THE BATTLE.
The pirates bounded into the camp like jackals, howling and brandishing their weapons.
As soon as the camp was invaded, the captain left his people to pillage and kill at their pleasure. Without concerning himself any more about them, he rushed towards the tent.
But there his passage was barred. The general had rallied seven or eight men round him, and awaited the bandit firmly, resolved to die rather than allow one of those wretches to touch his niece.
At the sight of the old soldier, with his flashing eye, his pistol in one hand and his sword in the other, the captain paused.
But this pause did not last longer than a flash of lightning; he got together a half-score of pirates by a shout for help.
"Give way!" he said, brandishing his machete.
"Come on!" the general said, biting his moustache with fury.
The two men rushed upon each other, their people imitated them, and the mêlée became general.
Then followed a terrible and merciless struggle between men who, on both sides, knew they had no pity to expect.
Everyone endeavoured to make his blows mortal, without taking the trouble to parry those dealt upon himself, satisfied with falling, provided that in his fall he could drag down his adversary.
The wounded endeavoured to rise, for the purpose of burying their poniards in the bodies of those who were fighting around them.
This fierce contest could not last long; all the lanceros were massacred; the general fell in his turn, struck down by the captain, who threw himself upon him and bound him tightly with his belt, in order to prevent the possibility of his resisting any further.
The general had only received slight wounds, which had scarcely penetrated to the flesh; for the captain, for reasons best known to himself, had carefully protected him during the combat, parrying with his machete the blows which the bandits tried to inflict upon him.
He wished to take his enemy alive, and he had succeeded.
All the Mexicans had fallen, it is true, but the victory had cost the pirates dear; more than half of them were killed.
The general's Negro, armed with an enormous club, which he had made of the trunk of a young tree, for a long time resisted all who attempted to take him, crushing without mercy all who imprudently came within reach of the weapon which he handled with such uncommon dexterity.
His enemies at length succeeded in lassoing him, and casting him half-strangled to the ground; the captain, however, came to his rescue at the moment when a pirate was raising his arm to put an end to him.
As soon as the captain found the general incapable of moving, he uttered a cry of joy, and without stopping to stanch the blood of two wounds he had received he bounded like a tiger over the body of his enemy, who was writhing powerless at his feet, and penetrated into the tent.
It was empty!
Doña Luz had disappeared.
The captain was thunderstruck!
What could have become of the girl?
The tent was small, almost void of furniture, it was impossible she could be concealed in it.
A disordered bed proved that at the moment of the surprise, Doña Luz had been sleeping peaceably.
She had vanished like a sylph, without leaving any trace of her flight.
A flight perfectly incomprehensible to the pirate, as the camp had been invaded on all sides at once.
How was it possible for a young girl, awakened suddenly, to have had courage and presence of mind enough to fly so quickly, and pass unperceived amidst conquerors whose first care had been to guard all the issues?
The captain sought in vain the solution of this enigma. He stamped with anger, and plunged his poniard into the packages that might serve as temporary places of refuge for the fugitive; but all without success.
Convinced at length that all his researches in the tent were in vain, he rushed out, prowling about like a wild beast, persuaded that if by a miracle she had succeeded in escaping, alone in the night, half dressed, wandering in the desert, he should easily find her again.
In the meantime, the pillage went on with a celerity and an order in its disorder, which did honour to the practical knowledge of the pirates.
The conquerors, fatigued with killing and robbing, plunged their poniards into the skins filled with mezcal, and an orgie soon succeeded theft and murder.
All at once a loud and fierce cry resounded at a little distance, and a shower of bullets came pattering full upon the bandits.
Surprised in their turn, they flew to their arms, and endeavoured to rally.
At the same instant, a mass of Indians appeared, bounding like jaguars among the packages, closely followed by a troop of hunters, at the head of whom were Loyal Heart, Belhumeur, and Black Elk.
The position became critical for the pirates.
The captain, recalled to himself by the peril his people ran, left with regret the fruitless search he was engaged in, and grouping his men around him, he carried off the only two prisoners he had made, that is to say, the general and his black servant, and taking skilful advantage of the tumult inseparable from an eruption like that of the allies, he ordered his men to disperse in all directions, in order to escape more easily the blows of their adversaries.
After one sharp fire, which caused a slight pause among the Indians, the pirates flew away like a cloud of unclean birds of prey, and disappeared in the darkness. But, whilst flying, the captain, left last to support the retreat, did not cease, as he glided along the rocks, still to seek, as much as was possible in the precipitation of his night, for traces of the young girl; but he could discover nothing.
The disappointed captain retired with rage in his heart, revolving in his head the most sinister projects.
Loyal Heart, warned by the Indian scout, and more particularly by the recital of the doctor, of the proposed attack upon the camp, had marched immediately, in order to bring succour to the Mexicans as soon as possible.
