CHAPTER XXII.
THE MEETING.
"By Jove!" General Ibanez said, "it must be confessed that these reddevils have done us an immense service without suspecting it. It mightbe said, deuce take me, that they acted under a knowledge of facts. ThisUnicorn, as the chief is called, is a precious man in certaincircumstances. I am anxious to cultivate his acquaintance, for no oneknows what may happen. It is often good to have so intelligent a friendas him at hand."
"You are always jesting, general. When will you be serious for once?"Don Miguel said with a smile.
"What would you have, my friend? We are at this moment staking our headsin a desperate game, so let us at any rate keep our gaiety. If we areconquered, it will be time enough then to be sad, and make bitterreflections about the instability of human affairs."
"Yes, your philosophy is not without a certain dose of fatalism, whichrenders it more valuable to me. I am happy to see you in this goodtemper, especially at a moment when we are preparing to play our lastcard."
"All is not desperate yet, and I have a secret foreboding, on thecontrary, that all is for the best. Our friend the Trail-hunter, I feelconvinced, has something to do, if not all, with what has happened tous."
"Do you believe it?" Don Miguel asked quickly.
"I am certain of it. You know as well as I do these Indios Bravos, andthe implacable hatred they have vowed against us. The war they wage withus is atrocious; and for them to be suddenly changed from wolves intolambs requires some powerful motive to make them act thus. People do notlay aside in a moment a hatred which has endured for ages. TheComanches, by the choice they made, know the importance of the prisonersthey have seized. How is it that they consent so easily to give them upfor a trifling ransom? There is some inexplicable mystery in all this."
"Which is very easy to explain though," a laughing voice interruptedfrom behind the shrubs.
The two Mexicans started, and checked their horses. A man leaped from athicket, and suddenly appeared in the centre of the track the littleband of hunters was following. The latter, believing in a fresh attackand treachery on the part of the Comanches, seized their weapons.
"Stop!" Don Miguel said sharply, "the man is alone. Let me speak withhim."
Each waited with his hand on his weapon.
"Hold!" Don Miguel continued, addressing the stranger, who stoodmotionless, carelessly resting on his gun. "Who are you, my master?"
"Do you not recognise me, Don Miguel? and must I really tell you myname?" the stranger answered with a laugh.
"The Trail-hunter!" Don Miguel exclaimed.
"Himself," Valentine continued. "Hang it all! You take a long time torecognise your friends."
"You will forgive us when you know all that has happened to us, and howmuch we must keep on our guard."
"Confound it!" Valentine said laughingly, as he regulated his pace bythe trot of the horses, "do you fancy you are going to tell me any news?Did you not really suspect from what quarter the blow came?"
"What!" Don Miguel exclaimed in surprise, "did you--"
"Who else but I? Do you think the Spaniards are such friends of theIndians that the latter would treat them so kindly when meeting themface to face in the desert?"
"I was sure of it," General Ibanez affirmed. "I guessed it at the firstmoment."
"Good heavens! Nothing was more simple. Your position, through RedCedar's treachery, was most critical. I wished to give you the time toturn round by removing, for a few days, the obstacles that prevented thesuccess of your plans. I have succeeded, I fancy."
"You could not have managed better," exclaimed the general.
"Oh!" Don Miguel said with a reproachful accent, "why did you hide itfrom me?"
"For a very simple reason, my friend. I wished that in thesecircumstances your will and conscience should be free."
"But--"
"Let me finish. Had I told you of my plan, it is certain that you wouldhave opposed it. You are a man of honor, Don Miguel: your heart is mostloyal."
"My friend--"
"Answer me. Had I explained to you the plan I formed, what would youhave done?"
"Well--"
"Answer frankly."
"I should have refused."
"I was sure of it. Why would you have done so? Because you would neverhave consented to violate the laws of hospitality, and betray enemiesyou sheltered beneath your roof, though you knew all the while thatthese men, on leaving you, would have considered it their duty to seizeyou, and that they watched your every movement while sitting by yourside, and eating at your table. Is it not so?"
"It is true; my honor as a gentleman would have revolted. I could nothave suffered such horrible treachery to be carried out under my veryeyes."
"There! You see that I acted wisely in saying nothing to you. In thatway your honor is protected, your conscience easy, and I have in themost simple fashion freed you for some days from your enemies."
"That is true; still--"
"What? Have the prisoners to complain of the way in which they have beentreated?"
"Not at all; on the contrary, the Comanches, and Unicorn in particular,treated them most kindly."
"All is for the best, then. You must congratulate yourself on theunexpected success you have achieved, and must now profit by it withoutdelay."
"I intend to do so."
"You must act at once."
"I ask nothing better. All is ready. Our men are warned, and they willrise at the first signal."
"It must be given immediately."
"I only ask the time to leave my daughter at the hacienda; thenaccompanied by my friends, I will march on Paso, while General Ibanez,at the head of a second band, seizes Santa Fe."
"The plan is well conceived. Can you count on the persons who followyou?"
"Yes; they are all my relatives or friends."
"All for the best. Let us not go further. We are here at the place wherethe roads part; let your horses breathe awhile, and I will tell you aplan I have formed, and which, I think, will please you."
The small party halted. The horsemen dismounted, and lay down on thegrass. As all knew of the conspiracy formed by Don Miguel, and were hisaccomplices in different degrees, this halt did not surprise them, forthey suspected that the moment for action was not far off, and thattheir chief doubtless wished to take his final measures before throwingoff the mask, and proclaiming the independence of New Mexico. Oninviting them to hunt the wild horses, Don Miguel had not concealed fromthem Red Cedar's treachery, and the necessity in which he found himselfof dealing a great blow, if he did not wish all to be hopelessly lost.
