ANIWEE;OR,THE WARRIOR QUEEN.A TALE OF THE ARAUCANIAN INDIANS AND THE MYTHICAL TRAUCO PEOPLE.
ANIWEE;OR,THE WARRIOR QUEEN.A TALE OF THE ARAUCANIAN INDIANS AND THE MYTHICAL TRAUCO PEOPLE.
ANIWEE;OR,THE WARRIOR QUEEN.A TALE OF THE ARAUCANIAN INDIANS AND THE MYTHICAL TRAUCO PEOPLE.
ANIWEE;
OR,
THE WARRIOR QUEEN.
A TALE OF THE ARAUCANIAN INDIANS AND THE MYTHICAL TRAUCO PEOPLE.
CHAPTER I.
Day was drawing to a close. The setting sun was glinting and gleaming on the sparkling mica rocks, which border the deep gorges and high cliffs of the gradually rising ground that leads upwards from the plains of Geylum in Patagonia, to Las Manzanas in the territory of the Araucanian or Warrior Indians. High above the mica rocks rise the hills that skirt the Andes chain, and from the summit of these hills, the scene is one of magnificence and glory.
So thought Aniwee, the youthful Warrior Queen, as she sat astride her horse, and watched the sunlight streaking the Rio Limay far below, and bathing inrose-coloured brilliance the snow-clad Cordilleras, which look down on the wooded ranges of hills beneath them, and which contain the splendid apple groves belonging to the great Manzaneros tribe.
When we last saw Aniwee she had just bidden Harry and Topsie Vane a tender and pathetic farewell. Those who have perused the pages of “The Young Castaways,” will remember that she was the only child and daughter of Gilwinikush, head Cacique of the Tehuelches or Patagonian Indians, and that at the age of fourteen and a half she had married Piñone, the only son of the great Cuastral, Lord of the Araucanian, Manzaneros, Chenna, or Warrior Indians. They will also remember how Aniwee had distinguished herself, how she had won the proud titles of Huntress and Warrior, and how at length she had become one of the Warrior tribe herself.
But Aniwee’s spell of wedded life was brief. Scarce a year and a half had passed away, when news was brought to her that Cuastral and Piñone had been treacherously slain by a party of Argentines who had lured them to attend an ostensible peace parliament, the Araucanians and Argentines—or, as these latter were better known to the Indians, the Cristianos—having previously been at war with one another.
Thus at the age of sixteen Aniwee had found herself deprived of her dearly loved husband, and the mother of a little baby girl, his child and hers. And so impressed were the Araucanians with their young Queen’s sagacity, courage, and devotion to their interests, that they had, without a dissentient voice, electedthe child to be Cacique over them, and appointed Aniwee, its mother, as Queen-Regent.
Surely this was a triumph for Aniwee. Barely over the age of sixteen, and yet indeed a Warrior Queen—Queen of a mighty tribe, famed far and wide for its valour and its deeds of daring and renown.
Yet was Aniwee equal to the occasion. Had she not Cuastral’s death and her own Piñone’s death to avenge? Was not her beautiful adopted country hemmed in on all sides by foes—Chilenos on the one hand, Argentines on the other—and should she not fight to the very death in its defence? It was a country well worth fighting for, extending from Las Manzanas on the south to Mendoza far away in the north, and peopled by hundreds of the great Warrior tribe, dwelling in fixed tolderias, many amidst the rich groves of piñones, apples, and araucarias with which the country abounded. Considerable wealth had fallen to her share when the Caciques’ deaths were announced, all of which she purposed holding for her child. Large flocks and herds, stores of silver ornaments, immense troupiglias of horses, and numberless ponchos, mantles, etc., were stored away amongst her subjects and in their safe keeping. Her power was absolute, her word law, her army efficient and devoted. Little had Aniwee dreamt, only three years previously, when she chafed and fretted at her seemingly useless life in the Patagonian toldos of her father Gilwinikush, that in so short a time would she wield power over so magnificent a people as the Araucanians.
She had ridden almost to the boundary line ofAraucanian territory for the fifth time that day, and had anxiously scanned the distant pampas of Patagonia with the true, unerring eye of an Indian. The reason for this was that ten days previously Aniwee had received joyous news, news which had brought the blood rushing to her cheeks with glad surprise, news in the shape of a letter from Harry and Topsie Vane, her dearly loved white friends, in which they apprised her of their intention to proceed at once to visit her, in the company of their uncle and aunt, Sir Francis and Lady Vane, and their three cousins, Freddy, Willie, and Mary.
