The Guide of the Desert

"And that is – "

"My liberty, your lordship; my independence, the right of going and of coming, without rendering anyone an account of my proceedings. I humbly submit that I am not born to be a servant."

"Have you said all?"

"Yes, all, your lordship."

"But you are not a servant, only a guide."

"That is true, your lordship; but often, spite of yourself, you forget the guide, to think only of the servant; and as to me, I cannot get used to be treated in that fashion. My pride revolts in spite of myself."

A scornful smile played upon the lips of the young man.

"So," answered he, "the motive that you give me is the only one that induces you to leave me?"

"It is the only one, your lordship."

"But if, quite satisfied with your service, I propose to you five quadruplet instead of four, you would accept it without doubt."

"Pardon me, your lordship," said he, "I should refuse."

"Even if I offered you six?"

"Even if you offered me ten."

"Ah!" said the marquis, biting his lip; "When do you intend to leave us?"

"When your lordship will permit me."

"But if I insisted that you should remain with us until tomorrow at ten o'clock?"

"I should remain, my lord."

"Good," said the young man in a tone of indifference, "I see that your mind is made up."

"Oh, decidedly, my lord."

"I am going now to pay the remainder that I owe you; you shall then be free to go away immediately."

The young man drew several pieces of gold from a purse, and presented them to the mongrel.

"Take it," said he.

Malco held out his hand, but soon thinking better of it —

"Pardon, my lord," said he, "you are making a mistake."

"I? How is that?"

"Why, you only owe me four ounces, I believe."

"Well?"

"You are giving me eight."

"I give you four ounces because I owe them to you, and I add four others, because, before parting with you, I wish to give a proof of my satisfaction of the manner in which you have done your duty."

A second time the mameluco hesitated, but exercising great control over himself, and stepping back, as if to wish to escape the fascination exercised over him by the sight of the metal, he placed, although with an evident repugnance, four of the pieces of gold on a chest, answering with a voice stifled with emotion —

"I am very grateful to you, my lord, but I cannot accept so rich a present."

"Why not, if it pleases me to make it, Malco? Am I not the master, to dispose of what belongs to me?"

"Yes, my lord, you are free to do that; but I repeat that I shall not accept the money."

"At least you will give me an explanation of this enigma, for if I do not deceive myself, you love gold."

"Yes, my lord, when it is honourably gained, but I am not a beggar to accept a remuneration to which I consider I have no right."

"These sentiments do you honour," answered the young man, with a biting raillery.

He then took the four pieces of gold, chinked them in his hand, and then put them again into his purse.

"Now we are quits."

And with a gesture, he ordered the mameluco to withdraw. The latter, very ill at ease under the searching look of the marquis, did not wait for the suggestion to be repeated. He bowed awkwardly, and left the tent.

He then proceeded to his horse, which he had attached some paces off to a stake, threw himself in the saddle, and went off with a pensive air, descending the mountain at a gentle trot in the direction of the Sertão, at the entry of which the caravan had established its bivouac.

When he had gone sufficiently far not to fear being seen, he broke off abruptly to the right, and returned.

"Devil of a man," murmured he, in a low voice, attentively surveying the shrubs and thickets for fear of surprise; "it is evident that he suspects something; I have not a moment to lose; for – I know him. If I permit myself to hesitate, I am a lost man; but if I don't hesitate, the affair is too good for me not to devote all my efforts to bring it to a good conclusion. We shall see who will gain the day."

Then vigorously putting spurs to his horse, the mameluco pressed into a gallop, and was not long disappearing into the darkness; for, during his conversation with his former master, the night had fallen.

Meanwhile, as soon as the mameluco had quitted the tent, the marquis rose with a gesture of rage and of menace, but almost immediately reseating himself —

"No," said he, in a sullen voice, "let us give him time to get away; we will let him have complete security; the traitor does not think me so well informed. Oh, I will revenge myself cruelly for the constraint I imposed upon myself before him."

He rose again, withdrew the curtain of the tent, and looked out; the greatest tranquillity, the most complete calm, reigned in the camp. The marquis then called twice, in a moderately loud voice —

"Diogo! Diogo!"

