The boat pulled up alongside the jetty; the officers had by this time left their place of shelter, and hurried to the end of the jetty. There a man, dressed in sailor's garb, with an oilskin souwester, whose large brim concealed his features, was standing motionless, with a pistol in either hand.
"Patria!" he said, sharply, when the officers were only two paces from him.
"Libertad!" they answered, without hesitation.
"Viva Dios!" the sailor said, as he returned his pistols to the leather belt that passed round his hips; "It is a good wind that brings you, Don Serapio, and you too, Don Cristoval."
"All the better, Ramirez," said the officer addressed as Serapio.
"Have you any news, then?" his comrade asked, curiously.
"Excellent, Don Cristoval, excellent," Ramirez answered, as he rubbed his hands gleefully.
"Oh, oh!" the two officers muttered, as they exchanged a glance of satisfaction; "Tell us it, then, Ramirez."
The latter took a suspicious glance around.
"I should like to do so," he said, "but the place where we are does not seem at all propitious for a conversation of the nature of the one we have before us."
"That is true," said Don Serapio; "but what prevents us getting into your boat? There we can talk at ease."
But Ramirez shook his head.
"Yes," he said; "but then we should have to push off; and I am no more anxious than I presume you to be, to be discovered and hailed by some guard boat."
"That is true," Don Cristoval objected; "we must find other and less perilous means for conversing, without fear of indiscreet ears."
"What o'clock is it?" Ramirez asked.
Don Serapio struck his repeater.
"Just ten," he answered.
"Good: in that case we have time, since the affair does not come off till midnight. Follow me. I know a pulqueria where we shall be as safe as on the top of the Coffre de Perote."
"But the boat?" Don Cristoval objected.
"Be at your ease—it is commanded by Lucas. However clever the Mexicans may be, he is the man to play at hide and seek with them for the entire night; besides, he has my instructions."
The officers bowed, but made no further remark. The three men then set out, Ramirez walking a few paces in advance of his companions. Although the night was so dark that it was impossible to distinguish objects ten paces off, the sailor proceeded through the narrow and winding streets of the town with as much certainty and ease as if traversing it in broad daylight, in the bright sunshine.
Close to the Cabildo, at the corner of the Plaza Mayor, stood a species of cabin, built of ships' planks, clumsily nailed together, which offered, in the stifling midday hours, a precarious shelter to the leperos and idlers of all sorts, who collected there to smoke, drink mezcal, or play at monte, that game so beloved by Spanish-Americans of all classes.
The interior of this suspicious rancho, honoured with the name of pulqueria, corresponded perfectly with the miserable aspect of the exterior. In a large room, only lighted by the dubious gleam of a smoky candle, a number of individuals, with ferocious countenances, dressed in filthy rags, and armed to the teeth, were collected round a few planks laid across empty barrels, and serving as a table. These men were drinking, and playing with that Mexican coolness which no event, however serious it may be, succeeds in disturbing, and staking piles of gold, which they drew from their patched calzoneras.
It was in front of this unclean pothouse, from the broken door of which escaped a reddish steam, laden with pestilential emanations, that Ramirez stopped.
"Where the deuce are you taking us?" Don Serapio asked him, with an expression of disgust he could not master at the repulsive appearance of this den.
The sailor laid a finger on his lip.
"Silence!" he said, "You shall know. Wait for me here an instant, but be careful to keep in the shade, so as not to be seen; the customers of this honest establishment have such numerous reasons to distrust spies, that if they saw you suddenly appear among them, they might be capable of playing you a trick."
"Why enter such a den as this?"
Ramirez smiled craftily.
"Do you fancy, then," he said, "that if I had only some news to tell you, I should have brought you here?"
"Why else, then?"
"You will soon know; but I can tell you nothing at this moment."
"Go on, then, as it is so; still, I beg you not to keep us too long at the door of this disgusting house."
"All right, I will only go in and come out again."
Then, after again recommending the officers to be prudent, he pushed the door of the pulqueria, which at once opened, and he went in. In the darkest corner of the room two men, almost completely hidden by the dense cloud of smoke that rose over the heads of the gamblers, carefully wrapped in their zarapés of Indian manufacture, with the brim of their hats pulled down over their eyes (a very needless precaution in the darkness where they were), and leaning on their long rifles, whose butts rested on the floor of the room, were whispering in each other's ear, while taking, at intervals, anxious glances at the leperos assembled a few paces from them.
The gamblers, fully engaged, did not dream of watching the strangers, who, however, from their martial demeanour, and the cleanliness of their attire, formed a striking contrast to them, and evidently did not belong to the company that usually assembled at this rancho; hence the strangers had very unnecessarily taken their precautions to escape from inquisitive looks, supposing such were their object.
Eleven o'clock struck from the Cabildo; at the same moment a form appeared in the doorway. This man stopped, took a sharp glance round the room, and then, after a slight hesitation, doubtless caused by the difficulty of recognizing in the crowd the persons he wished to see, he entered the rancho, and walked hastily toward the strangers. The latter turned at the sound of his footsteps, and gave a start of joy on recognizing him. We need hardly say that it was Ramirez. The three men shook hands with an expression of pleasure which proved that with them it was not a mere act of politeness, such as are so greatly abused in what is called the civilized life of towns.
"Well," Ramirez asked, "what have you done?"
"Nothing," one of the men answered, "we were waiting for you."
"And those scoundrels?"
"Are already more than three parts ruined,"
"All the better; they will march with greater impetuosity."
"They must soon see the bottom of their purses."
"Do you think so?"
"I am sure of it; they have been playing since eight in the morning, so the pulquero says."
"Without leaving off?" the sailor said, in surprise.
"They have not ceased for an instant."
"All the better."
"By the bye," one of the strangers remarked, "have you come alone? Where are the men you promised to bring?"
"They are here, and you will see them in a moment."
"Very good. Then it is still for this night?"
"You must know that better than I."
"On my honour, no."
"Then you have not seen him?"
"Seen who?"
"Why,him."
"No."
"Hang it all! That is annoying,"
"I did not require to see him,"
"But it is different with me."
"Why so?"
"Because I have executed his orders, as they are with me."
"That is true."
"Viva Dios! I was obliged to employ stratagem to induce them to follow me here."
"Why did you not bring them in at once?"
"I should be very sorry to do so, at least for the present. They are cool and steady naval officers, whose smile, under all circumstances, resembles a grimace, so close do they keep their lips. The free-and-easy manner of our worthy associates," he added, "might possibly displease them."
"But when the master arrives?"
"Oh, then the affair will rest with him alone."
At the same moment a sharp whistle was heard outside, and the gamblers sprang up as if they had received an electric shock. Ramirez bent down to the two men.
"Here he is," he said; "I shall be back directly."
"Where are you going?" one of the strangers asked, sharply.
"To join those who are waiting for me."
