Vagabond life in Mexico/The Colonel Inn-keeper
CHAPTER II.
The Colonel Inn-keeper. — Sharp Fighting in the Streets of Mexico. — General Bustamente, President of the Republic.
The lieutenant and I remained alone. I asked him to give me some explanation regarding the scenes of which I had been a witness. He very eagerly gave me some account of the discontent that prevailed among all classes, caused by the import duty of fifteen per cent. It was, in fact, the bad feeling which arose from this that had furnished the pretext for the new pronunciamento. The numerous pedestrians we had met on the way to Mexico were part of a regiment of cavalry in garrison near the city. Don Blas had been urged to entice them into the service of Santa Anna, with the promise, if successful, of getting a commission as captain of cavalry. I then comprehended how the asistente of Don Blas had shown so much eagerness in procuring a cavalry uniform. Advantage had been taken by the partisans of Santa Anna of introducing the regiment which had been gained over into the town in a civil dress, a thing of very easy execution, as the difference between the civil and military costume in Mexico is very small.
On returning to the inn, the lieutenant recounted all that had passed to the officers assembled, who had taken the initiative with their soldiers. They then adjourned, as the project for which they had been waiting had been realized, and the officers rose to make their way, one by one, into the town. Don Blas and I, like the rest, set out on foot for the same place. The soldiers passed in small scattered bands through different gates.
On the way, I pointed out to the future captain the fears that I entertained about the fate of the convoy of silver, exposed, as it were, to the attack of the insurgents.
"May I ask if you have any interest in that?" said he, sharply.
"None at all; but the pillage of the convoy would entail considerable loss on some of my countrymen."
"There's no fear of that; a powerful but hidden protection is extended over the convoy. An extraordinary courier, that left town this morning, has seen it put into a place of safety. The chief muleteer will wait for the conclusion of events; and the escort has been intrusted to the command of a brave and faithful man. Why, I take as lively an interest in it as yourself.""And for what reason?" I asked, astonished.
"Because we do not wish a crime to sully the glory of this coming revolution. And, besides, I am to be the commander of the escort of the conducta."
I could hardly explain the heat with which the lieutenant spoke of a piece of business that seemed to offer no apparent advantage to him. But, without asking any more questions, I contented myself by telling him of the project that I had entertained of joining the conducta. Don Blas received this news at first very coldly; then, seeing me determined in my resolution, he pretended that it would be no bad thing to have me for a companion on the road. Unfortunately, it was impossible yet to fix a day for our departure; and many dangers, although Don Blas perhaps exaggerated them, menaced the precious convoy.
Twenty-four hours after our arrival in the town, it was rumored that Generals Santa Anna and Valencia were advancing at the head of two divisions, to obtain redress of those grievances which they affirmed they had suffered under Bustamente's government. Events now succeeded each other with startling rapidity. A few skirmishes, and those not of an unimportant nature, had already taken place between the government troops and the factious, who had advanced to invest the Plaza Mayor, and had raised a barricade at the corner of the streets San Augustin and Secunda Monterilla. It was learned afterward, to the general consternation, that the garrison in the palace, corrupted by the rebels, had seized the person of the president even in the palace itself. While this conflict was raging I heard nothing of Don Blas, but on the morning of the day that followed these events, some blows, violently struck on the lodge gate of my house, awoke me with a start. A few minutes after, the lieutenant entered my chamber in a pretty plight. A long beard, disordered hair, and a face begrimed with the smoke of gunpowder, proved, or at least seemed to prove, that he had taken an active part in the engagements of yesterday. I congratulated him on his warlike appearance. Don Blas received my praises with the air of a man who knows his own merit, and informed me, with a certain air of importance, that he had come to occupy the terrace of my house with a body of his men, as it commanded the palace square.
"I have chosen your house without even asking your permission," said he to me, "because it is in the neighborhood of the presidential palace, and also to show you how a captain's rank is gained. I hope that you will follow me to the terrace, where my company is already stationed."
"I shall assist at your triumph with much pleasure," I said; "and, if you will allow me to dress, I shall be very happy to take my place near you; only I must keep out of the way of the balls, as I have not the least honor to gain. But you are still in the infantry, I see."
"I have very good reasons for making no change as yet," replied the lieutenant, with some slight hesitation. "In a hubbub like this, a horseman is too much exposed he is quite useless, I mean; and, besides, how the devil have I the means of purchasing a horse?"
At this moment the door opened, and the helmet of a dragoon was shoved in at the aperture. This helmet covered the head of the asistente Juanito, who, more lucky than his master, had found means, thanks to monte, of half transforming himself into a horseman; for all that remained of his former costume was his enormous trowsers, in which he seemed every moment ready to be ingulfed.
