The Tiger Hunter Part 44

"_Carrambo_! Yes!" exclaimed the hag, "to burn him over the slow fire, and roast him alive--that I shall."

And with a hideous laugh she walked out of the tent to give place to Gas.p.a.cho, who the next moment entered.

The courier thus named had all the appearance of an original character.

He was tall and thin as the blade of a rapier, with a cynical expression of countenance, and long snaky tresses of hair hanging down over his shoulders, like thongs of smoked leather.

"Speak!" commanded Arroyo, as he entered. "Thou bearer of evil tidings, what have you to tell us now?"

"Perhaps, Senor Captain," responded the brigand, who, notwithstanding his habitual air of importance, was evidently cowed by the scowl of his superior, "perhaps I have some good news as well?"

"First, then, deliver your bad ones!"

"Well, then, Senor Captain, there are not enough of us to take this hacienda by a.s.sault. The den of coyotes has proved stronger than we expected; and I am sent to ask for a reinforcement of men."

"Who has sent you?--Lieutenant Lantejas?"

"Lieutenant Lantejas will never send another message. This morning his head was nailed over the gate of the hacienda along with that of Sergeant Yanez."

"Tripes of the fiend!" exclaimed the guerilla leader, "Yanez, too!"

"Their heads are not the only ones, Captain. Besides them are those of Salinas and Tuerto, to say nothing of Matavidas, Sacamedios, and Piojento, who were taken prisoners and hung alive by the feet from the parapet of the building. We had to fire at them and kill them with our carbines, in order to put an end to their sufferings."

"They deserved it--a fig for their lives! Why did they allow themselves to be taken alive?"

"That's just what I told them," said Gas.p.a.cho, with an air of a.s.sent.

"I warned them that your honour would be very angry about it. But they did not mind what I said for all that."

"So then there are now only forty-four of you laying siege to the accursed place?"

"Your pardon, Captain. I did not yet mention four others who have been hung up by the necks. Upon these we were not obliged to spend our powder--as they were dead enough already."

"_Carajo_!" vociferated the brigand with a furious accent. "Ten of my men gone already! _Demonios_! Am I to lose this band like the other?

Go on! You have given me enough of ill news. Let me hear some of what you call good ones!"

"Yesterday evening a horseman approached the hacienda riding towards it, as if he had nothing to do but present himself at the gate and be admitted. Before getting near, however, he was seen by two of our videttes, who at once charged upon him. After a fight, in which the horseman made a fierce resistance, he managed to escape."

"_Carajo_!--the stupids!"

"Don't be angry with the poor fellows, Senor Captain. I a.s.sure you they did not let him go without a struggle, which ended in one of them getting his shoulder fractured by a pistol-shot, and the other having his horse fall under him. Pressed by the latter, the Royalist horseman turned upon him, and rushing against his horse, brought the animal to the ground. Then grasping the vidette by the collar, he lifted him clean out of his stirrups, and dashed him to the earth, as one would do a cocoa-nut to break its sh.e.l.l. It was full two hours before the poor fellow came to his senses."

"I know only one man strong enough to accomplish that feat," said Bocardo, turning pale--"the d.a.m.ned Colonel Tres-Villas. It was just in that way that he killed Antonio Valdez."

"It was Colonel Tres-Villas," added Gas.p.a.cho. "Pepe Lobos is sure of it. He heard the snorting of that strange horse--the same he rode upon the day he came to Las Palmas. Besides, Pepe recognised his figure, and the sound of his voice--notwithstanding that it was in the night. Ten of our men have gone in pursuit of him, and by this he ought to be taken."

"Holy Virgin!" exclaimed the guerillero chief, turning his eyes towards heaven, "I promise you a wax candle as big as a palm tree, if this man falls into our hands!"

"As big as a palm tree!" exclaimed Bocardo in astonishment.--"Camarado, do you mean it?"

"Hush!" said the other in a low voice. "Hold your tongue, Bocardo; it's only to humbug the Virgin!"

"Well," replied Bocardo, "whether they capture him or not, it don't much matter. We shall take him all the same. If I understand his history, and the meaning of the message which this coyote has for him, he can be lured by it to the farthest corner of the earth."

At this moment the wife of Arroyo re-entered the tent, her face exhibiting a still stronger expression of fury than before.

"The cage is empty!" cried she, "the bird has flown, and along with it the guardian left to watch it--the worthless Juan de Zapote!"

"Blood and fire!" vociferated Arroyo, "quick, pursue them! Hola!"

continued he, raising the flap of his tent, "twenty men to horse! Scour the woods and the river banks. Bring back the two fugitives bound hand and foot. Above all, bring them back _alive_!"

