The Insurgent Chief
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"That is true," observed the Cougar, bowing his head affirmatively.
"Observe," pursued Gueyma, with increasing animation, "that I do not address to you any reproach, my friend; but several times I have wished to retreat, but each time you have opposed yourself to it, and have induced me to continue to go forward. Is not that true?"
"It is true, I admit it."
"Ah! You admit it – very well; but you have probably had some design in acting thus?"
"I have always a design, Gueyma; do you not know that?"
"I know it, indeed, for your wisdom is great; but I should like to know this design."
"It is not yet time, my friend."
"That is always what you say. However, our position becomes intolerable. What is to be done? What is to become of us?"
"Still to push on in advance."
"But to go where? To do what?"
"When the moment arrives I will instruct you."
"Come, I give up any further discussion with you, Cougar. It is playing with myself to try and oppose you when you have made up your mind. Only, as I shall afterwards have to render an account of my conduct to the great chiefs of my nation, if I escape safe and sound from the dangers which threaten us, and as; I do not wish to take upon myself the responsibility of the events which, no doubt, will soon transpire, I have a request to make."
"What is it, my friend?"
"It is, at break of day, to convene the council, to explain frankly to the warriors the precarious situation in which we are placed, and your firm determination to push forward, whatever happens."
"You wish it, Gueyma?"
"No, my friend, I desire it."
"The one is as good as the other; no matter, you shall be satisfied."
"Thank you, my friend; I see in this your habitual honour."
"In this only?" said the old man, with a sad smile.
The young man turned his head without answering.
"Cougar," he resumed, after a pause, "the night advances; we have nothing more to say; with your permission I will go to sleep, I am not made of granite, like you – I am horribly fatigued; I want to get strength for tomorrow, which, no doubt, will bring rough work."
"Sleep, Gueyma, and may the Great Spirit give you calm repose."
"Thank you my friend; but you – are you not going to sleep also?"
"No, I must watch moreover, I intend to profit by the darkness to try a reconnaissance about the camp."
"Would you me to accompany you, my friend?" briskly asked the young chief.
"It would be useless; sleep. I shall be equal to the task I have set myself."
"Do as you like, then, my friend; I do not say any more."
Gueyma then carefully wrapped himself in his poncho, stretched himself comfortably before the fire, closed his eyes, and some minutes afterwards he was sunk in profound sleep.
The Cougar had not changed his position; crouched before the fire, his head reclining on his breast, he was reflecting.
The Indian thus remained for a considerable time – so motionless, that, from a distance, he rather resembled one of those idols of the East Indies, than a man of flesh and blood.
At last, after about an hour, probably passed in serious meditation, he gently raised his head, and looked anxiously around him.
A death-like silence pervaded the camp; the warriors were all sleeping, with the exception of a few sentinels, placed behind the entrenchments, to watch over the general safety. The Cougar rose, tightened his girdle, seized his carbine, and proceeded slowly towards the spot where the horses were feeding.
Having reached this spot, he gave a light whistle. Almost immediately a horse came out of the group, and rubbed his head against the shoulder of the chief.
The latter, after having patted him with his hand, put a bridle on him, and, without making use of the stirrup, bounded into the saddle, after having tightened the girth, relaxed for the horse to feed more easily.
The sentinels, although they noticed the various movements of the chief, did not address to him the least observation, and he left the camp without anyone appearing to notice his departure.
The warriors had for a long time been accustomed to these nocturnal absences of their chief, who, from the commencement of the expedition, set out thus nearly every night from the camp, without doubt to go on a discovery, and always remained several hours away.
The Cougar had set out from the camp slowly; he preserved the same pace while he thought he was in view of the sentinels, but as soon as a ridge of ground had concealed his movements, he loosed the bridle gave a slight click with his tongue, and the horse immediately setting off at full speed, ran with extraordinary velocity in a right line without concerning himself with obstacles which were met with on the route, and which he escaped with great agility without slackening his course.
