CHAPTER XLIII.
TWO HATREDS.
Antinahuel found himself face to face with Dona Maria; by an instinctivemovement each drew back a step, stifling a cry; a cry of stupor on thepart of Antinahuel, of surprise on the part of the Linda.
"Oh!" sighed Dona Rosario, quite overcome, and bowing her head to avoidthe ardent glance of the Indian chief--"Oh, Heaven! now I am reallylost, indeed!"
Dona Maria had in a few seconds driven back to her heart the feelingswhich raged within her; and with a mild voice and a smiling face sheaddressed Antinahuel--
"My brother is welcome," she said, inviting him by a gesture to enterthe cuarto; "to what happy chance do I owe his presence?"
"A happy chance for me, particularly," he replied, with a satiricalsmile, and endeavouring to compose his features.
The toqui was too well acquainted with the companion of his childhoodnot to know that he had in her a formidable adversary, with whom he mustplay close, in order to bring her to do his will.
"Well!" the Linda resumed, "will my brother deign to do me the pleasureof explaining the cause of his sudden appearance, which, not the less,fills me with delight?"
"Oh! the cause is very simple indeed, not worth mentioning; I did nothope, in any way, to meet my sister here; I must even confess, with allhumility that I did not seek her."
"Ah!" said Dona Maria, feigning to be imposed upon, "I am doublyfortunate, then."
The chief bowed.
"It is the truth," he said.
"Good!" she thought; "now he is going to lie, let us see what villainythe demon will invent;" and then she added aloud, with a seducing smile,which displayed thirty-two little teeth of the purest pearl--"I am allears, my brother can speak."
"As my sister knows, this village is on the route which leads to mytolderia, I have naturally traversed it in returning to my tribe; thenight is advanced, my mosotones require a few hours' rest; I resolvedto encamp here. I entered the first rancho which presented itself tomy view, this rancho in which you are temporarily sojourning, and I amgrateful to the chance which, as I have told you, has done all this, andis alone guilty."
"Not bad for an Indian," murmured Dona Maria; "well, we will say no moreabout that."
"Eh!" said Antinahuel, feigning for the first time to perceive DonaRosario, and advancing towards her; "who is this charming young woman?"
"A slave, not worthy of your notice," the Linda replied, sternly.
"A slave!" Antinahuel cried.
"Yes, a slave." The Linda clapped her hands, and the Indian we have seentalking with her entered.
"Take away this woman!" she said.
"Oh, madam!" Rosario exclaimed, falling on her knees, "can you beinexorable towards a poor girl who has never injured you?"
The Linda gave her a fiery glance, and repulsed her with her foot.
"I ordered this girl to be taken away," she said, perilously.
At this flagrant insult, the blood rushed to the heart of the poorgirl; her pallid brow flushed with scarlet, and drawing herself upmajestically and proudly, she said in a piercing voice, the prophetictone of which struck the Linda to the heart--
"Beware, madam! God will punish you! As you today are without pity forme, so the day will come when there will be no pity for you!"
And she left the room, after darting a look at her implacable enemy thatmade even her blench.
When Antinahuel and the Linda were left alone, a long silence ensued.The last words of Rosario had wounded the Linda like the stroke of aponiard; it was in vain she endeavoured to steel herself against theemotion she experienced. She felt herself conquered by the weak girl.She, however, gradually overcame the incomprehensible sensation thatoppressed her. Passing her hand across her brow, as if to drive away theimportunate idea that pursued her, she turned towards Antinahuel--
"No diplomacy between us, brother," she said, "we know each other toowell to lose time in manoeuvring."
"My sister is right; let us speak frankly."
"The story of your return to your tribe is very clever, Antinahuel, butI do not believe a word of it."
"Good! then my sister knows the reason that brings me here."
"I do know it," she said, with an arch smile, which played like asunbeam round her rosy lips.
Antinahuel made no reply. He began to walk in great agitation about theroom, casting looks of anger and vexation towards the door by whichRosario had gone out. The Linda followed him with a keen and mocking eye.
"Well," she said, at the end of a minute, "will not my brother speak?"
"Why should I not speak?" he angrily replied. "Antinahuel is the mostredoubtable chief of his nation, the proudest warriors bend their loftybrows without hesitation before him!"
"I am waiting," she said, in a calm voice.
"A chief explains himself clearly, no one imposes upon him. My sisterknows my hatred for the chief of the palefaces, of whom she has so muchreason to complain."
"Yes, I know that man is the personal enemy of my brother."