At the call, which he appeared to expect, a man approached almost immediately.

"Here I am," said he.

"Come in directly," resumed the marquis.

This man was the chief of the soldados da conquista. He entered.

CHAPTER VI

TAROU NIOM. 6

Of all the Indians of the new world the aborigines of Brazil are those who have defended their independence the most obstinately, and fought with the greatest fury against the invasion of their territory by the whites. At the present day this war, commenced in the early days of the conquest, is continued implacably on both sides, without any other result of it being perceptible, than the entire destruction of the unfortunate race so deplorably spoliated by Europeans.

By degrees, as we advance in our recital, we shall give more circumstantial details on the singular and extravagant customs of the Brazilian natives – customs of which little is known in Europe. They are all the more interesting, as at an early day they will no longer exist but in legend, by reason of the incessant progress of civilisation, which will effect the complete extinction of the aboriginal race, the same as in all the other countries of the new world.

At about ten leagues from the plateau, where the caravan of which we have spoken had camped for the night, the same day, a little before sunset, in a vast glade situated on the left bank of the Rio Paraguai, at the entrance of a considerable cotinga, or low forest, three men, seated on the trunks of dead trees lying on the earth, were holding a very animated conversation.

These persons, although Indians, belonged to tribes completely distinct.

The first, as far as could be discovered – for the age of the Indian is extremely difficult to determine – was a man who appeared to have attained middle age – that is to say, from thirty-five to forty. His tall and well-proportioned figure his vigorous and well-set limbs, displayed great strength; his regular features would have been beautiful, had they not been disfigured by strange painting and tattooing. But, on examining him with care, there was seen to flash in his eyes a cunning which denoted a rather uncommon intelligence. The nobility of his gestures, and his bold and haughty countenance, gave to his entire person a stamp of wild grandeur.

The costume of this Indian, although very simple, was not wanting either in grace or elegance; the bright red band in which were stuck some parrot feathers, and which encircled his head, the hair of which was shaved like that of the Franciscans, proclaimed not only his Guaycurus nationality, but also his position as a chief. A necklace of jaguar teeth encircled his neck; a poncho of gaudy colours was thrown over his shoulders; his large leather drawers reaching to the knee, were fastened at the hips by a girdle of tapir skin, in which was stuck a long knife; his legs were protected against the bite of serpents by boots made with the leather from the forelegs of a horse, cut away in a single piece while still warm, and made into a kind of sheath, so that the leather in drying had taken the form of the limbs it was intended to preserve.

Besides the knife hanging from his girdle, the Guaycurus chief had placed on the ground near him a quiver of tapir skin, four feet long, and filled with arrows. A polished and glittering bow of palo d'arco of uncommon strength and size was lying near the quiver, and within reach of his hand; leaning against the palm tree was an enormous lance, at least fifteen feet long, and furnished with a sharp blade, and garnished at the other extremity with a tuft of ostrich feathers.

The second Indian was about the same age as his companion; his features, notwithstanding the paint and tattooing which disfigured them, were handsome, and his countenance possessed great flexibility. He was dressed and armed like the first; only by the headdress, made with the fibrous and elastic cocoon of the flower of the ubassa palm tree, it was easy to recognise him as a Payagoas chief, a nation nearly as powerful as that of the Guaycurus.

The last Indian was a poor devil, half-naked, lean, and of a timid and sickly appearance – to all appearance a slave. He stationed himself out of hearing of the two chiefs whose horses he was charged to watch. These horses, painted like their masters, of different colours, had no harness, but a thick coarse saddle, furnished with wooden stirrups, covered with tapir skin, and to the right and left of which hung a lasso and the formidable bolas.

At the moment when we place these three persons on the scene, the Guaycurus chief was speaking, smoking all the while a kind of calumet, made of the leaves of the palm tree, rolled together, and was listened to deferentially by the other chief, who was standing up before him, carelessly supported by his long lance.

"The man that my brother Emavidi-Chaime told me of does not come," said he. "The sun descends rapidly, several hours have flown since I waited. What thinks the chief of the Payagoas?"

