Gustave Aimard
The Insurgent Chief
CHAPTER X
THE PARTISAN
We must now return to the Guaycurus chiefs, whom we left at the moment when, following Don Zeno Cabral, they entered a cavern where the Montonero – at least according to the words he made use of in accosting them – appeared to have given a rendezvous to the Cougar.
This cavern – the entry of which, without knowing it well, it was impossible to distinguish from without, by reason of the conformation of the ground of which it formed the centre, and of the difficulty with which it was reached – was vast and perfectly light, on account of a number of almost imperceptible fissures which allowed the light to penetrate at the same time as it renewed the air. At the bottom and on the sides several galleries opened, which were lost under the mountain at probably very great distances. The spot where the partisans stopped, that is to say at a few steps from the opening, contained several seats formed by blocks of oak awkwardly squared, and two or three masses of dried leaves, serving probably for beds to those who came to seek a temporary refuge in this place.
In the centre of the cavern a great fire was lighted. Over this fire, suspended by a chain from three stakes placed triangularly, was boiling an iron pot, while a quarter of guanaco, spitted on a ramrod fixed in the ground, was roasting very gently; some potatoes were cooking under the cinders, and several bullock-horn cups containing some harina tostada were placed near seats on the ground. The arms of Zeno Cabral, that is to say, his gun and his sabre, were leaning against one of the walls of the cavern; he had only kept his knife in his right pocket.
"Señores," said the partisan with a courteous gesture, "permit me to offer you the poor hospitality that the circumstances in which we are compel me to give you. Before anything else we will eat and drink together to establish confidence between us, and to remove all suspicion of treason."
These words were spoken in Portuguese; the captains answered in the same language, and sat, after the example of their Amphytrion, on the seats prepared for them.
Zeno Cabral then unhooked the pot and served with uncommon skill and vivacity, in the couis which he presented to his guests, some tocino, chorizo, and charqui, seasoned with camotes and ají, which form the national dish of these countries.
The meal commenced; the chiefs vigorously attacked the dishes placed before them, helping themselves with their knives instead of forks, and drinking in turn water slightly dashed with brandy to remove its brackishness.
The Indians do not speak as they eat, so their meals are generally short. After the charqui, it was the turn for the guanaco; then the harina tostada was taken, diluted with warm water, and at last Zeno Cabral made the maté7 and offered it to his guests.
When the maté had been drunk, and our three personages had lighted their maize straw cigarettes, Zeno Cabral at last spoke.
"I ought to apologise to you, Señor Captain," said he in Portuguese to Gueyma, "for the kind of surprise by means of which I have obtained an interview with you; the Cougar, of whom I have for a long time had the honour of being a friend, has induced me to act as I have done; if a fault has been committed, it is on him that the blame ought to rest."
"What the Cougar does is always right," answered the chief smiling; "he is my father, since it is to him that I owe what I am; I have not to blame him then, convinced that very important reasons, and which no doubt will afterwards be explained to me, prevented him from acting otherwise."
"Gueyma has well spoken as usual," said the Cougar; "wisdom dwells with him; the white chief will not be long in adducing motives for his conduct."
"That is what I am immediately going to do, if the captains will be so good as to lend me their attention," pursued Zeno Cabral.
"Let my father speak, our ears are opened."
The partisan collected himself for two or three minutes, and then commenced in these terms:
"My brothers, the Guaycurus warriors, deceived by the lying words of a white, have consented to form an alliance with him, and to follow him into this country, to aid him in fighting other whites, who have never done evil to my brothers, and even of whose existence they were ignorant. But while the warriors entered on the path of war, and abandoned their hunting territories, under the safeguard of the honour of their new allies, the latter, who had no other design than that of getting them away, in order to seize more easily their rich and fertile countries, invaded, to the contempt of sworn faith, these territories, and tried to establish themselves there. This iniquitous project, this infamous treason, would probably have succeeded, considering the absence of the brave warriors of the tribe, if a friend of the Guaycurus, disgusted with that infamous action, had not warned Tarou-Niom, the great captain of the Guaycurus, to put himself on his guard, and had not contracted an offensive and defensive alliance with Emavidi-Chaimé, the great chief of the Payagoas, to oppose the attacks of the common enemy."
