CHAPTER XXXV.
A FURY.
After a march of five or six leagues at most, Antinahuel ordered histroop to bivouac. The warriors who accompanied him were almost all ofhis own tribe. As soon as the fires were lighted the Linda approachedhim.
"I have kept my promise," she said.
"Then, the young girl----?" he asked.
"Is asleep!" she replied, with a hideous smile.
"Good," he murmured, joyfully, and bent his steps towards the toldo,erected in haste, beneath which his victim had been transported. "No,"he said, "presently!" and then turning to his accomplice added, "Forhow long a time has my sister sent the young girl to sleep?"
"She will not awake before daybreak."
A smile of satisfaction lit up the chief's features.
"That is well--my sister is skilful, and I should like to show mysister," he continued, "that I am not ungrateful, and that I also keepmy word faithfully."
The Linda fixed a searching look upon him.
"Of what word is my brother speaking?"
"My sister has an enemy whom she has pursued for a long time, withoutbeing able to destroy him," Antinahuel said, with a smile.
"Don Tadeo?"
"Yes, and that enemy is also mine."
"Well?"
"He is in my power."
"Don Tadeo is my brother's prisoner?"
"He is here."
"At last," she cried, triumphantly. "Then I will repay him all thetortures he has inflicted upon me."
"Yes; she is at liberty to make him undergo all the insults herinventive spirit can furnish her with."
"Oh!" she cried, in a voice that almost made the hardened chiefshudder, "I will only inflict one punishment upon him, but it shall beterrible."
"But be careful, woman." Antinahuel replied; "be careful not to letyour hatred carry you too far; this man's life is mine, and I willdeprive him of it with my own hands."
"Oh!" she said, with a hideous, mocking laugh, "do not be afraid; Iwill return your victim to you safe and sound. I am not a man--myweapon is my tongue."
"Yes; but that weapon is double-edged,"
"I will restore him to you, I tell you."
"There," the chief replied, pointing to a hut made of branches; "butbeware forget not what I said."
"I will not forget," she retorted, with a savage leer.
And she sprang towards the hut.
"It is only women that know how to hate," Antinahuel murmured, lookingafter her.
A score of warriors waited for their chief at the entrance of the camp.He sprang into his saddle and departed with them.
Although through pride he had allowed nothing to appear, the threats ofDon Gregorio had produced a strong impression upon Antinahuel. He hadreason to fear that the Chilian officer would massacre his prisonersand hostages. The consequences of this action would be terrible to him,and would make him lose beyond recovery the prestige he still enjoyedamong his compatriots; therefore, forced for the first time in his lifeto bend, he had resolved to retrace his steps, and confer with this man.
Endowed with great finesse, Antinahuel flattered himself he couldobtain from Don Gregorio a delay which would enable him to sacrificehis prisoner without being called to an account for it. But timepressed.
It was scarcely eight o'clock in the evening, and Antinahuel had butsix leagues to ride; he flattered himself, therefore, that if nothingthwarted his plans, he should arrive long before the time, and evenreturn to his camp ere sunrise.
We have said that the Linda entered the hut which sheltered Don Tadeo.She found him seated upon a heap of dry leaves in a corner of the hut,his back leaning against a tree, his arms crossed upon his breast, andhis head drooping on his chest. Absorbed by the bitter thoughts whichweighed upon his heart, he did not perceive the entrance of the Linda,who, standing motionless within two paces of him, contemplated him withan expression of rage and satisfied hatred.
"Well?" said a shrill, incisive voice, "What are you thinking of, DonTadeo?"
He started at the too well-known sound, and raised his head.
"Ah!" he replied, bitterly, "is that you? I wondered I had not seen youbefore."
"It is strange, is it not?" she replied. "Well, we are once more faceto face."
"Like a hyena, the odour of blood attracts you."
"Who--I, Don Tadeo? You mistake my character strangely. No, no; am Inot your wife--the woman whom you loved so much?"
Don Tadeo shrugged his shoulders with an expression of disgust.
"You ought to be grateful for what I do," she replied.
"Listen to me," said Don Tadeo, "your insults can never rise to theheight of my contempt. Do, act, speak, insult me, invent the mostatrocious calumnies your infernal genius can inspire, I will not answeryou! Concentrated in myself, your insults, like a vain sound, willstrike my ear without my mind making the least effort to understandthem."
"Oh!" she cried, "I know well how to compel you to listen to me, mybeloved husband. You men are all alike! You arrogate to yourselvesall the rights, as you have done all the virtues! We are contemptiblebeings, creatures without heart; condemned to be your very humbleservants, and to endure, with a smile upon our lips, all the insultsyou please to heap upon us! It was I who was always wrong; you areright; it was I who stole your child from you, was it not?"
At the end of a minute she resumed--
"Come, let there be no feigning between us; let us speak for the lasttime openly. You are the prisoner of your most implacable enemy; themost frightful tortures await you. In a few instants, perhaps, thepunishment which threatens you will fall like a thunderbolt upon yourproud head. Well, I can enable you to escape this punishment; thatlife, which you now reckon only by seconds, I can restore to you,happy, long, and glorious! In a word, I can with one sentence, onegesture, one sign, restore you to liberty immediately! I only ask onething of you--I mistake, not a thing, a word--utter that word, DonTadeo, where is my daughter?"
Don Tadeo shrugged his shoulders, but made no reply.
"Oh!" she exclaimed, with a gesture of fury, "this man is a bar ofiron; nothing can touch him--no words are sufficiently strong to movehim! Demon! demon! oh, with what joy I could tear you to pieces! Butno," she added, after a moment's pause, "I am wrong, Don Tadeo; pardonme, I know not what I say; grief makes me mad! Have pity on me! I ama woman--I am a mother. I adore my child, my poor little girl whom Ihave not seen so long, who has lived deprived of my kisses and my love!Restore her to me, Don Tadeo. See, I am on my knees at your feet! Isupplicate you, I weep! Don Tadeo, restore me my child!"
She cast herself at the feet of Don Tadeo, and seized his poncho.
"Begone, senora, begone!"
"And is that all?" she cried, in a choked, husky voice; "Is that all? Iimplore you, I drag myself panting with grief through the dust at yourfeet, and you laugh at me. Prayers and threats are equally powerlesswith you. Beware, Don Tadeo, beware!"
Don Tadeo smiled disdainfully.
"What punishment can you impose upon me more terrible than yourpresence?" he said.
"Senseless man!" she resumed; "Fool! Do you imagine, then, that youalone are in my power?"
"What do you mean by that?" Don Tadeo cried, starting up.
"Ah, ah!" she exclaimed, with an expression of ferocious joy, "I havehit the mark this time, have I?"
"Speak, speak!" he exclaimed, in great agitation.
"And suppose I should not please to do so?" she replied ironically. Andshe laughed like a demon.
"But no," she continued, in a bitterly sarcastic tone, "I cannot bearmalice: come along with me, Don Tadeo; I will lead you to her whom youhave so long sought for in vain, and whom but for me you would neversee again. And see how generous I am," she added, jeeringly. "Comealong with me, Don Tadeo."
She hastily left the hut, and Don Tadeo followed her, struck by ahorrible presentiment.