Gustave Aimard
The Gold-Seekers: A Tale of California
At his house he found Valentine awaiting him. The latter approved his conduct, but refused to accompany him, giving as his reason, that he believed he should serve the good cause better by remaining at Guaymas. The truth was, that the hunter did not wish to leave out of sight the men he had undertaken to watch, until he had discovered their machinations.
Louis did not insist. He knew that with a man of Valentine's character there was no chance of discussing, when he had once formed a determination. Followed by Don Cornelio and an escort of ten well-mounted horsemen, the count set out, after once again pressing his friend's hand, and proceeded toward Pitic, where – at least he hoped so – he should at length find the word of the enigma.
"Hum!" Valentine muttered, following him with a thoughtful glance; "either I am greatly mistaken, or, now that he is no longer here, to thwart by his presence the gloomy machinations of the scoundrels who wish to make him their dupe, we shall soon have something new."
After this aside, the hunter walked with his usual measured step toward the barrack, where he arrived in a few moments, and found the adventurers in a state of great excitement, produced by the departure of their leader.
CHAPTER XIX
PITIC
The distance is not great from Guaymas to Pitic, and the count covered it in a few hours.
Pitic, or Hermosillo, is a delightful town, enclosed with walls, and surrounded by kitchen gardens, whose produce is rather important. Unfortunately, the night had completely set in when the count arrived there, and he could only take a vague glance at the scenery, which, seen through the obscurity, had entirely changed its character, and assumed a gloomy appearance, which painfully contracted the adventurer's heart. The count had considerably recovered from his first illusions; the paltry annoyances of which he was the object now made him see the future under a different light, and he already doubted the success of an enterprise against which, from the outset, so many underhand obstacles were raised.
At the moment of mounting his horse, he had received from the general commandant of the province a note giving him peremptory orders to remain at Guaymas, with his company, and not to march forward until more ample information, that is to say, until the general had received positive instructions on the subject, from the central government at Mexico. As may be easily supposed, this order, intimated in so brutal a manner after all that had passed, had obtained the sole result of pressing the count's departure; for he was outraged by this flagrant violation of all the conditions stipulated in his treaty.
The little band entered Pitic without exciting the slightest attention. At this hour the streets were nearly deserted; and the few travellers they met en route, deceived by their Mexican costume, did not even take the trouble to look at them. The count dismounted in the Calle San Agostino, before a house which he had got in readiness for the occasion, without saying a word to anyone. After a gentle rap at the door, it opened, and the party entered. The house belonged to a Frenchman, who had gone on a journey in the interior, for commercial reasons; but during his absence, the servants, in obedience to his instructions, received the count with the utmost attention. The latter, after whispering a few words to Don Cornelio, who went out at once, retired to the cuarto prepared for him.
Don Louis was a man of powerful and energetic temper, a man of action before all. He understood that, after the turn that matters had taken, he must act energetically and without losing a moment, unless he wished to receive an irreparable check. His plan was formed, and he prepared to carry it out without delay.
Don Cornelio returned at the moment when the count, who had changed his costume, was giving a final glance at his appearance.
"Already!" he said, on perceiving the Spaniard.
"I have found the house, it is only a few paces from here."
"All the better, we shall have less distance to go."
"Five minutes at the most."
"Is General Guerrero in Pitic?"
"He is. Still I fancy you would do better by delaying your visit till tomorrow."
"Why so?"
"Because there is a tertulia this evening at the palace."
The count turned.
"What difference does that make?" he asked.
"Oh, as you please, señor; but, perhaps, you do not know what a tertulia is."
"Not exactly; but you will explain it to me?"
"Nothing more easy. A tertulia is a party, a festival – a ball, in a word."
"I understand. And you are sure, Don Cornelio, that there is a tertulia this evening at the governor's palace?"
"Positively sure, your excellency."
"Bravo! That will do our business."
The Spaniard looked at him in amazement.
"Don Cornelio," the count continued, "change your travelling dress. I mean to take you with me."
"The fact is – ," he said hesitating.
"What then?"
"I must confess to you, señor conde, that I have no other clothes save those I wear."
"Ah, that is of no consequence," the count replied with a smile, pointing at the same time to a heap of clothes thrown pell-mell on the furniture. "I suppose that you are sufficiently my friend not to feel annoyed at the cool way in which I treat you."
