Kitabı oku: «The Trappers of Arkansas: or, The Loyal Heart», sayfa 18

CHAPTER XI.
THE PRISONERS

When the redskins and the hunters had recaptured the camp of the Mexicans, the pirates, according to the orders of their leader, had spread about in all directions, in order the more easily to escape the researches of their enemies.

The captain and the four men who carried off the general and his Negro, both bound and gagged, had descended the declivity of the rocks, at the risk of being dashed to pieces a thousand times by falling down the precipices which gaped at their feet.

On arriving at a certain distance, reassured by the silence which reigned around them, and still more by the extraordinary difficulties they had surmounted in reaching the place where they found themselves, they stopped to take breath.

A profound darkness enveloped them; over their heads, at an immense height, they perceived, twinkling like little stars, the torches borne by the hunters who pursued them, but who took care not to venture in the dangerous path they had followed.

"This is lucky," said the captain; "now, my boys, let us rest for a few minutes, we have nothing at the present time to fear: place your prisoners here, and go, two of you, and reconnoitre."

His orders were executed; a few minutes later the two bandits returned, announcing that they had discovered an excavation, which, might temporarily offer them shelter and safety.

"The devil!" cried the captain, "let us go to it."

And setting the example he started off in the direction pointed out by the scouts.

They soon arrived at a hollow nook which appeared tolerably spacious, and which was situated a few fathoms lower down than the place they had stopped at.

When they were concealed in this hiding place, the captain's first care was to close the entrance hermetically, which was not difficult, for that entrance was very narrow, the bandits having been obliged to stoop to penetrate into it.

"There," said the captain, "now we are snug; in this fashion we need not be afraid of impertinent visitors."

Drawing a steel from his pocket, he lit a torch of candlewood, with which, with that foresight that never abandons persons of his stamp even in the most critical circumstances, he had taken care to provide himself.

As soon as they could distinguish objects, the bandits uttered a cry of joy. What in the darkness they had taken for a simple excavation proved to be one of those natural grottos of which so many are found in these countries.

"Eh! eh!" said the captain, laughing, "let us see what sort of quarters we have got into; remain here, my men, and keep strict watch over your prisoners; I will go and reconnoitre our new domain."

After lighting a second torch, he explored the grotto.

It dipped deep under the mountain by a gentle descent; the walls were everywhere lofty, and sometimes they were widened into large compartments.

The cavern must have received external air by imperceptible fissures, for the light burned freely and the captain breathed without difficulty.

The farther the pirate advanced, the more perceptible the air became, which led him to conclude he was approaching an entrance of some kind.

He had been walking nearly twenty minutes, when a puff of wind came sharply in his nice and made the flame of his torch flicker.

"Hum!" he muttered, "here is a place of exit – let us be prudent and put out our lights, we know not whom we may meet with outside."

He crushed the light of his torch beneath his feet, and remained a few instants motionless, to allow his eyes to become accustomed to the darkness.

He was a prudent man, and thoroughly acquainted with his trade of a bandit, was this captain. If the plan he had formed for the attack of the camp had failed, it had required for that a concurrence of fortuitous circumstances impossible to have been foreseen by anybody.

Therefore, after the first moment of ill-humour caused by the check he had received, he had bravely taken his part; resolving, in petto, to take his revenge as soon as an opportunity should present itself.

Besides, it seemed as if Fortune was willing to smile on him afresh, by offering him, just at the moment when he had the greatest want of it, a refuge not likely to be discovered.

It was therefore with an almost unspeakable joy and hope that he waited till his eyes should be accustomed to the darkness, to permit him to distinguish objects and know if he were really going to find a place of exit, which would render him master of an almost impregnable position.

His expectations were not disappointed.

As soon as the dazzling effect of the blaze of the torch was got rid of, he perceived, at a considerable distance before him, a feeble light.

He walked resolutely forward, and at the end of a few minutes came to the so much desired outlet.