Valentine led the hacendero and the general a short distance apart.When they were out of ear-shot the hunter carefully examined theneighbourhood; then within a few minutes rejoined his friends, whom hisway of acting considerably perplexed.
"Caballeros," he said to them, "what do you intend doing? In ourposition minutes are ages. Are you ready to make your pronunciamento?"
"Yes," they answered.
"This is what I propose. You, Don Miguel, will proceed direct on Paso.At about half a league from that town you will find Curumilla, withtwenty of the best rifles on the frontier. These men, in whom you cantrust, are Canadian and Indian hunters devoted to me. They will form thenucleus of a band sufficient for you to seize on Paso without striking ablow, as it is only defended by a garrison of forty soldiers. Does thatplan suit you?"
"Yes; I will set about it at once. But my daughter?"
"I will take charge of her. You will also leave me your son, and I willconvey them both to the hacienda. As for the other ladies, on reachingthe town, they will merely go to their homes, which I fancy, presents nodifficulty."
"None."
"Good! Then that is settled?"
"Perfectly."
"As for you, general, your men have been echelonned by my care inparties of ten and twenty along the Santa Fe road, up to two leagues ofthe city, so that you will only have to pick them up. In this way yo
uwill find yourself, within three hours, at the head of five hundredresolute and well-armed men."
"Why, Valentine, my friend," the general said laughingly, "do you knowthere is the stuff in you to make a partisan chief, and that I am almostjealous of you."
"Oh! that would be wrong, general: I assure you I am most disinterestedin the affair."
"Well, my friend, I know it: you are a free desert hunter, caring verylittle for our paltry schemes."
"That is true; but I have vowed to Don Miguel and his family afriendship which will terminate with my life. I tremble for him and hischildren when I think of the numberless dangers that surround him, and Itry to aid him as far as my experience and activity permit me. That isthe secret of my conduct."
"This profession of faith was at least useless, my friend. I have knownyou too intimately and too long to doubt your intentions. Hence, yousee, I place such confidence in you, that I accept your ideas withoutdiscussion, so convinced am I of the purity of your intentions."
"Thanks, Don Miguel; you have judged me correctly. Come, gentlemen, tohorse, and start. We must separate here--you, Don Miguel, to proceed bythe right-hand track to Paso; you, general, by the left hand one toSanta Fe; while I, with Don Pablo and his sister proceed straight ontill we reach the Hacienda de la Noria."
"To horse, then!" the hacendero shouted resolutely; "And may God defendthe right!"
"Yes," the general added; "for from this moment the revolution iscommenced."
The three men returned to their friends. Don Miguel said a few words tohis children, and in an instant the whole party were in the saddle.
"The die is cast!" Valentine exclaimed. "May Heaven keep you,gentlemen!"
"Forward!" Don Miguel commanded.
"Forward!" General Ibanez shouted, as he rushed in the oppositedirection.
Valentine looked after his departing friends. Their black outlines weresoon blended with the darkness, and then the footfalls of their horsesdied out in the night. Valentine gave a sigh and raised his head.
"God will protect them," he murmured; then turning to the two youngpeople, "Come on, children," he said.
They started, and for some minutes kept silence. Valentine was too busyin thought to address his companions; and yet Dona Clara and Don Pablo,whose curiosity was excited to the highest pitch, were burning toquestion him. At length the girl, by whose side the hunter marched withthat quick step which easily keeps up with a horse, bent down to him.
"My friend," she said to him in her soft voice, "what is taking place?Why has my father left us, instead of coming to his house?"
"Yes," Don Pablo added, "he seemed agitated when he parted from us. Hisvoice was stern, his words sharp. What is happening, my friend? Why didnot my father consent to my accompanying him?"
Valentine hesitated to answer.
"I implore you, my friend," Dona Clara continued, "do not leave us inthis mortal anxiety. The announcement of a misfortune would certainlycause us less pain than the perplexity in which we are."
"Why force me to speak, my children?" the hunter answered in a saddenedvoice. "The secret you ask of me is not mine. If your father did notimpart his plans to you, it was doubtless because weighty reasons opposeit. Do not force me to render you more sorrowful by telling you thingsyou ought not to know."
"But I am not a child," Don Pablo exclaimed. "It seems tome that myfather ought not to have thus held his confidence from me."
"Do not accuse your father, my friend," Valentine answered gravely:"probably he could not have acted otherwise."
"Valentine, Valentine! I will not accept those poor reasons," the youngman urged. "In the name of our friendship I insist on your explainingyourself."
"Silence!" the hunter suddenly interrupted him. "I hear suspicioussounds around us."
The three travellers stopped and listened, but all was quiet. Thehacienda was about five hundred yards at the most from the spot wherethey halted. Don Pablo and Dona Clara heard nothing, but Valentine madethem a sign to remain quiet; then he dismounted and placed his ear tothe ground.
"Follow me," he said. "Something is happening here which I cannot makeout; but it alarms me."
The young people obeyed without hesitation; but they had only gone a fewpaces when Valentine stopped again.
"Are your weapons loaded?" he sharply asked Don Pablo.
"Yes."
"Good! Perhaps you will have to make use of them."
All at once the gallop of a horse urged to its utmost speed was audible.
"Attention!" Valentine muttered.
Still the horseman, whoever he might be, rapidly advanced in thedirection of the travellers, and soon came up to them. SuddenlyValentine bounded like a panther, seized the horse by the bridle andstopped it dead.
"Who are you, and where are you going?" he shouted, as he put a pistolbarrel against the stranger's chest.
"Heaven be praised!" the latter said, not replying to the question."Perhaps I shall be able to save you. Fly, fly, in all haste!"
"Father Seraphin!" Valentine said with stupor, as he lowered his pistol."What has happened?"
"Fly, fly!" the missionary repeated, who seemed a prey to the mostprofound terror.