by Mayne Reid
CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR.
When Vizcarra reached his sumptuous quarters, the first thing he did wasto call for wine. It was brought, and he drank freely and with fiercedetermination.
He thought by that to drown his chagrin; and for a while he succeeded.
There is relief in wine, but it is only temporary: you may make jealousydrunk and oblivious, but you cannot keep it so. It will be sober assoon--ay, sooner than yourself. Not all the wine that was ever pressedfrom grapes can drown it into a complete oblivion.
Vizcarra's heart was filled by various passions. There was love--thatis, such love as a libertine feels; jealousy; anger at the coarsehandling he had experienced; wounded self-love, for with his gold-laceand fine plumes he believed himself a conqueror at first sight; and uponthe top of all, bitter disappointment.
This last was the greater that he did not see how his suit could berenewed. To attempt a similar visit would lead to similar chagrin,--perhaps worse.
It was plain the girl did not care for him, with all his fine feathersand exalted position. He saw that she was very different from theothers with whom he had had dealings--different from the dark-eyeddoncellas of the valley, most of whom, if not all, would have taken hisonza without a word or a blush!
It was plain to him he could go no more to the rancho. Where, then, washe to meet her--to see her? He had ascertained that she seldom came tothe town--never to the amusements, except when her brother was at home.How and where, then, was he to see her? His was a hopeless case--noopportunity of mending his first _faux pas_--none, any more than if theobject of his pursuit was shut up in the cloisters of a nunnery!Hopeless, indeed! Thus ran his reflections.
Though uttering this phrase, he had no belief in its reality. He had nointention of ending the affair so easily. He--the lady-killer,Vizcarra--to fail in the conquest of a poor ranchera! He had neverfailed, and would not now. His vanity alone would have urged himfarther in the affair; but he had a sufficient incentive to his strongpassion,--for strong it had now grown. The opposition it had met--thevery difficulty of the situation--only stimulated him to greater energyand earnestness.
Besides, jealousy was there, and that was another spur to his excitedpride.
He was jealous of Don Juan. He had noticed the latter on the day of thefiesta. He had observed him in the company of the cibolero and hissister. He saw them talking, drinking, feasting together. He wasjealous _then_; but that was light, for then he still anticipated hisown easy and early triumph. That was quiet to the feeling that torturedhim now--now that _he had failed_--now that he had seen in the very hourof his humiliation that same rival on his road to the rancho--welcome,no doubt--to be told of all that had happened--to join her in jeeringlaughter at his expense--to--Furies! the thought was intolerable.
For all that the Comandante had no idea of relinquishing his design.There were still means--foul, if not fair--if he could only think ofthem. He wanted some head cooler than his own. Where was Roblado?
"Sergeant! tell Captain Roblado I wish to speak with him."
Captain Roblado was just the man to assist him in any scheme of thesort. They were equally villains as regarded women; but Vizcarra's_metier_ was of a lighter sort--more of the genteel-comedy kind. Hisforte lay in the seductive process. He made love _a la Don Giovanni_,and carried hearts in what he deemed a legitimate manner; whereasRoblado resorted to any means that would lead most directly to theobject--force, if necessary and safe. Of the two Roblado was thecoarser villain.
As the Comandante had failed in his way, he was determined to make trialof any other his captain might suggest; and since the latter knew allthe "love stratagems," both of civilised and savage life, he was justthe man to suggest something.
It chanced that at this time Roblado wanted counsel himself upon asomewhat similar subject. He had proposed for Catalina, and DonAmbrosio had consented; but, to the surprise of all, the Senorita hadrebelled! She did not say she would _not_ accept Captain Roblado. Thatwould have been too much of a defiance, and might have led to a summaryinterference of paternal authority. But she had appealed to DonAmbrosio for time--she was not ready to be married! Roblado could notthink of time--he was too eager to be rich; but Don Ambrosio hadlistened to his daughter's appeal, and there lay the cause of thecaptain's trouble.
Perhaps the Comandante's influence with Don Ambrosio might be the meansof overruling this decision and hastening the wished-for nuptials.Roblado was therefore but too eager to lay his superior under anobligation.
Roblado having arrived, the Comandante explained his case, detailingevery circumstance that had happened.
"My dear colonel, you did not go properly to work. I am astonished atthat, considering your skill and experience. You dropped like an eagleupon a dovecot, frightening the birds into their inaccessible holes.You should not have gone to the rancho at all."
"And how was I to see her?"
"In your own quarters; or elsewhere, as you might have arranged it."
"Impossible!--she would never have consented to come."
"Not by your sending for her direct; I know that."
"And how, then?"
"Ha! ha! ha!" laughed Roblado; "are you so innocent as never to haveheard of such a thing as an `_alcahuete_'?"
"Oh! true--but by my faith I never found use for one."
"No!--you in your fine style have deemed that a superfluity; but youmight find use for one now. A very advantageous character that, Iassure you--saves much time and trouble--diminishes the chances offailure too. It's not too late. I advise you to try one. If thatfails, you have still another string to your bow."
We shall not follow the conversation of these ruffians further. Enoughto say that it led into details of their atrocious plans, which, formore than an hour, they sat concocting over their wine, until the wholescheme was set forth and placed in readiness to be carried out.
It _was_ carried out, in fine, but led to a different ending from whateither anticipated. The "lady" who acted as "alcahuete" soon placedherself _en rapport_ with Rosita; but her success was more equivocalthan that of Vizcarra himself; in fact, I should rather say unequivocal,for there was no ambiguity about it.
As soon as her designs were made known to Rosita, the lattercommunicated them to her mother; and the scratches which the Comandantehad received were nothing to those which had fallen to the lot of hisproxy. The "alcahuete" had, in fact, to beg for her life before she wasallowed to escape from the terrible Cibolo.
She would have sought legal revenge, but that the nature of her businessmade it wiser for her to pocket the indignities, and remain silent.