by Mayne Reid
CHAPTER FIFTY ONE.
Roblado entered the chapparal, the boy Esteban stepping a few paces inadvance of his horse's head. For half-a-mile or so he traversed aleading road that ran between the town and one of the passes. He thenstruck into a narrow path, but little used except by hunters or vaquerosin search of their cattle. This path conducted him, after a ride of twoor three miles, to the base of the cliffs, and there was found theobject of his journey--the dwelling-place of the hunters.
It was a mere hut--a few upright posts supporting a single roof, whichslanted up, with a very slight inclination, against the face of therock. The posts were trunks of a species of arborescent yucca that grewplentifully around the spot, and the roof-thatch was the stiff loaves ofthe same, piled thickly over each other. There was a sort of rude door,made of boards split from the larger trunks of the yucca, and hung withstrong straps of _parfleche_, or thick buffalo leather. Also a holethat served for a window, with a shutter of the same material, andsimilarly suspended. The walls were a wattle of vines and slender polesbent around the uprights, and daubed carelessly with a lining of mud.The smooth vertical rock served for one side of the house--so that somuch labour had been spared in the building--and the chimney, which wasnothing better than a hole in the roof, conducted the smoke in such amanner that a sooty streak marked its course up the face of the cliff.The door entered at one end, close in by the rock, but the window was inthe side or front. Through the latter the inmates of the hut couldcommand a view of any one approaching by the regular path. This,however, was a rare occurrence, as the brace of rude hunters had but fewacquaintances, and their dwelling was far removed from any frequentedroute. Indeed, the general track of travel that led along the bottomline of the bluffs did not approach within several hundred yards of thispoint, in consequence of the indentation or bay in which the hut wasplaced. Moreover, the thick chapparal screened it from observation onone side, while the cliffs shut it in upon the other.
Behind the house--that is, at the hinder end of it--was a small_corral_, its walls rudely constructed with fragments of rock. In thisstood three lean and sore-backed mules, and a brace of mustangs nobetter off. There was a field adjoining the corral, or what had oncebeen a field, but from neglect had run into a bed of grass and weeds. Aportion of it, however, showed signs of cultivation--a patch here andthere--on which stood some maize-plants, irregularly set and badly hoed,and between their stems the trailing tendrils of the melon and calabash.It was a true squatter's plantation.
Around the door lay half-a-dozen wolfish-looking dogs; and under theshelter of the overhanging rock, two or three old pack-saddles restedupon the ground. Upon a horizontal pole two riding saddles were setastride--old, worn, and torn--and from the same pole hung a pair ofbridles, and some strings of jerked meat and pods of chile pepper.
Inside the house might have been seen a couple of Indian women, not overcleanly in their appearance, engaged in kneading coarse bread andstewing tasajo. A fire burnt against the rock, between two stones--earthen pots and gourd dishes lay littered over the floor.
The walls were garnished with bows, quivers, and skins of animals, and apair of embankments of stones and mud, one at each corner of the room--there was but one room--served as bedstead and beds. A brace of longspears rested in one corner, alongside a rifle and a Spanish _escopeta_;and above hung a machete or sword-knife, with powder-horns, pouches, andother equipments necessary to a hunter of the Rocky Mountains. Therewere nets and other implements for fishing and taking small game, andthese constituted the chief furniture of the hovel. All these thingsRoblado might have seen by entering the hut; but he did not enter, asthe men he was in search of chanced to be outside--the mulatto lyingstretched along the ground, and the zambo swinging in a hammock betweentwo trees, according to the custom of his native country--thecoast-lands of the _tierra caliente_.
The aspect of these men, that would have been displeasing to almost anyone else, satisfied Roblado. They were just the men for his work. Hehad seen both before, but had never scrutinised them till now; and, ashe glanced at their bold swarthy faces and brawny muscular frames, hethought to himself, "These are just the fellows to deal with thecibolero." A formidable pair they looked. Each one of them, so far asappearance went, might with safety assail an antagonist like thecibolero--for either of them was bigger and bulkier than he.
