Томас Майн Рид - Лучшие романы Томаса Майна Рида / The Best of Thomas Mayne Reid

This hour had at length arrived; and just as the real murderer was hastening away from the hut, the intending assassins were hurrying towards it, with all the speed in their power!

“ Carrambo !” exclaimed he who was the older, and in consequence the leader of the two, “I shouldn’t be surprised, Andres, if the ingeniero [575]was to slip out of our clutches to-night! Not far beyond lies Content, and the owner of that ingenio [576]is a friend of his. You remember Señor Jacob said he would be like to put up there for the night?”

“Yes,” replied Andres, “the old Judio was particular about that.”

“Well, if he gets there before we can overhaul him, there’ll be nothing done to-night. We must take our chance on the road between that and Savanna.”

“ Carajo !” responded Andres, with somewhat spiteful emphasis; “if it wasn’t for them ugly pistols he carries, and that big buck nigger by his side, we might have stopped his breath before this. Supposing he gets to Savanna before we can have a talk with him? what then, compadre [577]?”

“Then,” answered he thus godfatherly addressed, “then our lines won’t lie in pleasant places. Savanna’s a big city; and it isn’t so easy to murder a man in the street of a town as among these trees. People prowling about have tongues, where the trees haven’t; and fifty pounds, Jamaica money, a’nt much for killing a man – more especially a Custos , as they call him. Carajo ! we must take care, or we may get our necks twisted for this simple trick! These Custoses are like our alcaldes [578] – kill one, and a dozen others will spring up to prosecute you.”

“But what,” inquired Andres, who, although the younger of the two, appeared to be gifted with a greater degree of prudence than his companion – “what if we don’t find a chance – even in Savanna?”

“Then,” replied the other, “we stand a good chance of losing our fifty pounds – shabby currency as it is.”

“How that, Manuel?”

“How that? Why, because the ingeniero , once in Savanna, will take ship and travel by sea. The dueño [579]said so. If he do that, we may bid adieu to him; for I wouldn’t make another sea-voyage for five times fifty pounds. That we had from Batabano was enough to last me for my life. Carajo ! I thought it was the vomito prieto [580]that had seized upon me. But for the fear of another such puking spell I’d have gone home with the rest, instead of staying in this nest of Jews and nigger-drivers; and how I’m ever to get back to Batabano, let alone making a voyage for the purpose of – ”

The Cubano refrained from finishing his speech – not from any delicacy he had about declaring the purpose, but because he knew that the declaration would be supererogatory to an associate who already comprehended it.

“In that case,” counselled the more sagacious Andres, “we must finish our business before Savanna comes in sight. Perhaps, compadre , by pushing on rapidly now, we may overtake the party before they get anchored in Content?”

“You’re right, hombre [581]; you’re right about that. Let us, as you say, push on; and, if it suits you as it does me, let our motto be, ‘ Noche o nunca ’ (this night or never)!”

“ Vamos !” rejoined Andres; and the assassins increased their speed, as if stimulated by the fear of losing their prey.

The sun had already hidden his red disc under the sea horizon, when the man-hunters mounted the hill, and approached the hut where Custos Vaughan had been compelled to make halt, and in which he was now lying lifeless.

“ Mira [582], Manuel!” said Andres, as they came within sight of the hovel, and at the same instant saw the horse standing tied to the tree; “ un cavallo [583]! saddled, bridled, and with alforjas [584]!”

“A traveller’s horse!” rejoined Manuel, “and that very traveller we’ve been tracking. Yes! it’s the horse of the great alcalde of Mount Welcome! Don’t you remember, when we saw them before us at mid-day, that one of the horses was a bay, and the other a grey? There’s the grey, and it was on that very animal the Custos was riding.”

“Quite true, compadre ; but where’s the other?”

“Maybe among the trees, or tied round the other side of the hut. The riders must be inside.”

“Both, do you think, Manuel?”

“Of course, both; though where Blackskin’s horse can be is more than I can say. Carrambo ! what’s halted them here? There’s nobody lives in the ranche. I know that: I came this way about a week ago and it had no tenant then. Besides, the ingenio where he was to put up for the night is just below. What, in the name of Saint Mary, has stopped them here?”

“ Por Dios, compadre !” said the younger of the two caçadores , looking significantly at the saddlebags still hanging over the cantle of the Custos’s saddle. “There ought to be something valuable in those alforjas ?”

“ Caval ! you’re right; but we mustn’t think of that just yet, camarado ! After the other’s done, then we shall have the opportunity – I wonder whether they’re both inside? It’s very odd we don’t see the negro’s horse!”

“Ha!” rejoined Andres, apparently struck with an idea. “What if he’s gone on to the plantation for some purpose? Suppose an accident has happened to the Custos’s steed, or, carrai ! suppose he’s himself taken sick? You remember the man we met, who told us about them ugly pistols – he said that one of the travellers – the white man – looked sick. Didn’t the fellow say he saw him puking?”

“ Por Dios ! he did. As you say, there may be something in it. If Blackskin’s out of the way, now’s our time; for there is more to be feared from that big buck nigger than his master, when it comes to a struggle. If it should prove that the Custos is sick – I hope it is so – he won’t be in a condition to make much use of his weapons; and carrambo ! we must get hold of them before he knows what we’re after!”

“Hadn’t we better go round first?” counselled the sagacious Andres. “Let us explore the back of the hut, and see whether the other horse is there. If he’s not, then certainly the negro’s gone off on some errand! We can steal through the bushes to the other side, and get right up to the walls without any danger of being seen!”

“That’s our plan, camarado . Let’s lose no time, then, for, if it be so that Blackskin’s abroad, we’re in luck. We mayn’t find such another chance – not between here and the world’s end. Follow me, hombre ! and set down your feet as if you were stepping upon eggs with young birds in them. Vamos !”

So saying, the chief of the two caçadores skulked in among the trees, closely followed by his companion.

After making a circuit through the underwood, the assassins stole silently in towards the back of the hovel.

They saw no other horse – only the grey, which stood tied to the tree in front. The bay was gone, and in all probability his rider. Andres already congratulated himself upon his conjecture being correct: the negro had ridden off upon some errand.

This was put beyond all doubt by their perceiving the fresh tracks of a horse, leading away from the hut along the road towards Content. The hoof-prints were so plain as to be visible at some distance. The turf on the road-edge was torn up, and deeply indented – where the negro groom had urged his horse into a gallop.