The Insurgent Chief

"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.

CHAPTER XI

THE CAPTIVES

As soon as the reception had terminated, Don Pablo had offered to the Spanish envoys and to the Portuguese officer – that is to say, to Don Zeno Cabral, whom he was far from suspecting was a guest in his camp – a collation that the latter had accepted.

Although camped in one of the most inaccessible parts of the Cordilleras, the Pincheyras – thanks to their continual excursions, to the robberies and pillage they committed in the chacras, the towns and even the cities situated on the two sides of the mountains – were well provisioned; their retreat was filled with the rarest and most delicate things.

By the care of the sister of Don Pablo, charged by her brother with the domestic management, a table had been prepared and covered with a profusion of provisions of all sorts – with sweets, fruits, and liqueurs, and even with the wines of Spain and France, that certainly one would have been far from expecting in such a place.

The Spaniards and the Hispano-American Creoles are generally sober; however, when the occasion presents itself, they by no means scorn the pleasures of a well-furnished table. On this occasion they feasted in emulation of each other on the good cheer provided for them – either on account of the long privations that they had previously endured, or because all was in reality exquisite, and served with much taste. The meal was thus prolonged a considerable time; it was more than three hours after dinner when the guests at last rose from the table.

Don Pablo then took on one side Zeno Cabral, whom he had placed near him at table, and for whom he had a strong liking.

"Señor Don Sebastiao," said he, in a somewhat trembling voice; for notwithstanding, or perhaps on account of, his habitual sobriety, the few glasses of generous wine that the partisan had been obliged to drink while entertaining his guests, had given him a slight touch of drunkenness – "I find you, ¡vive Dios! a charming companion. I should like to do something which will be agreeable to you."

"You do me honour, caballero," answered Zeno Cabral, with some reserve.

"Yes, ¡Dios me ampare! It is so. I confess that this morning I was somewhat thwarted in giving you up the two ladies."

"Why?"

"¡Diablo! I ought to have had a good ransom for them."

"Do not let that distress you, caballero; I am quite ready – "

"No, no," he quickly replied, "do not let us speak of that; I shall gain with others what I have lost with them. I wish now to tell you that I am delighted with what has happened. Bah! you please me – much better that it is so. Besides, these women weary me; they weep continually – it is insupportable."

"Just so; you were saying, then? – "

"Well, I was saying that if I could be agreeable to you in anything, I should be happy if you would allow me to show the esteem I have for you."

"You flatter me, caballero, in speaking, thus; I do not deserve this kindness on your part."

"Well, as you will have it so, I will be frank with you, Señor; there is, indeed, one thing in which you could be useful to me."