University of Virginia Library

11. CHAPTER XI.
THE FRONTIERMAN'S TALE.

At the moment in which the Partisan
commenced his tale, the sun was in the
very act of setting, and the party was
entering the great belt of forest-land,
which has been described as bounding
the view to the westward. This forest
was a vast extent of rolling land, rising
gradually into hills, as it receded from
the river, covered with huge timber
trees, beneath which the underwood
grew dense and luxuriant. The spot
at which they entered it, narrowing by
degrees, as they advanced, into a narrow
winding wood path, not many yards
in whidth where it was broadest, and in
places so straight that but one horse could
go abreast. It was already very dark,
even upon the open plain, but here the
last faint glimmer of the twilight skies
was intercepted by the think foliage.
The night air was, however, delicate
and balmy, and thanks to the friendly
darkness of the night, no danger was to
be apprehended for the present.

Such were the circumstances under
which the old forester began his recital
of events, which, though they had occurred
long before he even knew the
existence of his fellow-travellers, were
now like to affect them nearly, and
which therefore possessed a strange interest
to their minds.

“It was a little better than a year
ago,” he began, “that I first visited this
part of the country, which I now know
—every pass, glen, and pond and rivulet
of it—as if it were my own garden.
All then was violence, and fierce irregular
strife, and vengeful indiscriminate
warfare and confusion. Our army small
in numbers, but strong in discipline, and
spirit, well officered, and confident of its
own powers, lay as yet at Point Isabel,

waiting for the arrival of reinforcements,
and the means of transportation, in order
to take the initiative in earnest. All the
fighting that had been done as yet, had
been done by the rangers, and the Partisan
Texan troopers, who mindful of
the strict discipline and stern subordination
required in regular warfare, did
battle pretty much, as it is said, on their
own hook; and, to speak the truth, had
scarcely learned as yet to temper the
soldier's ardor with the Christian's
mercy.

“It is true, there was much, it not
to excuse, at least to palliate their thirst
for vengeance. Few of them but had
lost some dear relation, or beloved friend,
in the savage raids and forays of the
Mexicans. Many had returned from
expeditions taken in defence of what
they believed to be their right, their liberties,
and their country, only to find
their homes a heap of blood quenched
ashes—only to learn that their wives,
their daughters, all that men hold best
and dearest, had undergone the worst
extremities of outrage, at the hands of
their ruthless enemies, and had rejoiced
in death itself as an escape from suffering,
from dishonor, less tolerable than
the cruelest of tortures.

“I was alone on this good horse which
I now ride, and armed as you now see
me. For then, as now, I scarce can
tell you why it suited my temper best
to ride alone in search of adventure;
and, though at times I would join this
or that band of rangers, when on some
actual service which promised excitement
and the chance of action, I for the
most part scouted by myself.

“On this occasion, however, I had a
special duty to perform, being charged
with despatches from the general to the
chief of the band, which I will not name,
nor otherwise designate, except as being
ever the most daring and successful in
the onslaught, although too often the most
merciless in the moment of victory.”

“I said that I would not name him,
Gordon Nor will I. Perhaps he had
wrongst avenge on these Mexicans,
which justified him in his own eyes, if
not in ours—which turned his blood to
flame, and from the very softness of his
natural heart distilled the bitterest venom.
At all events, he was as you have
said, a gallant soldier, as ever set foot
in stirrup and he died in his duty, gallantly,
within a lance's length of my
sword arm, covering the retreat of others,
when all was lost but honor. Peace to
his ashes, and forgiveness to his sins!
for which of us is sinless? I knew him
when he would have moved aside rather
than tread upon a worm, so soft and
tender was his heart—I knew him again,
when neither youth nor beauty, neither
sex nor gray hairs would bend him from
his ruthless vengeance. Circumstances!
crcumstances! ave! It is circumstance
after all, that makes saints or savages,
monsters or martyrs, of us all! We
will speak of him no more, Lieutenant,
except as I must tell my tale.”

“Pardon my interruption and proceed,”
said Gordon. “We are most
interested in your narrative already.
But what does the fellow want? He has
fallen back upon us.”

And as he spoke, the sergeant who
had been riding in advance, fell back
upon the party, and reined up his horse.

“The road forks into two, Major,”
he said, saluting as he addressed the
Partisan, “at a hundred yards hence.
The right hand path, I fancy, is the one,
by what you told me of the route; but
it is very deep and miry, and seems to
end in a wet morass. Which must I
take, sir?”

