A CONVERSATION BY NIGHT.
The majordomo's fainting fit, caused rather by the moral struggle he had sustained than by the physical fatigue he had endured, was not of any duration: when he re-opened his eyes, he was alone on the top of the hill. He threw off the furs and blankets laid over him, to protect him, doubtless from the icy cold of the night, and looked curiously round him. The tempest was still raging, but it had lost a great deal of its violence. The rain had ceased: the deep blue sky was gradually becoming studded with twinkling stars, which shed an uncertain light, and gave the landscape an aspect of strange and desolate wildness. The wind blew furiously, and formed waves on the seething top of the waters, which had now almost risen to the spot where the majordomo lay. A few yards from its master, his horse was quietly grazing; it was eating the young tree shoots, and the tall close grass that covered the ground like a thick carpet of verdure. Another horse was browsing close by.
"Good!" Paredes muttered to himself, "My saviour has not gone away; I hope he is not far off, and that I shall see him soon. Where can he be? At his own business, of course, though I cannot guess the nature of his occupation at such a moment. Well, the best plan will be to wait for him."
The Mexican had scarce ended his soliloquy, ere a shadow stood out in the gloom, and the man of whom he was speaking appeared.
"Ah, ah!" he said, gaily, "You are all right again, I see: all the better; I would sooner have you in that position than the one you were in just now."
"Thanks," the majordomo cordially answered. "I fancy I must have looked very pitiable, stretched out like a half-throttled novillo. Is it not disgraceful for a strong man to faint like a child or a feeble woman?"
"Not the least in the world, compañero," the other said, frankly. "Accident decreed that I should be for a long time the involuntary witness of the contest you waged, though it was impossible to help you, and ¡Viva Dios! I declare that you are a tough combatant; you sustained the shock bravely, and many others in your place—I the first, perhaps—would not have got out of the scrape so well."
This answer completely broke the ice, and made the two men comparatively friends at once.
"I confess," Paredes remarked, as he offered his hand to his new friend, "that for a moment I believed myself lost, and had it not been for you I should have been so."
"Nonsense," the other replied, as he pressed the hand offered him. "You owe me nothing, for, by Jove! You saved yourself all alone. But let us not dwell on this point any longer. Although we are in relative safety, as the water cannot reach us here, our position is not the most agreeable; and I fancy it would be the best for us to try and get out of it as quickly as possible."
"That is my opinion, too; but, unluckily, the means at our disposal are very limited."
"Perhaps so; at any rate, with your consent, we will hold an Indian council."
"That is the best thing we can do at this moment. However," he added, as he looked up to the sky, "day will not break for three hours."
"We have time before us, in that case."
Daring this short conversation the storm had entirely ceased, and the wind only blew in gusts.
"Before all," the majordomo said, "let us light a fire; now that the tempest has ceased, the wild beasts, whose instinct is infallible, will seek the shelter of this hill, swarm round us, and, if we do not take care, carry our position by assault."
"Excellently argued; I see that you are a hunter."
"I was one for some time," Paredes replied, with a sigh of regret, "but now it is all over; my adventures in the desert are ended."
"I pity you sincerely," the stranger said, with an accent of sincerity; "for no existence is comparable with it."
"The finest years of my life were those I spent in the desert."
While conversing thus, the two men had dug a hole with their machetes at the foot of an enormous larch tree, to act as a hearth. In this hole they piled up all the resinous wood they were able to procure, lit it with some gunpowder rolled up in leaves, and in a few minutes a long jet of flame sprung up and joyously ascended to the sky, while the wood crackled and emitted millions of sparks. Fire has an immense influence upon the human mind; among other benefits, it has the faculty of restoring joy and hope; and while warming a man with its reviving heat, it often makes him forget perils incurred and fatigues endured. The two men, who were as wet as if they had been in a river, dried themselves for a considerable time, enjoying the pleasant sensations which the heat made them experience, in proportion as it penetrated into the pores, causing the blood to circulate with greater vivacity, and restoring elasticity to their benumbed limbs. It was the majordomo who was the first to resume the conversation.
"¡Viva Dios!" he said, shaking himself joyously; "I am now quite a different man. What a fine thing a fire is when you are cold. Suppose we make use of it, comrade?"
"Do so, pray," the stranger replied, with a laugh; "but in what way?"
"Oh, that is very easy; you shall see. Are you not hungry?"
"Caray, it is fourteen hours since I have eaten; but unluckily I have no provisions."
"Well, I have, and we will share them."
"Very good. I see that you are a first-rate fellow."
The majordomo rose, fetched the alforjas which were fastened to his saddle, and then seated himself again by the fire.
"There!" he said, displaying his provisions with some degree of complacency.