Unfortunately, in spite of the celerity of their march, the trappers and the Comanches arrived too late to save the caravan.
When the leaders of the expedition became assured of the flight of the pirates, Eagle Head and his warriors set off on their track.
Left master of the camp, Loyal Heart ordered a general battue in the neighbouring thickets and high grass, which the bandits had not had time to explore in detail, for they had scarcely obtained possession of the camp before they were driven out of it again.
This battue brought to light Phoebe, the young servant of Doña Luz, and two lanceros, who had taken refuge in the trunk of a tree, and who arrived more dead than alive, conducted by Black Elk and some hunters, who tried in vain to re-assure them, and revive their courage.
The poor devils still believed themselves in the hands of the pirates, and Loyal Heart had great difficulty in persuading them that the people they saw were friends who had come too late to succour them, but who would not do them any harm.
As soon as they were sufficiently restored to speak collectedly, Loyal Heart went with them into the tent, and required of them a succinct account of all that had taken place.
The young quadroon, when she saw with whom she had to do, all at once, regained her wonted assurance; and besides, haying recognized Loyal Heart, she did not require much coaxing to set her tongue going, and in a few minutes made the hunter acquainted with all the terrible events of which she had been a spectatress.
"So," he asked, "Captain Aguilar was killed, was he?"
"Alas! yes!" the young girl replied, with a sigh of regret for the poor young officer.
"And the general?" said the hunter.
"Oh! as to the general," said the girl briskly, "he defended himself like a lion, and only fell after a heroic resistance."
"Is he dead, then?" Loyal Heart asked, with great emotion.
"Oh! no!" she said almost cheerfully, "he is only wounded. I saw the bandits pass as they carried him away; I even believe that his wounds are slight, so much did the ladrones spare him during the combat."
"I am glad to hear it!" said the hunter; and he hung his head with a pensive air: then, after a pause of an instant, he added, hesitatingly, and with a slight tremor in his voice, "your young mistress, what has become of her?"
"My mistress, Doña Luz?"
"Yes, Doña Luz—for so I believe she is called; I would give much to know where she is, and to be certain she is in safety."
"She is so, since she is near you," said a harmonious voice.
And Doña, Luz appeared, still pale from the poignant emotions she had undergone, but calm; she had a smile on her lips, and her eyes sparkled brilliantly.
No one present could repress a movement of extreme surprise at the unexpected apparition of the young lady.
"Oh! God be praised!" the hunter cried; "our succour has not, then, been completely useless."
"No," replied she, kindly; but she shortly added with sadness, whilst a shade of melancholy clouded her features, "now that I have lost him who was to me as a father, I come to ask your protection, Caballero."
"It is yours, madam," he replied with warmth. "And as to your uncle, oh! depend upon me; I will restore him to you, if the enterprise costs me my life. You know," he added, "that before today I have proved my devotion to you and him."
The first emotion over, it became a question how the young girl had succeeded in escaping the researches of the pirates.
Doña Luz gave as simple an account as possible of what had passed.
The young lady had thrown herself, with all her clothes on, upon the bed; but anxiety kept her awake, a secret presentiment warned her to be on her guard.
At the cry uttered by the pirates, she started from her bed in terror and amazement, and at once perceived that flight was impossible.
Whilst casting a terrified look around her, she perceived some clothes thrown in a disorderly manner into a hammock, and hanging over the sides of it.
An idea, which appeared to come to her from Heaven, shot across her brain like a luminous flash.
She glided under these clothes, and curling herself up into as little space as possible, she crouched at the bottom of the hammock, without altering the disordered state of the things.
God had ordained it that the chief of the bandits, while searching, as he thought, everywhere, never dreamt of plunging his hand into what seemed an empty hammock.
Saved by this chance, she remained thus huddled up for full an hour, a prey to fears of the most appalling nature.
The arrival of the hunters, together with the voice of Loyal Heart, which she soon recognized, restored her to hope; she left the place of her concealment, and had impatiently waited for a favourable moment to present herself.
The hunters were wonderstruck at a recital at once so simple and so affecting; they cordially congratulated the young lady upon her courage and presence of mind, which alone had saved her.
When a little order was re-established in the camp Loyal Heart waited upon Doña Luz.
"Señora," he said, "it will not be long before day appears; when you have taken a few hours' repose, I will conduct you to my mother, who is a pious, good woman; when she knows you, I feel certain she will love you as a daughter. And then, as soon as you are in safety, I will set earnestly about restoring your uncle to you."
Without waiting for the thanks of the young lady, he bowed respectfully, and left the tent.
When he had disappeared, Doña Luz sighed, and sank pensively down upon a seat.