Kitobni o'qish: «The Insurgent Chief», sahifa 13

CHAPTER III
THE COUGAR

About a month had passed since the conclusion of the treaty between the Brazilians, the Guaycurus, and their allies of the Rincón del Bosquecillo. At the foot of a steep mountain, surrounded by ridges and ravines, the rugged soil of which was covered with a thick forest of oaks, a numerous troop of horsemen was camped at the entrance of a canyon – the dry bed of a torrent – the soil of which was covered with stones rounded and smoothed by the action of the water, which was at this moment exhausted.

This troop, composed of some 250 or 300 men at the most, wore the characteristic costume of Guaycurus Indians.

It was evening. The camp, firmly established and watched over by active sentinels, was, by its position, completely sheltered from attack.

The warriors were sleeping, lying before the fires, enveloped in their ponchos, their arms placed within reach of their hands, so as to be ready to make use of them at the least alarm.

A little behind the camp, on the flank of the mountain, the horses were feeding on the grass, and the young shoots of trees, carefully tended by six Indians, well armed.

Two men, seated before a half extinguished fire, having each a carbine placed near him on the grass, were talking and smoking, and every now and then sipping their maté.

These two men were Gueyma and the Cougar; the troop was placed under their immediate orders. It was composed of the youngest, the most vigorous, and most renowned warriors of the tribe.

From the time when, at the signal given by the Brazilian Government, this troop had crossed the Spanish frontier, and had – like a flight of birds of prey – fallen on the enemy's territory, terror had accompanied it; murder, incendiarism, and pillage had preceded it; behind it, it had left only ruins and corpses; in its presence fear chilled the courage of the inhabitants, and made them abandon as rapidly as possible their poor ranchos, to fly from the cruelty of these barbarous Guaycurus, who spared neither women, children, nor old men, and who appeared to have taken an oath to change into a desert the rich and fertile fields, in the midst of which they traced a furrow of blood.

They had thus traversed, like a devastating hurricane the greater part of the province, and had reached the Rio Quinto, not far from which they were camped, on the environs of a little town named Aquadita, a miserable place, the inhabitants of which had taken flight, abandoning all they possessed at the news of the approach of the Guaycurus.

The treaty concluded between the Brazilians and the Indians could not have been more advantageous to the former, for this reason: from the discovery of America, the Portuguese and the Spaniards continually disputed possession of the New World. Placed side by side in Brazil and Buenos Aires, they could not long remain without making war.

When the family of Braganza was obliged to abandon Portugal, to take refuge in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil became the real centre of Portuguese power, and the king contemplated aggrandising his empire, and of adding to it what, in some respects, he reasonably considered his natural frontiers – the Banda Oriental, and the course of the Rio de la Plata.

The war lasted a long time, with alternations of success and disaster on both sides. England offered her mediation, and peace was on the point of being concluded; but, at the epoch we are dealing with, the Brazilian Portuguese, profiting by the troubles which desolated the Rio de la Plata, and especially the Banda Oriental, abruptly broke the negotiations, called out an army of 10,000 men, under the orders of General Lecor, and invaded the province – the lasting object of their covetousness – skilfully making their movements cooperate with those of the Indian bravos, with whom they were leagued, and who themselves rushing from their deserts with the fury of wild beasts, had invaded the Spanish territory from the rear, and had thus placed them between two fires.

The picture presented at this time by the insurgent provinces was one of the saddest that could be offered as a warning to the wisdom of governors, and the good sense of peoples.

The ancient vice-royalty of Buenos Aires, previously so rich and flourishing, had become a vast desert, its towns heaps of cinders; all its territory was but a vast battlefield, where were incessantly contending armies fighting each for its own interests, drowning patriotism, in streams of blood, and replacing it by private ambition.

The Brazilian Portuguese, rendered stronger by the weakness of their enemies, had, almost without striking a blow, occupied the principal strategic points of the Banda Oriental. The gaining of two battles would render them masters of the remainder, and make this province fall into their hands.

Such was the situation of the country at the moment when we resume our narrative, which we have been obliged to interrupt, to put the reader in possession of these facts, indispensable to the understanding of those which follow.

The night was dark; the moon, veiled with clouds, only shed at intervals a pale and trembling light, which impressed a stamp of sadness on the features of the landscape; the wind sighed gloomily through the branches of the trees. The two chiefs, seated side by side, were talking in a low voice, as if they feared that their companions, stretched near them, might hear their conversation. At the moment we place them on the scene, Gueyma was speaking with some animation, while his companion, listening attentively to what was said, only heard it with an ironical smile, which raised the corers of his slender lips, and gave an expression of sarcasm to his fine and intelligent countenance.

