Gustave Aimard
The Freebooters: A Story of the Texan War

After carefully listening to Tranquil's remarks, Blue-fox remained silent for some minutes, during which a violent combat went on in his heart; he felt that he was the dupe of the snare into which he had tried to draw the hunter by reminding him of their old friendship; but the murmurs of admiration, which his warriors were unable to suppress, on seeing the Canadian's noble deed, warned him that he must dissimulate, and feign a gratitude which he was far from experiencing.

The power of an Indian Chief is always very precarious; and he is often constrained, in spite of himself, to bow before the demands of his subordinates, if he does not wish to be overthrown and have a new Chief set up immediately in his place. Blue-fox, therefore, slowly drew his scalping knife from his belt, and let it fall at the hunter's feet.

"The great White hunter and his brothers can continue to follow their path," he said; "the eyes of the Apache warriors are closed, they will not see them. The Palefaces can depart, they will find no one on their road till the second moon from this; but then they must take care; an Apache Chief will set himself on their trail, in order to ask back from them the knife he leaves them, and which he will require."

The Canadian stooped down and picked up the knife, which he passed through his belt.

"When Blue-fox asks me for it, he will find it there," he said, as he pointed to it.

"Och! I will manage to take it again. Now, we are even. Farewell!"

The Chief then bowed courteously to his enemies, made a prodigious bound back, and disappeared in the lofty grass. The Apache warriors uttered their war yell twice, and almost immediately their black outlines disappeared in the gloom. Tranquil waited for a few minutes, and then turned to his comrades.

"Now, we will set out," he said; "the road is free."

"You got out of the scrape cleverly," Loyal Heart said to him; "but it was a terrible risk."

The Canadian smiled, but made no further reply. Then they started.

CHAPTER XII.
THE SUMMONS

Europeans, accustomed to the gigantic wars of the Old World, in which enormous masses of two to three hundred thousand men on both sides come into collision on the battle field, where armies have divisions of thirty or forty thousand men, a cavalry often of sixty to eighty thousand sabres, and in which the guns are counted by hundreds, have a difficulty in forming an idea of the way in which war is waged in certain parts of America, as well as the component strength of the armies of the New World.

In Mexico, a population of several millions can hardly collect ten thousand men under arms, an enormous number in those countries. The various republics which were formed on the dismemberment of the Spanish colonies, such as Peru, Chile, New Granada, Bolivia, Paraguay, &c., cannot succeed in assembling more than two or three thousand men under their banners, and that, too, with immense sacrifices; for these countries, which, territorially speaking, are each far larger than England, are nearly deserted, being incessantly decimated by civil war, which gnaws at them like a hideous leprosy, and left almost uninhabitable by the neglect of the various governments, which succeed each other with a giddy and almost fabulous rapidity.

These governments, submitted to rather than accepted by these unfortunate nations, although powerless for good, owing to their precarious duration, are omnipotent for evil, and profit by it to plunder the people, and load their creatures with riches, not troubling themselves about the abyss they are opening beneath their feet, and which, daily growing deeper, will eventually swallow up all these accidental nationalities, which will be dead almost ere they are born, and have only known liberty by name, though never in a position to appreciate its blessings.

Texas, at the period when it claimed its independence, in a contest of ten years, so obstinately, counted over its entire territory only a population of six hundred thousand – a very weak and modest amount, when compared with the seven million of the Mexican confederation. Still, as we have remarked in a preceding chapter, the Texan population was composed, in a great measure, of North Americans – energetic, enterprising men, of known courage, who, annoyed by the long lasting tyranny the Federal government exercised over them, through jealousy and narrowness of views, had sworn to be free at any price, and took up arms in order to guarantee the possession of their estates, and their personal security.

The combat had been going on for ten years; at first timid and secret, it had gradually widened, holding in check the Mexican power, and at length attained that final and supreme period when the alternative is victory or death.

