The Border Rifles: A Tale of the Texan War

The rapid gallop of a horse became audible, approaching nearer and nearer; ere long a rider emerged from the gorge, and pulled up calmly and haughtily at about two paces from the hunters.

The latter rushed from their ambuscade, and advanced toward him, with the right arm extended, and the palm of the hand open in sign of peace.

The horseman, who was an Indian warrior, responded to these pacific demonstrations by letting his buffalo robe float out; then he dismounted, and without further ceremony, shook the hands offered him.

"You are welcome, Chief," John said; "we were awaiting you impatiently."

"My Pale brothers can look at the sun," the Indian answered; "Blue-fox is punctual."

"That is true, Chief; there is nothing to be said, for you are remarkably punctual."

"Time waits for no man; warriors are not women; Blue-fox would like to hold a council with his Pale brothers."

"Be it so," John went on: "your observation is just. Chief, so let us deliberate; I am anxious to come to a definitive understanding with you."

The Indian bowed gravely to the speaker, sat down, lit his pipe, and, began smoking with evident pleasure; the hunters took seats by his side, and, like him, remained silent during the whole period their tobacco lasted.

At length, the Chief shook the ashes out of the bowl on his thumbnail, and prepared to speak.

At the same instant a detonation was heard, and a bullet cut away a branch just over the Chiefs head.

The three men leaped to their feet, and seizing their arms, prepared bravely to repulse the enemies who attacked them so suddenly.

CHAPTER XVII

THE PANTHER-KILLER

Between the Larch-tree hacienda and the Venta del Potrero, just half way between the two places, or at about forty miles from either, two men were sitting on the banks of a nameless stream, and conversing, as they supped on pemmican and a few boiled camotes.

These two men were Tranquil, the Canadian, and Quoniam, the Negro.

About fifty yards from them, in a copse of brambles and shrubs, a young colt about two months old was fastened to the trunk of a gigantic catalpa. The poor animal, after making vain efforts to break the cord that held it, had at length recognised the inutility of its attempts, and had sorrowfully lain down on the ground.

The two men, whom we left young at the end of our prologue, had now reached the second half of life. Although age had got but a slight grasp on their iron bodies, a few grey hairs were beginning to silver the hunter's scalp, and wrinkles furrowed his face, which was bronzed by the changes of the seasons.

Still, with the exception of these slight marks, which serve as a seal to ripened age, nothing denoted any weakening in the Canadian; on the contrary, his eye was still bright, his body equally straight, and his limbs just as muscular.

As for the Negro, no apparent change had taken place in him, and he seemed as young as ever; he had merely grown lustier, but had lost none of his unparalleled activity.

The spot where the two wood rangers had camped was certainly one of the most picturesque on the prairie.

The midnight breeze had swept the sky, whose dark blue vault seemed studded with innumerable spangles of diamonds, in the midst of which the southern cross shone; the moon poured forth its white rays, which imparted to objects a fantastic appearance; the night had that velvety transparence peculiar to twilight; at each gust of wind the trees shook their damp heads, and rained a shower, which pattered on the shrubs.

The river flowed on calmly between its wooded banks, looking in the distance like a silver riband, and reflecting in its peaceful mirror the trembling rays of the moon, which had proceeded about two-thirds of its course.

So great was the silence of the desert, that the fall of a withered leaf, or the rustling of a branch agitated by the passage of a reptile, could be heard.

The two men were conversing in a low voice; but, singularly enough with men so habituated to desert life, their night encampment, instead of being, according to the invariable rules of the prairie, situated on the top of a hillock, was placed on the slope that descended gently to the river, and in the mud of which numerous footprints of more than a suspicious nature were encrusted, the majority belonging to the family of the great Carnivora.

In spite of the sharp cold of night, and the icy dew which made them tremble, the hunters had lit no fire; still they would assuredly have derived great comfort from warming their limbs over the genial flames; the Negro especially, who was lightly attired in drawers that left his legs uncovered, and a fragment of a zarapé, full of holes, was trembling all over.

