The Insurgent Chief

The young man, whose portrait we have briefly sketched, was the principal chief of the warriors by whom he was at this moment followed. He was named Gueyma, and notwithstanding his youth, he enjoyed a great reputation in his tribe for wisdom and bravery.

His companion, as far as it was possible – in spite of his upright figure, his hair black as the raven's wing, and his countenance free from wrinkles – to fix his age with any certainty, was about seventy. However, as we have said, no sign of decrepitude was observable in him; his eye shone with all the fire of youth, his limbs were supple and vigorous; his teeth, of which not one was missing, were brilliantly white, rendered more striking by the dark hue of his complexion, although, like the other chief, he had neither tattoo nor painting; but, in default of physical signs of old age, the expression of severity on his fine and intelligent countenance, his emphatic gestures, and the measured slowness with which he let fall the least word, would have proved to every man accustomed to the Indians that this chief was very aged, and that he enjoyed among his people a great renown for wisdom and prudence, rather holding his place at the council fire of the tribe, than at the head of a war expedition.

In the centre of the troop were two men who, by their complexion and their clothing, it was easy to recognise as Europeans.

These men, though they were without arms, appeared to be treated, if not as completely free, at least with a certain consideration, which proved that they were not looked upon as prisoners.

They were two young men of twenty-five or twenty-eight, dressed in the costume of Brazilian officers, with fine bold features, and careless and hearty expression. They galloped in the midst of the Indian warriors without appearing to concern themselves in any way as to the place whither they were being conducted, and talked gaily, changing from time to time a few words in a good-humoured tone, with the warriors nearest to them.

The sun had set below the horizon, and perfect darkness had almost immediately replaced the light of day – as happens in all intertropical countries, which have no twilight – at the moment when the Indians were ascending at a gallop the scarcely-traced path which led to the summit of the bank, and gave access to the wood.

Arrived in the middle of a glade – from which sprang a stream of water, clear and limpid, which, after a tortuous course through the rocks, fell in the form of a splendid cascade into the Rio Bermejo, from a height Of forty or fifty feet – the young Gueyma chief stopped his horse, leaped from his saddle, and ordered his warriors to instal themselves in a camp for the night; his intention being not to go farther that day.

The latter obeyed; they immediately alighted, and quickly occupied themselves with securing the horses, giving them provender, lighting the watch fires, and in preparing the repast for the evening.

Some five or six warriors had alone preserved their arms, and were stationed on the outskirts of the glade, to watch over the safety of their companions.

The two Brazilian officers, no doubt fatigued with the long journey during the great heat of the day, had, with a sigh of relief, heard the order of the chief, and had obeyed it with a speed which testified to the desire which they felt to take repose.

Twenty minutes later the fires were lighted, a covering constructed to shelter the whites against the abundant dew of the morning, and the warriors, clustered in little groups of four or five, ate with a good appetite the simple provisions placed before them – consisting for the most part of yams, baked under ashes, of the meal of manioc, and of meat dried in the sun, and roasted over the fire – the whole accompanied with limpid water from the stream – a wholesome and fortifying beverage, but in no way liable to get into the heads of the guests.

The chiefs had, through a warrior, invited the Brazilian officers to take part in the meal – a courteous invitation that the latter had accepted with so much the more pleasure as, with the exception of gourds full of sugar cane brandy, which they carried at their saddles, they were completely without provisions, and at over time thought they were condemned to a forced fast – a prospect all the more disagreeable for them, as they were literally dying with hunger, not having had the opportunity, since the previous evening, of taking any other refreshment than a little brandy, diluted with water, a regimen quite insufficient for them, but to which they had resolutely submitted, rather than exhibit their distress to the Indians, amongst whom they had accidentally been thrown. Happily for them, the Guaycurus chiefs had noticed this forced abstinence, and had kindly put an end to it by inviting the young men to sup with them – a proceeding which had the double advantage of saving the pride of the officers, and of breaking the ice between them and the Indians.

