The Purple Land: Chapter 25

Chapter 25

About eight o'clock next morning I bade the Peraltas goodbye, and set
out on my long-delayed journey, still mounted on that dishonestly
acquired steed that had served me so well, for I had declined the good
Hilario's offer of a horse. Though all my toils, wanderings, and many
services to the cause of liberty (or whatever people fight for in the
Banda) had not earned me one copper coin, it was some comfort to think
that Candelaria's never-to-be-forgotten generosity had saved me from
being penniless; I was, in fact, returning to Paqu�ta well dressed,
on a splendid horse, and with dollars enough in my pocket to take us
comfortably out of the country. Santos rode out with me, ostensibly
to put me on the right road to Montevideo; only I knew, of course,
that he was the bearer of an important communication from Demetria.
When we had ridden about half a league without any approach to the
subject on his part, in spite of sundry hints I threw out, I asked him
plainly if he had a message for me.

After pondering over the question for as long a time as would be
necessary to work out a rather difficult mathematical problem, he
answered that he had.

"Then," said I, "let me hear it."

He grinned. "Do you think," he said, "that it is a thing to be spoken
in half a dozen words? I have not come all this distance merely to say
that the moon came in dry, or that yesterday, being Friday, Do�a
Demetria tasted no meat. It is a long story, se�or."

"How many leagues long? Do you intend it to last all the way to
Montevideo? The longer it is the sooner you ought to begin it."

"There are things easy to say, and there are other things not so easy,"
returned Santos. "But as to saying anything on horseback, who could
do that?"

"Why not?"

"The question!" said he. "Have you not observed that when liquor is
drawn from a cask--wine, or bitter orange-juice to make orangeade, or
even rum, which is by nature white and clear--that it runs thick when
the cask is shaken? It is the same with us, se�or; our brain is the
cask out of which we draw all the things we say."

"And the spigot--"

"That is so," he struck in, pleased with my ready intelligence; "the
mouth is the spigot."

"I should have thought the nose more like the spigot," I replied.

"No," he gravely returned. "You can make a loud noise with the nose
when you snore or blow it in a handkerchief; but it has no door of
communication with the brain. The things that are in the brain flow
out by the mouth."

"Very well," said I, getting impatient, "call the mouth spigot,
bung-hole, or what you like, and the nose merely an ornament on the
cask. The thing is this: Do�a Demetria has entrusted you with some
liquor to pass on to me; now pass it, thick or clear."

"Not thick," he answered stubbornly.

"Very well; clear then," I shouted.

"To give it to you clear I must give it off and not on my horse, sitting
still and not moving."

Anxious to have it over without more beating about the bush, I reined
up my horse, jumped off, and sat down on the grass without another
word. He followed my example, and, after seating himself in a
comfortable position, deliberately drew out his tobacco-pouch and began
making a cigarette. I could not quarrel with him for this further
delay, for without the soothing, stimulating cigarette an Oriental
finds it difficult to collect his thoughts. Leaving him to carry out
his instructions in his own laborious fashion, I vented my irritation
on the grass, plucking it up by handfuls.

"Why do you do that?" he asked, with a grin.

"Pluck grass? What a question! When a person sits down on the grass,
what is the first thing he does?"

"Makes a cigarette," he returned.

"In my country he begins plucking up the grass," I said.

"In the Banda Orient�l we leave the grass for the cattle to eat," said
he.

I at once gave up pulling the grass, for it evidently distracted his
mind, and, lighting a cigarette, began smoking as placidly as I could.

At length he began: "There is not in all the Banda Orient�l a worse
person to express things than myself."

"You are speaking the truth," I said.

"But what is to be done?" he continued, staring straight before him
and giving as little heed to my interruption as a hunter riding at a
stiff fence would pay to a remark about the weather. "When a man cannot
get a knife, he breaks in two an old pair of sheep-shears, and with
one of the blades makes himself an implement which has to serve him
for a knife. This is how it is with Do�a Demetria; she has no one but
her poor Santos to speak for her. If she had asked me to expose my
life in her service, that I could easily have done; but to speak for
her to a man who can read the almanac and knows the names of all the
stars in the sky, that kills me, se�or. And who knows this better than
my mistress, who has been intimate with me from her infancy, when I
often carried her in my arms? I can only say this, se�or; when I speak,
remember my poverty and that my mistress has no instrument except my
poor tongue to convey her wishes. Words has she told me to say to you,
but my devil of a memory has lost them all. What am I to do in this
case? If I wished to buy my neighbour's horse, and went to him and
said, 'Sell me your horse, neighbour, for I have fallen in love with
it and my heart is sick with desire, so that I must have it at any
price,' would that not be madness, se�or? Yet I must be like that
imprudent person. I come to you for something, and all her expressions,
which were like rare flowers culled from a garden, have been lost by
the way. Therefore I can only say this thing which my mistress desires,
putting it in my own brute words, which are like wild flowers I have
myself gathered on the plain, that have neither fragrance nor beauty
to recommend them."

