The Freebooters: A Story of the Texan War

CHAPTER XVII.
THE SPY

While these events were occurring, the sun had set, and night almost immediately succeeded day. So soon as the Jaguar had closed the trap on his prisoners, he proceeded toward the masked door to rejoin his comrades; but a sound of footsteps he heard outside, made him change his plans; he shut the door again, and returned to his old position to await the newcomer. The latter did not delay long. Although the night was too dark to allow the Jaguar to recognise his features, by the sparkling of his gold lace, and the clank of his spurs and steel scabbard on the pavement, he saw that he was once more in the presence of a Mexican officer high in command. At the end of a moment, however, the Jaguar's eyes, gifted possibly with that precious quality possessed by animals of the feline race to see through the darkness, appeared to have recognised the stranger. The young man frowned, and gave a start of disappointment.

"Is there no one here?" the officer asked, as he stopped in the doorway with very excusable hesitation.

"Who are you, and what do you want?" the Jaguar answered, disguising his voice.

"That is a curious question," the officer continued, as he stepped forward with his hand on his sabre hilt; "first have this room lighted up, which looks like a cut-throat's den, and then we will talk."

"It is not necessary for what we have to say to each other, you can leave your sabre at rest; although this house is dark, it is no cut-throat den, as you seem to believe."

"What has become of General Rubio and the officers who accompanied him?"

"Am I their keeper, Colonel Melendez?" the Jaguar asked in a sarcastic tone.

"Who are you, who appear to know me and answer so strangely?"

"Perhaps a friend, vexed at seeing you here, and who would be glad were you elsewhere."

"A friend would not hide himself as you are doing."

"Why not, if circumstances compel him?"

"A truce to this exchange of puerile speeches; will you answer my question, yes or no?"

"Which question?"

"The one I asked you about the General."

"Suppose I refuse?"

"I shall know how to compel you."

"That is haughty language, Colonel."

"Which I shall support by deeds."

"I do not think so: not that I doubt your courage, Heaven forbid, for I have long known it."

"Well! What will prevent me?"

"You have not the means to carry out your wishes."

"They are easily found."

"Try it."

While speaking, the Colonel had mechanically taken a couple of steps into the room.

"I shall soon return," he said, as he laid his hand on the door latch.

The Jaguar only answered by a hoarse laugh. The door was closed, in vain did the Colonel try to open it; it resisted all his efforts.

"I am your prisoner, then?" he said, addressing the young man.

"Perhaps so; it will depend on yourself."

"You wish me to fall into the same snare into which the General and his officers probably fell before me. Try it, Señor; still I warn you that I am on my guard, and will defend myself."

"Your words are harsh, Colonel. You gratuitously insult a man of whom, up to the present, you have no cause to complain, and whom you will regret having attacked when you know him."

"Tell me the fate of my companions, and what your intentions are with regard to myself."

"My intentions are better than yours, Colonel; for, if you had me in your power, as I have you in mine, it is probable that your General, if not yourself, would make me pay dearly for the imprudence I have committed; but enough of this, we have lost too much time already. General Rubio and his officers are my prisoners, and you feel in your heart that I can do what I please with you; withdraw the soldiers who surround my house, pledge me your word of honour that no attempt shall be made on me by the Mexican Government for four-and-twenty hours, and I will immediately restore you all to liberty."

"I know not who you are, Señor; the conditions you wish to impose on me are those a conqueror would offer to enemies reduced to impotence."

"What else are you at this moment?" the young man interrupted violently.

"Be it so; but I cannot take it on myself to accept or decline these conditions, as the General alone has the right to form a determination and pledge his word."

"Then, ask himself what his intentions are, and he will answer you."

"Is he here, then?" the Colonel exclaimed eagerly, as he moved a step forward.

"It is of little consequence to you where he is, provided he hear and answer you; do not stir from where you are; one step further, and you are a dead man; what is your resolve?"

"I accept."

"In that case speak to him."

The Jaguar worked the spring that opened the trap, and displayed the entrance of the vault into which the Mexican officers had been so suddenly hurled; but the darkness was so intense, that the Colonel could perceive nothing, in spite of his efforts to try and distinguish a gleam; he merely heard a slight sound produced by the grating of the trap in its groove. The Colonel understood that he must get out of the difficulty as well as he could.