"He must wait still; the man will come; he has promised; although degenerate, he is not a paleface. He has in his veins some of the blood of the Tapis."

"What is the name of this man?" asked the other.

"Does Tarou Niom know him? He is a mameluco; his name is Malco Diaz."

"I have seen him," laconically said the chief, letting his head fall with a pensive air on his breast.

There was a silence of some instants; it was the Guaycurus who broke it.

"Has my brother ever seen," he said, "the jaguars make war upon each other?"

"Never," replied the Payagoas chief.

"Then why does the chief believe in the faith of this man? The Indian blood, if he has some drops of it, is so mingled in his veins with that of the whites and blacks, that it has lost all its vigour."

"My brother speaks well, his words are just; only it is not on the good faith of this mameluco that I reckon."

"On what then?" asked Tarou Niom.

"On his hatred first, and then – "

"Then?"

"On his avarice."

"Yes," replied the Guaycurus chief, "it is to these two feelings only that we must trust when we wish to ally ourselves with these faithless dogs; but this mameluco, is he not a Paulista?"

"No; on the contrary, he is a sertanejo."

"The whites are always bad. What guarantee has this Malco given?"

"The best that I can desire; his son, whom he charged with bringing me the message, has come into my village with two black slaves. One has gone away again, but the other remains with the child."

"Good!" answered Tarou Niom, "I acknowledge in this the prudence of my brother Emavidi-Chaime; if the father is a traitor, the child shall die."

"He shall die!"

Silence reigned again for a considerable time between the companions.

The sun had completely disappeared, shadows covered the earth, darkness, as with a funeral pall, enveloped the forest in which these two men were. Already in the inexplorable depths of the desert low growlings began to reverberate, and announced the waking of the dread wanderers of the night.

The slave, who was an Indian mundracus, on the order of his master, Tarou Niom, the captain of the Guaycurus – for the Indians of this nation have adopted the Portuguese titles – gathered some dry wood, formed a pile of it between the two chiefs, and set fire to it, so that its light might keep off the wild beasts.

"It is very late," said the Guaycurus.

"The journey to come here is long," laconically answered the Payagoas.

"Has the mameluco explained for what reason he wished the meeting of his warriors and mine?"

"No. Malco is prudent; a slave might betray the confidence of his master, and sell his secret to an enemy. The mameluco reserves it to inform us himself of the affair he wishes to propose to us."

"Good!" answered the chief. "What matters this man to me? I have only come on the invitation of my brother. I know that he will not betray me."

"I thank my brother, Tarou Niom, for his opinion of me; for a long time I have been devoted to him."

At this moment a far-off noise was heard – slight, and almost inappreciable at first, but which approached rapidly.

The two Indians listened for some seconds, and then exchanged a smile.

"It is the gallop of a horse," said Tarou Niom.

"In a few minutes he will be here."

The chiefs were not deceived – it was, in fact, the furious gallop of a horse. Soon the branches snapped, the shrubbery separated under the powerful effort the chest of a horse, galloping at full speed, and a horseman bounded into the glade.

Arrived within a few paces of the warriors, he suddenly pulled up his horse, leaped to the ground, and gave the bridle to the slave, who took it and conducted the noble animal to the two others.

The horseman, who was no other than the mameluco, saluted the Indians and seated himself in front of them.

"My friend has tarried long," said the Payagoas.

"It is true, Captain," answered Malco, wiping his forehead, which was covered with perspiration; "I ought to have been here long before, but that was impossible. My master camped in a place farther off than I reckoned on, and notwithstanding my wish to be exact, it was impossible for me to come sooner."

"Good, that is nothing, since here is the sertanejo; some hours lost are nothing, if the affair you wish to propose to us is good."

"Good I believe it to be; but are you still resolved to break the truce that seven moons ago you concluded with the whites?"

"What is that to the sertanejo?" drily answered the Guaycurus.

"I want to know before explaining to you what brings me here."

"Let the warrior speak, and the captains will hear him; they will judge of the truth of his words."

