Gustave Aimard
The Tiger-Slayer: A Tale of the Indian Desert

CHAPTER XV
SET A THIEF TO CATCH A THIEF

We will now return to the hunters, whom we have too long neglected, for during the events we have been narrating they had not remained entirely inactive.

After the departure of the two Mexicans, Belhumeur and his friends remained silent for an instant. The Canadian played with the charcoal that had fallen from the brazier on to the ground; in fact, he was lost in thought. Don Louis, with his chin resting on the palm of his hand, was watching with distraught air the sparkles which crackled, glistened, and went out. Eagle-head, alone of the party, wrapped up in his buffalo robe, smoked his calumet with that stoicism and calm appearance which belong exclusively to his race.

"However it may be," the Canadian suddenly said, replying to the ideas which bothered him, and thinking aloud rather than intending to renew the conversation, "the conduct of those two men seems to me extraordinary, not to say something else."

"Would you suspect any treachery?" Don Louis asked, looking up.

"In the desert you must always suspect treachery," Belhumeur said peremptorily, "especially from chance companions."

"Still this Tigrero, this Don Martial – that is his name I think – has a very honest eye, my friend, to be a traitor."

"That is true; still you will agree that ever since we first met him his conduct has been remarkably queer."

"I grant it; but you know as well as I how much passion blinds a man. I believe him to be in love."

"So do I. Still notice, pray, that in all this affair which regards him specially, and in which we have only mixed ourselves to do him a service, while neglecting our own occupations, he has always kept in the background, as if afraid to show himself."

At this moment Blas Vasquez, after stationing the peons a short distance off, so as to remain unseen, came up and took his seat by the fire.

"There!" he said, "All is ready: the Apaches can come and attack us whenever they think proper."

"One word, capataz," Belhumeur said.

"Two if you like."

"Do you know the man to whom you delivered a letter just now?"

"Why do you ask?"

"To gain some information about him."

"Personally I know very little of him. All I can tell you is that he enjoys an excellent reputation through the whole province, and is generally regarded as a caballero and gallant man."

"That is something," the Canadian muttered, shaking his head; "but, for all that, I do not know why, but his sudden departure makes me very restless."

"Wah!" Eagle-head suddenly said, withdrawing from his lips the tube of his calumet, and bending forward, while bidding his comrades to silence. All remained motionless, with their eyes fixed on the Indian.

"What is it?" Belhumeur at length asked.

"Fire," the other replied slowly. "The Apaches are coming: they are burning the prairie before them."

"What?" Belhumeur exclaimed, rising and looking all around. "I see no trace of fire."

"No, not yet; but the fire is coming – I can smell it."

"Hum! If the chief says so, it must be true; he is too experienced a warrior to be deceived. What is to be done?"

"We have nothing to fear from fire here," the capataz observed.

"We have not," Don Louis quickly exclaimed; "but the inhabitants of the hacienda?"

"Not more than we," Belhumeur replied. "See all the trees have been cut down, and rooted up to too great a distance from the colony for the fire to reach it; it is only a stratagem employed by the Indians to arrive without being counted."

"Still I am of this caballero's opinion," the capataz said; "we should do well to warn the hacienda."

"There is something even more urgent to do," Don Louis said, "and that is to send off a clever scout to learn positively with whom we have to deal, who our enemies are, if they are numerous."

"One does not prevent the other," Belhumeur remarked. "In a case like the present, two precautions are worth more than one. This is my advice. Eagle-head will reconnoitre the foe, while we proceed to the hacienda."

"All of us?" the capataz observed.

"No; your position here is secure, and you will be able, in the event of an attack, to render important service. Don Louis and I will proceed alone to the colony. Remember that you must not show yourselves under any pretext. Whatever may happen, await the order for acting. Is that agreed to?"

"Go, caballeros; I will not betray your confidence."

"Good! Now to work, I have no advice to offer you, chief: you will find us at the hacienda if you learn anything of importance."

Upon this these men, so long accustomed to act without losing precious time in useless words, separated; Don Louis and Belhumeur returning to the mainland on the side of the hacienda, while the chief rode off in the opposite direction. Blas Vasquez remained alone with his peons; but as he had been for many years accustomed to Indian warfare, and understood the responsibility he took on himself from this moment, he felt that he must redouble his vigilance. Hence he posted sentinels at every point, recommended them the utmost attention, came back to the brazier, wrapped himself in his fresada, and went quietly to sleep, certain that his men would carefully watch all that took place on the mainland.

