Surely this was a triumph for Aniwee. Barely over the age of sixteen, and yet indeed a Warrior Queen—Queen of a mighty tribe, famed far and wide for its valour and its deeds of daring and renown.
Yet was Aniwee equal to the occasion. Had she not Cuastral’s death and her own Piñone’s death to avenge? Was not her beautiful adopted country hemmed in on all sides by foes—Chilenos on the one hand, Argentines on the other—and should she not fight to the very death in its defence? It was a country well worth fighting for, extending from Las Manzanas on the south to Mendoza far away in the north, and peopled by hundreds of the great Warrior tribe, dwelling in fixed tolderias, many amidst the rich groves of piñones, apples, and araucarias with which the country abounded. Considerable wealth had fallen to her share when the Caciques’ deaths were announced, all of which she purposed holding for her child. Large flocks and herds, stores of silver ornaments, immense troupiglias of horses, and numberless ponchos, mantles, etc., were stored away amongst her subjects and in their safe keeping. Her power was absolute, her word law, her army efficient and devoted. Little had Aniwee dreamt, only three years previously, when she chafed and fretted at her seemingly useless life in the Patagonian toldos of her father Gilwinikush, that in so short a time would she wield power over so magnificent a people as the Araucanians.
She had ridden almost to the boundary line of Araucanian territory for the fifth time that day, and had anxiously scanned the distant pampas of Patagonia with the true, unerring eye of an Indian. The reason for this was that ten days previously Aniwee had received joyous news, news which had brought the blood rushing to her cheeks with glad surprise, news in the shape of a letter from Harry and Topsie Vane, her dearly loved white friends, in which they apprised her of their intention to proceed at once to visit her, in the company of their uncle and aunt, Sir Francis and Lady Vane, and their three cousins, Freddy, Willie, and Mary.
On receiving this news, Aniwee was hunting away in the distant hills which fringe the Cordillera range beyond Las Manzanas, but immediately calling together her followers, she bade them summon from different parts three hundred picked warriors, and likewise gave orders to others to proceed at once to Las Manzanas, and prepare there the fixed tolderias for the reception of her white guests. Then Aniwee selected fifty of her best horses, a fine herd of cattle, and a flock of sheep, and sent them forward to the rendezvous, following herself with the little baby Cacique, and attended by the three hundred picked warriors, who had assembled quickly at her summons.
The letter from Harry and Topsie had been written from El Carmen or Patagones on the Rio Negro, and Aniwee had calculated, that if they started at once, they would reach Las Manzanas in ten days. She had sent forward a small escort preceded by a Chasqui, and then settled down to await their coming.
But when the day came for which she had timed their arrival, Aniwee grew feverish with excitement. All the morning and afternoon she had watched for her friends, but there were no signs of their coming. Then, as the sun sunk low over the distant prairies and lit to radiance the snowy Andes far away in the background, the youthful Queen aroused herself from the reverie into which she had fallen, and gave one last glance ahead. At once her dark eyes lit up with eagerness and expectation, a happy smile parted her lips, a low, glad cry escaped them as she stood straight up in her stirrups and waved a silken handkerchief around her head. The next moment she unslung from off her shoulders a neat Winchester repeater, and through the still evening air in quick succession rung the sharp reports of the rifle. A pre-arranged signal, evidently; for no sooner did these reports ring forth, than far down in a valley beneath, a succession of bright fires began to shoot up, a Union Jack flag floated from a high pole, and dusky forms came and went amid the lurid glare.
Just a faint cloud on the pampa. That was all that Aniwee’s gaze had rested upon, and yet her practised sight could not deceive her. She knew full well that it heralded the approach of a party of mounted persons, and Aniwee had not the slightest doubt as to who these persons were.
They were coming on at a smart pace, and the young Queen, after taking stock of the distance which yet lay between her and her white friends, turned her horse’s head in the direction of the Indian camp. A pretty steep descent she had to make, too, in order to reach it; but her steed was wary and sure-footed, and with the blood of the bagual or wild horse in him, not likely to make a mistake.
On reaching the tolderias Aniwee found her warriors busy adorning themselves with bright-coloured ponchos, and fastening on their silver spurs. A troupiglia of horses had been driven up, and the owners were picking out their steeds therefrom, and saddling and bridling them.
Each warrior carried a long lance, from the point of which a small pennon fluttered, and many of the Caciques and Caciquillos were conspicuous for the richness of their attire and the brightness of their silver ornaments.