CHAPTER NINETEEN.
THE LAST OF THE ZAPOTEQUES.
At no great distance from the cascade already introduced to the reader,there rises a little hill, with a flat or table-shaped top, as if it hadonce been a cone, whose apex had been cut off by some freak of nature.As already observed, such eminences are not uncommon throughout theplains of America, where they are generally termed _mesas_, or _cerrosde la mesa_ (table hills). The archaeologists of the province, inspeaking of the hill in question--which simply bore the name of_Cerro-de-la-mesa_--declared it to be an ancient shrine of theZapoteques. Tradition says that a temple once stood upon it; but, ifso, it must have been constructed of very perishable materials; since noruin testifies to the truth of this tradition. Costal, however,believed it, for the _tigrero_, though apparently a ChristianisedIndian, was still a faithful believer in many of the pagan rites of hisfathers; and, influenced by a superstitious feeling, he was in the habitof sleeping upon the summit of the _Cerro-de-la-mesa_, whenever thenecessities of his calling compelled him to remain over night in thatneighbourhood. A little hut which he had constructed out of bamboos,with the broad leaves of bananas thrown over it for thatch, served himsufficiently well for this occasional and temporary shelter.
Costal had told Clara no more than the truth. He was descended from theancient Caciques of Tehuantepec; and, while wandering through the midstof the solitary savannas, the falling grandeur of his ancient race wasoften the subject of his thoughts. Perfectly indifferent to thepolitical quarrels of the whites, he would have regarded the newinsurrection of Hidalgo without the slightest interest or enthusiasm;but another motive had kindled within his breast the hope that in theend he might himself profit by the revolutionary movement, and that bythe aid of the gold which he vainly dreamt of one day discovering, hemight revive in his own person the title of Cacique, and the sovereigntywhich his ancestors had exercised. The pagan doctrines in which he hadbeen brought up, the solitudes in which he dwelt while engaged in hiscalling of tiger-hunter, the contemplation of the boundless sea, whosedepths he had often explored--for previous to his becoming a _tigrero_he had long practised the perilous profession of a pearl-diver--allthese circumstances had contributed to give to his character a tone ofsingular exaltation which bordered upon frenzy.
Visionary dreamer though he was, he had acquired as much ascendancy overthe negro Clara as ever Don Quixote had over his squire Sancho Panza.Nay more, for, unlike the _Manchego_ gentleman, he might easily havepersuaded his black associate that windmills were giants, since thelatter had already taken a captain in the Queen's dragoons for the Sirenwith the dishevelled hair!
About an hour after this incident we find the two adventurers upon thesummit of the _Cerro-de-la-mesa_. Thither they had just transported thecanoe of Costal, which, being a light craft, they had carried up ontheir shoulders without much difficulty. They had placed it keelupwards close to the wall of the bamboo hovel.
"Ouf!" grunted the negro as he sat down upon it. "I think we havefairly earned a minute's rest. What's your opinion, Costal?"
"Didn't you travel through the province of Valladolid?" asked the Indianwithout replying to Clara's idle question.
"Of course I did," answered the black. "Valladolid, Acapulco, andseveral other of the south-western provinces. Ah, I know them well--from the smallest path to the most frequented of the great roads--everyfoot of them. How could I help knowing them? for, in my capacity of_mozo de mulas_, did I not travel them over and over again with mymaster, Don Vallerio Trujano, a worthy man, whose service I only quittedto turn proprietor in this province of Oajaca?"
Clara pronounced the word _proprietor_ emphatically, and with animportant air. His proprietorship consisted in being the owner of asmall _jacal_, or bamboo hut, and the few feet of ground on which it wasbuilt--of which, however, he was only a renter under Don Mariano deSilva. To the haciendado he hired himself out a part of each year,during the gathering of the cochineal crop. The rest of his time heusually passed in a sort of idle independence.
"Why do you ask me these questions?" he added.
"I don't see," said Costal, speaking as much to himself as to hiscompanion, "how we can enrol ourselves in the army of Hidalgo. As adescendant of the Caciques of Tehuantepec, I am not above hiring myselfout as a tiger-hunter; but I can never consent to wear a soldier'suniform."
"And why not?" asked Clara. "For my part, I think it would be very fineto have a splendid green coat with red facings, and bright yellowtrowsers, like one of these pretty parroquets. I think, however, weneed not quarrel on that score. It's not likely that the Senor Hidalgo,though he is generalissimo of the American insurgent army, will havemany uniforms to spare; and unless we enrol ourselves as officers, whichis not likely, I fear--"
"Stay!" said Costal, interrupting him. "Why couldn't we act as guidesand scouts, since you know the country so well? In that capacity wecould go and come as we pleased, and would have every opportunity tosearch for the Siren with the dishevelled hair."
