INSIDE THE TENT.
When the alarm was given by the sentry, Diego, usually so prompt to go and meet danger, rose cautiously, and without making a single gesture which could reveal any anxiety, stood leaning on his rifle with a smile on his lips. So soon as the Spaniards had disappeared in the tent, Leon turned to him with an inquiring glance, which the latter only replied to by a very careless nod.
"Did you know, then, that we should meet Don Pedro?"
"I presumed so," Diego replied, laconically.
"In truth, for some days past, brother," said Leon, "things have occurred of which you keep the secret to yourself."
"What are they?"
"In the first place, this journey which you consented to make with the Soto-Mayor family as far as Valdivia."
"What, you complain of it, and your beauty is with you?"
"Certainly not; but after all, we have nothing to do at Valdivia."
"You are right, if you are referring to our commercial trips; but as regards my personal interests," the half-breed added, his large eyes flashing in the darkness, "the case is very different."
"What do you mean?"
"That we must go there because we are expected there. However, if you wish to know more, come, and you will see that the two days I spent in Valparaíso were put to good purpose."
And leading his friend, and warning him to be silent, he cautiously passed to the other side of the tent. On reaching that point, Diego lay down on the ground, invited Leon to imitate him, and gently raising a corner of the tent, he listened to what was being said inside.
"We are doing wrong," said Leon.
"Silence," the other replied, "and listen."
The captain obeyed, and looked at the persons who were conversing, while not losing one of the words which they interchanged.
"I cannot imagine," said Don Juan, "how it is that you, whom I fancied at Santiago, are now only a few leagues from Talca."
"It is because a good many strange things have happened since my arrival in that city."
"What are they?" asked Inez, whose curiosity was aroused.
"Speak, Don Pedro, I implore you," said Don Juan in his turn.
"I will do so, general. The Chilian government, which, as you are aware, is unable to cope with the incessant invasions of the Araucano Indians, reluctantly agreed to treat with them, and supply them annually with necessaries, such as corn, tools, and weapons which they might have need of. At various times, however, it attempted to shake off this disgraceful yoke; and the Indians, beaten and dispersed in various encounters, appeared to comprehend how ridiculous these claims were, and have refrained, during the last two years, from claiming the tribute, and making incursions into the territory of the republic. Hence, what was our astonishment when, four days ago, we saw arrive at Santiago a dozen Indian bravos in their war paint, who marched haughtily in Indian file, and proceeded with the silence that characterizes them toward the Government Palace."
"'What do you want?' the officer of the guard asked them at the moment when they passed through the gates."
"'Art thou a chief?' one of the Indians replied, who appeared to exercise a certain authority over the rest."
"'Yes,' the officer replied, without hesitation."
"'Maitai,' said the Indian, 'tell our great white father that his Indian sons of the Pere Mapou have held a great deliberation round the council fire, at the end of which they resolved to send him a deputation of twelve warriors, chosen from the twelve great Molucho nations, in order that the dissensions which have, up to this day, reigned between our great white father and his Indian sons may be eternally extinguished, and the war hatchet buried so deeply in the earth that it can never be found again.'"
"The officer then informed the President of the Republic of the strange visitors who had arrived; and, as the senate was assembled, orders were at once given to introduce the Indians with all the respect due to their ambassadorial quality, and the lofty mission with which they were entrusted."
"When the twelve envoys entered the Senate Hall, which was splendidly decorated and filled with officers dressed in magnificent uniforms, they did not appear at all dazzled by the sight of this unexpected pomp; they slowly advanced towards the foot of the dais on which the President of the Republic was standing to receive them, and after bowing they folded their arms on their chests and waited."
"'My Indian sons are welcome,' the President said, in a soft and insinuating voice."
"'My father is a great chief,' the Indian who had hitherto spoken replied. 'Guatechu will protect him because he is good.'"
"The President bowed his thanks."
"'What do my Indian sons desire?'" he asked.
