CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.
UP THE DEL NORTE.
I will not distress you with a parting scene. We were in our saddlesbefore the stars had died out, and riding along the sandy road.
At a short distance from the house the path angled, striking into thick,heavy timber. Here I checked my horse, allowing my companions to pass,and, standing in the stirrup, looked back. My eyes wandered along theold grey walls, and sought the azotea. Upon the very edge of theparapet, outlined against the pale light of the aurora, was the object Ilooked for. I could not distinguish the features, but I easilyrecognised the oval curvings of the figure, cut like a dark medallionagainst the sky.
She was standing near one of the yucca palm trees that grew up from theazotea. Her hand rested upon its trunk, and she bent forward, strainingher gaze into the darkness below. Perhaps she saw the waving of akerchief; perhaps she heard her name, and echoed the parting prayer thatwas sent back to her on the still breath of the morning. If so, hervoice was drowned by the tread of my chafing horse, that, wheelingsuddenly, bore me off into the sombre shadows of the forest.
I rode forward, turning at intervals to catch a glimpse of those lovelyoutlines, but from no other point was the house visible. It lay buriedin the dark, majestic woods. I could only see the long bayonets of thepicturesque palmillas; and our road now descending among hills, thesetoo were soon hidden from my view.
Dropping the bridle, and leaving my horse to go at will, I fell into atrain of thoughts at once pleasant and painful.
I knew that I had inspired this young creature with a passion deep andardent as my own, perhaps more vital; for my heart had passed throughother affections, while hers had never throbbed with any save thesubdued solicitudes of a graceful childhood. She had never knownemotion. Love was her first strong feeling, her first passion. Wouldit not, thus enthroned, reign over all other thoughts in her heart'skingdom? She, too, so formed for love; so like its mythic goddess!
These reflections were pleasant. But the picture darkened as I turnedfrom looking back for the last time, and something whispered me, somedemon it was, "You may never see her more!"
The suggestion, even in this hypothetical form, was enough to fill mymind with dark forebodings, and I began to cast my thoughts upon thefuture. I was going upon no party of pleasure, from which I mightreturn at a fixed hour. Dangers were before me, the dangers of thedesert; and I knew that these were of no ordinary character. In ourplans of the previous night, Seguin had not concealed the perils of ourexpedition. These he had detailed before exacting my final promise toaccompany him. Weeks before, I would not have regarded them--they wouldonly have lured me on to meet them; now my feelings were different, forI believed that in my life there was another's. What, then, if thedemon had whispered truly? I might never see her more! It was apainful thought; and I rode on, bent in the saddle, under the influenceof its bitterness.
But I was once more upon the back of my favourite Moro, who seemed to"know his rider"; and as his elastic body heaved beneath me, my spiritanswered his, and began to resume its wonted buoyancy.
After a while I took up the reins, and shortening them in my hands,spurred on after my companions. Our road lay up the river, crossing theshallow ford at intervals, and winding through the bottom-lands, thatwere heavily timbered. The path was difficult on account of the thickunderwood; and although the trees had once been blazed for a road, therewere no signs of late travel upon it, with the exception of a fewsolitary horse-tracks. The country appeared wild and uninhabited. Thiswas evident from the frequency with which deer and antelope swept acrossour path, or sprang out of the underwood close to our horses' heads.Here and there our path trended away from the river, crossing itsnumerous loops. Several times we passed large tracts where the heavytimber had been felled, and clearings had existed. But this must havebeen long ago, for the land that had been furrowed by the plough was nowcovered with tangled and almost impenetrable thickets. A few broken anddecaying logs, or crumbling walls of the adobe were all that remained toattest where the settlers' rancho had stood.
We passed a ruined church with its old turrets dropping by piecemeal.Piles of adobe lay around covering the ground for acres. A thrivingvillage had stood there. Where was it now? Where were the busygossips? A wild-cat sprang over the briar-laced walls, and made offinto the forest. An owl flew sluggishly up from the crumbling cupola,and hovered around our heads, uttering its doleful "woo-hoo-a," thatrendered the desolation of the scene more impressive. As we rodethrough the ruin, a dead stillness surrounded us, broken only by thehooting of the night-bird, and the "cranch-cranch" of our horses' feetupon the fragments of pottery that covered the deserted streets.