However, as often happens between persons who do not know each other, or who at least know one another but little, the first few minutes were embarrassing to these four companions, so different in manners and disposition.

The officers, after a ceremonious bow, which the chiefs acknowledged in a very awkward fashion, seated themselves on the grass, and attacked the provisions set before them, at first with a certain forbearance which politeness demanded; but they soon gave way to the imperious demands of their appetites.

"Epoï!" said the old chief, with a smile of good humour, "I am happy, gentlemen, to see you so much enjoy so poor a meal."

"Upon my word," answered one of the officers, laughing, "poor or not, chief, it comes at a time when we cannot disdain it."

"Hum!" said the second, "it is just twenty-four hours since we have eaten; and that is rather a long time."

"Why did you not say that before?" resumed the chief; "We would immediately have given orders for you to have the necessary provisions."

"A thousand thanks for your kindness, chief; but it neither suited our dignity nor our disposition to make such a request to you."

"The whites have strange scruples," murmured Gueyma, speaking rather to himself than to the officers.

However, they heard the remark, to which one of them replied —

"It is not a question of delicacy, chief, but an innate feeling of propriety amongst men who not only respect themselves, but also in themselves respect those whom they are charged to represent."

"You will excuse us, Señor," pursued Gueyma, "we Indians, almost savages, as you call us, know nothing of those subtle distinctions that you are pleased to establish; the life of the desert does not teach such things."

"And we are, perhaps, only the more happy that it is so," added the old chief.

"Possibly," answered the officer; "I will not discuss so futile a point with you. Let us quit this subject, and allow me to offer you a mouthful of brandy."

And after having uncorked his gourd, he presented it to the chief.

The latter, pushing away the gourd, looked in astonishment at the officer.

"You refuse me?" asked the latter, "For what motive, chief? Have I not accepted what you have offered me?"

The Indian several times shook his head.

"My son is not accustomed to be in the company of the Guaycurus," said he.

"Why this question, chief?"

"Because," answered he, "if it were otherwise, the young pale chief would know that the Guaycurus warriors never drink that liquid which the whites name ardent spirits, and which makes them stupid; the water from the springs which the Great Spirit, Macunhan, has profusely scattered in the desert is sufficient to slake their thirst."

"Excuse my ignorance, chief; I had no intention of offending you."

"Where there is no intention, as the paleface says," answered the old chief, smiling, "an injury cannot exist."

"Well spoken, my master," gaily pursued the young man. "I should have been annoyed if an inconsiderate action on my part had disturbed the good understanding which ought to exist between us; so much the more, as I wish to ask you a few questions, if it is not inconvenient."

The meal was concluded. The two chiefs had rolled up some tobacco in palm leaves, and were smoking; the officers had lighted their cigars.

"What are the questions that the paleface wishes to ask me?" pursued the Indian.

"First, let me tell you, that since chance has brought me among you, I am a prey to continual astonishment."

"Epoï!" said the chief, smiling; "Indeed!"

"Upon my word, yes. I had never seen an Indian. At Rio de Janeiro, when they spoke to me of the redskins, they were represented as men quite savage, fierce, faithless – entirely sunk in the most horrible barbarism. I thus acquired an impression which, according to what I now see, was most erroneous."

"Ah, ah! And what does the paleface now see?"

"Why, I see men brave, intelligent – enjoying a civilization different to ours, it is true, but which is civilization, nevertheless – chiefs like you and your companion for example, speaking the Portuguese language as well as myself, and who, in all circumstances, act with a prudence and wisdom, and a circumspection which I have often regretted I have not met with in my own countrymen. That is what I have seen among you up to the present time, chief, without taking account of the white complexion of your companion, which – you will admit – added to his features, and the expression of his countenance, gives him rather the appearance of a European than of an Indian warrior."

