[1]In Botocondo,tarou, sun,niom, to come—rising sun.
[1]In Botocondo,tarou, sun,niom, to come—rising sun.
The man whom the marquis had called immediately after his interview with the mameluco, and whom he had at once ordered to enter his tent, was short and thick, but well made and strong, and about forty years of age.
An Indian of a pure race, he bore on his countenance, which neither tattoo nor paint disfigured, the distinctive traits, although a little effaced, of the Mogul race. His black eyes, lively and full, his straight nose, his large mouth, his rather high cheekbones, formed a physiognomy which, without being handsome, was not wanting in a certain sympathetic charm. As we have said, he commanded some soldados da conquista attached to the caravan.
The captain, for such is the title that he bore, respectfully saluted the marquis, and waited till it might please him to speak to him.
"Sit down, Diogo," said the marquis, kindly; "we must have a long talk together."
The Indian bowed, and seated himself.
"You saw the man who went out of this tent a minute ago, did you not?" resumed the marquis.
"Yes, your Excellency," answered the captain.
"And without doubt you recognised him."
The Indian smiled, without otherwise answering.
"Good; what do you think of him?"
"Of whom, your Excellency?" said he.
"Of the man of whom I am speaking."
"Why, your Excellency, I think of him what you yourself think, probably."
"I ask your opinion, Señor Don Diogo, in order to judge if it tallies with mine."
"Eh, eh," said the Indian, shaking his head.
"Which is—"
"That this man is a traitor, my lord."
"So you also believe in treason on his part?"
"Well, my lord, to speak frankly, for 'tis a frank explanation you ask of me is it not?"
"Certainly."
"Well, I am convinced that this accursed mameluco is quietly leading us to some trap that he has artfully prepared."
"That is very serious, you know," answered the marquis, in a reflective tone.
"Very serious indeed, your lordship. Malco is a sertanejos, and in the language of the desert, Sertão is the synonym of treason."
"Well, I avow to you the suspicions you utter do not astonish me."
"I am happy, my lord, to see you share my opinion."
"What! You have no suspicions?" cried the marquis.
"No, I am certain."
"Certain! And you have told me nothing of it up to the present time?"
"I am morally certain, but it would be impossible to prove what I advance at the present time."
The marquis allowed his head to fall on his breast, and remained silent for some moments.
"But," pursued he, "this moral certainty is founded on certain indications?"
"Oh, indications do not fail, my lord. Unhappily, these circumstances would appear very frivolous, if I revealed them to persons who were not forewarned; that is why I have abstained from saying anything to you before you asked me."
"Perhaps you are right, but now the situation is changed; it is I who, of my own accord, have asked this interview with you. The situation in which we are is critical; it may become more so."
"Come what may, I know I am doing my duty, and that is sufficient for me, even if Malco should come to affirm to your lordship that I have not spoken the truth about him."
"You have nothing to fear about señor Malco."
"Violent and wicked as he is, your lordship," answered the captain, with some animation, "I do not fear him, and he knows that well. This is not the first time we have fallen out."
"I did attach to my words the meaning you give to them; you have nothing to fear from Diaz, for the simple reason that he is no longer in my service."
"What! Your lordship," cried the Indian, with astonishment, "you have dismissed him?"
"No, it is he himself, of his own accord, who has left us to ourselves."
"Your Excellency was wrong to allow him to leave; when people have in their power a rascal of that stamp, they should not let him go."
"What could I do? His engagement was up, and he refused to renew it, or even to prolong it for some days; so I was obliged to consent to his departure."
"That is right, your Excellency; pardon me. This man was free, so you could not retain him; but, under similar circumstances, I should not have acted so, especially after my suspicions."
"I know well that is wrong; unhappily, I had no pretext to give him, no plausible reason to keep him."
"Yes, yes, all that is true; but believe me, my lord, if Malco has so abruptly left us, it is because he had strong reasons for doing so, and that he has near here some accomplices, in conjunction with whom he is preparing our ruin."
"I think with you, Don Diogo; but who are these accomplices? Where are they hidden?"
The captain smiled with cunning.
"Only birds and fishes do not leave traces of their path," said he; "skilful as a man may be, we can always discover his track."
"So you would give much to know where this man has gone to?"
"Certainly, my lord; notwithstanding the precautions by which he has surrounded his flight, and the care which he has taken to hide his tracks."
"Unhappily, before undertaking anything, we must wait for sunrise."
"Why should we wait till tomorrow, my lord? I ask your pardon for daring to interrogate you."
"Why, it appears to me that to discover a track, even if it were ever so plainly indicated, the first condition is to see clearly."
"That is of little importance, my lord," answered the captain; "for a man accustomed as I am to track the desert at all hours, darkness does not exist."
"So," cried the marquis, with a movement of satisfaction, "if I ordered you to mount horse—"
"I would mount immediately, my lord."
"And you would bring me news?"
"No doubt of it; am I not an Indian myself, my lord—a civilised Indian, it is true; but, nevertheless, I have preserved sufficient of the sagacity of the race to which I belong to fear no failure in a step which may appear to you very difficult."
"Since it is to be so, Don Diogo, put yourself in the saddle as soon as possible, and go, for heaven's sake. I await your return with most eager impatience."
"Before the rising of the sun I will return, and with good news; but I want you to allow me to conduct the affair in my own way."
"Act as you please, Captain; I trust to your sagacity."
"I shall not deceive your expectation, my lord," answered the captain, rising.
The marquis accompanied him as far as the curtain of the tent, and then returned to sit down; but, after some minutes of reflection, he abruptly rose, went out, and walked rapidly towards the mysterious tent of which we have already had occasion to speak.
This tent, much larger, than that erected for the marquis, was divided into several compartments by canvas sheets, ingeniously adapted, and rather resembled, for luxury and comfort, a habitation intended to last several months, than a camp merely constructed for a few hours.
The compartment which the marquis entered was furnished with sofas; a carpet was spread on the ground, and a silver lamp, curiously chased, placed on a piece of furniture, diffused a gentle and mellow light.
A young Negress of about twenty, of sprightly countenance and pretty figure, was occupied, on the entry of the marquis, in playing with a magnificent ara perched on a slip of rosewood, to which he was attached by a gold chain fastened to one of his legs.
The Negress, without leaving off the occupation in which she seemed to take delight, and making the bird utter discordant cries, leant carelessly towards the marquis, half turning in his direction with a movement full of arch insolence, and gave him a roguish look from beneath her long eyelashes, and waited till he should address her.
