The Border Rifles: A Tale of the Texan War

  CHAPTER XII.

  LOVE AND JEALOUSY.

  The first feeling of terror which had caused the three men to recoil atthe appearance of the Jaguar, had gradually worn off; their effrontery,if not their courage, had returned on seeing the inoffensive manner ofthe man they had long been accustomed to fear.

  Ruperto, the biggest scoundrel of the three, was the first to regain hiscoolness, and, reflecting that the man who caused them such terror wasalone, and therefore could not have the force on his side, he walkedresolutely toward him.

  "Rayo de Dios!" he said in a brutal voice, "Let that girl alone, for shedeserves not only what has happened to her, but also the chastisement weare about to inflict on her at once."

  The young man started as if a snake had stung him, and darted over hisshoulder a glance full of menace at the man who had addressed him.

  "Are you speaking to me in that way?" he asked.

  "To whom else?" the other answered, resolutely, although in his hearthe felt alarmed at the way in which his question had been taken up.

  "Ah!" was all the Jaguar said; and without adding another word, hewalked slowly toward Ruperto, whom he held motionless beneath hisfascinating glance, and who watched him come up with a terror thatmomentarily increased.

  On arriving about a yard from the Mexican the young man stopped.

  This scene, apparently so simple, must, however, have possessed aterrible significance for the witnesses, for all bosoms were heaving,every brow was pallid.

  The Jaguar, with livid face, crisped features, eyes inflamed with blood,and brows frowning, thrust forth his arm to seize Ruperto, who, overcomeby terror, did not make a single movement to escape from this clutch,which he knew, however, would be mortal.

  Suddenly Carmela bounded like a startled fawn, and cast herself betweenthe two men.

  "Oh!" she shrieked, as she clasped her hands; "have pity on him; do notkill him, in Heaven's name!"

  The young man's face suddenly changed, and assumed an expression ofineffable gentleness.

  "Be it so!" he said; "Since such is your wish, he shall not die; but heinsulted you, Carmela, and must be punished. On your knees, villain!" hecontinued, as he turned to Ruperto and pressed his hand heavily on hisshoulder; "On your knees, and ask pardon of this angel."

  Ruperto sunk together beneath the weight of this iron hand, and fell atthe maiden's feet, murmuring in a timid voice--

  "Pardon, pardon!"

  "Enough," the Jaguar then said, with a terrible accent; "rise, and thankyour God for having escaped this time again from my vengeance. Open thedoor, Carmela."

  The maiden obeyed.

  "To horse!" the Jaguar continued; "Go and wait for me at the Rio Seco,and mind that not one stirs before my arrival, under penalty of death.Begone!"

  The three men bowed their heads, and went out without reply; an instantlater the gallop of their horses could be heard echoing on the sandyroad.

  The two young people remained alone in the venta.

  The Jaguar sat down at the table where the men had been drinking amoment previously, buried his face in his hands, and seemed plunged inserious thought.

  Carmela looked at him with a mixture of timidity and fear, not daring toaddress him.

  At length, after a considerable period had elapsed, the young man raisedhis head, and looked around him, as if suddenly aroused from deep sleep.

  "What, you remained here?" he said to her.

  "Yes," she answered, softly.

  "Thanks, Carmela--you are kind! You alone love me, when all else hatesme."

  "Have I not reason to do so?"

  The Jaguar smiled mournfully, but answered this question by askinganother, the usual tactics of persons who do not wish to let theirthoughts be read.

  "Now, tell me frankly what happened between you and those scoundrels."

  The maiden seemed to hesitate for a moment, but made up her mind andconfessed the warning she gave the Captain of Dragoons.

  "You were wrong," the Jaguar said sternly to her; "your imprudence mayproduce serious complications. Yet I dare not blame you; you are awoman, and consequently ignorant of many things. Are you alone here?"

  "Quite alone."

  "What imprudence! How can Tranquil leave you thus?"

  "His duties keep him at present at the Larch-tree hacienda, where thereis going to be a grand hunt in a few days."

  "Hum! At any rate, Quoniam ought to have remained with you."