"Oh, not at all," the Spaniard exclaimed, with a movement of joy.
"I must ask you to make haste, though; for I am waiting."
"I only ask for five minutes."
"I give you ten. You will find me in the patio; I am going to give my escort orders to mount."
The count went out, and Don Cornelio eagerly set to work obeying him. We must add, to the glory of the Spaniard, that Don Louis' treatment of him, so far from annoying him, had caused him to feel a deep gratitude.
The Spaniard was not mistaken; there was really a tertulia at the governor's palace. General Guerrero was extremely rich: hence, the ball he gave this evening was sumptuous, and in every way worthy of the exalted post he occupied in the province.
The crowd filled his rooms, which glistened with light and dazzled with gilding. All the higher society of Pitic was assembled at the palace; tables, covered with gold, were surrounded by players, who, with that proud carelessness characteristic of Mexicans, risked enormous sums on a card. In a vast hall, a band, perhaps rather wild to European ears, regulated the movements of the dancers; while a private room was reserved for the ladies. Doña Angela, ravishingly beautiful, was seated on her throne, in the midst of this bevy of pretty women.
But, despite all the general's efforts to please his guests, and excite them to amuse themselves, the festivities languished. The young ladies, generally so impassioned for dancing, refused all invitations; they preferred to remain talking together in the apartment reserved for them. The fact was, they were discussing at this moment a most interesting point, which had the privilege of arousing feminine curiosity to the highest pitch. The news of the French landing at Guaymas supplied the staple of the conversation.
"Good gracious!" a young woman said, with a charming smile, "will the English come here?"
"Doubtlessly," another observed; "but they are not English, Querida."
"Oh, you are mistaken, Carmencita. All foreigners are English, that is to say heretics; my confessor told me so."
"They must be hideous," a third asserted, advancing her head in curiosity.
"Indeed not, I assure you; they are men like others," the second speaker observed, a pretty brunette, with black eyes that sparkled with malice. "I spent Corpus Christi with my uncle at Guaymas, and saw them. Some of them, indeed, are very good-looking."
"That is impossible!" they exclaimed in chorus. "They are heretics!"
"They will massacre us."
"They are said to be very cruel."
"Their chief especially."
Till then Doña Angela had remained silent, absorbed in silent thought; but at this remark she suddenly raised her head.
"Their chief is a caballero," she said in a loud voice. "He is a conde in his own country; and if he has come to Sonora, it is probably only on our behalf."
All the young women were silent; for they were amazed at this strange outbreak on the part of Doña Angela; then they began chattering together. The young lady, vexed at having thrust herself forward so imprudently, bit her lips, blushed slightly, and fell back in her reverie. At this moment Don Sebastian entered the room.
"Ah, here is the general!" three or four young girls exclaimed gaily, as they rose and eagerly surrounded him.
"Yes, here I am, señoritas," he answered with a smile. "What do you want of me?"
"Merely some information."
"About what?"
"We wish to know," Doña Carmencita began; then she corrected herself. "It is not I, general, but these ladies."
"I am persuaded of that," Don Sebastian said, gallantly; "be good enough, then, to be their interpreter. What do they desire to know?"
"Who are the Ingleses?"
"What Ingleses?"
"Those who have landed at Guaymas."
"Ah! Very good."
"You will tell us, will you not, general?" they all exclaimed at once.
"If it is agreeable to you."
"Oh! Greatly so."
"In the first place, they are not English."
"They must be, as they are foreigners."
The general smiled at this simple observation; but mentally recognising the impossibility of destroying an opinion so deeply rooted, he turned the question.
"These men are two hundred and odd in number."
"So many as that?" two or three young ladies exclaimed, with a gesture of terror.
"Yes, indeed, so many as that, señoritas; but reassure yourselves – you have nothing to fear from them. They are kind and obliging, and their chief is a perfect caballero."
"But why do they come here?"
"They came for the purpose of working certain mines."
"I beg your pardon, papa," Doña Angela observed, who had been attentively listening to the conversation. "Did you not say they came?"
"Yes, my child, I said so."
"But they are still at the port, I think?"