Tranquil, who was more warmly attired in the garb of Mexican Campesinos, did not appear to notice the cold at all; with his rifle between his legs, he gazed out into the darkness, or listened to any sound perceptible to him alone, while he talked to the Negro, disdaining to notice either his grimaces or the chattering of his teeth.

"So," he said, "you did not see the little one to-day Quoniam?"

"No, no, I have not seen her for two days," the Negro answered.

The Canadian sighed.

"I ought to have gone myself," he went on; "the girl is very solitary there, especially now that war has let loose on this side all the adventurers and border-ruffians."

"Nonsense! Carmela has beak and nails; she would not hesitate to defend herself if insulted."

"Confusion!" the Canadian exclaimed, as he clutched his rifle, "If one of those Malvados dared to say a word – "

"Do not trouble yourself thus, Tranquil; you know very well that if any one ventured to insult the Querida Niña, she would not want for defenders. Besides, Lanzi never leaves her for a moment, and you are aware how faithful he is."

"Yes," the hunter muttered, "but Lanzi is only a man after all."

"You drive me to desperation with the ideas which so unreasonably get into your head."

"I love the girl, Quoniam."

"Hang it, and I love her too, the little darling! Well, if you like, after we have killed the jaguar, we will go to the Potrero – does that suit you?"

"It is a long way from here."

"Nonsense! three hours' ride at the most. By the bye, Tranquil, do you know that it is cold? And I am getting literally frozen; cursed animal! I wonder what it is doing at this moment; I daresay it is amusing itself with wandering about instead of coming straight here."

"To be killed, eh?" Tranquil said, with a smile. "Hang it all! Perhaps it suspects what we have in store for it."

"That is possible, for those confounded animals are so cunning. Hilloah! the colt is quivering – it has certainly scented something."

The Canadian turned his head.

"No, not yet," he said.

"We shall have a night of it," the Negro muttered, with an ill-tempered look.

"You will ever be the same, Quoniam – impatient and headstrong. Whatever I may tell you, you obstinately refuse to understand me; how many times have I repeated to you that the jaguar is one of the most cunning animals in existence? Although we are to windward, I feel convinced it has scented us. It is prowling cunningly around us, and afraid to come too near us; as you say, it is wandering about without any apparent object."

"Hum! Do you think it will carry on that game much longer?"

"No, because it must be beginning to grow thirsty; three feelings are struggling in it at this moment – hunger, thirst, and fear; fear will prove the weakest, you may be assured; and it is only a question of time."

"I can see it; for nearly four hours we have been on the watch."

"Patience; the worst is over, and we shall soon have some news, I feel assured."

"May Heaven hear you, for I am dying of cold; is it a large animal?"

"Yes, its prints are wide, but, if I am not greatly mistaken, it has paired."

"Do you think so?"

"I could almost bet it, it is impossible for a single jaguar to do so much mischief in less than a week; from what Don Hilario told me, it seems that ten head of the Ganada have disappeared."

"In that case," Quoniam said, rubbing his hands gleefully, "we shall have a fine hunt."

"That is what I suppose; and it must have whelps to come so near the hacienda."

At this moment a hoarse bellowing, bearing some slight resemblance to the miauling of a cat, troubled the profound silence of the desert.

"There is its first cry," said Quoniam.

"It is still a long way off."

"Oh, it will soon come nearer."

"Not yet; it is not after us at this moment."

"Who else, then?"

"Listen."

A similar cry to the first, but coming from the opposite side, burst forth at this moment.

"Did I not tell you," the Canadian continued, quietly, "that it had paired?"

"I did not doubt it. If you do not know the habits of tigers, who should?"

The poor colt had risen; it was trembling all over, half dead with terror, and with its head buried between its front legs, it was standing up and uttering little plaintive cries.

"Hum!" Quoniam said, "poor innocent brute, it understands that it is lost."

"I hope not."

"The jaguar will strangle it."

"Yes, if we do not kill the brute first."

"By Jabus!" the Negro said, "I confess I should not be sorry if that wretched colt escaped."

"It will do so," the hunter answered; "I have chosen it for Carmela."

"Nonsense! Then why did you bring it here?"

"To make it used to the tiger."

"Well, that is an idea! Then I need not look any longer over there?"

"No, only think of the jaguar which will come on your right, while I take charge of the other."

