The sun was low down, almost on a level with the sward. Facing westward, his disc was directly before them. His rays, glaring redly in their eyes, hindered them from having a very accurate view, towards the quarter of the west. Still could they see that strange shape above described--a horseman without a head!

Had only one of the party declared himself to have seen it, he would have been laughed at by his companions as a lunatic. Even two might have been stigmatised in a similar manner.

But what everybody saw at the same time, could not be questioned; and only he would have been thought crazed, who should have expressed incredulity about the presence of the abnormal phenomenon.

No one did. The eyes of all were turned in the same direction, their gaze intently fixed on what was either a horseman without the head, or the best counterfeit that could have been contrived.

Was it this? If not, what was it?

These interrogatories pa.s.sed simultaneously through the minds of all.

As no one could answer them, even to himself, no answer was vouchsafed.

Soldiers and civilians sate silent in their saddles--each expecting an explanation, which the other was unable to supply.

There could be heard only mutterings, expressive of surprise and terror.

No one even offered a conjecture.

The headless horseman, whether phantom or real, when first seen, was about entering the avenue--near the debouchure of which the searchers had arrived. Had he continued his course, he must have met them in the teeth--supposing their courage to have been equal to the encounter.

As it was, he had halted at the same instant as themselves; and stood regarding them with a mistrust that may have been mutual.

There was an interval of silence on both sides, during which a cigar stump might have been heard falling upon the sward. It was then the strange apparition was most closely scrutinised by those who had the courage: for the majority of the men sate shivering in their stirrups-- through sheer terror, incapable even of thought!

The few who dared face the mystery, with any thought of accounting for it, were baffled in their investigation by the glare of the setting sun.

They could only see that there was a horse of large size and n.o.ble shape, with a man upon his back. The figure of the man was less easily determined, on account of the limbs being inserted into overalls, while his shoulders were enveloped in an ample cloak-like covering.

What signified his shape, so long as it wanted that portion most essential to existence? A man without a head--on horseback, sitting erect in the saddle, in an att.i.tude of ease and grace--with spurs sparkling upon his heels--the bridle-rein held in one hand--the other where it should be, resting lightly upon his thigh!

Great G.o.d! what could it mean?

Was it a phantom? Surely it could not be human?

They who viewed it were not the men to have faith either in phantoms, or phantasmagoria. Many of them had met Nature in her remotest solitudes, and wrestled with her in her roughest moods. They were not given to a belief in ghosts.

But the confidence of the most incredulous was shaken by a sight so strange--so absolutely unnatural--and to such an extent, that the stoutest hearted of the party was forced mentally to repeat the words:--

"_Is it a phantom? Surely it cannot be human_?"

Its size favoured the idea of the supernatural. It appeared double that of an ordinary man upon an ordinary horse. It was more like a giant on a gigantic steed; though this might have been owing to the illusory light under which it was seen--the refraction of the sun's rays pa.s.sing horizontally through the tremulous atmosphere of the parched plain.

There was but little time to philosophise--not enough to complete a careful scrutiny of the unearthly apparition, which every one present, with hand spread over his eyes to shade them from the dazzling glare, was endeavouring to make.

Nothing of colour could be noted--neither the garments of the man, nor the hairy coat of the horse. Only the shape could be traced, outlined in sable silhouette against the golden background of the sky; and this in every change of att.i.tude, whether fronting the spectators, or turned stern towards them, was still the same--still that inexplicable phenomenon: _a horseman without a head_!

Was it a phantom? Surely it could not be human?

"'Tis old Nick upon horseback!" cried a fearless frontiersman, who would scarce have quailed to encounter his Satanic majesty even in that guise.

"By the 'tarnal Almighty, it's the devil himself."

The boisterous laugh which succeeded the profane utterance of the reckless speaker, while it only added to the awe of his less courageous comrades, appeared to produce an effect on the headless horseman.

Wheeling suddenly round--his horse at the same time sending forth a scream that caused either the earth or the atmosphere to tremble--he commenced galloping away.

He went direct towards the sun; and continued this course, until only by his motion could he be distinguished from one of those spots that have puzzled the philosopher--at length altogether disappearing, as though he had ridden into the dazzling disc!

CHAPTER FORTY ONE.

CUATRO CAVALLEROS.

