CHAPTER V. A FAMOUS BARBECUE.
"So when fierce zeal a nation rends, And stern injustice rules the throne, Beneath the yoke meek virtue bends, And modest truth is heard to groan. But when fair Freedom's star appears, Then hushed are sighs, and calmed are fears. And who, when nations long opprest, Decree to curb the oppressor's pride, And patriot virtues fire the breast, Who shall the generous ardor chide? What shall withstand the great decree, When a brave nation will be free?
It is flesh and blood that makes husbands and wives, fathers andchildren, and for the next few days these ties were sorely wounded inRobert Worth's house. The Senora was what Rachela called "difficult." Inreality, she was angry and sullen. At such times she always went earlyto mass, said many prayers, and still further irritated herself byunnecessary fasting. But there are few homes which totally escape thevisitations of this 'pious temper' in some form or other. And no creedmodifies it; the strict Calvinist and strict Catholic are equallydisagreeable while under its influence.
Besides, the Senora, like the ill-tempered prophet, thought she "didwell to be angry." She imagined herself deserted and betrayed in allher tenderest feelings, her husband a rebel, her home made desolate, hersons and daughters supporting their father's imprudent views. She couldonly see one alternative before her; she must choose between her countryand her religion, or her husband and children.
True, she had not yet heard from her sons, but she would listen to noneof Rachela's hopes regarding them. Thomas had always said yes to all hisfather's opinions. How could she expect anything from John when he wasbeing carefully trained in the very principles which everywhere made theAmericans so irritating to the Mexican government.
Her husband and Antonia she would not see. Isabel she received in herdarkened room, with passionate weeping and many reproaches. The unhappyhusband had expected this trouble at the outset. It was one of thosedomestic thorns which fester and hamper, but to which the very bestof men have to submit. He could only send pleasant and affectionatemessages by Rachela, knowing that Rachela would deliver them with herown modifications of tone and manner.
"The Senor sends his great love to the Senora. Grace of Mary! If hewould do a little as the most wise and tender of spouses wishes him!That would be for the good fortune of every one.
"Ah, Rachela, my heart is broken! Bring me my mantilla. I will go toearly mass, when one's husband and children forsake them, who, then, ispossible but the Holy Mother?
"My Senora, you will take cold; the morning is chill; besides, I have tosay the streets will be full of those insolent Americans."
"I shall be glad to take cold, perhaps even to die. And the Americans donot offend women. Even the devil has his good points."
"Holy Virgin! Offend women! They do not even think us worth lookingat. But then it is an intolerable offence to see them standing in ourstreets, as if they had made the whole land."
But this morning, early as it was, the streets were empty of Americans.There had been hundreds of them there at the proclamation; there was notone to be seen twelve hours afterwards. But at the principal rendezvousof the city, and on the very walls of the Alamo, they had left thischaracteristic notice:
"To SANTA ANNA:
"If you want our arms-take them.
"TEN THOUSAND AMERICAN TEXANS."
Robert Worth saw it with an irrepressible emotion of pride andsatisfaction. He had faithfully fulfilled his promise to his conscience,and, with his rifle across his shoulder, and his revolvers and knifein his belt, was taking the road to his office with a somewhat markeddeliberation. He was yet a remarkably handsome man; and what man isthere that a rifle does not give a kind of nobility to? With an up-headcarriage and the light of his soul in his face, he trod the narrow,uneven street like a soldier full of enthusiasm at his own commission.
No one interfered with his solitary parade. He perceived, indeed,a marked approval of it. The Zavalas, Navarros. Garcias, and otherprominent citizens, addressed him with but a slightly repressedsympathy. They directed his attention with meaning looks to thecounter-proclamation of the Americans. They made him understand by thepressure of their hands that they also were on the side of liberty.
As he did not hurry, he met several officers, but they wisely affectednot to see what they did not wish to see. For Doctor Worth was a personto whom very wide latitude might be given. To both the military andthe civilians his skill was a necessity. The attitude he had taken wasprivately discussed, but no one publicly acted or even commented uponit. Perhaps he was a little disappointed at this. He had come to a pointwhen a frank avowal of his opinions would be a genuine satisfaction;when, in fact, his long-repressed national feeling was imperious.
