by Mayne Reid
CHAPTER SIXTY ONE.
CONCLUSION.
About a month after in San Augustin a small two-masted vessel--agoleta--might have been observed standing on tacks off the coast ofOaxaca, as if working against the land wind to make to the mouth of RioTecoyama--a stream which runs into the Pacific near the south-westerncorner of that State. Only sharp eyes could have seen the schooner; forit was night, and the night was a very dark one. There were eyessharply on the lookout for her, however, anxiously scanning the horizonto leeward, some of them through glasses. On an elevated spot among themangroves, by the river's mouth, a party was assembled, in all about ascore individuals. They were mostly men, though not exclusively; threefemale figures being distinguishable, as forming part of the group. Twoof them had the air, and wore the dress, of ladies, somewhat torn andtravel-stained; the third was in the guise of a maid-servant attendingthem. They were the Condesa Almonte the Don Luisa Valverde, and herever faithful Pepita.
Among the men were six with whom the reader has acquaintance. DonIgnacio, Kearney, Rock, Rivas, Jose, and he who had been major-domo inthe old monastery, baptismally named Gregorio. Most of the others,undescribed, had also spent some time in the establishment with themonks while playing the part of Free Lances. They were, in fact, aremnant of the band--now broken up and dispersed.
But why! When last seen it looked as though their day of triumph hadcome, or was at all events near. So would it have been but for abetrayal, through which the _pronunciamento_ had miscarried, or ratherdid not come off. The Dictator, well informed about it--further warnedby what occurred at San Augustin--had poured troops over the Sierrasinto Oaxaca in force sufficient to awe the leaders of the intendedinsurrection. It was but by the breadth of a hair that his late CabinetMinister, and those who accompanied him, were able to escape to thesequestered spot where we find them on the shore of the South Sea. ToAlvarez, chief of the Pintos, or "spotted Indians," were they indebtedfor safe conduct thither; he himself having adroitly kept clear of allcompromise consequent on that grito unraised. Furthermore, he hadpromised to provide them with a vessel in which they might escape out ofthe country; and it was for this they were now on the lookout.
When Ruperto Rivas, gazing through that same telescope he had givenFlorence Kearney to make survey of the valley of Mexico, cried out, "Lagoleta!" every eye around him brightened, every heart beat joyously.
Still more rejoiced were they when, after an hour's tacking against theland breeze, the goleta got inside the estuary of the stream, andworking up, brought to by the edge of the mangroves.
Unencumbered with heavy baggage, they were all soon aboard, and in threedays after debarked at the port of Panama. Thence crossing the Isthmusto Chagres, another sea-going craft carried them on to the city, wherethey need no longer live in fear of Mexico's despot.
Back to his old quarters in New Orleans had Don Ignacio repaired; againunder the ban of proscription, his estates sequestrated as before. So,too, those of the Condesa Almonte.
But not for all time, believed they. They lived in hope of arestoration.
Nor were they disappointed; for it came. The _pronunciamento_ delayedwas at length proclaimed, and carried to a successful issue. Once againthroughout the land of Anahuac had arisen a "grito," its battle cry"Patria y Libertad!" so earnestly and loudly shouted as to drive theDictator from his mock throne; sending him, as several times before, toseek safety in a foreign land.
Nor were the "Free Lances" unrepresented in this revolutionary struggle;instead, they played an important part in it. Ere it broke out, theywho had fled the country re-entered it over the Texan border, andrejoining their brethren, became once more ranged under the leadershipof Captain Ruperto Rivas, with Florence Kearney as his lieutenant, andCris Rock a sort of attache to the band, but a valuable adjunct to itsfighting force.
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Swords returned to their scabbards, bugles no longer sounding warsignals, it remains out to speak of an episode of more peaceful andpleasanter nature, which occurred at a later period, and not _so verylong_ after. The place was inside the Grand Cathedral of Mexico, atwhose altar, surrounded by a throng of the land's elite, bells ringing,and organ music vibrating on the air, stood three couples, waiting to bewedded.
And wedded they were! Don Ruperto Rivas to the Condesa Almonte,Florence Kearney to the Dona Luisa Valverde, and--Jose to Pepita.
Happy they, and happy also one who was but a witness of the ceremony,having a better view of it than most of the spectators, from being thehead and shoulders taller than any. Need we say this towering personagewas the big Tejano? Cris looked on delightedly, proud of his comradeand _protege_, with the beautiful bride he had won and was wedding. Forall it failed to shake his own faith in single blessedness. In his eyesthere was no bride so beautiful as the "Land of the Lone Star," no wifeso dear as its wild "purairas." And to them after a time he returned,oft around the camp-fire entertaining his companions of the chase withan account of his adventures in the Mexican valley--how he had therefigured in the various roles of jail-bird, scavenger, friar, and last ofall as one of the Free Lances.
THE END.