"I repeat it, Cougar," said the young man, "affairs cannot go on like this; we must return, and that not later than tomorrow, on the day after at furthest. Do you know that we are now more than 150 leagues from Rio Bermejo, and from the Llano de Manso?"

"I know it," coldly answered the old chief.

"Look you, my friend," pursued the young man, with impatience, "you will finish by putting me in a rage, with your provoking impassibility."

"What would you like me to answer you?"

"How should I know? Give me an opinion – advice; tell me something, in fact. The situation is grave, even critical, for us and our warriors. We have set out on an adventure, like a herd of wild bulls, destroying and scattering everything on our passage, and now, here we are, after a devious and aimless journey, brought to a stand at the foot of the mountains, in a country that we do not know, separated from friends and allies that might have aided us, and surrounded by enemies who, on the first opportunity, will, no doubt, assail us on all sides at once."

"That is true," observed the Cougar, bowing his head affirmatively.

"Observe," pursued Gueyma, with increasing animation, "that I do not address to you any reproach, my friend; but several times I have wished to retreat, but each time you have opposed yourself to it, and have induced me to continue to go forward. Is not that true?"

"It is true, I admit it."

"Ah! You admit it – very well; but you have probably had some design in acting thus?"

"I have always a design, Gueyma; do you not know that?"

"I know it, indeed, for your wisdom is great; but I should like to know this design."

"It is not yet time, my friend."

"That is always what you say. However, our position becomes intolerable. What is to be done? What is to become of us?"

"Still to push on in advance."

"But to go where? To do what?"

"When the moment arrives I will instruct you."

"Come, I give up any further discussion with you, Cougar. It is playing with myself to try and oppose you when you have made up your mind. Only, as I shall afterwards have to render an account of my conduct to the great chiefs of my nation, if I escape safe and sound from the dangers which threaten us, and as; I do not wish to take upon myself the responsibility of the events which, no doubt, will soon transpire, I have a request to make."

"What is it, my friend?"

"It is, at break of day, to convene the council, to explain frankly to the warriors the precarious situation in which we are placed, and your firm determination to push forward, whatever happens."

"You wish it, Gueyma?"

"No, my friend, I desire it."

"The one is as good as the other; no matter, you shall be satisfied."

"Thank you, my friend; I see in this your habitual honour."

"In this only?" said the old man, with a sad smile.

The young man turned his head without answering.

"Cougar," he resumed, after a pause, "the night advances; we have nothing more to say; with your permission I will go to sleep, I am not made of granite, like you – I am horribly fatigued; I want to get strength for tomorrow, which, no doubt, will bring rough work."

"Sleep, Gueyma, and may the Great Spirit give you calm repose."

"Thank you my friend; but you – are you not going to sleep also?"

"No, I must watch moreover, I intend to profit by the darkness to try a reconnaissance about the camp."

"Would you me to accompany you, my friend?" briskly asked the young chief.

"It would be useless; sleep. I shall be equal to the task I have set myself."

"Do as you like, then, my friend; I do not say any more."

Gueyma then carefully wrapped himself in his poncho, stretched himself comfortably before the fire, closed his eyes, and some minutes afterwards he was sunk in profound sleep.

The Cougar had not changed his position; crouched before the fire, his head reclining on his breast, he was reflecting.

The Indian thus remained for a considerable time – so motionless, that, from a distance, he rather resembled one of those idols of the East Indies, than a man of flesh and blood.

At last, after about an hour, probably passed in serious meditation, he gently raised his head, and looked anxiously around him.

A death-like silence pervaded the camp; the warriors were all sleeping, with the exception of a few sentinels, placed behind the entrenchments, to watch over the general safety. The Cougar rose, tightened his girdle, seized his carbine, and proceeded slowly towards the spot where the horses were feeding.

Having reached this spot, he gave a light whistle. Almost immediately a horse came out of the group, and rubbed his head against the shoulder of the chief.

The latter, after having patted him with his hand, put a bridle on him, and, without making use of the stirrup, bounded into the saddle, after having tightened the girth, relaxed for the horse to feed more easily.

The sentinels, although they noticed the various movements of the chief, did not address to him the least observation, and he left the camp without anyone appearing to notice his departure.

