"I have thought of that for you, master; we Indians form a population apart in the town. Disliked by the Spaniards, scorned by the Creoles, we sustain one another, in order to be in a position, in case of need, to resist the injustice they may design to do us. Since I have occupied myself with preparations for your journey, I have communicated with several men of my tribe, engaged in the families of certain persons in the town, in order to be informed of all that passes, and to warn you against treachery. I knew yesterday evening that the Spanish officers were going to escape today at the rising of the sun. For several days, aided by their friends, they have planned their flight."
"I do not yet see," interrupted the painter, "what relation there is between this flight and anything which concerns me personally."
"Wait, master," pursued the Indian, "I am coming to that. This morning, after having aided you to disguise yourself, I followed you and entered the town. The news of the flight of the officers was already known everybody was talking of it. I mixed myself in several groups, where this flight was commented on in a hundred different ways. Your name was in every mouth."
"But I knew nothing of this flight."
"I know it well, master; but you are a stranger that is enough for them to accuse you so much the more as you have an enemy determined on your ruin who has spread abroad this report, and given it consistency."
"An enemy! I!" said the young man, astounded; "It is impossible!"
The Indian smiled, sarcastically.
"Soon you will know it, master," said he; "but it is useless to occupy ourselves with him at this moment; it is you we must think of you that we must save."
The young man shook his head sadly.
"No," said he, with a sad voice; "I see that I am really lost this time; all that I might do would but hasten my destruction; better resign myself to my fate."
The Indian looked at him for some moments with an astonishment that he did not seek to dissimulate.
"Was I not right, master," he resumed at last, "to ask you at the commencement of this conversation, if you had courage?"
"What do you mean?" cried the young man, suddenly collecting himself, and darting a look at the Indian.
Tyro did not lower his eyes; his countenance remained impassive, and it was with the same calm voice, with the same careless accent, that he continued:
"In this country, master, courage does not resemble in anything what you possess. Every man is brave with the sabre or the gun in hand especially here, where, without reckoning men, we are constantly obliged to struggle against all kinds of animals of the most destructive and ferocious character; but what signifies that?"
"I do not understand you," answered the young man.
"Pardon me, master, for teaching you things of which you are ignorant. There is a courage that you must acquire it is that which consists in appearing to give in when the strife is unequal reserving yourself, while you feign flight, to take your revenge later. Your enemies have an immense advantage over you; they know you; they therefore act against you with certainty, while you do not know them. You are liable at the first movement you make to fall into the snare spread under your feet, and thus to give yourself up without hope of vengeance."
"What you say is full of sense, Tyro; only you speak to me in enigmas. Who are these enemies whom I do not know, and who appear so determined on my destruction?"
"I cannot yet tell you their names, master; but have patience a day will come when you will know them."
"Have patience! It's very well to say that. Unhappily, I am up to my neck in a trap, out of which I do not know how to escape."
"Leave it to me, master; I will answer for all. You will escape more easily than you think."
"Hum! That appears to me very difficult."
The Indian smiled, as he slightly shrugged his shoulders.
"All the whites are like this," murmured he, as if he were speaking to himself; "in appearance their conformation is the same as our own, and, nevertheless, they are completely incapable of doing the least thing by themselves."
"It is possible," answered the young man, nettled at this uncomplimentary remark; "that involves a number of considerations too long to explain to you, and which, moreover, you would not understand; let us return to what ought solely to occupy us just now. I repeat, that I find my position desperate, and that I do not know, even with the aid of your devotion, in what way I shall escape."
There was a short interval of silence between the two men, and then the Indian resumed, but this time with a clear and decided voice, like that of a man who desires to be understood at once, without being obliged to lose precious time in explanations.
"Master," said he, "as soon as I was informed of what had passed, convinced that I should not be unsupported by you, I laid my plan, and put myself in a position to ward off the new blow which threatens you. My first care was to go to your house. They know me; the greater part of the attendants are my friends; they took no heed of me. I was free to go and come as I liked, without attracting attention. I then took advantage of a time when the house was almost deserted on account of the siesta which closed the eyes of masters and servants, and, aided by some of my friends, I hastily carried away all that belongs to you, even to your horses, which I loaded with your baggage, and your boxes full of papers and linen."
"Well," interrupted the young man, with a satisfaction clouded by slight anxiety; "but what will my countryman think of this proceeding?"
