“You do not need them any longer?” said I to Ripley, a gallant3 young fellow, who commanded the howitzer.
“No, Captain; I have thirty artillerists here. It is strange if we can’t keep the piece and manage it against ten times that number of such heroes as we have seen over yonder.” And he pointed4 to the flying enemy on the other side of the barranca.
“What say you to going with us?”
“I should like it well; but duty, my dear H.—duty! I must stay by the gun.”
“Good-bye, then, comrade! We have no time to lose—farewell!”
“Good-bye; and if you’re whipped, fall back on me. I’ll keep the piece here until you return, and there’ll be a good load of grape ready for anybody that may be in pursuit of you.”
The company had by this time formed on the flank of the howitzer, and at the words “Forward!—quick time!” started briskly across the hills.
In a few minutes we had reached the point where the road trended for some distance along the brow of the precipice5. Here we halted a moment; and taking Lincoln and Raoul, I crawled forward to our former point of observation.
Our time spent at the battery had been so short that, with the difficulty which the enemy experienced in descending6 the cliff, the head of their line had only now reached the bottom of the barranca. They were running in twos and threes towards the stream, which, near this point, impinged upon the foot of the precipice. With a small glass that I had obtained from Ripley I could see their every movement. Some of them were without arms—they had doubtless thrown them away—while others still carried their muskets7, and not a few were laden8 with knapsacks, and heavy burdens too; the household gods—perhaps stolen ones—of their own camp. As they reached the green-sward, dropping down in a constant stream, they rushed forward to the water, scrambling9 into it in thirsty crowds, and falling upon their knees to drink. Some of them filled their canteens and went on.
“They intend to take the hills,” thought I. I knew there was no water for miles in that direction.
As I swept the glass round the bottom of the cliff, I was struck with an object that stood in a clump10 of palm-trees. It was a mule11 saddled, and guarded by several soldiers more richly uniformed than the masses who were struggling past them.
“They are waiting for some officer of rank,” thought I. I moved the glass slowly along the line of descending bodies, and upward against the rocks to a small platform, nearly halfway12 up the cliff. Several bright uniforms flashed upon the lens. The platform was shaded with palms; and I could see that this party had halted a moment for the purpose (as I then conjectured13) of allowing the foremost fugitives14 to pioneer the wooded bottom. I was right. As soon as these had crossed the stream, and made some way in the jungle along its banks, the former continued their descent; and now I saw what caused my pulse to beat feverishly—that one of these carried a dark object on his back. An object?—a man—and that man could be no other than the lame15 tyrant16 of Mexico.
I can scarcely describe my feelings at this moment. The young hunter who sees noble game—a bear, a panther, a buffalo—within reach of his rifle for the first time, might feel as I did. I hated this man, as all honest men must and should hate a cowardly despot. During our short campaign I had heard many a well-authenticated story of his base villainy, and I believe at that moment I would have willingly parted with my hand to have brought him as near to me as he appeared under the field of the telescope. I thought I could even distinguish the lines, deep furrowed17 by guilt18, on his dark, malice-marked face; and, as I became sure of the identity, I drew back my head, cautioning my companions to do the same.
Now was the time for action, and, putting up the glass, we crawled back to our comrades. I had learned from Raoul that the dark line which I had noticed before was, as I had conjectured, the cañon of a small arroyo19, heavily timbered, and forming a gap or pass that led to the Plan River. It was five miles distant, instead of three. So much the better, and with a quick, crouching20 gait we were once more upon our way. I had told my comrades enough to make some of them as eager as I. Many of them would have given half a life for a shot at game like that. Not a few of them remembered they had lost a brother on the plains of Goliad, or at the fortress21 of the Alamo.
The Rangers22, moreover, had been chafing23 “all day for a fight”, and now, so unexpectedly led at something like it, they were just in the humour. They moved as one man, and the five miles that lay between us and the gorge24 were soon passed to the rear. We reached it, I think, in about half an hour. Considering the steep pass through which the enemy must come, we knew there was a breathing-time, though not long, for us; and during this I matured my plans, part of which I had arranged upon the route.
