Then there was an interval of silence, succeeded by the s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g of a stopper, and after that a succession of "glucks," that proclaimed the rapid emptying of a narrow-necked vessel.

After a time this sound was suspended, to be replaced by a repeated, smacking of lips, interlarded with grotesque e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.ns.

Again came the gluck-gluck, again the smackings, and so on alternately, till an empty flask was heard falling upon the floor.

After that there were wild shouts--sc.r.a.ps of song intermingled with cheers and laughter--incoherent ravings about red Indians and headless hors.e.m.e.n, repeated over and over again, each time in more subdued tones, till the maudlin gibberish at length ended in loud continuous snoring!

CHAPTER FIFTY TWO.

AN AWAKENER.

Phelim's second slumber was destined to endure for a more protracted term than his first. It was nearly noon when he awoke from it; and then only on receiving a bucket of cold water full in his face, that sobered him almost as quickly as the sight of the savages.

It was Zeb Stump who administered the _douche_.

After parting from the precincts of Casa del Corvo, the old hunter had taken the road, or rather _trail_, which he knew to be the most direct one leading to the head waters of the Nueces.

Without staying to notice tracks or other "sign," he rode straight across the prairie, and into the avenue already mentioned.

Prom what Louise Poindexter had told him--from a knowledge of the people who composed the party of searchers--he knew that Maurice Gerald was in danger.

Hence his haste to reach the Alamo before them--coupled with caution to keep out of their way.

He knew that if he came up with the Regulators, equivocation would be a dangerous game; and, _nolens volens_, he should be compelled to guide them to the dwelling of the suspected murderer.

On turning the angle of the avenue, he had the chagrin to see the searchers directly before him, clumped up in a crowd, and apparently engaged in the examination of "sign."

At the same time he had the satisfaction to know that his caution was rewarded, by himself remaining unseen.

"Durn them!" he muttered, with bitter emphasis. "I mout a know'd they'd a bin hyur. I must go back an roun' the tother way. It'll deelay me better'n a hour. Come, ole maar! This air an obstruckshun _you_, won't like. It'll gi'e ye the edition o' six more mile to yur journey.

Ee-up, ole gal! Roun' an back we go!"

With a strong pull upon the rein, he brought the mare short round, and rode back towards the embouchure of the avenue.

Once outside, he turned along the edge of the chapparal, again entering it by the path which on the day before had been taken by Diaz and his trio of confederates. From this point he proceeded without pause or adventure until he had descended to the Alamo bottom-land, and arrived within a short distance, though still out of sight of the mustanger's dwelling.

Instead of riding boldly up to it, he dismounted from his mare; and leaving her behind him, approached the _jacale_ with his customary caution.

The horse-hide door was closed; but there was a large aperture in the middle of it, where a portion of the skin had been cut out. What was the meaning of that?

Zeb could not answer the question, even by conjecture.

It increased his caution; and he continued his approach with as much stealth, as if he had been stalking an antelope.

He kept round by the rear--so as to avail himself of the cover afforded by the trees; and at length, having crouched into the horse-shed at the back, he knelt down and listened.

There was an opening before his eyes; where one of the split posts had been pushed out of place, and the skin tapestry torn off. He saw this with some surprise; but, before he could shape any conjecture as to its cause, his ears were saluted with a sonorous breathing, that came out through the aperture. There was also a snore, which he fancied he could recognise, as proceeding from Irish nostrils.

A glance through the opening settled the point. The sleeper was Phelim.

There was an end to the necessity for stealthy manoeuvring. The hunter rose to his feet, and stepping round to the front, entered by the door-- which he found unbolted.

He made no attempt to rouse the sleeper, until after he had taken stock of the paraphernalia upon the floor.

