his San Augustinhouse with his daughter, the Condesa Almonte going with them as theirguest. Since their last appearance before the reader, all three hadpassed through scenes of trial. An investigation had been gone intoregarding the Calle de Plateros affair--private, however, before SantaAnna himself, the world not being made the wiser for it. Its resultswere all in their favour, thanks to the stern, stubborn fidelity ofJose, who lied like a very varlet. Such a circumstantial story told he,no one could suspect him of complicity in the escape of the _forsados_;far less that his mistress, or the Condesa Almonte had to do with it.
Don Ignacio, too, had done his share to hinder discovery of the truth.For, in the end, it was found necessary to take him into the secret, themissing cloak and pistols, with several mysterious incidents, callingfor explanation. But in making a clean breast of it, his daughter hadfelt no fear of being betrayed by him. He was not the father to dealharshly with his child; besides, it was something more--a real danger.In addition, she knew how he was affected towards the man she had aidedto escape--that he held Don Florencio in highest esteem; looked upon himas a dear friend, and in a certain tacit way had long ago signifiedapproval of him for a son-in-law. All these thoughts passed throughLuisa Valverde's mind while approaching her father, and steeling herselfto make confession of that secret she might otherwise have kept fromhim.
The result was not disappointing. Don Ignacio consented to thedeception, and they were saved. Whatever the suspicions of Santa Annaand his adjutant, both were baffled about that affair, at least for thetime.
Alike had they been frustrated in their pursuit of the _escapados_.Despite the most zealous search through the Pedregal and elsewhere,these could not be found, nor even a trace of them. Still, they werenot given up. Every town and village in the valley, in the mountainsaround, and the country outside were visited by soldiers or spies--everyspot likely to harbour the fugitives. Pickets were placed everywhereand patrols despatched, riding the roads by night as by day, all provingabortive.
After a time, however, this vigorous action became relaxed. Not thatthey who had dictated were less desirous of continuing it; but because amatter of more importance than mere personal spite or vengeance was soonlikely to declare itself, and threaten their own safety. Talk wasbeginning to be heard, though only in whispers, and at a far distancefrom the capital, of a new _pronunciamento_ in preparation. And inmaking counter-preparations, the Dictator had now enough to occupy allhis energies; not knowing the day or the hour he might again hear thecry he so dreaded, "Patria y Libertad."
Meanwhile the people had ceased to speak of the stirring episode whichhad occurred in the Calle de Plateros; thought strange only from the oddcircumstances attendant, and the fact of two of the fugitives being_Tejanos_. The city of Mexico has its daily newspapers, and on themorning after a full account of it appeared in _El Diario_ and _ElMonitor_. For all it was but the topic of a week; in ten days no moreheard of it; in a month quite forgotten, save by those whom it speciallyconcerned. So varied are the events, so frequent the changes, sostrange the Cosas de Mexico!