The mulatto was the taller of the two. He was also superior instrength, courage, and sagacity. A more unamiable countenance it wouldhave been difficult to meet in all that land, without appealing to thatof the zambo. There you found its parallel.
The skin of the former was dull yellow in colour, with a thin beard overthe cheeks and around the lips. The lips were negro-like, thick, andpurplish, and behind them appeared a double row of large wolfish teeth.The eyes were sunken--their whites mottled with yellowish flakes. Heavydark brows shadowed them, standing far apart, separated by the broadflatfish nose, the nostrils of which stood so widely open as to cause aprotuberance on each side. Large ears were hidden under a thickfrizzled shock that partook of the character both of hair and wool.Over this was bound, turban fashion, an old check Madras kerchief thathad not come in contact with soap for many a day; and from under itsfolds the woolly hair straggled down over the forehead so as to add tothe wild and fierce expression of the face. It was a countenance thatproclaimed ferocity, reckless daring, cunning, and an utter absence ofall humane sentiment.
The dress of the man had little in it differing from others who lead thelife of a prairie-hunter. It was a mixture of leather and blanket. Thehead-dress only was peculiar. That was an old souvenir of the SouthernStates and their negro life.
The zambo had a face as ferocious in its expression as that of hisconfrere. It differed in colour. It was a coppery black--combining thehues of both races from whom he derived his origin. He had the thicklips and retreating forehead of the negro, but the Indian showed itselfin his hair, which scarcely waved, but hung in long snaky tresses abouthis neck and shoulders. He was altogether less distinguished-lookingthan his comrade the mulatto. His dress partook of the character of histribe--wide trousers of coarse cotton stuff, with a sleeveless shirt ofthe same material,--a waist scarf, and coarse serape. Half the upperpart of his body was nude, and his thick copper-coloured arms were quitebare.
Roblado arrived just in time to witness the _finale_ of an incident thatwould serve to illustrate the character of the zambo.
He was half sitting, half-lying in his hammock, in the enjoyment of ahusk cigar, and occasionally striking at the flies with his raw-hidewhip. He called out to one of the women--his wife for the time--
"Nina! I want to eat something--is the _guisado_ ready?"
"Not yet," answered a voice from the hut.
"Bring me a tortilla then, with chile Colorado."
"_Querido_--you know there is no chile Colorado in the house," was thereply.
"Nina! come here! I want you."
The woman came out, and approached the hammock, but evidently with somemistrust.
The zambo sat perfectly silent until she was close enough for hispurpose, and then, suddenly raising the raw-hide, which he had hithertoheld behind him, he laid it with all his strength over her back andshoulders. A thin chemisette was all that intervened to hinder the fullseverity of the blows, and these fell thick end fast, until the sufferertook courage and retreated out of reach!
"Now, Nina, dear love! the next time I call for a tortilla with chileColorado you'll have it--won't you, dear pet?"
And then laying himself back in his hammock, the savage uttered a roarof laughter, in which he was joined by the mulatto, who would have donejust the same by his better half for a like provocation!
It was just at this crisis Roblado pulled up in front of the hovel.
Both got to their feet to receive him, and both saluted him with agesture of respect. They knew who he was. The mulatto, as theprincipal man, took the principal part in the conversation, while thezambo hun
g in the background.
The dialogue was carried on in a low tone on account of the woman andthe boy Esteban. It resulted, however, in the hunters being engaged, asthe padre had suggested, to track and follow the cibolero Carlos todeath or capture. If the former, a large sum was to be their reward--ifthe latter, a sum still larger--nearly double!
With regard to assistance from the troops, neither mulatto nor zambowished for any. Quite the contrary. They had no desire that themagnificent bounty should be diminished by subdivision. As it stood, itwould be a small fortune to both of them, and the brilliant prospectwhetted their appetite for the success of the job.
His errand having been thus accomplished, the officer rode back to thePresidio; while the man-hunters immediately set about makingpreparations for expedition.