CHAPTER XXI.
"THE MOUNTAIN LION."
The sight which met Ronie's gaze was one of wildness bordering upongrandness. Its wildness consisted of a body of armed troops drawn upin front of the rude building, a mob of untamable savages, as thespectator from a civilized country must have judged them. They werehalf clad, poorly fed, as shown by their emaciated visages, and armedmainly with the rude implements that the uncivilized use. This wildaspect of the scene was given the touch of a certain grandeur by thesublime attention this motley throng paid to him who stood upon aslightly-raised dais addressing them at this moment.
This speaker was a man of stalwart figure, with a countenance naturallydark, bronzed by long exposure to the tropic sun, and flashing eye thatcould look without flinching upon the midday sun or upon the wildestrabble that ever gathered under the shadows of the land of revolutions.His speech was uttered in a manner and tongue in keeping with the manand the scene. Ronie could not understand all of the fierce languagewhich seemed to have partaken of the mountain boldness and flowed fromthe lips of the orator like a torrent springing from its fountain headamid the rugged fastness of its native gorge, but he understood enoughto catch the import of this stimulating harangue. He knew the man wasEl Capitan, and he was evidently resuming a speech which, for somereason, had been temporarily broken.
"Soldiers of freedom," he was saying, "the time for action has come.You have rallied bravely at my call, and now I am ready to lead you tobattle and victory! Our path is clearly marked. To-night let us teachthat braggart, Don Isadora, that he is not a little king; that hecannot longer defy El Capitan! From the smoking ruins of his estate wewill sweep downward like a torrent from the mountain, and like atorrent we will gather volume as we sweep along. A trail of devastatedplantations shall mark our course wherever the foolhardy defy us, andabove the ruins of the smaller towns shall rise the captured columns ofValencia, La Guayra, Caracas--ay, Caracas! When the capital shall beours, then will we make laws that lift the poor man into his justdeserts, while the lawless rich shall feel the spur of oppression ashis meeted judgment. Then shall the name of El Capitan stand besidethat of Crespo, the mountain lion!"
As might have been expected, this bombastic speech was frequentlyinterrupted with wild applause, especially when the orator comparedhimself to the late president of the republic. In one respect, atleast, the harangue of El Capitan was apt. Crespo, like himself, wasof humble birth and very large of stature. Whether he would equal theex-president in other ways remained to be seen. Crespo was the idol ofhis brave followers, who were a dashing, picturesque soldiery, that theinhabitants of Venezuela looked upon very much as the Parisians musthave looked with awe upon Napoleon's Mamelukes.
The story of this Venezuelan conqueror is a most interesting one.Following the rule of three or four presidents and dictators whosucceeded the noted Blancos[1]--there were two of these, father andson--were three or four presidents and dictators whose main objectseemed to be to rob the government of all the money they could, andthen flee from the country. Such proceedings gave the right man anexcuse and an opportunity to rebel. This man was General Crespo, whowith seven hundred followers set out to conquer the country. You haveread history, know how the ambitious Pizarro, in the stormy days ofconquest following the discovery of America by Columbus, overthrew theempire of the Incas with a handful of followers--only thirteen at thestart. Crespo did better than that, for with only seven men he madehimself president of a country more than twice as large as Spain andPortugal together, while I am glad to be able to say there was less ofbloodshed and far less of inhuman sacrifice of innocent lives than inthe case of the conqueror of the Incas.
I cannot refrain from giving the following story as typical of the man:His half-wild followers needed arms, and there was no manufactory toreplenish them. In this extremity, when almost any other leader musthave faltered, Crespo gave the order for his men to strip their bodiesnaked to the belt, and cover them with a liberal coating of grease. Inthis shape they were to charge upon an encampment of the enemynumbering more than six to one. This was to be done under cover ofdarkness, and as they ran through the camp each man was to hold hisleft hand straight out from his body. If it came in contact with a manwearing a shirt he was to overpower him and seize his firearms. If thebody was like his own, he was to know it was a friend, and to keep on.In this wild, impressive manner less than three hundred half-naked men,armed only with their short knives, routed and disarmed over threethousand troops, comprising the flower of the government's army.
It will be noticed that El Capitan's appeal was personal rather thanpatriotic. Like many another Venezuelan revolutionist, he was fightingfor selfish purposes, but his barbaric followers did not stop toconsider this. Some one, with a memory of other days, asked concerningthe liberation of El Mocho, when El Capitan replied:
"El Mocho is not to be trusted," meaning, no doubt, in his mind that hedid not propose to give such a dangerous rival opportunity to be in hisway.
Ronie felt that he had learned enough to show him his path of duty.Every moment was precious if he would warn Don Isadora of his peril,and he had no desire to leave the well-meaning don to the hands of thismountain outlaw. So he at once began his ascent of the bluff, which hefound extremely difficult. But he accomplished the feat in safety, tofind Jack and the Venezuelans anxiously awaiting him. A few wordssufficed to explain the situation to them, when they heartily agreedwith him that it was best for them to hasten to the plantation of thedon as quickly as possible.
"I judge from what I heard while I was leaving my perch that El Capitanis expecting another body of his followers to join him this side of DonIsadora's. This division comes from the way of San Carlos. If it ishalf as large as the force now under him he will lead a formidable armyagainst the don."
"A mere rabble," said Riva. "Don Isadora has some trained soldiersunder him."
By this time the four were riding silently away, being careful to moveas cautiously as they could. Riva again led the way, but Ronie andJack were close behind him, while the younger Venezuelan kept as nearto them as he could. In this manner the return journey to the don'splantation was speedily made, and without being discovered by the enemy.
As may be expected, the wealthy planter was profuse in his thanks forthe information they gave him, and he began to prepare for the enemy atonce, with a confidence in his ability to defeat the other that wassublime. As much as Ronie would have liked to remain and see theoutcome of the affair, he felt it was his duty to start immediately tofind Colonel Marchand. Don Isadora seemed to understand that it wasthe proper course for the scouts to pursue, so he offered no objections.
As our little party rode out of the grounds, having left theirprisoners under the don's care, they saw that he had mustered hisentire forces, numbering fully a hundred men, all of whom were armedwith Mausers, pistols and short knives.
"El Capitan will be the one surprised this time," remarked Ronie to hiscompanions. "I really wish we could stay and see the fun."
Little did any one of the quartet dream of the amount of "fun" inwarlike earnest that he was to take part in before they should getbeyond the don's big estate.