On the third morning, as he crossed the Plaza, some one called him. Thevoice made his heart leap; his whole nature responded to it like thestrings of a harp to the sweep of a skilful hand. He turned quickly,and saw two young men galloping towards him. The foremost figure was hisson--his beloved youngest son--whom he had just been thinking of as wellout of danger, safe and happy in the peaceful halls of Columbia. And lo!here he was in the very home of the enemy; and he was glad of it.
"Why, Jack!" he cried; "Why, Jack, my boy! I never thought of you here."He had his hand on the lad's shoulder, and was gazing into his brightface with tears and smiles and happy wonder.
"Father, I had to come. And there are plenty more coming. And here ismy other self--the best fellow that ever lived: Darius Grant. 'Dare'we call him, father, for there is not anything he won't venture if hethinks it worth the winning. And how is mi madre and Antonia, and Iza?And isn't it jolly to see you with a rifle?"
"Well, Dare; well, Jack; you are both welcome; never so welcome to Texasas at this hour. Come home at once and, refresh yourselves."
There was so much to tell that at first the conversation was infragments and exclamations, and the voices of the two young men, pitchedhigh and clear in their excitement, went far before them as if impatientof their welcome. Antonia heard them first. She was on the balcony,standing thoughtful and attent. It seemed to her as if in those days shewas always listening. Jack's voice was the loudest, but she heard Dare'sfirst. It vibrated in midair and fell upon her consciousness, clear andsweet as a far-away bell.
"That is Dare's voice--HERE."
She leaned forward, her soul hearkened after the vibrations, and againthey called her. With swift steps she reached the open door. Rachela satin her chair within it.
"The Senorita had better remain within," she said, sullenly; "the sungrows hot."
"Let me pass, Rachela, I am in a hurry."
"To be sure, the Senorita will have her way--good or bad."
Antonia heeded her not; she was hastening down the main avenue towardthe gateway. This avenue was hedged on each side with oleanders, andthey met in a light, waving arch above her head. At this season theywere one mass of pale pink blossoms and dark glossy leaves. The vividsunshine through them made a rosy light which tinged her face and herwhite gown with an indescribable glow. If a mortal woman can ever looklike an angel, the fair, swiftly moving Antonia had at that moment theangelic expression of joy and love; the angelic unconsciousness of rapidand graceful movement; the angelic atmosphere that was in itself a dreamof paradise; rose-tinted, divinely sweet and warm.
Dare saw her coming, and suddenly ceased speaking{.??} He was in themidst of a sentence, but he forgot what he was saying. He forgot wherehe was. He knew nothing, felt nothing, saw nothing, heard nothing butAntonia. And yet he did not fall at her feet, and kiss her hands andwhisper delightful extravagances; all of which things an Iberian loverwould have done, and felt and looked in the doing perfectly graceful andnatural.
Dare Grant only clasped both the pretty hands held out to him; onlysaid "Antonia! Antonia!" only looked at her with eyes full of a lovingquestion, which found its instant answer in her own. In that moment theyrevealed to each other the lengt
h and breadth, the height and the depthof their affection. They had not thought of disguising it; they made noattempt to do so; and Robert Worth needed not the confession which, afew hours later, Grant thought it right to make to him.
When they entered the house together, a happy, noisy group, Rachela hadleft her chair and was going hurriedly upstairs to tell the Senora hersurmise; but Jack passed her with a bound, and was at his mother's sidebefore the heavy old woman had comprehended his passing salutation.
"Madre! Mother, I am here!"
The Senora was on her couch in her darkened room. She had been at thevery earliest mass, had a headache, and had come home in a state ofrebellion against heaven and earth. But Jack was her idol, the one childfor whose presence she continually pined, the one human creature towhose will and happiness she delighted to sacrifice her own. When sheheard his voice she rose quickly, crying out:
"A miracle! A miracle! Grace of God and Mary, a miracle! Only thismorning, my precious, my boy! I asked the Holy Mother to pity mysorrows, and send you to me. I vow to Mary a new shrine. I vow to keepit, and dress it for one whole year. I will give my opal ring to thepoor. Oh, Juan! Juan! Juan I am too blessed."
