CHAPTER XXI.
THE JAGUAR.
The Jaguar, when he left the Venta del Potrero, was suffering fromextreme agitation, the maiden's words buzzed in his ears, with a mockingand ironical accent; the last look she had given him pursued him like aremorse. The young man was angry with himself for having so hastilybroken off the interview with Dona Carmela, and dissatisfied with theway in which he had responded to her entreaties; in short, he was in thebest possible temper to commit one of those acts of cruelty into whichthe violence of his character only too often led him, which hadinflicted a disgraceful stigma on his reputation, and which he alwaysbitterly regretted having committed, when it was too late.
He rode at full speed across the prairie, lacerating the sides of hishorse, which reared in pain, uttering stifled maledictions, and castingaround the ferocious glances of a wild beast in search of prey.
For a moment he entertained the idea of returning to the venta, throwinghimself at the maiden's feet, and repairing the fault which his growingjealousy had forced him to commit, by abjuring all his hopes, andplacing himself at Dona Carmela's service, to do whatever she mightplease to order.
But, like most good resolutions, this one lasted no longer than alightning flash. The Jaguar reflected, and with reflection doubt andjealousy returned. The natural consequences of which was fresh fury,wilder and more insane than the first.
The young man galloped on thus for a long time, apparently following nosettled direction; still at long intervals he stopped, rose in hisstirrups, explored the plain with an eagle-glance, and then startedagain at full speed.
At about three in the afternoon he passed the conducta de Plata, but ashe perceived it a long way off, it was easy for him to avoid it byswerving slightly to the right, and entering a thick wood of pine trees,which rendered him invisible long enough for him not to fear discoveryfrom the scouts sent on ahead.
About an hour before sunset, the young man, who had perhaps stopped ahundred times to explore the neighbourhood, uttered a suppressed cry ofjoy; he had at length come up to the persons he was so anxious to join.
Not five hundred yards from the spot where the Jaguar had halted, a bandof thirty to five and thirty horsemen was following the trackcomplimented with the name of road, that led across the prairie.
This band, entirely composed of white men, as could be easily seen fromtheir costume, appeared to assume something of a military air, and allwere fully equipped with arms of every description.
At the beginning of this story we mentioned some horsemen justdisappearing on the horizon; these were the men the Jaguar had justperceived.
The young man placed his open hands to his mouth in the shape of aspeaking trumpet, and twice gave a sharp, shrill, and prolonged cry.
Although the troop was some distance off at the moment, still at thissignal the riders stopped as if the feet of their horses had suddenlybecome embedded in the ground.
The Jaguar then bent over his saddle, leaped his horse over the bushes,and in a few minutes joined the men who had stopped for him.
The Jaguar was hailed with shouts of joy, and all pressed round him withmarks of the deepest interest.
"Thanks, my friends," he said, "thanks for the proofs of sympathy yougive me; but I must ask you to give me a moment's attention, for timepresses."
Silence was re-established, as if by enchantment, but the flashingglances fixed on the young man said clearly that sympathy, though dumb,was not the less vivid.
"You were not mistaken, Master John," the Jaguar said, addressing oneof the persons nearest to him; "the conducta is just behind us; we arenot more than three or four hours' march ahead of it; as you warned me,it is escorted, and in proof that great importance is attached to itssafety, the escort is commanded by Captain Melendez."
His audience gave a start of disappointment at these news.
"Patience," the Jaguar went on, with a sarcastic smile; "when force isnot sufficient, stratagem remains; Captain Melendez is brave andexperienced, I grant you, but are we not also brave men? Is not thecause we defend grand enough to excite us to carry out our enterprise atall hazards?"
"Yes, yes, hurrah, hurrah!" all the hearers shouted, as they brandishedtheir weapons enthusiastically.
"Master John, you have already entered into relations with the Captain;he knows you, so you will remain here with another of our friends. Allowyourselves to be arrested. I entrust to you the duty of removing thesuspicions that may exist in the Captain's mind."
"I will do it, you may be certain."
"Very good, but play close with him; for you have a strong opponent."
"Do you think so?"
"Yes. Do you know who accompanies him?"
"On my word, no."
"El Padre Antonio."
"What's that you say? by Jove, you did right to warn me."
