Out on the Pampas Part 19

The boys gave a simultaneous cry of dread.

'What has happened? Tell us quick, man; are they attacking the estancia?' The man shook his head.

'Estancia burnt. All killed but me,' he said.

The news was too sudden and terrible for the boys to speak. They stood white and motionless with horror.

'All killed! Oh, Ethel, Ethel!' Charley groaned.

Hubert burst into tears. 'What will mamma do?'

'Come, Hubert,' Charley said, dashing away the tears from his eyes, 'do not let us waste a moment. All hope may not be over. The Indians seldom kill women, but carry them away, and she may be alive yet. If she is, we will rescue her, if we go right across America. Come, man, jump up behind me on my horse.'

The peon obeyed the order, and in five minutes they reached the gate.

Here they dismounted.

'Let us walk up to the house, Hubert, so as not to excite suspicion. We must call papa out and tell him first, so that he may break it to mamma.

If she learn it suddenly, it may kill her.'

Mr. Hardy had just taken his coffee, and was standing at the door, looking with a pleased eye upon the signs of comfort and prosperity around him. There was no need, therefore, for them to approach nearer.

As Mr. Hardy looked round upon hearing the gate shut, Charley beckoned to him to come down to them. For a moment he seemed puzzled, and looked round to see if the signal was directed to himself. Seeing that no one else was near him, he again looked at the boys, and Charley earnestly repeated the gesture.

Mr. Hardy, feeling that something strange was happening, ran down the steps and hurried towards them.

By the time he reached them, he had no need to ask questions. Hubert was leaning upon the gate, crying as if his heart would break; Charley stood with his hand on his lips, as if to check the sobs from breaking out, while the tears streamed down his cheeks.

'Ethel?' Mr. Hardy asked.

Charley nodded, and then said, with a great effort, 'The Indians have burnt the estancia; one of the men has escaped and brought the news. We know nothing more. Perhaps she is carried off, not killed.'

Mr. Hardy staggered under the sudden blow. 'Carried off!' he murmured to himself. 'It is worse than death.'

'Yes, papa,' Charley said, anxious to give his father's thoughts a new turn. 'But we will rescue her, if she is alive, wherever they may take her.'

'We will, Charley; we will, my boys,' Mr. Hardy said earnestly, and rousing himself at the thought 'I must go up and break it to your mother; though how I shall do so, I know not. Do you give what orders you like for collecting our friends. First, though, let us question this man. When was it?'

'Last night, Signor, at eleven o'clock. I had just laid down in my hut, and I noticed that there were still lights down-stairs at the house, when, all of a sudden, I heard a yell as of a thousand fiends, and I knew the Indians were upon us. I knew that it was too late to fly, but I threw myself out of the window, and laid flat by the wall, as the Indians burst in. There were eight of us, and I closed my ears to shut out the sound of the other's cries. Up at the house, too, I could hear screams and some pistol-shots, and then more screams and cries. The Indians were all round, everywhere, and I dreaded lest one of them should stumble up against me. Then a sudden glare shot up, and I knew they were firing the house. The light would have shown me clearly enough, had I remained where I was; so I crawled on my stomach till I came to some potato ground a few yards off. As I lay between the rows, the plants covered me completely. In another minute or two the men's huts were set fire to, and then I could hear a great tramping, as of horses and cattle going away in the distance. They had not all gone, for I could hear voices all night, and Indians were moving about everywhere, in search of any one who might have escaped. They came close to me several times, and I feared that they would tread on me. After a time all became quiet; but I dared not move till daylight. Then, looking about carefully, I could see no one, and I jumped up, and never stopped running until you met me.'

Mr. Hardy now went up to the house, to break the sad tidings to his wife. Charley ordered eight peons to saddle horses instantly, and, while they were doing so, he wrote on eight leaves of his pocket-book: 'The Mercers' house destroyed last night by Indians; the Mercers killed or carried off. My sister Ethel with them. For G.o.d's sake, join us to recover them. Meet at Mercer's as soon as possible. Send this note round to all neighbours.'

One of these slips of paper was given to each peon, and they were told to ride for their lives in different directions, for that Miss Ethel was carried off by the Indians.

This was the first intimation of the tidings that had arrived, and a perfect chorus of lamentation arose from the women, and of execrations of rage from the men. Just at this moment Terence came running down from the house. 'Is it true, Mister Charles? Sarah says that the mistress and Miss Maud are gone quite out of their minds, and that Miss Ethel has been killed by the Indians!'