The surprise of the conducta, so skilfully managed by the Jaguar, had been the electric spark destined to definitively galvanize the country, and make it rise as one man for this modern Thermopylae. The independent chiefs, who were fighting all along the border, had, at the unexpected news of the decisive success obtained by the Jaguar, assembled their cuadrillas, and, by common agreement, and through an heroic impulse, ranged themselves under the banners of the youthful chieftain, and pledged him obedience, in order to carry through the liberation of their country.

Thanks to the generous assistance on the part of all the Guerilla leaders, the Jaguar suddenly found himself at the head of imposing forces, that is to say, he collected an army of about eleven hundred men. Our readers must not smile at the name of army given to what would represent a regiment with us. Never before had Texas collected so many fighting men under one Chief. And then, after all, everything is relative in this world, and the greatest masses do not accomplish the most brilliant exploits. Did we not see, a few years back, in Sonora, the heroic and unfortunate Count de Raousset Bourbon, at the head of only two hundred and fifty ragged Frenchmen, half dead with hunger and fatigue, attack Hermosillo, a town of fifteen thousand souls, enclosed with walls, and defended by twelve thousand regulars and six thousand Indians, carry it in an hour, and enter it, sword in hand, at the head of his soldiers, who did not themselves dare to believe in their heroism?⁴

The Jaguar's army was composed of men hardened by lengthened fighting, who burned to cope with the Mexicans, and who, before all, wished to be free! No more was needed for them to accomplish miracles. The Jaguar was thoroughly acquainted with the character of his soldiers; he knew that he must only ask one thing of them – an impossibility – and this he had, consequently, determined to attempt.

Through the wish of the new commander-in-chief, all the captains of cuadrillas assembled in a council of war, in order to draw up a plan of campaign. Each party gave his opinion. The debate was short, for all entertained the same idea – and that was, to seize on the Larch-tree hacienda, in order to cut off the communications of the Mexican army, prevent it from receiving reinforcements from the other states of the confederation; and, once masters of the fortress, to defeat in detail the different Mexican detachments scattered over Texan territory. As this plan was remarkably simple, the Jaguar resolved to carry it out immediately. After leaving a detachment of five hundred horseman to cover his rear, and avoid any surprise, he advanced with his main body by forced marches on the Larch-tree, with the intention of investing and carrying it by assault ere the Mexicans had found time to put a garrison in it and throw up intrenchments.

Unfortunately, despite all the diligence the Jaguar had displayed in the execution of his plan, the Mexicans, owing to the lengthened experience and infallible glance of General Rubio, had been more prompt than he, and the place had been in a perfect state of defence two days ere the Texan army appeared at the foot of its walls.

This disappointment greatly annoyed the Jaguar, but did not discourage him; he saw that he would have to lay siege to the Larch-tree, and bravely made his preparations. The Americans dug up the soil with wondrous rapidity, and a night was sufficient for them to finish the preparatory works, and make breast-works and parapets. The Mexicans gave no signs of life, and allowed the insurgents to establish themselves in their lines without opposition; by sunrise all was finished.

It was a strange spectacle offered by this handful of men, who, without artillery or siege material of any description, boldly traced lines round a stoutly-built fortress, admirably situated for resistance, and defended by a numerous garrison, which was determined not to surrender. But what in this heroic madness produced admiration, and almost stupor, was the conviction these men had that they would eventually take the place. This persuasion, by doubling the strength of the insurgents, rendered them capable of accomplishing the greatest things.

As they arrived after sunset, when the night had all but set in, the Texans had formed an imperfect idea of the defensive state of the place which they proposed to besiege; hence, when day broke, they eagerly proceeded to see what enemy they would have to deal with. The surprise was anything but agreeable to them, and they were compelled to confess to themselves in their hearts that the job would be a tough one, and that the intrenchments they proposed to carry had a formidable appearance. This surprise was changed almost into discouragement when the fortress haughtily hoisted the Mexican flag, saluting it with several rounds of grapeshot, which fell into the centre of the camp, and killed and wounded some fifteen men.

