I did not feel called upon to doubt the old fellow's words. Probably the three caballeros had been implicated in some political plot, and the Federal Government had—as was common in Mexico a few years ago—disposed of them by this swift and ruthless method. The pretext of "endeavouring to escape" was often a convenient one to hide the summary execution both of political suspects and criminals in the turbulent days of Mexico's recent history, and indeed has not altogether disappeared yet! Pasado por las armas was a common penalty, and is a somewhat poetic nomenclature for that form of execution which the soldier prefers.
Absorbed in such reflections, I rode on for some distance through the rocky defiles and over the alternating plains—absolutely sterile and verdureless—which some parts of the great mesa central present. On the summit of a small eminence I beheld yet another cross—a large wooden structure, which, however, had fallen from its base of loose rocks and lay upon the ground. Old José, my servant, was some distance behind assisting the mule-driver with my baggage with a refractory mule, and there was no one to say why the cross had been erected. The dusk was rapidly falling and we had yet some leagues to my objective-point. But there was something pathetic about the lone, fallen cross, and I felt loath to pass and leave it there, prone. Dismounting, I looped the long bridle over a projecting rock, and, ascending the eminence, took hold of the fallen cross, exerting my strength to raise it. It was large and heavy, and the footing on the slippery rock made it difficult, but at length I managed to lift it up and put it in position, piling heavy stones round its base to keep it there. Engaged in this self-imposed task, I did not observe that my horse—a spirited animal I had bought some months before—had freed its bridle from the rock below, and when I looked round it was just breaking into a gentle trot away across the desert! At this juncture old José rode up with the mule-driver and took in the situation, and I directed the latter individual to tie up his pack-mule and pursue my horse at all speed. "This cross," said José, in response to my questions, "was placed here when I was a boy," and he recounted how it had been erected in memory of an old Spaniard, a rich landowner of that region, who had been murdered there by the lover of his wife; she a beautiful young Mexican woman. The details of the history are too long to record here, but according to the legend current among the people, which José recounted, the spirit of the penitent wife visited the cross at evening, and hung a phantom wreath of white flowers upon it. "But," added the old peon, whose diction and ideas, notwithstanding his superstition, were superior to his kind generally, "the cross has never fallen before, and when from afar I saw the señor lifting it up I was astonished. But it is a blessed act, and no evil can now befall the señor!"
Inquiring what he meant by this, I learned that, in the opinion of the natives of some regions, the raising up of a fallen cross secures immunity from danger for him who has performed it for a season afterwards! This belief of old José's seemed put to the test, in his view, for half an hour afterwards, on crossing a steep-sided ravine, my horse slipped and fell, and carried me down the almost vertical cliff face for 50 feet or more. The sand and stones poured down in an avalanche, but I kept my horse's head up, and we landed on the sandy bottom below, unscratched, in a normal position! "The señor has been saved because of the cross!" José and the arriero both averred, after congratulating me upon the almost miraculous escape from injury.
But the cross set up in Mexico means many things, and is always in evidence among the lower orders. Here is a little path winding away among the rocks, pressed flat by the bare feet of generations of Indian women. Let us follow it. It leads to a feeble spring of clear water, which flows from the bare hillside into a scooped-out rock basin, and close beside it is a rude wooden cross, adorned with fading flowers. Perhaps we have met on the path a damsel with peasant dress and bare brown feet, who passes us with downcast eyes, bearing upon her shoulder a huge earthenware olla of water of quaint form—a figure such as in the land and time of Jacob and Rachel might have graced the sterile landscape. The cross has been placed there as a mark of gratitude for the existence of this frail water supply. Indeed, in these Spanish-American countries—as Mexico, Peru, and others—the conditions and atmosphere of everyday life often remind us of the scenes and colour of the Bible narratives. The absence of the conditions of modern life—railways, factories, the scramble for commercial wealth—induce this. The quaint and primitive methods of travel, the long distances, the sterile landscape, and the simple dress and pastoral life of the people, all contribute to this environment. Amid the haze of some long, shimmering road as we ride along a figure approaches. We do not see him; we "behold him while he is yet afar off," and if he happens to be a native friend he does not greet us with a handshake, but "falls upon our neck." Here in these wilds what typical places there are where the traveller might "fall among thieves" in some rocky defile or on the desert's edge! Here men are close to nature. They are unconsciously tinged and imbued with its picturesque and chequered incident, as was the great singer of Israel. Nature is ever present in Mexico, and man's struggle with her is his daily task. The wilderness is ever before his eyes, and circumstances often compel him to fast there in the wilderness, whose broad, arid bosom does but accentuate the valleys which intersect it, flowing veritably with milk and honey, and which we ofttimes behold from some Pisgah's mountain of the rocky Sierra. The "patriarchal" condition of life, moreover, as regards family life, "handmaidens" and natural sons, are reminiscent of Biblical story. Nature will not admit too rigid regulations against increase of population in Mexico: Hagar and Ishmael dwell in every hamlet!
