CHAPTER VII.
A WAKING NIGHTMARE.
"Aye, strangers, and no jokers! But to my tale. Captain, in the firstplace your Indian hireling has done his work well. He slew the don--theyoungster, I opine--and, as for the damsel, why I have had her on myarm this half hour, till the storm forced me to _cache_ her!"
"Aha! Good!" said the captain, rubbing his hands on his nearly roastedknees. "Albeit, I am sorry that the girl escaped. I'd as lief marry theaunt to obtain the Miranda Hacienda, as wed the lass and be saddledwith the old lady."
"Well, she's next to dead. The Apache worried them sore, so that theyhave had no food."
"And he? Did you _pay_ him, as I suggested?"
"I followed him up to administer the dose of lead, but I wasanticipated. Some strangers, I tell you, are roaming the desert, andblew a tunnel through his head."
"And Pepillo?" questioned Ricardo.
"Either lying perdu till the storm abates, or gratified with the samepill. It is a deuce of a heavy gun to carry a bullet so large and sotrue."
"An American rifle?" queried the captain, uneasily, whilst Gladsden,patting his gun silently, so conveyed to it the flattering fear withwhich its prowess had inspired the depredators.
"It is this way," went on Ignacio, who saw that all eyes were bent onhim. "I struck the broad trail of the don and the Apache. I heard ashot of an unknown piece, so I alighted, hoppled my mule, and, making acircuit, entered the thicket afoot, going slow because of my spurs."
"Soon I came to a sort of glade, where a big tree stump stands. Therethe Indian had sent an arrow through don Jose, and there the unknownhad sent a heavy bullet through him. All was quiet. No sign of theyoung man, their guide. But the senorita, the heiress, lay as one deadat the stump. I felt no pulse. Her eyes were closed. I took her up andmade for my mule, but, either I had missed my mark or had strayed.No mule. Then, believing he would come here, since he has a sneakingaffection for your horses, captain, I tried to carry the girl on my ownway hither. She was light as a feather, but the thorns are a veritablenet to catch hummingbirds, and then, again, the storm about to break!Faith, I hid her in a hollow tree, and hastened on. But I was overtakenby the rain, and am as tattered as a _lepero_!"
"And Pepillo?"
"He was never born to be drowned in the deluge upon us," answeredlieutenant Ignacio, with no superabundance of fraternal affection, ashe sat at the fire, and overhauled the rent raiment. "We will fish forhim and the girl, in the day."
"But if she was spent, she will die of starvation," remarked Matasiete,with a spark of humanity or of affection.
"Pshaw! As you say, you can, in the character of don Anibal de Luna,marry the old lady and so obtain the property; besides, I left my flaskof _aguardiente_ (firewater, or whiskey) in her cold pit, and that'smeat and drink, eh, gentlemen?"
A silence ensued, the others having nodded a double tribute to hisgallantry and the potency of raw spirits.
"I do not like the young man being out of your view," said Matasiete,who had a small, carping spirit, "If he should not meet Pepillo andFarruco--"
"Crawled off with an arrow in him to die in the bushes," was the reply."That Apache is one of the poisoners, you know, and nothing that willnot cure a rattlesnake bite, will subdue the venom of his wounds. Agood riddance whoever perforated his skull! And here's his health,"holding up a horn of spirits on high as though he divined the actualwhereabouts of the avenger of don Jose de Miranda.
"There is Farruco still to come in," said the captain, yawning.
"Pah! He's under a stone like an iguana! If he eludes the rain ascleverly as he does the leaden hail when we attack a caravan, methinkshe will turn up in the day as dry as the core of a miser's heart."
Meanwhile, the storm, which had but inadequately manifested its powerin the heralding blow and pour, now swept across the plain and buffetedthe tower. It began to rock, and the sentries, who set discipline atdefiance and had come into the shelter, were half afraid that theyhad not taken the wiser course. Whatever their terror below, that ofGladsden would have been more justifiable, for the loose stones atopwere moved at each gust, and some fell, both within and without. Theprospect of the lightning bolt flinging him scathed to the death, amidruins, upon the knot of robbers, was quite within reasonable surmise.
He wrapped his gun up beside him, so that its steel should not attractthe flame that seemed, when it played within his nook, to linger uponhim, and expected the worst between the two perils.
All at once, splitting the rolling thunder in its higher key, afrightened voice cried out, "The horses! There is a stampede!"
Notwithstanding the pouring rain, half a dozen of the bandits rushedout. But almost instantly returning, they gladly reported that theagitation among the horses was caused, not so much by their fright atthe lightning, as by the mad gambols of Ignacio's mule, which, runninginto the group tethered on the leeward of the tower, was plying toothand hoof in order to range himself near the horse to which he had takenone of those devoted fancies not uncommon among the hybrids. Instead oftheir forming a mass, rounded in shape, their tails outward, to meetthe rain, they half encircled the tower, accommodating themselves tothe wind, which was shifting to the southeast.
"The old tower holds firm," said Ignacio, his mouth full of beef, as heplied a needle and fine deer's sinew for thread in the reparation ofhis leggings.
