Stronghand; or, The Noble Revenge. Gustave Aimard

modestly furnished with a few butacas; "sit down, children; and when you have rested, we will talk."

      Refreshments had been prepared on the table. While the young people enjoyed them, the Captain quitted them, and went with the hunter into another room. So soon as they were alone, the two men became serious, and the joy that illumined the Captain's face was suddenly extinguished.

      "Well," he asked Stronghand, after making him a sign to sit down, "what news?"

      "Bad," he answered, distinctly.

      "I expected it," the officer muttered, with a sad toss of the head; "we must put on our harness again, and push out into the savannah, in order to prove to these bandits that we are able to punish them."

      The hunter shook his head several times, but said nothing. The Captain looked at him attentively for some minutes.

      "What is the matter, my friend?" he at length asked him, with growing anxiety; "I never saw you so sad and gloomy before."

      "The reason is," he answered, "because circumstances have never been so serious."

      "Explain yourself, my friend; I confess to you that you are really beginning to alarm me. With the exception of a few insignificant marauders, the borders have never appeared to me more quiet."

      "It is a deceitful calm, Don Marcos, which contains the tempest in its bosom—and a terrible tempest, I, assure you."

      "And yet our spies are all agreed in assuring us that the Indians are not at all thinking of an expedition."

      "It proves that your spies betray you, that's all."

      "Possibly so; but still, I should like some proof or sign."

      "I ask for nothing better; I am enabled to give you the most positive information."

      "Very good; that is the way to speak. I am listening to you."

      "Before all, is your garrison strong?"

      "I consider it large enough."

      "Perhaps so: how many men have you?"

      "Sixty or seventy, about."

      "That is not enough."

      "What! Not enough? The garrisons of blockhouses are never more numerous."

      "In a time of peace, it may be so; but under present circumstances, I repeat to you, that they are not enough, and you will soon agree with me on that score. You must send off a courier, without the loss of a moment, to ask for a reinforcement of from one hundred and fifty to two hundred men. Do not deceive yourself, Captain; you will be the first attacked, and the attack will be a rude one. I warn you."

      "Thanks for the hint. Still, my good friend, you will permit me not to follow it till you have proved to me that there are urgent reasons for doing so."

      "As you please, Captain; you are the commandant of the post, and your responsibility must urge you to prudence. I will therefore abstain from making any farther observations on the subject which only concerns me very indirectly."

      "You are annoyed, and wrongly so, my friend; the responsibility to which you refer demands that I should not let myself be led by vague rumours to take measures I might have cause to regret. Give me the explanation I expect of you; and, probably, when I know the imminence of the danger that threatens me, I shall follow your advice."

      "I wish for nothing more than to satisfy you; so listen to me. What I have to tell you will not take long."

      At this moment the room door opened and Corporal Hernandez appeared. The Captain, annoyed at being thus inopportunely disturbed, turned sharply round and angrily addressed the man—

      "Well Corporal," he said, "what the fiend do you want now?"

      "Excuse me, Captain," the poor fellow said, astounded at this rough greeting, "but the Lieutenant sent me."

      "Well, what does the Lieutenant want? Speak! But be brief, if that is possible."

      "Captain, the sentry has seen a large party of horsemen coming at full gallop towards the fort, and the Lieutenant ordered me to warn you."

      "Eh," said the Captain, looking uneasily at the hunter, "were you in the right? and is this troop the vanguard of the enemy you threaten us with?"

      "This troop," the hunter answered, with an equivocal smile, "has been following Don Ruiz and myself since the morning. I do not believe that these horsemen are Indians."

      "What's the Lieutenant's opinion about these scamps?" the Captain asked the corporal.

      "They are too far off yet, and too hidden by the dust they raise, Captain, for it to be possible to recognise them," the non-commissioned officer replied with a bow.

      "That is true. We had better, I believe, go and look for ourselves. Will you come?"

      "I should think so," the hunter said, as he seized his rifle, which he had deposited in a corner of the room; and they went out.

      Don Ruiz and his sister were talking together, while doing ample justice to the refreshment placed at their disposal. On seeing the Captain, the young man rose and walked up to him.

      "Cousin," he said to him, with a bow, "I hear that you are on the point of being attacked; and as it is to some extent my cause you are going to defend, for the bandits who threaten you at this moment are allies of those with whom I had a fight last night, pray allow me to fire a shot by your side."

      "¡Viva Dios! Most heartily, my dear cousin," the Captain answered, gaily: "although these scoundrels are not worth the trouble. Come along!"

      "That's a fine fellow!" the Captain whispered in the hunter's ear.

      The latter made no answer. He contented himself with shrugging his shoulders, and turned away.

      "Oh," Doña Mariana exclaimed, "Ruiz, what are you going to do? Stay with me, I implore you, brother!"

      "Impossible, sister," the young man answered, as he kissed her; "what would our cousin think of me were I to skulk here when fighting was going on?"

      "Fear nothing, Niña; I am answerable for your brother," the Captain said with a smile.

      The girl sat down again sadly on the butaca from which she had risen, and the four men then left the room, and proceeded to the patio, or court. Here everybody was busy. The Lieutenant, an old experienced soldier, with a grey moustache and face furrowed by sabre cuts, and whose whole life had been spent on the borders, had not lost his time. While, by his order, Corporal Hernandez warned the Captain, he had ordered the "fall-in" to be beaten, had placed the best shots at the loopholes, and made all arrangements to avoid a surprise and give a warm reception to the enemy who advanced so daringly against the fort.

      When the Captain set foot in the court, he stopped, embraced at a glance the wise and intelligent arrangements made by his Lieutenant, and a smile of satisfaction spread over his features.

      "And now," he said to the hunter, "let us go and see who the enemy is with whom we have to deal."

      "It is unnecessary; for I can tell you, Captain," the other replied; "they are the pirates."

      "Pirates!" Don Marcos exclaimed in amazement. "What! Those villains would dare—"

      "Alone, certainly not," Stronghand quickly interrupted him; "but with the certainty of being supported by the Indians, of whom they are only the vanguard, they will not hesitate to do so. However, unless I am greatly mistaken, their attack will not be serious; and their object is probably to discover in what state of defence the post is. Receive them, then, in such a way as to leave them no doubt on this head, and prove to them that you are perfectly on your guard; and this demonstration will without doubt be sufficient to send them flying."

      "You are right," said the Captain. "Viva Dios! They shall have their answer, I promise you."

      He then gave the Corporal an order in a low voice; the latter bowed, and went