Malgares told me fully of the perils of the desert, and he had six hundred men, and it was in the pleasant season. But one man or a mere handful, however brave--_Santisima Virgen!_"

"Malgares?" I repeated.

"Lieutenant Malgares, who led the expedition to the savages of the East and North. On your way to Chihuahua you will have opportunity to learn that he is a true _caballero_."

"Chihuahua?" I exclaimed. "Your Excellency will then permit me to go to Chihuahua?"

"_Quien sabe?_" he smiled. "G.o.d alone knows the future! But I will send despatches, and it may well happen that they will not be in disfavor of your going. But as for the decision, that is with His Excellency, Don Nimesio Salcedo, the Commandant-General."

A sudden thought aided me to rally from my disappointment.

"Your Excellency," I asked, "if I should seal and address one article contained in my packet before your eyes, might I not ask the favor that it be delivered at Chihuahua to the lady addressed?"

"_Santa Maria!_" he returned, "it is always a pleasure to aid a lover.

Come now! We will seal your message with my own seal. There are those between us and your Dulcinea who might otherwise peer within the cover.

The address you shall write upon it in private with my own quill, and none shall see the name of the senorita. She is not married?" (I signed that she was not.) "None shall see her name except my messenger when he opens the despatch-pouch for delivery at Chihuahua."

"_Muchas gracias_, Your Excellency!" I murmured, overcome.

"Ah! ah!" he murmured, leaning upon my bony shoulder as we started. "The years pa.s.s, but I, too, once had my romance, senor!"

CHAPTER XXI

HO FOR CHIHUAHUA!

So it was that for the time being I found myself received into the society of the most powerful official of the North Province with a favor as cloudless and warm as the blue sky above his chief town. Yet, on the other hand, having been requested by His Excellency to prescribe for the dropsy with which he was afflicted, I laid myself open to trouble by giving a treatment different from that previously prescribed by the monk who was his regular physician. The result was soon evident in the poisoning of His Excellency's mind against the heretic.

But in the few hours of practical liberty which intervened, I had the good fortune to meet my fellow-countryman, James Pursley. He proved to be one of our typical gaunt, long-legged Kentuckians, with a bearded face as resolute and formidable as that of our fighting sergeant Meek.

Still better proof of his daring character lay in the fact that he had been wandering on the prairies for two years or more before he fell in with the great company of Comanches and Kyoways whose encampment we had found on the headwaters of the Platte, and with whom he had come south to the vicinity of the Spanish settlements. Venturing into Santa Fe, he had been fairly well received by the Spanish, and though forbidden to leave certain bounds, was otherwise free, and doing quite well as a carpenter.

As my attendant corporal knew nothing else than Spanish, Pursley and I were able to talk with the utmost freedom. When, in the midst of the account of his truly remarkable adventures, he told how he had found gold on the upper reaches of the Platte, westerly of the Grand Peak, and how he had refused to divulge the place to the Spaniards because it might lie within the bounds of Louisiana Territory, I became so convinced of his stanch loyalty and patriotism that I confided in him the circ.u.mstances of our party.

He was immensely interested, but shook his head over my suggestion that he should attempt to join the expedition. He did not see how this could be of any benefit either to the party or to himself, especially, he explained, as Allencaster had already sent out well-mounted spies to find and report on the party of hunters with whom I claimed companionship. He, Pursley, could not hope to overtake these expert hors.e.m.e.n; while, on the other hand, if caught trying to escape, he would surely be jailed in the terrible _calabozo_.

In the midst of our argument of the question, I was summoned into the presence of the Governor. He met me with a frown, and showed how closely I had been watched by peremptorily ordering me to hold no further communication with Pursley. My attempt at a French shrug flung him into a pa.s.sion, in which he decreed my exile to San Fernandez, a tiny village four days south of Santa Fe, there to remain in the charge of Lieutenant Malgares until word should come from Chihuahua.

Finding His Excellency thus once more harshly disposed, I was not altogether reluctant at being banished, more especially as my exile was in the direction I wished to travel. Nor did I regret the change when I came to San Fernandez and made the acquaintance of Lieutenant Don Faciendo Malgares.

