CHAPTER XXVI.
THE EXPRESS.
Captain Melendez was anxious to pass through the dangerous defile nearwhich the conducta had bivouacked; he knew how great was theresponsibility he had taken on himself in accepting the command of theescort, and did not wish, in the event of any misfortune happening, thata charge of carelessness or negligence could be brought against him.
The sum conveyed by the recua of mules was important. The Mexicangovernment, ever forced to expedients to procure money, was impatientlyexpecting it; the Captain did not conceal from himself that the wholeresponsibility of an attack would be mercilessly thrown on him, and thathe would have to endure all the consequences, whatever might be theresults of an encounter with the border rifles.
Hence his anxiety and alarm increased with every moment; the evidenttreachery of Fray Antonio only heightened his apprehensions, by makinghim suspect a probable trap. Though it was impossible for him to guessfrom what quarter the danger would come, he felt it, as it were,approaching him inch by inch, and besetting him on all sides, and heexpected a terrible explosion at any moment.
This secret intuition, this providential foreboding, which told him tobe on his guard, placed him in a state of excitement impossible todescribe, and threw him into an intolerable situation, from which heresolved to escape at all hazards, preferring to run the danger andconfront it, to remaining longer with bayonets pointed at unseen foes.
Hence he doubled his vigilance, himself inspecting the vicinity of thecamp, and watching the loading of the mules, which, fastened to eachother, would, in the event of an attack, be placed in the centre of themost devoted and resolute men of the escort.
Long before sunrise, the Captain, whose sleep had been an uninterruptedseries of continued starts, quitted the hard bed of skins andhorsecloths on which he had vainly sought a few hours of rest, which hisnervous condition rendered impossible, and began walking sharply up anddown the narrow space that composed the interior of the camp,involuntarily envying the careless and calm slumbers of the troopers,who were lying here and there on the ground, wrapped up in theirzarapes.
In the meanwhile day gradually broke. The owl, whose matin hootannounces the appearance of the sun, had already given its melancholynote. The Captain kicked the arriero Chief, who was lying by the fire,and aroused him.
The worthy man rubbed his eyes several times, and when the last cloudsof sleep were dissipated, and order was beginning to be re-establishedin his ideas, he exclaimed, while stifling a last sigh--
"Caray, Captain, what fly has stung you that you awake me at so early anhour? Why, the sky has scarce turned white yet; let me sleep an hourlonger. I was enjoying a most delicious dream, and will try to catch itup again, for sleep is a glorious thing."
The Captain could not refrain from smiling at this singular outburst;still, he did not consider himself justified in listening to thearriero's complaints, for circumstances were too serious to lose timein futile promises.
"Up, up! Cuerpo de Cristo!" he shouted; "Remember that we have not yetreached the Rio Seco, and that if we wish to cross this dangerouspassage before sunset, we must make haste."
"That is true," the arriero said, who was on his legs in a moment, asfresh and lively as if he had been awake for an hour; "forgive me,Captain, for I have quite as much interest as yourself in making nounpleasant encounter; according to the law, my fortune answers for theload I am conveying, and if an accident happened, I and my family wouldbe reduced to beggary."
"That is true, I did not think of that clause in your contract."
"That does not surprise me, for it cannot at all interest you; but Icannot get it out of my head, and I declare to you, Captain, that sinceI undertook this unlucky journey, I have very often repented havingaccepted the conditions imposed on me; something tells me that we shallnot arrive safe and sound on the other side of these confoundedmountains."
"Nonsense, that is folly, no Bautista. You are in a capital condition,and well escorted; what cause can you have for fear?"
"None, I know, and yet I am convinced that I am not mistaken, and thisjourney will be fatal to me."
The same presentiments agitated the officer; still, he must not allowthe arriero to perceive any of his internal disquietude; on thecontrary, he must comfort him, and restore that courage which seemed onthe point of abandoning him.
"You are mad, on my soul," he exclaimed; "to the deuce with the absurdnotions you have got in your wool-gathering noddle."
The arriero shook his head gravely.
"You are at liberty, Don Juan Melendez," he answered, "to laugh at theseideas; you are an educated man, and naturally believe in nothing. But I,Caballero, am a poor ignorant Indian, and set faith in what my fathersbelieved before me; look you, Captain, we Indians, whether civilized orsavage, have hard heads, and your new ideas cannot get through our thickskulls."
"Come, explain yourself," the Captain continued, desirous to break offthe conversation without thwarting the arriero's prejudices; "whatreason leads you to suppose that your journey will be unlucky? You arenot the man to be frightened at your own shadow; I have been acquaintedwith you for a long while, and know that you possess incontestablebravery."
"I thank you, Captain, for the good opinion you are pleased to have ofme; yes, I am courageous, and believe I have several times proved it,but it was when facing dangers which my intellect understood, and notbefore perils contrary to the natural laws that govern us."
