CHAPTER V.
AN INDIAN'S LOVE.
The Linda rejoined Antinahuel, who, knowing what torture she waspreparing to inflict on the young girl, had stopped at a short distancefrom the spot where he had left her.
When they reached the tolderia, the horsemen dismounted and the maidenwas untied and transported, half dead, into the same cuarto where, anhour before, she had, for the first time, found herself in the presenceof the courtesan.
The appearance of Rosario was really frightful, and would have excitedpity in anybody but the tigress whose delight it was to treat her socruelly. Her long hair hung in loose disorder upon her half-nakedshoulders, and at various spots adhered to her face through the bloodwhich had flowed from her wound; her face, soiled with blood and dirt,wore a greenish cast, and her half-closed lips showed that her teethwere tightly clenched. Her wrists and ankles, to which still hungstrips of the thick cord by which she had been fastened to the horse,were frightfully bruised and discoloured. Her delicate frame wasconvulsed with nervous quiverings, and her faint breathing painfullyissued from her heaving chest.
"Poor girl!" the chief murmured.
"Why, chief!" said the Linda, with a sardonic smile. "I scarcely knowyou! Good Heavens! how love can change a man! What, you, intrepidwarrior, pity the fate of this poor maudlin chit! I really believe youwill weep over her like a woman, next!"
"Yes," the chief said; "my sister speaks truly, I scarcely know myself!Oh!" he added, bitterly, "is it possible that I, Antinahuel, to whomthe Huincas have done so much wrong, can be so? This woman is of anaccursed race; she is in my power, I could avenge myself upon her,satisfy the hatred that devours me, make her endure the must atrociousinjuries!--and, I dare not!--no, I dare not!"
"Does my brother, then, love this woman so much?" the Linda asked, in asoft, insinuating tone.
Antinahuel looked at her as if she had awakened him suddenly from hissleep; he fixed his dull eyes upon her, and exclaimed--
"Do I love her?--love her!--let my sister listen. Before dying, andgoing to hunt in the blessed prairies with the just warriors, my fathercalled me to him, and placing his mouth to my ear--'My son, he said,thou art the last of our race; Don Tadeo de Leon is also the last ofhis; since the coming of the palefaces, the family of that man has beenalways fatally opposed to ours, everywhere and under all circumstances.Swear to kill that man whom it has never been in my power to reach!'I swore to do it. Good!' he said, Pillian loves children who obeytheir father; let my son mount his best horse, and go in search of hisenemy. Then, with a sigh, my father bade me depart. Without replying,I saddled, as he had commanded me, my best horse, and went to the citycalled Santiago, resolved to kill my enemy."
"Well?" the Linda asked, seeing him stop short.
"Well!" he resumed, "I saw this woman, and my enemy still lives." TheLinda cast upon him a look of disdain; but Antinahuel did not remarkit--he continued--
"One day this woman found me dying, pierced with wounds; she made herpeons bear me to a stone toldo, where for three months she watched overme, driving back the death which had hung over me."
"And when my brother was cured?" the Linda asked eagerly.
"When I was cured," he resumed, passionately, "I fled away like awounded tiger, bearing in my heart an incurable wound! Two suns ago,when I was quitting my tolderia, my mother, whom I loved and venerated,wished to oppose my departure; she knew that it was love that attractedme from her, that it was to see this woman I left her. Well, mymother----"
"Your mother?" the courtesan said, breathlessly.
"As she persisted in not allowing me to depart, I trampled her, withoutpity, beneath the hoofs of my horse!" he cried, in almost a shriek.
"Oh!" exclaimed the Linda, recoiling.
"Yes! it is horrible, is it not, to kill one's mother? Now!" he added,with a frightful mocking laugh, "will my sister ask again if I lovethis woman? For her sake, to see her, to hear her address to me one ofthose sweet words which she used to speak near me, or only to see hersmile, I would joyfully sacrifice the most sacred interests. I wouldwade through the blood of my dearest friends--nothing should stop me!"
The Linda, as she listened to him and observed him, reflected deeply,and as soon as he ceased she said--
"I see that my brother really loves this woman. I was deceived, I mustrepair my fault."
"What does my sister mean?"
"I mean, that if I had known, I should not have inflicted so severe achastisement."
"Poor girl!" he sighed.
The Linda smiled ironically to herself. "But my brother does not knowwhat palefaced women are," she continued; "they are vipers, which youendeavour in vain to crush, and which always rise up again to sting theheel of him who places his foot upon them. It is of no use to arguewith passion, were it not so I would say to my brother, 'Be thankful tome, for in killing this woman I preserve you from atrocious sorrow.'"
Antinahuel moved uneasily.
"But," she continued, "my brother loves, and I will restore this womanto him; within an hour I will give her up to him."
"Oh! if my sister does that," Antinahuel exclaimed, intoxicated withjoy, "I will be her slave!"
Dona Maria smiled with an undefinable expression.
"I will do it," she said, "but time presses, we cannot stay here anylonger--my brother doubtless forgets."
Antinahuel darted a suspicious glance at her.
"I forget nothing," he replied; "the friend of my sister shall bereleased."
"Good! my brother will succeed."
"Still, I will not depart till the blue-eyed maiden has recovered hersenses."
"Let my brother hasten to give orders for our departure in ten minutes."
"It is good!" said Antinahuel; "in ten minutes I shall be here."
He left the cuarto with a hasty step. As soon as he was gone, theLinda knelt down by the young girl, removed the cords that still cuther flesh, washed her face with cold water, fastened up her hair, andcarefully bandaged the wound on her forehead.
"Oh!" she thought, "through this woman I hold you, demon!"
She softly raised the maiden, placed her in a high-backed chair,remedied, as well as she was able, the disorder in her dress, and thenapplied a phial of powerful salts to her nostrils.
These salts were not long in producing their effect; she breathed adeep sigh, and opened her eyes, casting round vague and languid looks.But suddenly her eye fell upon the woman who was lavishing her caresupon her; a fresh pallor covered the features, which had begun to beslightly tinged with red, she closed her eyes, and was on the point offainting again. The Linda shrugged her shoulders, took a second phialfrom her bosom, and opening the poor girls mouth introduced a few dropsof cordial between her livid lips. At that moment Antinahuel returned.
"Everything is ready," he said; "we can depart immediately."
"When you please," Dona Maria replied.
"What is to be done with this girl?"
"She will remain here: I have arranged everything."
"Let us be gone, then!" and turning towards Rosario, she said, with amalignant smile. "Farewell, till we meet again, senorita!"
Dona Rosario rose, and said in an earnest tone, "I do not curse you;but God grant, if you ever have children, that they may never beexposed to the tortures you have condemned me to endure."
On hearing this speech, which seared her heart like a red-hot iron, theLinda uttered a cry of terror; a cold perspiration beaded on her paleforehead, and she staggered out of the apartment.
"My mother! my mother!" cried Rosario; "if you still live, where areyou? Why do you not come to the help of your daughter?"