CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.
THE INUNDATION.
Just as Marianita was about to open the door and inquire the cause ofthe tumult, the _femme-de-chambre_ rushed into the room; and, withoutwaiting to be questioned, cried out--
"_Ave Maria, senoritas! the inundation is coming_! A vaquero has justgalloped in to say that the waters are already within a league or two ofthe hacienda!"
"The inundation!" echoed both the sisters in a breath; Marianitarepeating the sign of the cross, while Gertrudis bounded up from the_fauteuil_, and, gathering her long hair around her wrists, rushedtowards the window.
"_Jesus! senorita_," cried the waiting-maid, addressing herself toGertrudis, "one would think you were going to leap down to the plain, asif to save some one in danger."
"Don Rafael, God have pity on him!" exclaimed Gertrudis in a state ofdistraction.
"Don Fernando!" cried Marianita, shuddering as she spoke.
"The plain will soon be one great lake," continued the servant; "woe tothem who may be caught upon it! But as for Don Fernando, you may makeyourself easy, senorita. The vaquero who came in was sent by DonFernando with a message to master, to say that he would be here in themorning in his boat."
After delivering this intelligence the attendant retired, leaving theyoung girls once more alone.
"In a boat!" exclaimed Marianita, as soon as the servant had gone out."Oh, Gertrudis!" she continued, suddenly passing from sadness to atransport of joy, "won't that be delightful? We shall sail upon thewater in our state barge crowned with flowers, and--"
As Marianita turned round, her transport of frivolous egotism wassuddenly checked, as she saw her sister, with her long dark tresseshanging dishevelled around her, kneeling in front of an image of theMadonna. Giving way to a feeling of reproach, she also knelt down andmingled her prayers with those of Gertrudis, while the alarm-bellcontinued to peal forth to the four quarters of the compass its notes ofsolemn and lugubrious import.
"Oh, my poor Gertrudis!" said she, taking her sister's hand in her own,while her tears fell fast upon the glistening tresses; "pardon me if, inthe fulness of my own joy, I did not perceive that your heart wasbreaking. Don Rafael--you love him then?"
"If he die I shall die too--that is all I know," murmured Gertrudis,with a choking sigh.
"Nay, do not fear, Gertrudis; God will protect him. He will send one ofhis messengers to save him," said the young girl, in the simplicity ofher faith; and then returning, she mingled her prayers with those of hersister, now and then alternating them with words of consolation.
"Go to the window!" said Gertrudis, after some time had passed. "See ifthere is yet any one upon the plain. I cannot, for my eyes are filledwith tears. I shall remain here."
And, saying these words, Gertrudis again knelt before the image of theVirgin.
Marianita instantly obeyed the request, and, gliding across the floor,took her stand by the open window. The golden haze that had hithertohung over the plain was darkening into a purple violet colour, but nohorseman appeared in the distance.
"The horse he will be riding," said Gertrudis, at the momentinterrupting her devotions, "will be his bay-brown. He knows how much Iadmire that beautiful steed--his noble war-horse that carried himthrough all his campaigns against the Indians. I have often taken theflowers from my hair to place them upon the frontlet of the bravebay-brown. Oh! _Virgen Santissima_! O Jesus! sweet Lord! Don Rafael!my beautiful! my loved! who will bring you to me?" cried the younggirl--her wild, passionate ejaculations mingling with the words of herprayer.
The plain was every moment becoming less visible to the eye, as thetwilight deepened into the shadows of night, when all at once it wasre-illuminated by the pale rays of the moon. Still no horseman could beseen either near or afar off--nothing but the tall, dark palm-trees thatstood motionless in the midst of the silent savanna.
"He has been warned in time," suggested Marianita, in hopes oftranquillising her sister. "Most likely he will not have set outto-day."
"Oh, no--no!" cried Gertrudis, wringing her hands in anguish; "you arewrong. I know Don Rafael too well. I judge his heart by my own. I amsure he would try to be here this very evening. Another day would betoo long for him. He would brave every danger, if only to see me a fewhours sooner--I know he would. I know he will be coming at thismoment!"
Just then a noise as of distant thunder was heard mingling with themetallic notes of the bell; and simultaneous with this ominous dialogue,between the hoarse muffled rumbling of the waters and the lugubriousclanging, a sheen of reddish light was seen to gleam suddenly over themoon-whitened plain, and, as it glared far into the distance,illuminating the dark forms of the palm-trees. It was proceeding fromthe beacon fires which Don Mariano had caused to be kindled both on theplatform of the hacienda and on the higher ridge behind it--in hopesthat their light might serve as a guide to those who might be stillwandering upon the plain.
Both the eye and the ear were thus warned of the threatening danger;and, as the people moved around the blazing fires, their shadows,magnified to gigantic proportions, were projected far out upon thesavanna.
The moments passed slowly, amidst fearful and ominous sounds. Themuffled roar of the inundation was every instant heard more distinctly,as the exasperated flood came rolling onward. Already it resembled thenoise of the loudest thunder, when the mass of dense waters was seenglistening under the light of the fires, only a few hundred pacesdistant from the western wall of the hacienda!
"Oh, sister!" cried Gertrudis, in a voice of despair, "look again! Isno one in sight? O mercy!"
Marianita still stood by the window, eagerly directing her glance overthe plain, and endeavouring to penetrate the obscure gleam outside thecircle lighted by the glare of the fires.
"No--no one," replied she; and then her tone suddenly changing into oneof terror, she shrieked out--"O mercy! I see two horsemen--yes; theyare horsemen. _Madre de Dios_! they are flying like the wind! Alas!alas! they will be too late!"
