CHAPTER XXIX.
THE KING OF DARKNESS.
Don Tadeo de Leon had manoeuvred with the greatest skill andpromptitude: supporting his left upon the sea, and pivoting uponArauca, the capital of the confederation, he had extended his rightalong the mountains, so as to cut off the communications of the enemy,who, by his junction with General Fuentes, found themselves placedbetween two fires.
Antinahuel, deceived by the false message found on Don Ramon, hadcommitted the unpardonable fault of raising his camp of the Bio Bio,and thus leaving a free passage for General Fuentes. General Bustamentehad viewed with despair the faults his ally had committed, faults whichthe latter would not allow till it was too late to remedy.
Dona Maria, the woman who had been his evil genius, abandoned him now.The Linda, faithful to her hatred, only thought of one thing--to makeDona Rosario suffer as much as she could.
Antinahuel had endeavoured to throw himself into the mountains, but allhis efforts had been in vain, and he had only obtained the result hewished to avoid--that is to say, he had placed himself between three_corps d'armee_, which, by degrees, closed round him, and had ended byplacing him in the annoying obligation of fighting upon ground which itpleased the enemy to choose instead of in his own country, Don GregorioPeralta closed up his passage towards the sea; Don Tadeo de Leon on theside of the Arauca; whilst General Fuentes defended the approach to themountains.
All the marches and counter-marches which led to this result hadlasted a fortnight. Don Tadeo was anxious to strike a great blow, andterminate the war in a single battle. On the day with which we resumethe course of our narrative, the Araucanos and Chilians were at lengthin presence: Don Tadeo de Leon, shut up in his tent with Don Gregorio,General Fuentes, and several other superior officers of his staff, wasgiving them his last orders, when a summons of trumpets was heard fromwithout. The Chilians immediately replied; an aide-de-camp entered thetent, and announced that the Grand Toqui of the Araucanos demanded aninterview.
"Do not go, Don Tadeo," said General Fuentes; "it is nothing but somevillainy these demons have planned."
"I am not of your opinion, general," the dictator replied. "I ought, asleader, to seek every means of preventing the effusion of blood; thatis my duty, and nothing will make me fail in it."
"Caspita!" said Don Gregorio, "you wish to prevent our taking them inspite of you."
The place chosen for the conference was a small eminence, situatedbetween the two camps. A Chilian flag and an Araucanian flag wereplanted at twenty paces from each other; at the foot of these flagsforty Aucas lancers on the one side, and a similar number of Chiliansoldiers placed themselves. When these diverse precautions were taken,Don Tadeo, followed by two aides-de-camp advanced toward Antinahuel,who came to meet him with two Ulmens. When they arrived near theirrespective soldiers, the two leaders ordered their officers to wait forthem, and met in the space left free for them. Antinahuel was the firstto break the silence.
"The Aucas know and venerate my father," he said, bowing courteously;"they know that he is good, and loves his Indian children. A cloud hasarisen between him and his sons; is it impossible to dissipate it?"
"Chief," said Don Tadeo, "the whites have always protected the Indians.Often have they given them arms to defend themselves with, corn to feedthem, and warm clothing to cover them in winter. But the Araucanos areungrateful--when the evil is past they forget the service rendered.Why have they today taken up arms against the whites? Let the chiefreply in his turn; I am ready to hear all he can advance in hisdefence."
"The chief will not defend himself," Antinahuel said, deferentially;"he acknowledges his errors; he is convinced of them; he is ready toaccept the conditions it shall please his white father to impose."
"Tell me, in the first place, what conditions you offer, chief; I shallsee if they are just."
Antinahuel hesitated, and then said--
"My father knows that his Indian sons are ignorant. A great chiefof the whites presented himself to them; he offered them immenseterritories, much pillage, and fair women if the Araucanos wouldconsent to defend his interests. The Indians are children; they allowedthemselves to be seduced by this man who deceived them."
"Very well," said Don Tadeo.
"The Indians," Antinahuel continued, "are ready, if my father desiresit, to give up to him this man."
"Chief," replied Don Tadeo, with indignation, "are these the proposalsyou have to make me? What! Do you pretend to expiate one treachery bycommitting one still greater and more odious? The Araucanian peopleare a chivalrous people, unacquainted with treachery: not one of yourcompanions can have possibly suggested anything so infamous; you alone,chief, you alone must have conceived it!"
Antinahuel knitted his brows; but quickly resuming his Indianimpassiveness, he said--
"I have been wrong; my father will pardon me: I wait to hear thecondition he will impose."
"The conditions are these: the Araucanian army will lay down theirarms, the two women who are in their camp will be placed this very dayin my hands, the Grand Toqui, and twelve of the principal Apo-Ulmens,shall remain as hostages at Santiago, until I think proper to send themback."
A smile, of disdain curled the thin lips of Antinahuel.
"Will my father not impose less harsh conditions?"
"No," Don Tadeo answered, firmly.
The Toqui drew himself up proudly.
"We are ten thousand warriors resolved to die; my father must not driveus to despair," he said.
"Tomorrow that army will have fallen under the blows of my soldiers,like corn beneath the sickle of the reaper."
"Listen, you who impose such arrogant conditions upon me," the chiefreplied; "do you know who I am--I who have humbled myself before you?"
"Of what consequence is it to me? I will retire."
"One instant more! I am the great-grandson of the Toqui Cadegual; ahereditary hatred divides us; I have sworn to kill you, dog! rabbit!thief!"
And, with a movement as quick as thought, he drew out his hand, andstruck Don Tadeo with a dagger full in the breast. But the arm of theassassin was seized and dislocated by the iron-muscled hand of the Kingof Darkness, and the weapon was broken like glass against the cuirasswhich he had put on under his clothes, to guard against treachery.
"Do not fire!" he said to the soldiers; "the wretch is sufficientlypunished, since his execrable project has failed. Go back, assassin!"he added, contemptuously; "return and hide your shame among yourwarriors. Begone, unclean dog!"
Without saying a word more, Don Tadeo turned his back and regained hiscamp.
"Oh!" Antinahuel said, stamping with rage, "all is not ended yet!Tomorrow I shall have my turn."
"Well," Don Pancho asked, as soon as he saw him, "what have youobtained?"
Antinahuel gave him an ironical glance.
"What have I obtained?" he replied; "that man has baffled me."
"Tomorrow we will fight," said the general. "Who knows? All is not lostyet."
"Who knows?" the chief exclaimed, violently; "Tomorrow, if it costs meall my warriors, that man shall be in my power!"
Without condescending to give any further explanation, the Toqui shuthimself up in his toldo with some of his chiefs.
Don Tadeo returned to his tent.
"Well!" cried General Fuentes, "I told you to beware of treachery!"
"You are right, general," the dictator replied, with a smile. "But thewretch is punished."
"No," the old soldier retorted, somewhat angrily; "when we meet with aviper in our path, we crush it without mercy beneath the heel of ourboot; if we did not, it would rise and bite the imprudent man who hadspared it or disdained it."
"Come, come, general!" Don Tadeo said, gaily; "you are a bird ofill-omen. Think no more about the wretch, other cares call upon us."
The general shook his head with an air of doubt, and went to visit theoutposts.