We will, for a moment, leave Don Louis and his friend, to follow Eagle-head.

The mission the chief had undertaken was anything rather than easy; but Eagle-head was a man of experience thoroughly versed in Indian tricks, and endowed with that unalterable phlegm which is a great ingredient of success in certain circumstances of life. After leaving his companions he walked quietly down to the water's edge, and when he reached the spot where he intended to cross the river his plan was all arranged in his head.

The chief, instead of passing to that side of the river by which the enemy would come, preceded by the conflagration, crossed to the other. So soon as he reached the bank he allowed his horse a few moments for breathing; then leaping at a bound onto the panther skin that served as his saddle, he galloped at full speed in the direction of the enemy's camp. This furious race lasted two hours. Night had long succeeded the day; the pale gleams of the conflagration served as a beacon to the chief and showed him in the darkness the road he should follow. At the end of these two hours the chief found himself just opposite the most advanced point of the island, where the Apaches were at this moment engaged in collecting the driftwood they meant to use in the surprise of the colony. Eagle-head stopped. On his right, far behind him, the conflagration raged in the horizon; around him all was silence and obscurity. For a long time the Indian attentively watched the island: a secret presentiment warned him that there was the danger for him.

Still, after careful reflection, the chief resolved to advance a few paces further, and recross the river at the point opposite this island, which seemed to him more suspicious because it was so tranquil. However, before carrying out this plan, a sudden inspiration flashed across his mind. He dismounted, hid his horse in a thicket, laid aside his rifle and buffalo robe; then, after attempting to pierce the surrounding gloom, he stretched himself on the ground, and crawled to the river's bank. He gently entered the water, and swimming and diving in turn, proceeded to the island, which he presently reached.

But at the instant he landed, and was about to rise, an almost imperceptible sound smote his ear; he fancied he could notice an extraordinary commotion in the water all around him. Eagle-head plunged again, and retired from the bank on which he had been on the point of landing. Suddenly, at the moment he rose to the surface to take in a fresh supply of air, he saw two burning eyes flashing before him; he received a violent blow on the chest, and felt a powerful hand clutch his throat as in a vice. Eagle-head saw that, unless he made a desperate effort, he would be lost, and he attempted it. Seizing in his turn his unknown foe who held him by the throat, he clung round him with the vigour of despair.

Then a horrible and silent struggle commenced in the river – a sinister struggle, in which he sought to kill his adversary, without thinking to repel his attacks. The water, troubled by the efforts of the two combatants, bubbled as if alligators were engaged. At length a bloody and disfigured body rose inertly to the surface, and floated. A few seconds later, and a head appeared above the water, casting startled glances around.

At the sight of his enemy's corpse the victor indulged in a diabolical smile; he seized him by his warlock, and swimming with one hand, dragged the body, not to the island, but to the mainland.

Eagle-head had conquered the Apache who attacked him in so unforeseen a manner. The chief reached the bank, but did not leave the corpse, which he dragged along till it was completely out of the water; then he lifted the scalp, placed the hideous trophy in his belt, and remounted his horse.

The Indian had divined the Apaches' tactics; the attack of which he had been so nearly the victim revealed to him the stratagem they designed. It was unnecessary for him to push his investigations on the island further. Still, had he abandoned to the current his enemy's corpse, it would have infallibly floated down among his brothers, and revealed the presence of a spy; so he had been careful to convey it to the bank, where no one, save by some extraordinary accident, could discover it before sunrise.

The few minutes' rest he had granted his horse would have been sufficient to restore all its vigour. The chief might have returned to his friends, for what he had discovered was of immense importance to them; but Belhumeur had specially recommended him to discover the strength and nature of the war detachment which was marching on the colony. Eagle-head was anxious to accomplish his mission; and besides, the struggle he has undergone, and from which he had emerged as victor by a miracle, had produced a certain amount of excitement, urging him to carry out the adventure to the end.

He plucked a few leaves to stop the blood from a slight wound he had received in his left arm, fastened them on with a piece of bark, and rode his horse once more into the river. But, as he had nothing to examine, and did not wish to be discovered, he took care to pass at a considerable distance from the island. On the other bank, owing to the care taken by the Indians to burn everything, the trail was wide and perfectly visible. In spite of the darkness the chief found no difficulty in following it.

