The Border Rifles Part 40

In a few words the Canadian explained his plans to his comrades: the latter, as he antic.i.p.ated, did not offer the slightest objection, but prepared to follow him.

Ten minutes later they mounted and left their bivouac under the guidance of Lanzi.

At the moment when they disappeared in the forest, the owl uttered its matutinal cry, the precursor of sunrise.

"Oh, Heavens!" the maiden murmured in agony; "Shall we arrive in time?"

CHAPTER XXI.

THE JAGUAR.

The Jaguar, when he left the Venta del Potrero, was suffering from extreme agitation, the maiden's words buzzed in his ears, with a mocking and ironical accent; the last look she had given him pursued him like a remorse. The young man was angry with himself for having so hastily broken off the interview with Dona Carmela, and dissatisfied with the way in which he had responded to her entreaties; in short, he was in the best possible temper to commit one of those acts of cruelty into which the violence of his character only too often led him, which had inflicted a disgraceful stigma on his reputation, and which he always bitterly regretted having committed, when it was too late.

He rode at full speed across the prairie, lacerating the sides of his horse, which reared in pain, uttering stifled maledictions, and casting around the ferocious glances of a wild beast in search of prey.

For a moment he entertained the idea of returning to the venta, throwing himself at the maiden's feet, and repairing the fault which his growing jealousy had forced him to commit, by abjuring all his hopes, and placing himself at Dona Carmela's service, to do whatever she might please to order.

But, like most good resolutions, this one lasted no longer than a lightning flash. The Jaguar reflected, and with reflection doubt and jealousy returned. The natural consequences of which was fresh fury, wilder and more insane than the first.

The young man galloped on thus for a long time, apparently following no settled direction; still at long intervals he stopped, rose in his stirrups, explored the plain with an eagle-glance, and then started again at full speed.

At about three in the afternoon he pa.s.sed the conducta de Plata, but as he perceived it a long way off, it was easy for him to avoid it by swerving slightly to the right, and entering a thick wood of pine trees, which rendered him invisible long enough for him not to fear discovery from the scouts sent on ahead.

About an hour before sunset, the young man, who had perhaps stopped a hundred times to explore the neighbourhood, uttered a suppressed cry of joy; he had at length come up to the persons he was so anxious to join.

Not five hundred yards from the spot where the Jaguar had halted, a band of thirty to five and thirty hors.e.m.e.n was following the track complimented with the name of road, that led across the prairie.

This band, entirely composed of white men, as could be easily seen from their costume, appeared to a.s.sume something of a military air, and all were fully equipped with arms of every description.

At the beginning of this story we mentioned some hors.e.m.e.n just disappearing on the horizon; these were the men the Jaguar had just perceived.

The young man placed his open hands to his mouth in the shape of a speaking trumpet, and twice gave a sharp, shrill, and prolonged cry.

Although the troop was some distance off at the moment, still at this signal the riders stopped as if the feet of their horses had suddenly become embedded in the ground.

The Jaguar then bent over his saddle, leaped his horse over the bushes, and in a few minutes joined the men who had stopped for him.

The Jaguar was hailed with shouts of joy, and all pressed round him with marks of the deepest interest.

"Thanks, my friends," he said, "thanks for the proofs of sympathy you give me; but I must ask you to give me a moment's attention, for time presses."

Silence was re-established, as if by enchantment, but the flas.h.i.+ng glances fixed on the young man said clearly that sympathy, though dumb, was not the less vivid.

"You were not mistaken, Master John," the Jaguar said, addressing one of the persons nearest to him; "the conducta is just behind us; we are not more than three or four hours' march ahead of it; as you warned me, it is escorted, and in proof that great importance is attached to its safety, the escort is commanded by Captain Melendez."

His audience gave a start of disappointment at these news.

"Patience," the Jaguar went on, with a sarcastic smile; "when force is not sufficient, stratagem remains; Captain Melendez is brave and experienced, I grant you, but are we not also brave men? Is not the cause we defend grand enough to excite us to carry out our enterprise at all hazards?"

"Yes, yes, hurrah, hurrah!" all the hearers shouted, as they brandished their weapons enthusiastically.

"Master John, you have already entered into relations with the Captain; he knows you, so you will remain here with another of our friends. Allow yourselves to be arrested. I entrust to you the duty of removing the suspicions that may exist in the Captain's mind."

"I will do it, you may be certain."

"Very good, but play close with him; for you have a strong opponent."

"Do you think so?"

"Yes. Do you know who accompanies him?"

"On my word, no."

"El Padre Antonio."

"What's that you say? by Jove, you did right to warn me."

"I thought so."

"Oh, oh! Does that accursed monk wish to poach on our manor?"

"I fear it. This man, as you know, is affiliated with all the scamps, no matter of what colour, who prowl about the desert: he is even reported to be one of their Chiefs; the idea of seizing the conducta may easily have occurred to him."

"By Heaven, I will watch him; trust to me, I know him too thoroughly and too long for him to care to oppose me; if he dared to attempt it, I could reduce him to impotence."

"That is all right. When you have obtained all the information we require to act, lose not a moment in informing us, for we shall count the minutes while waiting for you."

"That is settled. I suppose we meet at the Barranca del Gigante."

"Yes."

"One word more."

"Make haste."

"What about Blue-fox?"

"Hang it! I forgot all about him."

"Shall I wait for him?"

"Certainly."

"Shall I treat with him? You know but little reliance is to be placed in the word of an Apache."