Beadle's New York Dime Library, Vol. II, No. 15 — page 18: what you’re looking at

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

18 Lhe New York Library. The day passed at the hacienda without fur- ther incidents. The count made several at- tempts to have a conversation witb the dona, which she constantly sought to avoid, Bias Vasquez, on quitting the colony, struck the Guaymas road, and made his troop go at asbarp trot, through fear of a surprise, He had scarce lost sight of the colony, and entered the tall grass, when two men, leaping into the middle of the path, checked their horses about twenty yaces uhead of him. One of them was an ndian; the other the capataz recognized at a glance as the man who had come to the hacienda that morning. Vasquezcommand- ed his men to halt, and advancing alone to meet the stranger, said : ‘* By what accident do I meet you here, Sefor Francés? You are still far from the mecting-place you indicated yourself.” “* We are so,’”’ was the reply; ‘* but as we found no Apache trail in the prairie we thought it useless to give you a long jour- ney. I have been sent to conduct you tothe ambush we have chosen,’’ ‘You did right. Have we far to go ?”’ ‘*No, hardly a quarter of an hour's ride. We are going to that islet, which you can see by standing in your stirrups,’ he added stretching out his arm in the direction of the river. “Eh?” the capataz said, ‘* The spot is well chosen: we can command the river from there.” **Tuat is the reason why we selected it.” **Be good enough, then, to serve as our guide, Sehor Francés: we will follow you,” The detachment set out again. As Don Louis had stated, within a quarter of an hour the peons were encamped on the islet with the five adventurers, so well masked by grass and mangroves, that it was impos- sible to see them from either bank of thé river, So soon as the capataz had performed his duties as head of the detachment, he sat down at the bivouae-tire by the side of his new friends, to whom Don Louis presented him, The first person Blas pereeived was Don Martial, the Tiger-Slayer. At the sight of him he could hardly refrain from a move- ment of surprise. ‘* Caspita!? he exclaimed, with a loud laugh ; ‘‘ the meeting is curious.”’ “Why so?” the Mexican asked, rather annoyed by this recognition, which he had not expected, for he did not think the capa- taz knew him, ** Are you not Don Martial Asuzena?”’ “My young mistress gave me a message for you.” ‘““What do you say?’ the Tigrero ex- claimed, his heart beginning to palpitate, *“*What I say, nothing else. Dona Anita wishes to buy two jaguar-skins of you, it appears,” “Of me?” ac Yes.’ " Don Martial regarded him with such an air of amazement that the capataz began again laughing heartily. This laughter aroused the young man; made him conjec- ture there was some mystery in the affair; and that if he continued to look 80 astonish- ed, he would arouse suspicions in the worthy man, who probably did not know the ee of the riddle. ‘*>'Tis true,’ he said, as if trying to re- member somethiug, ‘‘I fancy I can call to mind some time back—”’ ‘‘Then,”’ the capataz interrupted him ‘41s all right; besides, I was asked to hand you a letter s0 soon as I met you,” ‘“* A letter from whom ?”’ ‘‘ Why, from my mistress, Dona Anita.” ‘‘ Give it me quickly,’’? the Tigrero ex- claimed, in great agitation. The capataz banded it to him, Don Mar- tial tore it from his hands, broke the seal with trembling fingers and devoured it with his eyes, When he had finished reading it he concealed it in his bosom. ** Well,” the capataz asked him, ‘ what does my mistress say ?”’ ‘Only what you told me yourself,” the Tigrero replied, in any thing but a firm voice, Blas Vasquez shook his head. “Hem! that man is certain! something from me,’’ he muttere Dona Anita have deceived me?” In the uican while the Tiger-Slayer walk ed abvut ia agitation, apparently revolving some important project. At length he ap- roached Belhumeur, who was smvking si- ently, and, leaning over his ear, uttered a few words in a low voice, to which the Ca- nadiapn answered with a nod of assent. A flash of joy illumined the Tigrero’s gloomy face as he made a sign to Cucharés to follow hiro, and quitted the bivouac a few minutes later. _Doo Martial and the lepero, both mounted, swam across the space separating them from the main land. The capataz per- « eelved them at the