Part 9 (1/2)
”Saw the Siren?”
”Yes. Just where we had been--up by the _ahuehuetes_--I saw by the blaze of our fire a face, surrounded by a diadem of s.h.i.+ning gold. What could that have been but the Siren?”
”You must have been mistaken, friend Clara.”
”I was not mistaken. I saw what I tell you, and I shouldn't a bit wonder that what we took for pebbles were neither more nor less than a shower of _pepitas_ (nuggets) of gold, which the spirit had thrown down to us.”
”_Carajo_! why did you allow us to leave the place without telling me of this?”
”Because it has just occurred to me now that it was _pepitas_, and not pebbles; besides, our touchwood is all gone, and we could not have kindled another fire.”
”We might have groped in the dark.”
”Nonsense, friend Costal! How could we tell grains of gold from gravel or anything else in the midst of such darkness as there is down here.
Besides, if I came away, it was only with the thought of returning again. We can come back in the morning at daybreak.”
”Aha!” cried Costal, suddenly starting with an alarmed air, and striking his forehead with his hand. ”We shan't return here to-morrow morning.
_Carrai_! I had forgotten; we shall do well to get out of this ravine as quickly as possible.”
”Why so?” hastily inquired the black, astounded beyond measure at the altered demeanour of his companion.
”_Carrai_! I had forgotten,” said Costal, repeating his words.
”To-night is new moon; and it is just at this season that the rivers rise, break over their banks, and inundate the whole country. Yes! the flood will come upon us like an avalanche, and almost without warning.
Ha! I do believe that is the warning now! Do you not hear a distant hissing sound?” And as he said this the Indian bent his head and stood listening.
”The cascade, is it not?”
”No--it is very different--it is a distant sound, and I can distinguish it from the roar of the river. I am almost certain it is the inundation.”
”Heaven have mercy upon us!” exclaimed the black. ”What are we to do?”
”Oh! make your mind easy,” rejoined Costal in a consolatory tone. ”We are not in much danger. Once out of the ravine, we can climb a tree.
If the flood should find us here, it would be all over with us.”
”_Por Dios_! let us make haste then,” said Clara, ”and get out of this accursed place, fit only for demons and tigers!”
A few steps more brought the two adventurers out into the open ground; and close to the spot where the dragoon captain was sitting silently on his horse. The red coal glowing at the end of his cigar shone at intervals in the darkness, lighting up his face, and the gold band of lace that encircled his hat. Clara was the first to perceive this unexpected apparition.
”Look, Costal!” said he, hastily grasping his companion by the arm, and whispering in his ear; ”look there! As I live, the diadem of the Siren!”
The Indian turned his eyes in the direction indicated, and there, sure enough, beheld something of a circular shape, s.h.i.+ning in the glow of a reddish-coloured spot of fire.
He might have been as much puzzled to account for this strange appearance as was his companion; but at that moment the moon shot up from behind the bank of clouds that had hitherto hindered her from being seen, and the figures of both horse and rider were brought fully into the light.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN.