CHAPTER TWENTY ONE.
THE STUDENT RESCUED.
The odd spectacle once more overcame the gravity of the Indian; and,resting upon his oars, he delivered himself up to a renewed spell oflaughter.
Through the network of the hammock the student could now note themovements of those who were coming to his rescue. He saw the Indianturn towards his companion, pointing at the same time to the singulartableau among the tops of the trees, which the negro appeared tocontemplate with a countenance that betrayed an anxiety equal to hisown.
Don Cornelio could not make out what there was to laugh at in aspectacle that for two mortal hours--ever since daybreak--had beencausing him the extreme of fear; but, without saying a word, he waitedfor the explanation of this ill-timed hilarity.
"Let us get a little farther off!" stammered the negro; "we candeliberate better what we should do."
"What we should do!" cried Costal, now speaking seriously; "it needs nodeliberation to tell that."
"Quite true," assented Clara, "it does not. Of course we should pushoff a little; and the sooner we do it the better."
"Bah!" exclaimed Costal, "that's not what I meant;" as he spoke coollylaying his paddle in the bottom of the canoe, and taking up his carbine.
"But what are you going to do?" anxiously asked Clara.
"_Por Dios_! to shoot one of the jaguars; what else? You shall seepresently. Keep yourself quiet, Senor student," he continued, speakingto Don Cornelio, who still lay crouched up within the hammock, and who,from very fear, could neither speak nor move.
At this moment one of the jaguars uttered a growl that caused the bloodto run cold through the veins of Clara. At the same time the fiercecreature was seen tearing the bark from the tamarind with his curvingclaws; while, with mouth agape, and teeth set, as if in menace, he fixedhis fiery eyes upon Costal, who was nearest to him. His angry glancehad no terrors for the _tigrero_, who, gazing firmly back upon thefierce brute, appeared to subdue him by some power of fascination.
Costal now raised the carbine to his shoulder, took deliberate aim, andfired. Almost simultaneously with the report, the huge animal cametumbling down from the tree, and fell with a dull, dead plash upon thewater. It was the male.
"Quick, Clara!" cried the Indian. "A stroke of the paddle--quick, or weshall have the other upon us!"
And, as Costal spoke, he drew his long knife to be ready for defendinghimself.
Anxious as the negro was to get out of the way, and making all the hastein his power, his fears had so unnerved him that his efforts were invain. The female jaguar, furious at the death of her mate, and anxiousfor the safety of her whelps, stayed only to utter one savage yell; andthen, bounding downward from the branches, she launched herself upon thestudent. The hammock, however, oscillating violently to one side,caused her to let go her hold, and making a second spring, she droppeddown into the canoe. The weight of her body, combined with the impetuswhich her anger had given to it, at once capsized the little craft; andIndian, negro, and jaguar went all together under water!
In a second's time all three reappeared on the surface--Clarahalf-frightened out of his senses, and striking out with all the energyof despair.
Fortunately for the negro, the old pearl-diver could swim like a shark;and, in the twinkling of an eye, the latter had darted betwixt him andthe jaguar--his knife slung between his clenched teeth.
The two adversaries, now face to face, paused for an instant as if tomeasure the distance between them. Their eyes met--those of thetiger-hunter expressing coolness and resolution, while the orbs of thejaguar rolled furiously in their sockets.
All at once the hunter was seen to dive; and the jaguar, astonished atthe sudden disappearance of her enemy, paused, and for a moment balancedherself in the water. Then turning round, she commenced swimming backtowards the tree upon which she had left her young ones.
Before reaching it, however, she was seen to struggle, and sinkpartially below the surface--as if some whirlpool was sucking herunderneath; then rising up again, she turned over on her back, andfloated lifeless down the current. A long red gash appeared freshlyopened in her belly; and the water around was fast becoming tinged withthe crimson stream that gushed copiously from the wound.
The Indian, in turn, came to the surface; and, after casting a lookaround him, swam towards the canoe--which the current had alreadycarried to some distance from the trees. Overtaking it, he once moreturned the craft deck upwards; and, mounting aboard, paddled backtowards the student.
Lantejas had not yet recovered from the surprise with which theencounter, as well as the audacious _sang-froid_ exhibited by the_tigrero_, had inspired him, when the latter arrived underneath; and,with the same blade with which he had almost disembowelled the tiger,opened the bottom of the hammock by cutting it lengthwise. By thismeans he had resolved on delivering the student more easily than byendeavouring to get him out over the edge.
At that moment was heard the voice of Clara, still swimming about in thewater.
"The skins of the jaguars!" cried he; "are you going to let them belost? They are worth twenty dollars, Costal!"
"Well, if they are," replied the Indian, "swim after and secure them. Ihave no time to spare," added he, as he pulled Lantejas through thebottom of the hammock, and lowered him down into the canoe.
"_Dios me libre_!" responded Clara; "I shall do nothing of the kind.Who knows whether the life's quite out of them yet? They may go to thedevil for me! Heigh! Costal! paddle this way, and take me in. I haveno desire to go under those tamarinds--laced as they are by half a mileof rattlesnakes."
"Get in gently, then!" said Costal, directing the canoe towards thenegro. "Gently, or you may capsize us a second time."
"Jesus God!" exclaimed Don Cornelio, who now for the first time hadfound the power of speech; "Jesus God!" he repeated, seeing himself, notwithout some apprehension, between two strange beings--the one red, theother black--both dripping with water, and their hair covered with theyellow scum of the waves!
"Eh! Senor student," rejoined Clara, in a good-humoured way, "is thatall the thanks you give us for the service we have done you?"
"Pardon me, _gentlemen_," stammered out Don Cornelio; "I was dreadfullyfrightened. I have every reason to be thankful to you."
And, his confidence now restored, the student expressed, in fit terms,his warm gratitude; and finished his speech by congratulating the Indianon his escape from the dangers he had encountered.
"By my faith! it is true enough," rejoined Costal, "I have run somelittle danger. I was all over of a sweat; and this cursed water comingdown from the mountains as cold as ice--_Carrambo_! I shouldn't wonderif I should get a bad cold from the ducking."
The student listened with astonishment to this unexpected declaration.The man whose fearful intrepidity he had just witnessed to be thinkingonly of the risk he ran of getting a cold!
"Who are you?" he mechanically inquired.
"I?" said Costal. "Well, I am an Indian, as you see--a Zapoteque--formerly the _tigrero_ of Don Matias de la Zanca; at present in theservice of Don Mariano de Silva--to-morrow, who knows?"
"Don Matias de la Zanca!" echoed the student, interrupting him; "why,that is my uncle!"
"Oh!" said Costal, "your uncle! Well, Senor student, if you wish to goto his house I am sorry I cannot take you there, since it lies up amongthe hills, and could not be reached in a canoe. But perhaps you have ahorse?"
"I had one; but the flood has carried him off, I suppose. No matter. Ihave good reasons for not regretting his loss."
"Well," rejoined Costal, "your best way will be to go with us to theHacienda las Palmas. There you will get a steed that will carry you tothe house of your uncle. But first," added he, turning his eyes towardsthe tamarinds, "I must look after my carbine, which has been spilled outof the canoe. It's too good a gun to be thrown away; and I can say thatit don't miss fire once in ten times. It should be yonder, where thebrute capsized us; and with your permi
ssion, Senor student, I'll just goin search of it. Ho, Clara! paddle us back under the hammock!"
Clara obeyed, though evidently with some reluctance. The hissing of theserpents still sounded ominously in his ears.
On arriving near the spot where the canoe had turned over, Costal stoodup in the bow; and then raising his hands, and joining them above hishead, he plunged once more under the water.
For a long time the spectators saw nothing of him; but the bubbles hereand there rising to the surface, showed where he was engaged insearching for his incomparable carbine.
At length his head appeared above water, then his whole body. He heldthe gun tightly grasped in one of his hands, and making a few strokestowards the canoe he once more climbed aboard.
Costal now took hold of the paddle; and turning the head of the canoe ina westerly direction commenced making way across the turbid waterstowards the Hacienda las Palmas.
Although the fury of the inundation had by this time partially subsided,still the flood ran onward with a swift current; and what with thedanger from floating trees, and other objects that swelled the surfaceof the water, it was necessary to manage the canoe with caution. Thusretarded, it was near mid-day before the voyageurs arrived within sightof the hacienda. Along the way Don Cornelio had inquired from his newcompanions, what strange accident had conducted them to the spot wherethey had found him.
"Not an accident," said Costal; "but a horseman, who appeared to be in aterrible hurry himself, as _Por Dios_! he had need to be. He was on hisway to the house of Don Mariano, for what purpose I can't say. Itremains to be known, Senor student, whether he has been as fortunate asyou, in escaping the flood. God grant that he has! for it would be asad pity if such a brave young fellow was to die by drowning. Brave menare not so plentiful."
"Happy for them who are brave!" sighed Don Cornelio.
"Here is my friend, Clara," continued Costal, without noticing therejoinder of the student, "who has no fear of man; and yet he is as muchafraid of tigers as if he were a child. Well, I hope we shall find thatthe gallant young officer has escaped the danger, and is now safe withinthe walls of the hacienda."
At that moment the canoe passed round a tope of half-submergedpalm-trees, and the hacienda itself appeared in sight, as if suddenlyrising from the bosom of the waters. A cry of joy escaped from the lipsof the student, who, half-famished with hunger, thought of the abundancethat would be found behind those hospitable walls.
While gazing upon them a bell commenced to toll; and its tones fell uponhis ears like the music of birds, for it appeared as if summoning theoccupants of the hacienda to pass into the refectory. It was, however,the _angelus_ of noon.
At the same instant two barges were seen parting from the causeway thatled down in front, and heading towards the high ridge that ran behindthe hacienda, at a little distance on the north. In the first of theseboats appeared two rowers, with a person in a travelling costume ofsomewhat clerical cut, and a mule saddled and bridled. In the secondwere two gentlemen and the same number of ladies. The latter were younggirls, both crowned with luxuriant chaplets of flowers, and eachgrasping an oar in her white delicate fingers, which she managed withskill and adroitness. They were the two daughters of Don Mariano deSilva. One of the gentlemen was Don Mariano himself, while the otherwas joyfully recognised by Costal as the brave officer who had asked himthe way, and by the student as his _compagnon du voyage_ of yesterday--Don Rafael Tres-Villas.
Shortly after, the two boats reached the foot of the Sierra; and thetraveller with the mule disembarked. Mounting into his saddle, hesaluted those who remained in the other boat; and then rode away, amidstthe words oft repeated by Don Mariano and his daughters--
"_A dios! a dios! Senor Morelos! a dios_!"
The two barges now returned towards the hacienda, arriving there nearlyat the same time as the canoe which carried the student of theology, theIndian, and the negro.
Don Cornelio had now a better opportunity of observing the rich freightcarried in the larger of the two boats. The drapery of purple silkwhich covered the seats and fell over the sides of the barge, threw itsbrilliant reflections far out upon the water. In the midst of thisbrilliance appeared the young ladies, seated and bending languidly upontheir oars. Now and then Marianita, in plunging her oar-blade into thewater, caused the pomegranate flowers to rain down from her hair, as sheshook them with bursts of laughter; while Gertrudis, looking from underthe purple wreath, ever and anon cast stealthy glances at the cavalierwho was seated by the side of her father.
"Senor Don Mariano!" said Costal, as the barge drew near, "here is aguest whom I have taken the liberty to bring to your hospitablemansion."
As the Indian delivered this speech he pointed to the student oftheology still seated in the canoe.
"He is welcome!" rejoined Don Mariano; and then, inviting the strangerto disembark, all except Costal, Clara, and the servants, landed fromthe boats, and passed out of sight through the front gateway of thehacienda.
These taking the boats around the battlements of the building, enteredthe enclosure by a gate that opened towards the rear.