The marquis, without appearing to observe the hostile attitude assumed by the slave, took some steps towards her, and, touching her lightly with his finger—
"Phoebe," said he to her in Spanish, "will you please to take notice that I am here?"
"What is your presence to me, Señor marquis?" answered she, slightly shrugging her shoulder.
"To you, nothing; it is true, Phoebe, as it is not for you that I have come, but for your mistress."
"At this hour?"
"Why not?"
"Because doña Laura—fatigued, as it appears, by the long journey that she has been obliged to make today—has retired, ordering me not to allow anyone to come near her."
A feverish flush suffused the countenance of the marquis; he knitted his eyebrows so as to make them meet; but considering, no doubt, the ridiculousness of a scene with a slave who was only acting according to orders, he soon mastered himself.
"Well," said he, intentionally slightly raising his voice, "your mistress is free in her own house to act in her own way; only, this interview, which for some days she has refused me with such obstinacy, I shall know how to compel her to accord to me."
Scarcely had he pronounced these words, when a curtain was drawn aside, and doña Laura entered the room.
"You threaten me, I think, Don Roque de Castelmelhor," said she, in a sharp and loud voice. "Retire, Phoebe," added she; "but only go so far as you may be able to come to me immediately."
Phoebe bowed her head, cast a last look at the marquis, and left the room.
"Now, Señor caballero," pursued doña Laura, "since the slave has retired, speak; I will listen to you."
The marquis bowed respectfully to her—
"Not, Señorita, before you have deigned to take a seat."
"What good will that do? But," she added, "if that mark of condescension will abridge this interview, it would ill become me not to obey you."
The marquis bit his lip, but did not answer.
Doña Laura seated herself on the sofa farthest removed, and crossing her arms on her chest with a wearied air, while she fixed on her interlocutor a haughty look—
"Speak now, I beg you," said she. "Phoebe has not lied to you; I am extremely fatigued."
These words were hissed, if we may employ the happy expression of an old author, from the most sharpened beak than can be imagined, and doña Laura leant her head on a cushion, feigning a slight gape.
But the resolution of the marquis had been taken, not to see or understand anything.
Doña Laura was sixteen years of age; all grace and delicacy. Her charmingly developed figure had that sprightliness which Spanish women alone possess. Her bearing was marked by that careless and voluptuous languor, the secret of which the Hispano-Americans have obtained from the Andalusians. Her long deep chestnut hair fell in silky ringlets on brilliantly white shoulders; her blue and dreamy eyes seemed to reflect the azure of the sky, and were crowned by black eyebrows, the delicate outline of which was traced as with a pencil. Her finely chiselled nose, and her charming little mouth, which, in half opening, discovered a double row of pearly teeth, completed a beauty rendered more gentle and noble by the delicacy and transparency of her skin.
Dressed in gauze and muslin, like all Creoles, the young girl was ravishing, seated on a sofa like the beija flor in the chalice of a flower, especially at that moment when anger, suppressed and mastered with difficulty, caused her virgin bosom to palpitate, and covered her cheeks with a crimson flush, doña Laura had something seductive, and at the same time majestic about her, which imposed respect, and almost commanded veneration.
Don Roque de Castelmelhor, notwithstanding the decision, and the formal intention he had manifested, could not resist the powerful charm of a beauty so noble and pure. His look fell before that of the young girl, which was filled with hatred and almost with contempt.
"We have reached, Señorita," he said, "after great fatigues, the limit of the civilised countries of Brazil; for, if I do not deceive myself, the route it is now necessary to follow is hidden in deserts into which, before us, a few hardy explorers only had dared to venture. I think, then, that the time has come to exchange explanations frankly."
Doña Laura smiled with disdain, and, interrupting him with a gesture:
"As that situation, caballero," said she, with bitterness, "cannot be rendered clearer and more decided, I will spare you, if you wish it, the embarrassment of entering into certain details... Oh, do not interrupt me," said she, with vivacity, "here is the fact in a few words: my father, don Zeno Álvarez de Cabral, a descendant of one of the most illustrious conquerors of this country, a refugee in the environs of Buenos Aires, from reasons of which I am ignorant, but which doubtless little concern you, rendered hospitality to a lost traveller, who, in the middle of the night, during a frightful storm, presented himself at the door of his hacienda. That traveller was you, Señor, you, a descendant of a race not less illustrious than ours, since one of your ancestors was governor of Brazil. The name of the marquis, don Roque de Castelmelhor, offered to my father all the guarantees of honour and good faith he could desire; you were received, then, by the exile, not as a foreigner, not even as a compatriot, but as a friend and a brother. Our family became yours; all that is true, is it not?"
"All that is true, Señorita," answered the marquis.
"I see, with pleasure, that you have, in default of other qualities, frankness, Señor," ironically replied the girl. "Robbed of all its property, my family, exiled for nearly a century from the country discovered by one of its ancestors, could live but with difficulty. You presented yourself to my father as a victim of the political intrigues of people into whose hands the king of Portugal had delegated his powers; this reason was sufficient for our house to become yours, and for my father not keeping secrets from you. There was one, however, of which, notwithstanding all your skill, it was impossible for you to obtain the revelation; it is on the discovery of that secret that depended the future fortune of his family, if, as my father hoped, the king should permit him someday to return to Brazil. This secret, which my father, my brother, and myself alone knew, by what means you succeeded, if not in wholly discovering it, at least in penetrating it sufficiently that your covetousness and your avarice should be aroused to the point of making you betray your benefactors—that is what I shall not seek to explain. In a word, although you had, during several months, lived intimately with us, without appearing to honour me with the least attention—treating me rather as a child than as a young girl, suddenly you changed. You see that I also am frank."
"Go on, Señorita," answered the marquis, smiling, "I know your candour. It remains for me to learn whether you possess as much perspicacity."
"You shall not be long judging of that, Señor," replied she, ironically. "Perhaps your cares and devotion would have obtained the result you hoped for, and I might have been brought, if not to love you, at least to be interested in you; but, happily for me, I was not long in seeing clearly into your heart. Carried away by insatiable avarice, you allowed yourself on several occasions in my presence, to speak to me of everything but your pretended love."
"Oh, Señorita," exclaimed the marquis.