"¡Caramba!" the other remarked, with a laugh; "Food was never more welcome."
The provisions which caused such delight to the two men would have made our European good wives smile with pity. They consisted of some slices of tasajo, cicuia, a lump of goat's cheese, and a few maize tortillas; but the majordomo produced a leather bottle, full of excellent mezcal, which had the privilege of restoring to the two adventurers all their merry carelessness.
The tasajo was laid on the coals, where it was soon done to a turn, and the two friends heartily attacked the supper. The frugal meal ended, they washed it down with a few sips of mezcal, fraternally passing the bottle to each other; then they lit their cigarettes, the obligado supplement of every Mexican repast, and began to smoke, while attentively surveying the heavy sky, which was already striped with dark bands under the influence of the early morning hours.
"Now, let us hold a council, if you are agreeable," the stranger said, as he inhaled an enormous mouthful of smoke, which he sent forth through his mouth and nostrils.
"As you are my senior on this territory," the majordomo remarked, with a laugh, "and are better acquainted with its resources than I am, you have the right to speak first."
"Very good: we are surrounded by water, and though the temporal has ceased, the streams will not return to their bed for several hours: moreover, the whole day will pass before the water is entirely absorbed by the sand."
"That is true," the majordomo said, with a significant shake of the head: "and yet we must get away from here."
"That is the question. To do so, we can only employ two means."
"Yes, we must either wait till the ground is dry, and that unfortunately will take a long time, which I cannot afford, as I am in a hurry: or at sunrise we can mount our horses, and bravely swim off, and reach the mountains, which cannot be very far distant."
"You forgot another way which is still at our service."
"I do not think so."
"We can get into a canoe, and tow our horses after us, which will tire them less than carrying us; and enable us to reach the mountains to which you refer with greater ease; and they are only two leagues at the most, from this point."
"Your opinion is certainly good, and I approve of it with all my heart; unluckily we want one very important thing to carry it out."
"What is that?"
"Why, hang it all—the canoe."
"You are mistaken, compadre, we have one."
"Nonsense; how can that be possible?"
"While you were in a faint," the stranger continued, with a smile, "I explored our domain. You know that, in this country, when the rainy season arrives, the inhabitants are accustomed to hide canoes in bushes, and even in trees, in order to give travellers who are surprised by the inundation the means of saving themselves."
"That is true; have you found a canoe?"
"Yes; and hidden behind the very tree against which you are leaning."
"Heaven be praised! In that case we run no risk; but is the canoe in good condition?"
"I have assured myself of that fact, and even found two pairs of new paddles."
"Heaven is very certainly on your side. In that case we will start at sunrise, if that suits you."
"Excellently; though I am not in such a hurry as you appear to be, and for certain reasons I must remain in these parts for some days longer."
"Shall we employ the few hours left us in having a sleep?"
"You can sleep if you like, but as I am not at all fatigued, I shall watch over our common safety."
"I accept your proposal as frankly as you make it. Yet, with your permission, I will not close my eyes till I have become better acquainted with you."
"How so? Are we not friends already?"
"Certainly, I am your friend, at least; but we do not know one another."
"That is to say—"
"We do not know one another—I mean who we are."
"Oh, when travelling, what value can such formalities possess?"
"A greater value than you suppose; in a few hours we shall part, it is true, perhaps never to meet again; but perhaps, at some distant period, we may require each other's assistance; now, how could I summon you, if I did not know your name?"
"You're right, comrade; as for me, I am only a poor devil of a hunter, wood ranger, or trapper—whichever you please, and my companions call me Stronghand, because, as they say, when I hold out my hand to a friend he can trust to it in perfect confidence."
"¡Viva Dios, caballero! you are well named, as I can declare; your reputation has already reached me, and I am delighted at the chance that has brought us together, as I had already desired to form your personal acquaintance."
"I thank you," the hunter replied, with a bow.
"As for me," the Mexican continued, "my name is José Paredes, and I am majordomo to the Marquis de Moguer."
"What!" Stronghand said, with a surprise he did not try to conceal; "you are majordomo at the Hacienda del Toro?"
"Yes, what do you find surprising in that?"
"The man whom his master sent two days ago to Hermosillo, to receive cash for heavy bills drawn on an English banker?"
"How do you know that?" Paredes exclaimed, in his turn overwhelmed with surprise.
"What matter, so long as I know it?" the hunter replied. "Believe me," he added, with an accent that caused the majordomo deep reflection, "our meeting is truly providential, and Heaven led us toward each other."
"That is strange," Paredes muttered; "how is it possible that a secret which my master confided to me alone should be in your possession?"
The hunter smiled. "A secret known to three persons," he said, "does not long remain a secret."