"Yes, they are; but it is probable that they will soon depart."
"For the mines?"
"No. To return whence they came."
Doña Angela contracted her eyebrows, a movement in her which denoted grave annoyance and great mental preoccupation, and was silent again.
"All the better. Let them go, the heretics!" one of the ladies exclaimed. "These accursed English only come to our country to plunder us."
"That is true." The majority warmly supported her.
"Besides, I do not care what is said; I assert that they are frightfully ugly."
"Well!" a young lady said, with a delicious pout, "I should have liked to see one – only one – to know what to think about them."
"I am very much afraid, Doña Redempción," the general remarked with a smile, "that it will now be impossible to satisfy your curiosity."
"All the worse; for a heretic must be an extraordinary animal. Are they as ugly as the Indios Bravos?"
"That is a different matter."
"Ah! And are you certain, general, that I shall not be able to see one? That annoys me."
"I regret it, señorita."
"And I, too. But supposing one of them were to come to Hermosillo?"
"That is peremptorily forbidden them. They will be cautious not to disobey the order they have received."
"Ah!" she said with a pout.
At the same moment, a door was thrown open with a crash; and a servant announced in a loud and perfectly distinct voice, —
"His Excellency the Count Louis de Prébois. His Excellency Don Cornelio Mendoza."
If the count purposed to produce an effect, his object was completely attained. His sudden entrance was a regular tableau, and caused a general emotion, whose immense extent it was certainly impossible for him to calculate.
All the ladies had risen, and, grouped round the general, examined with a curious and timid eye the chief of the adventurers.
The count, whose splendid ranchero costume, which he wore with inimitable grace, added to the fascinating charm spread over his whole person, walked a few steps with a smile, bowed around with a gesture full of elegance, and waited. The general had suddenly turned of a livid pallor.
The news of the count's arrival, spreading through the other rooms with incomprehensible rapidity, suddenly stopped the dancing and gambling; all the guests quitted the other rooms, and proceeded toward the one in which the count was said to be.
Still, each second that elapsed added to the embarrassment of the position; the general felt it, and sought in vain a mode of escape. Don Louis understood, or rather guessed, the general's perplexity; hence, advancing two paces, he said with exquisite politeness, —
"I am confounded, general, by the trouble I have involuntarily caused among your guests. It seems that I was not expected at Pitic."
The general succeeded in regaining a little self-possession.
"I allow it, caballero," he replied. "Still the impromptu visit you have deigned to make me must be most agreeable to me, be assured."
"I hope so, general; and yet, to judge by the glances directed upon me from all sides, I may be permitted to doubt it."
"You are mistaken, señor conde," the general continued, attempting to smile. "For the last few days fame has been so occupied with you, that the eagerness of which you are now the object ought not at all to astonish you."
"I should wish, general," the count said, with a bow, "that this eagerness were more friendly. My conduct, since my arrival in Sonora, should have attracted greater sympathy toward me."
"What would you? We are savages, señor conde," the general said with a sarcastic smile; "we have the misfortune not to love what comes from foreign parts; so you must forgive us. But enough on that subject, for the present," he added, changing his tone. "As you have been kind enough to become my guest, allow me to present you officially to these ladies, who are burning to become better acquainted with you."
Don Louis yielded gracefully to the general's wishes. The latter then, affecting the most exquisite courtesy, presented his guest, as he called him, to the most influential persons at the ball. Then he led him to his daughter, who, since the count's entrance, had stood motionless, with her eyes obstinately fixed upon him.
"Señor conde," the general said, "my daughter, Doña Angela. Doña Angela, the Count Don Louis de Prébois Crancé."
Don Louis bowed respectfully before the young lady.
"I have had the honour of knowing the count for a long while," she said with a graceful smile.
"It is true," the general said, suddenly pretending to remember; "we have been acquainted for a long time, caballero."
"It was not my place to remind you under what circumstances we met."
"That is true, count, it was mine; believe me that I have not forgotten it."
"Nor I," the young lady murmured; "for I owe you my life, señor."
"Oh, señorita!"
"Permit me, permit me, señor conde," the general said, with an emphasis assuredly affected; "we Mexican caballeros have a long memory for good as for ill. You risked your life to defend mine, and that is one of the debts we like to pay. I am your debtor, señor Don Louis."
