The pirate, comforted by the joyous air of his boatswain's mate, felt more tranquil; he returned to his couch, and speedily fell asleep. The sailor passed the whole night in prayer, and when the dawn began to suffuse the sky with white tints, he went to the kennel, fetched a poor mangy dog dying in a corner, thrust it into the tent, and letting fall the curtain, waited for what would happen. The poor brute was no sooner at liberty than it leaped into its master's bed and began licking his face.
"May the demon take thee, accursed animal!" the pirate shouted, awaking with a start, and furious at having been thus disturbed in his sleep.
A fearful blast shook the tent, a terrible yell was heard, and the dog disappeared. The demon fled, all abashed, with the scurvy booty he had secured. Messire Satanas had worked, however, conscientiously: a formidable fortress now rose haughtily on the crest of the rock which on the previous evening had been naked and deserted. The Count was delighted, and took possession of his castle the same day.
Still, what the demon had stated about his soul put a flea in the ear of the worthy seigneur; and hence, without loss of time, he occupied himself about his salvation. His first care was to establish a town near the fortress, to which he attracted, by promises, adventurers from all countries; then he sought a monk capable of liberating him from all his sins; and it is probable that he found one, added the worthy Franciscan who narrated this legend to us, in which he firmly believed, for Count Estevan de Sourdis died in a state of grace, after leaving the greater portion of his property to the clergy, founding two monasteries, and building three churches. In short, the ex-pirate made a fool of the demon to the end.
Without attaching to this legend the perfect belief of the man who told it us, still we were struck with admiration at the sight of the immense, perpendicular block of granite, on the crest of which the castle boldly stands, perched there like a vulture's nest, and we were compelled to allow that the means employed to build it seemed to us entirely incomprehensible.
It was this fortress that the Jaguar had resolved to carry by surprise. The task, if not impossible, was at the least very difficult, and it needed all the audacious rashness of the young Chief merely to conceive the thought of undertaking it.
The night was dark; heavy clouds laden with electricity coursed across the sky, and by intercepting the moonbeams rendered the gloom denser still. The conspirators passed silently through the deserted streets of the town like a legion of phantoms. They went on thus for a long time, with watchful eye and finger on the rifle trigger, ready to fire at the slightest suspicious sound; but nothing disturbed their march to the seashore, which they reached after making a thousand windings, in order to foil the spies who might have attempted to follow them in the darkness. The spot where they were was a small sandy creek, sheltered on all sides by tall cliffs; here, at a word from the Jaguar, they halted, for the difficulties of the expedition were about to begin. The young Chief assembled his comrades round him.
"Caballeros," he then said, in a low voice, "we are proceeding to the fort of the Point, which we must carry before sunrise; listen to me attentively, and remember my instructions, in order that during the expedition we may be exposed to no misunderstanding, which, in our present situation, would not only be mortal to us, but cause our comrades, who on their side are attempting a hazardous enterprise, to lose all the fruit of their labours."
The conspirators drew nearer in order to hear better. The swell died, at their feet with a hollow murmur, and out at sea could be seen the wares raised by the north-east wind, which would probably rise into a tempest within an hour. The Jaguar continued—
"The fort of the Point is impregnable, or, at least, passes as such; I have resolved to deprive it of the haughty boast, and for that purpose have counted on you, comrades. Owing to the opinion the Mexicans have of the strength of this citadel, they have considered it unnecessary to keep up a numerous garrison there, convinced as they are that its position will defend it, and that it is impossible to carry it, save by treachery. The garrison, therefore, is only composed of thirty soldiers, commanded by a lieutenant; it is small, and yet enormous; small, if we force them into a hand-to-hand fight; enormous, if we are compelled to remain at a distance. On the land side, the granite rock on which the fort is built is so perpendicular that we could not hope to ascend beyond one half of it; for, excepting the path cut in the rock, which is defended at regular distances by barricades, escalading is impracticable. We cannot, therefore, think of attacking it on that side. But the sea is left to us, if the land fails us; if we can succeed in landing on the narrow strip of earth which is left uncovered at low water for about an hour at the foot of the fortress, it is probable that we shall succeed in our enterprise; for it will never occur to the garrison that any attempt to attack them by sea will be made on such a night as this. That is not all—we must reach that strip of land, and speedily too; the sea is beginning to ebb, and the moment is favourable. This is what I propose doing."