This quaint exordium did not advance matters much, but it had the
effect of rousing my attention and convincing me that the message
entrusted to Santos was one of very grave import. He had finished his
first cigarette and now began slowly making himself a second one; but
I waited patiently for him to speak, my irritation had quite vanished,
those "wild flowers" of his were not without beauty, and his love and
devotion for his unhappy mistress made them smell very sweet.

Presently he resumed: "Se�or, you have told my mistress that you are
a poor man; that you look upon this country life as a free and happy
one; that above all things you would like to possess an _estancia_
where you could breed cattle and race-horses and hunt ostriches. All
this she has revolved in her mind, and because it is in her power to
offer you the things you desire does she now ask you to aid her in her
trouble. And now, se�or, let me tell you this. The Peralta property
extends all the way to the Rocha waters; five leagues of land, and
there is none better in this department. It was formerly well stocked.
There were thousands of cattle and mares; for my master's party then
ruled in the country; the Colorados were shut up in Montevideo, and
that cut-throat Frutos Rivera never came into this part. Of the cattle
only a remnant remains, but the land is a fortune for any man, and,
when my old master dies, Do�a Demetria inherits all. Even now it is
hers, since her father has lost his calabash, as you have seen. Now
let me tell you what happened many years ago. Don Hilario was at first
a peon--a poor boy the Colonel befriended. When he grew up he was made
_capatas,_ then _mayordomo._ Don Calixto was killed and the
Colonel lost his reason, then Don Hilario made himself all-powerful,
doing what he liked with his master, and setting Do�a Demetria's
authority aside. Did he protect the interests of the _estancia?_
On the contrary, he was one with our enemies, and when they came like
dogs for our cattle and horses he was behind them. This he did to make
friends of the reigning party, when the Blancos had lost everything.
Now he wishes to marry Do�a Demetria to make himself owner of the land.
Don Calixto is dead, and who is there to bell the cat? Even now he
acts like the only owner; he buys and sells and the money is his. My
mistress is scarcely allowed clothes to wear; she has no horse to ride
on and is a prisoner in her own house. He watches her like a cat
watching a bird shut in a room; if he suspected her of an intention
to make her escape he would murder her. He has sworn to her that unless
she marries him he will kill her. Is not this sad? Se�or, she asks you
to deliver her from this man. Her words I have forgotten, but imagine
that you see her before you a suppliant on her knees, and that you
know what the thing is she asks, and see her lips move, though you do
not hear her words."

"Tell me how I can deliver her?" I said, feeling very much moved at
what I had heard.

"How! By carrying her off forcibly--do you understand? Is it not in
your power to return in a few days' time with two or three friends to
do this thing? You must come disguised and armed. If I am in the way
I will do what I can to protect her, but you will easily knock me down
and stun me--do you understand? Don Hilario must not know that we are
in the plot. From him fear nothing, for, though he is brave enough to
threaten a woman with death, before armed men he is like a dog that
hears thunder. You can then take her to Montevideo and conceal her
there. The rest will be easy. Don Hilario will fail to find her; Ramona
and I will take care of the Colonel, and when his daughter is out of
his sight perhaps he will forget her. Then, se�or, there will be no
trouble about the property; for who can resist a legal claim?"

"I do not understand you, Santos," said I. "If Demetria wishes me to
do what you say, and there is no other way to save her from Don
Hilario's persecutions, I will do it. I will do anything to serve her,
and I have no fear of that dog Hilario. But when I have placed her in
concealment, who in Montevideo, where she is without a friend, will
take up her cause and see that she is not defrauded of her rights? I
can give her liberty, but that will be all."

"The property will be the same as yours when you marry her," said he.

I had never suspected that this was coming, and was amazed to hear it.

"Will you tell me, Santos," said I, "that Demetria sent you to say
this to me? Does she think that only by marrying her I can deliver her
from this robber and save her property?"

"There is, of course, no other way," said he. "If it could be done by
other means, would she not have spoken last night and explained
everything to you? Consider, se�or, all this large property will be
yours. If you do not like this department, then she will sell everything
for you to buy an _estancia_ elsewhere, or to do whatever you
wish. And I ask you this, se�or, could any man marry a better woman?"

"No," said I; "but, Santos, I cannot marry your mistress."

