CHAPTER IX
BEFORE THE FIGHT.
As soon as they had set foot on the platform, Don Tadeo and the countsank exhausted. Curumilla left them undisturbed for a few minutes torecover their breath, then requested them to look around them. Beneaththeir feet was the Canyon del Rio Seco, with its imposing granitemasses and its thick clumps of verdure.
"Oh!" Louis exclaimed, enthusiastically, "how splendid this is!"
Don Tadeo, accustomed from his infancy to such sublime panoramas,only cast an absent glance over the magnificent prospect. His mindwas intent upon his daughter, the beloved child whom he hoped soon todeliver.
"Are we going to remain here long?" he asked.
"For a few minutes," Curumilla replied.
"What is the name of this place?" the count said.
"It is the peak which the palefaces call the Corcovado." said the Ulmen.
"The one upon which you appointed to light the signal fire?"
"Yes; let us hasten to prepare it."
The three men constructed an immense pile of wood.
"Now," said Curumilla, "rest, and do not stir till my return."
And without entering into further detail, Curumilla sprang down thesteep declivity of the mountain, and disappeared among the trees. Thetwo friends sat down near the pile, and waited pensively the returnof the Ulmen. The troop commanded by Joan approached the defile,simulating all the movements of Indians, and were soon within gunshotof the Canyon. Antinahuel had perceived them, and had for some timebeen watching their movements. Notwithstanding all his cunning, theToqui did not for an instant suspect a stratagem. The presence of Joanat the head of the troop, whom at the first glance he had recognised,completed his conviction.
Joan plunged into the defile without evincing the least hesitation; butscarcely had he proceeded a dozen yards when an Indian sprang out of athicket, and stood in front of him. This Indian was Antinahuel himself.
"My son comes late," said the Toqui, casting a suspicious glance at him.
"My father will pardon me," Joan replied, respectfully; "I had noticeonly last night."
"Good," continued the chief; "I know my son is prudent. How many lancesdoes he bring with him?"
"A thousand."
As may be perceived, Joan bravely doubled the number of his soldiers.
"Oh! oh!" said the Toqui, joyfully, "a man may be pardoned for cominglate when he brings so numerous a troop with him."
"My father knows I am devoted," the Indian replied.
"I know you are; my son is a brave warrior. Has he seen the Huincas?"
"I have seen them."
"Are they far distant?"
"No; they are coming--in less than three-quarters of an hour they willbe here."
"We have not an instant to lose. My son will place his warriors inambush."
"Good! It shall be done; my father may leave it to me."
At this moment the troop of false Indians appeared at the entrance ofthe defile, into which they boldly entered, after the example of theirleader.
"My son will use all possible diligence," said Antinahuel, and hastenedback to his post.
Joan and his men went forward at full gallop; they were watched by froma thousand to fifteen hundred invisible spies, who, at the smallestsuspicion, created by a doubtful gesture even, would have massacredthem without mercy.
Joan, after having made his men dismount and conceal their horses inthe rear, distributed them with a calmness and collectedness that musthave banished the suspicions of the chief. Ten minutes later the defileappeared as solitary as before. Joan had scarcely gone six paces intothe thicket when a hand was laid upon his shoulder. He turned sharplyround; Curumilla was before him.
"Good!" the latter murmured, in a voice low as a breath; "let my sonfollow me with his men."
Joan nodded assent, and with extreme precaution and in perfect silencethree hundred soldiers began to escalade the rocks in imitation of theUlmen. The three hundred men led by Joan, who had escaladed the wallof the defile on the opposite side of the canyon, were divided intotwo troops. The first had taken up a position above Black Stag, andthe second, a hundred strong, were massed as a rear post. As soon asCurumilla had prepared the manoeuvre we have just described, he quittedJoan and rejoined his companions.
"At last!" they cried, both in a breath.
"I began to be afraid something had happened to you, chief," said thecount.
Upon which Curumilla only smiled. "Everything is ready," he said; "andwhen the palefaces please, they can penetrate into the defile."
"Do you think your plan will succeed?" Don Tadeo asked anxiously.
"I hope it will," the Indian replied.
"What are we to do now?"
"Light the fire, and depart."
"How depart? Our friends?"
"They stand in no need of us; as soon as the fire is alight we will setout in search of the young maiden."
"God grant that we may save her!"
Curumilla, after lighting a bit of tinder which he had in a horn box,collected with his feet a heap of dried leaves, placed the tinderbeneath them, and began to blow with all his might. The fire, actedupon by the breeze, which at that height blew strongly, was rapidlycommunicated, and shortly a thick column of flame mounted roaring tothe sky.
"Good!" said Curumilla to his companions; "they see the signal."
"Let us begone, then, without delay," cried the count, impatiently.
"Come on, then," said Don Tadeo.
The three men plunged into the immense virgin forest which covered thesummit of the mountain, leaving behind them that sinister beacon--asignal for murder and destruction. On the plain, Don Gregorio, fearingto advance before he knew what he had positively to trust to, had givenorders to his troops to halt. He did not conceal from himself thedangers of his position, so that if he fell in the battle he was aboutto fight, his honour would be safe and his memory without reproach.
"General," he said, addressing Cornejo, who as well as the senator wasclose to him, "you are accustomed to war, are an intrepid soldier, andI will not conceal from you that we are in a position of peril.
"Oh! oh!" said the general; "explain, Don Gregorio, explain!"
"The Indians are in ambush in great numbers, to dispute the passage ofthe defile with us."
"The rascals! Only see now! Why, they will knock us all on the head,"the general, still calm, said.
"Oh! it is a horrible trap!" the senator cried.
"Caspita! a trap, I believe it is, indeed!" the general continued. "Butyou will be able to give us your opinion presently; if, as is not veryprobable, you come safely through, my friend."
"But I will not go and run my head into that frightful fox's hole!"cried Don Ramon, beside himself.
"Bah! you will fight as an amateur, which will be very handsome on yourpart."
"Sir," said Don Gregorio, coldly, "so much the worse for you; if youhad remained quietly at Santiago, you would not be in this position."
"That is true, my friend," the general followed up, with a hearty laugh.
"How did it happen that you, who are as great a coward as a hare,troubled yourself with military politics?"
The senator made no reply to this cruel apostrophe.
"Whatever may happen, can I reckon upon you, general?" Don Gregorioasked.
"I can only promise you one thing," the old soldier answered, nobly;"that I will not shrink, and if it should come to that, will sellmy life dearly. As to this cowardly fellow, I undertake to make himperform prodigies of valour."
At this threat the unhappy senator felt a cold sweat inundate his wholebody. A long column of flame burst from the top of the mountain.
Don Gregorio cried, "Caballeros! Forward! and God protect Chili!"
"Forward!" the general repeated, unsheathing his sword.
The Pearl of the Andes: A Tale of Love and Adventure Page 9