As she spoke, loud shouts were heard from above--from the _azotea_ ofthe house--to which Don Mariano and a crowd of servants had ascended.Other men, mounted on horseback, galloped along the terrace upon whichthe house stood, waving long lazoes around their heads, and ready tofling them out as soon as the two travellers should approach withinreach. The men below were also uttering loud cries, unable to restraintheir voices at the sight of the two horsemen thus desperatelystruggling to anticipate the approach of the mass of roaring waters.Already the flood was rushing forward upon the walls of the hacienda,approaching like waves of fire under the glare of the flaming beacons.
The sisters within the chamber heard the cries, without seeing thosethat gave utterance to them, or knowing aught of the movements that werebeing made for rescuing the two horsemen from their perilous position.
"Oh, Gertrudis!" cried Marianita, now leaning out from the window, andclinging convulsively to one of the iron bars, "come hither and seethem! You can tell whether it be Don Rafael. I do not know him. If itbe he, your voice might encourage him."
"I cannot--I cannot!" replied Gertrudis, in a voice quivering withemotion. "Oh, sister! I dare not look upon such a spectacle. 'Tishe--too well my heart tells me it is he--oh, I can only pray for him!"
"They are both mounted on dark-coloured horses. One of them is a littleman. He is in the costume of an arriero. That cannot be Don Rafael!"
"The other? the other?" cried Gertrudis in a low but anxious tone.
"The other," answered Marianita, "is a head taller than the first. Hesits his horse like a centaur. Now I can see his face distinctly. Hehas a fine noble countenance, with black moustaches. There is a band ofgold lace on his hat. The danger does not appear to alarm him. Ah! heis a noble, handsome fellow."
"It is he!" cried Gertrudis, in a voice that could be heard high abovethe _melee_ of sounds. "Yes--it is Don Rafael!" she repeated, springingto her feet, as if with the intention of beholding him once more beforehe
should be engulfed in the flood of waters. "Where, sister? where?"she continued, gliding towards the window; but before she had made threesteps across the chamber, her strength failed her, and she sankhalf-fainting upon the floor.
"Mercy!" exclaimed Marianita, half stupified with terror. "Oh! _JesusMaria_! another bound of their horses, and they will be safe! _Valga meDios_! too late--too late! there are the waters. Oh! their wild roar!hear how they beat against the walls. Mother of God! shield these bravemen! They hold one another by the hand! They bury their spurs in theirhorses' flanks! They ride forward without fear! They advance upon thefrothing flood, as if they were charging upon an enemy! Virgin ofParadise! one of them, the smaller, is actually chaunting a hymn!"
In effect, at that moment the voice of a man was heard above the rush ofthe water, crying out in measured accents--
"_In manus tuas, Domine! commendo animam meam_!"
"Merciful Father!" cried Marianita, "I see them no more, the waters areover them both!"
For a moment a death-like silence reigned in the apartment, broken onlyby the groaning of the waters, and the shouts of those clustering uponthe _azotea_ without.
Gertrudis, prostrate amidst the tresses of her dishevelled hair, was nolonger able to give utterance to a word even in prayer.
The voice of Marianita once more aroused her.
"Now I see them again," continued she, "but no, only one! There is onlyone of them in the saddle. It is the taller one--he with the moustache.The other is gone. No! I see him, but he is dismounted, and borne offupon the flood. There! the other has seized hold of him! he raises himup, and draws him across his horse. What a powerful arm the brave manmust have--he lifts the other like a child! The horse too appearsstrong as his master. How gallantly he breasts the flood with both menupon his back! What a strange sound comes from his nostrils! Now theyare heading for the walls. _Santissima Virgen_! will you allow thisbrave cavalier to perish? he who overcomes that which has rooted up thetrees of the forest?"
"Oh!" cried Gertrudis, recovering her strength, and speaking in a burstof passionate pride; "it is Don Rafael, I am sure! No other couldperform such a deed!"
Her heart suddenly sank again, as she observed that her sister once morespoke in a tone of anguish.
"Alas, alas!" cried Marianita, "an enormous tree is drifting towardsthem! Oh! it will strike the horse! they will be overwhelmed by it."
"Angel, whose name he bears!" shrieked Gertrudis, "angel, protect him!Virgin Mary, appease the rage of the waters, and shield him fromdestruction! Holy Virgin, save him, _and I vow to sacrifice my hair forhis life_!"
This was the most precious offering the young Creole could think ofmaking to the Virgin, and as if the vow had been accepted, the voice ofMarianita was at that moment heard in a more cheerful tone.
"Blessed be God!" exclaimed she, "they will yet be saved! A dozenlazoes are around the tree. They have been thrown by people from thehouse. Good! the trunk no longer rolls onward. It is checked and heldby the ropes. The brave horseman might easily mount upon it. But no!he will not abandon his noble horse, nor the man he is holding in hisarms. See, he is riding around the tree, his brave steed plungingthrough the water with all his strength. Once more he is breasting theflood--on--on--ah! hear those shouts of triumph! He is up to the walls!he is saved!"
A loud triumphant cheer rising from below, and blending with a similarcry that pealed along the roof of the hacienda, confirmed the words ofMarianita; and the two sisters rushing together became locked in amutual embrace.
"Ah, Gertrudis!" said Marianita, after a moment, "you have vowed yourhair to the Virgin? your beautiful hair, worth a kingdom!"
"Yes," responded Gertrudis, "and, were it worth a world, I should havegiven it all the same for the life of my noble Don Rafael. Ah! yes; andhe shall cut it from my head with his own hands!"