"Are you speaking seriously, general?" the count asked, looking at him fixedly.
"Certainly, caballero; the subject is too serious for me to treat it otherwise. I will even add that my most lively desire would be soon to find the occasion to acquit my debt."
"If that be so, general, I can offer you the occasion, if you will allow me?"
"How so?" the general asked, somewhat taken aback by finding himself taken at his word. "I am too happy to be agreeable to you. What do you want of me?"
"I want nothing, general; I only wish to make a request of you."
"A request! You, Don Louis? Oh, oh, what is it? Pray speak."
"I would beg you to grant me a few moments of private conversation."
"This night?"
"This very instant."
"Come," the general continued, "I hoped to be free from business for a few hours at least, but you order otherwise. Your request shall be satisfied, Don Louis; a caballero has but his word."
"Pray pardon me, general. I am really confounded by pressing you so greatly; but imperious reasons – "
"Not a word more, I implore you, Don Louis, or you will make me suppose that you attach to this interview an importance which it cannot possibly possess."
Don Louis contented himself with bowing in reply. The general then turned to his guests, the majority of whom, their first curiosity satisfied, had returned to the various amusements they had quitted for a moment.
"Señoras and caballeros," he said, "I must ask you to pardon me for leaving you for a few minutes; but as you see, Don Louis has my word, and I must free it."
The guests bowed courteously. Doña Angela had summoned Don Cornelio to her side, and, profiting by the liberty Mexican manners give young girls, she was conversing with him in a low voice.
"Go, papa," she said with a soft smile, intended for the count; "but do not keep Señor Don Louis too long. Now that the ladies know him, they would like some conversation with him."
"Do not be alarmed, ladies; in ten minutes we shall return. Any discussion between myself and the count cannot be long."
"Heaven grant that be true," Louis said in his heart; "but I believe the contrary."
The general passed his arm through the count's, led him through the saloons, and stopped at a door he opened.
"Go in, caballero," he said to him.
The count entered, and the general followed, carefully closing the door behind him.
CHAPTER XX
DIAMOND CUT DIAMOND
The room to which the general led the count was a study. Don Sebastian pointed to a chair, and took another himself. There was a moment's silence, during which the two men examined each other carefully. On passing the study threshold, both doffed that gaiety they had imprinted on their faces, to assume a severe and thoughtful look, harmonising better with the grave questions they were probably about to discuss.
"I am waiting, señor conde," the general at length said, "till it please you to explain yourself."
"I hesitate to do so, general," Don Louis answered.
"You hesitate, count!"
"Yes, because, in what I have to say to you, there are some matters so delicate that I almost fear to approach them."
The general was mistaken as to the meaning of the count's words. How could he understand the exquisite delicacy that dictated them?
"You can speak without fear," he said; "no one can hear you. Precautions have been taken, so that nothing said in this room can transpire outside. Banish then, I implore you, all reserve, and explain yourself frankly."
"I will do so, as you demand it; indeed, it is, perhaps, better that it should be so. In this way, I shall know at once what I have to hope or fear."
"You are bound to hope everything from me," the general said in an insinuating voice. "I wish you no harm; on the contrary, I desire to serve you; and to give you an example of frankness, I will begin by declaring to you, that your fate depends on yourself alone, and that the success or ruin of your enterprise is in your own hands."
"If it be really so, general, the discussion between us will not be long. But, allow me in the first place to set forth my grievances, in order to throw full light on the state of the case."
"Do so."
"In the first place, permit me one question. Do you know the conditions of my treaty with the Mexican government?"
"Of course I do, count, as I have in my possession a copy of it."
Don Louis made a sign of surprise.
"That must not astonish you," the general continued; "remember what occurred at Mexico. Do you not owe to an influential person, whose name you are ignorant of, the removal of those insurmountable obstacles which prevented the acceptance of your treaty by the President of the Republic?"
"I allow it."
"That person, I can now tell you, was myself."
"You, general?"
"Myself. Then, do you remember that when all was concluded, I became the first shareholder who gave his signature, and supplied funds?"
"That is perfectly correct; but this only renders more incomprehensible the strange position in which I have been placed."
"How so?"