"Yes," answered she, with bitter raillery; "I know you are a consummate actor, and that it would not be my fault were I even now to believe in that passion of which you make so great a display."
The young girl paused for some moments, to allow the marquis the opportunity of answering, but, instead of doing so, he bit his lips and bowed his head.
Doña Laura smiled.
"The brutal way in which you have traitorously carried me off is the most decided proof to me of the odious scheme of which I have been the victim. If you really loved me, nothing was easier to you than to ask my hand of my father."
"Señorita, did you not answer to the demand I had the honour to address to you by a refusal?" asked the marquis.
"Certainly; but I am only a young girl," answered she, with animation, "a child, as you yourself have said, who does not know herself. That offer of marriage ought not then in any way, and especially with regard to the rules of society to have been addressed to me, but to my father. But no! You had another design: that marriage was but a pretext for you to seize on the immense riches you covet. At this moment you would not dare to maintain the contrary."
"Who knows?" murmured he, with an air of raillery.
"So you have preferred to cause me to fall into a snare, to carry me away from my family, whom my disappearance has plunged into the most profound despair, and to force me to follow you—I, a poor defenceless child, a prisoner in the midst of bandits, of whom you are the chief."
"Since, according to your own expression, Señorita, I have so brutally carried you away from your family, have I conducted myself towards you otherwise than as a gentleman of my name and race ought?"
"It is true," answered she, bursting into a fit of laughter; "I must admit that. But what is the cause of these attentions and this respect?"
"Love most sincere and most—"
"Enough of lies, Señor;" she cried, "your first word on entering under this tent betrayed you."
"Señorita!"
"You believe yourself to have arrived in the latitude of the diamond country discovered by one of my ancestors, and you wish at last to try and obtain from me—for avarice blinds you—the revelation of the secret you believe I possess!"
There was, after this accusation, so energetically pronounced by the young girl, some minutes of deathlike silence in the tent.
Without, the wind lashed the trees, and intertwined the branches with sounds almost like human wailings; the leaves were whirled in the air, and fell quivering on the thicket; at short intervals the lugubrious note of the owl, concealed in the hollows of the rocks, was heard, repeated from the distance like a dismal echo. Vague and indefinable sounds arose, carried on the wings of the wind, dying away only to be continually repeated, and further adding to the mysterious horror of this sombre and moonless night, the thick darkness of which gave to the objects a fantastically deathlike appearance.
The marquis had risen, his arms crossed behind his back, his head reclining on his breast; he strode about the tent, a prey to an agitation which he made vain efforts to conceal.
Doña Laura, half lying on the sofa, her head thrown backwards, followed him with a fixed and mocking look, waiting with anxiety the approaching explosion of that anger she had not been afraid to excite.
At last, after some minutes, which appeared an age to the young girl, the marquis stopped in front of her, and raised his head.
His face was pale, but his features had resumed their careless and mocking expression, only a light nervous quivering of his eyebrows—an index with him of a furious rage, mastered with difficulty—bore witness to the efforts he was compelled to make to subdue himself.
"I have allowed you, have I not, Señorita," said he, "to speak without interrupting you; I have in this interview—you will at least render me that justice—given proof, not only of patience, but of good taste. In fact," added he, with an ironical smile, "of what use is it to discuss an accomplished fact? Nothing that you can say will change your actual position; you are in my power; no human aid can succeed in modifying my intentions towards you. This conversation, that I should wish to have been conducted more amicably, you yourself, of your own accord, have placed on the unfriendly footing on which it now is."
He stopped; the young girl coquettishly supported her head on her right hand, and surveying him with a look, in which contempt and raillery were equally mingled, she answered him with a careless voice—
"You make a grave mistake, caballero. This conversation, which you value so much, I care very little for. Now that I have explained myself clearly, and without reservation, I will allow you to speak as much as you please, since it is impossible for me to impose silence on you, and I am condemned to hear you; only, I warn you beforehand, in order to avoid the expenditure of useless eloquence, that whatever you may say to me, whatever may be the threats you offer me, you will not obtain the honour of an answer."
The marquis bit his lip with so much violence that he drew blood, but answered with a sneer—
"In truth, Señorita, is this resolution firmly fixed in your mind? You will not deign to answer me? I shall be deprived of hearing the harmonious music of your gentle voice resounding in my ear; but, in spite of yourself, I am convinced, you will fail in your heroic vow."
"Try it," answered she with disdain. "The occasion is suitable for me to give you a denial."
"I shall take care not to allow it to escape, Señorita."
The marquis approached a butaca, placed a few paces before the young girl, sat down, and assuming an attitude full of grace and carelessness, he continued in a tone as peaceable as though he had been commencing a confidential communication—
"Señorita," said he, "you have, I admit, perfectly defined our respective positions; that secret you possess has been revealed to me by chance by a former servant of your family, who sold it me very dear. It was, then, with the fixed intention of obtaining the information necessary to the success of my plans, that I presented myself to your father. You see that I imitate your candour. I did not love you, and, to say the truth, I do not love you now. A woman like you, seductive as you are, would not suit me; your disposition is too much like my own. I should have probably married you had you consented to give me your hand—pardon me this rude candour—but, resolved to seize the treasure that I covet, I should, to assure myself of its possession, have accomplished what I consider as the greatest sacrifice, that is to say, the act of alienating my liberty forever in favour of a woman whom I did not love."
The young girl bowed with a mocking smile, and clapped her hands two or three times.
Almost immediately the curtain was drawn aside, and the slave appeared.
"Phoebe," said doña Laura to her, "as probably I shall not be able to take the repose which I need till very late, and as I feel, in spite of myself, my eyelids drooping, and sleep overcoming me, bring me the maté, my child, and bring me at the same time papelitos; perhaps these two stimulants combined, and taken in a strong dose, will triumph over the sleepiness which oppresses me."
The slave went out laughing, and the marquis remained an instant, overcome by the superb coolness of the young girl, and her heroic indifference.
Some minutes passed away, during which they both maintained silence; there the light step of the Negress was again heard, and she reappeared, holding in her hands a silver platter, on which were the maté, some cigarettes of Indian maize straw, and a silver braserito, containing fire.
Phoebe presented the maté to her mistress, and made a movement to withdraw.
"Remain, chica," said doña Laura; "what the marquis has to tell me cannot be too serious for you to hear."
The young servant placed on the table the platter she held, and came incontinently to lie at the feet of her mistress, exchanging with her a mocking smile, which redoubled, if that is possible, the rage of the marquis.
"Let it be so," said the marquis, bowing, "I will continue before your slave, Señorita; it is little consequence to me who hears or who listens to me; moreover, I have but a few more words to say."
Doña Laura sipped her maté, without paying any attention to the speech of the marquis.
"You never put sugar enough in the maté, chica," said she; "this is bitter."
"I was saying, Señorita," continued the marquis, "that, repulsed by you, but not wishing to renounce projects for a long time ripened and fixed in my mind, I at last resolved to carry you away. I will not weary you with the recital of the means employed by me to succeed in deceiving the restless vigilance of your family. Since you are here alone in my power, at several hundred leagues from the residence of your father, it is not only that I have succeeded in making you fall into the snare laid by me under your feet, but also that I have so well guarded against the suspicions of those who interest themselves in your fate."
"Decidedly, Phoebe, this maté is too bitter," said the young girl; "give me a cigarette."
The slave obeyed.
"Now, Señorita," continued the marquis, still impassable, "I am coming to the end of this conversation, of which all that has been yet said is to a certain extent only a preface—a rather long preface, perhaps, but one which you will pardon me, for it was indispensable, to make myself well understood by you. I have carried you away, it is true; but reassure yourself, as long as you remain under my protection, your honour shall be safe; I give you the word of a gentleman for it. You smile; you are wrong. I am honest in my way. Give me the exact indications that I expect from you, and immediately I grant you, not only liberty, but, moreover, I engage to send you back safe and sound, without your honour being suspected, into the hands of your family. Strange as this proposition may appear to you, it is nevertheless serious, and appears to me to merit your consideration. Answer me one word—one word only, 'Yes' and on the instant you are free."
The marquis paused; doña Laura remained mute, and appeared not to have heard.
"You are obstinate, Señorita," replied Don Roque, with some animation "you are wrong; you are staking, I repeat, your fortune and your future happiness at this moment."
"Another cigarette, Phoebe," interrupted doña Laura, shrugging her shoulders.
"Beware!" cried Don Roque, with ill-suppressed irritation; "Beware, Señorita we must finish once for all these continual evasions."
The young girl rose, took a step towards the marquis, measured him for an instant from head to foot, covering him, so to speak, with a look charged with all the contempt which she felt for him, and turning towards Phoebe, who was motionless and mute by her side—
"Come, chica," said she to her, placing her hand on her shoulder; "the night is far advanced, it is time for us to retire, and go to sleep."
And without granting another look to the marquis, mute and stupefied with this audacious procedure, the young girl quitted the room.
In spite of himself, the marquis remained an instant in the place which he occupied; his eyes firmly fixed on the curtain, the folds of which still preserved a scarcely perceptible vibration. All of a sudden he recovered himself, passed his hand across his forehead, moist with perspiration, and darting a look of hatred towards the spot where doña Laura had disappeared—
"Oh!" cried he, with a voice stifled by fury, "What tortures will I pay for so many insults!"
He left the tent, staggering like a drunken man.
The cold air of the night, fanning his face, brought him wonderful relief; little by little his features regained their serenity; calmness returned to his mind; an ironical smile played upon his slender lips, and he murmured in a low voice, as he strode towards his tent:
"Fool that I am to allow myself to be carried away thus by a foolish child! What in reality are her insults and contempt to me? Am I not master to subdue her pride? Patience, patience! Nay, vengeance, if it be long in coming, will only strike her the more cruelly, and will be only the more terrible."
The marquis re-entered his tent. After having regulated the wick of a lamp the flickering light of which feebly illumined the surrounding objects, Don Roque approached a round stool, which served him for a table, and drawing from his breast a yellow and stained paper, on which was rudely drawn, by an unskilful hand, a kind of rough plan, he proceeded to study it with the greatest care, and was not long in becoming completely absorbed.
The entire night was passed away without the marquis quitting the position he had taken, and without his eyes closing for a single instant.
The plan, rough and incomplete as it appeared to be, was that of the diamond country, which concealed those incalculable riches so ardently coveted by the young man.
But this plan—made from memory a long time after having seen the country, and that in superficial manner, by an ignorant man—could unluckily only be a feeble aid to the marquis. He felt it in spite of himself, and this certainty redoubled his fury.
But what could be done with a woman more than he had done with doña Laura? How was he to vanquish her resistance, and constrain her to speak?
For more than three hours the sun had already risen; the marquis, still plunged in his thoughts, had not appeared to perceive the return of the light, when the gallop of a horse which approached rapidly, caused him suddenly to raise his head.
At the same instant the curtain of the tent was withdrawn, and the captain entered.
The Indian was covered with dust; his flushed features, and his forehead covered with perspiration, showed the velocity of his journey.
"Ah, it is you, Diogo!" cried the marquis on perceiving him. "Welcome, what news?"
"Nothing, my lord," answered the captain.
"How nothing? Have you not been able to succeed in discovering the track of that Malco?"
"Pardon me, my lord; I have, on the contrary, followed that track for more than three hours."
"Then you have news to give me?"
"I have, my lord, but not what you expect."
"Explain yourself, my friend; my head is a little fatigued."
"Here is the fact, in a few words, my lord. After having, as I have told you, followed for three hours, without the slightest deviation, the track of Malco—a track, let it be said to his honour, thoroughly devious, and as to which everybody but myself would inevitably have been deceived, so skilfully was it made—I arrived on the borders of a forest, into which I did not hesitate to enter. Absorbed by the care I took in not losing this frightfully involved track, I did not care to look much around me, so that I suddenly found myself in an Indian encampment."
"An encampment of Indians so near us!" cried the marquis, with surprise.
"Yes, my lord, of Indian bravos, and moreover, the bravest of this country."
"H'm—already!"
"Yes, I found myself suddenly face to face with three Indians, of whom one was a Guaycurus, the other a Payagoas; as to the other, he was simply a Monduruka slave."
"Oh, oh! That is serious for us."
"It could not be more serious, my lord."
"And how did you escape from this trap?"
"These savages have honour. Although my uniform revealed me as one of their most deadly enemies, they, nevertheless, received me in a friendly way, and invited me to sit near their fire."
"That is strange," murmured the marquis.
"Seeing that they received me thus, I accepted their invitation frankly, and sat myself near them. My design was to make them talk, in which I succeeded."
"Aha! What did they say?"
