CHAPTER XXI.
THE INDIAN CITY.
Tcharanguii, the chief of the Jaos, had rejoined his warriors, afterentrusting Inez and Maria de Soto-Mayor to the care of the Sayotkattaof Garakouaiti. Immediately after he had departed, the young ladieswere imprisoned in the Jouimion Fare, inhabited by the Virgins of theSun.
Although prisoners, they were treated with the greatest respect,according to the orders which Tcharanguii had given, and might perhapshave endured the weariness of their captivity with patience, had nota profound anxiety as to the fate reserved for them and an invinciblesadness resulting from their brutal separation from those whom theyloved, and the terrible circumstances under which they had left them,seized upon them.
It was then that the difference of character in the two sisters wasdisplayed. Inez, accustomed to the eager attentions of the brilliantgentlemen who frequented her father's house, and to the enjoymentof the slothful and luxurious life which is that of all rich Spanishfamilies, suffered on finding herself deprived of the delights andcaresses by which her childhood had been surrounded, and, beingincapable to resist the grief that devoured her, she fell into a stateof discouragement and torpor, which she made no attempt to combat.
Maria, on the contrary, who found in her present condition but littlechange from her novitiate, while deploring the blow that struck her,endured it with courage and resignation. Her powerful mind accepted themisfortune as a chastisement for the fervent affection which she haddevoted to Leon; but, confiding in the purity of that love, she haddrawn from it the hope that she would one day emerge from the trial bythe help of the man whom she loved, and who had rendered her aid andprotection.
When the two sisters conversed together about the probabilities ofdeliverance, Inez trusted to the power of her father's name andfortune, while Maria contented herself with confiding in the braveryand intrepidity of the young smuggler chief who had escorted them upto the moment when they were carried off by the Indians. Inez did notunderstand what relations could exist between this captain and thefuture, and cross-questioned Maria; but the latter either did notanswer the question or evaded it.
"In truth, sister," Inez said to her, "you incessantly speak aboutCaptain Leon. Do you think then, that our father, Don Juan, and DonPedro, who loves me and is going to marry me, cannot succeed withoutLeon in delivering us from the hands of the wicked Redskins who keep usprisoners here?"
"Sister Inez," Maria answered her, "I hope for the help of thesmuggler, because he engaged to escort us to Valdivia, where we shouldarrive safely; and he is too honourable and brave a man not to seteverything in motion to remedy the fatal event which has prevented himfrom keeping his word."
This last sentence was uttered by the maiden with so much convictionthat Inez was surprised at it, and raised her eyes to her sister, whoblushed beneath this searching glance. Inez said no more, but askedherself what could be the nature of the feeling which thus compelledher sister to defend a man whom she did not know, and whose relationswith the family were of so low a nature. From that day no furtherallusion was made to Leon.
It is a strange fact, but one that is incontestably true, thatpriests, no matter to what country or religion they belong, arecontinually devoured by the desire of making proselytes. The Sayotkattaof Garakouaiti had not let the opportunity slip which appeared tooffer itself in the persons of Inez and her sister. Endowed with agreat mind, thoroughly convinced of the excellence of the religiousprinciples which he professed; and, in addition, an obstinate enemyof the Spaniards, he conceived the plan of making the young ladiespriestesses of the sun, so soon as they were entrusted to him byTcharanguii.
In America there is no lack of such conversions; and though they mayappear monstrous to us, they are perfectly natural in that country. Hetherefore prepared his batteries very artfully. The young ladies didnot speak Indian; and he, on his side, did not know a word of Spanish;but this difficulty, apparently enormous, was speedily got over bySchymi-Tou.
He was related to a renowned warrior of the name of Meli-Antou (thefour suns), whose wife, reared not far from Valdivia, spoke Spanishwell enough to make herself comprehended. In spite of the law whichinterdicted the introduction of strangers into the Jouimion Fare, thehigh priest took it on himself to let Mahiaa (My Eyes), Meli-Antou'swife, visit the young ladies.