  "He could not, for Tranquil required his help."

  "The devil is in the business, as it seems," he said, in an ill-humouredvoice; "he must be mad thus to abandon a girl alone in a venta situatedalone in the midst of such a desolate country, during whole weeks."

  "I was not alone, for Lanzi was left with me."

  "Ah! And what has become of him?"

  "A little before sunrise I sent him to kill a little game."

  "A capital reason; and you have been left exposed to the coarse languageand ill-treatment of the first scoundrel who thought proper to insultyou."

  "I did not think there was any danger."

  "Now, I trust you are undeceived."

  "Oh!" she cried, with a start of terror, "That shall never happen again,I swear to you."

  "Good! But I think I hear Lanzi's footsteps."

  She looked out.

  "Yes," she replied, "here he is."

  The man shortly after entered. He was of about forty years of age, withan intelligent and bold face; he had on his shoulders a magnificentdeer, fastened much in the way Swiss hunters carry a chamois, and in hisright hand he held a gun.

  He gave a look of annoyance on perceiving the young man; still, he bowedslightly to him as he placed the venison on the table.

  "Oh, oh," the Jaguar said, in a good-humoured tone, "you have had a goodhunt it seems, Lanzi; are the deer plentiful on the plain?"

  "I have known the time when they were more numerous," he replied,gruffly; "but now," he added, shaking his head sorrowfully, "it is ahard matter for a poor man to kill one or two in a day."

  The young man smiled.

  "They will return," he said.

  "No, no," Lanzi replied, "when the deer have been once startled, they donot return to the parts they have left, however much it might be totheir benefit to do so."

  "You must put up with it then, master, and take things as they are."

  "Well, what else do I?" he growled, as he angrily turned his back on thespeaker.

  And, after this sally, he reloaded the game on his shoulders, andentered the other room.

  "Lanzi is not amiable to-day," the Jaguar observed, when he foundhimself alone with Carmela.

  "He is annoyed at meeting you here."

  The young man frowned.

  "Why so?" he asked.

  Carmela blushed and looked down without answering.

  The Jaguar looked at her searchingly for a moment.

  "I understand," he said at last; "my presence in this hostelrydispleases somebody--him, perhaps."

  "Why should it displease him? He is not the master, I suppose."

  "That is true; then it displeases your father--is that it?"

  The maiden gave a nod of assent.

  The Jaguar sprung up violently, and walked up and down the room, withhis head down, and his arms behind his back; after a few minutes of thisbehaviour, which Carmela followed with an anxious eye, he stoppedsuddenly before her, raised his head, and looked at her fixedly.

  "And does my presence here, Carmela, displease you also?"

  The girl remained silent.

  "Reply," he went on.

  "I did not say so," she murmured, with hesitation.

  "No," he said, with a bitter smile, "but you think so, Carmela, thoughyou have not the courage to confess it to my face."

  She drew herself up proudly.

  "You are unjust to me," she replied, with peevish excitement, "unjustand unkind. Why should I--_I,_ desire your absence? You never did me anyharm; on the contrary, I have ever found y
ou ready to defend me; thisvery day you did not hesitate to protect me from the ill-treatment ofthe wretches who insulted me."

  "Ah! You allow it?"

  "Why should I not allow it, since it is true? Do you consider meungrateful, then?"

  "No, Carmela, you are only a woman," he replied, bitterly.

  "I do not understand your meaning, and do not wish to do so; I alonehere defend you, when my father, or Quoniam, or anyone else accuses you.Is it my fault, if, owing to your character, and the mysterious life youlead, you are placed beyond the pale of ordinary existence? Am Iresponsible for the silence you insist on maintaining on all thatconcerns you personally? You know my father; you know how kind, frank,and worthy he is; many times he has tried, by circuitous ways, to leadyou to an honourable explanation--but you have always repulsed hisadvances. You must, therefore, only blame yourself for the generalisolation in which you are left, and the solitude formed around you; anddo not address reproaches to the only person who, up to the present, hasdared to support you against all."