And winding through the groups, the sailor left the pulqueria unnoticed. Ramirez had hardly left the room, ere the door was burst open by a violent blow, and a man rushed in. All present took off their hats, as if by common agreement, and bowed respectfully.
We will give, in a few words, a portrait of this new personage, who is destined to play a most important part in this narrative. The stranger seemed to be twenty, or two-and-twenty at the most, though he was probably older; he was slim and delicate, but perfectly proportioned, and all his movements were marked by indescribable grace and nobility. His beardless face was surrounded by magnificent black ringlets, which escaped in profusion from under his hat, and fell in large clusters on his shoulders.
This man had a lofty and wide forehead, intelligent and pensive, and a deep and well-opened eye, an aquiline nose with flexible nostrils, and a disdainful and mocking lip. All his features made up a strange, but commanding countenance. He might be loved, but he must be feared. His feet and hands were small, and evidenced good breeding. Dressed in the picturesque costume of Mexican campesinos, he wore his rich clothes with inimitable grace and ease.
Who was he?
His best friends, and he counted many such among the men in whose midst he had suddenly appeared, could not say.
In America, especially at the period when our story is laid, it was the easiest thing in the world to conceal one's private existence: an intelligent man suddenly revealed himself, no one caring, whence he came or whither he went—a brilliant meteor, he traced a luminous line on the chaos of the revolutionary struggle, which he illumined by the strange flashes of his extraordinary deeds. Then this man—this unknown hero disappeared as suddenly as he had arisen: night closed in round him, the darkness grew denser and denser, and an impenetrable mystery brooded over his birth and his grave.
The stranger was one of these men. He and the Jaguar were thus placed in an identical situation in the eyes of their partisans; but men live so quickly when the hour for the supreme struggle has struck, that no one attempted to pierce the gloom, and obtain the secret of these two young Chieftains.
The man with whom we are now engaged was commonly called El Alferez by his friends and enemies. This word, which in Spanish literally signifies sub-lieutenant, had become the name of this singular person, which he had accepted, and to which he answered.
Why had this strangely selected title been given him? This question, or any other, it is impossible for us to answer—at any rate, for the present.
After taking a haughty and assured glance at the persons collected in disorderly groups around him, the young man leant against a barrel, and, with affected carelessness, said to the individuals who surrounded him—"Well, my scamps, have you amused yourselves properly?"
A murmur of general satisfaction ran along the ranks.
"Good, my coyotes," he continued, with the same mocking tone; "now, I suppose, you would like to smell a little blood?"
"Yes," these sinister persons answered unanimously.
"Well, console yourselves; I will let you smell it ere long, and in a satisfactory manner. But I do not see Ramirez among you; can he have been so awkward as to get himself hung? Although he has deserved it a long time. I do not think him such a fool as to let himself be apprehended by the spies of the Mexican Government."
These words were uttered in a soft voice, harmoniously modulated, but at the same time sharp and rather shrill.
"I heard my name," said Ramirez, as he appeared in the doorway.
"Yes, I mentioned it. Well, are you alone?"
"No."
"Are they both here?"
"Both."
"That is excellent. Now, if the Jaguar be as true to his word as I am to mine, I answer for success."
"I hold your promise, Señor Alferez," said a man who had entered the room some moments previously.
"Rayo de Dios! You and your comrades are welcome; for, of course, you are not alone."
"I have twenty men, worth a hundred."
"Bravo! I recognise the Jaguar in that."
The latter began laughing.
"They only await a signal from me to come in."
"Let them come, let them come; time is precious, so let us not waste it in trifling."
The Jaguar walked to the door, and threw away the lighted cigarette he held in his hand. The twenty conspirators entered, and ranged themselves silently behind their Chief. Ramirez came in immediately after, followed by the two naval officers.
"All is clearly understood between us, Jaguar?"
"All."
"We act toward each other with all frankness and honesty of purpose?"
"Yes."
"You swear it?"
"Without hesitation, I swear it."
"Thanks, my friend. On my side I swear to be a faithful comrade."
"How many men have you?"
"As you see, thirty."
"Who, added to the twenty I bring, give the respectable amount of fifty men; if the affair be properly managed, they are more than we require."
"Now, let us divide our parts."
"Nothing is changed, I think; I will surprise the fort, while you board the corvette."
"Agreed; where are the guides?"
"Here," the two men said, with whom Ramirez conversed when he entered the pulqueria the first time. El Alferez examined them attentively for some minutes, and then turned to the Jaguar.
"You can start, I fancy."
"How many men do you keep with you?"
"Take them all; I will only keep Ramirez and the two persons to whom he has to introduce me."
"That is true," said the sailor.
"Come, my coyotes," El Alferez continued, "follow your new Chief. I place you temporarily under the orders of the Jaguar, to whom I surrender all my claims upon you."
The men bowed, but made no reply.
"And now, brothers," the young man continued, "remember that you are about to fight for the liberty of your country, and that the man who commands you will not grudge his life for the success of the daring stroke he is about to attempt with your aid; that ought to render you invincible. Go."
"Do not forget the signal—one rocket, if we fail."
"Three, if we succeed; and we shall do so, brother."
"May Heaven grant it."
"Till we meet again."
The two men shook hands, and the Jaguar quitted the pulqueria, followed by these savage men, who marched silently behind him, like wild beasts going in quest of prey. Ere long, none remained in the room but the two naval officers, Ramirez, and the pulquero, who, with eyes dilated by terror, looked at and listened to all this, without understanding anything. El Alferez remained motionless, with his body bent forward, so long as it was possible for him to hear the slightest sound of retiring footsteps; when all had become silent again, he drew himself up, and turned to his comrades, who were as attentive as himself.
"May Heaven favour us!" he said, as he piously crossed himself. "Now, Caballeros, it is our turn."
"We are ready," the three men answered.
El Alferez took a rapid glance round the room. The pulquero, either through curiosity, want of occupation, or some other cause, was standing motionless in a distant corner of the room, following with an attentive glance the movements of his singular customers.
"Hilloh!" El Alferez said to him, "come hither."
The pulquero obsequiously doffed his straw hat, and hastened to obey this injunction, which admitted of no reply.
"What do you desire, Excellency?" he asked.
"To ask you a question."
"Pray do so."
"Are you fond of money?
"Well, tolerably so, Excellency," he replied, with a crafty grimace, which doubtless had pretensions to be a smile.
"Very good, here is an onza: when we go away, we will give you a second; but bear in mind that you must be deaf and blind."
"That is easy," he replied, as he pocketed the gold coin, and drew aside.
Since the Jaguar's departure, the two officers had been suffering from an anxiety they did not attempt to conceal, but which El Alferez did not appear to notice, for his face was quite radiant. In fact, the expedition they were going to attempt in the company of the daring partisan seemed to them not only rash but mad, especially since El Alferez had so cavalierly given up to the Jaguar the thirty resolute men, whose support they considered indispensable.