"General," he said raising his voice, "can you hear me?"

"Who speaks?" the General answered immediately.

"I, Colonel Melendez de Gongora."

"Heaven be praised!" the General shouted; "in that case all goes well."

"On the contrary, all goes ill."

"What do you mean?"

"That, like yourself, I am in the hands of the accursed insurgents who have captured you."

"Mil Demonios!" the old soldier shouted angrily.

"Are you all right?"

"Bodily, yes; my officers and myself have received no wounds; I must confess that the demon who played us this trick was so far civil."

"Thanks, General," the Jaguar said in a tone of mockery.

"Ah, Salteador," the General exclaimed in a rage; "I swear by Heaven that we shall settle our accounts some day."

"I hope so too, General; but for the present, believe me, you had better listen to what Colonel Melendez has to say to you."

"I suppose I must," the Governor muttered. "Speak, Colonel," he added aloud.

"General, we are offered our liberty on condition," the Colonel immediately replied, "that we pledge our word of honour to attempt nothing against the man whose prisoner we are."

"Or against his adherents, whoever they may be," the Jaguar interrupted.

"Be it so, or against his adherents, during the next twenty-four hours, and that the house shall be left free."

"Hum: " said the General, "that requires reflection."

"I give you five minutes."

"Demonios! That is very short; you are not at all generous."

"It is impossible for me to grant a longer period."

"And suppose I refuse?"

"You will not do so,"

"For what reason?"

"Because you are furious with me, and hope to avenge yourself some day."

"Excellently reasoned; but supposing I do refuse?"

"In that case, I will treat you and yours exactly as you intended to treat me and mine."

"That is to say?"

"You will be all shot within a quarter of an hour."

There was a mournful silence. No other sound could be heard but the dry and monotonous one produced by the escapement of the clock. These men, collected without seeing each other, in so narrow a space, felt their hearts beat as if to burst their chests; they trembled with impotent rage, for they recognised that they were really in the hands of an implacable foe, against whom any struggle was mad, if not impossible.

"Viva Dios!" the Colonel shouted; "better to die than surrender thus!"

And he rushed forward with uplifted sabre. Suddenly a hand of iron clutched him, threw him down, and he felt the point of his own sword, which he had let fall, slightly prick his throat.

"Surrender, or you are a dead man," a rough voice shouted in his ear.

"No; mil Demonios!" the Colonel said, furiously; "I will not surrender to a bandit; kill me."

"Stop," the Jaguar said, "I insist."

The man who held the Colonel down left him at liberty, and the latter rose, ashamed and partly stunned.

"Well," the young man continued, "do you accept, General?"

"Yes, demon," the latter replied passionately; "but I shall revenge myself."

"Then, you give me your word as a soldier that the conditions I impose on you will be legally carried out by you?"

"I give it; but who guarantees me that you will act honourably on your side?"

"My honour, Señor General," the Jaguar answered, proudly; "my honour, which, as you know, is as unsullied as your own."

"Very good, Señor, I trust to you as you do to me. Must we surrender our swords?"

"General," the Jaguar answered nobly, "a brave soldier never separates from his weapons; I should blush to deprive you of yours. Your companions, like yourself, can keep their swords."

"Thanks for that courtesy, Caballero, for it proves to me that every good feeling is not dead in your heart. Now I am waiting for you to supply me with the means for leaving the place into which you made me fall so skilfully."

"You shall be satisfied, Señor General. As for you, Colonel, you can retire, for the door is now open."

"Not before I have seen you," the officer answered.

"What good would that do, since you have not recognised me?" the young man said, reassuming his natural voice.

"The Jaguar!" the Colonel ejaculated in surprise.

"Ah! I might have expected that; I shall certainly remain now," he added, with a singular inflection in his voice.

"Very good," said the Chief, "remain."

He clapped his hands, and four peons entered with lighted candelabra. So soon as the saloon was lit up, the young officer perceived the General and his aides-de-camp standing up in the vault. A criado brought a ladder to the trap, and the Mexicans ascended – half-pleased, half-ashamed.

