Beadle's New York Dime Library, Vol. II, No. 15 — page 12: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

=e" es... SO PL ts SP aes Ce ees =. ii ie \¢ if be 12 pig and he made a remark io that ef- ect. ** Be assured,” the count replied, ‘that my excellent lieutenant will not let us pass till he is quite ce:tain that our European clothes do not cover red skins.” ** Oh yes!’? Don Sylva muttered to him- self; “‘thatis true. The Europeans foresee evcry thing. ‘They are our masters.” The caravan was now not more than twenty yards from the hacienda. The two men checked their horses and waited to be challenged. ‘Who goes there?’ a powerful voice shouted in French from behind the battery. ‘* Friends,’’ the count answered. ‘* Lo. railles and freedom !” ‘* All right—open!” the voice command- ed. The peons lowered the drawbridge (the only passage by which the hacienda could be entered), the caravan passed over, and the drawbridge was immediately raised after them, ‘“ You will excuse me, captain,’ Martin Leroux said, respectfully approaching the count, “but, although I recognized you, we live in a country where, I think, too great prudence can not be exercised,” “You have done your duty, lieutenant, and I can only thank you forit. Huve you any news ?”’ * Not much. <Atroop of horse I sent out into the plain discovered a deserted fire. I fancy the Indians are prowling round us.” * We will be on our guard.’ “Ob! I keep good watch, especially at present, for the month is drawing on which the Comanches call so audaciously the Mex- ican moon. I should not be sorry, if they dared to meddle with us, to give them a lesson which would be profitable for the future,’’ ‘““T share your views entirely. Redouble your vigilance, and all will be well.”’ ‘** You have no other orders to give me ?” “s No.”’ “Then I will withdraw. You know, ca tain, that you intrust the internal details to me, and I must be everywhere in turn.”’ *“ Go, lieutenant; let me not keep you.”’ The old soldier saluted his chief, and re- tired with a friendly signal to the capataz, who followed him with the peons and bag- gagre-mules, ‘he count led his guests to the apartments kept for visitors, and installed them in com- fortably-furnished rooms, ‘““ Pray rest yourself, Don Sylva,” he said; ‘vou and Dona Anita must be fatigued with your journey. To-morrow, if you permit me, we will talk about our business.’ “Whenever you like, my friend.” The count bowed to his guests, and with- drew. Since his meeting with his betrothed, he had not exchanged a word with her. In the court-yard he found the Hiaqui Indian smoking, and walking carelessly about. He went up to him, ** Tere,” he said, “‘are the ten piastres promised to you.” “ Thanks,” said the Indian, as he took them. “ Now, what are you going to do ?” “Rest myself till to-morrow; then join the men of my tribe.” . “Are you ina great hurry to see them ?”’ “T? Not atall.” . | “ Stay here, then.” “ What Hine ie ssaahle's ‘*T will tell you: pe may need you within a few days.”’ ; Pe f : “Shall I be paid?” “Amply. Does that suit you ?”’ ‘O¥ Gs,"" The count went away, not noticing the strange ahr in the glance the Indian turned on him. CHAPTER III. A MEETING IN THE DESERT. Anour three musket-shots’ distance from the hacienda, ina thicket of nopals, mastic trees, and mesquites, intermingled with a few mahogany cedars, wild cottonwood trees, and pines, just an hour before sunset, a horseman dismounted; hobbled his horse, a magnificent mustang, with flashing eyes and fine chest; then, after turning an in- quiring glance around, probably satisfied with the profound silenee and tranquillity pervading the spot, he made his arrange- ments for camping. The man had passed middle life: he was an Indian warrior of great hight, dressed in the Comanche costume in its utmost purity. Although he appeared to be sixty years of age, he scemed gifted with great vigor, and no sign of decrepitude could be traced fp his muscular limbs and intelligent face: the eagle's feather tixed in the center of his war- lock allowed him to be recognized as a chief. ts man was Eagle-head, the Comanche chie The New York Library. After laying his rifle by his side he collect- ed dry wood and lita fire; then he threw several yards of tasajo on the ashes, with several maize tortillas: and all these prepar- ations for a comfortable supper