by Mayne Reid
CHAPTER THIRTY.
At that moment upon the _azotea_ a man was pacing to and fro. He wasnot a sentinel, though at opposite angles of the building two of thesecould be seen who carried carbines--their heads and shoulders justappearing above the crenated top of the battlement towers.
The man _en promenade_ was an officer, and the part of the azotea _upon_which he moved was the roof of the officers' quarter, separated from therest by a wall of equal height with the parapet. It was, moreover, asacred precinct--not to be disturbed by the tread of common troopers onordinary occasions. It was the "quarterdeck" of the Presidio.
The officer was in full dress, though not on any duty; but a singleglance at the style and cut of his uniform would convince any one thathe was a "dandy soldier," and loved to appear at all times in finefeathers. The gold-lace and bright-coloured broad-cloth seemed toaffect him as his rich plumage does the peacock. Every now and again hepaused in his promenade, glanced down at his lacquered boots, examinedthe tournure of his limbs, or feasted his eyes upon the jewels thatstudded his delicate white fingers.
He was no beauty withal nor hero either; but that did not prevent himfrom indulging in the fancy that he was both--a combination of Mars andApollo.
He was a colonel in the Spanish army, however, and Comandante of thePresidio--for the promenader in question was Vizcarra himself.
Though satisfied with his own appearance, he was evidently not satisfiedabout something else. There was a cloud upon his features that not eventhe contemplation of the lacquered boots or lily-white hands couldbanish. Some disagreeable thought was pressing upon his mind, causinghim at intervals to make fitful starts, and look nervously around him.
"Bah! 'twas but a dream!" he muttered to himself. "Why should I thinkof it? 'twas only a dream!"
His eyes were bent downward as he gave expression to these abruptphrases, and as he raised them again chance guided his look in thedirection of "La Nina Perdida." No, it was not chance, for La Nina hadfigured in his dream, and his eyes were but following his thoughts.
The moment they rested on the cliff he started back as if some terriblespectre were before him, and mechanically caught hold of the parapet.His cheeks suddenly blanched, his jaws fell, and his chest heaved, inhurried and convulsive breathing!
What can cause these symptoms of strong emotion? Is it the sight ofyonder horseman standing upon the very pinnacle of the bluff, andoutlined against the pale sky? What is there in such an appearance toterrify the Comandante--for terrified he is? Hear him!
"My God! my God!--it is _he_! The form of his horse--of himself--justas he appeared--it is he! I fear to look at him! I cannot--"
And the officer averted his face for a moment, covering it with hishands.
It was but a moment, and again he looked upwards. Not curiosity, butthe fascination of fear, caused him to look again. The horseman haddisappeared. Neither horse nor man--no object of any sort--broke theline of the bluffs!
"Surely I have been dreaming again?" muttered the still tremblingcaitiff. "Surely I have? There was no one there, least of all--. Howcould he? He is hundreds of miles off! It was an illusion! Ha! ha!ha! What the devil is the matter with my senses, I wonder? That horriddream of last night has bewitched them! _Carrambo_! I'll think no moreof it?"
As he said this he resumed his pace more briskly, believing that thatmight rid him of his unpleasant reflections. At every turn, however,his eyes again sought the bluff, and swept along its edge with a glancethat betokened fear. But they saw no more of the spectre horseman, andtheir owner began to feel at ease again.
A footstep was heard upon the stone steps of the "escalera." Some onewas ascending to the roof.
The next moment the head and shoulders of a man were visible; andCaptain Roblado stepped out upon the azotea.
The "buenos dias" that passed between him and Vizcarra showed that itwas their first meeting for that day. In fact, neither had been longup; for the hour was not yet too late for fashionable sleepers. Robladohad just breakfasted, and come out on the azotea to enjoy his Havannah.