"But is the Siren to be seen everywhere?" naively inquired Clara.
"Certainly; she can appear at any place to her faithful worshippers,wherever there is a pool of water in which she can mirror herself, astream or a cascade in which she may bathe herself, or in the great seawhere she searches for pearls to adorn her hair."
"And did you never see her when you were yourself a pearl-fisher on thecoast of the Gulf?"
"Certainly I have," replied Costal; "yes, more than once, too, I haveseen her at night; and by moonlight I have heard her singing as shecombed out her shining hair and twisted long strings of pearls about herneck, while _we_ could not find a single one. Several times, too, Ihave invoked her without feeling the slightest sensation of fear, andintreated her to show me the rich pearl-banks. But it was all to nopurpose: no matter how courageous one is, the Siren will not do anythingunless there are two men present."
"What can be the reason of that?" inquired Clara. "Perhaps her husbandis jealous, and don't allow her to talk to one man alone."
"The truth is, friend Clara," continued Costal, without congratulatingthe negro on the cleverness of his conjecture, "I have not much hopes ofseeing her until after I am fifty years old. If I interpret correctlythe traditions I have received from my fathers, neither Tlaloc norMatlacuezc ever reveal their secrets to any man who is less than half acentury old. Heaven has willed it that from the time of the conquest upto my day none of my ancestors has lived beyond his forty-ninth year. Ihave passed that age; and in me alone can be verified the tradition ofmy family, which has been passed down in regular succession from fatherto son. But there is only one day in which it may be done: the day offull moon after the summer solstice of the year, in which I am fifty.That is this very year."
"Ah, then," said the negro, "that will explain why all our efforts toinvoke the Siren has proved fruitless. The time has not yet come."
"Just so," said Costal. "It will be some months yet before we can becertain of seeing her. But whatever happens we must start to-morrow forValladolid. In the morning we can go to the hacienda in our canoe, andtake leave of our master Don Mariano as two respectable servants oughtto do."
"Agreed," said Clara; "but are we not forgetting an important matter?"
"What?"
"The student whom the officer left near the tamarind trees? Poor devil!he's in danger of being caught by the inundation!"
"I had not forgotten him," rejoined Costal. "We can go that way in themorning, and take him to the hacienda in the canoe along with us--thatis, if we still find him alive. I hope he will have sense enough,before the flood reaches him, to climb into one of the trees."
As Costal said this, he rose from his seat, and glanced westward overthe plain. Already the hoarse murmur of the inundation was makingitself heard in the direction of the hacienda.
"Listen!" said he, "to the growling of the waters. _Carrambo_! Whoknows if the officer himself has had time to escape? He would have donebetter had he pas
sed the night with us here. He appeared so anxiousabout going on to the hacienda. Probably he has his own private reasonsfor that; besides, I never thought of asking him to stay with us."
"Well," said Clara, "we may congratulate ourselves upon being safe here;but I feel rather hungry just now; do you chance to have a bit of_tasajo_ in any corner of your cabin? I could put up with that and adrink of water."
"I think I can manage to find a morsel or two," said Costal, goinginside the hut, whither he was followed by the negro.
A fire of dried sticks soon crackled upon the hearth, among the embersof which, as soon as they had burnt to a certain degree of redness,Costal placed several pieces of jerked meat--which he had taken from astring suspended across the room. This species of viand requires but aslight process of cooking; and, as soon as it was deemed sufficientlydone, the two adventurers entered upon their frugal repast, which a keenappetite rendered palatable, if not absolutely luxurious.
Supper over, they stretched themselves along the floor, and for a timelay listening to the hoarse mutterings of the flood that every momentgrew louder and louder. To this, however, they paid but littleattention, having full confidence in the security of their elevatedposition; and even the noise of the water as the great waves camedashing against the hill did not hinder Costal from falling into aprofound slumber. The negro also fell asleep, but awoke from time totime--fancying that he heard the screams of the jaguars mingling withthe confused surging of the waters! In truth it was no fancy. What thenegro heard was in reality the voices of the savage creatures they hadthat evening encountered. On becoming aware of the approach of theinundation, all four of them had made for the _Cerro-de-la-mesa_; butperceiving that its summit was already occupied by the two men, they hadhalted by its base, and stood for some moments growling their chagrin.The near approach of the waters inspiring them with terror, started themoff afresh; and bounding rapidly onward, they were soon far distant fromthe hill, fleeing at utmost speed from the danger of the inundation,well understood even by them.