But this movement of weakness was but short; a reaction speedily took place in these energetic men, and it was with hurrahs and shouts of joy that they displayed the colours of Texan independence. For valid reasons they did not accompany the hoisting of their flag by cannon shots, but they saluted it with salvos of musquetry, whose well-sustained fire gave back to the besieged the death they had scattered through the camp.

The Jaguar, after attentively examining the fortifications, resolved to proceed according to rule, and summon the place to surrender before beginning the siege seriously. Consequently, he hoisted a white flag on the top of the entrenchments, and waited; a few moments later, a flag of the same colour appeared on the breastwork thrown up outside the place.

The Jaguar, preceded by a trumpeter, followed by two or three officers, left the camp and climbed up the hill on which the hacienda was situated. A number of officers equal to his own had left the place and advanced to meet him. On arriving at about an equal distance from the two lines, the Jaguar halted, and in a few minutes the Mexican officers, commanded by Don Felix Paz, joined him. After the usual compliments had been exchanged with extreme politeness, the Major-domo asked —

"With whom have I the honour of speaking?"

"With the Commander-in-Chief of the Texan army," the Jaguar answered.

"We do not recognise any Texan army," the Major-domo said drily. "Texas forms an integral portion of Mexico; her army, the only one she ought to possess, is Mexican."

"If you do not know the one I have the honour of commanding," the Jaguar said with a smile of superb irony, "ere long, please Heaven, it will have made so much noise, that you will be compelled to recognise it."

"That is possible; but for the present we do not know it."

"Then, you do not wish to parley?"

"With whom?"

"Come, Caballero, suppose we are frank with one another – are you willing?"

"I wish for nothing better."

"You know as well as I do that we are fighting for our independence."

"Very good. In that case you are insurgents?"

"Certainly, and feel proud of the title."

"Hum! We do not treat with insurgents, who are placed beyond the pale of the law, and who, as such, cannot offer us any serious guarantee."

"Caballero," the Jaguar exclaimed with ill-disguised impatience, "I have the honour of remarking that you insult me."

"I am very sorry for it; but what other answer than that can I give you?"

There was a momentary silence; the vigorous resistance offered him made the Jaguar feel seriously alarmed.

"Are you the Fort-Commandant?" he asked.

"No."

"Why did you come, then?"

"Because I was ordered to do so."

"Hum! And who is the Governor of the place?"

"A Colonel."

"Why did he not come in person to meet me?"

"Because he probably did not think it worth while to put himself out of the way."

"Hum! That way of behaving seems to me rather lax, for war has laws which every man is bound to follow."

"Maybe, but it is not war in this case, that must not be let out of sight."

"What is it then, in your opinion?"

"Insurrection."

"Well, I wish to speak with your Commandant, for I can only treat with him. Are you disposed to let me see him?"

"That does not depend on me, but on him."

"Very good. Can I trust to your delivering my message to him?"

"I do not see why I should not."

"Be kind enough, then, to return at once to him, and I will wait for you here, unless you permit me to enter the fortress."

"That is impossible."

"As you please; I will, therefore, await your reply here."

"Very well."

The two men bowed courteously, and took leave of each other. Don Felix Paz re-entered the fortress, while the Jaguar, sitting on the trunk of a felled tree, examined with the greatest attention the fortifications of the hacienda, the details of which he could easily survey from the spot where he now was. The young man leaned his elbow on his knee, and let his head rest on his hand; his eyes wandered over the surrounding objects with an expression of indefinable melancholy; gradually a gloomy sadness seized on his mind; while indulging in his thoughts, external objects disappeared from his sight, and isolating himself completely, he gave way to the flood of bitter recollections which rose from his heart to his brain, and removed him from the preoccupations of his present situation.

For a long time he had been plunged in this species of prostration, when a friendly voice smote his ear. The Jaguar, suddenly drawn from his reverie by the sound of a voice which he fancied he recognised, threw up his head sharply, and gave a start of surprise on recognising Don Juan Melendez de Gongora, for it was really the Colonel who was now addressing him. The Texan Chief rose, and spoke to his officers.

"Back, Caballeros," he said; "this gentleman and myself have matters to talk about which no one must hear."