"Ha! ha! ha!" laughed he, as he lighted the cigar, "what a drollmasquerade it has been! 'Pon my soul! I can scarce get the paint off;and my voice, after such yelling, won't recover for a week! Ha! ha!Never was maiden wooed and won in such a romantic, roundabout way.Shepherds attacked--sheep driven off and scattered to the winds--cattlecarried away and killed in regular _battue_--old woman knocked over, andrancho given to the flames--besides three days of marching andcountermarching, travestying Indian, and whooping till one is hoarse;and all this trouble for a poor _paisana_--daughter of a reputed witch!Ha! ha! ha! It would read like a chapter in some Eastern romance--Aladdin, for instance--only that the maiden was not rescued by someprocess of magic or knight-errantry. Ha! ha ha!"
This speech of Roblado will disclose what is, perhaps, guessed atalready--that the late incursion of "los barbaros" was neither more norless than an affair got up by Vizcarra and himself to cover theabduction of the cibolero's sister. The Indians who had harried thesheep and cattle--who had attacked the hacienda of Don Juan--who hadfired the rancho and carried off Rosita--were Colonel Vizcarra, hisofficer Captain Roblado, his sergeant Gomez, and a soldier named Jose--another minion of his confidence and will.
There were but the four, as that number was deemed sufficient for theaccomplishment of the atrocious deed; and rumour, backed by fear, gavethem the strength of four hundred. Besides, the fewer in the secret thebetter. This was the prudence or cunning of Roblado.
Most cunningly, too, had they taken their measures. The game, frombeginning to end, was played with design and execution worthy of abetter cause. The shepherds were first attacked on the upper plain, togive certainty to the report that hostile Indians were near. Thescouting-parties were sent out from the Presidio, and proclamationsissued to the inhabitants to be on their guard--all for effect; and thefurther swoop upon the cattle was clear proof of the presence of "losbarbaros" in the valley. In this foray the fiendish masquers took anopportunity of "killing two birds with one stone;" for, in addition tocarrying out their general design, they gratified the mean revenge whichthey held against the young ranchero.
Their slaughtering his cattle in the ravine had a double object. First,the loss it would be to him gave them satisfaction; but their principalmotive was that the animals might not stray back to the settlement. Hadthey done so, after having been captured by Indians, it would havelooked suspicious. As it was, they hoped that, long before any oneshould discover the _battue_, the wolves and buzzard would do theirwork; and the bones would only supply food for conjecture. This was themore probable, as it was not likely, while the Indian alarm lasted, thatany one would be bold enough to venture that way. There was nosettlement or road, except Indian trails, leading in that direction.
Even when the final step was taken, and the victim carried off, she wasnot brought _directly_ to the Presidio; for even _she_ was to behoodwinked. On the contrary, she was tied upon a mule, led by one ofthe ruffians, and permitted to see the way they were going, until theyhad reached the point where their trail turned back. She was thenblinded by a leathern "tapado," and in that state carried to thePresidio, and within its walls--utterly ignorant of the distance she hadtravelled, and the place where she was finally permitted to rest.
Every act in the diabolical drama was conceived with astuteness, andenacted with a precision which must do credit to the head of CaptainRoblado, if not to his heart. He was the principal actor in the wholeaffair.
Vizcarra had, at first, some scruples about the affair--not on the scoreof conscience, but of impracticability and fear of detection. Thiswould indeed have done him a serious injury. The discovery of such avillainous scheme would have spread like wildfire over the wholecountry. It would have been ruin to him.
Roblado's eloquence, combined with his own vile desires, overruled theslight opposition of his superior; and, once entered on the affair, thelatter found himself
highly amused in carrying it out. The burlesqueproclamations, the exaggerated stories of Indians, the terror of thecitizens, their encomiums on his own energetic and valorous conduct--allthese were a pleasant relief to the _ennui_ of a barrack life and,during the several days' visit of "los barbaros," the Comandante and hiscaptain were never without a theme for mirth and laughter.
So adroitly had they managed the whole matter that, upon the morningafter the final _coup_ of the robbers--the abduction of Rosita--therewas not a soul in the settlement, themselves and their two aidesexcepted, that had the slightest suspicion but that real hostile Indianswere the actors!
Yes, there was one other who had a suspicion--only a suspicion--Rosita'smother. Even the girl believed herself in the hands of Indians--_ifbelief she had_.