"Come, come, Señors," the young man said, with a smile, after attentively watching them for some moments, "regain your courage; hang it all, you look as if you had been buried and dug up again; and we are not dead yet, I suppose."
"That is true; but we are not much better," Don Serapio said significantly.
El Alferez frowned. "Can you be frightened?" he said, haughtily.
"We are not afraid of dying, but only of failing."
"That is my business: I answer for success on my head."
"We are perfectly aware of what you are capable, Señor; but we are only four men, and after all——"
"And the boat's crew?"
"That is true; but they are only sixteen men."
"They will be enough."
"I wish it, but can hardly reckon on it."
"Well, say whether you are resolved to obey me at all hazards?"
"We have made the sacrifice of our lives."
"Then, whatever happens, you will act?"
"Whatever happens."
"It is well—"
El Alferez appeared to reflect for a moment, and then addressed the pulquero, who was standing anxiously near him—"Has anything been left with you for me?" he asked him.
"Yes, Excellency; this evening at Oración a man brought a trunk on his shoulders."
"Where is it?"
"As the man assured me that it contained articles of considerable value, I had the chest placed in my bedroom, in order that it might be in safety."
"Lead me to your room."
"Whenever you please, Excellency."
"Señors," El Alferez said, addressing the two naval officers and Ramirez, "wait for me in this room; in ten minutes I will join you again."
And without awaiting a reply, he made a sign to the pulquero to lead the way, and left the room with a rapid step. There was a momentary silence with the three men; they seemed to be engaged in sad thoughts, and looked anxiously around them. Time, which never stands still, had rapidly advanced during the course of the events we have narrated. Nearly the whole night had passed away, the first gleams of dawn were beginning to whiten the smoky walls of the pulqueria, and already some inhabitants, who had risen earlier than the others, were venturing into the streets; ere long the sun would make its appearance.
"Day will soon be here," Don Serapio remarked, as he shook his head anxiously.
"What matter?" Ramirez answered.
"What matter, do you say?" Don Serapio replied in amazement; "but it seems to me that one of the most important conditions for the enterprise we are about to attempt, is darkness."
"Certainly," Don Cristoval supported him, "if we wait till the sun has risen, any surprise will be impossible."
Ramirez shrugged his shoulders.
"You do not know the man under whose orders you have voluntarily placed yourselves," he answered; "impossible things are those he prefers attempting."
"You know him better than we do then, as you speak thus of him?"
"Better than you or anyone," the sailor said with considerable animation; "I have the greatest faith in him; for ten years I have lived by his side, and have many times been able to appreciate all the nobility and generosity that exist in his heart."
"Ah," the two officers said, walking quickly up to him, "who is he, then?"
An ironical smile curled Ramirez's delicate lip.
"You know as well as I do: a warm patriot, and one of the most renowned Chiefs of the revolutionary movement."
"Hum!" Don Sandoval remarked, "that is not what we want to know."
"What then?" he asked with almost imperceptible irony.
"Hang it, you say that you have lived ten years with this man," Don Serapio went on; "you must know certain peculiarities about him which no one else is acquainted with, and which we should not be sorry to know."
"That is possible; unfortunately, I am utterly unable to satisfy your curiosity on that point; if El Alferez has not thought proper to give you certain intimate details about his private life, it is not my place to reveal them to you."
Don Serapio was about to reply rather sharply to the sailor, when the door opened through which Don Alferez had gone out, and the pulquero entered, followed by a lady. The two officers could scarce refrain from a cry of surprise on recognising beneath this dress El Alferez himself. The young Chief wore feminine attire with considerable grace and reality; he walked with such ease, and appeared so accustomed to the thousand knick-nacks of a lady's dress—in a word, the metamorphosis was so complete, that, had it not been for the eye whose strange lustre the young man had not quite succeeded in subduing, the three men could have sworn that this singular being was really a woman.
The costume of El Alferez, though not rich, was elegant, and in good taste; his face, half concealed beneath the silken folds of his rebozo, partly hid his haughty expression; in his right hand he held a pretty sandalwood fan, with which he played with that graceful nonchalance so full of skill which is only possessed by Spanish women and their American daughters.
"Well, Caballeros," the young man said mincingly, in a sweet and harmonious voice; "do you not recognize me? I am the daughter of your friend Doña Leonora Salcedo, Doña Mencia."
The three men bowed respectfully.
"Pardon me, Señorita," Don Serapio replied as he gravely kissed the tips of El Alferez's fingers; "we know you perfectly well, but were so far from anticipating the happiness of meeting you here, that——"
"Even at this moment, after hearing you speak, we dare not yet believe in the reality of what we see."
The pulquero looked in alarm from one to the other. The worthy man understood nothing of what was going on, and he asked himself confidentially were he asleep or awake. In fact, he was not far from believing himself under a spell.
"I do not understand your surprise, Caballeros," the feigned Doña Mencia said with a stress on her words; "was it not arranged some days back between yourselves, my mother, and my husband, that we should go this morning and breakfast with Commandant Rodriguez, on board theLibertadcorvette?"
"Of course," Don Serapio quickly exclaimed; "excuse me, Señorita, but I really do not know where my head is. How could I have forgotten that?"
"I will excuse you," El Alferez replied with a smile, "but on condition that you repair your inexplicable forgetfulness, and rather ungallant behaviour, by offering me your arm to go on board the corvette at once."
"The more so," Don Cristoval added, "as we have rather a long distance to go, and I have no doubt the Commandant is expecting us."
"Canarios! I should think he was," Ramirez ejaculated; "why, Señor, he sent me with a boat to take you aboard."
"Since that is the case, I think we shall do well by starting without further delay."
"We are at your orders, Señorita."
"Stay, my good man," El Alferez added in a soft voice, and addressing the pulquero, "take this in recollection of me."
The good man, half stunned by what he saw, mechanically held out his right hand, into which the mysterious adventurer carelessly let a gold onza fall; then, taking Don Serapio's arm, he went out, preceded by Don Cristoval and Ramirez, who hurried to get the boat ready. The pulquero stood in his doorway, and looked after the strange visitors who had spent the whole night in his house, as long as he could see them; then he went in again, shaking his head thoughtfully, and muttering, as he jingled the coin he had received—"All this is not clear; a man who is a woman, friends who do not recognize each other after two hours' conversation, that is preciously queer; I am certain something is going to happen. But hang me if I mix myself up in it; it is well, in certain circumstances, to know how to hold one's tongue; besides, it is no business of mine; the money they gave me is good, and I have no right to look further."
Strengthened by this philosophic reasoning, and filled with prudence, the pulquero closed his door, and went to bed in order to fetch up by day the sleep his singular curiosities had made him lose during the night.