"They informed me that Malco had come to seek them some hours before me; that he had had a long conversation with them, and that he had informed them of your arrival, the number of men at your disposal, and even the very spot where you encamped."
"The wretch! The double traitor!" cried the marquis.
"This revelation, I admit, made me reflect seriously, and placed me in great embarrassment, from which I did not know how to escape, when the Indians themselves furnished me with the means to make an honourable retreat."
"How is that?"
"The Guaycurus chief informed me that the truce concluded with the whites had been broken."
"Oh!" exclaimed the marquis, "What fatality! To fail so near the end."
"Permit me to finish, my lord."
"Speak! Speak!"
"The chief added, that probably as you had for a long time left the plantations, you were ignorant of this rupture, and that consequently it would not be right to abuse your good faith by attacking you."
"Ah!" said the marquis, breathing heavily.
"As they do no not wish to be wanting in the laws of hospitality, they give you two days to go away."
"H'm," cried the marquis, whom these last words plunged more profoundly into the perplexity from which, for an instant, he thought he had escaped; "What did you say then, Diogo?"
"The most strict truth, my lord, on my honour."
"I believe you, my friend; but finish."
"Oh, I have nothing much more to add, except that they informed me that, in case you refused to accept this condition, you would be inevitably attacked."
"And about Malco? Did they tell you nothing more about him?"
"Not a word, my lord."
"So that you are completely unaware where this wretch hides himself?"
"Absolutely, my lord; I thought that what the Guaycurus chief had told me was of such great importance, that you would desire to be informed of it as soon as possible, so I have returned as rapidly as I could."
"You have done well, my friend; I thank you. But in such circumstances as these," he asked, "how would you act?"
"I should beat a retreat."
"Beat a retreat; never!"
"Then we shall be massacred to the last man."
"No matter, I will push ahead. You will not abandon me?"
"I, my lord? My duty is to follow you; wherever you go I will follow. What is it to me to be killed?"
And after having respectfully saluted the young man, the captain withdrew with as tranquil and careless a step as though he were not certain beforehand that the order just given him was equivalent to a condemnation to death.
When he was alone the marquis remained an instant motionless; then, stamping his foot with rage, and darting to heaven a look of defiance—
"Oh!" cried he, with a stifled voice, "These cursed diamonds; I will have them, although it were necessary, in seizing them, to walk in blood up to the girdle."
While, according to his orders, the captain of the soldados da conquista caused the camp to be raised and the mules to be laden, preparing everything for an immediate departure, the marquis—a prey to a terrible agitation—strode about his tent, cursing the fate which appeared to dog his steps, and obstinately to destroy his most skilful plans, constantly removing far from him at the moment when he thought to seize it, the rich treasure that he coveted—a treasure which, since he had laid himself out to seek it, had cost him so much fatigue and weariness of every kind, and for which he had during so long a time braved immense perils, and almost lost his honour.
Suddenly he stopped, striking his forehead. A new idea crossed his mind, giving a brightness to his eye; he tore a page from his pocketbook, wrote some words in haste, and gave it to a slave, ordering him to carry it, on his part, to doña Laura Antonia de Cabral.
The day was splendidly beautiful; the sun had risen, radiant on the horizon in waves of purple and gold; the morning breeze gently refreshed the atmosphere, and the birds, timidly perched under the foliage, sang with full vigour their joyous songs.
All was joy and happiness in that scene, so calm and majestic, which the hand of man had not yet deformed.
The black slaves, the half-caste hunters, and the Indian soldiers who composed the caravan, felt, spite of themselves, the magnetic influence of that delicious morning, and appeared to have forgotten their past perils and fatigues to care for nothing but the future, which appeared to them so sweet, and so full of seductive promise; it was in laughing, in singing, and in talking gaily among themselves, that they accomplished the rude task of raising the camp.
The marquis alone remained dull and pensive. It was because, scorched by the shameful thirst for gold, his heart concealed a terrible tempest, and remained insensible to the magnificent harmonies of nature which acted so powerfully on the rude but honest organisations of the Indians and Negroes.
However, the horses were saddled, the mules were again loaded, the rolled up tents were placed on a waggon drawn by several oxen. Doña Laura had stepped into her palanquin, which was immediately closed upon her. They only waited the order of the marquis to put themselves en route.
Don Roque was walking apart, absorbed in his thoughts; he appeared to have forgotten that all was ready for the departure, and that the moment had come to effect the descent of the mountain—to enter the desert.
At last the captain ventured to touch him lightly on the arm.
"What do you want with me, Don Diogo?" asked Don Roque, drily.
"My lord," answered he, "we only await your pleasure to commence the journey."
"If it is so, let us set out immediately," answered he, making a movement towards his horse.
"Pardon, my lord," pursued the Indian; "before you give orders for the march, I have some important information to submit to you."
"To me!" cried the marquis, looking at him with surprise.
"To you, my lord," coldly answered the Indian.
"Is it a new treason by which I am threatened?" pursued he, with a bitter smile; "And do you wish to abandon me—you also, Don Diogo?"
"You are doubly unjust to me, my lord," sharply answered the Indian; "I have no intention of abandoning you."
"If I am wrong, which is possible, excuse me, Don Diogo; and let us come to business, I beg you. Time flies."
"Some minutes more or less do not matter, my lord; we shall arrive quickly enough where we are going."
"What do you wish to say—explain yourself."
"What I have already had the honour to say to you this morning, my lord, that not one of us will return from this expedition."
The marquis made a gesture of impatience—
"Is it then for you to repeat to me your sinister predictions that you stop me thus?" he cried.
"By no means, your Excellency; I do not admit my right either to control your acts or to oppose your plans. I have warned you, that is all. I am now at your orders."
"You have not, I hope, whispered a word to anyone of these absurd crotchets which possess your brain?"
"What use would it be, my lord, to speak without your authority of what you term crotchets, and what I term certainties? The soldiers placed under my orders know as well as I do what awaits them in the desert. As to your slaves, what use would it be to frighten them beforehand? Is it not better to leave them in entire ignorance? For, I repeat, to escape will be impossible for us."
The marquis knitted his eyebrows, and crossed his arms with anger.
"Let us see," resumed he, with a subdued voice, but nevertheless, with trembled emotion, "let us make amend for it, Diogo."
"I ask nothing better, your Excellency."
