The Rifle Rangers Part 17

"Explain, Captain; explain!" said the ladies, appealing to me with looks of anxiety.

I saw that concealment would be idle. The major had fired the train.

"It gives me pain, ladies," said I, speaking in Spanish, "to inform you that you must be disappointed. I fear the return of your brother to-day is impossible."

"But why, Captain?--why?"

"Our lines are completely around Vera Cruz, and all intercourse to and from the city is at an end."

Had a sh.e.l.l fallen into Don Cosme's drawing-room it could not have caused a greater change in the feelings of its inmates. Knowing nothing of military life, they had no idea that our presence there had drawn an impa.s.sable barrier between them and a much-loved member of their family.

In a seclusion almost hermetical they knew that a war existed between their country and the United States; but that was far away upon the Rio Grande. They had heard, moreover, that our fleet lay off Vera Cruz, and the pealing of the distant thunder of San Juan had from time to time reached their ears; but they had not dreamed, on seeing us, that the city was invested by land. The truth was now clear; and the anguish of the mother and daughters became afflicting when we informed them of what we were unable to conceal--that it was the intention of the American commander to _bombard the city_.

The scene was to us deeply distressing.

Dona Joaquina wrung her hands, and called upon the Virgin with all the earnestness of entreaty. The sisters clung alternately to their mother and Don Cosme, weeping and crying aloud, "_Pobre Narcisso! nuestro hermanito--le asesinaran_!" (Poor Narcisso, our little brother!--they will murder him!)

In the midst of this distressing scene the door of the drawing-room was thrown suddenly open, and a servant rushed in, shouting in an agitated voice, "_El norte! el norte_!"

CHAPTER FOURTEEN.

"The Norther."

We hurried after Don Cosme towards the _ante-sala_, both myself and my companions ignorant of this new object of dread.

When we emerged from the stairway the scene that hailed us was one of terrific sublimity. Earth and heaven had undergone a sudden and convulsive change. The face of nature, but a moment since gay with summer smiles, was now hideously distorted. The sky had changed suddenly from its blue and sunny brightness to an aspect dark and portentous.

Along the north-west a vast volume of black vapour rolled up over the Sierra Madre, and rested upon the peaks of the mountains. From this, ragged ma.s.ses, parting in fantastic forms and groupings, floated off against the concavity of the sky as though the demons of the storm were breaking up from an angry council. Each of these, as it careered across the heavens, seemed bent upon some spiteful purpose.

An isolated fragment hung lowering above the snowy cone of Orizava, like a huge vampire suspended over his sleeping victim.

From the great "parent cloud" that rested upon the Sierra Madre, lightning-bolts shot out and forked hither and thither or sank into the detached ma.s.ses--the messengers of the storm-king bearing his fiery mandates across the sky.

Away along the horizon of the east moved the yellow pillars of sand, whirled upward by the wind, like vast columnar towers leading to heaven.

The storm had not yet reached the rancho. The leaves lay motionless under a dark and ominous calm; but the wild screams of many birds--the shrieks of the swans, the discordant notes of the frightened pea-fowl, the chattering of parrots as they sought the shelter of the thick olives in terrified flight--all betokened the speedy advent of some fearful convulsion.

The rain in large drops fell upon the broad leaves with a soft, plas.h.i.+ng sound; and now and then a quick, short puff came snorting along, and, seizing the feathery frondage of the palms, shook them with a spiteful and ruffian energy.

The long green stripes, after oscillating a moment, would settle down again in graceful and motionless curves.

A low sound like the "sough" of the sea or the distant falling of water came from the north; while at intervals the hoa.r.s.e bark of the _coyote_ and the yelling of terrified monkeys could be heard afar off in the woods.

"_Tapa la casa! tapa la casa_!" (Cover the house!) cried Don Cosme as soon as he had fairly got his head above ground. "_Anda_!--_anda con los macates_!" (Quick with the cords!) With lightning quickness a roll of palmetto mats came down on all sides of the house, completely covering the bamboo walls, and forming a screen impervious to both wind and rain. This was speedily fastened at all corners, and strong stays were carried out and warped around the trunks of trees. In five minutes the change was complete. The cage-looking structure had disappeared, and a house with walls of yellow _petate_ stood in its place.

