The Frenchmen traversed Guaymas at a quick step, amid the shouts and wishes of success of the population collected on their road. Don Antonio accompanied the company to the Rancho de San José, which forms, as it were, a suburb of Guaymas. On arriving there, he took leave of the officers in the most friendly manner, repeating his offers of service; and after pressing the hand of Colonel Florés, who went on with the adventurers, and exchanging a glance with him, he returned to the port.
It was late when the Frenchmen started. The heat was stifling; consequently they could not cover much ground, retarded, as they were, by the mules and carts. At sunset, they encamped at the entrance of a village, about four leagues from the town.
The commandant imagined he had gained everything by inducing the company to leave Guaymas; but he was mistaken. The leaven of discord, artfully spread among the adventurers, was still at work, and was carefully kept up by the men to whom we have alluded. It was by no means the interest of these fellows to bury themselves in the interior of the country, where they would have no chance of finding what they had come to Mexico for, namely, opportunities for robbery and debauch. Thus, far from feeling discouraged by the check they had received that very morning, they intended to begin again, as soon as the occasion presented itself.
Valentine, who carefully watched all that went on around him, took the commandant on one side when the camp was formed, and warned him of the insubordination in the company. The latter, however, attached no great importance to the hunter's observations; for he was persuaded that, after the vigorous manner in which he had behaved, the adventurers would not dare to mutiny again.
Valentine's previsions were only too well founded, as the commandant had proof the next morning, when he wished to start again. The adventurers bluntly refused; threats or prayers were equally unavailing; they remained deaf to every observation. It was no longer mutiny, but a perfect revolt, followed only too soon by utter anarchy. The promoters of disorder triumphed; still they could not succeed in inducing their comrades to return to Guaymas.
Through a remnant of that feeling of duty which never deserts soldiers, the adventurers were unwilling to abandon the count; they returned merely to the old charges that had been suggested to them. They wanted a proof that the mines really existed, that their chief had a regular concession, and that they were not cheated. In addition to these demands they set up another, which would completely compromise the future of the company, were it granted. They demanded that all the officers chosen by Don Louis should be broken, and the company be permitted to choose others by vote.
Valentine remarked to them that they could do nothing during their chiefs absence. They must await his return, or commit a flagrant act of illegality; for Don Louis was at liberty to choose whom he pleased for officers, as he was the sole leader of the expedition, and alone responsible for its conduct.
The adventurers at length yielded to this reasoning, which appeared to them just; and, in order to stop as soon as possible these discussions which only delayed the affairs of the company, it was settled that Valentine should start the next morning for Pitic, and bring back the count with him. Valentine promised to do what they wanted, and tranquillity was gradually restored for the remainder of the day.
The next morning, at daybreak, therefore, Valentine mounted his horse, and started for Pitic. We have seen that he was fortunate enough to find Don Louis, and in what way he brought him off. On the road he told his friend all that had occurred, in the fullest details. Hence, the count was burning to arrive at the camp to check the disorder, and prevent the dissolution of the company, whose existence was seriously menaced, if such a state of things was allowed to continue only a few hours longer.
At daybreak, the horsemen reached the camp. All was topsy-turvy; confusion and disorder prevailed on all sides. The adventurers would listen to nothing. The officers, rendered powerless, knew not what to do, or how to turn away the storm that threatened them. But the sudden arrival of the count was a thunderbolt for the mutineers.