Notwithstanding the command of countenance of which the Indians boast in the most important circumstances, Gueyma, on learning this news, so decisively and coldly uttered, could not contain himself. His eyebrows knitted, his nostrils dilated like those of a wild beast; he bounded on his feet, and violently clapping his hands:
"My brother, the pale chief, has proofs of what he states, has he not?" cried he, with a tone of sudden menace.
"I have," simply answered Zeno Cabral.
"Good, then he will give them to me."
"I will give them to the captain."
"But there is another thing I wish to know."
"What does my brother wish to know?"
"Who is the friend of the Guaycurus who has warned them of the horrible treason which is plotted against them?"
"What good will it be to tell my brother that?"
"Because, as I know my enemies, I wish to know my friends."
Zeno Cabral bowed.
"It is I," said he.
Gueyma looked at him a moment with a strange earnestness, as if he had wished to read his most secret thoughts.
"It is good," said he at last; "what my brother says must be true. Gueyma thanks him, and offers him his hand."
"I accept it with alacrity, for I have a long time loved the captain," answered the partisan, pressing the hand that the chief held out to him.
"Now, what are the proofs that my brother will give me?"
Zeno Cabral searched under his poncho and drew out a quipu; the latter quickly seized it, and immediately proceeded to decipher it with the same rapidity that a European reads a letter.
Little by little the features of the chief resumed their marble rigidity; then, after having completely deciphered the quipu, he handed it to the Cougar, and, turning towards Zeno Cabral, who followed all his movements with secret anxiety:
"Now, I know the insult that has been offered me," said he, coldly, "my brother will give me, no doubt, the means of avenging myself."
"Perhaps I shall succeed," answered the partisan.
"Why have a doubt on the lips when certainty is in the heart," pursued Gueyma.
"What does the captain mean?"
"I mean that no one with the simple design of being agreeable to a man whom he does not know, would do as my brother has done."
"I know the captain better than he thinks."
"It is possible; I admit that; but it is not the less evident to me that my brother, the pale chief, had a design in acting as he has done. It is that design that Gueyma wishes to know."
"If my brother were to suppose that I also have to avenge myself on the man who has insulted him, and that for this vengeance to be more sure and striking I need the aid of my brother – would he refuse me?"
"No, certainly, if instead of being a supposition it was a reality."
"The captain promises me?"
"I promise it."
"Well, the suspicions of the chief are just. Notwithstanding the lively and sincere friendship that I have for him, obliged for the present to occupy myself with very important affairs, I should have, perhaps, neglected to concern myself with his, if I had not had a powerful inducement to do so, and if the man of whom he wishes to avenge himself had not long been my enemy. There is the whole truth."
"Ah! My brother has well spoken; his tongue is not forked; the words that come from his breast are loyal. What will my brother do to assure my vengeance at the same time as his own?"
"Two things."
"What is the first?"
"I will deliver into the hands of the captain the wife and daughter of his enemy."
The Indian's eye darted a lightning flash of joy.
"Good," cried he, "now what is the second?"
"I will guide my brother by the paths of wild beasts, known only to myself, and with the rich plunder that I shall have given him, I will enable him to reach in less than five days the frontier of his hunting territory."
"My brother will do that?"
"I will do it, I swear."
"Good! When will the two pale women be my captives?"
"Before two days, if the chief consents to aid me."
"I have told the white chief that he can dispose of me; let him speak, then, without fear."
Zeno Cabral cast an inquiring look at the Cougar, who, up to that time, had sat mute and impassive during the conversation.