Decidedly fortune was once more propitious to him!

The outlet of the grotto opened upon the banks of a little river, the water of which came murmuring close to the mouth of the cavern, so that the bandits might, by swimming or constructing a raft, go in and out without leaving any traces, and thus defeat all researches.

The captain was too well acquainted with the prairies of the West, in which he had for nearly ten years exercised his honourable and lucrative profession, not to be able to know at once where he was on looking around him.

He perceived that this river flowed at some distance from the camp of the Mexicans, from which its numberless meanderings tended still more to remove it. He breathed a sigh of satisfaction when he had well examined the environs, no longer fearing discovery and thenceforward at ease regarding his position. He lit his torch again, and retraced his steps.

His companions, with the exception of one who watched the prisoners, were fast asleep.

The captain aroused them.

"Come, be alive! be alive!" he said; "this is not the time for sleeping; we have something else to do."

The bandits arose with a very ill grace, rubbing their eyes, and yawning enough to dislocate their jaws.

The captain made them, in the first place, securely close up the hole by which they had entered, then he ordered them to follow him with the prisoners, whose legs they unbound, in order that they might walk.

They stopped in one of the numerous halls, if we may so term them, which the captain had discovered on his route; one man was appointed to guard the prisoners, who were left in this place, and the captain, with the three other bandits continued their way to the outlet.

"You see," he said to them, pointing to the outlet, "that sometimes misfortune has its good, since chance has allowed us to discover a place of refuge where no one will come to seek us. You, Frank, set off directly for the rendez-vous I have appointed with your comrades, and bring them hither, as well as all the rest of our men who did not form part of the expedition. As for you, Antonio, you must procure us some provisions. Go, both of you. It is needless to tell you that I shall await your return with impatience."

The two bandits plunged into the river without reply, and disappeared.

"As to you, Gonzalez," he said, "employ yourself in gathering wood together for firing, and dry leaves for bedding; come, to work! to work!"

An hour later, a clear fire sparkled in the grotto, and upon soft beds of dry leaves the bandits slept soundly.

At sunrise the rest of the troop arrived.

There were still thirty of them!

The worthy leader felt his heart dilate with joy at the sight of the rich collection of scoundrels he had still at his disposal. With them he did not despair of re-establishing his affairs, and of soon taking a signal revenge.

After an abundant breakfast, composed of venison, copiously washed down with mezcal, the captain at length turned his attention to his prisoners. He repaired to the hall which served for their dungeon.

Since he had fallen into the hands of the bandits, the general had remained silent, apparently insensible to the ill-treatment to which he had been exposed.

The wounds he had received, being neglected, had festered, and gave him terrible pain; but he did not utter a complaint.

A deep grief took possession of his mind from the moment of his capture; he saw all his hopes overthrown of being able to resume the execution of the project that had brought him into the prairies.

All his companions were dead, and he knew not what fate awaited himself.

The only thing that brought a slight consolation to his pains was the certainty that his niece had succeeded in escaping.

But what was to become of her in this desert, where nothing was to be met with but wild beasts, and still more ferocious Indians? How could a young girl, accustomed to all the comforts of life, support the hazards of this existence of privations?

This idea redoubled his sufferings.

The captain was terrified at the state in which he found him.

"Come, general," he said, "courage! What the devil! luck often changes; I know something of that! Caray! never despair; nobody can tell what tomorrow will bring about. Give me your parole not to endeavour to escape, and I will immediately restore you the freedom of your limbs."

"I cannot give you that parole," the general replied with firmness; "I should take a false oath if I did. On the contrary, I swear to endeavour to fly by all possible means."

"Bravo! well answered!" said the pirate, laughing; "in your place, I should have replied just the same; only, at the present moment, I believe, with the best will in the world, it would be impossible for you to go a step. In spite, therefore, of all you have said to me, I will restore both you and your servant to liberty, and you may make what use you like of it, but it is freedom of your limbs, please to recollect, that is all."

