CHAPTER XXV.
THE KITE AND THE DOVE.
General Bustamente had taken advantage of the sudden good-will thatAntinahuel had shown towards him; so that two days after the events wehave related the Araucanian army was strongly entrenched upon the BioBio. Antinahuel, like an experienced chief, had established his camp atthe summit of a wooded hill. A screen of trees had been left to concealthe presence of the army. The various contingents had arrived in greathaste at the rendezvous, and more came in every minute. The total forceof the army was, at that moment, about nine thousand men. Black Stag,with a troop of chosen warriors, beat the country in all directions, inorder to surprise the enemy's scouts.
Antinahuel had retired under his toldo with the Linda and Dona Rosario.She bore upon her pale countenance traces of the fatigues she hadundergone. She stood, with downcast eyes, before the Toqui.
"My brother sees that I have kept my promise," said the Linda.
"Yes," the Toqui replied; "I thank my sister."
"My brother is a great warrior, he has but one word; before enteringthe territories of the Huincas, it will be as well to determine thefate of his prisoner."
"This young maiden is not my prisoner," Antinahuel remarked; "she shallbe my wife."
"So be it," said the Linda, shrugging her shoulders.
"My sister is fatigued," said the chief. "A toldo is prepared for mysister; she shall repose a few hours."
"Chief," she replied, "my body feels no fatigue; I am strong. Yourmosotones were very kind to me."
"Their chief had ordered them to do so," Antinahuel said, gallantly.
"I thank you for having given these orders."
"I love my sister," said the Toqui.
The young lady did not at all understand this blunt declaration of love.
"Oh, yes!" she exclaimed, innocently, "you love me--you have pity onme."
"I will make every effort to make my sister happy."
"Oh! it would be so easy to do that, if you really wished it!" shecried.
"What must I do for that? I am ready to obey my sister."
"Is that really true?"
"Let my sister speak," said the chief.
"The tears of a poor girl can only render a great warrior like you sad!"
"That is truth," he remarked, mildly.
"Restore me to my friends!" she cried, in an excited manner.
Antinahuel drew back quite astounded, biting his lips with anger. TheLinda burst into a loud laugh.
"You see," she said, "it is very easy for you to render her happy."
The chief knitted his brow still more ferociously.
"Come, brother," the Linda continued, "do not be angry; leave me tohave a moment's chat with her."
"What to do?" the Toqui asked, impatiently.
"Caramba! why, to explain your intentions clearly to her."
"Well, then----"
"Only be so kind as to observe that in nowise will I answer fordisposing her in your favour."
"Ah! To what purpose, then, will you talk?"
"I will undertake that, after our conversation, she shall knowperfectly what she has to expect from you with regard to herself."
"My sister has a golden tongue--she will prevail."
"Hum! I do not think so; nevertheless I will try, in order to makemyself agreeable," she added.
"Very well; and during that conversation I will visit the camp."
"Do so," said the Linda.
Antinahuel went out, after darting at the young girl a look which madeher cast down her eyes. Left alone with Rosario, the Linda examined herfor an instant with such an expression of malignant hatred, that thepoor girl felt herself tremble. The sight of this woman produced uponher the strange effect attributed to the look of the serpent; she feltherself fascinated by the cold glance of the green eyes that were fixedupon her in a manner which she could not endure. After a few minutesthe Linda said, in a cutting voice--
"Poor girl! Although you have been nearly a month a prisoner, can youat all divine what induced me to have carried you off?"
"I do not comprehend you, senora," the young lady replied, mildly;"your words are enigmas to me; I in vain endeavour to discover theirmeaning."
"Oh! poor, innocent thing!" the courtesan replied, with a mockinglaugh; "and yet I fancy that on the night we were face to face at thevillage of San Miguel, I spoke to you pretty plainly."
"All it was possible for me to understand, senora, was, that you hateme."
"As the fact exists, of what importance is the reason? Yes, I hateyou, insignificant thing! But I do not even know you! While avengingmyself upon you, it is not you I hate; but the man who loves you; whoseheart is broken at your tears! But the torments I reserve for you arenothing, if he is ignorant of them."