"'The Ulmens,' the orator resumed, 'assembled in the seventh moon of this year round the council fire and asked themselves the following questions:—'"
"'Why are not our white fathers satisfied with the possession of the lands which we left to them on the seashore?'"
"'Why do they refuse to pay us the tribute they consented to, as they have done up to this day?'"
"'Why, instead of kindly treating the Indians whom they capture, do they use them cruelly?'"
"'Why, lastly, do they wish to compel the sons of Bheman to renounce the faith of their fathers?'"
"You can understand," Don Pedro continued, "the amazement produced in the minds of the senate by the Indian's speech, which demanded the establishment of the Chilian frontiers, the payment of the impost, and the liberation of the plundering and vagabond Indians. Only one reply was possible, a pure and simple refusal. This was given; but then the Indian, whose stoicism had not failed him for a single instant, drew, without a word, a packet from under his poncho, and laid it on the dais at the President's feet. It was a bundle of arrows, whose points were dipped in blood, and which were fastened together by a cascabel's skin."
"Then, taking advantage of the general stupor, the ambassadors withdrew, and when, a quarter of an hour later, the President ordered them to be pursued, it was too late; they appeared to have become suddenly invisible."
"Why, it is war," the old general suddenly interrupted, who had been listening with sustained attention to Don Pedro's narrative; "war with the Indians."
"Yes; a war such as they carry on, without truce or mercy, and which, incredible to relate, has already begun."
"What?" said Don Juan.
"Alas! yes; two hours after the strange disappearance of the Indians, a courier reached Santiago at full gallop, announcing that the Araucanos, more than fifty thousand in number, had crossed the Bio Bio, and were firing and destroying all the villages up to the gates of Valdivia, while another band had arrived under the very walls of Ports Araucos and Incapel."
"On hearing this news, the President of the Republic offered me the command of the province of Valdivia, while ordering me at the same time to explore the neighbourhood of Talca. I eagerly accepted, and set out with the rank of general, following at only a few hours' interval your son Don Juan, who has received orders to defend Incapel."
"What, Don Juan!" the señorita Soto-Mayor interrupted.
"Yes, your son, madam, or, if you prefer it, Lieutenant-Colonel Don Juan, for lie, too, has received the reward due to his merit; but, now that I think of it, he must have passed in the vicinity, and I am surprised that you have not seen him, for as he was aware of your departure for Valdivia, he hoped like myself, to meet you on the road."
"It is probable," the old gentleman remarked, "that he passed at a distance during one of your night halts; and yet we have not left the usual road."
"Oh," said Inez, "I am very sorry that my brother was unable to embrace us before proceeding to his post."
"I regret it, too, my child; but he did well in avoiding a meeting with us, if the time he might have given us could be employed in making speed. The duty of a soldier is superior to family joys. As for you, Don Pedro, though the news you have brought us is afflicting to the heart of a Chilian, I thank you for having come to inform me, and I implore you to continue your journey, while we make sincere vows for the success of your arms."
"I thank you, general, but I can remain with you without any inconvenience. As I told you, I am marching at easy stages, in order to assure myself of the state of the roads as far as Valdivia, and if you intend to continue your journey as far as that town, I will ask your permission to join your party with my men."
"Most willingly. My plan is most assuredly to go to Valdivia, and as we are close to Talca, it would be folly to turn back."
"Pardon me, general, if I insist, but it is because I have not yet told you all you ought to know."
And Don Pedro seemed to hesitate before proceeding.
"Speak, speak," the general and his wife said in chorus; "what is it?"
"If the reports which have reached Santiago are correct, the Indians have plundered and burnt your fine haciendas between the Bio Bio and the Valdivia."
"It is the fortune of war," Don Juan answered in a hollow voice; "and if I have only that misfortune to deplore, I shall console myself."
"It is also stated," Don Pedro continued, anxious to finish the sad story he was telling, "that your brother Don Luis has been utterly ruined by a band of Indian bravos, who suddenly attacked his estates with fire and sword, and devastated them."
