The White Chief: A Legend of Northern Mexico Read online

  CHAPTER FIFTY TWO.

  The mulatto and zambo--Manuel and Pepe were their respective names--inhalf-an-hour after were ready for the road. Their preparations did notcost them half that time; but a quarter of an hour was spent on the_guisado_, and each smoked a husk cigarrito, while their horses weregrinding up the half-dozen heads of green maize that had been thrownthem.

  Having finished their cigars, the hunters leaped into their saddles, androde off.

  The mulatto was armed with a long rifle, of the kind used by Americanhunters, and a knife of the sort since known as a "Bowie," with a strongthick blade keenly pointed and double-edged for some inches from thepoint--a terrible weapon in close combat. These arms he had broughtwith him from the Mississippi valley, where he had learnt how to usethem.

  The zambo carried an escopeta strapped in a slanting direction along theflap of his saddle, a machete upon his thigh, and a bow with a quiver ofarrows hung over his back. The last of these weapons--for certainpurposes, such as killing game, or when a silent shot may be desirable--is preferred to any sort of fire-arms. Arrows can be delivered morerapidly than bullets, and, should the first shot fail, the intendedvictim is less likely to be made aware of the presence of his enemy.

  In addition to these weapons, both had pistols stuck in their belts, andlazos hanging coiled from their saddle-bows.

  Behind them on the croup each carried his provisions--a few strips oftasajo with some cold tortillas tied in a piece of buckskin. Adouble-headed calabash for water, with sundry horns, pouches, and bags,completed their equipment. A pair of huge gaunt dogs trotted behindtheir horses' heels, fierce and savage-looking as their masters. Onewas the wolf-dog of the country, the other a Spanish bloodhound.

  "What road, Man'l?" inquired the zambo as they parted from the hut;"straight down to the Pecos?"

  "No, Pepe boy: must climb, go round. Seen making down valley, somebodyguess what we're after--send him word we're coming. He suspect--we notgrow rich so easily. No--must get up by old track--cross to dry gully--down that to Pecos. Take longer--make things surer, boy Pepe."

  "Carrambo!" exclaimed Pepe. "It's a murderous climb. My poor beast'sso jaded with the buffalo running, that he'll scarce get up. _Carrai_!"

  After a short ride through the thicket and along the bottom of thecliffs, they arrived at a point where a ravine sloped to the upperplain. Up the bottom of this ravine was a difficult pass--difficult onaccount of its steepness. Any other horses than mountain-rearedmustangs would have refused it, but these can climb like cats. Even thedogs could scarcely crawl up this ascent. In spite of its almostvertical slope, the hunters dismounted, crawled up, and, pulling theirhorses after them, soon reached the table-land above.

  After breathing themselves and their animals, they once more gotastride, and, heading northward, rode rapidly off over the plain.

  "Now, boy Pepe," muttered the mulatto, "chance meet any sheep-keepers,going after antelope; you hear?"

  "Ay, Man'l; I understand."

  These were the last words exchanged between them for ten miles. Theyrode in file--the mulatto in the lead, the zambo in his tracks, and thedogs following in the rear. These two went also in file, the bloodhoundheading the wolf.

  At the end of ten miles they reached a dry river channel, that rantransversely across their route. It was the same which Carlos and hisparty had followed on the day of their escape after the affair at thePresidio. The hunters entered it, and, turning downward, as Carlos haddone, followed it to its mouth upon the banks of the Pecos. Here was agrove of timber, which they entered, and, having dismounted, tied theirhorses to the trees. These animals, though lately arrived from a longjourney, and now having passed over more than thirty miles at a briskrate, showed no symptoms of being done up. Lean though they were, theypossessed the tough wiry strength of their race, and either of themcould have gone another hundred miles without breaking down.

  This their masters well knew, else they would have gone upon theirman-hunt with less confidence of success.

  "May gallop away on his fine black," remarked the mulatto, as he glancedat the mustangs. "Soon overhaul him again--won't we, boy Pepe?"

  "_Chinga_! we will."

  "Brace of hacks tire out racer,--won't they, boy Pepe?"

  "_Chingara_! So they will, Man'l."

  "Don't want to try that game though--do the job easier; won't we, boyPepe?"

  "I hope so, Man'l."

  "Cibolero in the cave sure--stays there--no better place for him. Won'tbe caught sleeping,--troopers never follow him up the pass. Convenientto valley. Goes back and forward spite of spies. Tracks could leadnowhere else--sure in the cave, horse and all. When? that the trouble,boy Pepe."

  "_Es verdad_! if we knew when he was in, or when he was out, either."

  "Ay, knew that, no difficulty,--set our trap easy enough, boy Pepe."

  "He must surely be there in daytime?"

  "Just been thinking--goes to the settlements--must be by night, that'sclear--goes there, boy Pepe, maybe not to rancho, somewhere near. Mustgo to meet Anton. Not like Anton meet him at cave--guero too sharp forthat--goes out to meet Anton, sure!"

  "Might we not track Anton?"

  "Might track Anton--no good that--would have to deal with both together.Besides, don't want kill Anton--no ill-will to Anton--make things worseif find Anton with him. Never do, boy Pepe--have hands full with guerohimself--plenty do capture him. Must not forget capture--not kill--leave that to them. No use track Anton--know where t'other keeps. Ifdidn't know that, then might track Anton."