"Pardon me, general, the frankness with which I express myself."
"Go on, count. We are here to tell each other the truth."
"In reality, since my arrival at Guaymas, your conduct toward me has been inexplicable."
"You are jesting. I consider it most natural."
"Still, it appears to me – "
"Come, what do you find so extraordinary in my conduct?"
"Well, everything."
"Mention details."
"I will do so."
"Let us see."
"Shall I start from the commencement?"
"Certainly."
"Very good. You know, as you have a copy of my agreement, that it is stated in it that I shall only stay at Guaymas just the time necessary for the company to settle the halting places, and prepare provision and fodder."
"Perfectly correct."
"I have been kept at the port nearly a fortnight under excuses, each more frivolous than the other. Comprehending how injurious inaction may prove to my company, I made repeated applications to the captain-general and yourself. All my letters were answered by want of instructions."
"Go on."
"Wearied with this abnormal position, I at length succeed in obtaining my passports to start for the mine. At that moment I receive from you, general, a note giving me orders not to leave Guaymas."
"Very good. Proceed."
Don Louis, confounded by the impassiveness of the speaker, whose face remained calm and voice tranquil, began to feel himself growing angry.
"Now, general," he said, raising his voice, "I have a right to ask you clearly what game we are playing.
"A very simple one, my dear count, I repeat to you; and you can, if you really desire it, hold all the trumps in your hand."
"I confess that I do not at all understand you."
"That is impossible!"
"On my honour! I should feel most sincerely obliged by your explaining to me clearly what is happening; for I assure you that I am in a fog from which I despair ever to escape."
"That depends on yourself alone."
"By Heavens, general, you will allow that you are jesting with me?"
"Not the least in the world."
"What? At the request of your government, I come to Sonora with permission to work the mines. Owing to your influence, as you yourself allow, my treaty is signed. Confiding in Mexican honesty, I organise an expedition – I arrive; and my partners, yourself first of all, turn against me and treat me, not as their friend, their representative, not with even the respect due to a gentleman, but affect to consider me as almost a filibuster."
"O count! You are going too far."
"On my soul, general, such things can only be witnessed in Mexico."
"My dear count, you are mistaken. No one is seeking to injure you, on the contrary."
"Still, up to the present, you, one of the largest shareholders in the company, whose interests are at stake, you in a word, who, owing to the influence you possess, should have helped us in the most effective manner, have only employed that power to impede our movements and injure us in every way."
"O count! What terms you are employing."
"Good Heavens, general, excuse me! But it is time for all these absurd annoyances to cease, and for me to be allowed to proceed to the mines. All this has lasted too long."
The general appeared to reflect for a moment.
"Come, frankly," he said at last; "did you not understand why I acted toward you in that way?"
"I swear it."
"That is strange. Pardon me in your turn, count; but I had a very different opinion of you."
"What do you mean?"
"Then you did not guess why I, general, military governor of Sonora, supported so warmly your petition to the President?"
"But – "
"You did not guess," he went on sharply, "why I demanded that your companions should be well armed, and organised as soldiers?"
"It appears to me – "
"You did not understand why I had you invested with a military power as extensive as if you were chief of an army? Come, count, you are not speaking seriously at this moment; or else you wish to play a cunning game with me."
While pronouncing these words with a certain degree of vehemence, this time real, the general had left his chair, and was walking about the room in agitation. The count listened to him with the greatest attention, while watching him closely. When he was silent, he replied: —
"I will tell you, general, what I did understand."
"Speak."
"I understood, that the Mexican government, too weak to recover for itself the rich placers of the Plancha de la Plata, which by its carelessness, had fallen once more into the hands of the Indians, would gladly see strangers carry out an expedition from which it would reap the greatest profit. I understood, besides, that the government, unable effectively to protect the inhabitants of Sonora against the incursions of the Apaches and Comanches, would be delighted if the same strangers took on themselves at their risk and peril to restrain these ferocious plunderers within their frontiers. I understood lastly, that General Don Guerrero, (whose life and his daughter's I had been so fortunate as to save, and who felt such deep gratitude toward me), had gladly seized on the opportunity to do me a service in his turn, by placing at my disposal that great influence he possesses, to obtain for me that which I had so long solicited in vain. That is all I understood, general."