The warriors had for a long time been accustomed to these nocturnal absences of their chief, who, from the commencement of the expedition, set out thus nearly every night from the camp, without doubt to go on a discovery, and always remained several hours away.

The Cougar had set out from the camp slowly; he preserved the same pace while he thought he was in view of the sentinels, but as soon as a ridge of ground had concealed his movements, he loosed the bridle gave a slight click with his tongue, and the horse immediately setting off at full speed, ran with extraordinary velocity in a right line without concerning himself with obstacles which were met with on the route, and which he escaped with great agility without slackening his course.

He galloped thus for about an hour and a half, and reached the bank of rather a broad river, whose waters, like a silver ribbon, contrasted strongly with the dark shapes of the landscape.

Having reached the banks of the river, the chief threw the bridle on the neck of his horse.

The intelligent animal sniffed at the river for some time, and then he boldly entered and forded it, scarcely becoming wet up to the chest.

Immediately when he was on the other bank, the horse set out again at a gallop, but this time its course was short, lasting only a quarter of an hour or twenty minutes.

The spot where the chief went to was an immense and desolate plain, where there were but ragged shrubs, and in which, here and there, were rather high hillocks of a blackish sand.

It was at the foot of one of these hillocks that the chief stopped. He immediately alighted, rubbed down his horse carefully, covered him with his poncho, to prevent his chilling after the violent exercise to which he had been for so long a time subject, and, throwing the bridle on his neck, he left him free to browse, if he liked, on the scanty and withered grass of the savannah.

This accomplished, the chief put his hands to his mouth, and three distinct times, at equal intervals, he imitated the cry of the screech owl of the Pampas.

Two or three minutes passed. The same cry was repeated three times at a considerable distance, and then the precipitate gallop of a horse was heard.

The chief hid himself as well as he could behind the hillock, loaded his carbine, and waited.

Soon he perceived the outline of a horseman emerging from the darkness, and rapidly approaching the place where he was.

Having come a certain distance, the horseman, in place of continuing to advance, stopped short, and the cry of the screech owl again broke upon the silence of night.

The Cougar repeated his signal; the horseman, if he had only waited for this answer, immediately resumed his gallop, and soon found himself within pistol shot of the Indian.

A second time he stopped, and the sound of a gun being loaded was heard.

"Who goes there?" cried a firm voice, in Spanish.

"A friend of the desert," immediately answered the chief.

"What hour is it?" pursued the unknown.

"The hour of vengeance," again said the chief.

These passwords exchanged, the two men put up their guns, and advanced towards each other with the utmost confidence.

They recognised each other.

The stranger immediately alighted, and grasped cordially, as that of an old friend, the hand which the chief held out to him.

The unknown was a white. He wore the elegant and picturesque costume of the gauchos of the Pampas of Buenos Aires.

"I have waited a long time for you, chief," said the stranger. "Has anything happened to prevent your coming?"

"Nothing," replied the latter; "only the camp is far off; I have been obliged, before setting out, to wait till my companion was decidedly asleep."

"He still knows nothing?"

"Is it not agreed between us?"

"Just so; but as you have, you say, the greatest confidence in him, I thought that perhaps you might think fit to tell him."

"I have not wished to do anything Without informing you – so much the more as he is a chosen warrior, a chief of acknowledged wisdom, and, more than all, a man of honour under all circumstances. I have not liked to risk taking him into confidence on so serious a matter without having in hand the certain proofs of the treason of the general."

"These proofs I bring in my alforjas;⁶ I will give them to you. It is important for the success of our project that Gueyma be informed of it. Otherwise, when the moment had come to strike the grand blow – and that will not be long – he would doubtless counteract our plans, and cause them to fail."

"You are right; I will tell him all immediately on my arrival at the camp."

"Very well, I count upon you."

"Make yourself easy on that head; now, what must we do?"

"Continue to go on in the same direction."

"I thought so; My companion begins to be uneasy at seeing me thus pushing forward in an unknown country."

"When you have informed him he will make no more difficulties."

"That is true but is this journey to last much longer?"

"Watch with care your approaches, for tomorrow we shall probably meet."

"Epoï! You will not fail us at the critical moment?"

"Trust to me; I have given you my word. Our movements will be so planned that both will act at once – the one in advance, the other in arrear; they will be taken as by the throw of a net. If we give them time to recognise us they will escape, so skilful are they. I cannot, therefore, too much urge you to act with the greatest circumspection."

