THE BATTLE OF CONDERKANKI.
It was the fourth of October.
The Araucano warriors came out proudly from their entrenchments, and drew up in order of battle to the sound of their warlike instruments. The Araucanos have a system of battle from which they never deviate: this unchangeable order is as follows: the cavalry form the two wings, and the infantry is in the centre, divided by battalions. The ranks of these battalions are by turns composed of men armed with pikes and men armed with clubs, so that between two pikes there is always one club. The vice-Toqui commands the right wing, an Apo-Ulmen the left wing. As to the Toqui, he flies to all points, exhorting the troops to fight courageously for liberty.
The Araucanian army, drawn up as we have described, had an imposing and martial appearance. All these warriors knew they were supporting a lost cause, that they were marching to an almost certain death, and yet they waited impassively, their eyes burning with ardour for the signal for battle. Antinahuel, with his right arm tied down to his body by leather strap, brandishing a heavy club in his left hand, mounted a magnificent courser, as black as jet, which he governed with his knees, and rode through the ranks of his warriors.
Before leaving the camp, General Bustamente exchanged a few words with the Linda. Their short conversation ended with these words, which did not fail to make an impression upon the woman's heart—
"Farewell, señora!" he said, in a melancholy voice; "I am going to die—thanks to the bad influence you have exercised over me—in the ranks of those to whom my duty orders me to be opposed! I am going to die the death of a traitor, hated and despised by all! I pardon you the evil you have done me. Repent!—there is still time! Farewell!"
He coldly bowed to the dejected Doña Maria, and rejoined the troop.
The Chilian army was formed in squares of echelons.
At the instant Don Tadeo was leaving his tent he uttered an exclamation of joy at beholding two men.
"Don Louis! Don Valentine!" he exclaimed; "you here?"
"Faith! yes, here we are," Valentine replied, laughing; "Cæsar and all, who has a great inclination to taste an Araucano; haven't you, old dog?" he said.
"We thought," said the count, "that on a day like this you could not have too many of your friends round you; we have left the two chiefs concealed in the woods a short distance off, and have come to you."
"I thank you. You will not leave me, I hope."
"Pardieu! we came on purpose to stick to you."
Don Tadeo ordered each to be furnished with a superb charger, and all three set off at a gallop to place themselves in the centre square.
The plain of Conderkanki, into which Don Tadeo had at length succeeded in driving the Indians, has the form of an immense triangle. The Araucanos occupied the summit of the triangle, and found themselves hemmed in between the sea and the mountains.
"Well," Valentine asked Don Tadeo, "is not the battle going to begin?"
"Directly," the latter replied, "and be assured you will find it sharp enough."
The dictator then raised his sword. The drums beat, the bugles sounded the charge, and the Chilian army advanced at quick step. The signal being given, the Araucanos advanced in their turn resolutely, uttering frightful yells. As soon as their enemies were within a proper distance the Chilian lines opened—a discharge of artillery roared forth its thunders, and swept the front ranks of the Araucanos; then the squares as suddenly closed, and the soldiers waited in their ranks, with bayonets at charge.
The shock was terrible. The Aucas, decimated by the artillery which ploughed their ranks, front, flank, and rear, faced about on all sides at once, and rushed with fury upon the Chilian bayonets. As soon as the first rank succumbed beneath the bullets, the second and third resolutely replaced it. And yet the savage warriors retained self-command in all their eagerness; they followed with exactness and rapidity the orders of their Ulmens, and executed with the greatest regularity the various evolutions which were commanded.
In spite of the close discharges of the musketry which cut them to pieces, they rushed headlong upon the front ranks of the Chilians, and at length attacked them hand to hand. The Chilian cavalry then dashed in, and charged them to the very centre.
But General Bustamente had foreseen this movement. On his side he executed the same manoeuvre, so that the two bodies of cavalry came in contact with a noise like thunder. Calm and cool at the head of his squadron, the general charged.
As Don Tadeo had predicted to Valentine, the battle was rudely contested along the whole line; the Araucanos, with their tenacity which nothing can repel, and their contempt of death, allowed themselves to be slaughtered by the Chilian bayonets without yielding. Antinahuel was in the van of his warriors, animating them with his gestures and his voice.
"What men!" the count could not refrain from exclaiming; "what mad rashness!"
"Is it not?" Don Tadeo replied; "They are demons."
"Pardieu!" Valentine cried. "What brave soldiers! Why, they will all be killed if they go on so."
"All!" Don Tadeo replied.
The principal efforts of the Araucanians were directed against the square where the general-in-chief was, surrounded by his staff. There the fight was changed into a butchery; firearms had become useless, bayonets, hatchets, sabres, and clubs furrowed breasts and crushed skulls. Antinahuel looked around him. His followers were falling like ears of ripe corn; the forest of bayonets which barred their passage must be broken through at all hazards.
"Aucas!" he cried, in a voice of thunder "forward!"
With a movement rapid as thought, he lifted his horse, made it plunge, and hurled it upon the front ranks of the enemy. The breach was opened by this stroke of extraordinary audacity; the warriors rushed in after him. A frightful carnage ensued—a tumult impossible to be described! With every blow a man fell. The Aucas had plunged like a wedge into the square, and had broken it.
"Well," Don Tadeo asked of Valentine, "what do you think of these adversaries?"
"They are more than men!" he answered.
"Forward, forward! Chili! Chili!" Don Tadeo shouted, urging on his horse.
Followed by about fifty men, among whom were the two Frenchmen, he plunged into the thickest of the enemy's ranks. Don Gregorio and General Fuentes had divined from the persistency with which the Araucanos attacked the great square that their object was to take the general-in-chief prisoner. Therefore, they had hastened their movements, effected their junction, and enclosed the Aucas within a circle of steel.
At a glance Antinahuel perceived the critical position in which he was placed. He shouted to Bustamente a cry of anxious appeal. He also was aware of the dangerous position of the Indian army.
"Let us save our warriors," he shouted.
"We will save them," the Indians howled.
All at once the general found himself immediately opposed to the squadron commanded by Don Tadeo.
"Oh!" he cried, "I shall die at last."
From the commencement of the action Joan had fought by the side of Don Tadeo, who, intent upon his duties as leader, often neglected to parry the blows aimed at him; but the brave Indian parried them for him, and seemed to multiply himself for the sake of protecting the man he had sworn to defend. Joan instinctively divined the intention of General Bustamente.
"Oh!" the general shouted; "my God, I thank thee. I shall not die by the hand of a brother."
Joan's horse came full in contact with that of the general.
"Ah! ah!" the latter murmured, "you also are a traitor to your country; you also are fighting against your brothers. Die, wretch!"
And he aimed a heavy sabre stroke at the Indian. But Joan avoided it, and seized the general round the body. The two horses, abandoned to themselves, and rendered furious by the noise of the battle, dragged along the two men, who clung to each other like serpents. This furious struggle could not last long, and both men rolled on the ground. They disengaged themselves from their stirrups, and instantly stood face to face. After a contest of skill for a few minutes, the general, who was an expert swordsman, succeeded in planting a sabre cut which cleft the skull of the Indian; but before falling Joan collected his strength, and threw himself headlong upon his antagonist, who was surprised by this unexpected attack, and plunged his poisoned dagger into his breast. The two enemies staggered for a moment, and then fell, side by side—dead!