"Speak, but be brief; I repeat, time flies, an hour ago we ought to have been on our journey."
The captain scratched his forehead with an embarrassed air, but appearing all of a sudden to arrive at a decision.
"This is the state of the case, my lord," said he; "up to the present time we have traversed civilised countries, or nearly so, where we have only had to contend against ordinary dangers; that is to say, the bites of wild beasts or those of reptiles."
"Well?"
"Why, you understand, my lord, we are about, in a few minutes, to enter the territory of the redskins."
"To what are you driving, with these interminable preambles?" asked the marquis.
"To this, your Excellency; you are a great lord, expert in everything connected with civilised life, but pardon me for saying so, in complete ignorance of life in the desert. I believe then, with all due respect to you, my lord, that it would be well for you to permit me to take upon myself alone, from today, the responsibility of the journey of the caravan. There, your Excellency, that is what I wished to say to you."
The marquis remained some moments silent; his eyes fixed on the calm and loyal countenance of the captain.
"What you ask of me is very serious, Don Diogo," at last answered the marquis. "Treason surrounds me on every side; the men on whom I thought I had the most right to count have been the first to abandon me; you yourself consider this journey in advance to be a folly, and appear to be afflicted by sad presentiments."
"Your Excellency, I am not surprised at the suspicions against me which arise in your mind; on the contrary, I think them very natural. But the soldados da conquista are all tried men, chosen with the greatest care, and since the formation of this corps there has never been found a traitor in it. I do not say this for myself, but the honourable manner in which I have spoken to you—the things I have told you—ought to inspire, if not entire confidence in me, at least the commencement of it."
"Yes, I know; all your proceedings have been in good faith; you see that I render you justice."
"Not sufficiently, your Excellency; you judge me according to the knowledge acquired in civilised life, and not by that of the desert. Permit me, then, to make a simple observation."
"Speak."
"We are fifty leagues from the nearest town, a few leagues only from the Indian enemies, who only await an opportunity to attack us."
"That is true," murmured the marquis pensively,
"Good! You understand me, your Excellency; now, suppose I am a traitor?"
"I have not said so."
"Well! I admit nothing would be easier for me than to abandon you to yourself where we now are—to leave with my soldiers, and believe me, your Excellency, you would be as irremediably lost as if I gave you over tomorrow, or any other day, to the Indians."
The marquis turned pale, and his head fell on his breast with a troubled air. The logic of the captain's reason struck him to the heart, showing him his own powerlessness, and the great devotion of the man whom he accused, and who was ready so nobly to sacrifice his life to serve him.
"Pardon me my unjust suspicions, Don Diogo," he said; "my doubts are dissipated forever. I have faith in you; act in your own way, without even consulting me, if you think necessary. I swear to you, on my word of honour as a gentleman, that I will not embarrass you in anything; and that, under all circumstances, I will be the first to set the example of obedience."
"I regret that I only have a life to sacrifice for you, my lord," answered the captain.
"Do not speak any more of that, my friend, but act for the best."
"I will try to do so, my lord. First, will you inform me in what direction you intend to proceed?"
"We must first reach the borders of a little lake which lies in the neighbourhood of the Rio Bermejo."
"Oh, oh," answered the Indian, "the journey is long; we have to traverse, before arriving there, all the country of the Guaycurus and the Payagoas; then we shall pass the Rio Pilcomayo, to enter the Islano de Manso. It is a rough way, your Excellency."
"I have always thought that Malco Diaz made us take a wrong direction."
"You are wrong, my lord. The manner in which he has abandoned you shows that he had the greatest interest in bringing you as quickly as possible to the Indian territory."
"That is true."
"Now, my lord, if you will please to mount horse, we will set out as soon as you like."
"Immediately," answered the marquis.
The young man went towards the palanquin, in which doña Laura was shut up, whilst the captain rejoined his soldiers, and prepared all for the departure.
The marquis reined his horse to the right side of the palanquin, and slightly leaning from his saddle—
"Doña Laura," said he, "do you hear me?"
"I hear you," answered the young girl, although she remained invisible.
"Will you listen to me for a few minutes?" pursued the marquis.
"It is impossible for me to do otherwise," murmured she.
"You have received my letter this morning? Have you read it?"
"I have read it."
"I thank you, Señorita."
"I do not accept thanks which I do not merit."
"For what reason?"
"Because this letter has not in the least influenced my immovable determination."
The marquis made a gesture of scorn.
"You do not accept my conditions?"
"No."
"Consider, that a terrible danger threatens you."
"It will be welcome, whatever it may be, if it delivers me from the slavery in which you hold me."
"That is your last word, Señorita?"
"The last."
"But such obstinacy is folly."
"Perhaps. In any case it avenges me of you."
"It is to death that you are proceeding."
"I hope so; but you only asked of me a few minutes for conversation. They have nearly passed. Spare me then, Señor, speaking anymore to me, for I shall not answer you. Moreover, I perceive that your bandits are resuming their journey."
Indeed, the caravan began to descend the slope of the mountain, the path narrowed more and more, and a long conversation became absolutely impossible.
"Oh; curses on you," cried the marquis with rage.
The young girl only answered by a burst of mocking laughter. Don Roque made a last gesture of menace, and buried his spurs in the flanks of his horse.
The captain had brought to bear on his arrangements for the march the qualities both of a soldier and an experienced trapper.
The soldados da conquista, accustomed for a long period to make war on the Indians, had been placed in advance by him, and on the flanks of the caravan, under orders to clear the route, and to carefully watch the thickets both to the right and left.
The half-caste hunters, formed in a single compact troop, advanced, fusil on thigh and finger on trigger, with eye and ear on the watch.
The Negro slaves formed the rearguard.
The caravan, thus disposed, could not but present a considerably extended and imposing line. It was composed of fifty-five men in all, of whom about forty-five were resolute fellows, for a long time accustomed to track the desert, and who could be reasonably counted on in case of need. As to the other ten, they were Negro or mulatto slaves who had never seen fire.
The caravan slowly descended the mountain, its track cleared right and left by the soldiers sent out by the captain as scouts.
By degrees, as the travellers approached the desert, the landscape changed, and assumed a more imposing and grand aspect.
Some moments more, and the descent would be finished.
Don Roque approached Don Diogo, and touching him lightly on the shoulder—
"Well," said he, smiling, "we shall soon be on the plain, and we have not seen a living soul. Believe me, captain, the threats made by the Indians are but rodomontade; they have tried to frighten us, that is all."