"Ah! That is all?"
"Yes; but am I mistaken?"
"Perhaps."
"Then, be kind enough to explain yourself categorically, general."
"What use would it be now? It is too late," the general answered, darting at him a glance of strange meaning.
"Why, then, too late?"
Don Sebastian walked quickly up to the count, and stopped in front of him.
"Because now," he said, "we can never understand each other."
"You believe so, general?"
"I am sure of it."
"But, for what reason?"
"You wish me to tell it you?"
"I beg you."
"Well, then, señor conde, the reason is this: you are a man of too much sense and vast intelligence – in a word, you are a man in a thousand – "
"General, I implore you – "
"I do not flatter you, count; I tell you the truth. Unfortunately, though you speak Spanish with rare perfection, you are not sufficiently acquainted with Mexican for us ever to understand each other."
"Ah!" the count said, without adding another word.
"I am right, I think; this time you caught the meaning of my words?"
"Perhaps, general, I will reply in the remark you employed an instant ago."
"Very good. Now, I think, we have nothing more to say to each other."
"Permit me a few words."
"Speak."
"Whatever may happen, general, on passing the door of the room, I shall not remember one word of our conversation."
"As you please, count; we have said nothing the whole town might not hear."
"That is true; but others might possibly put a different interpretation on them than mine. There are so many ways of understanding words."
"Oh! But ours were remarkably innocent."
"They were. I trust, general, we shall not part as foes."
"Why should we be so, my dear count? I desire, on the contrary, that the agreeable acquaintance we have renewed this evening may be changed ere long – on your side at least, for on mine it has long been so – into a durable friendship."
"You overwhelm me, general."
"Do I not owe you my life?"
"So I may always count on you?"
"As on yourself, my dear friend."
These words were uttered by the two speakers with such delicately sharpened irony, that no one could have guessed, beneath the charming smile that played on their lips, the rage and hatred which swelled their hearts.
"Now," the general continued, "I believe we can return to the ballroom?"
"I am at your orders, general."
Don Sebastian opened the door of the room, and stood against the wall. The count passed him.
"Do you play, Don Louis?" the general asked him.
"Rarely; still, if you wish it, I shall be happy to cover your stake."
"This way then."
They entered a room in which several monte tables were established. The gamblers were collected before a table, at which a man, who had an enormous pile of gold before him, was enjoying extraordinary good luck. The man was Don Cornelio. After conversing for some time with Doña Angela, the Spaniard, attracted by the irresistible charm of gold, approached the monte tables, and, fascinated in spite of himself, he had risked the few ounces he possessed.
Luck had been favourable to him; so constantly favourable, that in less than an hour he had gained nearly all the gold of all the players who had ventured to hold their ground against him; so that he eventually won an enormous sum. At the moment the count and the general arrived near him, Don Cornelio's last adversary retired, completely cleaned out, and the fight ceased for want of combatants; so that the Spaniard, after looking around him, and seeing that no one cared longer to contend with him, began with unchangeable coolness thrusting into the vast pockets of his calzoneras the ounces piled up before him.
"Oh, oh!" the general said, gaily, "it seems that the Atravida company is in luck to-night, Señor Don Louis; it gains on all sides at once."
The count smiled at this double-edged compliment.
"Let us see if I shall change the vein?" Don Sebastian continued, "Will you play against me, Don Louis?"
"On one condition."
"What? I accept it beforehand."
"This: I have a peculiar custom of never playing more than three stakes."
"Good."
"Wait a minute. I play them, doubling each time."
"The deuce! And if you lose one of the three?"
"That is of no consequence; still, I do not think I shall lose," he said with perfect calmness.
"What! You do not think you will lose?"
"No; I confess to you that I have great luck in play. The reason is, probably, because I care very little about winning."
"That is possible; still, what you tell me is so curious, that I should like to convince myself of the fact."
"It only depends on you."
By degrees, the guests had drawn nearer the two gentlemen, and formed a group around them. Doña Angela had also advanced, and was now close to Don Louis' side.
"Come," the general said, "let us play three stakes."
"At your orders."
"How much shall we set?"
"What you please."
"Suppose we say 2000 piastres?"
"Agreed."
The general took up a pack of new cards.