"Thur's been packin' up for some purp.i.s.s," he observed, after a cursory glance. "Ah! Now I reccollex. The young fellur sayed he war goin' to make a move from hyur some o' these days. Thet ere anymal air not only soun' asleep, but dead drunk. Sartin he air--drunk as Backis. I kin tell that by the smell o' him. I wonder if he hev left any o' the licker? It air dewbious. Not a drop, dog-gone him! Thur's the jar, wi' the stop plug out o' it, lyin' on its side; an thur's the flask, too, in the same preedikamint--both on 'em fall o' empiness. Durn him for a drunken cuss! He kin suck up as much moister as a chalk purayra.

"Spanish curds! A hul pack on 'em scattered abeout the place. What kin he ha' been doin' wi' them? S'pose he's been havin' a game o' sollatury along wi' his licker."

"But what's cut the hole in the door, an why's the tother broken out at the back? I reckon he kin tell. I'll roust him, an see. Pheelum!

Pheelum!"

Phelim made no reply.

"Pheelum, I say! Pheelum!"

Still no reply. Although the last summons was delivered in a shout loud enough to have been heard half a mile off, there was no sign made by the slumberer to show that he even heard it.

A rude shaking administered by Zeb had no better effect. It only produced a grunt, immediately succeeded by a return to the same stentorous respiration.

"If 'twa'n't for his snorin' I mout b'lieve him to be dead. He _air_ dead drunk, an no mistake; intoxerkated to the very eends o' his toe-nails. Kickin' him 'ud be no use. Dog-goned, ef I don't try _this_."

The old hunter's eye, as he spoke, was resting upon a pail that stood in a corner of the cabin. It was full of water, which Phelim, for some purpose, had fetched from the creek. Unfortunately for himself, he had not wasted it.

With a comical expression in his eye, Zeb took up the pail; and swilled the whole of its contents right down upon the countenance of the sleeper.

It had the effect intended. If not quite sobered, the inebriate was thoroughly awakened; and the string of terrified e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.ns that came from his lips formed a contrasting accompaniment to the loud cachinnations of the hunter.

It was some time before sufficient tranquillity was restored, to admit of the two men entering upon a serious conversation.

Phelim, however, despite his chronic inebriety, was still under the influence of his late fears, and was only too glad to see Zeb Stump, notwithstanding the unceremonious manner in which he had announced himself.

As soon as an understanding was established between them, and without waiting to be questioned, he proceeded to relate in detail, as concisely as an unsteady tongue and disordered brain would permit, the series of strange sights and incidents that had almost deprived him of his senses.

It was the first that Zeb Stump had heard of the _Headless Horseman_.

Although the report concerning this imperfect personage was that morning broadly scattered around Fort Inge, and along the Leona, Zeb, having pa.s.sed through the settlement at an early hour, and stopped only at Casa del Corvo, had not chanced upon any one who could have communicated such a startling item of intelligence. In fact, he had exchanged speech only with Pluto and Louise Poindexter; neither of whom had at that time heard anything of the strange creature encountered, on the evening before, by the party of searchers. The planter, for some reason or another, had been but little communicative, and his daughter had not held converse with any of the others.

At first Zeb was disposed to ridicule the idea of a man without a head.

He called it "a fanta.s.sy of Pheelum's brain, owin' to his havin' tuk too much of the corn-juice."

He was puzzled, however, by Phelim's persistence in declaring it to be a fact--more especially when he reflected on the other circ.u.mstances known to him.

"Arrah, now, how could I be mistaken?" argued the Irishman. "Didn't I see Masther Maurice, as plain as I see yourself at this minnit? All except the hid, and that I had a peep at as he turned to gallop away.

Besides, thare was the Mexican blanket, an the saddle wid the rid cloth, and the wather guards av spotted skin; and who could mistake that purty horse? An' havn't I towld yez that Tara went away afther him, an thin I heerd the dog gowlin', jist afore the Indyins--"

"Injuns!" exclaimed the hunter, with a contemptuous toss of the head.

"Injuns playin' wi' Spanish curds! White Injuns, I reck'n."