"Do you speak seriously, my lord?" said the Indian. "Do you really believe what you say?"
"Certainly, dear Don Diogo; and everything, it appears to me, gives me reason to do so."
"Then you are taking a wrong view of it, your Excellency, for I certify to you that the Guaycurus have advanced nothing that they do not intend to carry out."
"Do you fear an attack?" said the marquis.
"An attack—not, perhaps, immediately, but at least a summons."
"A summons; on the part of whom?"
"Why, on the part of the Guaycurus, probably."
"Come, you are jesting. On what do you base such supposition?"
"I do not suppose, your Excellency, I see."
"What, you see—"
"Yes, and it is easy for you to do the same, for before a quarter of an hour the man whom I warn you of will be before you."
"Oh, oh! That is good."
"Look, your Excellency," said Diogo, stretching his arm in a certain direction; "do you see that grass which quivers and bends with a regular movement?"
"Yes, I see it; well?"
"You remark, do you not, that this movement is only partial, and continually advances towards us?"
"Just so; but what does that prove?"
"That proves, your Excellency, that an Indian is coming towards us at a gallop."
"Come, you are jesting, captain."
"Not the least in the world, my lord; you will soon have a proof of it."
"I shall only believe it when I see it."
"If it is so," pursued the captain, hiding a smile, "believe, then, for here he is."
At that moment a Guaycurus Indian, armed as a warrior, and mounted on a magnificent horse, suddenly emerged from the high grass, and boldly reined up across the path, within a pistol shot of the Brazilians, waving in his hand a tapir skin.
"Fire on that vagabond," cried the marquis, shouldering his carbine.
"Do not do that," said the captain.
"What! Is he not an enemy?" pursued the marquis.
"That may be, your Excellency; but at this moment he is an envoy."
"As an envoy—that savage? You are jesting with me without doubt," cried the marquis.
"By no means, my lord; let us hear what this man has to say to us."
"What good will it be?" said he, with scorn.
"If it were only to know the projects of those who have sent him."
The marquis hesitated an instant, then placing his carbine again in his shoulder belt—
"Well, that is possible," murmured he; "better allow him to explain himself. Who knows? Perhaps they desire to treat with us."
"It is not probable," answered the captain laughing; "but, in any case, if you will permit me, my lord, I will go and question him."
"Do so, do so, Don Diogo; I am curious to know this message."
The captain bowed; then, after having thrown down his tromblon, his sabre, and his knife, he proceeded at a trot towards the Indian.
"You are mad," cried Don Roque, darting towards him; "what, do you abandon your arms? Do you wish, then, to be assassinated?"
Don Diogo smiled, shrugging his shoulders with disdain, and, holding back the marquis's horse by the bridle to prevent him advancing any further—
"Do you not see that that man is without arms?" said he.
The marquis made a gesture of surprise, and stopped; he had not remarked that circumstance.
The vast territory of Brazil is even at the present time inhabited by numerous Indian tribes, spread over the sombre forests and the vast deserts which cover that country.
Of these nations, two especially hold an important place in the history of the aboriginal races of Brazil; these are the Payagoas and the Guaycurus.
The latter most particularly occupy our attention.
After having exchanged with the marquis the few words which we have reported, Don Diogo advanced alone, and without arms, towards the Indian, who was boldly stationed across the path, and who regarded him as he approached without making the slightest movement.
These two men, although of a common origin, and both descended from the aboriginal race, and from the first owners of the soil which they trod, offered, nevertheless, two quite distinct types, and formed the most complete contrast.
The Guaycurus, painted as a warrior, proudly draped in his poncho, boldly sitting on his horse—as untamed as himself—his flashing eye firmly fixed on the man who advanced towards him, whilst a smile of proud disdain played upon his lips, would have well represented in the eyes of an observer the type of that powerful race, confident in its right and in its power, which, since the first day of its discovery, has sworn an implacable hatred to the whites; has retreated step by step before them, without ever having turned their back; and which has resolved to perish rather than submit to an odious yoke and a dishonourable servitude.
The captain, on the contrary—less vigorously built, embarrassed in his exact and artificial costume, bearing on his features the indelible mark of the servitude to which he had submitted, constrained in his posture, replacing haughtiness by effrontery, and only fixing by stealth a saturnine look on his adversary—represented the bastard type of that race to which he had ceased to belong, and the costumes of which he had repudiated, to adopt without understanding them, those of his conquerors, instinctively feeling his inferiority, and submitting, perhaps unknown to himself, to the magnetic influence of that nature which was so strong because it was free.
"Who are you, dog?" said the Guaycurus, harshly, casting on him a look of contempt; "You who bear the garments of a slave?"
"I am as you are, a son of this land," answered the captain, in a morose tone, "only more happy than you; my eyes are open to the true faith."
"Do not employ your lying tongue in sounding your own praises. It ill becomes you to me," answered the warrior, "to boast of the sweetness of slavery."
"Are you then come, crossing my route, to insult me?" said the captain, with an ill-suppressed accent of rage. "My arm is long, and my patience short."
The warrior made a gesture of disdain.
"Who would dare to flatter himself to frighten Tarou Niom?" said he.
"I know you; I know that you are famed in your nation for your courage in combat and your wisdom in council. Cease, then, from vain romancing and bombast."
"A fool sometimes gives good counsel," was the warrior's repartee; "what you say is just. Let us come, then, to the real subject of this interview. I wait while you explain."
"Why have you not reported to the palefaces the message with which I charged you for them?"
"I am no more the slave of the whites than you."
"And notwithstanding that warning, they continue to march in advance?"
"You see it is so."
"These men are mad."
"They by no means share that opinion. More sensible than you, without fearing you, they do not scorn you."
"Is it not the greatest insult they can offer us, to dare to invade our territory?"
"They do not invade your territory."
"You are a dog with a forked tongue. The palefaces have no occasion to traverse our country."
"You have not the right to hinder the passage of peaceable citizens through your country."
"If we have not that right, we take it. The Guaycurus are the only masters of these territories."
"Listen to me," said Diogo, "that the truth may penetrate to your heart."
"Speak; am I not here to listen to you?"
"We have no intention of penetrating any further into your country; we only wish to pass."
"Aha! And what do you call the country to which you are going?" pursued the chief.
"The country of the Frentones."