Her words were broken into pieces by his kisses. He knelt at her knees,and stroked her face, and patted her hands, and did all with suchnatural fervor and grace, that anything else, or anything less, musthave seemed cold and unfilial.
"Come, my beautiful mother, and see my friend. I have told him so muchabout you; and poor Dare has no mother. I have promised him that youwill be his mother also. Dare is so good--the finest fellow in all theworld; come down and see Dare, and let us have a real Mexican dinner,madre. I have not tasted an olla since I left you."
She could not resist him. She made Rachela lay out her prettiest dress,and when Jack said "how beautiful your hair is, mother; no one has hairlike you!" she drew out the great shell pins, and let it fall like acloud around her, and with a glad pride gave Rachela the order to getout her jewelled comb and gilded fan and finest mantilla. And oh! howhappy is that mother who has such pure and fervent admiration from herson; and how happy is that son to whom his mother is ever beautiful!
Jack's presence drove all the evil spirits out of the house. The windowswere thrown open; the sunshine came in. He was running after Isabel, hewas playing the mandolin; his voice, his laugh, his quick footstep, wereeverywhere.
In spite of the trouble in the city, there was a real festival inthe house. The Senora came down in her sweetest temper and her finestgarments. She arranged Jack's dinner herself, selected the dishes andgave strict orders about their serving. She took Jack's friend at onceinto her favor, and Dare thought her wonderfully lovely and gracious. Hesat with her on the balcony, and talked of Jack, telling her how cleverhe was, and how all his comrades loved him for his sunny temper andaffectionate heart.
It was a happy dinner, lengthened out with merry conversation. Every onethought that a few hours might be given to family love and family joy.It would be good to have the memory of them in the days that were fastcoming. So they sat long over the sweetmeats, and fresh figs, andthe pale wines of Xeres and Alicante. And they rose up with laughter,looking into each others' faces with eyes that seemed to bespeak loveand remembrance. And then they went from the table, and saw not Destinystanding cold and pitiless behind them, marking two places for evermorevacant.
There was not much siesta that day. The Senora, Isabel and Jacksat together; the Senora dozed a little, but not enough to loseconsciousness of Jack's presence and Jack's voice. The father, happy,and yet acutely anxious, went to and fro between his children and hisstudy. Antonia and Dare were in the myrtle walk or under the fig-tree.This hour was the blossoming time of their lives. And it was not theless sweet and tender because of the dark shadows on the edge of thesunshine. Nor were they afraid to face the shadows, to inquire of them,and thus to taste the deeper rapture of love when love is gemmed withtears.
It was understood that the young men were going away in the morning veryearly; so early that their adieus must be said with their good-nights.It was at this hour that the Senora found courage to ask:
"My Juan, where do you go?
"To Gonzales, mi madre."
"But why? Oh, Juan, do not desert your madre, and your country!
"Desert you, madre! I am your boy to my last breath! My country I lovewith my whole soul. That is why I have come back to you and to her! Sheis in trouble and her sons must stand by her."
"Do not talk with two meanings. Oh, Juan! why do you go to Gonzales?"
"We have heard that Colonel Ugartchea is to be there soon, and totake away the arms of the Americans. That is not to be endured. If youyourself were a man, you would have been away ere this to help them, Iam sure."
"ME!! The Blessed Virgin knows I would cut off my hands and feet first.Juan, listen to me dear one! You are a Mexican."
"My heart is Mexican, for it is yours. But I must stand with my fatherand with my brother, and with my American compatriots. Are we slaves,that we must give up our arms? No, but if we gave them up we shoulddeserve to be slaves."
"God and the saints!" she answered, passionately. "What a trouble abouta few guns! One would think the Mexicans wanted the wives and children,the homes and lands of the Americans. They cry out from one end of Texasto the other."
"They cry out in old England and in New England, in New York, in NewOrleans, and all down the Mississippi. And men are crying back tothem: 'Stand to your rifles and we will come and help you!' The idea ofdisarming ten thousand Americans!" Jack laughed with scornful amusementat the notion. "What a game it will be! Mother, you can't tell how aman gets to love his rifle. He that takes our purse takes trash; but ourrifles! By George Washington, that's a different story!"