The Captain twisted his moustache impatiently at the arriero's fatiguingprolixity: but, as he reminded him, he knew the worthy man, and wasaware by experience that attempting to cut short what he had to say wasa loss of time, and he must be allowed to do as he liked.
There are certain men with whom, like the spur with restiff horses, anyattempt to urge them on is a sure means of making them go back.
The young man, therefore, mastered his impatience, and coldly said:--
"I presume, then, you saw some evil omen at the moment of yourdeparture?"
"Indeed I did, Captain; and certainly, after what I saw, I would nothave started, had I been a man easily frightened."
"What was the omen, then?"
"Do not laugh at me, Captain; several passages of Scripture itself provethat GOD is often pleased to grant men salutary warnings, to whichunhappily," he added with a sigh, "they are not wise enough to givecredence."
"That is true," the Captain muttered in the style of an interjection.
"Well," the arriero continued, flattered by this approval from a manlike the one he was talking with; "my mules were saddled, the recua waswaiting for me in the corral, guarded by the peons, and I was on thepoint of starting. Still, as I did not like separating from my wife, fora long time probably, without saying a last good bye, I proceeded towardthe house to give her a parting kiss, when, on reaching the threshold, Imechanically raised my eyes, and saw two owls sitting on the azotea, whofixed their eyes on me with infernal steadiness. At this unexpectedapparition, I shuddered involuntarily and turned my eyes away. At thisvery moment, a dying man, carried by two soldiers on a litter, came downthe street, escorted by a monk who was reciting the Penitential Psalms,and preparing him to die like an honest and worthy Christian; but thewounded man made no other answer than laughing ironically at the monk.All at once this man half rose on the litter, his eyes grew brilliant,he turned to me, gave me a glance full of sarcasm, and fell back,muttering these two words evidently addressed to me:--
"_Hasta luego_ (we shall meet soon)."
"Hum!" the Captain said.
"The species of rendezvous this individual gave me, had nothing veryflattering about it, I fancy!" the arriero continued. "I was deeplyaffected by the words, and I rushed toward him with the intention ofreproaching him, as I thought was proper--but he was dead."
"Who was the man--did you learn?"
"Yes, he was a Salteador, who had been mortally wounded in a row withthe citizens, and was being carried to the steps of the Cathedral, todie there."
/> "Is that all?" the Captain asked.
"Yes.'
"Well, my friend, I did well in insisting upon knowing the motives ofyour present uneasiness."
"Ah!"
"Yes, for you have interpreted the omen with which you were favoured, ina very different way from what you should have done."
"How so?"
"Let me explain: this foreboding signifies, on the contrary, that withprudence and indefatigable vigilance you will foil all treachery, andlay beneath your feet any bandits who dare to attack you."
"Oh!" the arriero exclaimed, joyfully; "Are you sure of what youassert?"
"As I am of salvation in the other world," the Captain replied, crossinghimself fervently.
The arriero had a profound faith in the Captain's words, for he held himin great esteem, owing to his evident superiority; he did not dream,consequently, of doubting the assurance the latter gave him of themistake he had made in the interpretation of the omen which had causedhim such alarm; he instantly regained his good spirits, and snapped hisfingers mockingly.
"Caray, if that is the case, I run no risk; hence it is useless for meto give Nuestra Senora de la Soledad the wax taper I promised her."
"Perfectly useless," the Captain assured him.
Now, feeling perfectly at his ease again, the arriero hastened toperform his ordinary duties.
In this way, the Captain, by pretending to admit the ideas of thisignorant Indian, had led him quietly to abandon them.
By this time all were astir in the camp, the arrieros were rubbing downand loading the mules, while the troopers were saddling their horses andmaking all preparations for a start.
The Captain watched all the movements with feverish energy, spurringsome on, scolding others, and assuring himself that his orders werepunctually carried out.
When all the preparations were completed, the young officer ordered thatthe morning meal should be eaten all standing, and with the bridlepassed over the arm, in order to lose no time, and then gave the signalfor departure.
The soldiers mounted, but at the moment when the column started to leavethe camp finally, a loud noise was heard in the chaparral, the brancheswere violently pulled back, and a horseman dressed in a dragoon uniformappeared a short distance from the party, toward which he advanced at agallop.
On coming in front of the Captain, he stopped short, and raised hishand respectfully to the peak of his forage cap.
"_Dios guarde a Vm!_" he said, "have I the honour of speaking withCaptain Don Juan Melendez?"
"I am he," the Captain answered in great surprise; "what do you want?"
"Nothing personally," the trooper said, "but I have to place a despatchin your Excellency's hands."
"A despatch--from whom?"
"From his most Excellent General Don Jose-Maria Rubio, and the contentsof the despatch must be important, for the General ordered me to makethe utmost diligence, and I have ridden forty-seven leagues in nineteenhours, in order to arrive more quickly."