The Texans withdrew out of earshot. The Colonel was alone, for on recognising the Jaguar, he had ordered his escort to await him at the base of the intrenchments.

"I meet you here again then, my friend," the Jaguar said sadly.

"Yes," the young officer answered; "fatality seems determined to keep us in constant opposition."

"On examining the height and strength of your walls," the Independent continued, "I had already recognized the difficulties of the task forced on me; these difficulties have now grown almost into impossibilities."

"Alas, my friend, fate wills it so, we are forced to submit to its caprices; and while in my heart deploring what takes place, I am yet resolved to do my duty as a man of honour, and die in the breach, with my breast turned toward you."

"I know it, brother, and cannot feel angry with you; for I too am resolved to carry out the difficult task imposed on me."

"Such are the terrible exigencies of civil war, that the men most inclined to esteem and love one another, are compelled to be foes."

"God and our country will judge us, friend, and our consciences will absolve us; men are not combating, but principles fatally placed in opposition."

"I was not aware that you were the Chief of the insurrectionary bands that have invested the place, although a secret foreboding warned me of your presence."

"That is strange," the Jaguar muttered, "for I also felt the foreboding to which you allude; that is why I so strongly insisted on having an interview with the Commandant of the hacienda."

"The same reason urged me, on the contrary, not to show myself; but I thought I must yield to your entreaty, and hence here I am; I swear to you that I should have wished to avoid this interview, which is so painful to both of us, in consequence of our mutual feelings."

"It is better that it should have taken place; now that we have had a frank explanation, we shall be better fitted to do our duty."

"You are right, friend; it is perhaps better that it should be so; let me press your honest hand for the last time, and then each of us will resume his part."

"Here is my hand, friend," the young Chief made answer.

The two men heartily shook hands, and then fell back a few paces, making a signal to their respective escorts to rejoin them. When the officers were ranged behind the Chiefs, the Jaguar ordered his bugler to sound the summons; the latter obeyed, and the Mexican trumpet immediately replied. The Jaguar then advanced two paces, and courteously took off his hat to the Colonel.

"With whom have I the honour of speaking?" he asked.

"I am," the officer replied, returning the salute, "Colonel Don Juan Melendez de Gongora, invested by General Don José Maria Rubio, Commander-in-Chief of the Mexican forces in Texas, with the military government of the Larch-tree hacienda, which present circumstances have raised to the rank of a first class fortress; and who may you be, Caballero?"

"I," the Jaguar answered, as he drew himself up, and placed his hat again on his head, "am the Supreme Chief of the Confederated Army of Texas."

"The men who take that name, and the person who commands them, can only be regarded by me as traitors and fosterers of rebellion."

"We care little, Colonel, what name you give us, or the manner in which you regard our acts. We have taken up arms to render our country independent, and shall not lay them down till that noble task is accomplished. These are the proposals I think it my duty to make you."

"I cannot and will not treat with rebels," the Colonel said, clearly and distinctly.

"You will act as you please, Colonel; but humanity orders you to avoid bloodshed, if possible, and your duty imperiously commands you to listen to what I have to say to you."

"Be it so, Caballero, I will listen to you, and then will see what answer I have to give you; but I must ask you to be brief."

The Jaguar leaned the point of his sabre on the ground, and giving a clear and piercing glance at the Mexican staff, he continued, in a loud, firm, and accentuated voice —

"I, the Commander-in-Chief of the Liberating Army of Texas, summon you, a Colonel in the service of the Mexican Republic, whose sovereignty we no longer recognise, to surrender to us this Larch-tree hacienda, of which you entitle yourself the Governor, and which you hold without right or reason. If, within twenty-four hours, the said hacienda is put into our hands, with all it contains, guns, ammunition, material of war, and otherwise, the garrison will quit the place with the honours of war, under arms, with drums and fifes playing. Then, after laying down their arms, the garrison will be free to retire to the interior of Texas, after making oath that during a year and a day they will not serve in Texas against the Liberating Army."

"Have you ended?" the Colonel asked, with ill-disguised impatience.