“The right hand path. It is not a
morass, but a shallow lakelet or lagoon
with a good hard bottom; it will not
wet your girths Sergeant. But halt,
when you reach the brink of it, and I
will guide you through, or you may
chance to lose the direction. Well, my
friends,” he continued, “I was, as I said,
bearing despatches from the General to
this chief, and he bade me lose no time
in overhauling him. He knew that the
band had set out to surprise a rancho
here-away; in which it was supposed
that a guerilla force was organizing,
and that arms were concealed; and he
thought, I fancy, that they would do
their work too summarily and too fiercely.
He did not tell me so in words, but
he ordered me to overtake them, and
gave me authority to supersede the officer,
we spoke of, as indeed I outranked
him, and to take command of the party.

I did not altogether like the duty;

for, as you may have gathered from my
words, although I did not like his deeds
—indeed I might say I abhorred them—I
had some sympathies for the man; had
passed through troublous times and hard
trials by his side; and indeed owed my
life to him once or twice, as perhaps he
owed his to me. I did not, therefore,
wish to supersede him, or wound his
feelings. I was pretty sure that a quarrel
would come of it; and though I did
not care a straw for the quarrel itself,
I did not fancy quarreling with so old
a comrade. But what of that? I had my
orders, and had no choice but to obey
them.”

“Well, it was a lovely summer's
evening, as ever shone out of heaven,
when I passed through this belt of forest;
not exactly here, or in this direction,
for I came in farther to the south-eastward,
and approached the clearing
which surrounds the plantation, whither
we now are bound. The soft air was
playing, much as it is now, through the
tree-tops; but it was then the very
flush of summer and all the woods were
ablaze with beautiful flowers, and odorous
with innumerable perfumes, and
alive with many colored birds, filling
the forest with their discordant cries or
sweet melodies. It had been a very
hot day, but the evening dews were
falling soft and gentle, and the young
moon was riding high above the tree-tops,
with all her silver stars about her
in the far deep blue sky, though still
the lingering rays of the departed sun
were visible half way towards the zenith
in the west. As yet, it was neither day
nor night. Another hour and every
bird would be tranquil on its rost, every
beast would have sought its den—
but now, it was truly a magic time,filled
with all that is sweetest and most tranquil
of the day, all that is gladdest and
least sober of the night.

“I was moved differently from my wont,
and noticed and felt the influences of
the reason and the hour, as I think I never
noticed them before; for I am not
much of a dreamer, nor greatly given
to romance, being, as you know, rather
a man of action; when suddenly, as I
rode along, following the track of the
horse hoofs, which I could easily distinguish
in the mossy greensward, and
judging by many certain indications that
I could not now be far behind them,
though I heard nothing to denote their
vicinity; when suddenly—I say, I
caught the distant sounds of merriment
and revelry; the light cadences of the
guitar, the merry laugh of girls, the
deep rich voices of male singers, in the
harmonious Spanish tongue, and all the
glee and anxiety of a fandango.

“I felt a momentary sense of pleasure,
for I knew that I was in time
which I had feared might not be the
case; and that the attack, which it was
my mission to prevent or at least to render
bloodless, had not as yet taken
place. The next instant a sudden
doubt, a great fear fell upon me. How
could it be that I should be so close to
the rancho, and the band, of which I
was in pursuit, yet closer, but unseen,
unheard, and unsuspected? I
knew that not a moment must be lost.
That even now the rangers must be
stealing with ready arms upon their
victims; that even now the doom of the
gay lancers must be sealed, unless my
presence should arrest it. I gave my
good horse the spur, and throwing the
rein upon his neck, gallopped at the top
of his speed along the intricate and mazy
wood-track.

“Never, in all my life, did I spur so
hard; and never did a road seem so
long, or so devious; nor was this the
effect of imagination only; for, as I
have since ascertained by actual inspection,
although the distance, as the
bird flies from the spot, where I first,
heard the music, to the rancho whence
it proceeded, is but a short mile, the
road by which alone you can reach it,
measures three at the least, winding to
and fro to avoid pathless brakes and
deep barrancas, and is exceeding deep
and miry.

“The sound of my horse's tramp,
splashing through the deep clay was already
heard by the lancers, and heard
alas! by their ambushed foes, whom I
fear it spurred to accelerated action;
when suddenly from the wood to my
left, the shrill blast of the bugle rose
piereingly upon the night air, and was
answered by a second at a little distance.
There was an instant's pause,
breathless and awful as the lull that

precedes the burst of a thunderstorm;
and then a long loud shout burst out on
all sides, and the quick running rattle of
a hundred rifle shots fired in quick succession.
God! what a shriek succeeded!
And then the clash of blades, and
the blasphemies and yells of the charging
Texans, and the deep oaths and
dying groans of the slaughtered Spaniards,
and the howling of hounds and
mastiffs, and, above all, piercing my
very brain, the maddening screams of
women, pealed up in horrid dissonance
to the peaceful heavens; which, in a
moment afterwards were crimsoned
with the glare of the rushing flames,
making the twilight scenery of the calm
forest lurid and ruddy as the fabulous
groves of hell.”