"But that third person, to whom you refer, has no right to divulge it."
"How do you know that? I will say to you in my turn, Master Paredes. Sufficient for you, for the present, to learn that I am aware of the cause of your journey. I think you said you had heard speak of me before we met?"
"That is true, Señor."
"What terms did the persons who spoke of me employ?"
"The best, I must allow. They represented you to me as a man of unspotted loyalty and dauntless courage."
"Good! Does that report satisfy you—have you confidence in me?"
"Yes; for I am convinced that you are an honest man."
"I hope that your opinion of me will not alter. I will soon prove to you that it is fortunate for you and the Marquis that we have met at the moment when you least expected it; for I was looking for you."
"Looking for me? I do not understand you."
"You do not require to understand me at the present moment; but set your mind at rest, everything will be explained ere long."
"I hope so."
"And I am certain of it. Are you devoted to your master?"
"My family have lived on the estate for two hundred years."
"That is not a reason; answer distinctly."
"I am devoted to him body and soul, and would willingly lay down my life for him."
"That is the way to answer; however, I knew it already, and only desired that your lips should confirm what I have been told."
"My master has no secrets from me."
"I know that also. Well, now, listen to me attentively, Señor Paredes, for what I have to reveal to you is of the utmost gravity."
"I am listening to you, Señor."
"Your master is at this moment in danger of being utterly ruined. He is the plaything of villains who have sworn to destroy him. The sum you are going to fetch they intend to take from you, and everything is prepared to make you fall into an infamous trap, in which you will infallibly perish."
"Are you certain of what you assert?" the majordomo exclaimed, in horror.
"I know all, I repeat to you: the men from whom I obtained your secret, who little expected that I was listening to them, at the same time revealed to me the means they intended to employ in assassinating you."
"Why, that is infamous!"
"I am completely of your opinion, and that is why, instead of setting my traps in the desert, as I ought to be doing, I am now here. I wish to foil the plots of these villains, and confound them."
"But what interest induces you to act thus?" the majordomo asked, with a shadow of distrust.
"That question I cannot answer. You must for the present lay aside all curiosity; you must place entire confidence in me, and give me, in what I propose doing, as much help as I shall offer you. Does this suit you? I fancy that the bargain I offer is entirely to your advantage, and that you will run no risk beyond what I do myself."
There was a lengthened silence. The majordomo was reflecting on what he had just heard, while the hunter, with his eyes fixed on him, was patiently waiting till he thought proper to renew the conversation. At length Paredes raised his head, and held out his hand to the hunter, who pressed it.
"Listen, Stronghand," he said to him; "all that you have told me appears extraordinary, and I confess that at once: but there is such frankness in your voice, and your reputation is so well established among your brethren, the wood rangers, who all proclaim your loyalty, that I do not hesitate to confide in you without any reservation, for I am convinced that you can have no idea of betraying me, up to the moment when you think proper to reveal to me the names of the villains into whose hands I should have infallibly fallen, had it not been for you, and who have sworn the ruin of my beloved master. I will do what you ask of me—resign my will entirely; you may regard me as a thing belonging entirely to you. Come, go, act as you think proper, and I will obey you in everything, without asking any explanation of your conduct. Now, in your turn, say if it suits you."
"Yes, my worthy friend, that pleases me. You have guessed my thought. I require this liberty to give me the means of succeeding in what I wish to do. Believe the word of an honest man. If anything can add to the confidence you have placed in me, and of which I am proud, I swear to you, by all that is most sacred in the world, that no one is more interested than I am in the Marquis de Moguer, or more sincerely desires to see him happy."
"We shall still start at sunrise, eh?"
"Yes; but not to proceed to Hermosillo. Before going to that town, we must take certain indispensable precautions. We have to deal with the most crafty bandits on the border, and must beat them by cunning. They are on our track, and we must cheat the cheaters."
"Good, good! I will call to mind my old hunter's profession."
"Remember, above all, the prairie proverb, 'The trees have eyes and the leaves ears.' Fortunately for us, the villains who are watching for you do not disturb me in any way. I reckon principally on that ignorance to foil their plots."
"But if we do not go to Hermosillo, where are we going?"
"Tomorrow, when it is daylight," the hunter answered, sententiously, "when the bright sunbeams permit me to convince myself that no one can hear us, I will tell you. For the present, sleep, rest yourself, so that you may be able to support the fatigue that awaits you."
And, as if to avoid fresh questioning, the hunter wrapped himself in his zarapé, leant his back against the larch tree, stretched out his legs to the fire, and closed his eyes. The majordomo, in spite of his lively desire to continue the conversation, imitated him; and a few minutes later, overcome by the fatigue of every description he had endured for some days, he was fast asleep.