Juan, my darling, you are my last hope. Your brother was born with anAmerican heart. He has even become a heretic. Fray Ignatius says he wentinto the Colorado and was what they call immersed; he that was baptizedwith holy water by the thrice holy bishop of Durango. My beloved one, goand see Fray Ignatius; late as it is, he will rise and counsel you.
"My heart, my conscience, my country, my father, my brother, SantaAnna's despotism, have already counselled me."
"Speak no more. I see that you also are a rebel and a heretic. Mother ofsorrows, give me thy compassion!" Then, turning to Juan, she cried out:"May God pardon me for having brought into this world such ingrates! Gofrom me! You have broken my heart!"
He fell at her feet, and, in spite of her reluctance, took her hands--
"Sweetest mother, wait but a little while. You will see that we areright. Do not be cross with Juan. I am going away. Kiss me, mother. Kissme, and give me your blessing."
"No, I will not bless you. I will not kiss you. You want what isimpossible, what is wicked."
"I want freedom."
"And to get freedom you tread upon your mother's heart. Let loose myhands. I am weary to death of this everlasting talk of freedom. I thinkindeed that the Americans know but two words: freedom and dollars. Ringfor Rachela. She, at least, is faithful to me."
"Not till you kiss me, mother. Do not send me away unblessed andunloved. That is to doom me to misfortune. Mi madre, I beg this favorfrom you." He had risen, but he still held her hands, and he was weepingas innocent young men are not ashamed to weep.
If she had looked at him! Oh, if she had but once looked at his face,she could not have resisted its beauty, its sorrow, its imploration! Butshe would not look. She drew her hands angrily away from him. She turnedher back upon her suppliant son and imperiously summoned Rachela.
"Good-by, mi madre."
"Good-by, mi madre!"
She would not turn to him, or answer him a word.
"Mi madre, here comes Rachela! Say 'God bless you, Juan.' It is my lastword, sweet mother!"
She neither moved nor spoke. The next moment Rachela entered, and thewretched woman abandoned herself to her care with vehement sobs andcomplainings.
Jack was inexpressibly sorrowful. He we
nt into the garden, hoping in itssilence and solitude to find some relief. He loved his mother with hisstrongest affection. Every one of her sobs wrung his heart. Was it rightto wound and disobey her for the sake of--freedom? Mother was a certaingood; freedom only a glorious promise. Mother was a living fact; freedoman intangible idea.
Ah, but men have always fought more passionately for ideas than forfacts! Tyrants are safe while they touch only silver and gold; but whenthey try to bind a man's ideals--the freedom of his citizenship--thepurity of his faith--he will die to preserve them in their integrity.
Besides, freedom for every generation has but her hour. If that hour isnot seized, no other may come for the men who have suffered it to pass.But mother would grow more loving as the days went by. And this was everthe end of Jack's reasoning; for no man knows how deep the roots of hisnature strike into his native land, until he sees her in the grasp of atyrant, and hears her crying to him for deliverance.
The struggle left the impress on his face. He passed a boundary in it.Certain boyish feelings and graces would never again be possible to him.He went into the house, weary, and longing for companionship that wouldcomfort or strengthen him. Only Isabel was in the parlor. She appearedto be asleep among the sofa cushions, but she opened her eyes wide as hetook a chair beside her.
"I have been waiting to kiss you again, Juan; do you think this troublewill last very long?"
"It will be over directly, Iza. Do not fret yourself about it, angelmio. The Americans are great fighters, and their quarrel is just. Well,then, it will be settled by the good God quickly."
"Rachela says that Santa Anna has sent off a million of men to fight theAmericans. Some they will cut in pieces, and some are to be sent to themines to work in chains."
"God is not dead of old age, Iza. Santa Anna is a miraculous tyrant. Hehas committed every crime under heaven, but I think he will not cut theAmericans in pieces."
"And if the Americans should even make him go back to Mexico!"
"I think that is very possible."
"What then, Juan?"
"He would pay for some of his crimes here the rest he would settle forin purgatory. And you, too, Iza, are you with the Americans?"
"Luis Alveda says they are right."
"Oh-h! I see! So Luis is to be my brother too. Is that so, little dear?"
"Have you room in your heart for him? Or has this Dare Grant filled it?"