We can imagine the satisfaction which the latter must have felt onreceiving the visit of someone who could talk with them, and helpthem to overcome the ennui in which they passed their whole time. TheIndian squaw was welcomed as a friend, and her presence as a mostagreeable distraction. But in the second interview they saw for whatan interested object these visits were permitted, and a real tyrannysucceeded the short conversations of the first days.
This was a permanent punishment for the maidens. As Spanish girls,and attached to the religion of their fathers, they could not at anyprice respond to the Sayotkatta's hopes, and still the squaw had notconcealed from them, that in spite of the honeyed words and insinuatingmanners of Schymi-Tou, they must expect to suffer the most frightfultorture if they refused to devote themselves to the worship of the Sun.
The prospect was far from being reassuring; hence, while pledgingthemselves in their hearts to remain faithful to the Catholic faith,the young girls experienced a deadly anxiety. Time slipped away, andthe Sayotkatta was beginning to grow impatient at the slowness of theconversion; and the slight hopes which the maidens had retained ofbeing able to escape the sacrifice demanded of them gradually abandonedthem.
This painful situation, which was further aggravated by the absence ofany news from outside, eventually produced an illness, whose progresswas so rapid, that the Sayotkatta considered it prudent to suspend theexecution of his ardent wish. Let us leave the unhappy prisoners almostcongratulating themselves on the alteration which had taken place intheir health, and which freed them from the annoyance to which theywere subjected, and take up the thread of the events which happened toother persons who figure in this history.
A month after the arrival of Maria and Inez within the walls ofGarakouaiti--that is to say, on a fine October evening--two men, whosefeatures or dress it would have been impossible to distinguish owing tothe obscurity, debouched from the forest which we previously described,and stopped for a moment with marked indecision upon the extreme vergeof the wood.
Before them rose a mound, whose summit, though of no great elevation,cut the horizon in a straight line. After exchanging a few whisperedwords, the two travellers laid down on their stomach, and crawling ontheir hands and feet, advanced through the giant grass, which theycaused to undulate, and which entirely concealed their bodies. Onreaching the top of the mount, they looked down, and were struck withamazement.
The eminence on which they found themselves was quite perpendicular,as was the whole of the ridge that extended on their right and left.A magnificent plain stretched out a hundred feet beneath them, and inthe centre of this plain--that is to say, at a distance of about athousand yards--stood an Indian city, haughty and imposing, defended bya hundred massive towers and its stout walls.
The sight of this vast city produced a lively feeling of pleasure onthe mind of the two men, for one of them turned to his comrade and saidto him with an accent of indescribable satisfaction--
"That must be the city which Diego told me of: it is Garakouaiti! Atlast we have arrived."
"And it was not without trouble, captain," the other remarked, who wasno other than Wilhelm; "we may compliment ourselves on it."
"What matter, since we have arrived?"
"Before the city, yes: but inside it, no."
Leon smiled.
"Don't be alarmed, comrade; I shall be inside tomorrow."
"I hope so, captain; but in the meanwhile I do not think it advisableto spend the night here in contemplating what there is at the baseof this species of precipice, and I think we should not do wrong inreturning to the forest, or seeking the road that leads to the placethat lies before us."
"It is too late to dre
am of getting any nearer the city today. As forthe road, we shall find it by bearing a little to the right, for theground seems to trend in that direction."
"In that case, captain, we must put off the affair till tomorrow."
"Yes; and now let us return to the llama."
And joining action to words, Leon turned back, and exactly followingthe track which his body had left in the grass, he soon foundhimself--as did Wilhelm, who followed all his movements--once again onthe skirt of the forest.
The silence which reigns at midday beneath these gloomy arches offoliage and branches had been succeeded by the hoarse sounds of asavage concert composed of the shrill cries of the nocturnal birds,which awoke, and prepared to dash at the loritos and hummingbirdsbelated far from their nests; of the yells of the pumas, and thehypocritical and plaintive miaulings of the tigers and panthers,whose echoes were hurled back in mournful notes by the roofs of theinaccessible caverns and the yawning pits which served as the lurkingplaces of these dangerous guests.
