Les trappeurs de l'Arkansas. English

by Gustave Aimard

  CHAPTER VII.

  THE BATTLE.

  The pirates bounded into the camp like jackals, howling and brandishingtheir weapons.

  As soon as the camp was invaded, the captain left his people to pillageand kill at their pleasure. Without concerning himself any more aboutthem, he rushed towards the tent.

  But there his passage was barred. The general had rallied seven or eightmen round him, and awaited the bandit firmly, resolved to die ratherthan allow one of those wretches to touch his niece.

  At the sight of the old soldier, with his flashing eye, his pistol inone hand and his sword in the other, the captain paused.

  But this pause did not last longer than a flash of lightning; he gottogether a half-score of pirates by a shout for help.

  "Give way!" he said, brandishing his machete.

  "Come on!" the general said, biting his moustache with fury.

  The two men rushed upon each other, their people imitated them, and the_melee_ became general.

  Then followed a terrible and merciless struggle between men who, on bothsides, knew they had no pity to expect.

  Everyone endeavoured to make his blows mortal, without taking thetrouble to parry those dealt upon himself, satisfied with falling,provided that in his fall he could drag down his adversary.

  The wounded endeavoured to rise, for the purpose of burying theirponiards in the bodies of those who were fighting around them.

  This fierce contest could not last long; all the lanceros weremassacred; the general fell in his turn, struck down by the captain, whothrew himself upon him and bound him tightly with his belt, in order toprevent the possibility of his resisting any further.

  The general had only received slight wounds, which had scarcelypenetrated to the flesh; for the captain, for reasons best known tohimself, had carefully protected him during the combat, parrying withhis machete the blows which the bandits tried to inflict upon him.

  He wished to take his enemy alive, and he had succeeded.

  All the Mexicans had fallen, it is true, but the victory had cost thepirates dear; more than half of them were killed.

  The general's Negro, armed with an enormous club, which he had made ofthe trunk of a young tree, for a long time resisted all who attempted totake him, crushing without mercy all who imprudently came within reachof the weapon which he handled with such uncommon dexterity.

  His enemies at length succeeded in lassoing him, and casting himhalf-strangled to the ground; the captain, however, came to his rescueat the moment when a pirate was raising his arm to put an end to him.

  As soon as the captain found the general incapable of moving, he uttereda cry of joy, and without stopping to stanch the blood of two wounds hehad received he bounded like a tiger over the body of his enemy, who waswrithing powerless at his feet, and penetrated into the tent.

  It was empty!

  Dona Luz had disappeared.

  The captain was thunderstruck!

  What could have become of the girl?

  The tent was small, almost void of furniture, it was impossible shecould be concealed in it.

  A disordered bed proved that at the moment of the surprise, Dona Luz hadbeen sleeping peaceably.

  She had vanished like a sylph, without leaving any trace of her flight.

  A flight perfectly incomprehensible to the pirate, as the camp had beeninvaded on all sides at once.

  How was it possible for a young girl, awakened suddenly, to havehad courage and presence of mind enough to fly so quickly, and passunperceived amidst conquerors whose first care had been to guard all theissues?

  The captain sought in vain the solution of this enigma. He stamped withanger, and plunged his poniard into the packages that might serve astemporary places of refuge for the fugitive; but all without success.

  Convinced at length that all his researches in the tent were in vain,he rushed out, prowling about like a wild beast, persuaded that if by amiracle she had succeeded in escaping, alone in the night, half dressed,wandering in the desert, he should easily find her again.

  In the meantime, the pillage went on with a celerity and an order in itsdisorder, which did honour to the practical knowledge of the pirates.

  The conquerors, fatigued with killing and robbing, plunged theirponiards into the skins filled with mezcal, and an orgie soon succeededtheft and murder.

  All at once a loud and fierce cry resounded at a little distance, and ashower of bullets came pattering full upon the bandits.

  Surprised in their turn, they flew to their arms, and endeavoured torally.

  At the same instant, a mass of Indians appeared, bounding like jaguarsamong the packages, closely followed by a troop of hunters, at the headof whom were Loyal Heart, Belhumeur, and Black Elk.

  The position became critical for the pirates.

  The captain, recalled to himself by the peril his people ran, left withregret the fruitless search he was engaged in, and grouping his menaround him, he carried off the only two prisoners he had made, that isto say, the general and his black servant, and taking skilful advantageof the tumult inseparable from an eruption like that of the allies, heordered his men to disperse in all directions, in order to escape moreeasily the blows of their adversaries.

  After one sharp fire, which caused a slight pause among the Indians, thepirates flew away like a cloud of unclean birds of prey, and disappearedin the darkness. But, whilst flying, the captain, left last to supportthe retreat, did not cease, as he glided along the rocks, still to seek,as much as was possible in the precipitation of his night, for traces ofthe young girl; but he could discover nothing.

  The disappointed captain retired with rage in his heart, revolving inhis head the most sinister projects.