He galloped thus for about an hour and a half, and reached the bank of rather a broad river, whose waters, like a silver ribbon, contrasted strongly with the dark shapes of the landscape.
Having reached the banks of the river, the chief threw the bridle on the neck of his horse.
The intelligent animal sniffed at the river for some time, and then he boldly entered and forded it, scarcely becoming wet up to the chest.
Immediately when he was on the other bank, the horse set out again at a gallop, but this time its course was short, lasting only a quarter of an hour or twenty minutes.
The spot where the chief went to was an immense and desolate plain, where there were but ragged shrubs, and in which, here and there, were rather high hillocks of a blackish sand.
It was at the foot of one of these hillocks that the chief stopped. He immediately alighted, rubbed down his horse carefully, covered him with his poncho, to prevent his chilling after the violent exercise to which he had been for so long a time subject, and, throwing the bridle on his neck, he left him free to browse, if he liked, on the scanty and withered grass of the savannah.
This accomplished, the chief put his hands to his mouth, and three distinct times, at equal intervals, he imitated the cry of the screech owl of the Pampas.
Two or three minutes passed. The same cry was repeated three times at a considerable distance, and then the precipitate gallop of a horse was heard.
The chief hid himself as well as he could behind the hillock, loaded his carbine, and waited.
Soon he perceived the outline of a horseman emerging from the darkness, and rapidly approaching the place where he was.
Having come a certain distance, the horseman, in place of continuing to advance, stopped short, and the cry of the screech owl again broke upon the silence of night.
The Cougar repeated his signal; the horseman, if he had only waited for this answer, immediately resumed his gallop, and soon found himself within pistol shot of the Indian.
A second time he stopped, and the sound of a gun being loaded was heard.
"Who goes there?" cried a firm voice, in Spanish.
"A friend of the desert," immediately answered the chief.
"What hour is it?" pursued the unknown.
"The hour of vengeance," again said the chief.
These passwords exchanged, the two men put up their guns, and advanced towards each other with the utmost confidence.
They recognised each other.
The stranger immediately alighted, and grasped cordially, as that of an old friend, the hand which the chief held out to him.
The unknown was a white. He wore the elegant and picturesque costume of the gauchos of the Pampas of Buenos Aires.
"I have waited a long time for you, chief," said the stranger. "Has anything happened to prevent your coming?"
"Nothing," replied the latter; "only the camp is far off; I have been obliged, before setting out, to wait till my companion was decidedly asleep."
"He still knows nothing?"
"Is it not agreed between us?"
"Just so; but as you have, you say, the greatest confidence in him, I thought that perhaps you might think fit to tell him."
"I have not wished to do anything Without informing you – so much the more as he is a chosen warrior, a chief of acknowledged wisdom, and, more than all, a man of honour under all circumstances. I have not liked to risk taking him into confidence on so serious a matter without having in hand the certain proofs of the treason of the general."
"These proofs I bring in my alforjas;6 I will give them to you. It is important for the success of our project that Gueyma be informed of it. Otherwise, when the moment had come to strike the grand blow – and that will not be long – he would doubtless counteract our plans, and cause them to fail."
"You are right; I will tell him all immediately on my arrival at the camp."
"Very well, I count upon you."
"Make yourself easy on that head; now, what must we do?"
"Continue to go on in the same direction."
"I thought so; My companion begins to be uneasy at seeing me thus pushing forward in an unknown country."
"When you have informed him he will make no more difficulties."
"That is true but is this journey to last much longer?"
"Watch with care your approaches, for tomorrow we shall probably meet."
"Epoï! You will not fail us at the critical moment?"
"Trust to me; I have given you my word. Our movements will be so planned that both will act at once – the one in advance, the other in arrear; they will be taken as by the throw of a net. If we give them time to recognise us they will escape, so skilful are they. I cannot, therefore, too much urge you to act with the greatest circumspection."
"In your turn, trust in me, Don Zeno. If I your word, you have mine."
"I trust you, then."
"You remember our agreement?"