"In your turn, trust in me, Don Zeno. If I your word, you have mine."

"I trust you, then."

"You remember our agreement?"

"Certainly."

"And you will act accordingly?"

"Blindly, although – permit me to tell you – I do not understand your demand."

"One day you will understand me, and then, take my word for it, Don Zeno, you will thank me."

"Be it so; as you like, Diogo, you are an undecipherable man, and wrapped in mystery; I give up your explaining yourself."

"And you are right," answered the chief, laughing; "for you would lose your time and your pains; only remember, Don Zeno, that, white or red, you have not a better friend than I am."

"Of that I am convinced, Diogo; however, I avow that I am very much concerned on your account. If some day you tell me your history, I expect to hear marvellous things."

"And terrible things also, Don Zeno. This history, if you will have patience for some time longer, I promise to tell you; it will interest you much more than you think."

"It is possible; but, meanwhile, let us think of the affair we have in hand."

"Leave that to me; I must quit you."

"Already! We have scarcely had time to exchange a few words."

"I have a long journey to make, you know."

"True; I will not retain you, then."

"And the proofs that you are to give me?"

"You shall have them in a moment."

"Of what do they consist?"

"In quipus, and especially in letters. You know how to read, do you not?"

"Enough to decipher these papers."

"Then all is right; here is the affair," added he, drawing a rather voluminous packet from his alforjas, and handing it to the Indian.

"Thank you," answered the latter; "thank you, and shall soon see you again, eh?"

"Most probably we shall see one another again, even today."

"So much the better; I should be delighted if it were all over."

"And I also."

The two men once more shook hands. The gaucho remounted his horse, and set off; he soon disappeared in the darkness.

The Cougar whistled to his horse, which came running at his call, and he set off in the direction of the camp. His horse, refreshed by the rest he had had during the conference of the two men, appeared to annihilate space.

The Indian reflected. His ordinarily sombre countenance had a joyous expression which was not natural to it. He pressed to his chest the packet which the gaucho had given him, as if he feared it Would escape him; and as he galloped he spoke to himself, and at times allowed exclamations of pleasure to escape him, which would have much astonished the warriors of his tribe, if they had heard him.

He made such haste that he re-entered the camp about two hours before daybreak.

After having sent his horse among the others, he laid himself down before a fire, taking care to wrap his precious packet in his poncho, and to place it under his head, to be certain that it should not be carried away then he closed his eyes, murmuring in a low voice, and between his teeth —

"I have well earned two or three hours of repose and I think I shall sleep well, for now I am content."

Indeed, five minutes later he slept as if he would never wake again.

However, at sunrise the Cougar was one of the first awake, and the first up.

Gueyma, crouched near him, waited his awaking.

"Already up?" said the old chief to him.

"Is there anything extraordinary In that? Have I not slept all the night?"

"That is true. Why do they not raise the camp?"

"I did not wish to give the order for it before speaking with you."

"Ah! very well; speak, Gueyma; I am listening."

"Have you forgotten what We said yesterday evening?"

"We said many things, my friend; it is possible that amongst the number I have forgotten some; recall them to me, I beg."

"We agreed to assemble the council this morning."

"True; have you done it?"

"No, not yet; you were asleep, my friend; I did not wish to take upon myself the order for this convocation for fear of displeasing you."

"You are good and generous, Gueyma," answered the old man, after a pause for reflection; "I recognise your habitual delicacy. Do me a pleasure."

"What, my friend?"

"Do not convoke the council yet."

The young chief fixed on him an inquiring look.

"Yes," continued the Cougar, "what I say astonishes you, I can well understand; but we must have a serious conversation before this convocation."

"A conversation?"

"Yes; I have to communicate to you matters of the highest importance, which, no doubt, will render the calling of this assembly needless; be patient; grant me till the halt for the morning meal – that is not too much to exact, I think?"

"You are my friend and my father, Cougar; what you say is a law to me; I will wait."

"Thank you, Gueyma, thank you; now nothing prevents you from giving the order for the raising of the camp."

"That is what I will do, immediately."

"Ah! Recommend the greatest vigilance to the warriors; the enemy is near."

"You discovered his track during your wandering last night?"

"Yes, my friend; I think you will do well also to send scouts in advance in order to avoid a surprise."

"Agreed," answered the young chief, withdrawing.

One hour later the Guaycurus warriors were on the march, in the direction of the Cordilleras, of which the mountain, at the foot of which they had camped during the night, was but one of the advanced and lesser chain.