Going back along the road which they had traced with the axe, thesmugglers soon afterwards found themselves close to a fire of deadleaves and branches burning in the centre of a clearing. Some fifteenyards from them a magnificent llama, carelessly lying at the foot ofa tree, watched them approach, and fixed on them its large eyes asmelancholy and intelligent as those of a stag, though it did not appearat all astonished or startled by their presence.
"Well, Jemmy, my boy, you were not tired of waiting for us?" Wilhelmsaid, as he went up to the animal and patted it on the neck.
Leon threw a few branches on the fire, which was beginning to decay.
"On my honour, captain, I am not curious," the German continued, "but Ishould like to know what you intend doing with this llama which we havedragged after us for the last fortnight? Now that we have reached ourjourney's end, do you not think it time to kill and roast it?"
"For Heaven's sake, no, my friend; for if I have spared this llama, itis simply that it may serve me as a passport to enter the city which wesaw just now."
"How so?"
"I will explain that to you tomorrow, till then let us keep up a goodfire, as the wild beasts seem out of temper tonight, and sleep."
"Done for sleep!" the German answered, phlegmatically.
And without farther ceremony he prepared to obey his captain's orders.The latter, who felt that the hopes which he had conceived were on thepoint of being realized, was, as frequently happens in such cases,overcome by the fear that he had deceived himself in the supposition hehad formed of the young ladies' captivity in the city of Garakouaiti.In vain did he recall the details which Diego had furnished him withabout the customs of the Indians, and the art among others which theyhad of conveying to, and concealing in, the holy city everything theytook from their enemies; the fear of being mistaken constantly revertedto his mind.
"Oh, no!" he said to himself, "I cannot have deceived myself; it islove which guides my footsteps, and I feel here," he continued, as helaid his hand on his chest, "something which tells me that I am goingto see her again. Oh! see her, and then save her! It would be too greathappiness, and I would give ten years of my life to be sure of success."
Then, following the current of his thoughts, Leon saw himself leadingMaria back to the general, and receiving her hand as a recompense forthe service which he had rendered him. Then, a moment after, he askedhimself whether he could endure life hence-forward were he to fail inhis plans; and, looking at the rifle he held, he vowed that it shouldhelp him not to survive his sorrow.
"Come," he said to himself, suddenly, "this is not the moment fordoubt. Besides, if Maria is not in Garakouaiti, Diego will be there, orsomeone who can tell me where to find him; and in that case he mustrestore me her whom I love, for he swore that she should be sacred tohim."
After the young man had to some extent regained the courage which hadmomentarily failed him, he removed from his brow the anxiety which hadovershadowed it, and asked of sleep the calmness necessary for histhoughts and forgetfulness of his anxious cares. He therefore lay downby the side of Wilhelm, whose irregular snores added an additional noteto the melody which the wild denizens of the forest were performingwith a full orchestra.
The first beams of dawn had just begun to tinge the sky with a whitishreflection, when the smuggler captain opened his eyes and shook hiscomrade's arm. The latter turned--turned again--and at last awoke,suppressing an enormous yawn, which almost cleft his face to the ears--
"Hilloh, skulk!" Leon shouted to him, "make haste and get on your legs;for we have no time to lose. The red devils are still asleep, but theywill soon spread over the plain, and they must not find us here."
"Let us decamp," Wilhelm replied, who had been quite restored by hislong sleep; "I shall not be sorry to have a peep at an Indian city. Itmust be funny."
"My poor Wilhelm, in spite of all the desire I might have to procureyou this satisfaction, I am compelled to beg you to abstain from it,because I have already told, I must go on alone."
"Der Teufel! But in that case what am I to do while waiting for you?for I do not suppose that you intend remaining any length of time inthat confounded capital?"
"I will tell you. In the first place, help me to dress."
"Dress?"
"Yes; hang it all! Do you fancy I shall present myself at the citygates in Spanish costume?"
"What! are you going to disguise yourself?"
"Exactly."
"But as what?"
"As an Indian, you donkey."
"Oh! famous--famous!" Wilhelm exclaimed, bursting into a hearty laugh."I'm your man."