  "Can't we get near the cave in daylight, Man'l? I don't have a goodmemory of the place."

  "Mile--no nearer--unless he sleep--when sleep? Tell me that, boy Pepe!"

  "And suppose he be awake?"

  "See us enter the canon, mile off--jump into saddle, pass up to plainabove--maybe three days before find him again--maybe not find at all,boy Pepe."

  "Well, brother Man'l--I have a plan. Let us get near the mouth of thecanon, and hide outside of it till night--then as soon as it is darkcreep into where it narrows. He will come down that way to go out.What then? we can have a shot at him as he passes!"

  "Pooh, boy Pepe! Think lose chance of half reward--risk whole by shotin dark? Dam! no--have whole or none--set us up for life--take himalive, take him alive, sure."

  "Well then," rejoined the zambo, "let him pass out of the canon, andwhen he's gone clear out of reach we can go up, get into the cave, andwait his return. What say you to that?"

  "Talk sense now, boy Pepe--something like plan about that--what we do--but not go inside canon till guero clear away. Only near enough see himgo out, then for cave--right plan to take him. Sun near dawn, time westart--come!"

  "_Vamos_!"

  Both mounted, and rode forward to the bank of the river. There was noford at the spot, but what of that? With scarce a moment's delay theyplunged their horses into the stream and swam across. The dogs followedtheir example, and all came out dripping on the opposite bank. Theevening was chill, but what was heat or cold to such men? Nothingsignified their wet clothes to them; and without halting they rodestraight forward to the ceja of the Llano Estacado, and having reachedit turned to the right, and rode along the base of the bluffs.

  After following the line of the ceja for two or three miles theyapproached a spur of the cliff that ran out into the plain, andgradually tapered to a point, sinking lower as it receded from theLlano. It ended in a clump, or rather several clusters, of isolatedrocks and boulders that stood near each other. The place was nottimbered, but the dark rocks irregularly piled upon each other gave it ashaggy appearance; and among their crevices, and the spaces betweenthem, was ample room for even a large party both of men and horses tolie concealed.

  The end of this rocky promontory was the point towards which the mulattowas steering. It formed one side of the ravine in which lay the cave,while another similar ridge bounded the ravine on its southern side.Between them a deep
bay indented the cliff, from which a narrowdifficult pass opened up to the high plain above. It was the sameravine in which the cattle of the young ranchero Don Juan had beenslaughtered! These were no longer to be seen, but their bones werestill visible, scattered over the plain, and already bleached white.The wolves, vultures, and bears, had prepared them for that.

  The man-hunters at length reached their destination; and, having ledtheir horses in among the loose boulders, fastened them securely. Theythen crept up through crevices in the rocks, until they had reached thecrest of the ridge. From this point they commanded a view of the wholemouth of the land-bay, about three hundred yards in width, so that noobject, such as a man or horse, could pass out or in without theirobserving it--unless the night should chance to be very dark indeed.But they expected moonlight, by the help of which not even a cat couldenter the ravine without their seeing it.

  Having found a spot to their liking, they lay down, with their bodiesconcealed from any one who might be passing on the plain below either infront of or behind them. Their horses were already hidden among thelarge masses of rock.

  To the minds of both their purposed plan of action was clearlyunderstood. They had their reasons for believing that the cibolero,during his period of outlawry, was dwelling in a cave that opened intothis ravine, and which was well-known to the mulatto; that Carlos cameout in the night, and approached the settlements--the place was but tenmiles from his own rancho--and that he was met somewhere by Antonio, whogave him information of what was going on, bringing him provisions atthe same time.

  It was their intention to wait until Carlos should pass out, then occupythe cave themselves, and attack him on his return. True they might havewaylaid him on his going forth, but that might result in a failure.Catch him they could not while mounted. They might have crept nearenough to get a shot at him, but, as the mulatto had said, that wouldhave risked their losing him altogether.

  Moreover, neither wanted to take only his scalp. The mulatto inparticular had resolved on earning the double price by _taking himalive_. Even though it cost them some additional risk, his capturewould doubly reward them, and for money these desperadoes were ready toventure anything. Withal, they were not so daring as to have cared foran open encounter. They knew something of the mettle of "el guero," butthey trusted to the advantage they should obtain over him by stratagem.On starting out they had resolved to follow him up, and steal upon himwhen asleep--and the plan which they had now formed had been the resultof cogitations by the way. In Manuel's mind it had been developed longbefore the suggestion of the zambo.

  They rested their hopes upon the belief that their victim would not knowthat they were after him--he could not have heard of their return fromthe buffalo-hunt, and therefore would be less on the alert. They knewif Carlos became aware that they were upon his trail he would pursue a_very_ different course from that observed towards his soldier-pursuers.From these he could easily hide at any time upon the Llano Estacado,but it was different with men like the hunters, who, though they mightnot overtake him at the first burst, could follow on and find him againwherever he should ride to.

  But both mulatto and zambo believed that their presence would beunsuspected by the guero, until they had laid hands upon him. Hencetheir confidence of success.

  They certainly had taken measures that promised it, supposing theirhypothesis to be correct--that is, supposing the cibolero to be in thecave at that moment, and that during the night he should come out of theravine.

  They were soon to know--the sun had already gone down. They would nothave long to watch.