  Loyal Heart, warned by the Indian scout, and more particularly by therecital of the doctor, of the proposed attack upon the camp, had marchedimmediately, in order to bring succour to the Mexicans as soon aspossible.

  Unfortunately, in spite of the celerity of their march, the trappers andthe Comanches arrived too late to save the caravan.

  When the leaders of the expedition became assured of the flight of thepirates, Eagle Head and his warriors set off on their track.

  Left master of the camp, Loyal Heart ordered a general battue in theneighbouring thickets and high grass, which the bandits had not had timeto explore in detail, for they had scarcely obtained possession of thecamp before they were driven out of it again.

  This battue brought to light Phoebe, the young servant of Dona Luz,and two lanceros, who had taken refuge in the trunk of a tree, and whoarrived more dead than alive, conducted by Black Elk and some hunters,who tried in vain to re-assure them, and revive their courage.

  The poor devils still believed themselves in the hands of the pirates,and Loyal Heart had great difficulty in persuading them that the peoplethey saw were friends who had come too late to succour them, but whowould not do them any harm.

  As soon as they were sufficiently restored to speak collectedly, LoyalHeart went with them into the tent, and required of them a succinctaccount of all that had taken place.

  The young quadroon, when she saw with whom she had to do, all at once,regained her wonted assurance; and besides, haying recognized LoyalHeart, she did not require much coaxing to set her tongue going, and ina few minutes made the hunter acquainted with all the terrible events ofwhich she had been a spectatress.

  "So," he asked, "Captain Aguilar was killed, was he?"

  "Alas! yes!" the young girl replied, with a sigh of regret for the pooryoung officer.

  "And the general?" said the hunter.

  "Oh! as to the general," said the girl briskly, "he defended himselflike a lion, and only fell after a heroic resistance."

  "Is he dead, then?" Loyal Heart asked, with great emotion.

  "Oh! no!" she said almost cheerfully, "he is only wounded. I saw thebandits pass as they carried him away; I even believe that his woundsare slight, so much did the ladrones spare him during the combat."

>   "I am glad to hear it!" said the hunter; and he hung his head with apensive air: then, after a pause of an instant, he added, hesitatingly,and with a slight tremor in his voice, "your young mistress, what hasbecome of her?"

  "My mistress, Dona Luz?"

  "Yes, Dona Luz--for so I believe she is called; I would give much toknow where she is, and to be certain she is in safety."

  "She is so, since she is near you," said a harmonious voice.

  And Dona, Luz appeared, still pale from the poignant emotions she hadundergone, but calm; she had a smile on her lips, and her eyes sparkledbrilliantly.

  No one present could repress a movement of extreme surprise at theunexpected apparition of the young lady.

  "Oh! God be praised!" the hunter cried; "our succour has not, then, beencompletely useless."

  "No," replied she, kindly; but she shortly added with sadness, whilst ashade of melancholy clouded her features, "now that I have lost him whowas to me as a father, I come to ask your protection, Caballero."

  "It is yours, madam," he replied with warmth. "And as to your uncle, oh!depend upon me; I will restore him to you, if the enterprise costs me mylife. You know," he added, "that before today I have proved my devotionto you and him."

  The first emotion over, it became a question how the young girl hadsucceeded in escaping the researches of the pirates.

  Dona Luz gave as simple an account as possible of what had passed.

  The young lady had thrown herself, with all her clothes on, upon thebed; but anxiety kept her awake, a secret presentiment warned her to beon her guard.

  At the cry uttered by the pirates, she started from her bed in terrorand amazement, and at once perceived that flight was impossible.

  Whilst casting a terrified look around her, she perceived some clothesthrown in a disorderly manner into a hammock, and hanging over the sidesof it.

  An idea, which appeared to come to her from Heaven, shot across herbrain like a luminous flash.

  She glided under these clothes, and curling herself up into as littlespace as possible, she crouched at the bottom of the hammock, withoutaltering the disordered state of the things.

  God had ordained it that the chief of the bandits, while searching, ashe thought, everywhere, never dreamt of plunging his hand into whatseemed an empty hammock.

  Saved by this chance, she remained thus huddled up for full an hour, aprey to fears of the most appalling nature.

  The arrival of the hunters, together with the voice of Loyal Heart,which she soon recognized, restored her to hope; she left the place ofher concealment, and had impatiently waited for a favourable moment topresent herself.

  The hunters were wonderstruck at a recital at once so simple and soaffecting; they cordially congratulated the young lady upon her courageand presence of mind, which alone had saved her.

  When a little order was re-established in the camp Loyal Heart waitedupon Dona Luz.

  "Senora," he said, "it will not be long before day appears; when youhave taken a few hours' repose, I will conduct you to my mother, who isa pious, good woman; when she knows you, I feel certain she will loveyou as a daughter. And then, as soon as you are in safety, I will setearnestly about restoring your uncle to you."

  Without waiting for the thanks of the young lady, he bowed respectfully,and left the tent.

  When he had disappeared, Dona Luz sighed, and sank pensively down upon aseat.