"Only the gale shakes out a tooth of the old hag's head," said hisneighbour, on whom sundry fragments of the crumble had fallen.
"Ha!" ejaculated don Matasiete, abruptly, as he clapped his long handto his head, and then clutched the object which had struck him there,and then rolled into the ashes. He had pulled it forth with amazingalacrity. "Since when has this tower been built with cartridges?"
"What!" was the general cry, as all, like the speaker, looked upward.
"I tell you that this fell on my head. If it rains more of the like wemust dash out the fire, or we'll be blown higher than the eagle flies!"
Every man had drawn a weapon. Their ignorance of meteorology might begreat or little, but cartridges do not come with Mexican rain oftenenough to be calmly accepted without an inquisition.
"The strangers!" cried the captain, prudently backing towards the wallat the point furthest from the ladder's end. "Have they come in amongus?"
"Stuff! What man in his lightness of heart would leap thus into thewolf's throat?"
"That's all very well put, Ricardo," rejoined the leader. "But they mayhave preceded you, and not known that this is our lair. Just climb upand see if, by any chance, we are receiving uninvited guests."
Ricardo, who was singled out, was a burly rogue, but he did not acceptthis order. On the contrary he made a wry face and thrust his cheekout with his tongue, which signified "go and do it yourself." Thisincipient mutiny was clearly contagious, for all the bandits returnedtheir commander's interrogative look with another, defiant, stupid, orcomplacent, pursuant to their natures.
Any child could have drawn the inference that the quarter whencecartridges were showered might logically be expected to furnish a gunor two. The figurative language of the western man ranking a packet oflead and ball, or arrows, as the case varies of its being a white ora red man who sends the message, as an equivalent for a challenge tomortal combat--each bandit so interpreted the accident.
"Poltroons!" cried Matasiete. "Is there room, save on the platformitself, for a troop of men? And would one man stand amid the lightningon this rocking tower top! I tell you, if there is a man there it willbe in the nook where the ladder is suspended. One man! Well, where aremy brave fighting cocks now?"
One man, armed with such a gun as that cartridge of unusual calibrepromised, could very easily defend even that despicable nook against awhole coop of gamecocks. So the hesitation to climb the ladder ratheraugmented than diminished.
"Poltroons, eh?" observed Ignacio, to whom the incident perhaps came inharmony with some project of his own. "If it is nothing uncommon to goand see what owl has alighted
in the tower top--an owl whose eggs arecartridges, by the way--why don't you show your superior courage? Showyour hardly-too-often-distinguished daring, Captain, by going up andwringing the neck of the fowl of evil omen yourself."
"G--go myself?" repeated Matasiete, whilst the robbers grinned more orless audibly.
"Yes, go yourself," returned the impudent lieutenant, "the moreparticularly as now that you have no impediment to seize the propertyof don Jose de Miranda, you are going to marry richly and settledown as a farming gentleman, and will have no more opportunities ofexhibiting your gallantry. Yes, go yourself! And, moreover, be quickabout it, or the strangers, whoever they may be, may come down inimpatience at your neglect of your duty of host and demand an accountof your reluctant hospitality, face to beard, themselves."
Matasiete did not number that defect among his of the sanguine dogwho perpetually lets go the substance to snap at the shadow. Whateverthe brilliancy of the prospect of obtaining the estate of Miranda, atpresent that of losing the command of the salteadores was more at hand.Besides, best knowing what valuables were sewn up in the hem of hisdress, or contained in his money belt, in case, by robbers' law, judgeda coward, and kicked out from their punctilious midst, stripped to theskin, this property would be lost to him, the captain made an effort.
"Then I will show you that I never set a command which I would not haveexecuted myself!" spoken with a tremor, but loudly, to daunt the objectaimed at above. "I will mount, and not a cartridge, but the corpseof anyone who has ventured to pry into our secrets, will shortly comehustling down among ye!"
He made one bound to the ladder, put his knife between his teeth,to prevent them chattering as much as to have the blade handy, andascended briskly with his long legs at the start.
It would be unjust to say that Gladsden, who had heard all this scene,without caring to lean over and witness it lest the gleam of his eyes,reflecting the fire rays, should betray him and draw a pistol shot, wasdaunted by either the words of the redoubtable robber or his approach.Any one man, or two or three, come to that, caused him no apprehension,for he had all the advantages of position. But, after repulsing them,how could he hope to hold out a long time without food or drink?
An idea of subterfuge had struck him, which was only feasible to aseaman.
We observed that Matasiete had mounted the ladder briskly "at thestart." It is true. But, when he had some twenty feet yet of the ascentto make, his action grew less commendable. He even framed an address,in appeal, to be uttered in a whisper only loud enough for the unknownoccupant of the turret niche, full of promises or threats if he wouldonly keep quiet, and allow the investigator to return uninjured andstate there was an absence of ground for the alarm he had himselfunfortunately originated.
In the meantime the Englishman, attributing the slowness of thisupcomer's movement to his cowardice, believed he would be only too gladto find no occasion for his long stay at the top of the ladder.