"Not yet," the Jaguar coldly answered.

"I must ask you to make haste."

On seeing these two men exchange savage glances, and placed in such a hostile position face to face, no one would have supposed that they were fond of each other, and groaned in their hearts at the painful part fate compelled them to play against their will. The truth was, that in one military fanaticism, in the other an ardent love of his country, had imposed silence on every other feeling, and only permitted them to listen to one, the most imperious of all – the sentiment of duty. The Jaguar, perfectly calm and firm, continued in the same resolute accent —

"If, against my expectations, these conditions are refused, and the place obstinately defends itself, the Army of Liberation will immediately invest it, carry on the siege with all the vigour of which it is capable, and when the hacienda is captured, it will undergo the fate of towns taken by assault; the garrison will be decimated, and remain prisoners till the end of the war."

"Very good," the Colonel replied, ironically; "however harsh these conditions may be, we prefer them to the former; and if the fate of arms betray us, we will endure without complaint the law of the conquerors."

The Jaguar bowed ceremoniously.

"I have only to withdraw," he said.

"One moment," the Colonel said, "You have explained to me your conditions, so it is now your turn to hear mine."

"What conditions can you have to offer us, since you refuse to surrender?"

"You shall hear."

The Colonel looked round him with a glance of assurance; then, crossing his arms on his chest, and drawing himself up with the air of sovereign contempt for those who surrounded him, began speaking in a sharp and sarcastic voice —

"I," he said, "Don Juan de Melendez de Gongora, Colonel in the service of the Mexican Republic, considering that the majority of the individuals assembled at this moment at the foot of my walls are poor, ignorant men, whom bad example and bad counsel have led into a revolt, which they detest in their hearts – for I know that the Mexican Government has ever been just, kind, and paternal to them; considering, moreover, that possibly the fear of the severe chastisement which they have deserved by their culpable conduct keeps them, against their desire and will, in the ranks of the rebels; employing the prerogative given me by my title of governor of a first class fortress, and a field officer in the Mexican army, I promise them, that if they immediately lay down their arms, and, as a proof of sincere repentance, surrender to me the Chiefs who deceived them and led them into revolt – I promise them, I repeat, a complete pardon and oblivion of the faults they may have committed up to today, but only on this condition. They have till sunset of the present day to make their submission; when that period is passed, they will be regarded as inveterate rebels, and treated as such – that is to say, hanged without trial, after their identity has been proved, and deprived in their last moments of the consolations of religion, as being unworthy of them. As for the Chiefs, as traitors, they will be shot in the back, and their bodies fastened by the feet on gibbets, where they will remain as food for birds of prey, and serve as an example to those who may venture in their track. Reflect, then, and repent, for such are the sole conditions you will obtain of me. And now, Caballeros," he said, turning to his officers, "we will return to the fort, as we have nothing more to do here."

His hearers had listened with increasing surprise to this strange address, uttered in a tone of sarcasm and haughty contempt, which had filled the hearts of the Jaguar's comrades with gall, while the Mexican officers looked at each other with a laugh. By a sign, the Jaguar imposed silence on his comrades, and bowed respectfully to the Colonel.

"Your will be done," he said to him. "God will judge between us; the bloodshed will fall on your head."

"I accept the responsibility," the Commandant remarked, disdainfully.

"Then, the words you have just uttered are serious?"

"They are."

"You are quite resolved on opposing us?"

"Of course."

"Your resolution will not change?"

"It is immovable."

"We will fight, then," the Jaguar exclaimed, enthusiastically. "Viva la patria, viva la Independencia!"

This cry, repeated by his comrades, was heard in the camp, and taken up with extraordinary enthusiasm by his comrades.

"Viva Mejico!" the Colonel said.

He then retired, followed by his officers. On his side, the Jaguar returned to his camp, resolved to attempt a vigorous hand stroke on the place. On both sides preparations were made for the implacable struggle that was about to begin between members of the same family and children of the same soil; a homicidal and fearful struggle, a hundredfold more horrible than a foreign war!