The fire kindled by the Indians had not caused such ravages as might be supposed. All that part of the prairie, with the exception of a few scattered clumps of poplars at great distances apart, was covered with long grass, already half burned up by the torrid beams of a summer sun. This grass had burned rapidly, producing what the incendiaries desired – a large quantity of smoke, but scarcely heating the ground, which had allowed the redskins to march rapidly on the colony.

Owing to his headlong speed, and the few hours those who preceded him had been compelled to lose, the chief arrived almost simultaneously with them before the hacienda; that is to say, he came up with them at the moment when, after making a futile assault on the isthmus battery they fled pursued by a shower of grape, which decimated their ranks; for, having burnt everything, they had no trees to shelter them. Still the majority managed to escape, owing to the speed of their horses.

Eagle-head found himself unexpectedly in the very midst of the fugitives. At first each man was too anxious about his own safety to have time to notice him, and the chief profited by it to turn aside and step behind a rock. But then a strange thing happened. The chief had scarce escaped from the fugitives, and examined them for a moment, ere a strange smile played on his lips; he spurred his horse, and bounded into the very midst of the Indians, uttering twice a shrill, peculiar cry. At this cry the Indians stopped in their flight, and rushing from all sides toward the man who uttered it, they ranged themselves tumultuously round – the chief with an expression of superstitious fear, and passive and respectful obedience.

The Eagle-head looked haughtily on the crowd that surrounded him, for he was taller by a head than any man present.

"Wah!" he at length said in a guttural voice, with an accent of bitter reproach. "Have the Comanches become timid antelopes that they fly like Apache dogs before the bullets of the palefaces?"

"Eagle-head! Eagle-head!" the warriors shouted with joy mingled with shame, looking down before the chiefs flashing glance.

"Why have my sons left the hunting grounds of the Del Norte without the order of a sachem? Are they now the rastreros (bloodhounds) of the Apaches?"

A suppressed murmur ran through the ranks at this cruel reproach.

"A sachem has spoken," Eagle-head continued sharply. "Is there no one to answer him? Have the Comanches of the Lakes no chiefs left to command them?"

A warrior then broke through the ranks of the Comanches, approached Eagle-head, and bowed his head respectfully down to his horse's neck.

"The Jester is a chief," he said in a gentle and harmonious voice.

Eagle-head's face was unwrinkled – his features instantaneously lost their expression of fury. He turned on the warrior who had addressed him a glance full of tenderness, and, offering him his right hand, palm upwards, —

"Och! My heart is joyous at seeing my son, the Jester. The warriors will camp here while the two sachems hold a council."

And making an imperious sign to the chief, he withdrew with him, followed by the eyes of the redskins, who hastened to obey the order he had so peremptorily given. Eagle-head and the Jester had gone so far that their conversation could not be overheard.

"Let us hold a council," the chief said, as he sat down on a stone, and signed to the Jester to take a place by his side. The latter obeyed without reply. There was a long silence, during which the two Indians examined each other attentively, in spite of the indifference they affected. At length Eagle-head spoke in a slow and accentuated voice.

"Eagle-head is a warrior renowned in his nation," he said; "he is the first sachem of the Comanches of the Lakes; his totem shelters beneath its mighty and protecting shadow the innumerable sons of the great sacred tortoise, Chemiin-Antou, whose glistening shell has supported the world since the Wacondah hurled into space the first man and the first woman after their fault. The words which come from the breast of Eagle-head are those of a sagamore; his tongue is not forked – a falsehood never sullied his lips. Eagle-head acted as a father to the Jester; he taught him how to tame a horse, pierce with his arrows the rapid antelope, or to stifle in his arms the mighty boar. Eagle-head loves the Jester, who is the son of his third wife's sister. Eagle-head gave a place at the council fire to the Jester; he made a chief of him; and when he went away from the villages of his nation he said to him, 'My son will command my warriors: he will lead them to hunt, to fish and to war.' Are these words true? Does Eagle-head speak falsely?"

"My father's words are true," the chief answered with a bow: "wisdom speaks through his lips."

"Why, then, has my son allied himself with the enemies of his nation to fight the friends of his father, the sachem?"

The chief let his head fall in confusion.

"Why, without consulting the man who has ever aided and supported him by his counsel, has he undertaken an unjust war?"

"An unjust war?" the chief remarked with a certain degree of animation.

"Yes, as it is carried on in concert with the enemies of our nation."