“Halt! halt! you are at the water's
edge,” cried the voice of the advanced
dragoon, whom they could now scarce
see, though he was but a few paces
from them. For so deep was the gloom
of the woodland now, that had not the
path by which they travelled been
walled in, as it were, by the impenetrable
thickets of the trackless chapparal,
it would have been impossible for them
to follow its direction.

“Oh! do not interrupt your tale,”
cried Julia. “Finish it, will you not?
before we cross this terrible black looking
water.”

“I must not do so, lady,” replied the
deep tones of the Partisan.” This terrible
black looking water, which, by
the way, under a noonday sky is a
beautiful blue mirror as ever reflected
beauty's face when brightest—this water,
I say, once traversed, and the little
belt of thicket which borders it, we shall
be in the open woods, and must halt
there until the moon shall rise to light
us on our onward way. That will not
be for an hour or two; and as we have
made better progress than I hoped or
expected, and as we have passed unharmed
one of our greatest points of
danger, we will make a pause of an
hour to rest ourselves and our beasts,
and will light a brand of fire to cheer
us. There is no danger I assure you,
if you will let me lead your jennet by
the rein. Gordon, keep close to your
lady on the right; and you, my men,
follow closely upon our heels, turning
neither to the bridle nor to the sword
hand. It is a strange place this, though
perfectly safe to one who knows it. A
ridge of pure white gravel, some ten
yards wide, runs right across the lagoon
at this point, not above three feet under
water; while, everywhere else, the
bottom is deep black mud at two or
three fathom. I could ride it, however,
with my eyes blindfolded.”

“I hope so,” Gordon answered,
forcing a laugh, “for if you cannot,
our chance, I think is but a slight one.
The darkness of the night, I fancy,
would prove a most efficient bandage
for the eyes of any ordinary man.”

“Not for mine, Lieutenant,” answered
the Partisan. “I am a sort of
owl, I believe; for I sometimes imagine
I can see better by night than I can by
day. At all events, I can discern the
gap distinctly by which the path pierces
the brake on the farther shore, and I
can mark the glimmering bark of an old
dead tree on the left hand of it,”

“You must indeed have the eyes of
an owl,” said the young soldier. “For
I can distinguish nothing, not even the
forest beyond. It seems to me, that the
lake recedes into endless distance, and
is veiled in impenetrable gloom.”

“When you have ridden as many
leagues by night as I have, you will
see clearer. But come let us enter it.
Indeed, lady, there is no danger, though
you were better gather up the skirt of
your long dress, lest it get splashed by
the water.”

And without farther words, he took
the bridle of her jennet in his right hand
and led it down into the water, she sitting
perfectly passive, and encouraged
by the confidence of his manner, so as
to fear no danger.

In fact, as he said, the water was
shallow; nowhere exceeding three feet
in depth, and in many places scarce
wetting the fet-locks of the horses. Everywhere
the bottom was hard, and the
footing perfectly secure, and they had
already traversed above two thirds of
the whole distance, so that even Julia
could now distinguish the fringed bank
and the spectral-looking weather-bleached
tree, which marked the landing
place, when suddenly two or three
heavy plunges were heard in the deep
water, on either side of them, and as
many long lines of dim phosphoric light

were seen rippling the dark surface of
the pool, and advancing rapidly towards
them.

“Great God! what are those?” cried
Julia, terrified now beyond all comprehension.

And at the same instant, the clear
voice of the Pardsan rose trumpetlike
above the stillness of the night, which
had been broken only by the dashing
of the horse's hoofs in the shallow water.

“Ride! ride!” he shouted; ride for
your lives I say.” And, as he spoke, he
drove the spurs rowel deep into his own
horse's sides, and lifting Julia's palfrey,
with a light but powerful hand, he forced
them both at once from a walk into a
full gallop.

The foam and spray were driven
high in the air, for three or four bounds
of their high mettled beasts, and the
riders were drenched from head to foot
with the water churned up by the rapid
hoofs. But happily it was but three or
four bounds; and the whole party stood
a moment after the alarm was given,
in safety on the farther bank, just as
three monstrous alligators, for such were
their latest enemies, shot fiercely up to
the very shore, in pursuit of their hardly
escaped prey.