[1]What rumour resounds in the distance which interrupts the placid silence of the dark night?
[1]What rumour resounds in the distance which interrupts the placid silence of the dark night?
[2]Can it be the rapid gallop of a horse urged along a narrow road—or the ferocious howling of a starving beast of prey—or, perchance, the whistling of the north-west wind?
[2]Can it be the rapid gallop of a horse urged along a narrow road—or the ferocious howling of a starving beast of prey—or, perchance, the whistling of the north-west wind?
It was about four in the morning; the dawn was beginning to mark the horizon with wide white bands; on the extreme line of the water, a bright red reflection, the harbinger of sunrise, announced that the sun would soon appear. At this moment a light brig gradually emerged from the dense fog that hid it, and could be seen sailing close to the wind along the dangerous and rugged coast which forms the entrance of Galveston Bay, at the mouth of the Rio Trinidad.
It was a neat vessel of three hundred tons at the most, with a gracefully-built hull, and its tall masts coquettishly raking. The rigging was carefully painted and tarred, the yards symmetrically square, and more than all, the menacing muzzles of four eight-pounder carronades which peered out of the bulwarks on either side, and the long thirty-two pounder swivel in the bows, indicated that, although a man-of-war pennant might not be flying from the mainmast, it was not the less resolved, in case of necessity, to fight energetically against the cruisers that might attempt to check its progress.
At the moment when we first notice the brig, with the exception of the man at the wheel, and an individual walking up and down the poop smoking his pipe, at the first glance the brig's deck seemed deserted; still, on examining it carefully, fifteen men constituting the watch might have been seen sleeping in the bows, whom the slightest signal would be sufficient to awaken.
"Halloh!" the walker said suddenly, as he halted near the binnacle, and addressed the helmsman; "I fancy the wind is shifting."
"Yes, Master Lovel," the sailor answered, as he raised his hand to his woollen cap; "it has veered round two points."
As the individual who answered to the pleasant name of Lovel is destined to play a certain part in the scenes we have undertaken to describe, we ask our readers' permission to draw his portrait. Physically, he was a man of about fifty, nearly as broad as he was tall, and bearing a striking resemblance to a barrel mounted on feet, but for all that gifted with far from common strength and activity; his violet nose, his thick lips, and highly-coloured face, with large red whiskers, gave him a jovial appearance, to which, however, two small grey and deep-set eyes, full of fire and resolution, imparted something skeptical and mocking.
Morally, he was an honest, worthy man, open-hearted and loyal, an excellent sailor, and loving only two things, or rather beings, in the world: his Captain, who had brought him up, and, as he often said, had taught him to make his first splice by administering tobacco to him, and his ship, which he had seen built, which he had gone aboard when ready for sea, and had never quitted since.
Master Lovel had never known either father or mother; hence he had made the brig and his Captain his family. All his loving faculties, a long time driven back and slumbering in his heart, were so fully concentrated on them, that what he felt for both went beyond the limits of a reasonable affection, and had acquired the veritable proportions of a gigantic fanaticism. However, the Captain, of whom we shall soon speak, amply requited the old sailor's friendship.
"By the way, Lieutenant, I ask your pardon," the helmsman continued, doubtless encouraged by the manner in which his officer had spoken to him; "do you know that we have been making a precious queer navigation the last few days?"
"Do you think so, lad?"
"Hang it, sir, these continued tacks, and that boat we sent ashore yesterday, and has not yet returned—all that is rather singular."
"Hum!" the officer said, without any other expression of his opinion.
"Where may we be going, Lieutenant?" the sailor went on.
"Are you very anxious to know?" Lovel asked him, with a half-sweet, half-bitter tone.
"Well," the other said, as he turned his quid in his mouth, and sent forth a stream of blackish saliva, "I confess that I should not be sorry to know."
"Really now?—well, my boy," the old sailor said, with a crafty smile, "if you are asked, you will answer that you do not know; in that way you are certain of not compromising, and, before all, of not deceiving, yourself."
Then, after looking for an instant at the helmsman's downcast face on receiving this strange answer, he added—"Strike eight bells, my dear; there is the sun rising over there behind the mountains: we will call the watch."
And, after restoring his pipe to the corner of his mouth, he resumed his walk. The sailor seized the cord fastened to the clapper of the bell, and struck four double strokes. At this signal they knew so well, the men lying in the forecastle sprang up tumultuously, and rushed to the hatchway, shouting—
"Up with you, starboard watch; up, up, it is four o'clock. Starboard watch, ahoy!"
So soon as the watch was changed, the master gave the necessary orders to dress the vessel. Then, as the sun was beginning to rise above the horizon in a flood of ruddy vapour, which gradually dispersed the dense fog, that had enveloped the brig throughout the night, like a winding-sheet, he set a man to the foretop to look seaward, and examine the coast they were sailing along. When all these various duties had been discharged, the old sailor resumed his walk, taking a look every now and then at the masts, and muttering between his teeth—"Where can we be going? He would be very kind, if he would tell me: we are making a regular blind man's traverse, and we shall be very lucky if we get out of it safe and sound."
All at once his face brightened, and a glad smile spread over it. The Captain had just left his cabin and come upon deck. Captain Johnson was at this period a man of hardly three-and-thirty years of age, above the middle height; his gestures were simple, graceful, and full of natural elegance; his features were masculine and marked, and his black eyes, in which intelligence sparkled, gave his countenance an expression of grandeur, strength, and loyalty.
"Good morning, father," he said to Master Lovel, as he cordially offered him his hand.
"Good morning, lad," the latter replied; "did you sleep well?"
"Very well, thank you, father. Is there anything new?"
At this question, apparently so simple, the lieutenant drew himself up, raised his hand to his hat, and answered deferentially—
"Captain, there is nothing new on board. I tacked at three o'clock, and, according to your orders, we have been sailing as close to the wind as we could, at a rate of six three-quarter knots an hour, under foretop sails, and always keeping Galveston Point on the larboard quarter."
"That is well," the Captain answered, as he took a glance at the compass and the sails.
In all matters connected with duty, Master Lovel, in spite of the reiterated remarks of his Chief, constantly maintained toward the latter the tone and manner of a subordinate to his superior. The Captain, seeing that the old sailor could not be turned from this, ended by paying no attention to it, and left him free to speak as he thought proper.
"By the way, Captain," the Lieutenant continued, with some hesitation, "we are drawing near the gut; do you intend to pass through it?"
"I do."
"But we shall be sunk."
"Not such fools."
"Hum! I do not see how we shall escape it."
"You will see; besides, must we not go and pick up our boat, which has not yet returned?"
"That is true; I did not think of it."
"Well, you see; and our passengers?"
"I have not seen them yet this morning."
"They will soon come on deck."
"A ship in sight," the watch shouted.
"That is what I was waiting for," said the Captain.
"To tack?"