"The Apaches are redskins."

"The Apaches are cowardly and thievish dogs, whose deceitful tongues I will pluck out."

"But the palefaces are the enemies of the Indians."

"Those whom my son attacked last night are not Yoris; they are the friends of Eagle-head."

"My father will pardon the warrior: he did not know it."

"If the Jester really was ignorant of it, is he ready to repair the fault he has committed?"

"The Jester has three hundred warriors beneath his totem. Eagle-head has come: they are his."

"Good! I see that the Jester is still my well-beloved son. With what chief has he made alliance? It cannot be with the Black Bear, the implacable enemy of the Comanches, the man who but four moons past burned two villages of my nation?"

"A cloud had passed over the mind of the Jester: his hatred for the white men blinded him; wisdom deserted him; he has allied himself with the Black Bear."

"Wah! Eagle-head did right to return toward the villages of his fathers. Will my son obey the sachem?"

"Whatever he orders I will do."

"Good! Let my son follow me."

The two chiefs rose. Eagle-head proceeded towards the isthmus, waving his buffalo robe in his right hand as a sign of peace. The Jester followed a few paces behind. The Comanches beheld with amazement their sachems asking an interview with the Yoris; but accustomed to obey their leaders without discussing the orders they were pleased to give, they evinced no anger at this step, whose object, however, they did not understand. The sentries posted behind the isthmus battery easily distinguished in the moon's rays the pacific movements of the Indians, and allowed them to come as far as the trench.

"A sachem wishes an interview with the chief of the palefaces," Eagle-head then said.

"Good!" a voice replied in Spanish from the inside. "Wait a moment – I will send for him."

The two Comanche warriors bowed, crossed their hands on their breast, and waited.

Don Louis and Belhumeur had had a long conversation with Don Sylva and the count, in which they revealed to them in what way they had learnt that the Indians meant to attack them; the name of the man who had informed them so correctly; and his singular conduct, in that, after having in a measure compelled them to mix themselves up in a dangerous affair which did not at all concern them, he had suddenly abandoned them without any valid reason, under the futile pretext of returning to Guaymas, where he said that important business claimed his presence with the least possible delay.

This news had a lively effect on the two hearers: Don Sylva especially, could not repress a movement of anger on hearing that the man was no other than Don Martial. He guessed at once the Tigrero's object – that he hoped to carry off Doña Anita during the confusion. Still Don Sylva would not impart his suspicions to his future son-in-law, intending to tell him, were it absolutely necessary, at the last moment, but resolved to watch his daughter closely, for this sudden departure of Don Martial seemed to him to conceal a snare.

Belhumeur then explained to the count the position in which he had placed the capataz and his peons, and the mission Eagle-head had undertaken, the result of which he would probably soon come to the hacienda to tell. The count warmly thanked the two men who, without knowing him, rendered him such eminent services; he offered them all the refreshments they might need and then went to give his lieutenant orders to warn him so soon as an Indian presented himself for a parley.

On his side, Don Sylva retired with the ostensible object of reassuring his daughter, but in reality to inspect the sentries stationed at the rear of the hacienda. When the Comanches attacked the isthmus, the French, put on their guard, received them so warmly that in the very first attack the Indians recognised the futility of their attempt, and retired in disorder.

Monsieur de Lhorailles was talking with the two visitors about the incidents of the fight, and was astonished at the prolonged absence of Don Sylva, who had disappeared during the last hour without leaving a trace, when Lieutenant Leroux entered the room where the three men were conversing.

"What do you want?" the count asked him.

"Captain," he answered, "two Indians are waiting at the trench for permission to enter."

"Two?" Belhumeur asked.

"Yes, two."

"That is strange," the Canadian continued.

"What shall we do?" the count said.

"Go and have a look at them."

They proceeded to the battery.

"Well?" the count said.

"Well, sir, one of these men is certainly Eagle-head; but I do not know the other."

"And your advice is – "

"To let them come in. As this Indian, who is apparently a chief, comes in the company of Eagle-head, he can only be a friend."

"Be it so, then."

The count gave a signal; the drawbridge was lowered, and the two chiefs entered. The Indian sachems saluted all present with that native dignity that distinguishes them, and then Eagle-head, on Belhumeur's invitation, gave an account of his mission. The Frenchmen listened to him with an attention mingled with admiration, not only for the skill he had displayed, but also the courage of which he had given proof.