With a stroke of his machete he cut the cords which bound the arms of the general, and then performed the same service for the Negro, Jupiter.

The latter, as soon as he was free in his movements, began jumping and laughing, exhibiting two rows of formidable teeth of dazzling whiteness.

"Come, be prudent, blacky," said the pirate; "be quiet here, if you do not want to have a bullet through your head."

"I will not go without my master," Jupiter replied, rolling his great wild-looking eyes.

"That is right!" the pirate remarked with a sneer; "that is agreed upon; such devotedness does you honour, blacky."

Turning next to the general, the captain bathed his wounds with cold water, and dressed them carefully; then, after placing provisions before the prisoners, to which the Negro alone did honour, the pirate retired.

Towards the middle of the day, the captain called together the principal men of his band.

"Caballeros," he said, "we cannot deny that we have lost the first game; the prisoners we have made are far from reimbursing our expenses; we cannot remain quiet under the effects of a check, which dishonours us, and renders us ridiculous. I am going to play a second game; this time if I do not win I shall be unlucky indeed. During my absence, watch well over the prisoners. Pay attention to the last orders I give you: if tomorrow, at midnight, I have not returned, safe and sound among you, at a quarter past midnight, I say, you will shoot the two prisoners without remission; you perfectly understand what I say, do you not? – without remission."

"Be at your ease, captain," Frank replied, in the name of his companions; "you may go as soon as you please; your orders shall be executed."

"I know they will; but be sure not to shoot them a minute too soon, or a minute too late."

"Exactly at the time named."

"That is understood. Adieu, then; do not be too impatient for my return."

Upon this the captain left the grotto, to throw himself in the way of Loyal Heart.

We have seen what the bandit wanted with the trapper.

CHAPTER XII.
A RUSE DE GUERRE

After his strange proposal to the hunters, the leader of the pirates retook, at his best speed, the road to his den.

But he was too much accustomed to the life of the prairies not to suspect that several of his enemies would follow his track at a distance. Therefore, he had put in practice, to mislead them, all the tricks which his inventive mind could furnish with him, making détours without number, retracing incessantly his steps, or, as it is vulgarly said, going back ten yards to advance one.

These numerous precautions had excessively retarded his journey.

When he arrived on the banks of the river whose waters bathed the entrance to the cavern, he cast a last look around him, to make certain that no busy eye was watching his movements.

Everything was calm, nothing suspicious appeared, and he was about to launch into the stream the raft concealed beneath the leaves, when a slight noise in the bushes attracted his attention.

The pirate started; promptly drawing a pistol from his belt, he cocked it, and advanced boldly towards the spot whence this alarming noise proceeded.

A man bent towards the ground, was busy digging up herbs and plants with a small spade.

The pirate smiled, and replaced his pistol in his belt.

He had recognized the doctor, who was as much absorbed in his favourite passion as usual; so much so, indeed, that he had not perceived him.

After surveying him for an instant with disdain, the pirate was turning his back upon him, when an idea occurred to him, which made him, on the contrary, – advance towards the savant, upon whose shoulder he somewhat roughly laid his hand.

At this rude salutation, the poor doctor drew himself up in a fright, letting fall both plants and spade.

"Holla! my good fellow," said the captain, in a jeering tone, "what madness possesses you to be herbalizing thus at all hours of the day and night?"

"How!" the doctor replied, "what do you mean by that?"

"Zounds! it's plain enough! Don't you know it is not far from midnight?"

"That is true," the savant remarked ingenuously; "but there is such a fine moon."

"Which you, I suppose, have taken for the sun," said the pirate, with a loud laugh; "but," he added, becoming all at once serious, "that is of no consequence now; although half a madman, I have been told that you are a pretty good doctor."

"I have passed my examinations," the doctor replied, offended by the epithet applied to him.

"Very well! you are just the man I want, then."

The savant bowed with a very ill grace; it was evident he was not much flattered by the attention.