"That's agreed."

Two other louder roars burst forth almost simultaneously.

"The beast is thirsty," Tranquil remarked; "its anger is aroused, and it is coming nearer."

"Good! shall we get ready?"

"Wait a while, our enemies are hesitating; they have not yet reached that paroxysm of rage which makes them forget all prudence."

The Negro, who had risen, sat down again philosophically.

A few minutes passed thus. At intervals the night breeze, laden with uncertain rumour, passed over the hunters' heads, and was lost in the distance like a sigh.

They were calm and motionless, with the eye fixed on space, the ear open to the mysterious noises of the desert, the finger on the rifle-trigger, ready at the first signal to face the still invisible foe, whose approach and imminent attack they, however, instinctively divined.

All at once the Canadian started, and stooped down to the ground.

"Oh!" he said, as he rose with marks of terrible anxiety, "What is taking place in the forest?"

The roar of the tiger burst forth like a clap of thunder.

A horrible shriek responded to it, and the wild gallop of a horse was heard, approaching at headlong speed.

"Quick! Quick!" Tranquil shouted, "Someone is in danger of death – the tiger is on his trail."

The two hunters rushed intrepidly in the direction of the roars.

The whole forest seemed quivering; nameless sounds issued from the hidden lairs, resembling at one moment mocking laughter, at another cries of agony.

The hoarse miauling of the jaguars went on uninterruptedly. The gallop of the horses which the hunters heard at first seemed multiplied and issuing from opposite points.

The panting hunters still ran on in a straight line, bounding over ravines and morasses with wonderful speed; the terror they felt for the strangers whom they wished to help gave them wings.

Suddenly a shriek of agony, louder and more despairing than the former, was heard a short distance off.

"Oh!" Tranquil shouted, in a paroxysm of madness, "It is she! It is Carmela!"

And, bounding like a wild beast, he rushed forward, followed by Quoniam, who, during the whole wild race, had never left him a hair's breadth.

Suddenly a deadly silence fell over the desert – every noise, every rumour, ceased as if by enchantment, and nothing could be heard save the panting of the hunters, who still ran on.

A furious roar uttered by the tigers burst forth; a crashing of branches agitated an adjoining thicket, and an enormous mass, bounding from the top of the tree, passed over the Canadian's head and disappeared; at the same instant a flash burst through the gloom and a shot was heard, answered almost immediately by a roar of agony and a shriek of horror.

"Courage, Niña, courage!" a masculine voice exclaimed, a short distance off, "You are saved!"

The hunters, by a supreme effort of their will, increased their speed, which was already incredible, and at length entered the scene of action.

A strange and terrible sight then offered itself to their horror-stricken gaze.

In a small clearing a fainting woman was stretched out on the ground, by the side of a ripped-up horse, which was struggling in the final convulsions.

This female was motionless, and appeared to be dead.

Two young tigers, crouching like cats, fixed their ardent eyes upon her, and were preparing to attack her; a few paces further on a wounded tiger was writhing on the ground with horrid roars, and trying to leap on a man, who, with one knee on the ground, with his left arm enveloped in the numerous folds of a zarapé, and the right armed with a long machete, was resolutely awaiting its attack.

Behind the man, a horse, with outstretched neck, smoking nostrils and laid-back ears, was quivering with terror, while a second tiger, posted on the largest branch of a larch tree, fixed its burning glances on the dismounted rider, while lashing the air with its tail, and uttering hoarse miauls.

What we have taken so long to describe, the hunters saw at a glance; quick as lightning the bold adventurers selected their parts, with a look of sublime simplicity.

While Quoniam leaped on the tiger cubs, and seizing them by the scurf, dashed their brains out against a rock, Tranquil shouldered his rifle, and killed the tigress at the moment when she was leaping on the horseman. Then turning with marvellous speed he killed the second tiger with the butt of his rifle, and laid it stiff at his feet.

"Ah!" the hunter said, with a feeling of pride, as he rested his rifle on the ground, and wiped his forehead, which was bathed in a cold perspiration.

"She lives!" Quoniam shouted, who understood what agony his friend's exclamation contained; "Fear alone made her faint, but she is otherwise unhurt."

