CHAPTER XXX.
THE BATTLE OF CONDERKANKI.
It was the fourth of October.
The Araucano warriors came out proudly from their entrenchments, anddrew up in order of battle to the sound of their warlike instruments.The Araucanos have a system of battle from which they never deviate:this unchangeable order is as follows: the cavalry form the two wings,and the infantry is in the centre, divided by battalions. The ranks ofthese battalions are by turns composed of men armed with pikes and menarmed with clubs, so that between two pikes there is always one club.The vice-Toqui commands the right wing, an Apo-Ulmen the left wing. Asto the Toqui, he flies to all points, exhorting the troops to fightcourageously for liberty.
The Araucanian army, drawn up as we have described, had an imposing andmartial appearance. All these warriors knew they were supporting a lostcause, that they were marching to an almost certain death, and yet theywaited impassively, their eyes burning with ardour for the signal forbattle. Antinahuel, with his right arm tied down to his body by leatherstrap, brandishing a heavy club in his left hand, mounted a magnificentcourser, as black as jet, which he governed with his knees, and rodethrough the ranks of his warriors.
Before leaving the camp, General Bustamente exchanged a few words withthe Linda. Their short conversation ended with these words, which didnot fail to make an impression upon the woman's heart--
"Farewell, senora!" he said, in a melancholy voice; "I am going todie--thanks to the bad influence you have exercised over me--in theranks of those to whom my duty orders me to be opposed! I am going todie the death of a traitor, hated and despised by all! I pardon you theevil you have done me. Repent!--there is still time! Farewell!"
He coldly bowed to the dejected Dona Maria, and rejoined the troop.
The Chilian army was formed in squares of echelons.
At the instant Don Tadeo was leaving his tent he uttered an exclamationof joy at beholding two men.
"Don Louis! Don Valentine!" he exclaimed; "you here?"
"Faith! yes, here we are," Valentine replied, laughing; "Caesar andall, who has a great inclination to taste an Araucano; haven't you, olddog?" he said.
"We thought," said the count, "that on a day like this you could nothave too many of your friends round you; we have left the two chiefsconcealed in the woods a short distance off, and have come to you."
"I thank you. You will not leave me, I hope."
"Pardieu! we came on purpose to stick to you."
Don Tadeo ordered each to be furnished with a superb charger, and allthree set off at a gallop to place themselves in the centre square.
The plain of Conderkanki, into which Don Tadeo had at length succeededin driving the Indians, has the form of an immense triangle. TheAraucanos occupied the summit of the triangle, and found themselveshemmed in between the sea and the mountains.
"Well," Valentine asked Don Tadeo, "is not the battle going to begin?"
"Directly," the latter replied, "and be assured you will find it sharpenough."
The dictator then raised his sword. The drums beat, the bugles soundedthe charge, and the Chilian army advanced at quick step. The signalbeing given, the Araucanos advanced in their turn resolutely, utteringfrightful yells. As soon as their enemies were within a proper distancethe Chilian lines opened--a discharge of artillery roared forth itsthunders, and swept the front ranks of the Araucanos; then the squaresas suddenly closed, and the soldiers waited in their ranks, withbayonets at charge.
The shock was terrible. The Aucas, decimated by the artillery whichploughed their ranks, front, flank, and rear, faced about on allsides at once, and rushed with fury upon the Chilian bayonets. Assoon as the first rank succumbed beneath the bullets, the second andthird resolutely replaced it. And yet the savage warriors retainedself-command in all their eagerness; they followed with exactness andrapidity the orders of their Ulmens, and executed with the greatestregularity the various evolutions which were commanded.
In spite of the close discharges of the musketry which cut them topieces, they rushed headlong upon the front ranks of the Chilians, andat length attacked them hand to hand. The Chilian cavalry then dashedin, and charged them to the very centre.
But General Bustamente had foreseen this movement. On his side heexecuted the same manoeuvre, so that the two bodies of cavalry came incontact with a noise like thunder. Calm and cool at the head of hissquadron, the general charged.
As Don Tadeo had predicted to Valentine, the battle was rudelycontested along the whole line; the Araucanos, with their tenacitywhich nothing can repel, and their contempt of death, allowedthemselves to be slaughtered by the Chilian bayonets without yielding.Antinahuel was in the van of his warriors, animating them with hisgestures and his voice.
"What men!" the count could not refrain from exclaiming; "what madrashness!"
"Is it not?" Don Tadeo replied; "They are demons."
"Pardieu!" Valentine cried. "What brave soldiers! Why, they will all bekilled if they go on so."
"All!" Don Tadeo replied.
The principal efforts of the Araucanians were directed against thesquare where the general-in-chief was, surrounded by his staff. Therethe fight was changed into a butchery; firearms had become useless,bayonets, hatchets, sabres, and clubs furrowed breasts and crushedskulls. Antinahuel looked around him. His followers were falling likeears of ripe corn; the forest of bayonets which barred their passagemust be broken through at all hazards.
"Aucas!" he cried, in a voice of thunder "forward!"
With a movement rapid as thought, he lifted his horse, made it plunge,and hurled it upon the front ranks of the enemy. The breach was openedby this stroke of extraordinary audacity; the warriors rushed in afterhim. A frightful carnage ensued--a tumult impossible to be described!With every blow a man fell. The Aucas had plunged like a wedge into thesquare, and had broken it.
"Well," Don Tadeo asked of Valentine, "what do you think of theseadversaries?"
"They are more than men!" he answered.
"Forward, forward! Chili! Chili!" Don Tadeo shouted, urging on hishorse.
Followed by about fifty men, among whom were the two Frenchmen, heplunged into the thickest of the enemy's ranks. Don Gregorio andGeneral Fuentes had divined from the persistency with which theAraucanos attacked the great square that their object was to takethe general-in-chief prisoner. Therefore, they had hastened theirmovements, effected their junction, and enclosed the Aucas within acircle of steel.
At a glance Antinahuel perceived the critical position in which he wasplaced. He shouted to Bustamente a cry of anxious appeal. He also wasaware of the dangerous position of the Indian army.
"Let us save our warriors," he shouted.
"We will save them," the Indians howled.
All at once the general found himself immediately opposed to thesquadron commanded by Don Tadeo.
"Oh!" he cried, "I shall die at last."
From the commencement of the action Joan had fought by the side of DonTadeo, who, intent upon his duties as leader, often neglected to parrythe blows aimed at him; but the brave Indian parried them for him, andseemed to multiply himself for the sake of protecting the man he hadsworn to defend. Joan instinctively divined the intention of GeneralBustamente.
"Oh!" the general shouted; "my God, I thank thee. I shall not die bythe hand of a brother."
Joan's horse came full in contact with that of the general.
"Ah! ah!" the latter murmured, "you also are a traitor to your country;you also are fighting against your brothers. Die, wretch!"
And he aimed a heavy sabre stroke at the Indian. But Joan avoided it,and seized the general round the body. The two horses, abandoned tothemselves, and rendered furious by the noise of the battle, draggedalong the two men, who clung to each other like serpents. This furiousstruggle could not last long, and both men rolled on the ground. Theydisengaged themselves from their stirrups, and instantly stood face toface. After a contest of skill for a few minutes, the general, who wasan expert
swordsman, succeeded in planting a sabre cut which cleft theskull of the Indian; but before falling Joan collected his strength,and threw himself headlong upon his antagonist, who was surprisedby this unexpected attack, and plunged his poisoned dagger into hisbreast. The two enemies staggered for a moment, and then fell, side byside--dead!