The Border Rifles Part 62

"Well," John Davis asked him, who was anxiously watching for his return, "what have you obtained?"

"Nothing. That man is a fanatic."

"As I warned you, he is a demon; fortunately he cannot escape us, whatever he may do."

"Then you are mistaken," the Jaguar replied, stamping his foot pa.s.sionately; "whether he live or die the money is lost to us."

"How so?"

The Jaguar told his confidant in a few words what had pa.s.sed between him and the Captain.

"Confusion!" the American exclaimed; "In that case let us make haste."

"To increase our misfortunes, it is as dark as in an oven."

"By heavens! Let us make an illumination. Perhaps it will cause those demons incarnate to reflect, who are croaking there like frogs calling for rain."

"You are right. Torches here!"

"Better still. Let us fire the forest."

"Ah, ah," the Jaguar said, with a laugh, "bravo! Let us smoke them out like musk-rats."

This diabolical idea was immediately carried out, and ere long a brilliant belt of flame ran all around the gorge, where the Mexicans were stoically awaiting the attack.

They had not long to wait; a sharp fusillade began, mingled with the cries and yells of the a.s.sailants.

"It is time!" the Captain shouted.

The sound of a chest falling down the precipice was immediately heard.

Owing to the fire, it was as bright as day, and not a movement of the Mexicans escaped their adversaries.

The latter uttered a yell of fury on seeing the chests disappear one after the other in the abyss.

They rushed at the soldiers; but the latter received them at the bayonet's point, not giving ground an inch.

A point-blank discharge from the Mexicans, who had reserved their fire, laid many of the enemy low, and spread disorder through the ranks of the a.s.sailants, who began falling back involuntarily.

"Forward!" the Jaguar howled.

The bandits returned to the charge more eagerly than before.

"Keep firm, we must die," the Captain said.

"We will," the soldiers repeated unanimously.

The fight then began, body to body, foot to foot, chest against chest; the a.s.sailants and a.s.sailed were mixed up and fought more like wild beasts than men.

The arrieros, though decimated by the bullets fired at them, did not the less eagerly continue their task; the crowbar scarce fell from the hand of one shot down, ere another seized the heavy iron ma.s.s, and the chests of money toppled uninterruptedly over the precipice, in spite of the yells of fury, and gigantic efforts of the enemy, who exhausted themselves in vain to breach the human wall that barred their pa.s.sage.

'Twas a fearfully grand sight, this obstinate struggle, this implacable combat which these men carried on, by the brilliant light of a burning forest.

The cries had ceased, the butchery went on silently and terribly, and at times the Captain could be heard sharply repeating--

"Close up there, close up!"

And the ranks closed, and the men fell without a murmur, having sacrificed their lives, and only fighting now to gain the few moments indispensable to prevent their sacrifice being sterile.

In vain did the border rifles, excited by the desire of gain, try to crush this energetic resistance offered them by a handful of men; the heroic soldiers, supporting one another, with their feet pressed against the corpses of those who had preceded them to death, seemed to multiply themselves in order to bar the gorge on all sides at once.

The fight, however, could not possibly last much longer; ten men only were left of the Captain's detachment; the others had fallen, but every man with his face to the foe.

All the arrieros were dead; two chests still remained on the edge of the precipice; the Captain looked hurriedly around.

"One more effort, lads!" he shouted, "We only want five minutes to finish our task."

"_Dios y libertad_!" the soldiers shouted; and, although exhausted with fatigue, they threw themselves resolutely into the thickest part of the crowd that surrounded them.

For a few minutes, these men accomplished prodigies; but at length numbers gained the mastery: they all fell!

The Captain alone was still alive.

He had taken advantage of the devotion of his soldiers to seize a crowbar, and hurl one chest over the precipice; the second, raised with great difficulty, only required a final effort to disappear in its turn, when suddenly a terrible hurrah caused the officer to raise his head.

The border rifles were rushing up, terrible, and panting like tigers thirsting for carnage.

"Ah!" Gregorio Felpa, the traitor-guide, shouted gladly, as he rushed forward; "at any rate we shall have this one."

"You lie, villain!" the Captain answered.

And raising with both hands the terrible bar of iron, he cleft the skull of the soldier, who fell like a stunned ox, not uttering a cry, or giving vent to a sigh.

"Whose turn is it next?" the Captain said as he raised the crowbar.

A yell of horror burst from the crowd, which hesitated for a moment.

The Captain quickly lowered his crowbar, and the chest hung over the brink of the abyss.

This movement restored the borderers all their rage and fury.

"Down with him, down with him!" they shouted, as they rushed on the officer.

"Halt!" the Jaguar said as he bounded forward, and overthrew all in his way; "Not one of you must stir; this man belongs to me."

On hearing this well-known voice, all the men stopped.

The Captain threw away his crowbar, for the last chest had fallen in its turn over the precipice.