THE END OF DON RAMÓN'S JOURNEY.
In the meantime Don Ramón had left Valdivia. This time the senator was alone—alone with his horse, a poor, lean, half-foundered beast, which hobbled along with its head and ears down, and appeared in all points to harmonise with the sad thoughts which doubtless occupied its master's mind.
The future by no means appeared to him pleasant. He had left Valdivia under a threat of death; at every step he expected to be aimed at by some invisible gun. Being conscious that he could not impose upon the enemies, doubtless disseminated over his route, by any appearance of strength or power, he determined to impose upon them by his weakness—that is to say, he got rid of all his arms. At a few leagues distance from Valdivia he had been passed by Joan. Don Ramón watched him for a long time with a look of envy.
"What happy fellows these Indians are!" he grumbled; "the desert belongs to them. Ah!" he added, with a sigh; "if I were but at Casa Azul."
Casa Azul was the senator's quinta—that quinta with white walls, green blinds, and leafy bowers, which he so much regretted having left in a moment of silly ambition, and which he never hoped to see again. When he passed by a wood, or along a narrow way between two mountains, he cast terrified glances around him, and entered the suspicious passage, murmuring—
"This is where they are waiting for me!"
And when the wood was passed, and the dangerous lane cleared, instead of felicitating himself upon being still safe and sound, he said, with a shake of the head—
"Hum! the Pícaros! they know very well I cannot escape them, and they are playing with me as a cat does with a mouse."
And yet two days had passed away without a mishap, nothing had occurred to corroborate the senator's suspicions and uneasiness. He had that morning crossed the ford of the Carampangne, and was drawing near to the Bio Bio which he hoped to reach by sunset.
But the Bio Bio had to be crossed, and there lay the difficulty. The river has but one ford, a little above Concepción. The senator knew it perfectly well but a secret presentiment told him not to approach it. Unfortunately Don Ramón had no choice, he could take no other road.
The senator hesitated as long as Cæsar did at the famous passage of the Rubicon; at length, as there were no means of doing otherwise, Don Ramón very unwillingly spurred on his horse, and advanced towards the ford, recommending himself to the protection of all the saints of the Spanish golden legend.
The horse was tired, but the smell of the water renovated its strength, and it cantered gaily on with the infallible instinct of these noble beasts, without pausing in the inextricable windings which crossed each other in the high grass. Although the river was not yet visible, Don Ramón could hear the roaring of the waters. He was passing by, at the moment, a dark hill, from the thickly-wooded sides of which proceeded, at intervals, sounds which he could not make out. The animal too, as much alarmed as its master, pricked up its ears and redoubled its speed. Don Ramón scarcely ventured to breathe, and looked in all directions with the greatest terror. He was close to the ford, when suddenly a rough voice smote his ear and rendered him as motionless as if he had been changed into a block of marble. Half a score Indian warriors surrounded him on all sides; these warriors were commanded by Black Stag.
It was a strange circumstance, but when the first moment of terror was past, the senator completely recovered himself—now that he knew what he had to trust to, the danger which he had so long dreaded was before him, but less terrific than he had supposed it to be. Black Stag examined him carefully, and at length placed his hand upon the bridle of his horse, saying, as he endeavoured to recall a half-effaced remembrance—
"It seems to me that I have seen the paleface somewhere?"
"To be sure," the senator replied; "we are old friends."
"I am not the friend of the Huincas," the Indian said, sternly.
"I mean," Don Ramón corrected himself, "we are old acquaintances."
"Good! what is the Chiapla doing here?"
"Hum!" the senator said; "I am doing nothing."
"Let the paleface reply clearly; a chief is questioning him," Black Stag said, frowning.
"I ask no better," Don Ramón replied, in a conciliating tone. "Question me."
"Where is the paleface going?"
"Where am I going? When you stopped me I was preparing to cross the Bio Bio."
"Good! And when you had crossed the Bio Bio?"
"Oh, then I should have hastened to gain my quinta, which I am very sorry I ever quitted."
"Doubtless the paleface is charged with some mission?"
"Who, I?" said the senator, in the most careless way possible; "Who do you think would charge me with a mission?"
"Good! Where is the necklace?"
