by Mayne Reid
CHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT.
When Carlos reached the edge of the chapparal, his pursuers were stillonly parting from the walls of the Presidio. Of course none followedhim on foot, and it had taken the men some time to get their arms andhorses ready. So far as he was concerned, he no longer feared pursuit,and would have scorned to take a circuitous path. He had suchconfidence in the steed he bestrode, that he knew he could escape beforethe eyes of his pursuers, and need not have hidden himself in thechapparal.
As he rode into the ambuscade he was thinking no longer of his ownsafety, but of that of Don Juan and his party. Their critical situationsuddenly came before his mind. How were _they_ to escape?
Even before he had half crossed the open ground this thought hadtroubled him more than his own peril, and a plan had been before him:--to make direct for the pass of La Nina, and shun the chapparalaltogether. This would have drawn the dragoons in the same directcourse; and Don Juan, with his Tagnos, might have got off at theirleisure.
Carlos would have put this plan in execution, could he have trusted tothe prudence of Don Juan; but he feared to do so. The latter wassomewhat rash, and not over-sagacious. Seeing Carlos in the act ofescape, he might think it was his duty, as agreed upon, to show himselfand his men on the edge of the thicket--the very thing Carlos now wishedto prevent. For that reason the cibolero galloped direct to the placeof ambuscade, where Don Juan and his men were waiting in their saddles.
"Thank God you are safe!" cried Don Juan; "but they are after you.Yonder they come in scores!"
"Yes!" replied Carlos, looking back; "and a good start I've gained onthem!"
"What's best to be done?" inquired Don Juan. "Shall we scatter throughthe chapparal, or keep together? They'll be upon us soon!"
Carlos hesitated a moment before making reply. Three plans of actionwere possible, offering more or less chance of safety. First, toscatter through the chapparal as Don Juan had suggested; second, to makeoff together and at once _without showing themselves_, taking the backtrack, as they had come; and, third, to _show themselves_ in front tothe pursuers, and then retire on the back path. Of course the idea offight was not entertained for a moment. That would have been idle, evenabsurd, under the circumstances.
The mind of the cibolero, used to quick action, examined these planswith the rapidity of thought itself. The first was rejected without amoment's consideration. To have scattered through the chapparal wouldhave resulted in certain capture. The jungle was too small, not over acouple of miles in width, though extending to twice that length. Therewere soldiers enough to surround it, which they would do. They wouldbeat it from side to side. They could not fail to capture half theparty; and though these had made no demonstration as yet, they would beconnected with the affair at the Presidio, and would be severelypunished, if not shot down on the spot.
To attempt to get off through the chapparal without showing themselvesat all would have been the plan that Carlos would have adopted, had henot feared that they would be overtaken before night. The Tagnos weremounted on mules, already jaded, while most of the troopers rode goodand swift horses. But for that Carlos might have hoped that they wouldescape unseen, and thus neither Don Juan nor his people would have beensuspected of having had any part in the affair. This would be animportant consideration for the future; but the plan was not to bethought of. The third plan was adopted.
The hesitation of the cibolero was not half so long as the time you haveoccupied in reading of it. Scarce ten seconds elapsed ere he madereply, not to Don Juan alone, but to the whole band, in a voice loudenough for all to hear. The reply was in the form of a command.
"Ride through the bush, all of you! Show yourselves near the front!your heads and shoulders only, with your bows! Give your war-cry! andthen back till you are out of sight! Scatter right and left!--Followme!"
As Carlos delivered these hurried directions, he dashed forward throughthe underwood and soon appeared near its edge. The Tagnos, guarded byDon Juan on one side and Antonio on the other, showed almostsimultaneously in an irregular line along the margin of the thicket; andflourishing their bows above their heads, they uttered a defiantwar-whoop, as though they were a party of savage Indians.
It would have required a practised eye to have told from a shortdistance that they were not. Most of them were bare-headed, with longflowing hair; and, in fact, differing very little in appearance fromtheir brethren of the plains. They all had bows, a weapon still carriedby the Indios mansos when engaged in any hostilities; and their war-crydiffered not at all from some tribes called "bravos", "wild." Many inthe band had but a short time left aside the full practice of warfare.Many of them were but neophytes to the arts of peace.
The effect of the demonstration was just what the cibolero hadcalculated on. The soldiers, who were galloping forward in stragglingknots, and some of whom had got within three hundred paces of thechapparal, reined up in surprise. Several showed symptoms of a desireto gallop back again, but these were restrained at sight of a large bodyof their comrades now issuing from the Presidio.
The whole of them were taken by surprise. They believed that the"Indios bravos" were in the chapparal, and no doubt in overwhelmingnumbers. Their belief was strengthened by the proceedings of theprevious days, in which they had done nought else, as they supposed, butride scout after "los barbaros." The latter had now come after _them_!They halted, therefore, on the plains, and waited for their fellows tocome up.