"And now," the chief continued on ending his report, "the Jester has understood the error into which a hatred threw him; he breaks the alliance he formed with the Apaches, and is resolved to obey in all respects his father Eagle-head, in order to repent his fault. Eagle-head is a sachem – his word is granite. He places three hundred Comanche warriors at the disposition of his brothers the palefaces."

The count looked hesitatingly at the Canadian: knowing the trickery of the Indians, he felt a repugnance to trust them. Belhumeur shrugged his shoulders imperceptibly.

"The great pale chief thanks my brother Eagle-head: he accepts his offer with joy. His hand will ever be open, and his heart pure, for the Comanches. The war detachment of my brother will be divided into two parts: one, under the command of the Jester, will be concealed on the other side of the river, to cut off the retreat of the Apaches; the other will enter the hacienda with Eagle-head, in order to support the palefaces. The Yori warriors are hidden in the isle, two bow-shots from the great lodge; they will accompany the Jester."

"Good!" Eagle-head replied; "all shall be done as my brother desires."

The two chiefs took leave and withdrew. Belhumeur then explained to the count the arrangements he had made with the Comanche sachem.

"Hang it!" De Lhorailles said, "I confess that I have not the slightest confidence in the Indians. You know that treachery is their favourite weapon."

"You do not know the Comanches; and, above all, you do not know Eagle-head. I take on myself all the responsibility."

"Act, then, as you please. I am too much indebted to you to thwart your projects, especially when you are acting for my good."

Belhumeur went himself to advise the capataz of the change effected in the defensive measures. The Jester and one hundred and fifty warriors, accompanied by the forty peons, at once crossed the river, and ambushed themselves on the opposite bank in a clump of mangroves, ready to appear at the first signal. The Frenchmen, with Eagle-head and a second troop of Indians, were left to defend the isthmus, a point where they were almost certain of not being attacked. All the other colonists concealed themselves in the dense thickets that masked the rear of the hacienda, with strict orders to remain invisible till the word was given to fire. Then, when all the arrangements were made, the count and his comrades awaited with a beating heart the Indians' attack. They had not long to wait; and we have seen in what fashion the Black Bear was received.

The Apache chief was brave as a lion; his warriors were picked men. The collision was terrible; the redskins did not give way an inch. Incessantly repulsed, incessantly they returned to the charge, fighting hand to hand with the French, who, in spite of their bravery, their discipline, and superiority of weapons, could not rout them. The combat had degenerated into a horrible carnage, in which the fighters clutched each other, stabbing and mangling, without loosing hold. Belhumeur saw that he must attempt a decisive blow to finish with these demons, who seemed invincible and invulnerable. He stooped down to Louis, who was fighting by his side, and whispered a few words in his ear. The Frenchman disembarrassed himself of the foe with whom he was fighting, and ran off.

A few minutes later the war cry of the Comanches was heard, strident and terrible; and the redskin warriors bounded like jaguars on the Apaches, swinging their clubs and long lances. At first the Black Bear fancied assistance had arrived for him, and that the colony was in the power of the allies but this hope did not endure a second. Then demoralisation seized on the Apaches; they hesitated, and suddenly turned their backs, rushing into the river, and leaving on the battlefield more than two-thirds of their comrades.

The colonists contented themselves with firing a few rounds of canister at the fugitives, feeling certain they woould not escape the ambuscade prepared for them. In fact, the musket shots of the peons could soon be heard mingled with the war-cry of the Comanches. In this unfortunate expedition the Black Bear lost in an hour the most renowed warriors of his nation. The chief, covered with wounds, and only accompanied by a dozen men, escaped with great difficulty from the carnage. The victory of the French was complete. For a lont time the colony, through his glorious achievement, was protected from the attacks of the redskins.

When the combat was ended, people sought in vain in every direction for Don Sylva and his daughter: both had disappeared, and no one knew how. This mysterious and inexplicable event struck the inhabitants of the colony with consternation, and changed the joy of the triumph into mourning, for the same idea suddenly occurred to all: —

"Don Sylva and his daughter have been carried off by the Black Bear!"

When the count, after repeated researches, was compelled to allow that the hacendero and his daughter had really disappeared without leaving the slightest trace, he gave way to all the violence of his character, vowed a terrible hatred against the Apaches, and swore to pursue them, without truce or mercy, until he found her whom he considered his wife, and whose loss destroyed at one blow the brilliant future he had dreamed of.