But where were they who had once made these walls echo with theirvoices? Who had knelt under the sacred shadow of that once hallowedpile? They were gone; but where? and when? and why?
I put these questions to Seguin, and was answered thus briefly--
"The Indians."
The savage it was, with his red spear and scalping-knife, his bow andhis battle-axe, his brand and his poisoned arrows.
"The Navajoes?" I inquired. "Navajo and Apache."
"But do they come no more to this place?" A feeling of anxiety hadsuddenly entered my mind. I thought of our proximity to the mansion wehad left. I thought of its unguarded walls. I waited with someimpatience for an answer.
"No more," was the brief reply. "And why?" I inquired.
"This is our territory," he answered, significantly. "You are now,monsieur, in a country where live strange fellows; you shall see. Woeto the Apache or Navajo who may stray into these woods!"
As we rode forward, the country became more open, and we caught aglimpse of high bluffs trending north and south on both sides of theriver. These bluffs converged till the river channel appeared to becompletely barred up by a mountain. This was only an appearance. Onriding farther, we found ourselves entering one of those fearful gaps,canons, as they are called, so often met with in the table-lands oftropical America.
Through this the river foamed between two vast cliffs, a thousand feetin height, whose profiles, as you approached them, suggested the idea ofangry giants, separated by some almighty hand, and thus left frowning ateach other. It was with a feeling of awe that one looked up the face ofthese stupendous cliffs, and I felt a shuddering sensation as I nearedthe mighty gate between them.
"Do you see that point?" asked Seguin, indicating a rock that jutted outfrom the highest ledge of the chasm. I signified in the affirmative,for the question was addressed to myself.
"That is the leap you were so desirous of taking. We found you danglingagainst yonder rock."
"Good God!" I ejaculated, as my eyes rested upon the dizzy eminence.My brain grew giddy as I sat in my saddle gazing upward, and I was fainto ride onward.
"But for your noble horse," continued my companion, "the doctor herewould have been stopping about this time to hypothecate upon your bones.Ho, Moro! beautiful Moro!"
"Oh, mein Gott! Ya, ya!" assented the botanist, looking up against theprecipice, apparently with a feeling of awe such as I felt myself.
Seguin had ridden alongside me, and was patting my horse on the neckwith expressions of admiration.
"But why?" I asked, the remembrance of our first interview nowoccurring to me, "why were you so eager to possess him?"
"A fancy."
"Can I not understand it? I think you said then that I could not?"
"Oh, yes! Quite easily, monsieur. I intended to steal my own daughter,and I wanted, for that purpose, to have the aid of your horse."
"But how?"
"It was before I had heard the news of this intended expedition of ourenemy. As I had no hopes of obtaining her otherwise, it was my designto have entered their country alone, or with a tried comrade, and bystratagem to have carried her off. Their horses are swift, yet farinferior to the Arab, as you may have an opportunity of seeing. Withsuch an animal as that, I would have
been comparatively safe, unlesshemmed in or surrounded, and even then I might have got off with a fewscratches, I intended to have disguised myself, and entered the town asone of their own warriors. I have long been master of their language."
"It would have been a perilous enterprise."
"True! It was a _dernier ressort_, and only adopted because all otherefforts had failed; after years of yearning, deep craving of the heart.I might have perished. It was a rash thought, but I, at that time,entertained it fully."
"I hope we shall succeed now."
"I have high hopes. It seems as if some overruling providence were nowacting in my favour. This absence of her captors; and, besides, my bandhas been most opportunely strengthened by the arrival of a number oftrappers from the eastern plains. The beaver-skins have fallen,according to their phraseology, to a `plew a plug,' and they find`red-skin' pays better. Ah! I hope this will soon be over."
And he sighed deeply as he uttered the last words.
We were now at the entrance of the gorge, and a shady clump ofcotton-woods invited us to rest.
"Let us noon here," said Seguin.
We dismounted, and ran our animals out on their trail-ropes to feed.Then seating ourselves on the soft grass, we drew forth the viands thathad been prepared for our journey.