"My brother can speak," said the old chief; "the word of Gueyma is the word of a captain; nothing can make him change it."
"Only let my brother pay the most serious attention to what I am about to say. I will only do what I propose on one condition."
"I am listening."
"My brother will not be able to dispose, under any pretext, of the captives placed in his hands without my authority; under no pretext can he give them liberty without I consent to it. For the rest, the Cougar knows my intentions, and he has promised to conform to them."
"Is it true?" asked Gueyma of the old chief; turning towards him.
"It is true," laconically answered the latter.
"The Cougar," resumed the young man, "is one of the wisest warriors of my tribe; what he says is always good: it is my duty to follow his example; I adhere to what the white chief wishes."
Zeno Cabral bowed his head as a sign of thanks, and, spite of himself, a gleam of satisfaction for an instant illumined his austere face.
Gueyma resumed:
"Has the pale chief anything to add to what he has told me?"
"Nothing," answered the partisan.
"It is well; it is my turn now to impose conditions."
"That is quite true, chief; I listen to you."
"My brother, the white chief, knows the customs of the Pampa, does he not?"
"I know them; my life has been almost wholly passed in the desert."
"Does he know the ceremony of the compact of vengeance in use in the tribe of the Guaycurus?"
"I have heard speak of it, without, however, having ever practised it on my own account; I know that it is a kind of brotherhood of arms which binds two men to each other by a tie stronger than the nearest relationship."
"Yes, that is it; does my brother consent to this ceremony being performed by us?"
"I consent to it with all my heart, chief," answered the partisan without hesitation, "because my intentions are pure, no thought of treachery is in my heart, and I have for my brother great friendship."
"Good," resumed the young chief, smiling; "I thank my brother for accepting me as his blood companion; the Cougar will bind us to each other."
The three men rose.
The Cougar then advanced between them, and making them stretch out the right hand:
"Each of you," said he, "is double; he has a friend to watch over him in all places and in all circumstances – night as well as day, morning as well as evening; the enemies of one are the enemies of the other; what one possesses belongs to his friend; at the call of his blood companion, no matter where he is, no matter what he is doing, the friend must immediately abandon all to run to him who claims his presence. Death even cannot disunite you; in the other life your compact must continue as strong as in this. You, Zeno Cabral, for the tribe of the Guaycurus, you are now named Cabral Gueyma; and you, Gueyma, for the brothers of your friend, are Gueyma Zeno. Your blood even ought to mix in your breasts, in order that your thoughts may be really the same, and that, at the hour when you shall appear after death before the Master of the world, he may recognise you and reunite you to each other."
After having thus spoken, the Cougar drew his knife from its sheath, and slightly punctured the chest of the partisan, just over the heart.
Zeno supported without trembling or paling this startling incision; the old chief received the blood which flowed from the wound in a coui, in which a little water remained. He then punctured in the same way the chest of the young chief, and caused his blood to flow into the coui.
Then raising the vessel above his head:
"Warriors," cried he, in a sombre and majestic voice, "your blood is contained there, so well mixed that it cannot be separated; each of you is about to drink of this cup, which between you you must empty; it is your turn first," added he, turning to Zeno Cabral, and holding out the vessel to him.
"Give it to me," coldly answered the partisan, and he carried it without hesitation to his lips.
When he had drunk about half of what it contained he presented it to Gueyma. The latter took it without uttering a word, and emptied it at a draught.
"At our next meeting, brother," then said the young chief, "we will exchange our horses, for we cannot do so now. Meanwhile, here is my gun, my sabre, my knife, my powder horn, my shot pouch, my laco, and my bolas. Accept them, and may the Great Spirit grant that they may do you as good service as they have done me."
"I receive them, brother, in exchange for my arms – which take."
Then the two men embraced, and the ceremony was over.
"Now," said the Cougar, "the moment for separation has come; we must rejoin our warriors; where shall we see one another again, and when will the meeting take place?"