The next instant, a wild melancholy
thrice repeated cry, Hoo! hoo! hoo!
rose from the thicket close before them,
making the blood run cold in Julia's
veins.

“Merciful heaven!” she exclaimed,
“we are beset on all sides!”

“And, almost fainting, she would
have fallen from her horse, had not
Pierre caught her in his arms.

“Dismount,” he cried. “Dismount,
Gordon, she has fainted,” and as he
spoke he placed her gently in her husband's
arms. “Bring her this way! this
way! we shall be on the high ground
in a minute. Look to the horses, lads;
and strike a light, one of you. There
are flint, steel and tinder in the pouch
by my holsters. Why it was nothing
but a Congar. Who would have thought
she would have been so frightened at
the cry of a Congar?”

“She has gone through enough to-day
to kill twenty women with terror,” returned
Gordon, very anxiously. “God
only grant that this has not killed her.
She has no pulse, that I can feel, at all,
and her heart is as still as death.”

“No! no!” cried the Partisan. “No!
no! do not fear, we will have some
fire in the twinkling of an eye; and all
will be right. Here we are—wrap her
in my blanket; and chafe her hands;
she will come too, in a minute.”

In a very short time, the formidable
western axe was brought into play, and
dry wood was felled and split in sufficient
quantities to build an ample fire.
The genial warmth which was diffused
by this, and the sedulous attentions
which were bestowed on her, soon restored
Julia Gordon to her senses; and,
with that buoyancy of spirits peculiar to
persons of her excitable and impulsive
temperament, so soon as she returned to
her consciousness, she recovered all her
wonted elasticity of mind, and brilliancy
of manner.

After some short and hurried conversation
concerning the danger which
they had just escaped from the hideous
alligators, and the habits as well of that
loathsome reptile as of the slick and
glossy congar, whose cry had been the
immediate cause of alarm, which, acting
on Julia's over-wrought spirits and
over-fatigued frame, had produced her
fainting fit, the thoughts of all the party
returned to the narrative of the Partisan.

Both Julia and Gordon felt sure that
their prospects of present safety and
future escape were, by some means or
other, connected with the persons of that
narrative; and, with the feverish and
nervous irritation which urges men, in
times of immediate danger and despondency,
to seek how they may penetrate
the secrets of futurity, they now eagerly
pressed Delacroix to resume his recital
at the point where it had been interrupted.

“I think,” he replied at first to their
solicitations, “that it were wiser in you,
by far, to endeavor to get some rest, if
it were but an hour. The night is as
yet but little spent; and, so soon as the
moon rises, we must again be in the
saddle. There may be danger again, I
would warn you; and danger of a nature
which, should your fortitude give
way as it did but now, could not be
avoided; and whether there be danger
or no, there will be at least extreme fatigue.”

“Oh, no!” said Julia, earnestly. “It
is impossible: I cannot sleep. Oceans
of laudanum could not make me sleep
to-night, I am so fearfully excited.
Should I lie down and attempt to court
sleep, my own thoughts would lash me
into madness. But it is selfishness in
me to hinder you from rest. Let me
not influence you, I entreat. I pray
you, Partisan, Gordon, I command you,
lie down in your cloaks and sleep. I
will sit and watch by the fire: I assure
you I am not in the least afraid. See,
the men are already sound asleep, as if
there were no danger within miles.”

“They have no responsibility,” answered
the Partisan: “so soon as the
horses were securely tethered, and the
fire kindled, their duties were ended. I
told them I required no sentinel; and,
used to act ever under orders, they have
almost forgotten how to think—perhaps,
happier so. For us—I can speak for
Gordon as for myself—the necessity of
exerting every faculty on my part, to
ensure your safety, and deep anxiety on
his part, must, at all events, hold us
watchers until such time, at least, as we
can see you in temporary safety. If,
therefore, you are not inclined to sleep,
I may as well kill time by my poor
story, as let it lag along at its own weary
pace.”

“Go on, I pray you. We are quite
comfortable here, and quite safe, I fancy;
and I am dying to hear what happened
next.”

“I will resume the thread then,
where I broke it off abruptly. When I
heard that tremendous uproar, and saw
the outburst of that furious conflagration,
I spurred my horse the faster, and
at last, issuing from the forest, came
upon such a scene of horror, blood, and
devastation, as I trust it may never be
my fate to look upon again.