"Good!" the Captain answered; "Give it here."
The dragoon drew from his bosom a large letter with a red seal, andrespectfully offered it to the officer.
The latter took it and opened it, but, before reading it, he gave themotionless and impassive soldier before him a suspicious glance, whichhe endured, however, with imperturbable assurance.
The man seemed to be about thirty years of age, tall and well built; hewore his uniform with a certain amount of ease; his intelligent featureshad an expression of craft and cunning, rendered more marked still byhis incessantly moving black eyes, which only rested with considerablehesitation on the Captain.
Sum total, this individual resembled all Mexican soldiers, and there wasnothing about him that could attract attention or excite suspicion.
Still it was only with extreme repugnance that the Captain saw himselfcompelled to enter into relations with him; the reason for this it wouldcertainly have been very difficult, if not impossible for him to say;but there are in nature certain laws which cannot be gainsaid, and whichcause us at the mere sight of a person, and before he has even spoken,to feel a sympathy or antipathy for him, and be attracted or repulsed byhim. Whence comes this species of secret presentiment which is neverwrong in its appreciation? That we cannot explain: we merely confineourselves to mentioning a fact, whose influence we have often undergoneand efficacy recognized, during the course of our chequered life.
We are bound to assert that the Captain did not feel at all attractedtoward the man to whom we refer, but, on the contrary, was disposed toplace no confidence in him.
"At what place did you leave the General?" he asked, as he mechanicallyturned in his fingers the open despatch, at which he had not yet looked.
"At Pozo Redondo, a little in advance of the Noria de Guadalupe,Captain."
"Who are you--what is your name?"
"I am the assistente of his most excellent General; my name is GregorioLopez."
"Do you know the contents of this despatch?"
"No; but I suppose it is important."
The soldier replied to the Captain's questions with perfect freedom andfrankness. It was evident that he was telling the truth.
After a final hesitation, Don Juan made up his mind to read; but he soonbegan frowning, and an angry expression spread over his features.
This is what the despatch contained:--
_"Pozo Redondo."_
"General Don Jose-Maria Rubio, Supreme MilitaryCommandant of the State of Texas, has the honour to inform Captain DonJuan Melendez de Gongora, that fresh troubles have broken out in thestate; several parties of bandits and border-ruffians, under the ordersof different Chiefs, are going about the country pillaging and burninghaciendas, stopping convoys, and interrupting the communications. In thepresence of such grave facts, which compromise the public welfare andthe safety of the inhabitants, the government, as their duty imperiouslyorders, have thought fit, in the interest of all, to take generalmeasures to repress these disorders, before they break out on a largerscale. In consequence, Texas is declared under martial law--(herefollowed the measures adopted by the General to suppress the rebellion,and then the despatch went on as follows)--General Don Jose-Maria Rubiohaving been informed by spies, on whose devotion he can trust, that oneof the principal insurgent Chiefs, to whom his comrades have given thename of the Jaguar, is preparing to carry off the conducta de plataconfided to the escort of Captain Don Juan Melendez de Gongora, andthat, for this purpose, the said cabecilla purposes to form an ambuscadeon the Rio Seco, a spot favourable for a surprise; General Rubio ordersCaptain Melendez to let himself be guided by the bearer of the presentdespatch, a sure and devoted man, who will lead the conducta to theLaguna del Venado, where this conducta will form a junction with adetachment of cavalry sent for the purpose, whose numerical strengthwill protect it from any aggression. Captain Melendez will take thecommand of the troops, and join the General at head quarters with theleast possible delay."
"_Dios y libertad._""_The supreme Military General commanding in the State of Texas,_ "DON JOSE-MARIA RUBIO."
After reading this despatch carefully, the Captain raised his head andexamined the soldier for an instant with the deepest and most earnestattention.
The latter, leaning on the hilt of his sword, was carelessly playingwith his knot, and apparently paying no attention to what was going onaround him.
"The order is positive," the Captain repeated several times, "and I mustobey it, although everything tells me that this man is a traitor."
Then he added aloud--
"Are you well acquainted with this part of the country?"
"I was born here, Captain," the dragoon replied; "there is not a hiddentrack I did not traverse in my youth."
"You know that you are to serve as my guide?"
"His Excellency the General did me the honour of telling me so,Captain."
"And you feel certain of guiding us safe and sound to t
he spot where weare expected?"
"At least I will do all that is necessary."
"Good. Are you tired?"
"My horse is more so than I. If you would grant me another, I would beat your orders immediately, for I see that you are desirous of settingout."
"I am. Choose a horse."
The soldier did not let the order be repeated. Several remounts followedthe escort, and he selected one of them, to which he transferred thesaddle. In a few minutes he was mounted again.
"I am at your Excellency's orders," he said.
"March," the Captain shouted, and added mentally, "I will not let thisscoundrel out of sight during the march."