  "It is true," he answered, bitterly; "I am a madman. I acknowledge mywrongs towards you, Carmela, for you say truly; in all this world, youalone have been constantly kind and compassionate for the reprobate--forthe man whom the general hatred pursues."

  "Hatred as foolish as it is unjust."

  "And which you do not share in--is it not?" he exclaimed, sharply.

  "No, I do not share it; still, I suffer from your obstinacy; for, inspite of all that is said of you, I believe you to be honourable."

  "Thank you, Carmela; I wish I had it in my power to prove immediatelythat you are right, and give a denial to those who insult me likecowards behind my back, and tremble when I stand before them.Unfortunately, that is impossible for the present; but the day willcome, I hope, when it will be permitted me to make myself known as whatI really am, and throw off the mask that stifles me; and then--"

  "Then?" she repeated, seeing that he hesitated.

  Again he hesitated.

  "Then," he said, in a choking voice, "I shall have a question to askyou, and a request to make."

  The maiden blushed, but recovered herself directly.

  "You will find me ready to answer both," she murmured, in a low andinarticulate voice.

  "Do you mean it?" he asked, joyfully.

  "I swear it to you."

  A flash of happiness lit up the young man's face like a sunbeam.

  "My good Carmela," he said, in a deep voice, "when the moment arrives, Ishall remind you of your promise."

  She bowed her head in dumb assent.

  There was a moment of silence. The maiden attended to her householdduties with that bird-like lissomness and activity peculiar to women;the Jaguar walked up and down the room with a preoccupied air; after afew moments he went to the door and looked out.

  "I must be gone," he said.

  She gave him a scrutinizing glance.

  "Ah," she said.

  "Yes; then be kind enough to order Lanzi to prepare Santiago. Perhaps ifI told him so myself he would feel disinclined to do it. I fancy I cansee I am no longer in his good graces."

  "I will go," she answered him with a smile.

  The young man watched her depart with a stifled sigh.

  "What is this I feel?" he muttered, as he pressed his hand powerfullyagainst his heart, as if he suddenly felt a sudden pain: "Can it be whatpeople call love? I am mad!" he went on, directly after; "How can I, theJaguar, love? Can a reprobate be beloved?"

  A bitter smile contracted his lips; he frowned and muttered, in a hollowvoice--

  "Every man has his task in this world, and I shall know how toaccomplish mine."

  Carmela came in again.

  "Santiago will be ready in a moment. Here are your vaquera boots, whichLanzi begged me to give you."

  "Thank you," he said.

  And he began fastening on his legs those two pieces of stamped leatherwhich in Mexico play the part of gaiters, and serve to protect the riderfrom the horse.

  While the young man fastened on his botas, with one foot on the bench,and his body bent forward, Carmela examined him attentively, with anexpression of timid hesitation.

  The Jaguar noticed it.

  "What do you want?" he asked her.

  "Nothing," she said, stammering.

  "You are deceiving me, Carmela. Come--time presses--tell me the truth."

  "Well," she replied, with a hesitation more and more marked, "I have aprayer to make to you."

  "Speak quickly, Nina, for you know that, whatever it may be, I grant itto you beforehand."

  "You swear it?"

  "I do."

  "Well, whatever may happen, I desire that if you meet the Captain ofDragoons who was here this morning, you will grant him your protection."

  The young man sprung up, as if stung by a viper.

  "Ah, then," he shrieked, "what I was told was true, then?"

  "I do not know what you are alluding to, but I repeat my request."

  "I do not know the man, since I did not arrive until after hisdeparture."

  "Yes, you know him," she continued, boldly. "Why seek a subterfuge, ifyou wish to break the promise you made me? It would be better to befrank."

  "It is well," he replied, in a gloomy voice and a tone of biting irony;"reassure yourself Carmela, I will defend your lover."

  And he rushed madly from the venta.

  "Oh!" the maiden exclaimed, as she fell on a bench, and melted intotears; "Oh! That demon is properly christened the Jaguar! He has atiger's heart in his bosom."

  She buried her face in her hands, and broke out into sobs.

  At the same moment the rapid gallop of a retreating horse was heard.