"Do not let that distress you, master," answered the Guaraní, with a singularly expressive smile.
"Be it so; you no doubt found a plausible pretext to account for this strange proceeding."
"That is just it," said he, with a chuckle.
"Very well; but now tell me, Tyro; what have you done with this baggage? I should by no means like to lose it it contains the best part of my fortune. I cannot camp out in the open air, more especially as that would avail me nothing, and that those who have an interest in seeking me would soon discover me; on the other hand, I can scarcely see in what house I can lodge, without running the risk of being soon arrested."
The Indian laughed.
"Eh! Eh!" gaily said the young man. "As you laugh, it is, perhaps, because my affairs go on well, and that you are nearly certain of having found a safe shelter."
"You are wrong, master. I am immediately going to seek some spot where you will be safe and completely hidden from pursuit."
"The devil! That is not so easy to find in the town."
"But it is not in the town that I look for it."
"Oh, oh! Where then? I scarcely see that there is any place in the country where it is possible for me to hide."
"That is because you do not, like we Indians, understand the desert. At about two miles from here, in a rancho of the Guaraní Indians, I have found an asylum where I defy them to come and look for you, or, in case of a visit, to find you."
"You strangely pique my curiosity. Is everything prepared to receive me?"
"Yes, master."
"Why do we then remain here, instead of going there?"
"Because, master, the sun has not yet set, and it is too light to venture into the country."
"You are right, my brave Tyro; I thank you for this new service."
"I have only done my duty, master."
"Hum! Well, since you wish it, I consent. Only, believe that I am not ungrateful. So that is agreed. I am unhoused. My dear compatriot will be much astonished when he finds that I have left without taking leave of him."
The Indian laughed, without answering.
The Indian laughed, without answering.
"Unhappily, my friend," continued the young man, "this position is very precarious; it cannot last for long."
"Depend upon me for that, master; before three days we shall have set out. All my measures are taken accordingly. My preparations would have been finished already, if I had had at my disposal a sufficient sum to purchase some indispensable things."
"Do not let that disturb you," cried the young man, quickly putting his hand into his pocket, and drawing from it the purse which the marchioness had given him; "there is the money."
"Oh!" said the Indian, with joy, "There is much more than we want."
But suddenly the painter became sad, and took the purse again from the hands of the Guaraní.
"I am mad," said he. "We cannot use that money, it is not ours; we have no right to make use of it."
Tyro looked at him with surprise.
"Yes," continued he, gently shaking his head, "this sum has been given to me by the person whom I have promised to save, in order to prepare everything for her flight."
"Well?" said the Indian.
"Why, now," resumed the young man, "the affair appears to me to be quite altered; I should have a right, I think, to save myself alone."
"Your situation is just the same, master; you can keep the word that you have given; in fact, perhaps you are in a better position today than you were yesterday, to organise, not only your flight, but that of these persons. I have foreseen all."
"Come, explain yourself; for I begin no longer to understand you at all."
"How is that, master?"
"Why, you appear to know my affairs better than I do."
"Do not let that distress you. I only know as much about your affairs as I ought to know, to be useful to you in case of need, and to be in a position to prove to you what is my devotion for you. Moreover, if you wish it, I will appear to know nothing."
"That is a good joke!" exclaimed the young man, laughing. "Come, since it is not even possible to keep my secrets to myself, act as you like sorcerer that you are. I shall complain no more; now, continue."
"Only give me this gold, master, and leave me to act."
"Well, I think that is the best; take it then," added he, putting the purse in his hand; "only, make haste, for you ought to know better than I do, that we have no time to lose."
"Oh! Just now nothing presses. They believe you have gone; they are searching for you far away; they thus give you every facility to do here all that you wish."
"That is true. If it only concerned myself, upon my word I have so great a confidence in my own skill, that I should not hurry myself at all, I assure you; but "
"Yes," he interrupted, "I know what you wish to say, master, it concerns these ladies. They are anxious to be off, and they are right; but they have nothing to fear before three days. I only ask two, is that too much?"
"No, certainly; only I confess there is one thing which much embarrasses me at present."
"What is it, master?"
"It is how I shall introduce myself into the convent to warn them."
"That is very simple; you will go in the convent in the same disguise that you assumed yesterday."