'Killed or carried away, Terence; we do not know which yet.'

Terence was a warm-hearted fellow, and he set up a yell of lamentation which drowned the sobs and curses of the natives.

'Hush, Terence,' Charley said. 'We shall have time to cry for her afterwards: we must be doing now.'

'I will, Mister Charles; but you will let me go with you to search for her. Won't you, now, Mister Charles?'

'Yes, Terence; I will take you with us, and leave Lopez in charge. Send him here.'

Lopez was close. He, too, was really affected at the loss of his young mistress; for Ethel, by her unvarying sweetness of temper, was a favourite with every one.

'Lopez, you will remain here in charge. We may be away two days--we may be away twenty. I know I can trust you to look after the place just as if we were here.'

The capitaz bowed with his hand on his heart. Even the peasants of South America preserve the grand manner and graceful carriage of their Spanish ancestors. 'And now, Lopez, do you know of any of the Guachos in this part of the country who have ever lived with the Indians, and know their country at all?'

'Martinez, one of the shepherds at Canterbury, Signor Charles, was with them for seven months; and Perez, one of Signor Jamieson's men, was longer still.'

Charles at once wrote notes asking that Perez and Martinez might accompany the expedition, and despatched them by mounted peons.

'And now, Lopez, what amount of charqui have we in store?'

'A good stock, Signor; enough for fifty men for a fortnight.'

Charqui is meat dried in the sun. In hot climates meat cannot be kept for many hours in its natural state. When a bullock is killed, therefore, all the meat which is not required for immediate use is cut up into thin strips, and hung up in the sun to dry. After this process it is hard and strong, and by no means palatable; but it will keep for many months, and is the general food of the people. In large establishments it is usual to kill several animals at once, so as to lay in sufficient store of charqui to last for some time.

'Terence, go up to the house and see what biscuit there is. Lopez, get our horses saddled, and one for Terence,--a good one,--and give them a feed of maize. Now, Hubert, let us go up to the house, and get our carbines and pistols.'

Mr. Hardy came out to meet them as they approached. 'How are mamma and Maud, papa?'

'More quiet and composed now, boys. They have both gone to lie down.

Maud wanted sadly to go with us, but she gave way directly I pointed out to her that her duty was to remain here by her mother's side. And now, Charley, what arrangements have you made?'

Charley told his father what he had done.

'That is right. And now we will be off at once. Give Terence orders to bring on the meat and biscuit in an hour's time. Let him load a couple of horses, and bring a man with him to bring them back.'

'Shall we bring any rockets, papa?'

'It is not likely that they will be of any use, Hubert; but we may as well take three or four of each sort. Roll up a poncho, boys, and fasten it on your saddles. Put plenty of ammunition in your bags; see your brandy flasks are full, and put out half a dozen bottles to go with Terence. There are six pounds of tobacco in the storeroom; let him bring them all. Hubert, take our water-skins; and look in the storeroom,--there are three or four spare skins; give them to Terence: some of our friends may not have thought of bringing theirs, and the country may, for ought we know, be badly watered. And tell him to bring a dozen coloured blankets with him.'

In a few minutes all these things were attended to, and then, just as they were going out of the house, Sarah came up, her face swollen with crying.

'Won't you take a cup of tea and just something to eat, sir? You've had nothing yet, and you will want it. It is all ready in the dining-room.'

'Thank you, Sarah. You are right. Come, boys, try and make a good breakfast. We must keep up our hearts, you know, and we will bring our little woman back ere long.'

Mr. Hardy spoke more cheerfully, and the boys soon, too, felt their spirits rising a little. The bustle of making preparations, the prospect of the perilous adventure before them, and the thought that they should a.s.suredly, sooner or later, come up with the Indians, all combined to give them hope. Mr. Hardy had little fear of finding the body of his child under the ruins of the Mercers' house. The Indians never deliberately kill white women, always carrying them off; and Mr. Hardy felt confident that, unless Ethel had been accidentally killed in the a.s.sault, this was the fate which had befallen her.

A hasty meal was swallowed, and then, just as they were starting, Mrs.

Hardy and Maud came out to say 'Good-bye,' and an affecting scene occurred. Mr. Hardy and the boys kept up as well as they could, in order to inspire the mother and sister with hope during their absence, and with many promises to bring their missing one back, they galloped off.

They were scarcely out of the gate, when they saw their two friends from Canterbury coming along at full gallop. Both were armed to the teeth, and evidently prepared for an expedition. They wrung the hands of Mr.

Hardy and his sons.