On receiving this news, Aniwee was hunting away in the distant hills which fringe the Cordillera range beyond Las Manzanas, but immediately calling together her followers, she bade them summon from different parts three hundred picked warriors, and likewise gave orders to others to proceed at once to Las Manzanas, and prepare there the fixed tolderias for the reception of her white guests. Then Aniwee selected fifty of her best horses, a fine herd of cattle, and a flock of sheep, and sent them forward to the rendezvous, following herself with the little baby Cacique, and attended by the three hundred picked warriors, who had assembled quickly at her summons.
The letter from Harry and Topsie had been written from El Carmen or Patagones on the Rio Negro, and Aniwee had calculated, that if they started at once, they would reach Las Manzanas in ten days. She had sent forward a small escort preceded by a Chasqui, and then settled down to await their coming.
But when the day came for which she had timed their arrival, Aniwee grew feverish with excitement. All the morning and afternoon she had watched for her friends, but there were no signs of their coming. Then, as the sun sunk low over the distant prairies and lit to radiance the snowy Andes far away in the background, the youthful Queen aroused herself from the reverie into which she had fallen, and gave one last glance ahead. At once her dark eyes lit up with eagerness and expectation, a happy smile parted her lips, a low, glad cry escaped them as she stood straight up in her stirrups and waved a silken handkerchief around her head. The next moment she unslung from off her shoulders a neat Winchester repeater, and through the still evening air in quick succession rung the sharp reports of the rifle. A pre-arranged signal, evidently; for no sooner did these reports ring forth, than far down in a valley beneath, a succession of bright fires began to shoot up, a Union Jack flag floated from a high pole, and dusky forms came and went amid the lurid glare.
Just a faint cloud on the pampa. That was all that Aniwee’s gaze had rested upon, and yet her practised sight could not deceive her. She knew full well that it heralded the approach of a party of mounted persons, and Aniwee had not the slightest doubt as to who these persons were.
They were coming on at a smart pace, and the young Queen, after taking stock of the distance which yet lay between her and her white friends, turned her horse’s head in the direction of the Indian camp. Apretty steep descent she had to make, too, in order to reach it; but her steed was wary and sure-footed, and with the blood of the bagual or wild horse in him, not likely to make a mistake.
On reaching the tolderias Aniwee found her warriors busy adorning themselves with bright-coloured ponchos, and fastening on their silver spurs. A troupiglia of horses had been driven up, and the owners were picking out their steeds therefrom, and saddling and bridling them.
Each warrior carried a long lance, from the point of which a small pennon fluttered, and many of the Caciques and Caciquillos were conspicuous for the richness of their attire and the brightness of their silver ornaments.
A small boy, gaudily dressed, was awaiting outside Aniwee’s tolderia, and as she rode up respectfully held her bridle rein. As she sprung from her horse, a young man stepped forward to meet her.
If abundance of fine clothes, gleaming ornaments, and jingling spurs can make a man handsome in a woman’s eyes, then Inacayal might be styled good-looking. Now Inacayal was a Cacique of high degree, being none other than the son of Quintuhual, brother of the great Cuastral, and therefore first cousin to Piñone, Aniwee’s dead husband. In the natural course of events, and in accordance with the laws hitherto prevailing amongst the Araucanians, Inacayal ought to have been proclaimed paramount Cacique on the death of Cuastral and Piñone, inasmuch as this latter’s child wasonly a girl. But the example of Aniwee had soimpressed the warriors, and both Piñone and Cuastral had been so highly respected and loved by the great tribe, that by a vast majority this people had declared that Guardia, Piñone’s baby girl, should reign over them; and, as we have already seen, Aniwee had been appointed Queen-Regent, with the full powers of an absolute Cacique.
Now this arrangement did not at all suit the ambition of Inacayal, who had every desire to wield the power entrusted to Aniwee. Had not he, Inacayal, accompanied Cuastral and Piñone on their great raid? Had he not, with his own eyes, seen them treacherously killed, and their bodies carried off by the Cristianos, and had he not brought back the news, expecting to see himself at once proclaimed Cacique? His anger and disappointment may well be imagined when affairs took the turn described, and he found himself supplanted by a mere baby, and a girl.
But Inacayal, though he had thought it politic to assume an air of submission and acquiescence, was far from feeling well disposed towards Aniwee. Very bitterly did he resent her intrusion where he had hoped to stand alone, and he had secretly made up his mind to work not only her destruction, but that of the little Guardia as well. A very King John was this crafty Inacayal.