"What necklace do you mean?"
"The one which you have to deliver to the chief of Concepción."
"Who! I?"
"Yes, you."
"I have none."
"My brother speaks well: Aucas warriors are not women, they know how to discover what is hidden."
Any resistance was impossible, and if it had not been, Don Ramón was not the man to have attempted it; hence he obeyed, and his horse was led away.
"The paleface will follow me," Black Stag commanded.
"Hum!" said Don Ramón, "where are you going?"
"To the Toqui and the Great Eagle of the Whites."
"Oh, dear! oh, dear!" said Don Ramón to himself.
The warriors led their prisoner among the coppice. After a short ascent they arrived at the camp. General Bustamente and Antinahuel were conversing as they walked about.
"What have you there?" asked the general.
"A prisoner," Black Stag replied.
"Eh, what!" said the general, "it is my honourable friend, Don Ramón!"
"Yes—worse luck—"
"How can that be? Were you not seeking me?"
"God forbid!" the senator cried.
"Look there, now; why, then, where were you going alone thus?"
"I was going to my own home."
The general and Antinahuel exchanged a few words.
"Come with us, Don Ramón," the general rejoined, "the Toqui wishes to have some conversation."
"With pleasure," said Don Ramón; and cursing his evil star he followed the two men into the toldo.
The warriors who had brought the senator remained without, to execute the orders they might receive.
"You said," the general continued, as soon as they were in the toldo, "that you were going home at Casa Azul."
"Yes, general."
"Why that sigh? nothing that I am aware of will be opposed to the continuation of your journey."
"Do you mean that?" the senator exclaimed.
"Hum! that depends entirely upon yourself."
"How so?"
"Deliver up to the Toqui the order which Don Tadeo de León has charged you."
"What order do you mean, general?"
"Why, the one you probably have."
"You are mistaken, general; I am not charged with any mission to General Fuentes, I am sure."
"And yet the Toqui asserts the contrary."
"This man lies; he must have a necklace," said Antinahuel.
"It is very easy to ascertain that." said the general, coolly. "Black Stag, my friend, please to have this caballero suspended by the thumbs to the next tree."
The senator shuddered.
"I beg you to observe," the general continued, "that we do not commit the rudeness of searching you."
"But I assure you I have no order."
"Bah! and I am certain you will find one—there is nothing like being suspended by the thumbs."
"Come," said Black Stag.
The senator bounded away from him with fear.
"Well, I think I recollect——" he stammered.
"There, you see."
"That I am the bearer of a letter."
"Just as I said you were."
"But I am ignorant of its contents."
"Caramba! that is very likely."
"Well, to General Fuentes, I suppose. But if I give you up the paper shall I be free?" he asked.
"Hum! the position is changed. If you had given it up with a good grace I could have guaranteed your freedom."
"Still!"
"Come, give it to me."
"Here it is," said the senator, drawing it from his bosom.
The general took the paper, ran his eye rapidly over it, then drawing Antinahuel to the other extremity of the toldo, they talked together for some minutes in a low voice. At length the general turned towards the senator.
"Unhappy fool!" he said, sternly; "Is it thus you betray me, after the proofs of friendship I have given you?"
"I assure you, general—" the other began.
"Silence, you miserable spy!" the general replied; "You wished to sell me to my enemies, but God has not permitted the execution of so black a project."
The senator was annihilated.
"Take away this man," said Antinahuel.
The poor wretch struggled in vain in the hands of the Indian warriors, who seized him roughly, and dragged him out of the toldo, in spite of his cries and tears. Black Stag led them to the foot of an enormous espino, whose thick branches formed a wide shadow on the hill. When they arrived there, Don Ramón made a last and powerful effort, escaped from the hands of his surprised guards, and darted away like a madman up the steep acclivity of the mountain.
But this wild race lasted only a few minutes, and quite exhausted his strength. When the Indian warriors overtook him, which they easily did, terror had already nearly killed him. The warriors placed the noose of a lasso round his neck, and then threw it up over the principal branch of the espino. But he was dead when they hanged him—fright had killed him. It was written that poor Don Ramón Sandias, the victim of a foolish ambition, should never see Casa Azul again.