The Freebooters: A Story of the Texan War

by Gustave Aimard

"Now, my friend, yon will hoist the flag on that staff; but, in order that our comrades may not mistake our meaning, mind and fasten a dagger to the top of the flag. The inhabitants of Galveston will not notice this addition, while our friends, who have an interest in carefully examining what goes on here, will immediately understand what it signifies."

Lanzi punctually carried out the order given him, and five minutes later, the Mexican banner, surmounted by a dagger, was majestically floating from the flagstaff. The Jaguar soon obtained the certainty that his signal was understood, for the brig, closely pursued by the corvette, waited till it had come within pistol shot of the fort ere it tacked, which it assuredly would not have done had there been any cause of fear.

During the greater part of the day, the Jaguar followed with the greatest interest the progress of the two ships, and witnessed the final incidents from his observatory. At about two in the afternoon, however, he went down into the interior of the fort, and, after recommending the greatest vigilance to his friends, he armed himself, threw a zarapé over his shoulders, and quitted the castle. By Lanzi's care, a horse had been prepared for him near the foot of the rock: the Jaguar bounded into the saddle, and after giving one glance at the fortress, he dug in the spurs, and started at a gallop. The Jaguar was proceeding to the Salto del Frayle, where, on the previous evening, he had appointed to meet Don Juan Melendez de Gongora.

The coasts of Mexico are probably the most varied of all those in the New World. The seaboard of Texas especially is so strangely broken up, that the mind loses itself in trying to discover what accident or antediluvian cataclysm could have been powerful enough to produce these bold gaps and sudden fissures in the tall cliffs that border it.

Not far from Galveston, on the seashore, there is a rather wide road, whose capricious windings follow for a considerable distance the crest of the cliffs. This road is usually followed by the muleteers and travellers of every description proceeding to Mexico. Being wide and convenient, it might justly pass as excellent in a country where the highways of communication are—or, at least, were—completely unknown, for at the present day, Texas possesses fine carriage roads, and long iron way. But at one spot, the road to which we allude suddenly breaks off: the cliff, cleft as if by a giant's sabre stroke, displays a yawning abyss, about ten feet wide, and some seven hundred feet deep. At the base of this fissure the sea constantly breaks in fury, producing a hollow and monotonous sound. On the other side of the gap the road begins again.

In Europe, where government is necessarily occupied in improving the means of communication, a remedy would easily have been found for this interruption by throwing a bridge across the fissure, but in America it is not so. The governments have something else to do than trouble themselves about the general welfare: in the first place, they have to raise as much money as they can by taxation; and next, defend themselves against pronunciamentos and ambitious men constantly on the watch to overthrow them. The result is, that all goes on as it best can, and each gets out of a hobble, in the best way he can contrive it.

Fortunately, the horses and mules, more intelligent than men, have produced a remedy for this neglect, thanks to that instinct of self-preservation which God has bestowed on them. Nothing is more curious than to see the passage of the fissure by a recua of mules. These animals come up gently, stretching over their necks, sounding the ground at each step, and sniffing all around with signs of the most lively alarm. On reaching the edge of the gap, they stiffen their front legs, bend the hind ones, and toss their heads; then all at once they take their spring, and fall on the other side upon all four feet, without ever making a mistake.

Still, it is necessary that the man who is astride them should completely lay aside his own will, and abandon them entirely to their infallible instinct. If he attempt to guide them, it is all over: man and steed roll to the bottom of the precipice, which both reach in small pieces.

As for the name of the Salto del Frayle or the Monk's Leap, which this spot bears, the following is the motive for it, according to the local chronicle. It is stated (we affirm nothing, and in no way guarantee the veracity of the legend)—it is stated, we say, that a few years after the settlement of the Spaniards in Texas, a Franciscan monk, the Pater Guardian, or Prior, of his monastery, being accused of insulting a maiden whose confessor he was, escaped from the hands of the alguazil sent to seize him, and fled across country. After a very long chase, and when closely pursued by the soldiers, who were furious at their inability to capture him, he reached the edge of this gap. Taking a glance at the abyss, the poor monk felt he was a lost man; recommending his soul to his patron saint, and calling Heaven to bear witness to his innocence, he leaped boldly across. The soldiers who arrived at this moment distinctly saw two angels supporting the monk under the arms, and they laid him in safety upon the other bank.

The soldiers naturally fell on their knees, and implored the blessing of the holy man, whose innocence was thus distinctly proved to them. The latter turned to them with a radiant face, blessed them with emotion, and then disappeared, to the sound of celestial music, in a cloud of purple and gold. Such was the story the soldiers told on returning from their expedition. Whether they spoke truly or falsely, no one ever knew; but one thing is certain, that from that moment nothing more was ever heard of the monk. The populace, who are always lovers of the marvellous, put the most entire faith in this story, and an annual procession was instituted, at which we had the honour of being present, and which, at each anniversary of the worthy prior's miraculous leap, is performed with great ceremony, in the presence of an immense crowd which has arrived from very part of Texas.