A short survey of the ground convinced us that it could not have been better fitted for an ambuscade had we chosen it at our leisure. The gorge or cañon did not run directly up the cliff, but in a zigzag25 line, so that a man at the top could only alarm another coming up after him by shouting or firing his piece. This was exactly what we wanted, knowing that, although we might capture a few of the foremost, those in the rear, being alarmed, could easily take to the river bottom and make their escape through the thickets26. It was our design to make our prisoners, if possible, without firing a single shot; and this, under the circumstances, we did not deem an impossible matter.
The pass was a dry arroyo, its banks fringed with large pines and cotton-woods, matted together by llianas and vines. Where the gorge debouched into the uplands its banks were high and naked, with here and there a few scattered27 palmettos that grew up from huge hassocks of bunch-grass.
Behind each of these branches a rifleman was stationed, forming a deployed28 line, with its concave arc facing the embouchure of the gorge, and gradually closing in, so that it ended in a clump of thick chaparral upon the very verge29 of the precipice. At this point, on each side of the path, were stationed half a dozen men, in such a position as to be hidden from any party passing upward, until it had cleared the cañon and its retreat was secured against. At the opposite end of the elliptical deployment30 a stronger party was stationed, Clayley in command and Raoul to act as interpreter. Oakes and I took our places, commanding the separate detachments on the brow.
Our arrangements occupied us only a few minutes. I had to deal with men, many of whom had “surrounded” buffaloes31 in a somewhat similar manner; and it did not require much tact32 to teach them a few modifications33 in the game. In five minutes we were all in our places, waiting anxiously and in perfect silence.
As yet not a murmur34 had reached us from below, except the sighing of the wind through the tall trees, and the “sough” of the river as it tumbled away over its pebbly35 bed. Now and then we heard a stray shot, or the quick, sharp notes of a cavalry36 bugle37; but these were far off, and only told of the wild work that was still going on along the road towards Encerro and Jalapa.
Not a word was spoken by us to each other. The men who were deployed along the hill lay hidden behind the hassocks of the palmettos, and from our position not one of them was to be seen.
I must confess I felt strange emotions at this moment—one of the most anxious of my life; and although I felt no hate towards the enemy—no desire to injure one of them, excepting him of whom I have spoken—there was something so wild, so thrilling, in the excitement of thus entrapping38 man, the highest of all animals, that I could not have foregone the inhuman39 sport. I had no intention that it should be inhuman. I well knew what would be their treatment as prisoners of war; and I had given orders that not a shot should be fired nor a blow struck, in case they threw down their arms and yielded without resistance. But for him—humanity had many a score to settle with him; and at the time I did not feel a very strong inclination40 to resist what would be the Rangers’ desire on that question.
“Is not all our fine ambuscade for nothing?” I said to myself, after a long period of waiting, and no signs of an enemy.
I had begun to fancy as much, and to suspect that the flying Mexicans had kept along the river, when a sound like the humming of bees came up the pass. Presently it grew louder, until I could distinguish the voices of men. Our hearts as yet beat louder than their voices. Now the stones rattled41, as, loosened from their sloping beds, they rolled back and downwards42.
“Guardaos, hombre!” (Look out, man!) shouted one.
“Carrajo!” cried another; “take care what you’re about! I haven’t escaped the Yankee bullets to-day to have my skull43 cloven in that fashion. Arriba! arriba!”
“I say, Antonio—you’re sure this road leads out above?”
“Quite sure, camarado.”
“And then on to Orizava?”
“On to Orizava—derecho, derecho” (straight).
“But how far—hombre?”
“Oh! there are halting-places—pueblitos.”
“Vaya! I don’t care how soon we reach them. I’m as hungry as a famished44 coyote.”