“The raneho or country dwelling-house
which had been attacked, was of
unusually large dimensions, consisting
of many buildings, with barns, stables,
cattle-folds, and out-houses of every
kind, which are the necessary appendages
to the residence of a great proprietor.
All these were built of the
usual sun-dried brick, thatched with
straw, and to all, as I thought at the first
glance, the torch had been applied indiscriminately.

“The main building—a large, low,
one-story house, adorned with wide,
rustic porticos, and surrounded by green
lawns and luxuriant gardens—was already
wrapt in flames, which burst out
in broad sheets from every door and
window.

“The gay gardens were all trampled
down and wasted, the greensward literally
flooded with gore, and piled with
the bodies of men, women, nay, even
children—some dead already, some
writhing in the death-pang, all slaughtered
ruthlessly and almost unresisting,
in the midst of harmless relaxation and
light-hearted revelry. Most of these
had been destroyed by the first fatal
volley poured in upon them by the ambushed
enemy, who had stolen upon
their sports unsuspected. The women,
all of whom were young, and many
rarely beautiful, were clad in their Gala
dresses, with bare necks and bare arms,
and high combs and floating veils, and
garlands in their beautiful black hair.
The men, a few of whom had been
spared long enough to draw their swords
in a vain attempt at resistance, were
evidently thinking of anything but war,
when surprised by the exterminating
thunder of the western rifle. Broken
guitars and ladies' fans, and tables covered
with refreshments and adorned
with flowers, lay scattered here and
there, overturned and broken, among
the sadder relics of maimed and massacred
humanity. Many large dogs,
some the superb and faithful sheep-dogs
of the famous Mexican breed, lay slain
beside their masters, faithful even to
death.

“But of the ruthless murderers—for
even I can call them by no other name
—not one had fallen. On the other
side of the great court-yard, barns and
stables were blazing; and the appalling
yells and cries which proceeded from
them, told how the poor domestic animals
were perishing in agony within
those fire-girdled walls. For a moment,
I looked around bewildered.
There was not one living, conscious
being, of whom I could ask a question,
or learn whither had swept the bloody
tide of attack and flight; for there were
no sounds of resistance, nor even of terror
and havoc, any longer, if it were
not the roaring of the devastating conflagration,

and the appalling screams
and bellowings of the tortured horses
and oxen.

“Suddenly, a pistol shot or two startled
me, followed by a shout and the
clashing of swords from a distant quarter
of the garden, sheltered by a rich
grove of orange trees, in full bloom, and
other shrubs of rare odoriferousness and
beauty.

“I was still mounted, and with the
speed of light I galloped toward the spot
whence those sole sounds of human life
proceeded. Across the smoothly-shaven
lawns and luxuriant flower-beds, I drove
my charger recklessly, and the torn
limbs and shattered stems of the beautiful
and fragrant shrubs, told the fierce
speed with which I forced my way
through them. I came up! I was yet
in time! It was a small low building
of two rooms only, the inmost of which
had windows reaching to the ground,
secured with jalousies, and perfectly
embowered by the rich leaves and
vagrant tendrils of a hundred climbing
parasites.

“And this lone bower, evidently the
abode of some soft Spanish beauty, was
now the last citadel of the hapless inhabitants,
mercilessly attacked and desperately
defended. It was fortunate for
those within it, that the Texans had discovered
it from the court-yard, with
which it communicated only by one
door in a massive wall of stone—all its
windows opening into the secluded
quarter of the garden, which they had
not as yet discovered.

“From the court-yard, separated from
the garden in which I stood by the high
and massive wall I have named, the
shouts and rush of armed men came
clearly to my ears; and, by the English
tongue, the wild oaths, and the bitter
denunciating, I readily perceived that it
was the band of whom I was in pursuit,
and that they were forcing their way
into the building, in despite of all opposition.
Still it was evident to me, by
the silence which prevailed in the inner
room—opposite to the casements of
which I stood—that this last sanctum
was yet unforced, though the rapid discharge
of pistol and rifle shots, and the
clash of rapier and bowie-knife at the
door, announced that its security was
menaced, and could not certainly be
maintained many minutes longer.

“There was not a second to be lost.
Springing down from my horse, with
one pistol in my left hand, a second in
my belt, my good broadsword in my
right hand, and my wood-knife between
my teeth, I drove the frail jalousies
asunder with one blow of my foot, and
stood the next moment in the scene of
terror. And God of mercy! what a
scene that was! Should I live centuries,
I never can forget it. It was but
a second that I gazed around me; yet,
in that fleeting second, I took in more
minute details than I could recount to
you in an hour; and so indelibly is
every small particular engraved in the
tablets of my memory, that, did I but
possess the painter's art, I could lay
them down, each and all, on canvass, to
the very life.

“The chamber was the sleeping-room
of some young female; and the
pure, spotless bed, with its snow-white
drapery, the crucifix and holy water in
a niche above the pillow, the exquisitely
wrought mats on the floor, the walls curtained
with needle-work, and adorned
with the finest works of Spanish art;
the large, old-fashioned, deeply-cushioned
chairs; the tables strewn with feminine
implements, flowers, and books
and implements of music; the very dim
and mellowed twilight which alone penetrated
the close jalousies and the
dense foliage overshading them—all
these suggested an idea, which words
cannot convey, of pure, contented innocence,
of refined, half-voluptuous luxury,
mingled with the calm love of peaceful
meditation and religious solitude.
Yet this sweet spot was already the
abode of death—might even be the
scene of outrage worse than death.

“On the low, virgin bed was stretched
—where it had been hastily deposited
by the alarmed bearers—the lifeless
corpse of an old man—an old Spanish
gentleman; for none could look on the
high, noble features, the broad, smooth,
massive brow, and the snow-white silky
hair, which fell down in long curls beside
his thin, wan cheeks, without feeling
the conviction that he looked on all
that was left of a high-minded and chivalrous
gentleman. A small, round,
livid hole in the centre of his forehead,

surrounded by a discolored spot, and
the blood which had flowed from the
back of his head and deluged all the
cambric pillow-covers, showed plainly
that he had fallen by the unerring missile
of a Texan rifle; while the placid
expression of his features, and the smile
on his wan lips, proved that he had been
shot down in cold blood, when thinking
of anything rather than anger or hostility.
I learned afterward that he was
killed, in the very act of offering hospitality,
by the first shot discharged that
day, on his own threshold; and I do not
regret that the perpetrator of the atrocious
deed fell, that same day, by my
hand and this good weapon.

“But to proceed.—On the floor, close
to the window by which I made my entrance,
lay stretched an aged woman,
the wife apparently of him who slept
unconscious—happy that he was unconscious—of
the horrors which surrounded
him. She, too, had been struck
down, as I judged, not a moment before
I entered, by a chance bullet; for she
still breathed a little, although life was
fast ebbing from her veins in spite of the
efforts of the loveliest girl my eyes had
then looked upon, who knelt beside her,
seemingly unaware of the fierce uproar
which was raging, nearer and nearer
every moment, in the adjoining apartment,
the door of which stood wide open,
allowing the horrid din, the hideous imprecations,
and the blue sulphurous
smoke of the death-shots, which rang
incessantly without, to force their way
unhindered, into that quiet chamber.

“I said that one quick glance showed
me all this, and, in truth, I had not leisure
for a second; for I was not well
within the chamber, when a tall young
Spaniard staggered back to the threshold
of the door, and discharging a pistol
at the Texans, while in the very act of
dropping, fell headlong on the floor upon
his back, his left hand, which still
grasped the yet smoking pistol, striking
the ground within a few inches of the
feet of that fair girl. She started at the
dreadful interruption, and for the first
time, becoming aware of my presence,
uttered a long wild shriek; and, believing
that her hour had come, arose to her
feet with an effort, and laying her hand
on her bosom, said—in a low, sweet
voice, in the Spanish tongue—`Strike
if you will; but, in the name of the
most Holy Virgin! harm not an orphaned
virgin!'

“Alarmed by her cry, a young gentleman
richly dressed, who was defending
the door, with rapier and dagger,
with all the valor of despair, and whose
back had been turned toward us, looked
around quickly, and, as he did so, received
a sharp wound in the breast from
a Texan knife. The murderous weapon
was raised to repeat the blow, when
I seized him violently by the shoulder,
cast him back into the middle of the
room, crying `Amigo,' and thrust myself
into his place, confronting alone the
infuriate assailants.

“The men knew me in an instant,
and seemed to anticipate my errand;
for at first they all started back and
lowered their weapons. Had he of
whom we spoke been present at that
moment, the affair was ended; but he
was in some other part of the premises,
pursuing the fugitives, or urging on the
destroyers; and it unfortunately so occurred,
that the men before me were
the very worst, and most dreadful ruffians
of the troop. Their blood was up,
moreover; and several of them to the
intoxication of heated passions and unbridled
license had added the intoxication
of wine; quantities of which had
been found on the premises, and had
been drunk without stint, to quench
the fiery thirst engendered by the heat
of indulged hatred and ungoverned fury.

