Part 24 (1/2)
”_Carramba_!” interrupted his listener; ”of course not I know the place well And if you, Senor Colonel, were as well acquainted with that _chapparal_, and what lies alongside it, as one of those you were after, you'd have dropped the search sooner You needn't tell al”
”So it would seem, your Excellency”
”See for them there would be so much lost time Around your native city, New Orleans, there are swaes to hide hi rocks, in that same quarter you've just come from It's a very labyrinth But what did you afterwards?
You may as well complete your narrative”
”There is not much more to tell, Sire; for little more could we do The darkness came on, as we discovered they had taken to the rocks”
”You did discover that?”
”Yes, your Excellency We found the place where they had gone up over a sort of cliff There were scratches made by their feet, with a branch broken off one of the cactus plants; some of the sewer mud, too, was on the rock But there was no path, and I saould be useless carrying the pursuit any further till we should have the light ofI've taken every precaution, however, to prevent their getting out of the Pedregal”
”What precautions?”
”By co it, Sire I sent the Lancers round by San Geroo in the opposite direction by San Augustin They have orders to drop a picket at every path that leads from it, till they meet on the other side”
”Well, Senor Colonel, your strategy is good I don't see that you could have done better under the circumstances But it's doubtful whether we shall be able to trap our foxes in the Pedregal One of theht or darkness hinder his travelling along theet to their stations Yes; and off to a hiding-place he has elsewhere--a safer one--somewhere in the Sierras Confound those Sierras with their caverns and forests They're full of my enemies, rebels, and robbers
But I'll have theed, shot, till I clear the country of disaffection _Carajo_! I shall be master of Mexico, not only in naht of unrestrained rule and dreaer--he sprang out of his chair, and paced to and fro, gesticulating in a violent manner
”Yes, Senor Colonel!” he continued in tone satisfied as triu after these skulking proscripts But our victory over the Tejanos has givenit These men must be recaptured at all cost-- if it take my whole army to do it To you, Don Carlos Santander, I entrust the task--its whole ement You have my authority to requisition troops, and spend whatever moneyclose to his subordinate, and speaking in a confidential way, ”if you can bring nise it_, I shall thank you not as _Colonel_, but as _General_ Santander”
The expression upon his face as he said this was truly Satanic Equally so that on his to whoiven Alike cruel in their instincts, with aiitive prisoners were not retaken
CHAPTER THIRTY NINE
UP THE MOUNTAIN
”We're going to have a night black as charcoal,” said Rivas, running his eye along the outline of the Cordilleras, and taking survey of the sky beyond
”Will that be against us?” queried the young Irishman
”In one way, yes; in another, for us Our pursuers will be sure to ride all round the Pedregal, and leave a picket wherever they see the rese out If it were to coht--as luckily it won't--we'd had but a poor chance to get past theainst aard odds--nu We must steal past somehow, and so the darkness will be in our favour”