The order created a brisk movement throughout the camp, where each seemed to compete with his fellow as to who should be the first to enter on the pursuit.

"_Jesus Santo_!" muttered Bocardo to himself, "if this Colonel should escape, and also the messenger, adieu to all my fine combinations!

Well!" he continued, after the wife of Arroyo had gone out of the tent to hasten the departure of the pursuers. "Well, Senor Arroyo! if he should get away from us it will be a great pity sure enough. Still we shall find consolation at the hacienda San Carlos."

"True," replied the other, "and I have need of some distraction just now. This evening I mean to amuse myself. To-morrow we shall storm the fortress of Del Valle with all our force; and may the devil scorch me, if I leave one stone of it standing upon another!"

"Yes; to-morrow let us set seriously about it," said Bocardo, gleefully rubbing his hands together. "But see!" he continued, glancing out of the tent, "our fellows are ready to start. If you take my advice, instead of twenty men, you'll send only ten. That will be quite sufficient to capture those two droll devils who have escaped from us.

After you have sent the reinforcement to Del Valle we'll have no great number of men to remain at head-quarters here."

The guerillero chief yielded to the counsel of his a.s.sociate; and choosing from the hors.e.m.e.n that were ready ten of the best mounted, he directed them to enter upon the pursuit. The others were at the same time ordered to proceed to the hacienda Del Valle to reinforce the party already besieging the place.

CHAPTER FIFTY EIGHT.

AN UNEXPECTED RECEPTION.

From that portion of Gas.p.a.cho's report which related to Don Rafael Tres-Villas, the reader will easily guess the purpose of the eight hors.e.m.e.n a.s.sembled in the glade of the forest of Ostuta: they were no other than the soldiers who from the besieging party had gone in pursuit of the Royalist Colonel. It will be remembered, however, that ten was the number mentioned by Gas.p.a.cho, while only eight now composed the group that occupied the clearing.

We shall presently learn how their number became thus reduced: but first let us recount the adventures of Don Rafael himself--from the time of his quitting the camp of Huaj.a.pam, to the moment when we find him asleep upon his arboreal couch.

As soon as the song of triumph raised by the soldiers of Trujano had ceased to echo in his ears, Don Rafael proceeded to reflect upon his own situation. He perceived at once that, in order to traverse with safety some thirty leagues of a country almost entirely in the hands of the insurgents, certain precautions would be absolutely necessary. His gold-laced uniform, his helmet, all his equipments, in short, would betray him to an insurgent enemy. Moreover he was badly armed--having broken his sword in the conflict; and for such a perilous journey it was necessary to be provided with better weapons than a dagger and pistols.

He knew it was impossible to return to his marquee to re-equip himself.

The camp was already filled with the insurgent soldiers, and no doubt his tent had been pillaged long before that time.

After a moment's reflection it occurred to him that on the field of battle--that part of it most distant from Huaj.a.pam, where Callejas had sustained the first shock of Morelos' army--he might find the necessary articles he desired; and turning a little out of his course, he directed himself thither.

His judgment proved correct. A two-edged sword soon rewarded his search; and he was able to exchange for his dragoon helmet the felt hat of an insurgent soldier, with a bra.s.s front-plate, bearing in ill-formed letters the inscription, _Independencia o' muerte_!

Scornfully tearing off the tablet and trampling it under his feet, Don Rafael placed the felt hat upon his head, and continued his explorations. Shortly after he exchanged the _jaqueta_ of an insurgent soldier for his cavalry uniform; and then looking to the state of his pistols, and seeing that his cartridge-box was well garnished he put spurs to Roncador and rode briskly away from the ground.

It is not necessary to detail the many precautions which he adopted from hour to hour to keep out of the hands of the insurgents, who were on all sides scouring the country through which he had to pa.s.s. Suffice it to say that for the most part he journeyed only by night. Even travelling thus, he was not always safe; and more than once he found occasion to employ all the courage and presence of mind with which Nature had endowed him.

On the evening of the third day, just at the hour of twilight, he arrived in the neighbourhood of his own hacienda. He was expecting soon to be in security within its walls, when the two videttes already mentioned perceived and rushed forward to capture him. This behaviour was in conformity with the orders of Arroyo, who had commanded that every one seen near the hacienda should be made prisoner and brought into his presence.

Don Rafael was at first uncertain as to the enemy with which he had to deal; but he was not the man to submit tamely to conduct so brusque and uncourteous as was that of the videttes. His resistance ended in putting both of them _hors de combat_; but the circ.u.mstances of the encounter, for certain reasons, had been somewhat misrepresented by Gas.p.a.cho.