“It was in vain that I called on them
to hold, and demanded their captain.—
My answer was, that they were all captains
there alike, and would take no
command from any, coupled to an insolent
warning to take myself out of
harm's way if I were wise, before
worse should come of it. I am not
myself of the gentlest or most pacific
temper in the world; and opposition is
wont to make me somewhat difficult to
deal with. As one of those wretches
came pressing upon me violently, I
ordered him to stand off for a mutineer,
he aimed a blow at me with his bowie-knife,
and I retorted by shooting him
through the head on the instant. Half
a dozen set upon me, but not before my
second pistol was out, and a second marauder
stretched at my feet. Then, at
it we went, hand to hand; and what

with my better arms—for my long
straight broadsword and wood-knife
kept their short cutting blades easily at
a distance—and what with the protection
afforded me by the doorway within
which I stood, I held them all at bay
for ten minutes or better, without giving
or taking a wound. I could have
settled half a dozen of them without
any trouble in the world, but I did not
wish to imitate them; and acting on
the defensive solely, I gave them time
to take thought, and recover their coolness
of mind.

“Bye and bye, finding they could
not force me, and that exchanging cuts
and thrusts without any result was but
dry work, the rearmost of my assailants
began to fall off one by one, so that I
was left with only three or four in front
of me, and those awaiting only an opportunity
to withdraw themselves without
absolutely showing the white feather.
This opportunity soon presented
itself, for hearing the continued din and
uproar from this small out of the way
building, the leader of the party, whose
hot thirst for blood was already satiated
—to do him justice, his fits of rage are
as transient as they are murderous—
and who already had begun to repent
the horrors he had perpetrated, came
hastily that way.

“A moment or two before he reached
the spot, he was informed of my coming,
and of the resistance I had met
from his men; and the first thing I
knew of his approach, was hearing his
voice raised to its highest and fiercest
tones. Whether he would come in,
therefore, as a friend or a foe—whether
he would hear reason, or resent my interference
as an insult, was to me a
matter perfectly doubtful and uncertain.
The doubt, however, did not last
long, for scarce had I distinguished the
first accents of his angry voice, before
he rushed into the room. There was
blood on his face, on his hands, on the
blade of his sabre, which he bore still
unsheathed. He was as pale as ashes;
even his lips were white, not with fear
nor with fury, but with the sick exhaustion
that follows ever on the heel of
over-fierce excitement. But so soon as
his eye fell upon the group opposing
me, and saw that I was fighting on the
defensive, it seemed positively to flash
fire—his white cheek gleamed with a
red unnatural hectic—and he actually
gnashed his teeth with rage. “Rascals!
Dogs! Mutineers!” he shouted,
“Do you dare to resist an officer?
Down with them, Pierre; down with
the dogs! Spare them no longer!
Give them no quarter!” and suiting the
action to the word, as the hindmost man
of the party turned round, aghast at
finding himself as it were between two
fires, he threw himself upon him, and
ran his sword through his body. The
rest flung down their arms, and with
some difficulty, I obtained their grace,
for he would hear at first of nothing but
drum-head court-martial, and immediate
execution.

“And now, my tale is told. That
bower is the sole relic of a once rich
and noble residence—that fair pale girl
is, with the sole exception of her brother,
who was the wounded youth I mentioned,
the last scion of a race as noble as
ever came from the shores of old Castile.
Time has repaired the outward
ruin, and the rich vegetation of this land
of flowers has converted the smoke-blackened
piles, which were once a
palace, into pyramids of greenery and
glowing blossoms. The devastation
and desolation of a ruined heart what
can repair? Marguerita dwells in her
father's halls, once so proud, so happy,
and so great, a lonely mourner, impoverished
if not absolutely needy, without
companions, friends or servants, except
one aged couple and their son, a shepherd
boy, who absent with his flocks,
escaped the massacre. Respect for her
misfortunes, and shame, perhaps, for
the barbarity of their maddened countrymen,
renders her sacred to Americans.
Among the Mexicans she is, of
course, regarded as a martyr and an
angel.”

“Great God!” can such things be,
and not call down Heaven's thunder?”
cried Julia, who had listened with indescribable
anxiety to the wild tale.

“Ask rather, what things cannot be,
when the hounds of war and havoc are
let slip—when the fiercest and most
savage passions of the most fierce and
untamed men are released from the restraints
of society and law—when hot
animal courage is alone rewarded, alone
regarded as a virtue, and the first of

virtues—when whole nations, when
grave passionless men, when ministers
of God's holy gospel, when delicate and
lovely women, vie with each other in
bestowing honors and praise, te deums,
aye, and love itself on those whose sole
title to their approbation is written in
the blood of fellow beings.”