"If I had twenty sisters, I should have room for twenty brothers, ifthey were like Dare and Luis. But, indeed, Luis had his place therebefore I knew Dare."
"And perhaps you may see him soon; he is with Senor Sam Houston. SenorHouston was here not a week ago. Will you think of that? And the motherand uncle of Luis are angry at him; he will be disinherited, and weshall be very poor, I think. But there is always my father, who lovesLuis."
"Luis will win his own inheritance. I think you will be very rich."
"And, Juan, if you see Luis, say to him, 'Iza thinks of youcontinually.'"
At this moment Rachela angrily called her charge--
"Are you totally and forever wicked, disobedient one? Two hours I havebeen kept waiting. Very well! The Sisters are the only duenna for you;and back to the convent you shall go to-morrow. The Senora is of mymind, also."
"My father will not permit it. I will go to my father. And think ofthis, Rachela: I am no longer to be treated like a baby." But she kissedJuan 'farewell,' and went away without further dispute.
The handsome room looked strangely lonely and desolate when the door hadclosed behind her. Jack rose, and roughly shook himself, as if by thatmeans he hoped to throw off the oppression and melancholy that wasinvading even his light heart. Hundreds of moths were dashing themselvesto death against the high glass shade that covered the blowing candlesfrom them. He stood and looked at their hopeless efforts to reach theflame. He had an unpleasant thought; one of those thoughts which havethe force of a presentiment. He put it away with annoyance, muttering,"It is time enough to meet misfortune when it comes."
The sound of a footstep made him stand erect and face the door.
It was only a sleepy peon with a request that he would go to hisfather's study. A different mental atmosphere met him there. The doctorwas walking up and down the room, and Dare and Antonia sat together atthe open window.
"Your father wants to hear about our journey, Jack. Take my chair andtell him what happened. Antonia and I will walk within hearing; a roofmakes me restless such a night as this"; for the waning moon had risen,and the cool wind from the Gulf was shaking a thousand scents from thetrees and the flowering shrubs.
The change was made with the words, and the doctor sat down beside hisson. "I was asking, Jack, how you knew so much about Texan affairs, andhow you came so suddenly to take part in them?"
"Indeed, father, we could not escape knowing. The Texan fever was moreor less in every young man's blood. One night Dare had a supper at hisrooms, and there were thirty of us present. A man called Faulkner--afine fellow from Nacogdoches--spoke to us. How do you think he spoke,when his only brother, a lad of twenty, is working in a Mexican mineloaded with chains?"
"For what?"
"He said one day that 'the natural boundaries of the United Statesare the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.' He was sent to the mines for thewords. Faulkner's only hope for him is in the independence of Texas.He had us on fire in five minutes--all but Sandy McDonald, who loves toargue, and therefore took the Mexican side."
"What could he say for it?"
"He said it was a very unjustlike thing to make Mexico give her Americansettlers in Texas two hundred and twenty-four millions of acres becauseshe thought a change of government best for her own interests."
"The Americans settled in Texas under the solemn guarantee of theconstitution of eighteen twenty-four. How many of them would have builthomes under a tyrannical despotism like that Santa Anna is now forcingupon them?" asked the doctor, warmly.
"McDonald said, 'There is a deal of talk about freedom among youAmericans, and it just means nothing at all.' You should have seenFaulkner! He turned on him like a tornado. 'How should you know anythingabout freedom, McDonald?' he cried. 'You are in feudal darkness in theHighlands of Scotland. You have only just emigrated into freedom. Butwe Americans are born free! If you can not feel the difference betweena federal constitution and a military and religious despotism, there issimply no use talking to you. How would you like to find yourself in acountry where suddenly trial by jury and the exercise of your religionwas denied you? Of course you could abandon the home you had built, andthe acres you had bought and put under cultivation, and thus make someMexican heir to your ten years' labor. Perhaps a Scot, for conscience'sake, would do this.'"
"And what answer made he? He said, 'A Scot kens how to grip tight toten years' labor as well as yoursel', Faulkner; and neither man norde'il can come between him and his religion; but--' 'BUT,' shoutedFaulkner; 'there is no BUT! It is God and our right! God and our right,against priestcraft and despotism!'"