"Captain," cried the asistente, "if you don't come immediately and put yourself at the head of your men, some misfortune may happen."
"What!" said Don Blas, "are my fellows so impatient to come to blows?"
"Oh no," replied Juanito, "they are in no hurry for that rather the contrary; but upon the terrace of the Ayuntamiento, opposite the house of this French Señor, stands that great rascal of a colonel you know the master of the inn who kept your lordship in pledge. He proposes to buy our cartridges of us."
"And my braves have scouted the idea with indignation, I am sure?"
"They did; but that was because he only offered them half price."
"Has this d—d colonel, then, betrayed us?" cried the lieutenant.
"That may be, Señor Captain. I am not in the habit of meddling in other people's affairs. The colonel has perhaps changed his side for very good reasons: who knows?"
The officer started after the impassible Juanito, and I dressed myself in all haste. I was curious to see how, according to the expression of Don Blas, one attained the rank of captain. When I was almost on the last step of the flight of stairs that led to the terrace, I heard the word "Fire" given in a very loud voice. I stopped. To my great astonishment, perfect quiet reigned on the roof. A second command was no better obeyed; and it was not till after a third that a report followed, but so feeble as to show that the cartridges, though only valued at half price, still possessed such a value in their eyes as to prevent them from being prodigally expended.
I opened the door of the terrace with all imaginable prudence, and stole along, protected by a wall which ran round the azotea, and got behind one of the pilasters, which rose turret-like at regular intervals.[1] I had a telescope in my hand.
"What are you going to do with that glass?" inquired Don Blas.
"Why, I never go to the theatre without my glass not even to a bull-fight. Should I have forgotten it when I am come to secure the best place for seeing the gigantic efforts of the combatants on both sides."
The future captain seemed to look with an eye of envy upon the place in which I found myself in such perfect security. I could clearly discern from my terrace even the quadrangle of the palace and the adjacent streets. The national flag floated no longer from the roof of that building, and the president found himself a prisoner in his own abode. At the opposite angle of the building, through the grated windows of the prison, which formed part of the palace, I espied the heads of the prisoners, who were furious with excitement. The troops which had remained faithful to the cause of Bustamente were ranged upon the grand square, officers went and came, giving their orders, and cannon-wheels rumbled upon the pavement, while the distant booming of the heavy guns, and the white smoke which rose in dense massy clouds behind the houses, showed that, in those streets which were hidden from my view, a fierce engagement was going on.I could make out but imperfectly the places where the combats were raging; but, according to Mexican tactics, the same scenes were repeated on the tops of the houses. The fighting on the terraces was on the same plan as that pursued in the streets below. The roof of the palace was covered with soldiers, forming part of the garrison that had been brought over by Santa Anna. These men kept up an incessant fire against the troops of the colonel, thus placed between two fires; but the close proximity of Don Blas's detachment gave him the most serious alarm.
The lieutenant was just about to command his party to fire again, and. probably with more success than on the two former occasions, when the tall colonel advanced to the edge of the azotea to hold a parley; and, forming a kind of speaking trumpet with his two hands, cried out, "Muchachos! don't you see how shabby it is of you to fire upon us in this way? Caramba! you show little discretion by it. Is it not too bad for two to fight against one? All brave men think so."
"Traitor!" cried the angry lieutenant.
"Traitor! traitor! You are a pretty fellow, on my word, my dear Don Blas! One does not become a traitor for mere pleasure; and your notions of politics appear to be behind the age. Ah! have you got cavalry on the roof?" cried he, pleasantly, observing the gleam of the asistente's helmet in the sun.
"You have made my soldiers the most insulting proposals," Don Blas replied.
"That's true," answered the colonel, "I did. I have not offered them a reasonable price for their cartridges, but I am ready to atone for my fault."
A general hurrah, which burst from the lieutenant's men, showed that he was regaining the ground he had lost.
"The colonel is no bad reasoner, it appears to me," said I to Don Blas.
"His reasons seem solid enough," he answered, with the air of a man who seemed almost convinced; "but my duty obliges me to look on him as an enemy."
Affairs, however, appeared to be drawing to a pacific conclusion, when the colonel added, "It is an understood thing, then, that we do not fire upon each other. Besides, what would your captain gain by shooting me? He does not owe me a single real."
This unhappy allusion, which brought to the lieutenant's mind the disagreeable circumstance that he had been held in pledge for a debt of a few piastres, kindled anew all his former hatred, and he exclaimed, "Death to the enemies of our country! Fire upon the traitors!"