“You speak eloquently, Partisan,”
replied the young dragoon, “perhaps
truly; certainly as one feeling what he
thinks. Yet you too are a soldier.”

“Perhaps I am aweary of the trade.”
He answered gloomily, letting his head
droop upon his chest. “Or rather,” he
added, correcting himself, “I am a soldier
no longer, though I wear a soldier's
weapons. I buckled them on when my
own country—for Texas was my country—was
invaded; and when its independence
was secured, I laid them by,
though not to rest, as needless. If you
see me in arms now, it is that the wild
spirit of adventure, which has become
second life to me, urges me to the scenes
where daring deeds are done, and where
bold men encounter boldly. I might
add, and I believe truly, that my presence
in the field has done much since
that day to allay, nothing to inflame,
the atrocities of national animosity, and
invading warfare. My sword is rarely
drawn now, except in defence of myself
or of others, who like yourselves need
my assistance—are you answered?”

“Answered sufficiently, at least, to
see that I have no cause to regret, but
much to rejoice at in the fact, that if
not a soldier, you are still at least a
Partisan.”

“But tell me,” exclaimed Julia, who
had listened rather impatiently to the
late discussion. “Her brother! what
became of her brother who was wounded,
whom you saved?”

“What could become of him. We
pulled his sombrero over his eyes,
buckled his father's sword to his side,
and his good spurs to his heel, took
lance and lasso, backed his best horse,
and never since has given quarter to a
man who speaks with an English
tongue. I would not bet a dollar that
he would spare my life, if I fell into his
hands in action.”

“And have you never seen him
since?”

“Twice! once we met in a sharp
charge of horse—the same in which
that captain of whom I told you, fell—
and fell by Juan de Alava's hand—and
then we crossed swords, and laid on
loud as the old ball ds say, until we
were separated in the meleé. Again,
when he was taken in the very act of
leading a squadron of our dragoons,
disguised as a guide, into an ambuscade
of Carrera's lancers. The noose
was about his neck, I can tell you; and
the other end of the rope was cast over
the stout limb of a live oak. In two
minutes more, had I not come up at the
nick of time, the last their male of the
Alavas would have been dancing on a
tight rope.”

“And how, taken in a crime so flagrant,
could ever your influence save
him?”

“One life is no great boon, in return
for a hundred and fifty. It was I
warned the detachment, and saved all
their throats from being cut, within ten
minutes. Do you think the Major,
whose life and military reputation I had
saved, was like to refuse me such a trifle
as the life of a poor devil of a Mexican
spy? He stared at me as though
I were mad when I asked it, but when
he saw that I was in earnest, he bade
the troopers kick him out of the camp
and let him go to the devil. I begged
him off the kicking, too, and I believe
he thought more of that than of my
saving his sister or his life; at least, he
shook my hand that time, which he had
never done before, and bade `God speed
me.' ”

“And where is he now, or how engaged?”
asked Gordon.

“Since Romano Fallon's troop has
been broken up, he is Padre Taranta's
right hand man. He is the most dangerous
enemy America now has in all
Mexico.”

“And it is to his sister's dwelling
that you are leading me?” asked Julia
in astonishment.

“Even so, lady. If once you cross
her threshold, you are safe against all
the force of Mexico, until such time as
we can bring you succor, or a flag
under which you may enter the lines.”

“For her, I can well believe you,
Partisan; for she were no true woman,
if she would not shed her heart's blood,
ere you should scratch your finger;

but what if he, what if this dreadful
brother should be there.”

“He is there, lady, with half Taranta's
band. It was to his party that our
captive was flying, when the Camanches
slew him.”

“And what shall save me, then—
what shall save us all from the Spaniard's
vengeance?”

“The Spaniard's honor, lady.”

“And will you trust to so frail a
chancé?”

“So frail, lady! the honor of an
honorable man is stronger than the Gibraltar's
rock. But were it frailas the
frailest thing on earth, it is all that is
left to which you can be trusted. To
his protection I will commit you, reverentially
be it spoken, rather than to
any safeguard in the world, save that of
the most High.”

“Then so will I,” said Julia, cheerfully,
“then so will I commit myself to
it, without a doubt. Will not you, Arthur?”

“It seems that we have no choice,”
he answered, gloomily, as if not altogether
satisfied.

“If we had fifty, and the Partisan
spoke thus, this choice would be my
choice,” replied Julia, firmly; and her
slender form appeared to wax more
majestical, and her innocent and dove-like
features assumed a higher and
more spirited meaning as she expressed
her determination, filled for the moment
with the impulse of heroic resolution.