"Then every one of us leaped to our feet, and we swore to followFaulkner to Texas at an hour's notice; and Sandy said we were 'a parcelof fools'; and then, would you believe it, father, when our boat wasleaving the pier, amid the cheers and hurrahs of thousands, Sandy leapedon the boat and joined us?"
"What did he say then?"
"He said, 'I am a born fool to go with you, but I think there is a kindo' witchcraft in that word TEXAS. It has been stirring me up morning andnight like the voice o' the charmer, and I be to follow it though I kenwell enough it isna leading me in the paths o' peace and pleasantness!'"
"Did you find the same enthusiasm outside of New York?"
"All along the Ohio and Mississippi we gathered recruits; and atRandolph, sixty miles above Memphis, we were joined by David Crockett."
"Jack!"
"True, father! And then at every landing we took on men. For at everylanding Crockett spoke to the people; and, as we stopped very often, wewere cheered all the way down t
he river. The Mediterranean, though thebiggest boat on it, was soon crowded; but at Helena, Crockett and agreat number of the leading men of the expedition got off. And as Dareand Crockett had become friends, I followed them."
"Where did you go to?"
"We went ostensibly to a big barbecue at John Bowie's plantation, whichis a few miles below Helena. Invitations to this barbecue had been senthundreds of miles throughout the surrounding country. We met partiesfrom the depths of the Arkansas wilderness and the furthest boundariesof the Choctaw nation coming to it. There were raftsmen from theMississippi, from the White, and the St. Francis rivers. There wereplanters from Lousiana and Tennessee. There were woodsmen from Kentucky.There were envoys from New Orleans, Washington, and all the greatEastern cities."
"I had an invitation myself, Jack."
"I wish you had accepted it. It was worth the journey. There never wasand there never will be such a barbecue again. Thousands were present.The woods were full of sheds and temporary buildings, and platforms forthe speakers."
"Who were the speakers?"
"Crockett, Hawkins, General Montgomery, Colonel Beauford, the threebrothers Cheatham, Doc. Bennet, and many others. When the woods wereilluminated at night with pine knots, you may imagine the scene and thewild enthusiasm that followed their eloquence."
"Doc. Bennet is a good partisan, and he is enormously rich."
"And he has a personal reason for his hatred of Mexico. An insatiablerevenge possesses him. His wife and two children were barbarouslymurdered by Mexicans. He appealed to those who could not go to thefight to give money to aid it, and on the spot laid down ten thousanddollars."
"Good!"
"Nine other men, either present or there by proxy, instantly gave a likesum, and thirty thousand in smaller sums was added to it. Every donationwas hailed with the wildest transports, and while the woods were ringingwith electrifying shouts, Hawkins rallied three hundred men round himand went off at a swinging galop for the Brazos."
"Oh, Jack! Jack!"
In another hour, the rest of the leaders had gathered their detachments,and every man had turned his face to the Texan prairies. Crockett wasalready far advanced on the way. Sam Houston was known to be kindlingthe fire on the spot; "and I suppose you know, father," said Jack,sinking his voice to a whisper, "that we have still more powerfulbackers."
"General Gaines?"
"Well, he has a large body of United States troops at Nacogdoches. Hesays they are to protect the people of Navasola from the Indians."
"But Navasola is twenty-nine miles west of Nacogdoches."
"Navasola is in Texas. Very well! If the United States feel it to betheir duty to protect the people of Navasola, it seems they alreadyconsider Texas within their boundary."
"You think the Indians a mere pretext?"
"Of course. Crockett has with him an autograph letter from PresidentJackson, introducing him as 'a God-chosen patriot.' President Jacksonalready sees Texas in the Union, and Gaines understands that if theAmerican-Texans should be repulsed by Santa Anna, and fall back uponhim, that he may then gather them under his standard and lead themforward to victory--and the conquest of Texas. Father, you will see theStars and Stripes on the palaces of Mexico."
"Do not talk too fast, Jack. And now, go lie down on my bed. In fourhours you must leave, if you want to reach Gonzales to-night!"
Then Dare was called, and the lovers knew that their hour of parting wascome. They said nothing of the fears in their hearts; and on Antonia'slifted face there was only the light of love and of hope.
"The fight will soon be over, darling, and then!"
"And then? We shall be so happy."