The hunter slowly took off his cap, and raised his eyes to heaven.

"Thanks, O God!" he murmured, with an accent of gratitude impossible to render.

In the meanwhile, the horseman, so miraculously saved by Tranquil, had walked up to him.

"I will do the same for you, some day," he said, as he held out his hand.

"It is I who am your debtor," the hunter answered, frankly; "had it not been for your sublime devotion, I should have arrived too late."

"I have done no more than another in my place."

"Perhaps so. Your name, brother?"

"Loyal Heart. Yours?"

"Tranquil. We are friends for life and death."

"I accept, brother. And now let us attend to this poor girl."

The two men shook hands for a second time, and went up to Carmela, on whom Quoniam was lavishing every imaginable attention, though unable to recall her from the profound faint into which she had fallen.

While Tranquil and Loyal Heart took the Negro´s place, the latter hastily collected a few dried branches and lit a fire.

After a few minutes, however, Carmela faintly opened her eyes, and was soon sufficiently recovered to explain the cause of her presence in the forest, instead of being quietly asleep in the Venta del Potrero.

This story, which, in consequence of the maiden's weakness, and the poignant emotions she had endured, it took her several hours to complete, we will tell the reader in a few words in the next chapter.

CHAPTER XVIII

LANZI

Carmela watched for a long time the Jaguar's irregular ride across country, and when he at length disappeared in the distance, in a clump of pine trees, she sadly bowed her head and re-entered the venta slowly and pensively.

"He hates him," she murmured, in a low, agitated voice; "he hates him. Will he be willing to save him?"

She fell into an equipal, and for some minutes remained plunged in a deep reverie.

At last she raised her head; a feverish flush covered her face, and her soft eyes seemed to emit flashes.

"I will save him!" she exclaimed, with supreme resolution.

After this exclamation she rose, and walking hurriedly across the room, opened the door leading into the corral.

"Lanzi?" she cried.

"Niña?" the half-breed replied, who was engaged at this moment in giving their alfalfa to two valuable horses belonging to the young lady, which were under his special charge.

"Come here."

"I will be with you in a moment."

Five minutes later at the most he appeared in the doorway.

"What do you want, señorita?" he said, with that calm obsequiousness habitual to servants who are spoiled by their masters; "I am very busy at this moment."

"That is possible, my good Lanzi," she answered softly; "but what I have to say to you admits of no delay."

"Oh, oh," he said, in a slightly suppressed tone, "what is the matter, then?"

"Nothing very extraordinary, my good man; everything in the venta is regular as usual. But I have a service to ask of you."

"Speak, señorita; you know that I am devoted to you."

"It is growing late, and it is probable that no traveller will arrive at the venta to-day."

The half-breed raised his head, and mentally calculated the position of the sun.

"I do not believe that any travellers will arrive to-day," he at length said, "for it is nearly four o'clock; still, they might come for all that."

"Nothing leads to the supposition."

"Nothing, indeed, señorita."

"Well, I wish you to shut up the venta."

"Shut up the venta! What for?"

"I will tell you."

"Is it really very important?"

"Very."

"Speak, then, Niña, I am all ears."

The maiden gave the half-breed, who was standing in front of her, a long and searching glance, leant her elbow gracefully on the table, and said, quietly —

"I am anxious, Lanzi."

"Anxious? What about?"

"At my father's long absence."

"Why, he was here hardly four days back."

"He never left me alone so long before."

"Still," the half-breed remarked, scratching his head with an embarrassed air —

"In a word," she interrupted him, resolutely, "I am anxious about my father, and wish to see him. You will close the venta, saddle the horses, and we will go to the Larch-tree hacienda; it is not far, and we shall be back in four or five hours."

"That will make it very late."

"The greater reason to start at once."

"Still – "

"No remarks; do as I order you – I insist on it."

The half-breed bowed without replying, for he knew that when his young mistress spoke thus he must obey.

The maiden walked forward a step, laid her white and delicate hand on the half-breed's shoulder, and putting her lovely face close to his, she added, with a gentle smile which made the poor fellow start with joy —

"Do not be vexed at my whim, my kind Lanzi, but I am suffering."

