Part 18 (1/2)
”I see it all now, and pity the poor people who live on the lower Horcasitas. That's where they were bent for, no doubt. The more reason for our making haste to reach the Cerro Perdido. We may catch these raiders on return. _Sargento_!” This again in call to the orderly, who responds instantly by presenting himself in the doorway.
”Summon the bugler! Give him orders to sound the 'a.s.sembly' at once.
We must start without a moment's delay. How fortunate those Yaquis kept quiet, else I would be now operating around Guaymas.”
”We must, Requenes. But will your regiment be enough? How many men can you muster?”
”Five hundred. But there's the battery of mountain howitzers--fifty men more. Of course, I take that along.”
”And of course I go too,” says the _ganadero_; ”and, to make sure of our having force sufficient, can take with me at least a hundred good men, the pick of my _vaqueros_. Fortunately they're now all within easy summons, a.s.sembled at my house for the _herradero_” (cattle branding), ”which was to come off to-morrow. That can be postponed. _Hasta luego_, Colonel; I ride back home to bring them; so doubt not my having them here, and ready for the route soon as your soldiers.”
”_Bueno_! Whether needed or not, it will be well to have your valiant _vaqueros_ with us. I'll welcome them.”
Instantly after the _plaza_ of Arispe displays an animated scene, people crowding into it from all parts, with air excited. For the report, brought by the young Englishman, has gone forth and all abroad, spreading like wildfire,--Villanueva and Tresillian, with all their people, surrounded by savages! ”_Los Indios_!” is the cry carried from point to point, striking terror into the hearts of the Arispenos, as though the dreaded redskins, instead of being at an unknown distance off, were at the gates of their city.
Then succeeds loud cheering as the bugle-call proclaims the approach of the _lanzeros_, troop after troop filing into the _plaza_, and forming line in front of their colonel's quarters, all in complete equipment, and ready for the route.
More cheering as Don Juliano Romero comes riding in at the head of his hundred retainers; _vaqueros_ and _rancheros_, in the picturesque costume of the country, armed to the teeth, and mounted on their mustangs, fresh, fiery, and prancing.
Still another cheer, as the battery of mountain howitzers rolls in and takes its place in the line. Then a loud chorus of _vivas_! as the march commences, prolonged and carried on as the column moves through the street; the crowd following far beyond the suburbs, to take leave of it with prayers upon their lips for the successful issue of an expedition in which many of them are but too painfully interested.
CHAPTER THIRTY.
THE RAIDERS RETURNED.
Another ten days have elapsed, and they on the Cerro Perdido are held there rigorously as ever; a strong guard kept constantly stationed at both points where it is possible for them to reach the plain.
In the interval no incident of any note has arisen to vary the monotony of their lives. One day is just as the other, with little to occupy them, save the watch by the ravine's head, which needs to be maintained with vigilance unabated.
But much change has arisen both in their circ.u.mstances and appearance.
With provision wellnigh out, they have been for days on less than half allowance, and famine has set its stamp on their features. Pallid, hollow cheeks, with eyes sunken in their sockets, are seen all around; and some of the weaker ones begin to totter in their steps, till the place more resembles the grounds of an hospital than an encampment of travellers. They have miscalculated their resources, which gave out sooner than expected.
In this lamentably forlorn condition they are still uncertain as to the fate of their messenger, their doubts about his safety increasing every day--every hour. Not that they suppose him to have fallen into the hands of the Coyoteros. On the contrary, they are convinced of his having escaped, else some signs of his capture would have been apparent in the Indian camp, and none such are observed. But other contingencies may have arisen: an accident to himself, or his horse, delaying him on the route, if not stopping him altogether.
Or may it be, as Don Estevan has said, that Colonel Requenes with his soldiers is absent from Arispe, and there is a difficulty in raising a force of civilians sufficient for effecting their rescue?
These conjectures, with many others, pa.s.s through their minds, producing a despondency, now at its darkest and deepest. For at first, in their impatience, blind to probabilities, they fancied theirs a winged messenger--a Mercury, who should have brought them succour long since.
That bright dream is pa.s.sed, and the reaction has set in, gloomy as shadow of death itself.
Nor seems there to be much cheer in the camp of their besiegers. They can look down upon it from a distance near enough to distinguish the individual forms of the savages, and note all their actions in the open.
Through the telescope can be read even the expressions on their features, showing that they, too, have their anxieties and apprehensions; no doubt from the black horse and his rider having got away from them.
Their scouts are still observed to come and go. Some are sent northward, others to the south; the last evidently to look out for the return of the raiding party gone down the Horcasitas.
Another day pa.s.ses, and they are seen coming back, at a pace which betokens their bringing a report of an important nature. That it is a welcome one to their comrades in the camp can be told by their shouts of triumph as they approach.
Soon after they upon the _mesa_ are made aware of the cause, by seeing the red marauders themselves coming on towards the camp, in array very different from that when leaving it. Instead of only their arms and light equipments, every man of them is now laden with spoil, every horse besides his rider carrying a load, either on withers or croup. And they have other horses with them now--a _caballada_--mules, too, all under pack and burden.