"On the contrary, to pass without a shot in front of the fort that commands the entrance of the bay."
"I do not understand."
"All right; you soon will."
And speaking to the look-out man, he said—
"In what direction is that ship?"
"To starboard, to windward of us; it is coming out of a creek, in which it was hidden, and steering straight down on the brig."
"Very good," the Captain answered; then, turning to Lovel, he continued: "This ship is chasing us; we shall, by constant short tacks, pass the fort and the battery which crosses fire with it. The Mexicans, who are watching us, feeling convinced that we cannot escape their cruiser, will not take the trouble to fire at us, but let us pass through without offering any obstacle."
And, leaving his lieutenant astounded at this singular line of argument, which he did not at all comprehend, the Captain went on the quarterdeck, and leaning over the gangway, began carefully watching the movements of the ship signalled by the lookout. An hour passed thus, without producing any change in the respective position of the two ships; but the brig, which had no intention of getting too far away from the cruiser, did not carry half the sail it could.
The men had been quietly beaten to quarters, and thirty powerful sailors, armed to the teeth, were holding the running rigging, ready to obey the slightest signal from their Captain. For more than an hour the brig had been approaching the coast, and the Captain, being now compelled to skirt a submarine reef, whose situation was not positively known to him, ordered sail to be reduced, and advanced, sounding lead in hand. The cruiser, on the contrary, was literally covered with canvas, and grew momentarily larger, while assuming the imposing proportions of a first class corvette; its black hull could be clearly distinguished, along which ran a long white stripe, containing sixteen portholes, through which passed the muzzles of her Paixhan guns. On the shore, to which the brig was now close, could be seen a great number of persons of both sexes, who, shouting, yelling, and clapping their hands, eagerly followed the incidents of this strange chase. Suddenly a light cloud of smoke rose from the bow of the corvette, the sound of a gun was dully heard, and a Mexican flag was hoisted at the peak.
"Ah, ah," Captain Johnson said, as he mechanically chumped the end of a cigarette held between his teeth, "she has at length decided on throwing off her incognito. Come, lieutenant, politeness deserves the same; show her our colours; hang it all, they are worth showing."
A minute later, a large star-spangled flag was majestically fluttering at the stern of the brig. At the appearance of the United States colours, so audaciously hoisted, a shout of fury was raised aboard the Mexican corvette, which was taken up by the crowd assembled at the point, though it was impossible to tell, owing to the distance, whether they were shouts of joy or anger.
In the meanwhile the sun was beginning to rise, the morning was growing apace, and there must be an end to the affair, especially as the corvette, confiding in her strength, and now almost within gunshot, would not fail to open fire on the American vessel. Strange to say, the garrisons of the fort and the battery, as the Captain had foreseen, had allowed the brig to double the point without trying to stop it, which it would have been most easy for them to do, owing to the crossfire.
The Captain gave his lieutenant a sign to come to him, and bending down to his ear, whispered something in it.
"Eh, eh!" the lieutenant said with a hearty laugh, "That is an idea! By Jove! We may have some fun."
And, without saying another word, he proceeded forwards. On reaching the swivel gun he had it unlashed and carefully loaded, adding a ball and a grape shot to the ordinary charge. Bending over the sight he seized the screw placed under the breech, then making a sign to the men who stood on either side with handspikes, he began laying the gun slowly and with the utmost precaution, scrupulously calculating the distance that separated the two ships, and the deviation caused by the rolling. At length, when he believed he had attained the desired result, he seized the lanyard, fell back, and made a signal to the Captain, who was impatiently awaiting the termination of his proceedings.
"Attention!" the latter shouted; "Stand by, all."
There was a moment of supreme expectation.
"Is all clear?"
"Yes," the lieutenant replied.
"Ready about," the Captain ordered; "down with the helm! Ease off the jib sheets! Sheet home top sails! Sheet home lower sails! Haul the bowlines taut!"
The sailors hurried to the running rigging, and the ship, obedient to the impulse given it, majestically swung round. At the moment when it fell, and had its bows turned toward the broadside of the corvette, Master Lovel, who was watching for a favourable opportunity to carry out the orders he had received, sharply pulled the lanyard and fired. The Mexicans, confounded by this sudden aggression, which they were far from anticipating from an enemy apparently so weak, replied furiously, and a shower of iron and lead hurtled over the deck and through the rigging of the American ship. The fort and battery continued to preserve the strictest neutrality, and Captain Johnson did not take the trouble to reply.
"Brace up closer to the wind!" he shouted. "Haul down the sheets! We have had fun enough, lads."
The brig continued its course, and when the smoke had dispersed the Mexican corvette could be perceived in a pitiable condition. The shot fired by Master Lovel had carried away her bowsprit close by the head, which naturally entailed the fall of the foremast, and the poor corvette, half rendered unserviceable, and unable longer to pursue its audacious enemy, bore up to repair hastily the worst of the damage.
On board the brig, owing to the hurry in which the Mexicans had returned the fire, only one man had been killed and three slightly wounded. As for the damage, it was trifling; only a few ropes were cut, that was all.
"Now," the Captain said, as he came down from the quarterdeck, "in ten minutes, father, you will tack, and when we are abreast of the fort you will lie to, let down a boat, and let me know."
"What!" the lieutenant could not refrain from saying, "You mean to go ashore?"
"Hang it," said the Captain; "why, I only came here for that purpose."
"Are you going to the fort?"
"Yes. Still, as it is always as well to be on the right side, you will send into the boat the ten most resolute men of the crew, with axes, cutlasses, muskets, and pistols. Let all be in order, and ready for fighting."
"I fancy those precautions will be unnecessary," said a man who had just come on deck and walked up to the spectators.
"Ah! it is you, Master Tranquil," the Captain replied, as he shook hands with the old hunter; for it was he who had so unexpectedly interfered in the conversation. "What do you say?"
"I say," the Canadian replied, in his calm voice, "that your precautions will probably be unnecessary."
"Why so?"
"Hang it! I don't know, for I am not a sailor. But look for yourself. Do you not think as I do—that something extraordinary is taking place on board the corvette?"
The Captain quickly opened his telescope, and fixed it on the Mexican ship.
"It is true," he said, a moment later. "Oh, oh! Can our audacious attempt have proved successful?"
"All leads to the supposition," said the hunter, with his old stoicism.
"By Heavens! I will ascertain."
"What will you do?"
"By Jupiter! Convince myself of what is taking place."
"As you please."
"Bear up!" the Captain ordered.
The manoeuvre was executed. The sheets were let go, and the brig, catching more wind in its sails, advanced rapidly toward the corvette, on board which a strange scene was taking place at this moment, which must interest Captain Johnson in the highest degree. But, in order to make the reader thoroughly understand this scene, we must now return to El Alferez and his comrades, whom we left at their departure from the pulqueria.