"Be vexed with you, Niña!" the half-breed answered with a significant shrug of his shoulders; "Why, do you not know that I would go into the fire for you? Much more, then, would I satisfy your slightest wish."

He then began carefully barricading the doors and windows of the venta, after which he proceeded to the corral to saddle the horses, while Carmela, suffering from nervous impatience, changed her attire for other clothes more convenient for the journey she designed, for she had deceived the old servant. It was not Tranquil she wished to find.

But Heaven had decreed that the plan she revolved in her pretty head should not succeed.

At the moment when she re-entered the sitting-room, fully dressed and ready to start, Lanzi appeared in the doorway of the corral with extreme agitation displayed in his face.

Carmela ran up to him eagerly, fancying that he had hurt himself.

"What is the matter with you?" she asked him, kindly.

"We are lost!" he replied, in a hollow voice, as he looked about him in terror.

"Lost!" she exclaimed, turning pallid as a corpse; "What do you mean?"

The half-breed laid a finger on his lip to command silence, made her a sign to follow him, and glided noiselessly into the corral.

Carmela followed him.

The corral was enclosed with a plank wall about six feet high; Lanzi went up to a spot where a wide cleft allowed a prospect of the plain.

"Look," he said to his mistress.

The girl obeyed, and laid her face against the plank.

Night was beginning to fall, and a denser shadow was each moment invading the plain. Still, the obscurity was not great enough to prevent Carmela distinguishing, about two hundred yards away, a numerous party of horsemen coming at full speed in the direction of the venta.

A glance sufficed the maiden to perceive that these horsemen were Indios Bravos.

The warriors, more than fifty in number, were in their full war paint; and as they bent over the necks of their horses, which were as untamable as themselves, they brandished their long lances over their heads with an air of defiance.

"These are Apaches," Carmela exclaimed, as she recoiled in terror. "How comes it that they have reached this place before we are warned of their arrival?"

The half-breed shook his head sadly.

"In a few minutes they will be here," he said; "what is to be done?"

"Defend ourselves!" the maiden replied, bravely; "They do not appear to have fire-arms. Behind the walls of our house we could easily hold out against them till daybreak."

"And then?" the half-breed asked, doubtfully.

"Then," she answered with exaltation, "Heaven will come to our aid."

"Amen!" the half-breed answered, less convinced than ever of the possibility of such a miracle.

"Make haste and bring down into the inn-room all the fire-arms we have; perhaps the heathens will fall back if they find themselves hotly received: and, after all, who knows whether they will attack us?"

"Hum! the demons are crafty, and know perfectly well how many persons dwell in this house. Do not expect that they will withdraw till they have carried it by storm."

"Well," she exclaimed, resolutely, "let us trust to Heaven; we shall die bravely fighting, instead of letting ourselves be captured like cowards, and becoming the slaves of those heartless and merciless villains."

"Be it so, then," the half-breed answered, electrified by his mistress's enthusiastic words, "we will fight. You know, señorita, that a combat does not terrify me. The pagans had better look out, for unless they take care, I may play them a trick they will remember for a long time."

This conversation broke off here for the present, owing to the necessity the speakers were under of preparing their means of defence, which they did with a speed and intelligence which proved that this was not the first time they found themselves in so critical a position.

The reader must not feel surprised at the virile heroism Carmela displayed under the present circumstances. On the border, where persons are incessantly exposed to the incursions of Indians and marauders of every description, the women fight by the side of the men, and forgetting the weakness of their sex, they can, on occasion, prove themselves as brave as their husbands and brothers.

Carmela was not mistaken, it was really a band of Indian Bravos coming up at a gallop, who soon reached the house, and completely surrounded it.

Usually the Indians in their expeditions proceed with extreme prudence, never showing themselves openly, and only advancing with great circumspection. This time it was easy to see that they believed themselves certain of success, and were perfectly well aware that the venta was stripped of its defenders.

On coming within twenty yards of the venta they stopped, dismounted, and seemed to be consulting for a moment.

Lanzi had profited by these few moments of respite to pile on the table all the weapons in the house, consisting of about a dozen rifles.