“Carrai! the coyotes of these parts won’t be hungry for some time. Vaya!”
“Who knows whether they’ve killed ‘El Cojo’?”
“‘Catch a fox, kill a fox.’ No. He’s found some hole to creep through, I warrant him.
“‘El que mata un ladron
Tiene cien años de perdon.’”
(He who kills a robber will receive a hundred years of pardon for the offence.)
This was hailed with a sally by the very men who, only one hour ago, were shouting themselves hoarse45 with the cries of “Viva el general, Viva Santa Anna!” And on they scrambled46, talking as before, one of them informing his comrades with a laugh that if “los Tejanos” could lay their hands upon “El Cojo”, they, the Mexicans, would have to look out for a new president.
They had now passed us. We were looking at their backs. The first party contained a string of fifteen or twenty, mostly soldiers of the “raw battalions”—conscripts who wore the white linen48 jackets and wide, sailor-looking pantaloons of the volunteer.
Raw as these fellows were, either from their position in the battle, or, more likely, from a better knowledge of the country, they had been able thus far to make their escape, when thousands of their veteran companions had been captured. But few of them were armed; they had thrown their guns away in the hurry of flight.
At this moment we could distinguish the voice of Raoul:
“Alto! abajo las armas!” (Halt! down with your arms!)
At this challenge we could see—for they were still in sight—that some of the Mexicans leaped clear up from the ground. One or two looked back, as if with the intention of re-entering the gorge, but a dozen muzzles49 met their gaze.
“Adelante! adelante!—somos amigos.” (Forward!—we are friends), I said to them in a half-whisper, fearing to alarm their comrades in the rear, at the same time waving them onward50.
As on one side Clayley presented a white flag, while on the other there was to be seen a bunch of dark yawning tubes, the Mexicans were not long in making their choice. In a minute they had disappeared from our sight, preferring the companionship of Clayley and Raoul, who would know how to dispose of them in a proper manner.
We had scarcely got rid of these when another string debouched up the glen, unsuspicious as were their comrades of the fate that awaited them.
These were managed in a similar manner; and another and another party, all of whom were obliged to give up their arms and fling themselves to the earth, as soon as they had reached the open ground above.
This continued until I began to grow fearful that we were making more prisoners than we could safely hold, and on the knowledge of this fact they might try to overpower us.
But the tempting51 prize had not yet appeared. He could not be far distant, and, allured52 by this prospect53, I determined54 to hold out a while longer.
A termination, however, to our wholesale55 trapping was brought about by an unexpected event. A party, consisting of some ten or fifteen men, many of them officers, suddenly appeared, and marched boldly out of the gorge.
As these struck the level ground we could hear the “Alto!” of Raoul; but instead of halting, as their companions had done, several of them drew their swords and pistols and rushed down the pass.
A volley from both sides stopped the retreat of some; others escaped along the sides of the cliff; and a few—not over half a dozen—succeeded in entering the gorge. It was, of course, beyond our power to follow them; and I ordered the deployed line to close in around the prisoners already taken, lest they should attempt to imitate their braver comrades.
We had no fear of being assailed56 from the ravine. Those who had gone down carried a panic along with them that would secure us from that danger. At the same time we knew that the tyrant would now be alarmed and escape.
Several of the Rangers—souvenirs of Santa Fé and San Jacinto—requested my permission to go upon his “trail” and pick him off.
This request, under the circumstances, I could not grant, and we set about securing our prisoners. Gun-slings and waist-belts were soon split into thongs57, and with these our captives were tied two and two, forming in all a battalion47 of a hundred and fifteen files—two hundred and thirty men.
With these, arranged in such a manner as we could most conveniently guard them, we marched triumphantly58 into the American camp.