"Certainly."
"And you will act accordingly?"
"Blindly, although – permit me to tell you – I do not understand your demand."
"One day you will understand me, and then, take my word for it, Don Zeno, you will thank me."
"Be it so; as you like, Diogo, you are an undecipherable man, and wrapped in mystery; I give up your explaining yourself."
"And you are right," answered the chief, laughing; "for you would lose your time and your pains; only remember, Don Zeno, that, white or red, you have not a better friend than I am."
"Of that I am convinced, Diogo; however, I avow that I am very much concerned on your account. If some day you tell me your history, I expect to hear marvellous things."
"And terrible things also, Don Zeno. This history, if you will have patience for some time longer, I promise to tell you; it will interest you much more than you think."
"It is possible; but, meanwhile, let us think of the affair we have in hand."
"Leave that to me; I must quit you."
"Already! We have scarcely had time to exchange a few words."
"I have a long journey to make, you know."
"True; I will not retain you, then."
"And the proofs that you are to give me?"
"You shall have them in a moment."
"Of what do they consist?"
"In quipus, and especially in letters. You know how to read, do you not?"
"Enough to decipher these papers."
"Then all is right; here is the affair," added he, drawing a rather voluminous packet from his alforjas, and handing it to the Indian.
"Thank you," answered the latter; "thank you, and shall soon see you again, eh?"
"Most probably we shall see one another again, even today."
"So much the better; I should be delighted if it were all over."
"And I also."
The two men once more shook hands. The gaucho remounted his horse, and set off; he soon disappeared in the darkness.
The Cougar whistled to his horse, which came running at his call, and he set off in the direction of the camp. His horse, refreshed by the rest he had had during the conference of the two men, appeared to annihilate space.
The Indian reflected. His ordinarily sombre countenance had a joyous expression which was not natural to it. He pressed to his chest the packet which the gaucho had given him, as if he feared it Would escape him; and as he galloped he spoke to himself, and at times allowed exclamations of pleasure to escape him, which would have much astonished the warriors of his tribe, if they had heard him.
He made such haste that he re-entered the camp about two hours before daybreak.
After having sent his horse among the others, he laid himself down before a fire, taking care to wrap his precious packet in his poncho, and to place it under his head, to be certain that it should not be carried away then he closed his eyes, murmuring in a low voice, and between his teeth —
"I have well earned two or three hours of repose and I think I shall sleep well, for now I am content."
Indeed, five minutes later he slept as if he would never wake again.
However, at sunrise the Cougar was one of the first awake, and the first up.
Gueyma, crouched near him, waited his awaking.
"Already up?" said the old chief to him.
"Is there anything extraordinary In that? Have I not slept all the night?"
"That is true. Why do they not raise the camp?"
"I did not wish to give the order for it before speaking with you."
"Ah! very well; speak, Gueyma; I am listening."
"Have you forgotten what We said yesterday evening?"
"We said many things, my friend; it is possible that amongst the number I have forgotten some; recall them to me, I beg."
"We agreed to assemble the council this morning."
"True; have you done it?"
"No, not yet; you were asleep, my friend; I did not wish to take upon myself the order for this convocation for fear of displeasing you."
"You are good and generous, Gueyma," answered the old man, after a pause for reflection; "I recognise your habitual delicacy. Do me a pleasure."
"What, my friend?"
"Do not convoke the council yet."
The young chief fixed on him an inquiring look.
"Yes," continued the Cougar, "what I say astonishes you, I can well understand; but we must have a serious conversation before this convocation."
"A conversation?"
"Yes; I have to communicate to you matters of the highest importance, which, no doubt, will render the calling of this assembly needless; be patient; grant me till the halt for the morning meal – that is not too much to exact, I think?"
"You are my friend and my father, Cougar; what you say is a law to me; I will wait."
"Thank you, Gueyma, thank you; now nothing prevents you from giving the order for the raising of the camp."
"That is what I will do, immediately."
"Ah! Recommend the greatest vigilance to the warriors; the enemy is near."