"I thought so."
"Oh, oh! Does that accursed monk wish to poach on our manor?"
"I fear it. This man, as you know, is affiliated with all the scamps, nomatter of what colour, who prowl about the desert: he is even reportedto be one of their Chiefs; the idea of seizing the conducta may easilyhave occurred to him."
"By Heaven, I will watch him; trust to me, I know him too thoroughly andtoo long for him to care to oppose me; if he dared to attempt it, Icould reduce him to impotence."
"That is all right. When you have obtained all the information werequire to act, lose not a moment in informing us, for we shall countthe minutes while waiting for you."
"That is settled. I suppose we meet at the Barranca del Gigante."
"Yes."
"One word more."
"Make haste."
"What about Blue-fox?"
"Hang it! I forgot all about him."
"Shall I wait for him?"
"Certainly."
"Shall I treat with him? You know but little reliance is to be placed inthe word of an Apache."
"That is true," the young man answered, thoughtfully; "still, ourposition is at this moment most difficult. We are left to our ownresources; our friends hesitate, and dare not yet decide in our favour;while, on the other hand, our enemies are raising their heads, regainingcourage, and preparing to attack us vigorously. Although my heart heavesagainst such an alliance, it is still evident to me, that if the Apachesconsent frankly to help us, their assistance will be very useful tous."
"You are right. In our present situation, outlawed by society, andtracked like wild beasts, it would, perhaps, be imprudent to reject thealliance of the Redskins."
"Well, my friend, I give you full liberty, and events must guide you. Itrust entirely to your intelligence and devotion."
"I shall not deceive your expectations."
"Let us part now; and luck be with you."
"Goodbye, till we meet again."
"Goodbye, till to-morrow."
The Jaguar gave a parting nod to his friend or accomplice, whichever thereader pleases to call him, placed himself at the head of the band, andstarted at a gallop.
This John was no other than John Davis, the slave-dealer, whom thereader probably remembers to have come across in the earlier chapters ofthis story. How it is we find him again in Texas, forming part of a bandof outlaws, and become the pursued instead of the pursuer, would be toolong to explain at this moment. Let us purpose eventually to give thereader full satisfaction on the point.
John and his comrades let themselves be apprehended by CaptainMelendez's scouts, without offering the slightest opposition. We havealready described how they behaved in the Mexican camp; so we willfollow the Jaguar at present.
The young man seemed to be, and really was, the chief of the horsemen atwhose head he rode.
These individuals all belonged to the Anglo-Saxon race, and to a manwere North Americans.
What trade were they carrying on? Surely a very simple one.
For the moment they were insurgents; most of them came to Texas at theperiod when the Mexican government authorized American immigration. They
had settled in the country, colonized it, and cleared it; in a word,they ended by regarding it as a new country.
When the Mexican government inaugurated that system of vexations, whichit never gave up again, these worthy fellows laid down the pick and thespade to take up the Kentucky rifle, mounted their horses, and broke outin overt insurrection against an oppressor who wished to ruin anddispossess them.
Several bands of insurgents were thus hastily formed on various pointsof the Texan territory, fighting bravely against the Mexicans whereverthey met with them. Unfortunately for them, however, these bands wereisolated; no tie existed among them to form a compact and dangerouswhole; they obeyed chiefs, independent one of the other, who all wishedto command, without bowing their own will to a supreme and single will,which would have been the only way of obtaining tangible results, andconquering that independence, which, owing to this hapless dissension,was still regarded as a Utopia by the most enlightened men in thecountry.
The horsemen we have brought on the stage were placed under the ordersof the Jaguar, whose reputation for courage, skill, and prudence was toofirmly established in the country for his name not to inspire terror inthe enemies whom chance might bring him across.
The sequel will prove that, in choosing their chiefs, the colonists hadmade no mistake about him.
The Jaguar was just the chief these men required. He was young,handsome, and gifted with that fascination which improvises kingdoms; hespoke little, but each of his words left a reminiscence.
He understood what his comrades expected of him, and had achievedprodigies; for, as ever happens with a man born for great things, whorises proportionately and ever remains on a level with events, hisposition, by extending, had, as it were, enlarged his intellect; hisglance had become infallible, his will of iron; he identified himself sothoroughly with his new position, that he no longer allowed himself tobe mastered by any human feeling. His face seemed of marble, both in joyand sorrow. The enthusiasm of his comrades could produce neither flamenor smile on his countenance.
