It was well on in the afternoon of the following day before the four spoil-laden2 savages4 who had sought shelter in the cave again showed themselves outside. Then came they filing forth5, one after the other, in the same order as they had entered; but so changed in appearance that no one seeing them come out of the cavern6 could by any possibility have recognised them as the same men who had the night before gone into it. Even their animals had undergone some transformation. The horses were differently caparisoned; the flat American saddle having been removed from the back of the grand Kentucky steed, and replaced by the deep-tree Mexican silla, with its corona7 of stamped leather and wooden estribos. The mules8, too, were rigged in a different manner, each having the regular alpareja, or pack-saddle, with the broad apishamores breeched upon its hips9; while the spoils, no longer in loose, carelessly tied-up bundles, were made up into neat packs, as goods in regular transportation by an atajo.
The two men who conducted them had altogether a changed appearance. Their skins were still of the same colour—the pure bronze-black of the Indian—but, instead of the eagle’s feathers late sticking up above their crowns, both had their heads now covered with simple straw hats; while sleeveless coats of coarse woollen stuff, with stripes running transversely—tilmas—shrouded their shoulders, their limbs having free play in white cotton drawers of ample width. A leathern belt, and apron10 of reddish-coloured sheepskin, tanned, completed the costume of an arriero of the humbler class—the mozo, or assistant.
But the change in the two other men—the chief and him addressed as Roblez—was of a far more striking kind. They had entered the cave as Indians, warriors11 of the first rank, plumed12, painted, and adorned13 with all the devices and insignia of savage3 heraldry. They came out of it as white men, wearing the costume of well-to-do rancheros—or rather that of town traders—broad glazed14 hats upon their heads, cloth jackets and trousers—the latter having the seats and insides of the legs fended15 with a lining16 of stamped leather; boots with heavy spurs upon their feet, crape sashes around the waist, machetes strapped17 along the flaps of their saddles, and seraphs resting folded over the croup, gave the finishing touch to their travelling equipment. These, with the well appointed atajo of mules, made the party one of peaceful merchants transporting their merchandise from town to town.
On coming out of the cave, the leader, looking fresh and bright from his change of toilet and late purification of his skin, glanced up towards the sky, as if to consult the sun as to the hour. At the same time he drew a gold watch from his vest pocket, and looked also at that.
“We’ll be just in the right time, Roblez,” he said. “Six hours yet before sunset. That will get us out into the valley, and in the river road. We’re not likely to meet any one after nightfall in these days of Indian alarms. Four more will bring us to Albuquerque, long after the sleepy townsfolk have gone to bed. We’ve let it go late enough, anyhow, and mustn’t delay here any longer. Look well to your mules, mozos! Vamonos!”
At the word all started together down the gorge19, the speaker, as before, leading the way, Roblez next, and the mozos with their laden mules stringing out in the rear.
Soon after, they re-entered the mountain defile20, and, once more heading north-westward, silently continued on for the valley of the Rio del Norte. Their road, as before, led tortuously21 through canons and rugged22 ravines—no road at all, but a mere23 bridle24 path, faintly indicated by the previous passage of an occasional wayfarer25 or the tracks of straying cattle.
The sun was just sinking over the far western Cordilleras when the precipitous wall of the Sierra Blanca, opening wider on each side of the defile, disclosed to the spoil-laden party a view of the broad level plain known as the valley of the Del Norte.
Soon after, they had descended26 to it; and in the midst of night, with a starry27 sky overhead, were traversing the level road upon which the broad wheel-tracks of rude country carts—carretas—told of the proximity28 of settlements. It was a country road, leading out from the foot-hills of the sierra to a crossing of the river, near the village of Tomé, where it intersected with the main route of travel running from El Paso in the south through all the riverine towns of New Mexico.
Turning northward29 from Tomé, the white robbers, late disguised as Indians, pursued their course towards the town of Albuquerque. Any one meeting them on the road would have mistaken them for a party of traders en route from the Rio Abajo to the capital of Santa Fé.
But they went not so far. Albuquerque was the goal of their journey, though on arriving there—which they did a little after midnight—they made no stop in the town, nor any noise to disturb its inhabitants, at that hour asleep.
Passing silently through the unpaved streets, they kept on a little farther. A large house or hacienda, tree shaded, and standing30 outside the suburbs, was the stopping place they were aiming at; and towards this they directed their course. There was a mirador or belvidere upon the roof—the same beside which Colonel Miranda and his American guest, just twelve months before, had stood smoking cigars.
As then, there was a guard of soldiers within the covered entrance, with a sentry31 outside the gate. He was leaning against the postern, his form in the darkness just distinguishable against the grey-white of the wall.
“Quien-viva?” he hailed as the two horsemen rode up, the hoof-strokes startling him out of a half-drunken doze32.
“El Coronel-Commandante!” responded the tall man in a tone that told of authority.