"Gentlemen," the insurgent continued, "you are free. Any other in my place would, doubtless, have profited by the bad position in which you were, to impose on you conditions far harder than those I demanded of you; but I only understand a fair fight, steel against steel, chest against chest. Go in peace, but take care, for hostilities have begun between us, and the war will be rude."

"One word before separating," said the General.

"I listen, Caballero."

"Whatever may be the circumstances under which we may meet at a later date, I shall not forget your conduct of this day."

"I dispense you from any gratitude on that account, General; the more so, because if I acted thus it was for reasons entirely strange to you."

"Whatever be the motive of your conduct, my honour urges me to remember your conduct."

"As you please; I only ask you to remember our conditions."

"They shall be punctually carried out."

The Jaguar, upon this, bowed to the General; the latter returned his salute, and, making a sign to his officers to follow him, left the room. The young Chief listened attentively to the sound of the retiring footsteps, and then drew himself up.

"What!" he exclaimed with surprise, on perceiving the Colonel, "are you still here, Señor Don Juan?"

"Yes, brother," the latter answered, in a sad voice, "I am still here."

The Jaguar walked rapidly up to him, and took his hand.

"What have you to say to me, brother? – have you a fresh misfortune to announce?"

"Alas, friend, what greater misfortune could I tell you of than that which, by ruining our dearest hopes, has plunged us into despair?"

"Have you received news of our friends?"

"None."

"Tranquil?"

"I know not what has become of him."

"Loyal Heart?"

"Has also disappeared."

"Listen, brother, this situation cannot endure long; whatever happens, it must cease. Time fails me at this moment to explain to you certain matters you ought to know; but we will meet tomorrow."

"Where, and at what hour?"

"At the Salto del Frayle, at two in the afternoon."

"Why so far and so late, brother?"

"Because between this and then something will happen, which I cannot tell you at present, but which will doubtless oblige me to cross the bay and seek shelter on the mainland."

"I have no right to ask you for an explanation, brother; but take care. Whatever you may attempt, you will have to deal with a rude adversary; the General is furious against you; he has his revenge to take; and if you furnish him with the opportunity, he will not let it slip."

"I am convinced of it, friend, but the die is cast; unfortunately, we follow different roads. Heaven will help the good cause. Your hand once more, and good-bye."

"Good-bye, brother, and it is settled that we meet tomorrow."

"Death alone can prevent me being at the place of meeting I have selected."

The two political enemies, so cordially attached, shook hands and separated. The Colonel wrapped himself in his cloak, and immediately left the room and the house. The General, as he went away, had given the company posted round the mansion orders to follow him, and the street was completely deserted. The Jaguar was so intimately convinced of the fidelity with which General Rubio would fulfil his engagements, that he did not even take the trouble to assure himself of the fact.

So soon as he was alone he closed the trapdoor, touched the spring of the secret door, and left the saloon in his turn, to enter the dark corridor through which, on the General's entrance, his friends had disappeared at the heels of John Davis. This passage, after several turnings, opened into a rather large room, in which all the conspirators were assembled, silent and gloomy, waiting, with their hands on their weapons, till the Chief claimed their assistance.

Lanzi was standing sentry in the doorway, to prevent any surprise: the Jaguar resumed his mask, thrust his pistols in his girdle, and entered. On seeing him, the conspirators gave a start of joy, which was immediately suppressed, however, at a signal from the young man.

"My comrades," he said, in a saddened voice, "I have evil tidings to communicate to you. Had not my measures been so well taken, we should all have been prisoners at this moment. A traitor has slipped in among us, and this man has given the Governor the most detailed and positive information about our projects. A miracle has alone saved us."

A shudder of indignation ran through the ranks of the conspirators; by an instinctive movement they separated, giving each other sinister glances, and laying their hands on their weapons. The vast hall, only lighted by a smoky lamp, whose reddish light threw strange reflections at each breath of air on the energetic faces of the conspirators, had a mournful, and yet striking aspect. After a moment's silence the Chief went on, in a firm and marked voice —

"What matter, comrades, if a cowardly spy has stepped in among us; the hour of fear and hesitation has passed away, and we shall now go to work in the sight of all. No more secret meetings, no more masks," he added, violently tearing off his own and trampling it under foot; "our enemies must know us at length, and learn that we are really the apostles of that liberty which is about to gleam like a brilliant beacon over our country."

"Long live the Jaguar!" the conspirators shouted as they rushed joyfully towards him.

"Yes, the Jaguar," he continued in a thundering voice, "the Chief of the Freebooters, the first man in Texas who dared to rise against our oppressors; the Jaguar, who has sworn to make you free, and who will keep his oath, unless death prevent him; now let the coward who has sold us complete his work by revealing my name to the Governor, who has already almost divined it, and will be happy to acquire the certainty at last. This final denunciation will assuredly be paid highly, but he must make haste, for tomorrow will be too late."

At this moment a man burst through the conspirators, thrusting back right and left those who barred his passage, and placed himself opposite the young Chief.

"Listen," he said, turning to his comrades, "and let what you are about to hear form a profitable lesson to you: – The man who revealed the secret of your meetings to the Governor, the man who sold you, the man, in a word, who wished to give you up, I know!"

"His name, his name!" all the conspirators shouted, brandishing their weapons passionately.

"Silence!" the Jaguar ordered, "allow our comrade to speak."

"Do not give me that name, Jaguar, for I am not your comrade, and never was such. I am your enemy, not your personal enemy, for I do not know you; but the enemy of every man who tries to tear from the Mexican Republic that Texas where I was born, and which is the most brilliant gem of the union. It was I, I alone who sold you, I, Lopez Hidalgo D'Avila, but not in the cowardly way you suppose, for when the moment arrived for me to make myself known to you, I had sworn to do so; now you know all, and I am in your power. There are my weapons," he added, as he threw them disdainfully on the ground; "I shall not resist, and you can do with me as you please."

After uttering these words with a haughty accent impossible to render, Don Lopez Hidalgo proudly crossed his arms on his chest, drew up his head, and waited. The conspirators had listened to this strange revelation with an indignation and rage that attained such a pitch of violence that their will was, so to speak, paralyzed, and in spite of themselves they remained motionless. But so soon as Don Lopez had finished speaking, their feelings suddenly burst out, and they rushed upon him with tiger yells.

"Stay, stay!" the Jaguar shouted, as he rushed forward and made of his own person a rampart for the man on whom twenty daggers were lifted; "Stay, brothers; as this man has said, he is in our power, and cannot escape us; although his blood be that of a traitor, let us not commit an assassination, but try him."

"Yes, yes," the conspirators yelled, "let us try him."

"Silence," the Jaguar ordered, and then turning to Don Lopez Hidalgo, who during their proceedings had remained as calm and quiet as if he were a stranger to what was going on; "will you answer frankly the questions I ask you?" he inquired.

"Yes," Don Lopez simply replied.

"Was it pure love of your country, as you call it, that urged you to pretend to be one of us in order to betray us more securely, or was it not rather the hope of a rich reward that impelled you to the infamous action of which you have been guilty?"

The Mexican shrugged his shoulders with disdain.

"I am as rich as the whole of you put together," he replied; "who does not know the wealthy Don Lopez Hidalgo d'Avila?"

"That is true," one of the company remarked; "this man, I am bound to allow, for I have been acquainted with him for many years, does not know the amount of his fortune."

The Jaguar's forehead was wrinkled by the effect of a little thought.

"Then, that noble and revered feeling, the love of one's country, instead of elevating your soul and making generous feeling spring up in it," he continued, "has made you a coward. Instead of fighting honestly and loyally in the daylight against us, you followed the gloomy path of espial to betray us, and assumed the mask of friendship to sell us."

"I only picked up the weapon yourselves offered me. Did you fight, pray, in the open day? No, you conspired craftily in the darkness; like the mole, you dug the underground mine that was to swallow us up, and I countermined you. But what use is discussion? for you will no more comprehend my assertions than I can yours. Now to the business, for I am convinced that is the only point on which we shall agree."

"One moment, Don Lopez; explain to me the reason why, when no suspicion pointed to you, when no one thought of asking you to account for your actions, you denounced yourself and trusted to our mercy:"

"Although unseen, I overheard what passed between you and your Governor," the Mexican coldly answered; "I saw in what way the perilous position in which I had succeeded in placing you turned to your advantage; I understood that all was lost, and did not wish to survive our defeat."

"Then you know the conditions I imposed on General Rubio?"

"And which he was constrained to accept. Yes, I know them; I am aware, also, that you are too clever and determined a man not to profit by the twenty-four hours' respite which you have so adroitly gained; then I despaired of the cause I was defending."

"Good! Don Lopez, that is all I wished to know. When you entered our association you accepted all the laws?"

"I did so."

"You are aware that you have deserved death?"

"I know it and desire it."

The Jaguar turned to the conspirators, who had listened, panting with fury and impatience, to this singular dialogue.

"Brothers," he said, "you have heard all that passed between Don Lopez Hidalgo d'Avila and myself?"

"Yes," they answered.

"On your soul and conscience, is this man guilty?"

"He is guilty," they burst forth.

"What punishment does he deserve?"

"Death!"

"You hear, Don Lopez; your brethren condemn you to die."

"I thank them; that favour is the only one I hoped and desired to receive from them."

There was a moment of supreme silence; all eyes were fixed on the Jaguar, who, with his head hanging on his breast, and frowning brows, seemed plunged in serious thought. Suddenly the young man raised his head; a lightning glance flashed from his eyes, a strange smile curled his lip, and he said, with a tone of bitter irony —

"Your brethren have condemned you to die; well, I, their Chief, condemn you to live!"

Don Lopez, despite all his courage, felt himself turn pale at these cutting words; he instinctively stooped to pick up the weapons he had previously hurled at his feet; but the Jaguar guessed his thoughts.

"Seize that man!" he shouted.

John Davis and two or three other conspirators rushed on the Mexican, and, in spite of his active resistance, soon rendered him powerless.

"Bind him," the Jaguar next ordered.

This command was immediately carried out.

"Now, listen to me, brothers," the Jaguar continued, in a loud voice – "the task we have taken on ourselves is immense, and studded with perils and difficulties of every description; we are no longer men but lions, and those who fall into our power must eternally bear the mark of our powerful claws. What this man has done for an object honourable in his eyes, another might be tempted to do to satisfy a sordid passion. Death is only the end of life, a moment to endure; many men desire it, through weariness or disgust. Don Lopez has himself told us that he wished to give us a profitable lesson; and he is not mistaken, for we shall profit by it. In killing him we should but accomplish his dearest wish, as himself said: let him live, as we desire to punish him, but let that life he retains be such a burden to him, and so miserable, that he may for ever regret not having fallen beneath our daggers; this man is young, handsome, rich, and honoured by his fellow citizens; let us deprive him, not of his riches, for that is not in our power, but of his beauty, that flower of youth of which he is so proud, and make him the most wretched and despicable being in creation. In that way our vengeance will be complete; we shall have attained our object by imprinting a just terror on the hearts of those who may be tempted hereafter to follow his example."

The conspirators, despite all their resolution and ferocity, experienced a secret terror on hearing the savage words of their chief, whose gloomy countenance reflected a terrible energy.

"Don Lopez Hidalgo d'Avila," the Jaguar continued, in a hollow voice, "traitor to your brothers, your false tongue will be plucked out and your ears cut off. Such is the sentence which I, the Chief of the Freebooters, pass on you; and in order that everybody may know that you are a traitor, a T will be cut on your forehead between your eyebrows."

This sentence caused a momentary stupor among the company; but soon a tiger-like yell burst from all their panting chests, and it was with a tremor of ferocious joy that these men prepared to carry out the atrocious sentence pronounced by their Chief. The prisoner struggled in vain to burst the bonds that held him. In vain he demanded death with loud cries. As the Jaguar had said, the lion's paw was on him; the conspirators were inexorable, and the sentence was carried, out in all its rigour.

An hour later, Don Lopez Hidalgo d'Avila, bleeding and mutilated, was deposited at the door of the Governor's palace. On his chest was fastened a large placard, on which were written in blood the two words:

COBARDE! TRAIDOR!

After this fearful execution, the conspirators continued their meeting as if nothing extraordinary had interrupted them. But the Jaguar's revenge was foiled – at least partially; for when the unhappy victim was picked up at daybreak he was dead. Don Lopez had found the strength and courage to dash out his brains against the wall of the house near which he had been thrown as an unclean animal.