"Now, Senores, all is secured," said Don Cosme. "Let us return to the drawing-room."

"I should like to see the first burst of this tornado," I remarked, not wis.h.i.+ng to intrude upon the scene of sorrow we had left.

"So be it, Captain. Stand here under the shelter, then."

"Hot as thunder!" growled the major, wiping the perspiration from his broad, red cheeks.

"In five minutes, Senor Coronel, you will be chilled. At this point the heated atmosphere is now compressed. Patience! it will soon be scattered."

"How long will the storm continue?" I asked. "_Por Dios_! Senor, it is impossible to tell how long the `_norte_' may rage: sometimes for days; perhaps only for a few hours. This appears to be a `_huracana_'.

If so, it will be short, but terrible while it lasts. _Carrambo_!"

A puff of cold, sharp wind came whistling past like an arrow. Another followed, and another, like the three seas that roll over the stormy ocean. Then, with a loud, rus.h.i.+ng sound, the broad, full blast went sweeping--strong, dark, and dusty--bearing upon its mane the screaming and terrified birds, mingled with torn and flouted leaves.

The olives creaked and tossed about. The tall palms bowed and yielded, flinging out their long pinions like streamers. The broad leaves of the plantains flapped and whistled, and, bending gracefully, allowed the fierce blast to pa.s.s over.

Then a great cloud came rolling down; a thick vapour seemed to fill the s.p.a.ce; and the air felt hot and dark and heavy. A choking, sulphureous smell rendered the breathing difficult, and for a moment day seemed changed to night.

Suddenly the whole atmosphere blazed forth in a sheet of flame, and the trees glistened as though they were on fire. An opaque darkness succeeded. Another flash, and along with it the cras.h.i.+ng thunder--the artillery of heaven--deafening all other sounds.

Peal followed peal; the vast cloud was breached and burst by a hundred fiery bolts; and like an avalanche the heavy tropical rain was precipitated to the earth.

It fell in torrents, but the strength of the tempest had been spent on the first onslaught. The dark cloud pa.s.sed on to the south, and a piercing cold wind swept after it.

"_Vamos a bajar, senores_!" (Let us descend, gentlemen), said Don Cosme with a s.h.i.+ver, and he conducted us back to the stairway.

Clayley and the major looked towards me with an expression that said, "Shall we go in?" There were several reasons why our return to the drawing-room was unpleasant to myself and my companions. A scene of domestic affliction is ever painful to a stranger. How much more painful to us, knowing, as we did, that our countrymen--that _we_--had been the partial agents of this calamity! We hesitated a moment on the threshold.

"Gentlemen, we must return for a moment: we have been the bearers of evil tidings--let us offer such consolation as we may think of. Come!"

CHAPTER FIFTEEN.

A LITTLE FAIR WEATHER AGAIN.

On re-entering the _sala_ the picture of woe was again presented, but in an altered aspect. A change, sudden as the atmospheric one we had just witnessed, had taken place; and the scene of wild weeping was now succeeded by one of resignation and prayer.

On one side was Dona Joaquina, holding in her hands a golden rosary with its crucifix. The girls were kneeling in front of a picture--a portrait of Dolores with the fatal dagger; and the "Lady of Grief" looked not more sorrowful from the canvas than the beautiful devotees that bent before her.

With their heads slightly leaning, their arms crossed upon their swelling bosoms, and their long loose hair trailing upon the carpet, they formed a picture at once painful and prepossessing.

Not wis.h.i.+ng to intrude upon this sacred sorrow, we made a motion to retire.

"No, Senores," said Don Cosme, interrupting us. "Be seated; let us talk calmly--let us know the worst."

We then proceeded to inform Don Cosme of the landing of the American troops and the manner in which our lines were drawn around the city, and pointed out to him the impossibility of anyone pa.s.sing either in or out.

"There is still a hope, Don Cosme," said I, "and that, perhaps, rests with yourself."

The thought had struck me that a Spaniard of Don Cosme's evident rank and wealth might be enabled to procure access to the city by means of his consul, and through the Spanish s.h.i.+p of war that I recollected was lying off San Juan.