"Very well; this is why I wish to ask you the question. I know the honour that you carry into all your transactions – even with the whites. If you consent, as I know for some days they have begged you, to prolong the truce, I should have nothing to propose to you, for the simple reason that you would refuse to give me your assistance against the people with whom you would be at peace. You see I speak to you frankly."

These words, which manifested the respect of the Indians for their pledged faith, and for the honesty which they import into their relations with their mortal enemies, were, notwithstanding the praise they implied, listened to coldly.

"Two suns have already passed," proudly answered the Guaycurus, "since I notified to the Paulistas the rupture of the truce."

Malco Diaz, master as he was of himself, could not suppress a gesture of satisfaction at this declaration.

"So you have recommenced the war," said he.

"Yes," briefly answered the Indian.

"Then all is well," said the half-caste.

"I am waiting," said the Guaycurus.

"The night advances; the sertanejo has not come so quickly to the rendezvous that he himself made, that he may speak of futile things to the powerful captains," added the Payagoas.

Malco Diaz appeared to be collecting his thoughts for some minutes; then he resumed:

"Can I reckon on my brothers?" said he, casting at the Indians the look of a viper.

"We are warriors; let the mameluco explain himself. If he wishes to gain some advantage by the war that is recommencing, we will serve him by serving ourselves," answered Tarou Niom.

The half-caste knew the Indians too well not to understand the ironical meaning of the words pronounced by the Guaycurus chief. However, he made no sign of having perceived that meaning.

"I direct you to a numerous caravan; so much the more easy to surprise as not having the least mistrust, and believing that the truce still exists, it is on the march almost without any guard."

"Ah," said the two Indians.

"Yes," resumed Malco; "I am moreover so much the more certain of what I advance, as, for two moons – that is to say, from the day when this caravan left Rio de Janeiro – I have served as guide."

"Good, so doubt is not possible," said the Guaycurus.

"In no respect."

"And towards what part is this caravan going?"

"They do not intend to stop until they come to the Rio San Lourenço."

"Are these men Paulistas?" asked Tarou Niom.

"No," briefly answered the half-caste.

The two chiefs exchanged a look.

"But," resumed Malco Diaz, "although they may not be Paulistas, they are your enemies."

"Perhaps," said the Payagoas.

"Is he a friend who enters into a country to seize upon the riches it contains without the authority of the true masters of that country?"

"Is such the thought of the chief of this caravan?" asked Tarou Niom.

"Not only his thought, but his design."

"Very well; but what are the riches which these men intend to seize?"

"The gold and the diamonds which are in the country."

"They know, then, that there are some?"

The half-caste smiled with sarcasm.

"Not only they know it," said he, "but also they know so well all the bearings of the country, that they can go there without a guide."

"Ah!" said the Indians, fixing upon him a scrutinising look.

"It is so," said he without being disconcerted.

"And who, then, has so well informed them about the riches of our country?" asked the Guaycurus.

"I," coolly answered Malco.

"You!" cried Tarou Niom, "Then you are a traitor."

The mameluco shrugged his shoulders.

"A traitor!" said he, with irony; "Am I then one of your people; do I belong to your nation; have you confided this secret, forbidding me to reveal it?"

"But, then, if you have sold your secret to these men, why do you now denounce them to us?"

"That is my affair, and concerns me only; as to you, see if it will suit you to allow strangers to penetrate into your country."

"Listen," said Tarou Niom severely; "you are just the man that your colour shows you; that is to say, a faithless white man. You sell your brethren. What price do you demand? Answer, and be brief."

The half-caste lifted his eyes at this rude apostrophe; then immediately collecting himself —

"A very little matter," said he, "the right of taking prisoner whomsoever may suit me, and to choose him without any obstacle being offered me."

"Very well, it shall be so."

"Then you accept?"

"Certainly, only, as according to your admission these people are not aware of the rupture of the truce, and as it would not be honourable to attack them unawares, we will warn them to be on their guard."

A flash of fury darted from the eyes of the half-caste.

"And if after that warning they were to renounce their project?" asked he.