At the moment when the four men reached the jetty, although it was about seven in the morning, the beach was nearly deserted; only a few ships' boats were fastened up, and landing the men who were going to buy provisions. It was, therefore, an easy matter for the conspirators to, embark without attracting attention to their movements. At a signal given by Ramirez, the boat which had been pulling back and forwards during the night, came nearer land, and when the four men were seated in the stern sheets, and Ramirez had taken the tiller, the boat started for a small creek situated a little distance beyond the roadstead.
The breeze, which during the night had been rather weak, had gradually risen; the boat was easily got out to sea, sail was hoisted, and it soon entered the creek, where theLibertadwas riding gently on her anchors. Still, it was easy for a sailor to see that this ship, apparently so quiet, was ready to slip out at a moment's notice. The sails, though furled, were cast off, and the anchor, apeak, only needed a turn of the capstan to be tripped. Posted craftily in this creek, like a bird of prey in the hollow of a rock, the corvette could easily expand its sails, and dart on any suspicious vessel signalled by the lookout. Without uttering a syllable our friends exchanged a significant glance; they understood one another's manoeuvring.
The boat had scarce come within hail ere a sentry, standing in the starboard gangway, hailed it in Spanish. Ramirez replied, and, leaning on the tiller, made the boat describe a graceful curve, and brought her up to the starboard accommodation ladder. The officer of the watch was standing at the top to receive the visitors. On perceiving a lady, he hurried down the ladder to offer his hand, and do her the honours of the ship she was about to enter.
To the right and left of the entrance, sailors, drawn up in file, saluted by raising their hands to their caps, while a boatswain gave the accustomed whistle. As we have already mentioned, theLibertadwas a first class corvette. Don Manuel Rodriguez, her commandant, was an old sailor, brought up in the Spanish Navy, and had retained its healthy traditions: hence, his ship was kept with great care and coquettishness. Don Serapio and Don Cristoval, themselves naval officers, could not refrain from expressing to the officer of the watch the satisfaction they experienced at seeing a vessel in such splendid order.
Commandant Rodriguez, called by a midshipman, hastened on deck to receive his guests; the boat was fastened astern of the corvette, while its crew went forward with the sailors of the vessel.
Like the other Spanish American Republics, the Mexican Confederation has but few vessels; its navy is composed of but a dozen ships at the most—consisting of corvettes, brigs, and schooners. The gravity of the events taking place in Texas had induced the Mexican Government to send a corvette there, in order to render themselves masters of the sea, and prevent the United States, whose sympathies with the Texan Revolution were notorious, from giving the insurgents help in arms, men, or money.
Commandant Rodriguez, an energetic man, and excellent sailor, had been chosen to carry out this dangerous mission; for two months he had been cruising off the coast of Texas, where he had established a rigorous blockade, and owing to his intelligent arrangements, he had managed, up to the period we have arrived at, to stop or turn back all vessels sent from the United States to the help of the insurgents. The latter, reduced to their own resources, and understanding that the decisive hour would soon strike for them, had resolved to get rid of this corvette, which did them enormous injury, and seize it at all risks.
The Chiefs of the insurgents had formed their plans to this effect. During Commandant Rodriguez's rare visits to Galveston, he was adroitly surrounded by persons who ostensibly professed a deep hatred for the revolution, while in secret they were the active and devoted agents of the insurgent Chiefs. Almost involuntarily the Commandant had been induced to invite several persons to visit his corvette, and breakfast on board; but the old sailor was a true Mexican, that is to say, accustomed to all the tricks and treachery of a country where revolutions have been counted by hundreds during the twenty years since it proclaimed its so-called independence, and his prudence did not fail him under the circumstances. Being not at all anxious to run the risk of seeing his ship boarded, he left the roads, and anchored in a solitary creek, in order to have his elbows at liberty; and then, instead of inviting many persons at the same time, he merely requested Doña Mencia, her father, and two of her cousins, officers in the United States' service, to pay him a visit. We know now who the persons really were who accepted the invitation.
The Captain frowned on seeing the number of the boat's crew; but, reflecting that he had two hundred and fifty men aboard, he did not think for a moment that sixteen men, apparently unarmed, would try to seize his ship, and it was with the most smiling and affectionate air that he received Doña Mencia and the persons who accompanied her.
After showing them all over the corvette, he led his guests to the stern gallery, where a table had been laid, and a magnificent breakfast awaited them. Only five persons sat down, the supposed young lady, her pretended cousins, the commandant, and his first lieutenant, an old sailor like himself, full of experience and bravery. The breakfast began in the most cordial and frank manner; the Commandant regretted that Doña Mencia's father had been unable to accompany her, as he had promised, and a most gallant conversation went on. Presently, a warrant officer opened the door, and, at a sign from the Commandant, whispered a few words in his ear; the latter, after excusing himself to his guests, gave him an order in a low voice, and the officer retired as discreetly as he had come in.
"Señora," the Commandant said, leaning over to the young lady seated by his side; "are you afraid of the sea?"
"I?" she replied with a smile, "Why do you ask, Commandant?"
"Because," he answered, "unless you immediately leave my vessel, which, I confess, would greatly annoy me, you will be compelled to take a trip to sea for some hours."
"I am the daughter and cousin of sailors, Commandant; that is as good as saying that a trip to sea would be most pleasing to me under any circumstances; at this moment it would be a delightful interlude, and complete the graceful hospitality you have been kind to offer us."
"Very good," the Commandant said gaily; "you are a true heroine, Doña Mencia; you fear nothing."
"Or, at any rate, very little," she replied with an emphasis which escaped the notice of the Commandant.
"Will you permit me to ask, Commandant," said Don Serapio, "whether you are starting simply to afford us the pleasure of a trip, or whether a more serious motive obliges you to leave your anchorage?"
"I have no secrets from you," he said simply, "and a few words will explain the affair; for about a fortnight I have been playing a game of chess with a brig, whose appearance is most suspicious. Its rig, and fine lines, lead us to believe that it is a North-American privateer, trying to land arms, and possibly men, for the insurgents."
"Do you imagine," Don Cristoval objected, "that a privateer brig, knowing you to be in these parts, would venture to force a passage?"
"Yes, I do. These demons of privateers are afraid of nothing; and, besides, during the war of independence, I myself carried out more daring adventures than this."
"Then, we are about to witness a sea fight?" Doña Mencia asked timidly.
"Oh, do not feel alarmed, Señorita; it will not go so far as that, I hope; this brig, which I had lost out of sight for two days, has just reappeared, but this time with the apparent object of getting close enough to land to send a boat ashore. I will chase it vigorously, and do not doubt I shall compel it to put out to sea again, for it is impossible that it should attempt seriously to oppose us."
"Really, that is delightful!" Doña Mencia exclaimed with a laugh; "the fête will be complete: a trip to sea, a chase, and, perhaps, the capture of a vessel. You are really too kind, Commandant."