made, he fill- ed his calumet, crouched near the fire, and began smoking with tbat placid calmness which never deserts the Indians under any circumstances, Two hours thus pussed peacefully, and no- thing disturbed the repose the chief was en- joying. Night succeeded day; darkness had invaded the desert, and with it the si- lence of solitude began to reign in the mys- terious depths of the prairie. The Indian stillremained motionless, con- rics himself with turning now and then to his horse, which was devouring the climb- ing peas and the young buds of the trees. Suddenly Eagle-head looked up, bent for- ward, and, without otherwise disturbing himself, stretched out his hand to his rifle, while the mustang left off eating, laid back its ears, and neighed noisily. Still the forest appeared as calm as ever. It needed all an Indian’s sharp ear to have heard a suspi- cious rustling through the silence, At the end of a moment the chief’s frown- ing brows returned to their proper position, he re-assumed his easy posture, and, liftin his two forefingers to his mouth, imitate with rare perfection, for two or three min- utes, the harmonious modulations of the nightingale: the horse had alsu begun eat. ing again, Only a few minutes passed ere the cry of the night-hawk was twice heard in the di- rection of the river. Soon ufter the sound of horses became audible, mingled with the eracking of branches and the rustling of leaves, and two mounted men made their appearance. The chief did not turn to see who they were; he had probably recognized them, and knew that they alone, or at any rate one of them, were to come to him ere, These two horsemen were Don Louis and Belhumeur. They hobbled their horses by the side of the chief’s, lay down by the fire, and, on the Indian’s silent invitation, vigor- ously attacked the supper prepared for them. They had left the Rancho the previous eve- ning, and had ridden without the loss of a moment to join the chief. The Count de Lorailles had invited them at the pulqueria to join his party, but Bel- humeur had declined the offer. Not know- ing for what purpose the Indian chief had appointed to mect him, he did not care to mix up a stranger in his friend’s affairs. Still, the three men had parted on excellent terms, and the count pressed Don Lunis and the Canadian to pay him a visit at Guetzalli, an offer to which they had replied evasively. Singular is the effect of sympathy. The impression the count produced on the two adventurers was so unfavorable for him, that the latter, while replying with the utmost politeness, had not thought it wise to give their names, and had employed the greatest reserve, carrying their prudence to such an extent as to leave him ignorant of their na- tionality, by continuing to converse in Spanish, though at the first word he uttered ae recognized him as a Frenchman, hen they had ended their meal Belhu- meur filled his pipe, and put out his hand to take up a coal. “Wait,” the chief said, sharply. This was the first word the Indian utter- ed; up to that moment the three men had not interchanged a syllable. Belhumeur looked at him, “Hm! he said, “‘what is the matter now ?”’ 4 ‘‘T do not know yet,’’ the chief answered. **T have heard a suspicious rustling in the bushes; and ata great distance off, to lee- ward of us, several buffaloes peacefully grazing took to flight without any apparent cause. ‘“‘Hum !”? the Canadian went on, “that is owing serious. What do you think, ouis ? ‘‘ In the desert,” the latter replied, slowly, “every thing has a cause—nothing happens by accident. I believe that we had better be on our guard, Stay!’’ he added, as he raised his head, and pointed out to his friends several birds that passed rapidly over them. ‘* Have you often seen at this hour .a flight of condors soaring in the sky ?”” The chief shook his head, “‘ There is something the matter,”’ he mu tered: ‘‘the dogs Apaches are hunt- in Pa i *Tis possible,’? Belhumeur said. ‘Before all,’ the Frenchman observed, *‘let us put out the fire: its gleam, slight as it is, might betray us,” His companions followed his advice, and the fire was extinguished in @ second. — ‘s at brother, the pale-face, is prudent,” the chief said, courteously. ‘He Ecowat ) desert. I am happy to see him by my side.” | Don Louis thanked the chief courteously. “And now,’’? Belhumeur went on, ‘t we are almost invisible—no visible danger threatens us; 50 let us hold acouncil. The ehief had the first scent of peril: it is, there- fore, his place to tell us what he observed."’ The Indian wrapped himself up in his fressada; the three men drew closer, 80 as to be able to speak in a whisper, and the council commenced. “Since sunrise this morning,” Fagle- head said, ‘‘ I have been marching in the desert. I was auxious to reach the pluce ot meeting, and proceeded in a straight line to arrive sooner. All along the road [ found evident signs of the passage of a numerous band; the tracks were wide and full, like those made by a party of warriors 60 large that they cure not for discovery. These trails continued for a long distance, then suddenly disappeared: it was impossible for me to find them again.”’ ‘* Deuce, deuce!’ the Canadian muttered, “that is awkward.’’ ‘“* At first [ did not pay much attention to the trail, but presently I began to feel rest- less, and that is the reason 1 have mention- ed it to you.” ‘« What reason rendered you restless ?”’ “*T believe that the expedition whose pas- sage I discovered is directed against the great cabin of the pale-faces at Guetzalli.”’ ‘What makes you suppose so?’ Louis asked, ‘*This, At the hour the alligator leaves the mud of the bank to hed i again into the Gila, the sound of horses I heard a short distauce off compelled me, lest I should be discovered, to bury myself in a thicket. When sheltered from a surprise I looked out. A band of pale-faces passed within bore of me, in the direction of Guet- zalli. ‘‘. know who they were,’ Belhumeur re- marked. ‘* What next ?’’ *‘ | recognized, in spite of the care he had taken to render himself unrecognizable, the man who served as a guide to the party ; then I guessed the infernal scheme formed by the Apache dogs.” “Who was it?” ‘A man my brother knows. It is Wah- gorah, the Black Bear, the principal chief of the White Crow tribe.” ‘* Tf you are not mistaken, chief, horrible things will be done ere long. The Black Bear is the implacable enemy of the whites.” ‘That was the reason } spoke to my bro ther. But, after all, what does it concern us? In the desert each man has enough to do in taking care of liimself, witheut troub- ling about others,’’ The Canadian shook his head. ‘It is trae. I do not wish to see these unhappy beings scalped, On the other hand, we run the risk, by hurrying rashly into danger, of ourselves being the victims of our devotion.” Don Louis could not refrain from smiling at this singular reasoning, **T have my plan,” the Canadian went on a moment later, ‘ The night will not pase without our learning something new. Let us draw near the bank of the river. I am eae mistakea, or we shal] soon obtain here the information we require before we make up our minds, Our horses run no risk here: we can leuve them; besides, they would only prove an embarrassment to us. The three men lay down on the ground, and began crawling silently in the direction indicated by Belhumeur. The night was magnificent, the moon brilliant, and the atmosphere so clear, that objects might have been distinguished for s great distance on an open plain. The three adventurers did not leave their covert; but, on arriving at the skirt of the forest, they hid themselves in an almost inextricable thicket, and waited with that patience se characteristic of the wood-rangers. The silence which brooded over the desert was so intense that the slightest sounds were perceptible. A leaf falling on the water, a pebble detaching itself from the bank, the slow and continuons murmur of the water running over its gravel bed, the rust- ling of the owl’s wing as it fluttered from branch to branch, were the only distinguish- able sounds. For several hours the three men remained motionless and watchful,eye and ear strained, with the finger on the trigger of the rifle through fear of a surprise; but nothing had yet happened to corroborate the suspicioas of Eugle-head, or the previsions of Belhu- meur. Suddenly Louis felt the chief's arm resting gently on his shoulder, as he pointed to the river. The Frenchman rose on his knees and looked. An almost imperceptible movement agi- tated the surface of the river, as if an alli- gator were floating along. ‘Ha |” Belhumeur muttered; '[ fancy that is what we are expecting.’’ : Gomichoo a S) (E(0)