"You discovered his track during your wandering last night?"
"Yes, my friend; I think you will do well also to send scouts in advance in order to avoid a surprise."
"Agreed," answered the young chief, withdrawing.
One hour later the Guaycurus warriors were on the march, in the direction of the Cordilleras, of which the mountain, at the foot of which they had camped during the night, was but one of the advanced and lesser chain.
CHAPTER IV
THE TWO CHIEFS
By degrees, as the Guaycurus warriors advanced towards the mountains, the landscape assumed a more severe and a more picturesque aspect.
The road, or rather the path followed by the troops mounted by an almost imperceptible slope, by risings of earth which serve, so to speak, as gigantic steps to the first chain of the Cordilleras.
The forests became more dense, the trees were larger and more closely packed to each other. Hidden streams might have been heard murmuring – torrents which precipitate themselves from the height of the mountains, and, uniting, form these rivers, which at some leagues in the plain acquire great importance, and are often large as arms of the sea.
Large flights of vultures wheeled slowly, high in the air, over the horsemen, uttering their harsh and discordant cries.
Gueyma had not neglected any precautions that the Cougar had recommended him; scouts had been dispatched in advance in order to search the woods, and to discover, if possible, the tracks that they suspected would not fail them in these regions.
Other Indians had quitted their horses, and, right and left, on the flanks of the troop, they searched the forests, whose mysterious depths could well conceal an ambuscade.
The Guaycurus advanced in a long and close column – thoughtful and silent – the eye on the watch and the hand on their arms, ready to make use of them at the first signal.
The two chiefs marched in front, about twenty paces from their companions.
When they were in the middle of a thick forest, the immense masses of verdure in which not only deprived them of a view of the sky, but also intercepted the burning rays of the sun; and when the horsemen, whose horses were passing through a long and thick grass, filed through the trees silently as a legion of phantoms, the Cougar placed his hand on the arm of his companion, and making use of the Castilian dialect —
"Let us speak Spanish," said he; "I do not wish any longer to delay giving you that information I have promised you. If we have to be attacked, it will only be in the neighbourhood of such an unlucky place as that in which we now find ourselves; it is one of the best chosen for an ambuscade. I am much deceived if we shall not soon hear resounding under these arches of foliage the war cry of our enemies. It is time, then that I explained myself clearly to you, for perhaps it will be too late when we arrive at the encampment. Listen to me, then, attentively, and whatever you hear me say, my dear Gueyma, concentrate in yourself your emotions, and do not exhibit in your features either anger, joy, or astonishment."
"Speak, Cougar; I will conform to your advice."
"The time has not yet come," pursued the old man, "to reveal to you the whole truth. Let it suffice, at present, to know that, brought up among the whites, whose faith and customs I had adopted, and for whom I professed, and profess still, the most sincere devotion, it is not for you, Gueyma – for you whose birth I remember, and whom I love as a son – that I have consented to abandon the numberless enjoyments of civilised life, to resume the life – precarious and full of dangers and privations – of a nomadic Indian. I had taken an oath of vengeance and devotion. This oath I believe, I have religiously kept. The vengeance, long time prepared by me in secret, will be, I am convinced, so much the more terrible as it, will have been slow to strike the guilty. In the great act that I meditate, Gueyma, you will aid me, for they are your interests alone that I have constantly defended in all I have done, and it is you, more than I, who are interested in the success of what I wish still to do."
"What you tell me," answered the young chief, with emotion, "my heart has had a presentiment of, and I have almost guessed. For a long time I have known and appreciated, as I ought, the faithful and almost boundless friendship which you have always manifested for me. You will, therefore, render me this justice Cougar, that I have always conformed to your advice, often severe, and have allowed myself to be blindly guided by your counsels, that I have scarcely ever understood."
"It is true, my boy, you have acted thus; but when we talk between ourselves, call me Diogo. This is the name they formerly gave me when I was among the whites, and it recalls to me ineffaceable memories of joy and of grief."