General Soto-Mayor had remained motionless on hearing of the misfortune which personally affected him, but on learning that which had assailed his brother, he could not restrain the indignation which he felt against those of whom he was the victim.
"Oh, these villains! these villains!" he exclaimed, stamping his foot passionately; "will they never be weary of persecuting my unhappy family? Oh, you know not, my children, what this accursed race is, these Indians! Oh, why cannot I crush to the last of these impious cowards who have done me so much injury? Don Pedro, fight them, make them perish in the most cruel tortures, and bid my son remember that the Soto-Mayors have ever been the implacable foes of these obstinate demons; let him avenge his family, since the sword of his father is now in his hands."
The old man was suffering from an agitation impossible to describe, his face was covered with a sallow pallor, and a nervous tremor agitated his limbs. The remembrance of all the hatreds of former days was rekindled in his heart. The ladies, terrified at the state in which he was, strove to calm him.
"Oh, you are right," Don Juan said, a moment later; "I did wrong to break out thus in empty words, for throughout the wide republic of Chili there will be no want of arms to crush my enemies under their blows, and since a Soto-Mayor is fighting, I ought rather to bless heaven for not allowing me to die ere I had seen the triumph of my race. My brother has recovered, you say, Don Pedro; hence it is more than ever my duty to go to him and console him, and offer him one half of what is left to me. I am still rich enough to relieve one of my family."
"Come," Diego said at this moment to Leon, making him a sign to rise; "you have heard enough."
"Oh!" the young man exclaimed, sorrowfully, "all this is frightful."
"Why so?" the half-breed said. "As the old man remarked, it is the fortune of war."
"Oh, ill-fated family!"
"To which do you allude?—to mine or that man's? Yes;" he added, with a terrible accent, "unhappy is the family which, born to command millions of men, finds itself reduced to wander about without shelter or friend among his enemies. Is that what you are pitying, brother?"
"Forgive me, Diego. I swore to help your vengeance because it is just, so dispose of me."
"Good!"
"But why stoop so low as to wish to torture women?" Leon continued; "would the noble lion murder timid hares? Avenge yourselves on men, face to face, chest to chest, but not on women."
"Leon, the woman who loves my brother is my sister, and she shall be happy and respected, because in exchange my brother has left me at liberty to dispose of the others. Remember that a Tahi-Mari was the brother of Mikaa, and that the mistress of Don Ruíz de Soto-Mayor, was the wife of a Tahi-Mari."
"Enough, brother; I remember it."
The two men had returned to the middle of the camp, and were now walking side by side; a deep silence had followed the last words of the smuggler captain. It was hardly nine in the evening; the night was calm; thousands of stars glittered in the azure of the celestial vault, spreading over the peaks of the mountains which bordered the horizon a vaporous light; the moon shone brilliantly, and a light breeze made the leaves of the large palm trees that surrounded the camp rustle.
Suddenly a shrill whistle traversed the air: Diego startled, stretched out his head, and with his eyes fixed on the distance, listened attentively.
"It is a coral snake!" Leon exclaimed, as he looked round him with instinctive terror.
A few seconds passed and another whistle was heard in the same direction, but nearer.
"It is a coral snake, I tell you," Leon repeated.
"Silence!" said Diego, seizing his arm.
And taking from his lips the cigarette which he was smoking, the half-breed shook off the ash, and threw it in the air, where it described a luminous parabola; then he turned to his friend.
"Come with me," he said to him.
"Where to?"
"There," Diego replied, pointing to the wood, in front of which the camp was pitched.
"What to do?"
"You will learn."
"But they?" Leon said, hesitatingly, as he pointed to the tent in which the Soto-Mayor family was assembled.
"Be at rest."
"But really—"
"The moment has arrived, brother," Diego said, fixing his flashing eyes on the young man; "I have need of you."
"In that case I am ready."
"Thanks, brother."
And the two smugglers, forcing a passage through the trunks and bales which formed the outer wall of the camp, disappeared unseen by the sentry, and buried themselves in the tall grass.