"What do you require of me?" he asked; "are you ill?"

"Not I, thank God! but one of your friends, who is at this moment my prisoner, is; so please to follow me."

"But – " the doctor would fain have objected.

"I admit of no excuses; follow me, or I will blow your brains out. Besides, don't be afraid, you run no risk; my men will pay you all the respect science is entitled to."

As resistance was impossible, the worthy man did as he was bidden with a good grace – with so good a grace, even, that for a second he allowed a smile to stray across his lips, which would have aroused the suspicions of the pirate if he had perceived it.

The captain commanded the savant to walk on before him, and both thus reached the river.

At the instant they quitted the place where this conversation, had taken place, the branches of a bush parted slowly, and a head, shaved with the exception of a long tuft of hair at the top, on which was stuck an eagle's feather, appeared, then a body, and then an entire man, who bounded like a jaguar in pursuit of them.

This man was Eagle Head.

He was a silent spectator of the embarkation of the two whites, saw them enter the grotto, and then, in his turn, disappeared in the shade of the woods, after muttering to himself in a low voice the word —

"Och!" (good) the highest expression of joy in the language of the Comanches.

The doctor had plainly only served as a bait to attract the pirate, and cause him to fall into the snare laid by the Indian chief.

Now, had the worthy savant any secret intelligence with Eagle Head? That is what we shall soon know.

On the morrow, at daybreak, the pirate ordered a close battue to be made in the environs of the grotto; but no track existed.

The captain rubbed his hands with joy; his expedition had doubly succeeded, since he had managed to return to his cavern without being followed.

Certain of having nothing to dread, he was unwilling to keep about him so many men in a state of inactivity; placing, therefore, his troop provisionally under the command of Frank, a veteran bandit, in whom he had perfect confidence, he only retained ten chosen men with him, and sent away the rest.

Although the affair he was now engaged in was interesting, and his success appeared certain, he was not, on that account, willing to neglect his other occupations, and maintain a score of bandits in idleness, who might, at any moment, from merely having nothing else to do, play him an ugly turn.

It is evident that the captain was not only a prudent man, but was thoroughly acquainted with his honourable associates.

When the pirates had left the grotto, the captain made a sign to the doctor to follow him, and conducted him to the general.

After having introduced them to each other with that ironical politeness in which he was such a master, the bandit retired, leaving them together.

Only before he departed, the captain drew a pistol from his belt, and clapping it to the breast of the savant—

"Although you may be half a madman," he said, "as you may, nevertheless, have some desire to betray me, observe this well, my dear sir; at the least equivocal proceeding that I see you attempt, I will blow your brains out; you are warned, so now act as you think proper."

And replacing his pistol in his belt, he retired with one of his eloquent sneers on his lips.

The doctor listened to this admonition with a very demure countenance, but with a sly smile, which, in spite of himself, glided over his lips, but which, fortunately, was not perceived by the captain.

The general and his Negro, Jupiter, were confined in a compartment of the grotto at some distance from the outlet.

They were alone, for the captain had deemed it useless to keep guards constantly with them.

Both seated upon a heap of leaves, with heads cast down and crossed arms, they were reflecting seriously, if not profoundly.

At sight of the savant, the dismal countenance of the general was lighted up by a fugitive smile of hope.

"Ah, doctor, is that you?" he said, holding out to him a hand which the other pressed warmly hut silently, "have I reason to rejoice or to be still sad at your presence?"

"Are we alone?" the doctor asked, without answering the general's question.

"I believe so," he replied, in a tone of surprise; "at all events, it is easy to satisfy yourself."

The doctor groped all round the place, carefully examined every corner; he then went back to the prisoners.

"We can talk," he said.

The savant was habitually so absorbed by his scientific calculations, and was naturally so absent, that the prisoners had but little confidence in him.

"And my niece?" the general asked, anxiously.

"Be at ease on her account; she is in safety with a hunter named Loyal Heart, who has a great respect for her."

The general breathed a sigh of relief; this good news had restored him all his courage.

"Oh!" he said, "of what consequence is my being a prisoner? Now I know my niece is safe, I can suffer anything."

"No, no," said the doctor, warmly, "on the contrary, you must escape from this place tomorrow, by some means."

"Why?"

"Answer me in the first place."

"I ask no better than to do so."

"Your wounds appear slight; are they progressing towards cure?"

"I think so."

"Do you feel yourself able to walk?

"Oh, yes!"

"But let us understand each other. I mean, are you able to walk a distance?"

"I believe so, if it be absolutely necessary."

"Eh! eh!" said the Negro, who, up to this moment had remained silent, "am I not able to carry my master when he can walk no longer?"

The general pressed his hand.

"That's true, so far," said the doctor; "all is well, only you must escape."

"I should be most glad to do so, but how?"

"Ah! that," said the savant, scratching his head, "is what I do not know, for my part! But be at ease, I will find some means; at present, I don't know what."

Steps were heard approaching, and the captain appeared.

"Well!" he asked, "how are your patients going on?"

"Not too well!" the doctor replied.

"Bah! bah!" the pirate resumed; "all that will come round; besides, the general will soon be free, then he can get well at his ease. Now, doctor, come along with me; I hope I have left you and your friend long enough together to have said all you wish."

The doctor followed him without reply, after having made the general a parting sign to recommend prudence.

The day passed away without further incident.

The prisoners looked for the night with impatience; in spite of themselves, a confidence in the doctor had gained upon them – they hoped.

Towards evening the worthy savant reappeared. He walked with a deliberate step, his countenance was cheerful, he held a torch in his hand.

"What is there fresh, doctor?" the general asked; "you appear to be quite gay."

"In fact, general, I am so," he replied with a smile, "because I have found the means of securing your escape – not forgetting my own."

"And those means?"

"Are already half executed," he said, with a little dry smile, which was peculiar to him when he was satisfied.

"What do you mean by that?"

"By Galen! something very simple, but which you never would guess: all our bandits are asleep, we are masters of the grotto."

"That may be possible; but if they should wake?"

"Don't trouble yourself about that; they will wake, of that there is no doubt, but not within six hours at least."

"How the devil can you tell that?"

"Because I took upon myself to send them to sleep; that is to say, at their supper I served them with a decoction of opium, which brought them down like lumps of lead, and they have all been snoring ever since like so many forge bellows."

"Oh, that is capital!" said the general.

"Is it not?" the doctor observed, modestly. "By Galen, I was determined to repair the mischief I had done you by my negligence! I am not a soldier, I am but a poor physician; I have made use of my proper weapons; you see that in certain cases they are as good as others."

"They are a hundred times better! Doctor, you are a noble fellow!"

"Well, come, let us lose no time."

"That is true, let us be gone; but the captain, what have you done with him?"

"Oh, as to him, the devil only knows where he is. He left us after dinner without saying anything to anybody; but I have a shrewd suspicion I know where he is gone, and am much mistaken if we do not see him presently."

"All, then, is for the best; lead on."

The three men set off at once. In spite of the means employed by the doctor, the general and the Negro were not quite at ease.

They arrived at the compartment which now served as a dormitory for the bandits; they were lying about asleep in all directions.

The fugitives passed safely through them.

When they arrived at the entrance of the grotto, at the moment they were about to unfasten the raft to cross the river, they saw, by the pale rays of the moon, another raft, manned by fifteen men, who steadily directed their course towards them.

Their retreat was cut off.

How could they possibly resist such a number of adversaries?

"What a fatality!" the general murmured, despondingly.

"Oh!" said the doctor, piteously, "a plan of escape that cost me so much trouble to elaborate!"

The fugitives threw themselves into a cavity of the rocks, to avoid being seen, and there waited the landing of the newcomers, whose manoeuvres appeared more and more suspicious.