While the conversation became more and more friendly and lively in the state cabin, the corvette had started, and with all sail set, was pursuing Captain Johnson's brig.
"Halloh!" Don Cristoval suddenly asked, "What has become of our boat?"
"It was left fastened to a buoy," the Commandant said; "we will pick it up again when we return to our anchorage."
"Well," Don Serapio remarked laughingly, "if the privateer should feel inclined to fight, our sixteen men are quite at your disposal."
"I thank you, but do not think I shall requite their assistance."
"Who knows? No one can foresee events. Our sailors are brave, and, if it should come to fighting, be assured they will do their share."
Only one of the guests had remained silent during the breakfast, contenting himself with eating and drinking; while attentively listening to what was said around him. This guest was the lieutenant. So soon as the ship had started, he left the table, bowed to the company, and went on deck.
"Your lieutenant is no talker, Commandant," Doña Mencia observed; "he only opened his lips to eat and drink."
"That is true, Señorita; but pray excuse him, he is an old sailor, but little accustomed to society—he felt embarrassed and almost in his wrong place with you; but few men know their profession so well as he, or are so firm and intrepid in danger."
At this moment a loud detonation made the vessel quiver. "Ah!" said Doña Mencia with a cry of terror, "What does that mean?"
"Less than nothing, Señorita; we have merely hoisted our flag, and fired a blank shot, to oblige the brig to show her colours."
"Would there be any danger in going on deck?" Doña Mencia asked with curiosity.
"Not the least."
"In that case, with your permission, we will go up and see what is happening."
"I am at your orders, Señorita."
The breakfast was over; they left the table and went up on the quarterdeck. The ship offered to the sight of persons unacquainted with naval affairs, a most singular and attractive appearance. The powerful breeze had bellied the sails; the corvette bounded over the waves like a gazelle, but did not take in a drop of water over the catheads. On deck, the crew were standing silent and motionless by the standing rigging, the gunners at their pieces, and the topmen at their posts. On the forecastle Ramirez and his sixteen men were collected near the head, apparently indifferent, but actually watching the movements of the Mexican. At about a gunshot and a half distant, the brig could be seen, from whose peak haughtily floated a large American flag.
"I suspected it," said the Commandant, "it is a privateer, and has hoisted American colours to deceive us, but we are on our guard."
"Do you think, then, that ship is not American?" Don Serapio asked.
"No more than you are; it is an Argentine, or Brazilian privateer."
"Still, it appears American built,"
"That proves nothing; our ships, bought in different countries, have nothing that causes them to be recognized, for we have no docks."
"That is true; but look, she is going to tack."
"Yes, the sails are beginning to shiver."
The Mexicans fancied themselves so secure from an attack, that most of the crew had left their quarters to follow the manoeuvres of the brig; the sailors, perched on the yards, or leaning out of the ports, were curiously looking on, without dreaming of the danger such a breach of discipline might entail. In the meanwhile the brig came round, as Don Serapio had said. Suddenly, at the moment when it completed the manoeuvre, a detonation was heard, a shrill whistle cut through the air, and the corvette's bowsprit, pierced by a ball, fell into the sea, dragging with it the foremast.
This produced an extraordinary pause and confusion on board the corvette; the terrified sailors ran about in all directions, listening to nothing. At length the Commandant succeeded in overcoming the tumult; the crew recognized his voice, and at the order to fire, fifteen guns thundered at once, in reply to the unjustifiable aggression of the privateer.
The damage sustained by the corvette was serious; the bowsprit is the key of the ship's rigging, its loss entailed that of the foremast, which the main-topmast, no longer stayed, speedily followed. The utmost disorder prevailed on board, when, as nearly always happens under such circumstances, the crew had suddenly passed from blind confidence to profound terror.
The deck was encumbered with fragments of every description, yards, spars, sails, stunsail-booms, and entangled rigging, in the midst of which the sailors ran about distractedly, abandoning their posts, deaf to the exhortations equally with the menaces of their officers, and having only one thought: to escape from the death they believed suspended over their heads.
Still, the officers did not at all conceal from themselves the gravity of their position, which the brig's manoeuvres rendered more complicated, and momentarily more precarious; they did all in their power, therefore, to restore a little courage to all these individuals, whom terror blinded, and induce them to sell their lives dearly.
A fresh incident occurred suddenly, which rendered the situation of the ship, if possible, more critical and desperate. Commandant Rodriguez had not left the quarterdeck; motionless at his post during the events we have described, he had continued to give his orders in a firm voice, apparently not noticing the symptoms of insubordination which, since the catastrophe had happened, were manifest amongst the crew. With pale face, frowning brow, and clenched teeth, the old sailor mechanically played with the hilt of his sword, taking every now and then a cold and resolute glance around him, while exerting his officers to redouble their efforts to do their duty bravely.
Doña Mencia and the two supposititious officers of the American navy were standing silent and attentive by his side, probably awaiting the moment for action. At the tumult which suddenly broke out on the forecastle, they all three started and drew nearer to the commandant When the brig had so skilfully carried away the bowsprit of theLibertad, Ramirez and his sailors were the first to sow and propagate terror among the crew by uttering cries of terror; and running in all directions. Their example was promptly followed. Then they changed their tactics, and began openly accusing the commandant by asserting that he was a traitor, who wished to ruin them, and surrender the corvette to the insurgents.
There is nothing, however stupid it may be, a thinker has said, which people may not be led to believe by a certain mode of treating them. This remark is strictly true, and this time again received perfect application. The sailors of theLibertadforgot in an instant all they owed to the Commandant, whose constant solicitude watched over them with paternal care, for they were urged on and excited by the perfidious insinuations of Ramirez and his comrades. The courage they lacked to defend themselves and do their duty as men of honour, they found again to accuse their chief of treachery, and seizing any arms they came across, they rushed tumultuously toward the quarterdeck, uttering menaces and cries of revolt.
The officers, justly alarmed, and not knowing what means to employ to bring these men back to their duty, collected round their Commandant, resolved to save themselves or perish with him. The old sailor was still apparently just as calm and stoical; nothing revealed on his stern face the agony that secretly crushed his heart. With his arms folded on his chest, his head erect, and a steady glance, he awaited the mutineers.
The latter soon invaded the after part of the vessel; but, after passing the mainmast, they stopped, through a remnant of that respect which is innate in sailors for their superiors. The quarterdeck is that portion of the deck which is exclusively reserved for the officers: the sailors, under no consideration, are allowed to tread it, except for the purpose of executing a manoeuvre.
On reaching the foot of the mainmast, then, the mutineers hesitated, for they no longer felt on their own ground, and at length stopped: for the mere fact of their invading this part of the deck constituted a grave infraction of naval discipline. We have said that they stopped; but they were like an angry sea which breaks against the foot of a dyke it cannot dash over; that is to say, yelling and gesticulating furiously, but yet without going an inch further. At the same time, however, they did not fall back.