The two chiefs smiled as they exchanged a stealthy look, and the elder resumed, with an expression of pride —

"The Guaycurus are descendants of the great Tupinambas, the ancient possessors of Brazil, before the whites had robbed them of their territory. They are called by the palefaces themselves Cavalheiros. The Guaycurus are masters of the desert; who would dare to resist them? When many winters shall have blanched the hair of my son, and he shall have seen other Indian nations, he will recognise the immense difference that exists between the noble Guaycurus and the miserable savages scattered here and there in the llanos."

The young officer bowed affirmatively.

"So," said he, "the Guaycurus are the most civilised among the Indians?"

"The only civilised," answered the chief, with pride; "the Great Spirit loves and protects them."

"I admit it, chief; but that does not explain to me how it is that you speak our language with perfection – a perfection which you warriors are far from attaining, for they can scarcely understand a word I say to them."

"The Cougar has lived many years," answered he; "the snows of many a great winters have fallen on his head since he saw the light. The Cougar was a warrior before the paleface was born. At that time the chief visited the great villages of the whites; for several moons he even lived amongst them as if he had formed part of their families. He thus loves them, although he has left them forever to rejoin his tribe. The whites taught the Cougar their language. Has my son any other questions to ask him?"

"No, chief; I thank you sincerely for the frank and friendly way in which you have been pleased to answer me. I am the more delighted at the sympathy which you say you have for my countrymen, as in the circumstances in which we are placed, this sympathy cannot but be very conducive to the satisfactory termination of the business we have in hand."

"I hope it may be so."

"And I also, with all my heart. Are we still far distant from the place where the interview is to take place? I confess that I am anxious for the conclusion of the treaty between us."

"Then let my son rejoice, for we have reached the spot assigned by the Guaycurus captains, to the chiefs of the palefaces. The interview of which he speaks will take place probably tomorrow, two or three hours at most after sunrise."

"What! We have already reached the place called by the Spaniards the Rincón del Bosquecillo?"

"It is here."

"Thank God, for the general will not be long before he comes here, as we have already come; and now, chief, accept again my thanks. I am going, with your permission, to take a few hours' repose, which I really want, after the fatigues of the journey which has just finished."

"Let my sons sleep; sleep is good for young men," answered the chief, with a benevolent smile.

The officers immediately withdrew under the awning prepared for them, and were not long before they slept.

The chiefs remained, facing each other.

The Guaycurus warriors, stretched before the fires, slept, enveloped in their ponchos.

But the sentinels watched, and were motionless as bronze statues, their eyes open to the surrounding country, and their ears ready for the least sound.

A complete calm reigned in the desert; the night was warm, clear, and starlight.

The Cougar looked for a moment pensively at his companion, and then, after looking inquiringly around him —

"Of what is Gueyma thinking at this moment?" said he, with a gentle voice, and in a tone of tender nation; "Is he communing with his heart? Do his thoughts recall the pleasant memory of Dove's Eye, the Virgin with the azure eyes or is his spirit busy with the meeting scheduled for tomorrow?"

The young man trembled, raised his head and cast an uncertain look, in which a spark glowed, on the old chief, who looked at him sadly.

"No," he replied with a voice, silent and broken by inner emotion: "my father has not clearly read in the heart of his son; the memory of Dove's eye is ever present in Gueyma's soul: she need not be called up to shine even more. The result of the conference that will take place tomorrow is not of the young chief's concern. His mind is elsewhere; he wanders in the midst of the clouds guided by the wind to seek his father."

The face of the old chief suddenly grew dark with these words; he frowned his brow and answered after a while with an uncertain, emotional voice:

"Is that thought still tormenting you, my son?"

"Still!" replied the young man with some animation; "Until the Cougar has fulfilled his promise."

"Which promise is that, that my son reminds me of?"

"This, to reveal to me my father's name; because I never knew him as a child; and because the warriors of my nation sadly turn their heads when I ask them why he left from our midst so long ago."

"Yes, surely," replied the Cougar, "I did promise that to my son, but he gave me another one, doesn't he remember?"

"Yes, my father; forgive me, I do remember, but my father is good, and will be tolerant toward a young man and pardon an impatience that only comes forth from his childish love."

"My son is not only one of the most feared warriors of his nation, but also one of the most renown chiefs; he must be the example of patience for all. It will seal his mouth better, if I don't disclose the secret; to learn that when he is so impatient the men will follow him therein, to give him this and this only thought; it is: to see him once happy."

After he had spoken these words in a tone both stern and moved, the old chief wrapped his poncho around him, stretched himself on the ground and closed his eyes.

Gueyma gave him a glance with a mixture of indescribable anger, reverence and despondency; then he sighed deeply, and let his head sink to his chest, overwhelmed by sleep. He lay down beside his fellow tribesmen. Soon there were no more people awake in the whole of the Indian encampment, except for the sentinels appointed to watch over the common safety.

CHAPTER II

THE TREATY

The night was calm; nothing disturbed its peaceful and majestic tranquillity. The guardsmen kept watch with a conscientious alertness over the repose of their kinsmen, which is not very often the case among the Indians.

At about half past four in the morning, the darkness gradually began to give way to the still faint glow of the first daylight; the sky painted itself with broad strokes of changing colours, which at last blended into a brilliant red, and the sun appeared rising above the horizon as if it had come from a furnace, suddenly illuminating the heavens with its resplendent rays, which resembled flakes of fire.

In the desert the first hours of the morning are the sweetest and the most splendid of the day.

Nature, on awaking calm and refreshed, appears during the darkness to have resumed all her powers. The freshened foliage is pearled with dew; a light and transparent mist rises from the ground, and is speedily absorbed by the sun; a fresh breeze ripples the silvery surface of the rivers and the lakes, agitates the branches of the trees, and sends a quivering through the tall grass, from the midst of which rise every now and then the heads of affrightened oxen, wild horses, deer, or gazelles; while the birds, joyously clapping their wings, make their morning toilet, or fly about with cries and twitterings of pleasure.

The Indians are not generally heavy sleepers; so the sun had scarcely appeared above the horizon than they all awoke and proceeded to dress, washing themselves every day; for the Guaycurus, contrary to other American tribes, number among their characteristics that of strict cleanliness, and even have a kind of coquetry in the arrangement of their picturesque clothing.

At the voice of Cougar, they united in a semicircle, their eyes turned towards the rising sun, and addressed a fervent prayer to the radiant orb of day – not that they look upon it as positively a god, but because it is, according to their belief, the visible representative of the invisible Divinity, and the great dispenser of benefits.

We have remarked with astonishment this worship rendered to the sun in all the countries of America, as well in the south as in the north, and which, although varied in form, is everywhere in substance the same in all the indigenous tribes. Moreover, this natural religion must be more easily understood by primitive races, who thus render homage to what the more forcibly strikes their eyes than their senses.

This pious duty accomplished, the warriors arose, and immediately shared the labours of the camp.

Some led the horses to water; others rubbed them down carefully; some went to cut wood, in order to rekindle the smouldering fires, whilst some five or six chosen warriors, leaping on their barebacked horses, started off into the savannah, to procure by hunting the necessary provisions for their breakfast, and that of their companions.

In a few minutes the camp offered a most animated picture; for just as the Indians are idle and careless when their wives, to whom they abandon all the domestic work, are with them, so they are active and alert in their war expeditions, during which they cannot claim their wives' assistance.

The Brazilian officers, awakened by the noise and movements which were being made around them, came out from the canopy under which they had passed the night, and proceeded gaily to mix among the groups of Indians, having themselves also to tend their horses, and to see that nothing had occurred to them during the night.

The Guaycurus received them in the most cordial way, laughing and talking with them, affably inquiring if they had well slept, and if they were completely recovered from their fatigue of the previous day.

Soon all was in order in the camp; the horses which had been led to water were again attached to pickets, with a good supply of fresh grass; the huntsmen returned loaded with game; and the morning meal, prepared in all haste, was soon served to the guests on large banana and palm leaves, which served for plates and dishes.

Immediately after breakfast, the Cougar – after having conversed some minutes with Gueyma, who, although the principal chief of the detachment, appeared only to act under his counsel – dispatched several scouts in different directions.

"Your friends are late in arriving," said he to the Brazilian officers; "perhaps something has occurred to hinder them. These men are charged to ascertain the state of affairs, and to announce to us their approach."

The officers bowed as a sign of assent; they had nothing to reply to this observation, especially as they themselves began to be uneasy at the delay of the persons expected.

Several hours thus passed. The Guaycurus warriors talked among themselves, smoked, or fished from the banks of the Rio Bermejo; but no Indian wandered far from the camp, in the midst of which was raised, as a standard, the long lance of Gueyma planted in the ground, and having floating at its summit a white banner made with a handkerchief borrowed from the officer.

About eleven in the morning the sentinels signalled the appearance of two troops coming from two opposite directions, but both riding towards the camp.

The Guaycurus chief dispatched two warriors towards these troops.

The latter returned in a very few minutes.

They had recognised the strangers. The first were Macobis, the others Trentones.

But almost immediately appeared a third troop, then a fourth, then a fifth, and at last a sixth.

Scouts were immediately dispatched to meet them, and they were not long in returning, announcing that they were detachments of Chiriguanos, Langoas, Abipones, and Payagoas.

"Epoï!" answered the Cougar, at each announcement which was made to him; "The warriors will camp at the foot of the hill; the chiefs will come up near us."

The scouts then set off at full speed, and proceeded to communicate to the captains of the different detachments the orders of their chief.

Arrived at a certain distance from the bank, on the summit of which the camp of the Guaycurus was established, the Indian detachments stopped, uttered their war cry with a resounding voice, and, after having executed certain evolutions, making their horses caracole, they proceeded to establish themselves at the points which had been assigned to them.

The chiefs of their detachments, followed each by two warriors more particularly attached to their persons, ascended the hill at a gallop and entered the camp, where they were received in the most cordial way by the Guaycurus chiefs, who were mounted on horseback, and had advanced some paces to meet them.

After a rather long interchange of compliments, in which all the minute exigencies of Indian etiquette were studied, the chiefs proceeded together towards the council fire, where all sat down without distinction of, place or rank.

There was then perfect silence in the assembly. The slaves gave to each some tobacco rolled in palm leaves, and sent round the maté that the chiefs drank slowly and religiously, according to custom.

When the cup had passed from hand to hand, and when the last puff of smoke had been drawn from the rolls of tobacco, Gueyma made a gesture with his hand to claim attention —

"Allied captains of the powerful and invincible tribe of the Guaycurus," said he, "I am happy to see you here, and at the readiness you have shown in coming at the invitation of the members of the supreme council of our tribe. The reason for this extraordinary assembly is extremely important; you will soon learn it. It is not for me, and I should fail in my duty as a faithful ally, if I tried on this occasion to influence your ultimate determination, which your interests alone must of course decide. Let it suffice, at present, to know that your friends the Guaycurus have thought it right only to act in this affair with your consent, and the assistance of your counsel."

A Payagoa chief, aged and of respectable aspect, bowed and answered —

"Captain of the Guaycurus, although still very young, you unite in yourself the prudent circumspection of the agouti with the fervid courage of the jaguar. The words that you utter are inspired by the Great Spirit. In the name of the captains here present, I thank you for the latitude you give us in leaving us entire freedom as to our determinations. We shall, you may be convinced, know how to distinguish the true from the false in this affair; that we are now ignorant of, and, availing ourselves of your wisdom, conclude it according to the laws of justice, while we conform to the interests of the tribes of which we are the representatives."

The other chiefs then bowed, and each in his turn, with his hand placed on his heart, pronounced these words —