His men were astonished at such an unexpected order, but they were forced to obey, and the two parties began to fire at one another with a want of success only equaled by their obstinacy. The balls passed above my head, and tore through the air with a sharp whiz, similar to that produced by thrusting red-hot iron into water. Carefully squatting down in an angle of the wall, I marked the countenance of Don Blas, and I must say that it did not appear quite at ease, when a fresh discharge was heard, and the lieutenant fell. I ran toward him, but the asistente was before me. Don Blas, lying at full length, gave no sign of life. I saw Juanito shove several of the soldiers imperiously aside, and could not help admiring the fidelity of this man to his master, when, to my great surprise, he thrust his hands into the pockets of the lieutenant's uniform, and drawing them out empty, cried out, with an air of disappointment, "Nothing! not a real! How can we expect to be properly commanded by officers who have not a single real in their pockets? What if he had on cavalry trowsers!"
After such a funeral oration, this devoted servant detached the gold epaulet from the lieutenant's shoulder with the utmost coolness, and appropriated it to himself by way of consolation. Don Blas breathed feebly, opened his eyes, and begged to be conveyed from the scene of action. His orders were complied with, and four men took him up in their arms. I wished to accompany him, to see him laid on my bed till his wound could be examined. He objected strongly to that arrangement; but I insisted, and made them carry him to my chamber.
"This will not do," said Don Blas to me; "powder and shot have no effect on an old soldier like me. Go up again, and watch what turn matters are taking. Victory will be my only cure."
I obeyed, and returned to the place I had left. During my absence the colonel had proposed a cessation of hostilities. It had been agreed to, and when I regained my former position, both parties were exchanging the most courteous salutations with each other.
The most serious affairs, however, were taking place all round us. Reassured by the peaceful attitude of the soldiers of Don Blas and the colonel, I could observe more easily the progress of events. The redoubt established at the corner of the streets of San Augustin and Monterilla kept up continual discharges of grape-shot, and the road was covered with the dead and wounded. Some fell with all the stoicism of the Indian character, others uttering the most heart-rending cries. The latter were principally those whom curiosity had drawn to the scene of strife. Farther off, in the direction of the barrier of San Lazaro, the roar of the cannon was heard without a single pause; while in the street of Tacuba, opposite the palace, a battery, established by the insurgent troops, swept the square, and made large breaches in the wall which surrounded the palace. Masses of rubbish increased rapidly, the iron balconies were torn and twisted like lianas in an impassable forest, and very soon a large portion of the wall tumbled down. Then a man advanced boldly to a dismantled window with so firm a step as to overawe the crowd. I could distinguish in his bold features all the marks of one of those vigorous natures which a kind of predestination seems to push forward for the rude trials of a military life. This man was, perhaps, the best citizen in Mexico. I had seen General Bustamente too often not to recognize him immediately, in spite of the distance which separated us. More grieved, doubtless, at the bloody scenes which then filled the city, than careful of his own safety, the general addressed to-the seditious townsmen some words which I could not hear. However, the cannon still roared without intermission; chips of stone, struck from the sides of the window, began to fly about him in showers; but the president appeared not to heed the danger, which was increasing every moment. A new incident drew the general attention. The walls of the prison, torn by cannon shot, had opened in many places, and I could see the prisoners, shouting lustily, creep through the breaches, one after the other, in spite of the storm of grape which swept the square, and disperse themselves through the streets of the town. This completed the anarchy which reigned at this moment over the devoted city.
These sad scenes were beginning to disgust me, when a temporary truce was arranged between the combatants. A deep silence succeeded the booming of the artillery; the time had now come for both sides to count their dead and to remove the wounded. I went to my room, anxious to know how Don Blas was getting on, but he was not there, and the bed on which I had laid him was very little disarranged. On questioning the people of the house, I learned that, at the very moment the truce had been proclaimed, he had been seen to descend the stairs and go into the street. He had probably thought that it would be more reasonable and prudent of him to see after his much coveted rank of captain than remain quietly in my house. Seeing, then, that his wound must have been but slight, I went out also. In the streets they were lifting the wounded, and carrying them into the houses. As for the dead, their game had been played out, and the pedestrian trod their bodies under foot with the coolest indifference. They were already completely forgotten.
On the very next day, however, the combat recommenced, and blood again flowed in the streets. Beaten without being overcome, the executive annulled the obnoxious law of fifteen per cent. A full and entire amnesty was granted to the insurgents; and, issuing from the gates of the presidential palace, marched, with all the honors of war, a body of the factious citizens, among whom I recognized, with no small dismay, several convicted felons, notorious in the annals of crime. The ruins of fallen masonry which encumbered the streets, the blood that had been everywhere shed, and the withdrawal of the obnoxious law, were the deplorable results of an insurrection which had brought in its train twelve days of fighting and anarchy.
- ↑ Since the time of the Spaniards, these turrets or almenas denoted the house of a nobleman.