"The second sun after this," answered the partisan, "I shall expect my brothers three hours before the setting of the sun at the Cañon de Yerbas Verdes. The captives will be with me. The cry of the eagle of the Cordilleras, three times repeated, will warn my brothers of my presence; they will answer me by that of the maukawis, repeated the same number of times."
"Good! My warriors will be exact."
The three men heartily shook hands, and the Guaycurus chiefs withdrew, again taking the almost impracticable way by which they had come, but which could not offer any serious difficulties to men inured like them to every bodily exercise, and endowed with an unequalled suppleness and agility.
Zeno Cabral remained alone in the cavern.
The partisan threw himself on a seat, leant his head on his breast, and thus remained for a considerable lapse of time plunged in profound reflection.
When the first shadows of evening began to invade the entrance of the cavern, the young man stood up.
"At last," murmured he in a low voice, "I am about to have that vengeance that for so long a time I have sought. No one now can snatch my prey from me. My father will start with joy in his grave on seeing in what way I keep my oath. Alas! Why must I use the hatchet intended to martyr two innocent women? The true culprit still escapes me! Will God permit him to fall through my hands? How shall I compel him to give himself to me?"
He kept silence some moments, and then resumed with savage energy.
"Of what use is it to pity the fate of these women? Does not the law of the desert say, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth? It is not I who have committed the crime. I avenge the insult done to my family; the die is cast; God will judge me!"
He rose and took a few steps in the cavern. The darkness was nearly complete. Zeno Cabral took a torch of rotten wood, lit it, and fixed it in the ground; then, after another hesitation, he shook his head, passed his hand over his forehead, as if to chase away a passing idea, and sat himself down on one of the seats, after having cleared away the traces of the meal and those left by the Guaycurus warriors.
"I am mad," murmured he in a low voice, "it is too late now to go back;" and seizing his gun he fired it in the air.
The sound of the report repeated by the numerous echoes of the cavern reverberated for a considerable time, grew weaker and weaker, and finally ceased.
Almost immediately the light of several torches shone at the bottom of a side gallery, rapidly increased, and soon illuminated the cavern with reddish tints which fell upon the walls with fantastic reflections. These torches were carried by Montoneros led by several officers, among whom was Don Silvio Quiroga.
"Here we are, General," said the captain, with a respectful bow.
"Where are the prisoners?" asked Zeno Cabral, as he loaded his gun, which he placed within reach.
"Guarded at a few paces off by our detachment of our men."
"Let them come."
The captain withdrew without answering. Some minutes passed, at the end of which he reappeared, accompanied by three unarmed men, who walked in the midst of a group of partisans.
"It is well," said the General, "leave me with these caballeros, I wish to talk with them; only be ready to run here if occasion requires, at the first signal. Go."
Captain Quiroga planted two or three torches in the ground, and then disappeared in the gallery from which he had come out.
Don Zeno remained alone with the two prisoners; the latter stood upright before him, cold and haughty, their heads proudly thrown back, and their arms crossed on their chests.
There was a moment of silence.
It was one of the prisoners who broke it.
"I suppose, Señor General," said he, with a slight tone of raillery, "since that is the title they give you, that you have called us into your presence in order to have us shot?"
"You are deceived, Señor Don Lucio Ortega," coldly answered the partisan; "at present at least, such is not my intention."
"You know me," cried the Spaniard, with a movement of surprise which he could not suppress.
"Yes, Señor, I know you, as well as your companions, the Señor Count Mendoza and Colonel Zinozain. I know even with what design you have come thus to wander about these mountains; you see that I am well served by my spies."
"¡Caramba!" gaily cried Captain Ortega, "I wish I had been as well served by mine."
The partisan smiled with irony.
"In point of fact, Señor," said the Count, "what do you intend to do with us, since we are in your power, and you do not wish to have us shot?"