"Well, then, my sister has in her hands the blue-eyed maiden, and shewill give her to me, so that I may, in making her suffer, revenge myselfon my enemy."
"My brother is a man, he does not know how to avenge himself: whyshould I give my prisoner up to him? Women alone possess the secret oftorturing those they hate. Let my brother leave it to me," she added,with a vindictive smile; "the torments I shall invent will suffice, Iswear, to satisfy a hatred much deeper than any he can feel."
Antinahuel, although his face remained impassive, shuddered inwardly atthese odious words.
"My sister is boastful," he replied, "her skin is white, her heart knowsnot how to hate, let her leave it to the Indian chief."
"No," she passionately exclaimed, "I have fixed the fate of this woman;I will not give her to my brother."
"Will my sister then forget her promise, and falsify her oaths?"
"Of what promises and of what oaths do you speak, chief?"
"Of those," the Indian replied haughtily, "which my sister pronounced inthe toldo of Antinahuel, when she came among his tribe to implore hisassistance."
The Linda smiled.
"Woman is a mockingbird," she said, "the man who pays attention to herwords is----"
"Good!" Antinahuel interrupted, "my sister shall keep her prisoner. Letmy sister do her will; I will continue my route towards the tolderia ofmy tribe."
The Linda looked at him with astonishment; the facility with whichAntinahuel apparently renounced his projects seemed to her the moreincomprehensible, from her knowing with what pertinacity he pursuedhis enterprises, when once he believed he had a chance of success. Sheresolved to know what she had to trust to. At the moment when the chiefmade a step towards the door, she said.
"Is my brother going?"
"I am going," he replied.
"Has he, then, already terminated the affairs about which GeneralBustamente requested him to come and consult with him?"
"General Bustamente no longer stands in need of Antinahuel or of anyoneelse."
"Has he then succeeded so quickly?"
"Yes," he answered in an equivocal tone.
"Then," the Linda exclaimed, joyfully, "he is master of the city, andtriumphs at last!"
Antinahuel appeared to hesitate for a minute--an ironical smile flittedacross his lips.
"Will not my brother answer?" the Linda continued, with an impatiencemingled with uneasiness.
"He whom my sister calls General Bustamente," he replied in a sharptone, "no longer needs the assistance of anyone: he is a prisoner."
The Linda sprang up like a wounded lioness.
"A prisoner!" she cried. "Oh! my brother must be mistaken."
"He is a prisoner, and within three days will be dead."
The Linda was struck with stupor; this frightful news crushed all herhopes.
"Oh!" she murmured at length, "he shall not die!"
"He will die!" Antinahuel replied; "who can save him?"
"Y
ou, chief!" she said, emphatically grasping his arm.
"Why should I do it?" he remarked carelessly; "of what consequence isthe life of the man to me?--the palefaces are not my brothers."
"No; but his life is precious to me, for the sake of my vengeance! Healone can deliver up my enemy to me! He shall live, I tell you!"
"Good! My sister will deliver him, then, as she is so anxious to savehim."
"You alone could do it, chief, if you would," she observed.
Antinahuel fixed his eyes upon her.
"What makes you suppose I would?" he said.
"Listen to me, chief!" the Linda cried. "You love that woman--that puny,palefaced thing, do you not?"
The Indian started, but made no reply.
"Oh! do not endeavour to deceive me; you cannot blind the eyes of awoman. The hatred you bear to Don Tadeo is changed into love in yourheart at the sight of this creature."
"Well! and suppose it should be so?" he said, evidently moved.
"An even-handed bargain with you then; give me General Bustamente," sheremarked earnestly, "and I will deliver her up to you."
"Oh!" said Antinahuel, with a bantering smile, "a woman is but amockingbird; the man who puts faith in her words----"
On hearing the chief throw in her face the words she herself had utteredonly a few minutes before, she stamped with impatience.
"Well, then," she cried, almost bursting with rage, "take herthen!--take the woman! and may my curses cling to her!"
Antinahuel uttered a tiger-like roar, and rushed out of the room.
"Ah!" cried the Linda in a hoarse voice, and with an expressionimpossible to be described, "may not the love of this wretch avenge mebetter than all the tortures I could have invented!"
In a few minutes the chief returned precipitately, his featuresdistorted by fury and disappointment.
"She has fled!" he shouted. It was true. Rosario and the Indian to whosecharge the Linda had given her had both disappeared. No one knew whathad become of them. Antinahuel immediately dispatched his mosotones inall directions in search of them. The Linda was left in the toldo aprey to indescribable rage; she was cheated of her vengeance! She feltcrushed under the weight of the helplessness to which she was reduced.