“Do the friends of the Great Queen draw nigh?” he inquired, with a smile, after saluting Aniwee Indian fashion, by raising his right hand, shading his right eye, and touching his forehead with his thumb, middle, and right fingers.
“Yes, Inacayal,” she answered, with a glad laugh, “and they will be here ere the sun seeks its rest. Do you form up the companies of our warriors while I deck myself as befits a Warrior Queen.”
The young man’s eyes sparkled with anger and rage at these words, but deftly concealing his feelings, he again saluted respectfully and retired, Aniwee passing into her own tolderia.
This erection stood some seventeen feet high, being spacious enough inside to accommodate fifty persons. It was closed in all round by skin coverings, the doorway being fronted by a curtain of gay-coloured silk. All round the tolderia ran a kind of verandah, the canopy of which was formed of interwoven branches covered with bright green leaves. A small Union Jack flag ornamented the top of this structure, which inside possessed an air of comfort and civilisation, quite strange to behold. Several beds, made of the soft warm skins of the vicuña and guanaco, and raised from the ground on neatly arranged blocks of wood, stood side by side in line; and shields, bows and arrows, spears, guns and rifles, puma, guanaco, and vicuña heads were tastefully and skilfully hung from the woodwork and pine-posts, to which the hide walls of this spacious dwelling were attached. Lying on one of these beds, and cosily wrapped in a magnificent skunk and wild cat fur capa, was a little copper-coloured baby, with large dark eyes and a solemn grave face. Its tiny hands grasped two small silver bell ornaments, which they jingled together unceasingly. Every now and then the baby would break into a joyous laugh andcrow with delight, sounds which instantly chased away the solemn look on its face, and brought in its place a merry, happy expression.
When Aniwee entered, baby at once dropped its playthings, and stretching out its little arms to the girl, gave vent to sounds of delight, judging by the smiles that wreathed its well-formed dark red lips. The young Queen at once responded to its evident invitation to approach, and crossing to the bed, lifted the tiny mite in her arms.
“Guardia, child of my heart,” she exclaimed tenderly, as the little creature clasped her round the neck, “was Guardia looking for Mamita?” Again the little Guardia crowed and laughed. She could not speak, being barely eight months old, but she could show how much she loved her young mother by the numberless caresses which she bestowed upon her.
Aniwee had however the important duty to perform of arraying herself in warrior attire.
“Graviel,” she called; and as she spoke a tall slim Indian youth arose from the side of the baby Cacique’s bed, by which he had been keeping watch. Whenever Aniwee left the child she always placed it in the care of this boy, for she knew that she could trust him. He had been Piñone’s favourite attendant, and Graviel worshipped the very ground that Aniwee trod on. He would have died before harm befel his charge.
“Graviel, take the Cacique,” observed Aniwee gravely, “and amuse her.”
The Indian youth obeyed, handling his baby chieftainess with the greatest care, and in a few momentshe had completely engrossed her attention by singing to her in a low chanting voice.
Meanwhile Aniwee turned her attention to her attire. Drawing aside a silken curtain, she entered an alcove in the tolderia, which was reserved as her robing room, and was soon busy, aided by her Indian women. When she issued therefrom she looked splendid indeed. A magnificent crimson poncho hung over her shoulders adorned with sparkling golden threads, and she had on snowy-white drawers and neat potro boots, upon which silver spurs jingled. A short sword in a bright silver scabbard hung by her side, and on her head, poised slightly on one side, was a cap of crimson velvet encircled by a band of massive silver, from which drooped two grey ostrich feathers. Decidedly Aniwee looked very handsome, and every inch a Queen.
Under the soothing influence of Graviel’s chant the baby Queen had fallen asleep, and lay peacefully in the arms of her faithful young retainer. Bending over her, the girl mother imprinted a gentle kiss on her forehead. Even as she did so, the far-off sound of a bugle-call penetrated to the tolderia, and brought Aniwee at once to attention.
“Quick, Graviel!” she exclaimed. “Take the Cacique to Blancha, and bid her put the child to rest, and do you keep watch on the tolderia. Yonder bugle heralds the approach of the great British Caciques, whom Aniwee must hasten to welcome.”
A loud shout from three hundred warrior throats greeted her appearance. A milk-white horse waited her in front of the tolderia. In a moment Aniwee wasin the saddle, and looking eagerly ahead. Ah! yes, indeed, her white friends were near. There was no mistaking Harry Vane’s loud and familiar “whoo whoop.” The next instant the white horse swept up the valley at full speed in the van of three hundred shouting warriors, brandishing their spears, firing off their guns, and charging upon the advancing party.