The Insurgent Chief

"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."