"Well, my friend, as you wish it, I will call you so between ourselves, till you permit me, or till circumstances permit me to resume boldly in the face of all a name which I am sure you have honoured all the time you have borne it."
"Yes, yes," answered the old man, with complaisance, "there was a time when the name of Diogo had a certain celebrity, but who remembers it now?"
"Resume, I beg, what you commenced to tell me, and do not dwell any more on painful memories."
"You are right, Gueyma; let me forget them for a time, and return to the affair that I am going to confide to you. What I have said has no other design than that of proving to you that, if often I have apparently arrogated to myself the right of counselling you, or of wishing you to modify your plans, this right was acquired by long services and a devotion under all circumstances to yourself."
"I have never had, my friend, the thought – even for a moment – of discussing your acts or counteracting your projects. I have, on the contrary, always studied to bend my convictions to your long experience."
"I am pleased to render you this justice, my friend; but if I insist so much on this subject, it is that the circumstances in which we are now placed demand that you have entire confidence in me. In a word, here are the facts: the Brazilians, believing they no longer want us, now that they have seized upon the greater part of the towns of the Banda Oriental – thanks to the civil war which divides the Spaniards, and obliges them to fight against each other rather than against the common enemy – would not be sorry to be free of us, and to allow us to be crushed by superior forces. Forgetting the services that, from the commencement of the war, we have rendered them, the Brazilians, not only in a cowardly way abandon us, but, not content with that, they wish to deliver us to the enemy, in the hope that, succumbing, notwithstanding our courage under the weight of superior force, we shall be all massacred."
"I feared this treason," answered Gueyma, with pensive air, sadly shaking his head. "You remember my friend, that I was opposed to the conclusion of the treaty."
"Yes, I even remember that it was I who induced you to conclude it, and that from consideration to me alone you consented to throw down your quipo in acceptance in the council. Well, my friend, from that moment I foresaw this treason; I will say now – I hoped it."
The young chief turned sharply to his companion, looking at him with the most lively surprise:
"I begged you," resumed the old man, without in any way manifesting emotion, "not to show on your countenance any sentiments which, during our conversation, might agitate your heart. Collect yourself, then, my friend, in order to avoid awakening the suspicions of our warriors, and allow me to continue."
"I am listening to you; but what you say to me is so extraordinary – "
"That you do not understand me – is that it? But, patience; you will soon have the explanation of this mystery, especially as I shall be able to give you this explanation without perilling the success of the projects that I meditate."
"All this appears to me so strange," said Gueyma, "that my reason almost refuses to comprehend it."
The Cougar smiled silently, and after having cast an inquiring look around him, he unaffectedly approached his companion, and, leaning towards his ear —
"Do you like the whites?" he asked.
"No," decisively answered the chief; "but I do not entertain any hatred towards them. It is true," added he, with an ill-concealed bitterness, "that I am too young yet to have had to suffer from their tyranny."
"Just so; however, my friend, if it is allowable for me to boast before you of my experience, let me tell you that every sentiment is unjust when it is exclusive; that the life you have led, the examples you have had under your eyes, indispose you towards the company of the whites. I understand this, and do not reproach you with it; but you should not, even if you should have had to complain of one or of several of them, render them all responsible for the crime of some, and include them in the same hatred. Amongst the whites there are some good. I even intend soon to make you acquainted with one of them."
"Me!" cried the young man.
"You, certainly; and why not, if it conduce to the success of our plans?"
"My friend, you speak in a way that is entirely incomprehensible to me; my mind seeks vainly to follow you, and to grasp your meaning in the midst of the inextricable network in which you are pleased to entangle it. Be plain with me, and do not let me thus fatigue myself to no purpose in trying to guess your meaning."
"Well, in a few words, here is what has happened: The Brazilian general with whom we treated had but one motive in entering into relations with us – to remove us, for reasons that he thinks are known to himself alone, but which I know as well as he does from our hunting territories, and to remove us in such a way as we should never return to them again."