The party of searchers, under the command of the major, was not the only one that went forth from Fort Inge on that eventful morning.

Nor was it the earliest to take saddle. Long before--in fact close following the dawn of day--a much smaller party, consisting of only four hors.e.m.e.n, was seen setting out from the suburbs of the village, and heading their horses in the direction of the Nueces.

These could not be going in search of the dead body of Henry Poindexter.

At that hour no one suspected that the young man was dead, or even that he was missing. The riderless horse had not yet come in to tell the tale of woe. The settlement was still slumbering, unconscious that innocent blood had been spilt.

Though setting out from nearly the same point, and proceeding in a like direction, there was not the slightest similarity between the two parties of mounted men. Those earliest a-start were all of pure Iberian blood; or this commingled with Aztecan. In other words they were Mexicans.

It required neither skill nor close scrutiny to discover this. A glance at themselves and their horses, their style of equitation, the slight muscular development of their thighs and hips--more strikingly observable in their deep-tree saddles--the gaily coloured serapes shrouding their shoulders, the wide velveteen calzoneros on their legs, the big spurs on their boots, and broad-brimmed sombreros on their heads, declared them either Mexicans, or men who had adopted the Mexican costume.

That they were the former there was not a question. The sallow hue; the pointed Vand.y.k.e beard, covering the chin, spa.r.s.ely--though not from any thinning by the shears--the black, close-cropped _chevelure_; the regular facial outline, were all indisputable characteristics of the Hispano-Moro-Aztecan race, who now occupy the ancient territory of the Moctezumas.

One of the four was a man of larger frame than any of his companions.

He rode a better horse; was more richly apparelled; carried upon his person arms and equipments of a superior finish; and was otherwise distinguished, so as to leave no doubt about his being the leader of the _cuartilla_.

He was a man of between thirty and forty years of age, nearer to the latter than the former; though a smooth, rounded cheek--furnished with a short and carefully trimmed whisker--gave him the appearance of being younger than he was.

But for a cold animal eye, and a heaviness of feature that betrayed a tendency to behave with brutality--if not with positive cruelty--the individual in question might have been described as handsome.

A well formed mouth, with twin rows of white teeth between the lips, even when these were exhibited in a smile, did not remove this unpleasant impression. It but reminded the beholder of the sardonic grin that may have been given by Satan, when, after the temptation had succeeded, he gazed contemptuously back upon the mother of mankind.

It was not his looks that had led to his having become known among his comrades by a peculiar nick-name; that of an animal well known upon the plains of Texas.

His deeds and disposition had earned for him the unenviable soubriquet "El Coyote."

How came he to be crossing the prairie at this early hour of the morning--apparently sober, and acting as the leader of others--when on the same morning, but a few hours before, he was seen drunk in his jacale--so drunk as to be unconscious of having a visitor, or, at all events, incapable of giving that visitor a civil reception?

The change of situation though sudden--and to some extent strange--is not so difficult of explanation. It will be understood after an account has been given of his movements, from the time of Calhoun's leaving him, till the moment of meeting him in the saddle, in company with his three _conpaisanos_.

On riding away from his hut, Calhoun had left the door, as he had found it, ajar; and in this way did it remain until the morning--El Coyote all the time continuing his sonorous slumber.

At daybreak he was aroused by the raw air that came drifting over him in the shape of a chilly fog. This to some extent sobered him; and, springing up from his skin-covered truck, he commenced staggering over the floor--all the while uttering anathemas against the cold, and the door for letting it in.

It might be expected that he would have shut to the latter on the instant; but he did not. It was the only aperture, excepting some holes arising from dilapidation, by which light was admitted into the interior of the jacale; and light he wanted, to enable him to carry out the design that had summoned him to his feet.

The grey dawn, just commencing to creep in through the open doorway, scarce sufficed for his purpose; and it was only after a good while spent in groping about, interspersed with a series of stumblings, and accompanied by a string of profane exclamations, that he succeeded in finding that he was searching for: a large two-headed gourd, with a strap around its middle, used as a canteen for carrying water, or more frequently _mezcal_.

The odour escaping from its uncorked end told that it had recently contained this potent spirit; but that it was now empty, was announced by another profane e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.n that came from the lips of its owner, as he made the discovery.