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Show ( 54 ' "When I came hither I relied on my guardia there, and no:Jody else except myself." Now Adam wrote the followinj:?; lines: ''Companions-Pay 1000 piasters to Don Mateo, a noble and es~ 11mable Mexican, captain of 500 Camanches, whose captive I am here at Don Valerio's habitation. Give Don Mateo also 36 mules for the I i fe and l i herty of ADAM. "Saturday evening, January 27. "Nocopy! "To the California Phalanx." ~dam gave l\'Iateo the writing, who read it attentively, ond was evtdently. satisfied by the similarity of many words in the English and Spamsh lnnguages, as he was thus persuaded that no deception took place. He read : "Companions (companer?q); pay (p.agar, pagad); piasters (piastras) ; noble (noble); estimable (est1mable); captain (capitan); C:amanches (Camanchos~; capti:ve (capti~o); habitation (habitacwn); mules (mules); l1berty (hbertad); Saturday (Sabado); January (Encro); nocopy, neche (night.) Does' nocopy' mean noche?" "Yes. I sn.spect it ~~~all mean your Night of Death," answered A.darn, rat~er Involuntarily. However, Sylvio uid not deem it adylsa~ le to mterpret that to Mate?, but only answered falsely to his 111qtnry aft~~ what Ad::1m had sa1d, "He expressed his admiration for your abllt.ty to understanci so many En~lish words, when he used the exclamation. Are you satisfied now?" "B.ien, muy bien," (well, very well,) replied Mateo with self~? ncett, or rath er self-dc~cit, supposing that now ever; thing was J ~ght and prep~red for h1m-that he might only go and take possesSIOn of 1~00 p1astr~s and . ~36 mules, after presentin~ Adam's note. He took 1t _from h1s hands, folded it up and put it into his own pocket, saying: " .. Muno~, I l:ope to see you again here the day after to-morrow, '~hen I wrll brtng you the 100 piastras. In the mean time good n1ght, gentlemen and madam." ' Before ni(l;ht set in they saw how Mateo ordered his fellows to camp :round the habitation; then he mounted upon one of Yonka~s ))Onte~ and ~ave the other to one of his fellows to Jet ]· · alon · f 1 ' lim run g, SIX 0 w lOrn m_ounted upon Adap1's, Sylvie's and Waanataa's mul.es. At la~t t~e Itt tie .cavalcade of maraurlers hegan to proceed towards the east. 111 the drrection of the Pha'lanx fort. As soon as they haJ disappeared, Adam and his companions be gan ~o P;,ipar~ for an offensiv~ and defensive struggle with .:Mateo'; an · d alene's w~ole habttation was immediately and ~ilentlr ~~trroun eel by the ~1gh~een men under the command of Muno~ .ho wda~o defend rt With Valerio and Yonka white Adam Sy] VJo an aanat~a would sally fort.h at the aa:ne time ~~he;l .. the ~~her ~halan~Z:anans would arrive from the east probal;ly fightin<T emse ves through the main body of the bloct d' C 0 The whole succe~clin · o·l · . {a mg amanches . . g nrr- 'lt was thuR spent In defensive pre ara ttons, partiCularly to preserve Teresa and AI eJ.I.C O f rom d angeP•r as ' . ( 55 ) much as possible. They were to retire ~nto the cave connEcted with the habitation, if it should be set on hre by the Camanches. At the fort, Carrel was busily en~aged with seventeen of his coi?· p:lnions, mounted on aml leading besides, as. many mules., whde Ned kept the other mules and horses under h1s care, to bnng the ricks to the fort which task they had half completed on Saturday evening, when ;hey encamped. in the open air. It was midn~g;~1t; the three scouts on duty, Martwez, Bolzano and ~ally, .were ndmg around t.he camp, when poor Matador, exhausted w1th fatJ.gue, hunger and cold, crept wagging and whin!ng, un.able or not d~nng to b~rk, before Martinez, who fortunately Immediately recogmsed the faith-ful d0g. . . . · 1 · "Matador!" exclaimed Martmez, d1scernmg the good an1ma m the dark, and stroking its head, when hi~ hand grasped the red cloth and the string around its neck, under w~1ch he felt the small pack~ge •containing Adam's French letter, wh1r~ be took off and earned hastily to Carrel, whom he waked from h1s sleep. . In a few minutes Carrel roused the wh?le camp, and commu.nlcated to his companions Adam's message, In co~sequence of whtch a council was immediately held, and the resolutwn.t.aken that Ned should return directly and speedily to the fort w1th the message, accompanied by brave Matador, and take all the mules and horses along, each carrying a portiot'l of the ba~gage and a load .of waterplants, except eighteen mules, upon wh1ch Carrel and h1s companions mounted, all well armed and resolute to fight as soon a~ necessary, when they immedi"tely started for the west along. the ncks. It was on Sunday, the 2.8th day of January, at .sun-nse, when Carrel and his seventeen companions stopped and dismounted near a little bush and a rick of water-plants, where they made a .fire, and fed their mules, and then prepared a. wat:m brea_kfast, vYiuch they ate with a good appetite, after half a n1ght s fast nde. Scarcely had they done eating;, when they were r?used by the ~ppearanc.e of ~e- ven J'•I CJ iers, • ·f whom they recoO'ntsed to be Indtans covered wtth SIX o t'l • • dirty skins an·d rags, but armed with guns, ~vhde th~ seventh, ~Vl-dently their leader, was dressed _in a fantastical Span1sh or, MexJc.an eostume. He rode upon an Indtan pony, and the one next to h1m led another pony, while this Indian and the .five others. rode upon mules. whtch Carrel and his friends recognised as the1r own, and the t,~0 ponies as those belonging t_o Yonka.. h , 'd "That's Mateo and some of h1s maraudmg Ca~anc es, s~1 f'arrel. "Now let us be reauy to act and to fi.ght, Without ~hewing · t t' 8 our too soon Martinez be our mterpreter w1th that 111 en wn . ' ruf"fGia~nnt" lemen, h' whence do you come?"' cried Mateo, approac mg with his fellows. . · s · h "That is none of your business,'' replled .Martmez, m ~an~~~ "nor do we care whence you come, or '"htther ym~ go, ~n b 'f ·11 tell us that perhaps, we wdl sat1sfy your you are; ut 1 you w1 •. . , , . , rather im mlen t curio::;ity' by giving you a .Proper ansV\ er. Mateo ~id not seem willing to resent the msult, undoubtedly out |
