The soft voice-the small hand thrust under the tapojo-yes, all were Narcisso's!
A web of mystery was torn to shreds in a single moment. The truth did not yield gratification. No-but the contrary. I was chagrined at the indifference exhibited in another quarter.
"She must know that I am here, since her brother is master of the fact- here, bleeding and bound. Yet where is her sympathy? She sleeps! She journeys within a few paces of me, where I am tied painfully; yet not a word of consolation. No! She is riding upon her soft cushion, or carried upon alitera , escorted, perhaps, by this accomplished villain, who plays the gallant cavalier upon my own barb! They converse together, perhaps of the poor captives in their train, and with jest and ridicule-he at least; andshe can hear it, and then fling herself into her soft hammock and sleep-sleep sweetly-calmly?"
These bitter reflections were interrupted. The door creaked once more upon its hinges. Half a dozen of our captors entered. Our blinds were put on, and we were carried out and mounted as before.
In a few minutes a bugle rang out, and the route was resumed.
We were carried up the stream bottom-a kind of glen, orCanada . We could feel by the cool shade and the echoes that we were travelling under heavy timber. The torrent roared in our ears, and the sound was not unpleasant. Twice or thrice we forded the stream, and sometimes left it, returning after having travelled a mile or so. This was to avoid thecanons , where there is no path by the water. We then ascended a long hill, and after reaching its summit commenced going downwards.
"I know this road well," said Raoul. "We are going down to the hacienda of Cenobio."
"Pardieu!" he continued. "I ought to know this hill!"
"For what reason?"
"First, Captain, because I have carried many abulto of cochineal and many a bale of smuggled tobacco over it; ay, and upon nights when my eyes were of as little service to me as they are at present."
"I thought that youcontrabandistas hardly needed the precaution of dark nights?"
"True, at times; but there were other times when the Government became lynx-eyed, and then smuggling was no joke. We had some sharp skirmishing.Sacre ! I have good cause to remember this very hill. I came near making a jump into purgatory from the other side of it."
"Ha! how was that?"
"Cenobio had got a large lot of cochineal from a crafty trader at Oaxaca. It wascached about two leagues from the hacienda in the hills, and a vessel was to drop into the mouth of the Medellin to take it on board.
"A party of us were engaged to carry it across to the coast; and, as the cargo was very valuable, we were all of us armed to the teeth, with orders from thepatrone to defend it at all hazards. His men were just the fellows who would obey that order, coming, as it did, from Cenobio.
"The Government somehow or other got wind of the affair, and slipped a strong detachment out of Vera Cruz in time to intercept us. We met them on the other side of this very hill, where a road strikes off towards Medellin."
"Well! and what followed?"
"Why, the battle lasted nearly an hour; and, after having lost half a score of their best men, the valiant lancers rode back to Vera Cruz quicker than they came out of it."
"And the smugglers?"
"Carried the goods safe on board. Three of them-poor fellows!-are lying not far off, and I came near sharing their luck. I have a lance-hole through my thigh, here, that pains me at this very moment."
My ear at this moment caught the sound of dogs barking hoarsely below. Horses of the cavalcade commenced neighing, answered by others from the adjacent fields, who recognised their old companions.
"It must be near night," I remarked to Raoul.
"I think, about sunset, Captain," rejoined he. "Itfeels about that time."
I could not help smiling. There was something ludicrous in my comrade's remark about "feeling" the sunset.
The barking of the dogs now ceased, and we could hear voices ahead
A web of mystery was torn to shreds in a single moment. The truth did not yield gratification. No-but the contrary. I was chagrined at the indifference exhibited in another quarter.
"She must know that I am here, since her brother is master of the fact- here, bleeding and bound. Yet where is her sympathy? She sleeps! She journeys within a few paces of me, where I am tied painfully; yet not a word of consolation. No! She is riding upon her soft cushion, or carried upon alitera , escorted, perhaps, by this accomplished villain, who plays the gallant cavalier upon my own barb! They converse together, perhaps of the poor captives in their train, and with jest and ridicule-he at least; andshe can hear it, and then fling herself into her soft hammock and sleep-sleep sweetly-calmly?"
These bitter reflections were interrupted. The door creaked once more upon its hinges. Half a dozen of our captors entered. Our blinds were put on, and we were carried out and mounted as before.
In a few minutes a bugle rang out, and the route was resumed.
We were carried up the stream bottom-a kind of glen, orCanada . We could feel by the cool shade and the echoes that we were travelling under heavy timber. The torrent roared in our ears, and the sound was not unpleasant. Twice or thrice we forded the stream, and sometimes left it, returning after having travelled a mile or so. This was to avoid thecanons , where there is no path by the water. We then ascended a long hill, and after reaching its summit commenced going downwards.
"I know this road well," said Raoul. "We are going down to the hacienda of Cenobio."
"Pardieu!" he continued. "I ought to know this hill!"
"For what reason?"
"First, Captain, because I have carried many abulto of cochineal and many a bale of smuggled tobacco over it; ay, and upon nights when my eyes were of as little service to me as they are at present."
"I thought that youcontrabandistas hardly needed the precaution of dark nights?"
"True, at times; but there were other times when the Government became lynx-eyed, and then smuggling was no joke. We had some sharp skirmishing.Sacre ! I have good cause to remember this very hill. I came near making a jump into purgatory from the other side of it."
"Ha! how was that?"
"Cenobio had got a large lot of cochineal from a crafty trader at Oaxaca. It wascached about two leagues from the hacienda in the hills, and a vessel was to drop into the mouth of the Medellin to take it on board.
"A party of us were engaged to carry it across to the coast; and, as the cargo was very valuable, we were all of us armed to the teeth, with orders from thepatrone to defend it at all hazards. His men were just the fellows who would obey that order, coming, as it did, from Cenobio.
"The Government somehow or other got wind of the affair, and slipped a strong detachment out of Vera Cruz in time to intercept us. We met them on the other side of this very hill, where a road strikes off towards Medellin."
"Well! and what followed?"
"Why, the battle lasted nearly an hour; and, after having lost half a score of their best men, the valiant lancers rode back to Vera Cruz quicker than they came out of it."
"And the smugglers?"
"Carried the goods safe on board. Three of them-poor fellows!-are lying not far off, and I came near sharing their luck. I have a lance-hole through my thigh, here, that pains me at this very moment."
My ear at this moment caught the sound of dogs barking hoarsely below. Horses of the cavalcade commenced neighing, answered by others from the adjacent fields, who recognised their old companions.
"It must be near night," I remarked to Raoul.
"I think, about sunset, Captain," rejoined he. "Itfeels about that time."
I could not help smiling. There was something ludicrous in my comrade's remark about "feeling" the sunset.
The barking of the dogs now ceased, and we could hear voices ahead
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