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1
redeem
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| v.买回，赎回，挽回，恢复，履行（诺言等） | |
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folly
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| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
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gallant
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| adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
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4
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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precipice
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| n.悬崖，危急的处境 | |
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6
descending
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| n. 下行 adj. 下降的 | |
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7
muskets
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| n.火枪，（尤指）滑膛枪( musket的名词复数 ) | |
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8
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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9
scrambling
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| v.快速爬行( scramble的现在分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
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10
clump
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| n.树丛，草丛；vi.用沉重的脚步行走 | |
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11
mule
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| n.骡子，杂种，执拗的人 | |
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12
halfway
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| adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途 | |
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13
conjectured
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| 推测，猜测，猜想( conjecture的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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14
fugitives
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| n.亡命者，逃命者( fugitive的名词复数 ) | |
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15
lame
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| adj.跛的，(辩解、论据等)无说服力的 | |
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16
tyrant
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| n.暴君，专制的君主，残暴的人 | |
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17
furrowed
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| v.犁田，开沟( furrow的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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18
guilt
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| n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责 | |
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19
arroyo
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| n.干涸的河床，小河 | |
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20
crouching
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| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的现在分词 ) | |
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21
fortress
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| n.堡垒，防御工事 | |
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22
rangers
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| 护林者( ranger的名词复数 )； 突击队员 | |
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23
chafing
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| n.皮肤发炎v.擦热（尤指皮肤）( chafe的现在分词 )；擦痛；发怒；惹怒 | |
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24
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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25
zigzag
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| n.曲折，之字形；adj.曲折的，锯齿形的；adv.曲折地，成锯齿形地；vt.使曲折；vi.曲折前行 | |
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26
thickets
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| n.灌木丛( thicket的名词复数 )；丛状物 | |
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27
scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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28
deployed
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| （尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的过去式和过去分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用 | |
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29
verge
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| n.边，边缘；v.接近，濒临 | |
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30
deployment
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| n. 部署,展开 | |
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31
buffaloes
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| n.水牛（分非洲水牛和亚洲水牛两种）( buffalo的名词复数 )；（南非或北美的）野牛；威胁；恐吓 | |
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32
tact
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| n.机敏，圆滑，得体 | |
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33
modifications
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| n.缓和( modification的名词复数 )；限制；更改；改变 | |
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34
murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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35
pebbly
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| 多卵石的，有卵石花纹的 | |
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36
cavalry
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| n.骑兵；轻装甲部队 | |
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37
bugle
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| n.军号，号角，喇叭；v.吹号，吹号召集 | |
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38
entrapping
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| v.使陷入圈套，使入陷阱( entrap的现在分词 ) | |
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39
inhuman
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| adj.残忍的，不人道的，无人性的 | |
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40
inclination
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| n.倾斜；点头；弯腰；斜坡；倾度；倾向；爱好 | |
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41
rattled
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| 慌乱的，恼火的 | |
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42
downwards
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| adj./adv.向下的（地），下行的（地） | |
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43
skull
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| n.头骨；颅骨 | |
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44
famished
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| adj.饥饿的 | |
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45
hoarse
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| adj.嘶哑的，沙哑的 | |
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46
scrambled
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| v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
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47
battalion
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| n.营；部队；大队(的人) | |
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48
linen
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| n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的 | |
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49
muzzles
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| 枪口( muzzle的名词复数 )； （防止动物咬人的）口套； （四足动物的）鼻口部； （狗）等凸出的鼻子和口 | |
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50
onward
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| adj.向前的，前进的；adv.向前，前进，在先 | |
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51
tempting
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| a.诱人的, 吸引人的 | |
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52
allured
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| 诱引，吸引( allure的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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53
prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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54
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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55
wholesale
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| n.批发；adv.以批发方式；vt.批发，成批出售 | |
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56
assailed
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| v.攻击( assail的过去式和过去分词 )；困扰；质问；毅然应对 | |
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57
thongs
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| 的东西 | |
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58
triumphantly
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| ad.得意洋洋地；得胜地；成功地 | |
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