CHAPTER X.
THE PASSAGE OF THE DEFILE.
While these things were going on in the defile, a few words exchangedbetween Antinahuel and the Linda filled the Toqui with uneasiness, bymaking him vaguely suspicious of some treachery.
"What is the matter?" Dona Maria asked.
"Nothing very extraordinary," he replied, carelessly; "somereinforcements have arrived rather late, upon which I did not reckon."
"Good Heavens!" said Dona Maria, "I have been perhaps deceived byan extraordinary resemblance; but, if the man I mean were not fortyleagues off, I should declare it is he who commands that troop."
"Let my sister explain herself," said Antinahuel.
"Tell me, in the first place, chief," the Linda continued, "the name ofthe warrior to whom you spoke?"
"His name is Joan."
"That is impossible! Joan is at this moment more than forty leaguesfrom this place, detained by his love for a white woman," the Lindacried.
"My sister must be mistaken, because I have just been conversing withhim."
"Then he is a traitor!" she said passionately.
The chief's brow became thoughtful.
"This has an awkward appearance," he said. "Can I have been betrayed?"he added in a deep tone.
"What are you going to do?" the Linda asked, stopping him.
"To demand of Joan an account of his ambiguous conduct."
"It is too late," the Linda continued, pointing with her finger to theChilians.
"Oh!" Antinahuel cried, with rage, "woe be to him if he prove atraitor."
"It is no longer time for recrimination and threats; you must fight."
"Yes," he replied, fervently; "we will fight now. After the victory itwill be time enough to chastise traitors."
The plan of the Araucanos was of the most simple kind: to allow theSpaniards to enter the defile, then to attack them at once in front andin rear, whilst the warriors in ambush on the flanks poured down uponthem enormous stones and fragments of rock. A party of the Indians hadbravely thrown themselves both in front and rear of the Spaniards tobar their passage. Antinahuel sprang up, and encouraging his warriorswith voice and gesture, he rolled down an immense stone amongst hisenemies. All at once a shower of bullets came pattering down upon histroops. The false Indians, led by Joan, showed themselves, and chargedhim resolutely to the cry of "Chili! Chili!"
"We are betrayed!" Antinahuel shouted, "Kill, kill!"
Some horsemen charged in troops at speed, whilst others galloped atrandom among the terrified infantry.
The Araucanos did not yield an inch--the Chilians did not advance astep. The melee undulated like the waves of the sea in a tempest; theearth was red with blood.
The combat had assumed heroic proportions.
At length, by a desperate effort Antinahuel succeeded in breakingthrough the close ranks of the enemies who enveloped him, and rushedinto the defile, followed by his warriors, and waving his heavy hatchetover his head. Black Stag contrived to effect the same movement; butJoan's Chilian horse advanced from behind the rising ground which hadconcealed them, with loud cries, and came on sabring all before them.
The Linda followed closely the steps of Antinahuel, her eyes flashing,her lips compressed.
"Forward!--forward!" Don Gregorio cried in a voice of thunder.
"Chili! Chili!" the general repeated, cutting down a man at every blow.
More dead than alive, Don Ramon fought like a demon; he waved hissword, rode down all in his way with the weight of his horse, anduttered inarticulate cries with the gestures of one possessed.
In the meantime, Don Bustamente snatched a sword from one of thesoldiers, made his horse plunge violently, and dashed forward, cryingwith a loud voice--
"To the rescue!--to the rescue!"
To this appeal the Araucanos replied by shouts of joy, and flew towardshim.
"Ay, ay," a scoffing voice cried; "but you are not free yet, DonPancho."
General Bustamente turned sharply round, and found himself face to facewith General Cornejo, who had leaped his horse over a heap of deadbodies. The two men, after exchanging a look of hatred, rushed againsteach other with raised swords. The shock was terrible; the two horsesfell with it. Don Pancho received a slight wound in the head; the armof General Cornejo was cut through by the weapon of his adversary.With a bound Don Pancho was again on his feet; General Cornejo wouldwillingly have been so, likewise, but suddenly a knee pressed heavilyupon his chest, and obliged him to sink upon the ground.
"Pancho! Pancho!" Dona Maria cried, with the laugh of a demon, for itwas she, "see how I kill your enemies!"
Don Pancho had not even heard the exclamation of the courtesan, sofully was he engaged in defending himself. At the sight of the odiousmurder committed by the Linda, Don Ramon shouted--
"Viper! I will not kill you, because you are a woman; but I will maryour future means of doing evil."
The Linda sank beneath his blow with a shriek of pain; he had slashedher down the cheek from top to bottom! Her hyena-like cry was sofrightful that it even brought to a pause the combatants engaged aroundher. Bustamente heard her, and with one bound of his horse was by theside of his ancient mistress, whom the wound on her face renderedhideous. He stooped slightly down, and seizing her by her long hair,threw her across the neck of his horse; then plunging his spurs intothe animals flanks, he dashed, headforemost, into the thickest of the_melee_. In spite of the efforts of the Chilians to recapture thefugitive, he succeeded in escaping.
At a signal from Antinahuel, the Indians threw themselves on each sideof the defile, and scaled the rocks with incredible velocity under ashower of bullets.
The combat was over. The Araucanos had disappeared. The Chilianscounted their losses, and found them great; seventy men had beenkilled, and a hundred and forty-three were wounded. Several officers,among whom was General Cornejo, had fallen. It was in vain theysearched for Joan. The intrepid Indian had become invisible.
Don Gregorio was in despair at the escape of General Bustamente. It wasnow useless for Don Gregorio to return to Santiago; on the contrary, itwas urgent that he should return to Valdivia, in order to secure thetranquillity of that province which would, no doubt, be disturbed bythe news of the generals escape; but, on the other hand, it was quiteas important that the authorities of the capital should be placed upontheir guard. Don Gregorio was in great trouble about choosing a personwhom he could trust with this commission, when the senator came to hisrelief. The worthy Don Ramon had finished by taking courage in reality;he actually, and in good faith, believed himself the most valiant manin Chili, and, unconsciously, assumed the most ridiculously extravagantairs. Above all, he burned with the desire of returning to Santiago.
Don Gregorio asked the senator to be the bearer of the double news ofthe battle gained over the Indians--a battle in which he, Don Ramon,had taken so large a share of the glory--and the unexpected escape ofGeneral Bustamente.
Don Ramon accepted with a proud smile of satisfaction a mission inevery way so honourable to him. As soon as the despatches, which DonGregorio wrote at once, were ready, he mounted his horse, and, escortedby fifty lancers, set out for Santiago.