"God is just, senora," the maiden replied, firmly. "I do not know whatcrimes you meditate, but He will watch over me."
"God! miserable, puny creature!" cried the Linda. "God is but a word;He does not exist."
"He will not fail me, senora," Dona Rosario replied. "Beware! lest soonbowed by His powerful hand, you, in your turn, may implore His mercy invain."
"Begone, miserable child; your threats only inspire me with contempt."
"I do not threaten, senora; I am an unfortunate young girl. I onlyendeavour to soften you."
"Vain are your prayers," she added; "when my hour comes I will ask forno more mercy than I have had for you."
"God pardon you the evil you wish to do."
For the second time the Linda experienced an indefinable emotion,of which she in vain sought to explain the cause; but she fortifiedherself against this secret presentiment which appeared to warn herthat her vengeance would mislead herself.
"Listen!" she said, in a short, sharp tone; "it was I who had youcarried off, as you are aware; but you know not for what purpose,do you? The man who has just left us, Antinahuel, the chief of theAraucanos, is a vile wretch! He has conceived a passion for you, animpure, monstrous passion. His mother wished to divert his mind fromthis passion, and he killed his mother."
"Oh!" the young girl exclaimed, penetrated with horror.
"You tremble, do you not?" the Linda continued; "that man is an abjectbeing! He has no heart but for crime! He knows no laws but those whichhis passions and vices impose upon him! Well, this hideous being--thisodious villain loves you; I tell you he is in love with you--do youunderstand me?"
"Oh, you cannot have sold me to this man!" the maiden shrieked in astate of stupefaction.
"I have," she replied, grinding her teeth; "and were it to be begunagain, I would do it again! Oh, you do not know what happiness Iexperience in seeing you, a white dove, rolled in the mud."
"But have you no heart, senora?"
"No, I no longer have; it is long since it was tortured and broken bydespair."
For a moment the maiden was overcome.
"Pity, senora!" she cried, in a piercing tone; "oh, you have said youhad a heart once! You have loved! In the name of him you loved, havepity--pity for me."
"No, no pity, none was felt for me!" and she pushed her away.
"Senora! in the name of one you have loved, pity."
"I love nothing now but vengeance!" she cried; "it is good to hate; awoman forgets her insults through it."
Dona Rosario did not hear these frightful words; a prey to despair, shecontinued to weep and supplicate; but the word child struck her ear; alight flashed across her brain.
"Oh, senora!" she cried, "I knew you were good, and that I shouldsucceed in softening you!"
"What does this folly mean?" said the Linda.
"Senora!" Rosario implored, "you have had children! you have lovedthem! oh, loved them dearly!"
"Silence, unhappy wretch!" cried the Linda; "silence; speak not to meof my daughter!"
"Yes," Rosario continued, "that is it; it was a daughter. Oh, youadored her, senora!"
"Adored my daughter!" cried the Linda, with the roar of a hyena.
"In the name o
f that beloved daughter, pity!"
The Linda broke suddenly into a frantic laugh. "Miserable fool! what aremembrance have you evoked!--It is to avenge my daughter! my daughter!who was stolen from me, that I wish to make of you the most unhappy ofcreatures."
Dona Rosario remained for an instant as if struck by a thunderbolt, butlooking the courtesan full in the face, said--
"Senora, you have no heart--be then accursed. As to me, I shall betaught how to extricate myself from the outrages you vainly threaten mewith."
And, with a movement as quick as thought, she snatched from the girdleof the Linda a narrow, sharp-pointed dagger.
The Linda sprang towards her.
"Stop, senora," the maiden said to her, resolutely; "one step farther,and I stab myself! Oh, I no longer fear you!"
Dona Rosarios look was so firm, her countenance so determined, that theLinda stopped.
"Well," Rosario resumed, with a smile of contempt, "you no longertriumph now; you are no longer certain of your vengeance; let the manyou threaten me with dare to approach me, and I will plunge this daggerinto my heart."
The Linda looked at her, but made no reply; she was conquered.
At that moment a great tumult was heard in the camp; hurried stepsapproached the toldo in which the two women were. The Linda resumed herseat, and composed her features. Dona Rosario, with a joyful smile,concealed the dagger.