I remembered then, sadly enough, that I had told her next to nothing
about myself. Seeing me so young, wandering homeless about the country,
she had naturally taken me for a single man; and, perhaps thinking
that I had conceived an affection for her, had been driven in her
despair to make this proposal. Poor Demetria, was there to be no
deliverance for her after all!

"Friend," said Santos, dropping the ceremonious se�or in his anxiety
to serve his mistress, "never speak without first considering all
things. There is no woman like her. If you do not love her now you
will love her when you know her better; no good man could help feeling
affection for her. You saw her last evening in a green silk dress,
also wearing a tortoise-shell comb and gold ornaments--was she not
elegant, se�or? Did she not then appear to your eyes a woman suitable
for a wife? You have been everywhere, and have seen many women, and
perhaps in some distant place you have met one more beautiful than my
mistress. But consider the life she has led! Grief has made her pale
and thin, staining her face with purple under the eyes. Can laughter
and song come out of a heart where fear is? Another life would change
all; she would be a flower amongst women."

Poor old simple-minded Santos, he had done himself great injustice;
his love for his mistress had inspired him with an eloquence that went
to my heart. And poor Demetria, driven by her weary, desolate life and
torturing fears to make in vain this unwomanly proposal to a stranger!
And, after all, it was not unwomanly; for in all countries where they
are not abject slaves it is permissible for women in some circumstances
to propose marriage. Even in England it is so, where society is like
a huge Clapham Junction, with human creatures moving like trucks and
carriages on cast-iron, conventional rails, which they can only leave
at the risk of a destructive collision. And a proposal of the kind was
never more justifiable than in this case. Shut away from the sight of
men in her dreary seclusion, haunted by nameless fears, her offer was
to bestow her hand along with a large property on a penniless
adventurer. Nor had she done this before she had learnt to love me,
and to think, perhaps, that the feeling was returned. She had waited,
too, till the very last moment, only making her offer when she had
despaired of its coming from me. This explained the reception of the
previous evening; the ancient, splendid attire which she had worn to
win favour in my sight; the shy, wistful expression of her eyes, the
hesitation she could not overcome. When I had recovered from the first
shock of surprise I could only feel the greatest respect and compassion
for her, bitterly regretting that I had not told her all my past
history, so that she might have been spared the shame and grief she
would now be compelled to endure. These sad thoughts passed through
my mind while Santos expatiated on the advantages of the proposed
alliance until I stopped him.

"Say no more," I said; "for I swear to you, Santos, that were it
possible I would gladly take Demetria for a wife, so greatly do I
admire and esteem her. But I am married. Look at this; it is my wife's
portrait"; and, taking from my bosom the miniature which I always wore
round my neck, I handed it to him.

He stared at me in silent astonishment for a few moments, then took
the portrait into his hand; and while he gazed admiringly at it I
pondered over what I had heard. I could not now think of leaving this
poor woman, who had offered herself with all her inheritance to me,
without some attempt to rescue her from her sad position. She had given
me a refuge when I was in trouble and danger, and the appeal she had
just made to me, accompanied by so convincing a proof of her trust and
affection, would have gone to the heart of the most cold-blooded man
in existence, to make him, in spite of his nature, her devoted champion.

At length Santos handed back the miniature, with a sigh. "Such a face
as that my eyes have never seen," he remarked. "There is nothing more
to be said."

"There is a great deal more to be said," I returned. "I have thought
of an easy plan to help your mistress. When you have reported this
conversation, tell her to remember the offer of assistance made to her
last night. I said I would be a brother to her, and I shall keep my
promise. You three cannot think of any better scheme to save Demetria
than this one you have told me, but it is after all a very poor scheme,
full of difficulty and danger to her. My plan is a simpler and safer
one. Tell her to come out to-night at midnight, after the moon has
set, to meet me under the trees behind the house. I shall be there
waiting with a horse for her, and will take her away to some safe place
of concealment where Don Hilario will never find her. When she is once
out of his power it will be time enough to think of some way to turn
him out of the _estancia_ and to arrange matters. See that she
does not fail to meet me, and let her take a few clothes and some
money, if she has any; also her jewels, for it would not be safe to
leave them in the house with Don Hilario."

Santos was delighted with my scheme, which was so much more practical,
though less romantic, than the one hatched by those three simple-minded
conspirators. With heart full of hope, he was about to leave me when
he suddenly exclaimed, "But, se�or, how will you get a horse and
side-saddle for Do�a Demetria?"

"Leave it all to me," I said; then we separated, he to return to his
mistress, who was no doubt anxiously waiting to know the result of our
conversation, I to get through the next fifteen hours in the best way
I could.

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