But this hesitation and almost timid attitude of the mutineers did not at all suit the views of those who had urged them to insubordination. Collected in the rear of the sailors, they shouted and gesticulated louder than the rest, trying by all means to revive the fire which was already threatening to expire. The corvette's deck presented at this moment the most desolating, and yet at the same time imposing appearance. In the midst of the fragments piled up pell-mell on this fine ship so fatally decapitated by canister shot, these men, with their rude and fierce features, grouped in disorderly and menacing groups; and, scarce a few yards from them, a small band of calm and resolute officers, collected round the Commandant, who, standing on the quarterdeck, seemed to dominate over the men. Then, a little in the rear, Doña Mencia and the two American officers, apparently disinterested spectators of the events which chance compelled them to witness, but, in reality, following with anxious glance all the incidents of the drama that was being played before them. Assuredly a painter would have found a magnificent subject for a picture in the position of the different characters, and the expression that at times lit up their masculine faces.
And then, in the distance the lofty sails of the brig could be seen glistening, which was rapidly approaching, doubtless with the intention of coming, like the classicDeus ex machina, to unravel at the right time this situation, which every passing moment only tended to render the more complicated.
There was a momentary truce between the two parties, who, like practised duellists, had tried to discover their adversary's vulnerable point before crossing swords. A deep silence prevailed on the deck of this ship, where so many passions were fermenting in these hearts of bronze; no other sound was audible save the hollow and monotonous moaning of the sea, as it broke against the sides of the corvette, and the indistinct sound of weapons clutched by eager hands.
This hesitation had something sinister and startling about it, and the Commandant resolved to put an end to it at all hazards. He understood that he was the only person who could make an appeal to these misguided men, who might possibly not remain dumb to the voice of duty speaking through the lips of a man, whose noble character they had enjoyed many opportunities of appreciating, and whom they had been so long accustomed to respect and love.
Commandant Rodriguez looked slowly and sadly, but yet firmly, round him, and extending his arm in the direction of the brig, which was hugging the wind to be able to run alongside the corvette more easily, he said, in a loud and marked voice—
"My men, here comes the enemy. We have our revenge to take upon him: then why are you not at your quarters? What do you want of me? Are you afraid that I shall fail you when the hour for fighting arrives?"
At this direct and firm appeal a strange quiver ran along the ranks of the mutineers; some of them were even going to reply, when a voice was heard from the rear: "Who tells you that we regard that vessel as an enemy?"
Immediately hurrahs and shouts of joy, mingled with oaths and hisses, burst forth on all sides.
"The man who dares to speak so," the Commandant shouted, in a voice that for a moment quelled the tumult, "is a traitor and a coward. He does not form part of my ship's crew."
An indescribable tumult then broke out. The sailors, forgetting all respect and discipline, rushed toward the quarterdeck with frightful yells and vociferations. The Commandant, not at all disconcerted by this hostile manifestation, seized a pistol, which a faithful sailor handed him, coolly cocked it, and addressing the mutineers, said: "Take care. The first who advances one step further I will blow out his brains."
Some men are gifted with so great a magnetic power, and their influence over the lower classes is so real, that the two to three hundred mutineers, at the sight of this man, who alone withstood and threatened them with a pistol, hesitated, and finally stopped, with a vague movement of alarm. It was evident that this pistol was little to be feared, even under the hypothesis that the Commandant carried out his threat, since it would only kill or wound one man; still, we repeat, all these men stopped, surprised, perhaps terrified, but certainly not able to account for the feelings they experienced. A smile played round the Commandant's lips; he understood that these rough and rebellious natures had been subdued. He determined to make sure of his triumph.
"Every man to his quarters," he said; "the topmen will get the ship clear while the carpenters rig up a jury bowsprit."
And leaving the quarterdeck, the Commandant advanced resolutely toward the mutineers. The latter fell back as he advanced, without speaking or gesticulating, but only opposing that final resistance, the most dangerous of all, the force of inertia. It was all over with the mutiny, however; the crew, shaken by the firm and wise conduct of their chief, were on the point of returning to their duty, when an unexpected incident completely changed the aspect of affairs, and put the officers once more in the critical position from which the Commandant had extricated them with such ease.
We have said that Doña Mencia and her two companions attentively followed the incidents of this scene, in readiness to interfere, when the moment arrived. Commandant Rodriguez had scarcely left the quarterdeck ere the young woman, or young man, whichever it may please the reader to call this mysterious being, rushed forward, and seizing a telescope, fixed it on the brig, as if to feel certain of the privateer's position, and be assured of support if required. The brig was now only two cables' lengths from the corvette, and within a few minutes would be within hail.
Suddenly Doña Mencia, throwing off her feminine character, hurriedly tore off the dress that covered her, removed her bonnet, and appeared in the masculine attire El Alferez had worn at the pulqueria. This transformation had been so rapid that the officers and crew had not recovered front the astonishment this strange metamorphosis caused them, when the young man, drawing a pistol from his belt, cocked and pointed it at a number of cartridges the boys had brought on deck when the Captain beat to quarters, and which they had left lying pell-mell at the foot of the mizzenmast during the disorder that followed the fall of the spars.
"Surrender!" El Alferez shouted in a thundering voice; "Surrender, or you are dead men!"
Don Cristoval and Don Serapio were standing on the right and left of the young man, holding a pistol in either hand. Ramirez, for his part, had lost no time; by his care two of the bow carronades had been dragged from their ports and trailed on the stern, and two sailors, match in hand, were standing motionless by them, only awaiting the signal to fire. Ramirez and the fourteen men left him were aiming at the Mexican sailors. The crew was taken between two fires; two hundred and fifty men were at the mercy of twenty. The position was desperate, and the Commandant had not even the resource of falling honourably.
The events had occurred with such rapidity, this coup-de-main, prepared long beforehand, had been carried out with such coolness and skill, and all had been so thoroughly foreseen, that the Commandant, after taking a despairing glance along the deck, was obliged to allow that he had only one chance of escape—laying down his arms. Still he hesitated, however, and El Alferez understood the combat that was going on in the heart of the brave officer.
"We are not pirates," he said, "Commandant Rodriguez, we are Texans; you can lay down your arms without shame—not to save your life, to which the defeat you have just suffered causes you to attach but slight value, and which you would doubtless readily sacrifice to expiate your misfortunes—but you are responsible before Heaven for the two hundred and fifty men forming your crew. Why needlessly shed precious blood! For the last time I invite you to surrender."
At this moment a thick shadow covered the deck of the corvette; the brig, which everyone had forgotten, had continued to advance; it had come within pistol shot, and its lofty sails stretched out over the vessel and intercepted the sunshine.