"In that case make haste."
"I am ready, captain; I am ready."
The travestissement did not take long to effect; in a few minutes Leontook from his alforjas a razor, with which he removed his whiskers andmoustache; and during this Wilhelm went to pluck a plant that grewabundantly in the forest. After extracting the juice, Leon, who hadstripped off all his clothes, dyed his face and body with it.
Then Wilhelm drew on his chest, as well as he could, a tortoise,accompanied by some fantastic ornaments which had no warlike characterabout them, and which he reproduced on the face. He gave hismagnificent black hair a whitish tinge, intended to make him look olderthan he really was, knotted it upon his head in the Indian fashion, andthrust into the knob the feather of an aras, which Leon had picked upsome days previously in the forest, being careful to place it on theleft side, in order to show that it adorned the head of a peaceful man,since the warriors are accustomed to fix their plumes in the centreof their top-knot. When these preparations were completed, Leon askedWilhelm whether he could present himself among the Indians withoutrisk?
"You are so like a redskin, captain, that, if I had not helped totransform you, I should not be able to recognise you, for you arereally frightful."
"In that case, I have nothing to fear."
Leon, feeling once again in his alforjas, brought out his travellingcase, and a small box of medicaments, which he always carried with him,a precious article to which he and his men had had recourse on manyoccasions; joining to these articles his pistols, he made the wholeinto a small packet, which he wrapped up in his poncho and fastened onthe back of the llama, whose taming had so greatly excited Wilhelm'scuriosity.
"Now," he said, addressing the German, "pay careful attention to what Iam about to say to you."
"I am listening, captain."
"You will collect my clothes, and as soon as I have left the forest,start at once for the grotto, where I left Giacomo; our comrades musthave reached it some days back. You have only twenty leagues to go,and the road is ready traced, since it cost us three weeks' labour; bytravelling day and night, you can arrive soon."
"I will not lose an hour, captain."
"Good: you will tell Harrison where I am, and return here with all themen who have been enlisted at Valparaiso to reinforce our troops. Doyou thoroughly understand?"
"Yes, captain."
"Y
ou will bring the horses with you, for they can pass. When youhave all assembled at this spot, Harrison will place sentries inthe environs day and night, while careful to hide them so that theycannot be noticed, and so soon as you hear the cry of the eagle ofthe Cordilleras, which I shall imitate, you will answer me, so that Imay know your exact position; and if I repeat it twice, you will holdyourselves in readiness to help, for in that case I shall be attacked.You will remember all these instructions?"
"Perfectly, captain; and I will repeat them to you word for word."
"Good!" Leon resumed, after Wilhelm had repeated his orders word byword. "One thing more. It is possible that when I return I may bringtwo or three persons with me; do not be troubled by that, nor stir tillyou hear the agreed on signal."
"Yes, captain."
"Keep watch before all at night, for I shall probably leave the cityafter sunset."
"All right--a good guard shall be kept."
"And if I have not given the signal within a week, it will be because Iam dead; and, in that case, you can be off and choose another chief, asyou cannot hope to see Leon again."
"Oh! captain, do not say that."
"We must foresee everything, my worthy fellow; but I have hopes that,with the help of Heaven, nothing disagreeable will happen to me. Hereis the day, and it is time to set out; so let us separate. Good-bye, myexcellent Wilhelm, my trust is in you."
"Good-bye, captain, and distrust those scamps of Indians, for they areas treacherous as they are cowardly."
The two men shook hands, and Leon made his llama get up from theground, while Wilhelm, after making a bundle of the clothes whichhis captain had bidden him remove, threw it on his shoulder with adesperate air, opened his enormous compasses of legs, and went off intothe forest with long strides, and a melancholy shake of the head. Leonlooked after him for a moment.
"It is, perhaps, the last friendly face that I shall ever see," he saidto himself, with a sigh.
A moment after he resolutely raised his head.
"The die is cast, and I will go on."
Then, assuming the quiet, careless slouch of an Indian, he went slowlytoward the plain, followed by his llama, though continually lookingsearchingly around him.