The Jaguar was not an ordinary ambitious man; he was grieved by thedisagreement among the insurgents; he most heartily desired a fusion,which had become indispensable, and laboured with all his might toeffect it; in a word, the young man had faith; he believed; for, inspite of the innumerable faults committed since the beginning of theinsurrection by the Texans, he found such vitality in the work ofliberty hitherto so badly managed, that he learned at length that inevery human question there is something more powerful than force, thancourage, even than genius, and that this something is the idea whosetime has come, whose hour has struck by the clock of Deity. Hence heforgot all his annoyances in hoping for a certain future.
In order to neutralize, as far as possible, the isolation in which hisband was left, the Jaguar had inaugurated certain tactics which hadhitherto proved successful. What he wanted was to gain time, andperpetuate the war, even though waging an unequal contest. For thispurpose he was obliged to envelop his weakness in mystery, show himselfeverywhere, stop nowhere, enclose the foe in a network of invisibleadversaries, force him to stand constantly on guard, with his eyesvainly fixed on all points of the horizon, and incessantly harassed,though never really and seriously attacked by respectable forces. Suchwas the plan the Jaguar inaugurated against the Mexicans, whom heenervated thus by this fever of expectation and the unknown, the mostterrible of all maladies for the strong.
Hence the Jaguar and the fifty or sixty horsemen he commanded were morefeared by the Mexican government than all the other insurgents puttogether.
An extraordinary prestige attached to the terrible chief of theseunsiegeable men; a superstitious fear preceded them, and their mereapproach produced disorder among the troops sent to fight them.
The Jaguar cleverly profited by his advantages to attempt the mosthazardous enterprises and the most daring strokes. The one he meditatedat this moment was one of the boldest he had hitherto conceived, for itwas nothing less than to carry off the conducta de plata and make aprisoner of Captain Melendez, an officer whom he justly considered oneof his most dangerous adversaries, and with whom he, for that veryreason, longed to measure himself, for he foresaw the light such avictory would shed over the insurrection, and the partisans it wouldimmediately attract to him.
After leaving John Davis behind him, the Jaguar rapidly advanced towarda thick forest, whose dark outline stood out on the horizon, and inwhich he prepared to bivouac for the night, as he could not reach theBarranca del Gigante till late the following day. Moreover, he wishedto remain near the two men he had detached as scouts, in order thesooner to learn the result of their operations.
A little after sunset, the insurgents reached the forest, andinstantaneously disappeared under covert.
On reaching the top of a small hill which commanded the landscape, theJaguar halted, and ordered his men to dismount and prepare to camp.
A bivouac is soon organized in the desert.
A sufficient space is cleared with axes, fires are lighted at regulardistances to keep off wild beasts; the horses are picketed, and sentriesplaced to watch over the common safety, and then everybody lies downbefore the fire, rolls himself in his blanket, and that is all. Theserough men, accustomed to brave the fury of the seasons, sleep asprofoundly under the canopy of the sky, as the denizens of towns intheir sumptuous mansions.
The young man, when everybody had lain down to rest, went the rounds toassure himself that all was in order, and then returned to the fire,when he fell into earnest thought.
The whole night passed and he did not make the slightest movement; buthe did not sleep, his eyes were open and fixed on the slowly expiringembers.
What were the thoughts that contracted his forehead and made hiseyebrows meet?
It would be impossible to say.
Perhaps he was travelling in the country of fancy, dreaming wide awakeone of those glorious dreams we have at the age of twenty, which are sointoxicating and so deceitful!
Suddenly he started and sprung up as if worked by a spring.
At this moment the sun appeared in the horizon, and began slowlydispersing the gloom.
The young man bent forward and listened.
The sharp snap of a gun being cocked was heard a short distance off, anda sentry concealed in the shrubs shouted in a harsh, sharp voice:--
"Who goes there?"
"A friend," was the reply from the bushes. The Jaguar started.
"Tranquil here!" he muttered to himself; "For what reason can he seekme?"
And he rushed in the direction where he expected to find thePanther-killer.