That this would be the effect of his _ruse_ Carlos foresaw. He nowdirected his companions to rein gently back, until they were once moreunder cover of the brush; and the whole party arrived at the spot wherethey had waited in ambush.
Antonio then took the trail, and guided them through the chapparal; notas they had come to La Nina, but by a path that led to the upper plainby another pass in the cliffs. From a point in this pass they obtaineda distant view of the chapparal and the plain beyond. Though now fullthree miles from their place of ambush, they could see the valianttroopers still figuring on the open ground in front of it. They had notyet ventured to penetrate the dangerous underwood which they believed tobe alive with ferocious savages!
Carlos, having reached the upper plain, struck off with his band in adirection nearly north. His object was to reach a ravine at some tenmiles distance across the plain, and this was gained without a singlepursuer having appeared in the rear.
This ravine led in an easterly direction as far as the Pecos bottom. Itwas the channel of a stream, in which water flowed in the rainy season,but was now quite dry. Its bed was covered with small pebbles, and ahorse-trail upon these was scarcely to be followed, as the track onlydisplaced the pebbles, leaving no "sign" that could be "read" to anyadvantage. Old and new foot-marks were all the same.
Into this ravine the party descended, and, after travelling down it forfive or six miles, halted. Carlos called the halt for a specialobject--to detail a plan for their future proceeding, which had beenoccupying his attention during the last hour or two.
As yet, none of the party were compromised but himself. It would notadvantage him that they should be, but the contrary. Neither Don Juannor Antonio had shown themselves out of the thicket; and the other duskyfaces, seen but for an instant through the brambles, could not have beenrecognised by the frightened troopers. If, therefore, Don Juan and hispeons could get back to their home without observation, for them allwould still be well.
This was a possible event. At starting Carlos had cautioned secrecy asto the expedition. It had left at an early hour, before any one wasabroad, and no one knew of it. Indeed, no one in the valley was awarethat the cibolero had returned before the news of the affair at thePresidio. His mules had been quietly unpacked, and were herded at adistance from the rancho by one of his men. If, then, the _troopers_should not visit that neighbourhood before the following day, Don Juanand his people could go back in the night and engage in their usualoccupations without any suspicion. No doubt Roblado w
ould be there inthe morning, but not likely before. It was natural to suppose he wouldfirst endeavour to follow the route they had taken, and it led almost inthe opposite direction from the house of Don Juan. To track them alongall the windings of that route would be the work of one day at least.Then their pursuers would be no wiser as to where they had betakenthemselves, for Carlos, from the point of halting, intended to adopt aplan that would be certain to throw the troopers off the trail.
It was decided, in fine, that Don Juan and his people should returnhome--that the peons of Carlos should also go back to the rancho; roofit on the following day--for it only wanted that; and remain by it as ifnothing had occurred. They could not be made answerable for the deedsof their master.
As for the cibolero himself, his residence must remain unknown, exceptto one or two of his tried friends. He knew where he should find ashelter. To him the open plain or the mountain cave was alike a home.He needed no roof. The starry canopy was as welcome as the gildedceiling of a palace.
The Tagnos were enjoined to secrecy. They were not sworn. A Tagno isnot the man to talk; besides, they all knew that their own safety,perhaps their lives, depended on their silence.
All these matters were at length arranged, but the party remained wherethey had halted till near sunset. They then mounted, and continued ondown the channel.
When they had gone a mile or so, one of them climbed out of the ravine,and, heading southward, rode off across the plain. This direction wouldbring him back to the valley, by a pass near the lower end of thesettlement. It would be night by the time he could reach this pass, andhe was not likely to encounter any one on the route--now that the "wild"Indians were abroad!
Shortly after, a second Tagno left the ravine, and rode off in a linenearly parallel to that taken by the first. Soon another imitated theexample, and another, and another, until all had forsaken the ravineexcept Don Juan, Antonio, and the cibolero himself. The Tagnos had beeninstructed to reach home by different passes, and some of them, moresagacious, were sent by the most circuitous paths. There was no trooperbelonging to the Presidio likely to follow that trail.
Carlos and his two companions, after riding to the farthest end of theravine, also turned to the right, and re-entered the valley of SanIldefonso at its lower extremity. It was quite dark, but all of themknew the road well, and about midnight they arrived near the house ofthe young ranchero.
A reconnaissance was necessary before they dared approach. That wassoon made, and the report brought back that all was right, and notroopers had yet made their appearance.
Carlos once more embraced his mother hurriedly, related what had passed,gave some instructions to Don Juan, and then, mounting his horse, rodeoff from the place.
He was followed by Antonio and a pack-mule loaded with provisions. Theypassed down the valley, and struck out in the direction of the LlanoEstacado.