He was, I soon learned, the son of one of the royal judges of the Kingdom of New Spain, and immensely wealthy. But neither his birth nor his wealth prevented him from being the most courteous gentleman I have ever met. That he was a daring and dashing officer was evident from his modest account of that remarkable excursion through the heart of the Comanche country and north to the p.a.w.nees.

The question of his expedition chanced to come up within a week after my arrival, and having already gauged his gallant character, I felt free to rally him upon his invasion of our domain.

"_Nom de Dieu!_" I mocked, as he concluded by telling how his party had returned southward from the Arkansas, along the outer face of the front range of mountains, and into Santa Fe through an easy pa.s.s eastward of that town. "_Nom de Dieu!_ you invade territory indisputably ours with a force little short of a regiment; yet when I would repay the compliment,--one lone man, lost in the Western wilds, your righteous Governor has a mind to garrotte me!"

"Not he, senor," replied Malgares. "Rest a.s.sured he will leave that to the decision of the Governor-General."

"He will send me to Chihuahua!" I exclaimed.

"I fear as much, senor. There can be little doubt that General Salcedo will order you before him."

"_Quien sabe?_" I muttered, affecting a doleful tone. My fear had been that I might be sent the other way. A sudden thought brought my hand to my bosom. "_Perdone_, senor lieutenant, if I seem impertinent, but is it usual for Spanish officers to present savages with banners embroidered by the ladies?"

He stared at me blankly. "Embroidered banners?"

"I chanced to visit that p.a.w.nee town some three weeks after yourself.

Examining the flag you left, I observed upon its lower corner--"

"Ah!" he interrupted, "I comprehend. The flag from Senorita Vallois. But I a.s.sure you, Senor Robinson, it was the lady's own whim. She requested me to fly her banner at the point where I should make nearest approach to your settlements."

"Ah!" I exclaimed, in turn, masking my delight with difficulty. "So your Spanish senoritas still send out their knights errant bearing their colors."

"True," he replied. "Yet you mistake in part. It was not Senora Malgares who gave me the banner in question, but her friend, Senorita Vallois."

"Vallois?" I repeated;--"Vallois? That is a French name."

"No less is it Spanish, senor; though it is in point that my friend Don Pedro claims descent from French royalty. One can well believe the claim in the presence of his niece."

"My word to that!" I cried. "She's the most beautiful lady under heaven!"

"_Santisima Virgen!_" he exclaimed. "You know her?"

"I had the honor of meeting her in my own country."

By a flash of intuition he divined all on the instant. "_Dios!_" he murmured, and he swept me a wide bow. "A love that could draw a man across that vast desolation of desert and sierra! Most unjust the fate that would not requite the deed!"

"You have seen her. Do you wonder that I should have made the venture?"

"Less than a year has pa.s.sed since I won my own lady," he said. "The Virgin grant that I may be the one to escort you to Chihuahua! I have not seen my senora since I marched north, last year."

When a Spaniard opens his heart to you, count on it you have found a friend. I nodded understandingly.

"Ah, my Dolores! my _nina_!" he sighed.

"But she is yours; you have already won her; while I--!"

He nodded, in turn. "My Dolores writes that every bachelor of Chihuahua, from the greatest _haciendados_ to the youngest sub-lieutenants, are suitors for the hand of Senorita Alisanda. Yet take heart. At the last writing, not even Medina had won recognition from her."

"Medina?" I inquired, full of jealous inquietude.

"Salcedo's favorite aide-de-camp,--a braggadocio fellow."

"Could you not take it upon yourself to hurry me south at once?" I urged.

"_Poder de Dios!_ I, a soldier, to march without orders? But be a.s.sured.

The order will come before many weeks. In the meantime we should prepare." He looked me over smilingly. "It will never do for you to come before your lady in this savage costume. Great is my regret that in this remote village we cannot find you garments after the European mode, yet there are worse attires than that of a Spanish country gentleman--a _caballero rusticano_."