"You acknowledge, do you not, that I should have the right to do so if that were my good pleasure?"
"Perfectly," pursued the captain; "as to us, be convinced that we should not have failed to break your skull if fate had made you fall into our hands. Is it not so, Señores?"
The two officers answered affirmatively.
"Touching unanimity!" said the Montonero with a sneer, "I give you credit, believe me, for your good intentions towards me; however, they do not change my resolution."
"Then," resumed the captain, "it is probable that you find it more advantageous to yourself to allow us to live than to order our execution?"
"That is evident."
"But it is probable also that the conditions you will impose upon us," said the colonel, "will be of such a kind that we shall refuse to accept them, preferring death to dishonour."
"Well, you have not at all guessed it, my dear colonel," answered the partisan with good humour; "I know too well how soldiers ought to conduct themselves, even as enemies, to profit by the advantages that my position gives me; and these conditions will be, on the contrary, excessively easy."
"Oh, oh! that is strange," murmured the Count.
"Very strange indeed, Monsieur Count, to see one of those miserable Creoles – those wild beasts, as you call them – preserve sentiments of humanity so completely forgotten by their ex-masters, the noble Castilians."
"I confess that for my part, I am curious to know these benign propositions," said the captain with a sneer.
"You are about to be satisfied, Señor," replied the partisan, with the sly tone that he had affected from the commencement of the interview; "but meanwhile will you be so good as to sit down: I am at home, I wish to do you the honours of my abode."
"Be it so, we listen to you," said the captain, sitting down – a movement imitated by his two companions.
"Here are my conditions," resumed the partisan: "I offer to restore you immediately to liberty, giving you the baggage which has been taken from you, and allowing you the facility of continuing your journey, and to accomplish the mission with which you are charged for Don Pablo Pincheyra."
"Eh!" cried the captain, "You know that also."
"I know all, have I not told you?"
"That is true; pardon me this interruption," said the captain; "you said, then, that you offered to set us at liberty, &c., &c. – on condition – "
"On condition," replied Don Zeno, "that first you will give me your word of honour as gentlemen and soldiers, that whatever happens during all the time that we remain together, you will never utter my name, and that with regard to me you will be inviolably secret."
"At present I do not see anything which prevents us taking this engagement. Then, Señor, for that is not all, I imagine – "
"Just so, that is not all. I wish to go in your company to the camp of Casa-Frama, to treat with Don Pablo Pincheyra on an affair which concerns myself. I will take the name and the costume of a Portuguese officer. You will not betray me, and, moreover, you will aid me in terminating the affair in question; I know that you possess sufficient influence over Don Pablo to enable me to succeed."
"Do you refuse to instruct us as to this affair?" asked the Count.
"By no means. This susceptibility is too honourable for me not to accede to your request. It concerns two Portuguese ladies, the Marchioness de Castelmelhor and her daughter, whom the Pincheyras have seized against the right of nations, and whom I wish to deliver."
"Is that all?"
"Yes, caballero; see if your honour will permit you to accept these conditions?"
"Señor Don Zeno Cabral," answered the Count, "the history which you are pleased to relate to us is very well imagined, although we doubt much the reality of your devotion to these ladies. As they are almost unknown to us, and as you have told us this affair entirely concerns yourself, we do not acknowledge the right to inquire into it; consequently my companions and I accept your conditions, which, let us state, are really very easy. We give you our word of honour to fulfil exactly the engagement that we take with regard to you, without we are otherwise compelled by force."
"We give you our word of honour, as well as our noble friend, Count de Mendoza," said the captain and the colonel together.
"And now," added Don Lucio Ortega, "when shall we be free?"
"Immediately, caballeros."
"And we shall set out? – "
"At sunrise, so as to be tomorrow morning at Casa-Frama. Now, dispose of me, Señores; I am no longer your host."
We have already stated in what way the Count and the persons who accompanied him had been received by the Pincheyras.