Just as the religion of the Mexican peon causes him to people his daily surroundings with the presence of the saints, so does his superstitious mind assign supernatural causes to things not easily explained, and bid him see evil spirits and hobgoblins in strange or unfrequented places. Naturally, much of this superstition has come down with the traditions of his Aztec forbears, whose polytheistic religion set up many imaginary gods and spirits. The devil and his attendant hobgoblins are active people in this people's minds. But—happy tribute to the strength of Christianity!—the sign of the cross is potent to banish imaginary fiends on all ordinary occasions.
But the peon loves not to journey alone at night, nor to enter dark caves and grottoes where the bones and mummies of dead men are found. Peculiar superstition attaches to the vicinity of buried treasure. Enter into conversation with your mozo, or other of the peones, in their hours of relaxation, and they will impart strange stories of apparitions drawn from their own or some acquaintance's experience, and—for they are given to romancing—partly from their imagination. As to buried treasure, it is supposed that this is always guarded by a spirit, sometimes good, sometimes evil, and generally that some evil will befall those who meddle with it. In the immediate vicinity of concealed treasure at night, upon the plain, the peones say that a mysterious light is seen hovering over the spot, especially when damp and misty. This light they term a relacion; and although they dare not approach it, it serves as a guide to mark the place, which they proceed to dig over when daylight comes—although in some cases they dare not do so, fearing that an evil spirit will draw them in—in the hope of enriching themselves with treasure trove. The same light is said by the Mexican miners to "burn" over the place where a lode of rich metallic ore exists undiscovered, or even within the workings of a mine, sometimes, when a body of rich ore has escaped attention.
The truth or falsity of these stories of the peones I must leave to the inclination of the reader. On one occasion I observed a phenomenon of this nature, however. It was a damp, misty night, and I was sitting in my tent after a long day's examination of the hills. "Señor," suddenly exclaimed one of my men, entering the tent, "there is a relacion burning on the plain by the point of the hill!" I started up, willing to observe whatever might be visible, or have the satisfaction of showing them what tontos they were. They conducted me round the spur of the hill close at hand. The sky was dark and frowning, and an eerie feeling took possession—at least of the two peones!
"There!" they exclaimed, and following the direction indicated I observed a pale fluctuating flame or light a few hundred feet distant. I began to advance towards it, but the fearful peones strove to detain me. "No, señor," they urged; "it is a spirit; do not approach." But disregarding this admonition, I began to walk towards the spot, telling them to follow, which, however, they would not do. In unknown situations in wild countries a revolver gives a certain sense of security, and drawing mine I approached the mysterious light, which went and came intermittently. I knew it must be an ignis fatuus. As I reached the place it disappeared; my feet suddenly sank in marshy ground, and a heavy mist-cloud enveloped the place, so that I could see absolutely nothing. I confess I felt a species of "gooseflesh" creeping over me. But my feet were sinking deeper in the bog, and more by good luck than anything else I floundered out and regained the rock, and, directed by the shouts of the peones, made my way through the dense mist to the tent. I heard some time afterwards that excavations had been made at the spot in the hope of finding treasure, but could not learn the result.
Ancient caves in different parts of Mexico often contain the skulls and bones of former inhabitants, whether prehistoric or of later times, sometimes containing finely fashioned flint implements. The natives, as a rule, fear to go into these places. "Do not enter, señor," they will say, as, with Anglo-Saxon lack of superstition, you determine to explore them; "some evil befalls those who meddle with the remains of the dead." And if they are prevailed upon to assist they cross themselves devoutly before descending or entering. Weird tales they unfold afterwards of men who have gone into such places and found their exit barred by some evil spirit, they themselves having been encountered dead and cold upon the cavern floor when discovered by their relatives, who had searched for the missing one! According to the peones, the scenes of murder or wickedness which may have taken place in such situations are enacted again to the terrified vision of the unhappy witness who had the temerity to venture into these places possessed of the devil, for the King of Darkness is an ever-present and active element of the poor Mexican's superstitious world.
As to buried treasure, it is a favourite subject of the peon for conversation. Quantities of silver money and other articles are frequently found concealed throughout the country, where they were often placed for safety in the turbulent times of former history. At the time of the dispossession of the clergy it is probable that a good deal of concealment of this nature was made, whether in lonely places in the hills or plains, or in the floors and walls of convents and houses.