So he thrust his head out of the gap before mentioned, and examined themetal arm socketed in the wall. It was not iron, but bronze, full threefeet long to the hook, a little thicker than the thumb. It was plantedsolidly in a horizontal direction.
Without further reflection, hearing the respiration of captainMatasiete, who had been goaded on by the whisperings ascending of hismen beginning to criticise his halt, Gladsden noiselessly pushed hislegs out, bent forward, seized the bronze bar with both hands with thatgrip which enables the sailor to defy the squall to dislodge him fromthe yard, and hung stiffly at arm's length over the void.
If the Mexican saw him in looking out of the window by one of theless frequent electrical flashes, he intended to kick him under thejaw, reenter, convert the body into a rampart, and fight whilst therewas a shot in the barrel, or till he had a chance to claim Ignacio'ssafeguard. The lieutenant could but be grateful to a man who removedhis superior in his favour, and, moreover, brought him a fortune.
He had no more than assumed this trying position, being drenched to theskin at the very first instant of exposure, before Matasiete at last,with many misgivings pulling at his toes, lifted his head above theflooring, and, with indescribable joy, saw there was no one there.
"Well, Captain?" was the half-ironical inquiry from below.
"There is no one, you asses!" was the polite reply, in a gleeful tone.
Gladsden sighed in relief as deep as the captain's.
"Stand from under!" added the latter, putting his knife in its sheath."I am coming down."
The Englishman was saved!
He prepared to return within his nook. The imminent danger was over.The rain was unpleasant, and the uneasiness of horses beneath him,which he heard whinnying as if they scented him, as was probable,offered the chance of exciting the curiosity of a Mexican, who wouldinfallibly descry him if he looked up outside. So he wished to cutshort the feeling of fatigue which already attacked his wrists andshoulders. But, at the first movement, what he believed a mere fancywas confirmed as fact: the bar was set with an unalterable firmnesswhich spoke volumes for the mason of old, but the metal, in which toomuch copper had been alloyed, or deteriorated by the weather, wasslowly bending, arching over the abyss!
No time was there to spare. He began by shifting his grip, moving onehand inwards and bringing the outer up to it, to overcome the curvein the rod. He looked to the socket to make sure that it still held,when his anxious eyes met another pair in the very gap. They were theMexican robber's!
Matasiete had smelt the powder, at least, he had, in a final and idlesweeping round of the visual ray, perceived the gun of the Englishman,which he had, nevertheless, concealed with unusual and creditable carein the angle of floor and wall.
Now, Matasiete placidly leaning on the sill of the window, so to callit, fixed his ferocious eyes on Gladsden, gleaming with delight athaving so complete a chance to avenge on another his companions' tauntsof cowardice.
"The owl!" he said ironically.
"You devil!" returned Gladsden, in English, for in such criticalmoments a man does not display his linguistical acquirements.
Devil, indeed! Matasiete drew his knife and slowly leaned outward inorder to slash the poor wretch's fingers to anticipate their relaxingthe grasp on the overdrooping bar.
The other made an offer to let go with one hand in the hope to getat a pistol to blow out the fiend's brains at a snap shot, but theimpossibility of the feat was immediately so impressed upon him, thathe grasped with a double hold once more in deeper desperation.
"Oh! Any death but this waking nightmare!" he ejaculated, as a kind ofprayer.
Before his fingers should be pinched by his own weight, between themetal and the brickwork, he thought, by a final spurt of strength, toleap up and seize the grinning demon.
"No, you don't!" cried the captain, guessing his aim, and leaning wellout over him, gleaming steel in hand, "Thou shalt die like a dog."
He lifted his arm to strike. Gladsden shuddered in his anguish--hisgrasp did not relax, rather was it cramped, but he was thrust by hisbody coming sidewise to the wall, from that direction, and slid thusperforce to the end of the bar downwards. He closed his eyes not tosee the knife and fiendish eyes, not to hear the devilish laugh, whena sharp shot resounded below, a bullet shrieked beside his tinglingear, and louder than the cry which the feeling of falling through spacewrung from the brave man, seemed the shriek of captain Matasiete,"creased" through the prominent nose.
Gladsden descended, like a rock loosened from a sierra summit, upon theplain below. Instead of the solid earth, however, he fell upon a warmyielding substance--the backs of a couple of horses. Clutching the maneof one at random--not the one on which he had landed, and of which heall but broke the back and so left paralysed--he was instantly carriedaway by the frightened steed.
Behind him, as he was borne helter-skelter over the prairie, convertedinto a shallow lake, he heard the clamour of the Mexicans startledby the shot, and later by a stampede in reality of their horses. Itseemed to him, stunned in a meas
ure though he was, that in the thick ofthe swarm of quadrupeds madly in flight like his own, but in anotherdirection, there was a figure, black and bowing its head between itssteed's ears, with a white object across the saddlebow.
But it was a mere glimpse! A new Mazeppa, he went careering on anunchained thunderbolt over the prairie, whilst the old Tower quiveredin a fresh onset of the tempest.
The Treasure of Pearls: A Romance of Adventures in California Page 7