"The Frentones are the allies of my nation; to enter on their territory is to enter on ours. We will not suffer this violation. Go and rejoin him who has sent you, and tell him that Tarou Niom consents to allow him to go, on condition that he will immediately turn his horse's head towards the north."
The captain remained unmoved.
"Do you not understand me?" asked the warrior, with violence; "On that condition alone can you hope to escape, every one of you, from death or slavery. Go!"
"It is useless," answered the captain; "the white chief will not consent to return before having definitively accomplished the object of his journey."
"What interest induces this man to stake his life?"
"I do not know; that is not my affair."
"Good; so, notwithstanding all that I may say to him, he will continue to advance?"
"I am convinced of it."
"Very well, he shall die."
"Is it, then, war that you desire?"
"No, it is vengeance. The whites are not our enemies; they are wild beasts that we kill."
"Take care, chief; the struggle between us will be serious, I warn you."
"So much the better; it is a long time since my sons have met an enemy worthy of their courage."
"This conversation is now useless; allow me to return to my people."
"Go, then; I have no more, indeed, to say to you. Remember, that it is the obstinacy of your master that calls down upon his head the misfortunes that will fall upon it."
"I thank you for the information; chief, I will profit by it, be sure of that," said Diogo, with irony.
The Guaycurus smiled without answering, and, burying his spurs in the flanks of his horse, disappeared almost instantly in the high grass.
The captain rejoined the marquis, who was waiting with impatience the result of the interview.
"Well," cried he, as soon as Don Diogo had made his appearance.
"What I foresaw has happened," answered the Indian.
"Which is—"
"That these Guaycurus will not, under any pretext, allow us to place our foot on their territory."
"Indeed!"
"They order us to retrace our steps; they are resolved not to give us a passage."
"We shall force one for ourselves by passing over their corpses," haughtily cried the marquis.
"I doubt it, your Excellency. No one individually is capable of successfully contending against ten enemies."
"Do you, then, think them so numerous?"
"I have understated it; it is not ten, but a hundred, that I should have said."
"You seek to frighten me, Diogo?"
"What use would it be, your Excellency? I know that nothing I could say to you would succeed in persuading you, it would be but wasting precious time."
"Then it is you who are afraid," cried the marquis.
The Indian, at this undeserved insult, turned pale in the manner of the men of his race; that is to say, his countenance assumed a tint of dull white; his eyes flushed with blood, and a convulsive trembling agitated all his limbs.
"What you say not only is not generous, your Excellency," he answered, "but is inappropriate at this moment. Why insult a man who for the last hour has endured uncomplainingly, on the part of your enemy, deadly insults?"
"But at all events," resumed Don Roque, in a more gentle voice, "our position is intolerable. We cannot remain here thus; how are we to escape from the difficulty in which we are?"
"That, your Excellency, is what I am thinking of. An immediate attack from the Guaycurus is not what concerns me at the present moment. I know their manner of fighting; they must have at the present moment an interest in sparing us—for why? I cannot yet decide, but I shall soon know."
"What makes you suppose that?"
"The obstinacy with which they try to persuade us to return, instead of assailing us unawares."
"What do you intend to do?"
"At first, to study the plans of the enemy, my lord, and, if God gives me aid I shall succeed, I swear, in discovering those plans."
"Be assured, that if we succeed in defeating their projects, and in escaping from our enemies, the recompense I shall give you will be equivalent to the service you render me."
"It is useless to speak of reward to a dead man, and I consider myself so," answered the captain.
"Always that thought!" said the young man.
"Yes, always, your Excellency, but do not concern yourself. Knowing that I cannot escape the fate which threatens me, I will try all that is humanly possible to postpone the inevitable catastrophe. That ought to reassure you."
"Not much," said the marquis with a smile.
"Only, your Excellency, I repeat, I want all my liberty of action."
"I have given you my word, as a gentleman."
"And I have accepted it, my lord. The war we are now commencing has nothing in common with those which, they tell me, you are accustomed to make in Europe. We have in face of us enemies whose principal weapon is trickery; it is only then by showing ourselves more keen and more subtle than they, that we shall succeed in conquering them, if it is possible for us—which I do not believe—to obtain that result."
"Once for all, I promise to give you the most perfect liberty, strange and singular as appear to me the dispositions you judge it necessary to take."
"That is speaking like a wise man; courage! Who knows? Perhaps God may deign to work a miracle."
"I thank you for at last giving me a ray of hope, Diogo," said the marquis, "as it is not a commodity of which you are a prodigal."
"We are men, to whom it is necessary to speak frankly, to put ourselves on our guard, my lord, and not timid children, whom it is necessary to deceive. Now," he added, "if you have no objection, we must encamp for the night."
"What! Stop already!" cried the young man.
"What a pity!" cried the Indian, "That this expedition should be doomed to end so badly! I could have given you some lessons, my lord, which would have made you, in time, one of the most skilful trappers of the Brazilian woods."
Notwithstanding the critical situation in which he was, the marquis could not forbear laughing at this outburst of the worthy captain.
"Never mind," answered he, "do not deprive me of your lessons. Perhaps they will be of use."
"With the favour of God, my lord; listen to me, then. This is what we ought to do."
"I am all attention."
"We ought not to penetrate any farther into the desert before having some positive information as to the movement of our enemies. This information I alone can obtain, by mixing with them and introducing myself into their villages. Do you understand me, my lord?"
"Pretty well; one thing alone in what you have told me remains doubtful."
"What is it?"
"You intend yourself to go and seek news."
"Just so; such is my intention."
"Do you not think that will be very imprudent? You risk being discovered."
"True, and if that should happen, my fate is decided. What would you, my lord? There is a risk to run, but by no other means of acting. However perilous such an expedition may be, it is not so much so as you may suppose, for a man who, like me, belongs to the Indian race and naturally knows the habits of the men he wishes to deceive."
While the marquis and the captain thus talked together, the caravan continued to advance slowly through the inextricable meanderings of a narrow path, traced with difficulty by the passage of wild beasts.
Silence the most complete reigned in the desert, which the foot of man appeared never to have trodden since the time of its discovery.
Meanwhile the half-caste hunters and the soldados da conquista, aroused by the unexpected presence before them of the Guaycurus chief, put themselves on their guard; they only advanced according to the Spanish expression, "with the beard on the shoulder," eye and ear on the watch, finger on the trigger of their fusils, ready to fire at the least alarm.