moment they landed, and uttered a cry of astonishment. ‘‘Why,”’ he exclaimed, “the Tigrero is leaving us. Where can he be going ?” Belliiumeur regarded the Mexican with his bitter-sweet look, and replied, with a jesting accent: ‘*Who knows? Perhaps he is going to CuTy the answer to the lettcr you gave m.,’ ‘** That is not impossible,’’ the capataz re- marked, thoughtfully, little suspecting that he spoke the exact truth, At this moment the sun set in floods of purple and gold far away in the horizon be- hind the snow-clad peaks of the lofty moun- tains of the Sierra Madre, and night soon stretched her black sere-cloth over the earth, —_—_—_— CHAPTER XIII. A NIGHT JOURNEY. Events have so multiplied during the course of this night that, to keep headway with the incidents, we are compelled to pass incessantly from one person to the other. Don Martial was rich—very rich—eager for PAINE endowed with warlike instinets. He had only embraced the pro- fession of Tigrevo in order to have a plausi- ble excuse for his constant travels in the desert, which he had sed his whole life in traversing in every direction, The Tigreros are generally wood-rangers or old hunters, who, for a certain salary and a premium on each hido, engage with a ha- ciendero to. kill the wild beasts that deci- mate his herds. What others did for money he performed simply for pleasure: hence he was greatly liked on the frontiers, and es- pecially welcomed by all the hacienderos who found in him not only the clever an daring hunter, but also the boon companion and the caballero. Don Martial saw Dona Anita for the first time when the chances of his adventurous life had led him to a hacienda belonging to Don Sylva, where, within the space of a month, be killed some dozen wild beasts. As the Tigrero constantly watched the young girl, whom he could not see without fulling madly in love with, it happened that one day, when Anita’s horse ran away, he was peur ee to save her at the peril of his own life. it wasthrough this event that the girl first noticed and spoke to him. We know the rest. Cucharés was not at all pleased with the sudden departure from the island. He in- wardly cursed the folly which made him at- tach himself toa man like him he now fol- lowed, who might expose him at any mo- ment to the chances of getting an arrow through his body, without any profit or avail- able excuse, Still Cucharés was not the man to feel long angry with the Tigrero. He knew that grave reasons alone could have induced him to leave a shelter at that hour of the night, resign the aid of the hunters and go wandering about the desert withou any apparent object. He burned to know the reasons; but he knew that Don Martial was no great talker, and hada great objection to having his secrets spied out; and as, in spite of all his bounce, he entertained a great respect for the Tigrero, mingled with a decent amount of fear, he deferred to a more favorable moment the questions he longed to ask him. The two men, then, marched on side by side silently, allowing the reins to hang on their horses’ necks, and vach indulging in his own reflections. Still Cucharés remarked that Don Martial, instead of seeking the cov- er of the forest, obstinately followed the river-bank, aud kept his horse as close to it as possible. he darkness ert rapidly denser around them; distunt objects began to be lost in the masses of shadow on the horizon, and they soon found themselves in complete ob- security. They had left the hill of Guetzalli about two musket-shots behind them, and reached a sort of creek, which, through the windings of the river, was almost parallel with the back of the hacienda, whose gloomy and imposing mass rose before them, and cast its shadow over them. Don Mar- tial stopped. ‘The easiest part of our expedition is ended,’’ he ares on PS ** We are making an expedition, then “By Jove! do you fancy, then, my good fellow, that lam marching along the banks of the Gila merely for amusement? Weare going there,” he continued, extending his arm in the direction of the hacienda.” “You wish us to be cut to pieces.” * How so ?”” ‘‘ Do you believe we shall reach the hacl- enda without being discovered ?”’ “ We will try it at any rate.” | “Yes; and as we shall not succeed, those demons of Frenchmen, who are on the watch, will take us for savages, and be ” ‘Tt is a risk to run.” ‘Thanks! I prefer remaining here, for I confess I am not yet mad enough to put self in the wolf's jaws for mere sport. where you please, but I stay here. The Tigrero could not repress a smile. “The danger is not so great as you sup- ose,” he said. ‘* We are expected at the acienda by some one, who will doubtless have moved the sentinels from the spot where we shall land.” ““Thatis possible, but I donot care to try the experiment, for a bullet never pardons; besides, those Frenchmen are tremendous marksmen,”’ The Tigrero made no reply; he did not secm even to hear his companion’s remark, His mind was elsewhere. With his body bent forward, he was listening. During the last few minutes the desert had assumed a singularappearance. It woke up. Allsorts of noises were heard from the depths of the thickets and clearings. Animals of ever description rushed from the covert, and mad- ly passed the two men without noticing diet The birds, startled from their first sleep, rose uttering shrill cries, and circled in the air, In the river might be seen the outlines of wild beasts swimming vigorous- ly to reach the other bank. Ina word, some- thing extraordinary was taking place, At intervals, dry, crackling sounds and hoarse murmurs, like those of rising waters, broke the silence, and became with each mo- ment more intense. On the extreme verge of the horizon a large band of bright red, growing wider from minute to minute spread over the scene a purple and gold vane which gave ita fantastic appearance, Kirendy, on tio ditferent occasions, enor- mous clouds of smoke spangled with sparks had whirled over the heads of the two men. “Hallo! what is happening now ?”’ the lepero suddenly exclaimed. ‘“ Look at our horses, Don Martial.” In fact, the noble beasts, with neck out- stretched and ears laid back, were breathing heavily, stamping on the ground, and trying to escape from their riders. ‘“« Caspita /” the Tiger-Slayer said, calmly, “the prairie is on fire.”’ ‘“Hem! what is the meaning of that ?” “Not much. It is one of the ordinary Indian tricks. We are in the Comanche moon: are you not aware of that?” ‘““T beg your pardon, I am not a wood-ran- ger. I would willingly give a trifle fo be out of it.” “You are a child,’? Don Martial answered him, laughingly. “It is evident that the Indians have fired the prairie to conceal their numbers : they are coun up behind the fire. You will soon hear their war-cry sounding amid the clouds of smoke and fire which are approaching, and will soon sur- round us. By remaining here you run three risks—of being roasted, sealped, or killed: three most unpleasant things, 1 grant, and which I do not think willsuit you. You had better come with me. If you are killed, well, what then? It is arisk torun. Come, dismount; the fire is gaining on us: soon we shall not have achance. What will you o? “T will follow you,” the lepero replied, in a mournful voice. “I must. I was mad— deuce take me—to come and thrust my head into such wasps’ nests. I assure you that if Lescape he will be a sharp fellow whe catches me here a second time.” ‘‘Bah, bah! people always say that. Make haste; we have no time to lose.” In fact, the desert fora distance of sev- eral leagues burned like the crater of an im- mense volcano; the flames undulated and ehot along like the waves of the sea, twist- ing and felling the largest trees like wisps of straw. From the thick curtain of cop- -colored smoke which preceded the flames Hien escaped, at each moment, bands of co- ‘yotes, buffaloes, and jaguars, which, madden- ¢d with terror, rushed into the river, utter- ing yells and deafening cries. Don Martial and the lepero entered the ‘water; and their noble animals, impelled by their instinct, hurried in the direction of the other bank. The Gila, at this period of the year swollen by the rains which fall in the sierra, had a width double what it was in the summer, At that period its current becomes stro and frequently dangerous through its rapid- ity; but, at the moment our adventurers crossed it, the numerous animals which sought to cross it simultaneously in a dense body had so broken its force, that they reached the other bank in a comparatively short period. “Eh! Cucharés observed, at the moment ‘the horses struck land and begun ascending the bank, ‘‘ did you not tell me, Don Mar: tial, that we were going to the hacienda! We are not taking the road, I fancy.” Eomicbooks (E(0)