The Headless Horseman Part 63

_Carrambo_! what of that? You're not the woman to despise a man for the inferiority of his rank. A poor mustanger stands as good a chance in your eyes as the owner of a hundred herds. In that respect, _I have proof of your generous spirit_!"

"What proof?" asked she, in a quick, entreating tone, and for the first time showing signs of uneasiness. "What evidence of the generosity you are so good as to ascribe to me?"

"This pretty epistle I hold in my hand, indited by the Dona Isidora Covarubio de los Llanos, to one who, like myself, is but a dealer in horseflesh. I need not submit it to very close inspection. No doubt you can identify it at some distance?"

She could, and did; as was evinced by her starting in the saddle--by her look of angry surprise directed upon Diaz.

"Senor! how came you in possession of this?" she asked, without any attempt to disguise her indignation.

"It matters not. I am in possession of it, and of what for many a day I have been seeking; a proof, not that you had ceased to care for me--for this I had good reason to know--but that you had begun to care for him.

This tells that you love him--words could not speak plainer. You long to look into his beautiful eyes. _Mil demonios_! you shall never see them again!"

"What means this, Don Miguel Diaz?"

The question was put not without a slight quivering of the voice that seemed to betray fear. No wonder it should. There was something in the aspect of El Coyote at that moment well calculated to inspire the sentiment.

Observing it, he responded, "You may well show fear: you have reason.

If I have lost you, my lady, no other shall enjoy you. I have made up my mind about that."

"About what?"

"What I have said--that no other shall call you his, and least of all Maurice the mustanger."

"Indeed!"

"Ay, indeed! Give me a promise that you and he shall never meet again, or you depart not from this place!"

"You are jesting, Don Miguel?"

"I am in earnest, Dona Isidora."

The manner of the man too truly betrayed the sincerity of his speech.

Coward as he was, there was a cold cruel determination in his looks, whilst his hand was seen straying towards the hilt of his machete.

Despite her Amazonian courage, the woman could not help a feeling of uneasiness. She saw there was a danger, with but slight chance of averting it. Something of this she had felt from the first moment of the encounter; but she had been sustained by the hope, that the unpleasant interview might be interrupted by one who would soon change its character.

During the early part of the dialogue she had been eagerly listening for the sound of a horse's hoof--casting occasional and furtive glances through the chapparal, in the direction where she hoped to hear it.

This hope was no more. The sight of her own letter told its tale: it had not reached its destination.

Deprived of this hope--hitherto sustaining her--she next thought of retreating from the spot.

But this too presented both difficulties and dangers. It was possible for her to wheel round and gallop off; but it was equally possible for her retreat to be intercepted by a bullet. The b.u.t.t of El Coyote's pistol was as near to his hand as the hilt of his machete.

She was fully aware of the danger. Almost any other woman would have given way to it. Not so Isidora Covarubio de los Llanos. She did not even show signs of being affected by it.

"Nonsense!" she exclaimed, answering his protestation with an air of well dissembled incredulity. "You are making sport of me, Senor. You wish to frighten me. Ha! ha! ha! Why should I fear _you_? I can ride as well--fling my lazo as sure and far as you, Look at this I see how skilfully I can handle it!"

While so speaking--smiling as she spoke--she had lifted the lazo from her saddle-bow and was winding it round her head, as if to ill.u.s.trate her observations.

The act had a very different intent, though it was not perceived by Diaz; who, puzzled by her behaviour, sate speechless in his saddle.

Not till he felt the noose closing around his elbows did he suspect her design; and then too late to hinder its execution. In another instant his arms were pinioned to his sides--both the b.u.t.t of his pistol and the hilt of his machete beyond the grasp of his fingers!

He had not even time to attempt releasing himself from the loop. Before he could lay hand upon the rope, it tightened around his body, and with a violent pluck jerked him out of his saddle--throwing him stunned and senseless to the ground.

"Now, Don Miguel Diaz!" cried she who had caused this change of situation, and who was now seen upon her horse, with head turned homeward, the lazo strained taut from the saddle-tree. "Menace me no more! Make no attempt to release yourself. Stir but a finger, and I spur on! Cruel villain! coward as you are, you would have killed me--I saw it in your eye. Ha! the tables are turned, and now--"

Perceiving that there was no rejoinder, she interrupted her speech, still keeping the lazo at a stretch, with her eyes fixed upon the fallen man.

El Coyote lay upon the ground, his arms enlaced in the loop, without stirring, and silent as a stick of wood. The fall from his horse had deprived him of speech, and consciousness at the same time. To all appearance he was dead--his steed alone showing life by its loud neighing, as it reared back among the bushes.

"Holy Virgin! have I killed him?" she exclaimed, reining her horse slightly backward, though still keeping him headed away, and ready to spring to the spur. "Mother of G.o.d! I did not intend it--though I should be justified in doing even that: for too surely did he intend to kill _me_! Is he dead, or is it a _ruse_ to get me near? By our good Guadaloupe! I shall leave others to decide. There's not much fear of his overtaking me, before I can reach home; and if he's in any danger the people of the hacienda will get back soon enough to release him.

Good day, Don Miguel Diaz! _Hasta luego_!"

With these words upon her lips--the levity of which proclaimed her conscience clear of having committed a crime she drew a small sharp-bladed knife from beneath the bodice of her dress; severed the rope short off from her saddle-bow; and, driving the spur deep into the flanks of her horse, galloped off out of the glade--leaving Diaz upon the ground, still encircled by the loop of the lazo!

CHAPTER FORTY NINE.

THE LAZO UNLOOSED.

An eagle, scared from its perch on a scathed Cottonwood, with a scream, soars upward into the air.

Startled by the outbreak of angry pa.s.sions, it has risen to reconnoitre.

A single sweep of its majestic wing brings it above the glade. There, poised on tremulous pinions, with eye turned to earth, it scans both the open s.p.a.ce and the chapparal that surrounds it. In the former it beholds that which may, perhaps, be gratifying to its glance--a man thrown from his horse, that runs neighing around him--prostrate-- apparently dead. In the latter two singular equestrians: one a woman, with bare head and chevelure spread to the breeze, astride a strong steed, going away from the glade in quick earnest gallop; the other, also a woman, mounted on a spotted horse, in more feminine fas.h.i.+on, riding towards it: attired in hat and habit, advancing at a slower pace, but with equal earnestness in her looks.

Such is the _coup d'oeil_ presented to the eye of the eagle.

Of these fair equestrians both are already known. She galloping away is Isidora Covarubio de los Llanos; she who approaches, Louise Poindexter.

It is known why the first has gone out of the glade. It remains to be told for what purpose the second is coming into it.

After her interview with Zeb Stump, the young creole re-entered her chamber, and kneeling before an image of the Madonna, surrendered her spirit to prayer.

It is needless to say that, as a Creole, she was a Catholic, and therefore a firm believer in the efficacy of saintly intercession.

Strange and sad was the theme of her supplication--the man who had been marked as the murderer of her brother!

She had not the slightest idea that he was guilty of the horrid crime.

It could not be. The very suspicion of it would have lacerated her heart.

Her prayer was not for pardon, but protection. She supplicated the Virgin to save him from his enemies--her own friends!

Tears and choking sobs were mingled with her words, low murmured in the ear of Heaven. She had loved her brother with the fondest sisterly affection. She sorrowed sorely; but her sorrow could not stifle that other affection, stronger than the ties of blood. While mourning her brother's loss she prayed for her lover's safety.

As she rose from her knees, her eye fell upon the bow--that implement so cunningly employed to despatch sweet messages to the man she loved.