Part 16 (2/2)
Dreaming he had been, when aroused by the growling of the dogs. But that was a horrid vision. What he now sees is the very reverse. Demons had been a.s.saulting him in his sleep. Now there is an angel before his eyes.
The young girl has ceased speaking; and as the vertigo, caused by his sudden uprising, has cleared away from his brain, he begins to believe in the reality of the objects around him.
The shock of surprise has imparted a momentary strength that soon pa.s.ses; and his feebleness once more returning, he would fall back to the earth did he not clutch hold of the yucca, whose stiff blades sustain him.
”_Valga me Dios_!” exclaims the girl, now more clearly perceiving his condition. ”_Ay de mi_!” she repeats in a compa.s.sionate tone, ”you are suffering, sir? Is it hunger? Is it thirst? You have been lost upon the Llano Estacado?”
”Hunger, thirst--both, senorita,” he answers, speaking for the first time. ”For days I have not tasted either food or drink.”
”_Virgen santissima_! is that so?”
As she says this she returns to her horse; and, jerking a little wallet from the saddle, along, with a suspended gourd, again advances towards him.
”Here, senor!” she says, plunging her hand into the bag and bringing forth some cold _tortillas_, ”this is all I have; I've been the whole day from home, and the rest I've eaten. Take the water first; no doubt you need that most. I remember how I suffered myself. Mix some of this with it. Trust me, it will restore your strength.”
While speaking she hands him the gourd, which, by its weight, contains over a pint; and then from another and smaller one she pours some liquid first into the water and then over the tortillas. It is vinegar, in which there is an infusion of _chile Colorado_.
”Am I not robbing you?” inquires Hamersley, as he casts a significant glance over the wide, sterile plain.
”No, no! I am not in need, besides I have no great way to go to where I can get a fresh supply. Drink, senor, drink it all.”
In ten seconds after the calabash is empty.
”Now eat the tortillas. 'Tis but poor fare, but the _chili vinagre_ will be sure to strengthen you. We who dwell in the desert know that.”
Her words proved true, for after swallowing a few morsels of the bread she has besprinkled, the famished man feels as if some restorative medicine had been administered to him.
”Do you think you are able to ride?” she asks.
”I can walk--though, perhaps, not very far.”
”If you can ride there is no need for your walking. You can mount my mare; I shall go afoot. It is not very far--only six miles.”
”But,” protests he, ”I must not leave this spot.”
”Indeed!” she exclaims, turning upon her _protege_ a look of surprise.
”For what reason, senor? To stay here would be to perish. You have no companions to care for you?”
”I have companions--at least, one. That is why I must remain. Whether he may return to a.s.sist me I know not. He has gone off in search of water. In any case, he will be certain to seek for me.”
”But why should you stay for him?”
”Need you ask, senorita? He is my comrade, true and faithful. He has been the sharer of my dangers--of late no common ones. If he were to come back and find me gone--”
”What need that signify, caballero? He will know where to come after you.”
”How should he know?”
<script>