It proved to be countersign33 sufficient, the speaker’s voice being instantly recognised.
The sentry, bringing his piece to the salute34, permitted the horsemen to pass without further parley35, as also the atajo in their train, all entering and disappearing within the dark doorway36, just as they had made entrance into the mouth of the mountain cavern.
While listening to the hoof-strokes of the animals ringing on the pavement of the patio37 inside, the sentinel had his reflections and conjectures38. He wondered where the colonel-commandant could have been to keep him so long absent from his command, and he had perhaps other conjectures of an equally perplexing nature. They did not much trouble him, however. What mattered it to him how the commandant employed his time, or where it was spent, so long as he got his sueldo and rations39? He had them with due regularity40, and with this consoling reflection he wrapped his yellow cloak around him, leaned against the wall, and soon after succumbed41 to the state of semi-watchfulness from which the unexpected event had aroused him.
“Carrambo!” exclaimed the Colonel to his subordinate, when, after looking to the stowage of the plunder42, the two men sat together in a well-furnished apartment of the hacienda, with a table, decanters, and glasses between them. “It’s been a long, tedious tramp, hasn’t it? Well, we’ve not wasted our time, nor had our toil18 for nothing. Come, teniente, fill your glass again, and let us drink to our commercial adventure. Here’s that in the disposal of our goods we may be as successful as in their purchase!”
Right merrily the lieutenant43 refilled his glass, and responded to the toast of his superior officer.
“I suspect, Roblez,” continued the Colonel, “that you have been all the while wondering how I came to know about this caravan44 whose spoil is to enrich us—its route—the exact time of its arrival, the strength of its defenders—everything? You think our friend the Horned Lizard45 gave me all this information.”
“No, I don’t; since that could not well be. How was Horned Lizard to know himself—that is, in time to have sent word to you? In truth, mio Coronel, I am, as you say, in a quandary46 about all that. I cannot even guess at the explanation.”
“This would give it to you, if you could read; but I know you cannot, mio teniente; your education has been sadly neglected. Never mind, I shall read it for you.”
As the colonel was speaking he had taken from the drawer of a cabinet that stood close by a sheet of paper folded in the form of a letter. It was one, though it bore no postmark. For all that, it looked as if it had travelled far—perchance carried by hand. It had in truth come all the way across the prairies. Its superscription was:—
“El Coronel Miranda, Commandante del Distrito Militario de Albuquerque, Nuevo Mexico.”
Its contents, also in Spanish, translated read thus:—
“My dear Colonel Miranda,—I am about to carry out the promise made to you at our parting. I have my mercantile enterprise in a forward state of readiness for a start over the plains. My caravan will not be a large one, about six or seven waggons47 with less than a score of men; but the goods I take are valuable in an inverse48 ratio to their bulk—designed for the ‘ricos’ of your country. I intend taking departure from the frontier town of Van Buren, in the State of Arkansas, and shall go by a new route lately discovered by one of our prairie traders, that leads part way along the Canadian river, by you called ‘Rio de la Canada,’ and skirting the great plain of the Llano Estacado at its upper end. This southern route makes us more independent of the season, so that I shall be able to travel in the fall. If nothing occur to delay me in the route, I shall reach New Mexico about the middle of November, when I anticipate renewing those relations of a pleasant friendship in which you have been all the giver and I all the receiver.
“I send this by one of the spring caravans49 starting from Independence for Santa Fé, in the hope that it will safely reach you.
“I subscribe50 myself, dear Colonel Miranda,—
“Your grateful friend,—
“Francis Hamersley.”
“Well, teniente,” said his Colonel, as he refolded the far-fetched epistle, and returned it to the drawer, “do you comprehend matters any clearer now?”
“Clear as the sun that shines over the Llano Estacado,” was the reply of the lieutenant, whose admiration51 for the executive qualities of his superior officer, along with the bumpers52 he had imbibed53, had now exalted54 his fancy to a poetical55 elevation56. “Carrai-i! Esta un golpe magnifico! (It’s a splendid stroke!) Worthy57 of Manuel Armilo himself. Or even the great Santa Anna!”
“A still greater stroke than you think it, for it is double—two birds killed with the same stone. Let us again drink to it!”
The glasses were once more filled, and once more did the associated bandits toast the nefarious58 enterprise they had so successfully accomplished59.
Then Roblez rose to go to the cuartel or barracks, where he had his place of sleeping and abode60, bidding buena noche to his colonel.
The latter also bethought him of bed, and, taking a lamp from the table, commenced moving towards his cuarto de camara.
On coming opposite a picture suspended against the sala wall—the portrait of a beautiful girl—he stopped in front, for a moment gazed upon it, and then into a mirror that stood close by.
As if there was something in the glass that reflected its shadow into his very soul, the expression of exultant61 triumph, so lately depicted62 upon his face, was all at once swept from it, giving place to a look of blank bitterness.
“One is gone,” he said, in a half-muttered soliloquy; “one part of the stain wiped out—thanks to the Holy Virgin63 for that. But the other; and she—where, where?”
And with these words he staggered on towards his chamber64.
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1
transformation
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| n.变化；改造；转变 | |
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laden
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| adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的 | |
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savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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savages
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| 未开化的人，野蛮人( savage的名词复数 ) | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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cavern
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| n.洞穴，大山洞 | |
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corona
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| n.日冕 | |
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mules
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| 骡( mule的名词复数 )； 拖鞋； 顽固的人； 越境运毒者 | |
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hips
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| abbr.high impact polystyrene 高冲击强度聚苯乙烯，耐冲性聚苯乙烯n.臀部( hip的名词复数 )；[建筑学]屋脊；臀围（尺寸）；臀部…的 | |
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apron
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| n.围裙；工作裙 | |
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warriors
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| 武士，勇士，战士( warrior的名词复数 ) | |
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plumed
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| 饰有羽毛的 | |
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adorned
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| [计]被修饰的 | |
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glazed
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| adj.光滑的，像玻璃的；上过釉的；呆滞无神的v.装玻璃( glaze的过去式)；上釉于，上光；（目光）变得呆滞无神 | |
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15
fended
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| v.独立生活，照料自己( fend的过去式和过去分词 )；挡开，避开 | |
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lining
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| n.衬里，衬料 | |
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strapped
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| adj.用皮带捆住的，用皮带装饰的；身无分文的；缺钱；手头紧v.用皮带捆扎(strap的过去式和过去分词)；用皮带抽打；包扎；给…打绷带 | |
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toil
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| vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事 | |
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gorge
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| n.咽喉，胃，暴食，山峡；v.塞饱，狼吞虎咽地吃 | |
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defile
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| v.弄污，弄脏；n.(山间)小道 | |
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tortuously
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rugged
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| adj.高低不平的，粗糙的，粗壮的，强健的 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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bridle
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| n.笼头，束缚；vt.抑制，约束；动怒 | |
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wayfarer
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| n.旅人 | |
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descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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starry
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| adj.星光照耀的, 闪亮的 | |
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proximity
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| n.接近，邻近 | |
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northward
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| adv.向北；n.北方的地区 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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sentry
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| n.哨兵，警卫 | |
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doze
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| v.打瞌睡；n.打盹，假寐 | |
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countersign
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| v.副署，会签 | |
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salute
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| vi.行礼，致意，问候，放礼炮；vt.向…致意，迎接，赞扬；n.招呼，敬礼，礼炮 | |
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parley
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| n.谈判 | |
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doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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patio
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| n.庭院，平台 | |
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conjectures
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| 推测，猜想( conjecture的名词复数 ) | |
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rations
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| 定量( ration的名词复数 )； 配给量； 正常量； 合理的量 | |
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regularity
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| n.规律性，规则性；匀称，整齐 | |
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succumbed
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| 不再抵抗（诱惑、疾病、攻击等）( succumb的过去式和过去分词 )； 屈从； 被压垮； 死 | |
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plunder
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| vt.劫掠财物，掠夺；n.劫掠物，赃物；劫掠 | |
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43
lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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44
caravan
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| n.大蓬车；活动房屋 | |
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45
lizard
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| n.蜥蜴，壁虎 | |
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46
quandary
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| n.困惑，进迟两难之境 | |
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waggons
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| 四轮的运货马车( waggon的名词复数 )； 铁路货车； 小手推车 | |
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inverse
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| adj.相反的，倒转的，反转的；n.相反之物；v.倒转 | |
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49
caravans
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| （可供居住的）拖车（通常由机动车拖行）( caravan的名词复数 )； 篷车； （穿过沙漠地带的）旅行队（如商队） | |
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50
subscribe
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| vi.(to)订阅，订购；同意；vt.捐助，赞助 | |
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51
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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52
bumpers
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| （汽车上的）保险杠，缓冲器( bumper的名词复数 ) | |
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53
imbibed
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| v.吸收( imbibe的过去式和过去分词 )；喝；吸取；吸气 | |
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54
exalted
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| adj.(地位等)高的，崇高的；尊贵的，高尚的 | |
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55
poetical
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| adj.似诗人的；诗一般的；韵文的；富有诗意的 | |
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56
elevation
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| n.高度；海拔；高地；上升；提高 | |
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57
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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nefarious
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| adj.恶毒的，极坏的 | |
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accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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abode
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| n.住处，住所 | |
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exultant
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| adj.欢腾的，狂欢的，大喜的 | |
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62
depicted
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| 描绘，描画( depict的过去式和过去分词 )； 描述 | |
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virgin
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| n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的 | |
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chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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