"Then they would be sure to withdraw without fear of being disturbed in their retreat," drily answered the Guaycurus.

Malco Diaz made a gesture of fury, but after a moment a smile of raillery played upon his lips.

CHAPTER VII

THE MARQUIS DE CASTELMELHOR

The man whom the marquis had called immediately after his interview with the mameluco, and whom he had at once ordered to enter his tent, was short and thick, but well made and strong, and about forty years of age.

An Indian of a pure race, he bore on his countenance, which neither tattoo nor paint disfigured, the distinctive traits, although a little effaced, of the Mogul race. His black eyes, lively and full, his straight nose, his large mouth, his rather high cheekbones, formed a physiognomy which, without being handsome, was not wanting in a certain sympathetic charm. As we have said, he commanded some soldados da conquista attached to the caravan.

The captain, for such is the title that he bore, respectfully saluted the marquis, and waited till it might please him to speak to him.

"Sit down, Diogo," said the marquis, kindly; "we must have a long talk together."

The Indian bowed, and seated himself.

"You saw the man who went out of this tent a minute ago, did you not?" resumed the marquis.

"Yes, your Excellency," answered the captain.

"And without doubt you recognised him."

The Indian smiled, without otherwise answering.

"Good; what do you think of him?"

"Of whom, your Excellency?" said he.

"Of the man of whom I am speaking."

"Why, your Excellency, I think of him what you yourself think, probably."

"I ask your opinion, Señor Don Diogo, in order to judge if it tallies with mine."

"Eh, eh," said the Indian, shaking his head.

"Which is – "

"That this man is a traitor, my lord."

"So you also believe in treason on his part?"

"Well, my lord, to speak frankly, for 'tis a frank explanation you ask of me is it not?"

"Certainly."

"Well, I am convinced that this accursed mameluco is quietly leading us to some trap that he has artfully prepared."

"That is very serious, you know," answered the marquis, in a reflective tone.

"Very serious indeed, your lordship. Malco is a sertanejos, and in the language of the desert, Sertão is the synonym of treason."

"Well, I avow to you the suspicions you utter do not astonish me."

"I am happy, my lord, to see you share my opinion."

"What! You have no suspicions?" cried the marquis.

"No, I am certain."

"Certain! And you have told me nothing of it up to the present time?"

"I am morally certain, but it would be impossible to prove what I advance at the present time."

The marquis allowed his head to fall on his breast, and remained silent for some moments.

"But," pursued he, "this moral certainty is founded on certain indications?"

"Oh, indications do not fail, my lord. Unhappily, these circumstances would appear very frivolous, if I revealed them to persons who were not forewarned; that is why I have abstained from saying anything to you before you asked me."

"Perhaps you are right, but now the situation is changed; it is I who, of my own accord, have asked this interview with you. The situation in which we are is critical; it may become more so."

"Come what may, I know I am doing my duty, and that is sufficient for me, even if Malco should come to affirm to your lordship that I have not spoken the truth about him."

"You have nothing to fear about señor Malco."

"Violent and wicked as he is, your lordship," answered the captain, with some animation, "I do not fear him, and he knows that well. This is not the first time we have fallen out."

"I did attach to my words the meaning you give to them; you have nothing to fear from Diaz, for the simple reason that he is no longer in my service."

"What! Your lordship," cried the Indian, with astonishment, "you have dismissed him?"

"No, it is he himself, of his own accord, who has left us to ourselves."

"Your Excellency was wrong to allow him to leave; when people have in their power a rascal of that stamp, they should not let him go."

"What could I do? His engagement was up, and he refused to renew it, or even to prolong it for some days; so I was obliged to consent to his departure."

"That is right, your Excellency; pardon me. This man was free, so you could not retain him; but, under similar circumstances, I should not have acted so, especially after my suspicions."

"I know well that is wrong; unhappily, I had no pretext to give him, no plausible reason to keep him."

"Yes, yes, all that is true; but believe me, my lord, if Malco has so abruptly left us, it is because he had strong reasons for doing so, and that he has near here some accomplices, in conjunction with whom he is preparing our ruin."