# Vagabond life in Mexico/Captain Don Bias and the silver convoy

Captain Don Blas and the Silver Convoy.
CHAPTER I.
Threatened Insurrection in Mexico.—Stealthy Movements of Troops.—General Don Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna.
The day was approaching on which I was to leave Mexico for Vera Cruz, to embark for Europe. For several years before this a Yankee company had established a line of diligences which ran between several of the largest towns; wagons, also, for the conveyance of heavy goods, competed with the picturesque caravans of the arrieros on all the principal roads. Ought I to give up my habit of solitary for no other reason than the quickness of transit between Mexico and Vera Cruz? I must then renounce the hospitality of the venta, so pleasant after a long ride the siesta under the shade of a tree the friendly connection of horse and rider, and all the enlivening contingencies of solitary travel. I must confess that I could not look upon this innovation, due to the foreigner who had brought Vera Cruz within four days' journey of Mexico, without some degree of abhorrence. I felt that, under the influence of more rapid communication, the ancient appearance of Mexico was beginning to alter. I groaned and chafed like an antiquarian who sees rude hands defacing some rare and ancient medal. The establishment of this new kind of conveyance in ​Mexico had been attended with annoyances of a most dangerous character. Well-organized bands of robbers turned the innovation to account, and not a diligence passed without being pillaged. The remembrances of my ancient relations with the Mexican salteadores, ordinarily so courteous to every traveler unencumbered with baggage, rendered the prospect of a similar humiliation very disagreeable. The pillaging part of the business was not a thing at all to my mind; besides, the idea of passing several days in a close carriage, drawn by four swift steeds, and bounding over a Mexican road rutted by heavy rains, and covered with large pieces of rock, was a mode of traveling not at all in accordance with my habits and tastes.
A mere accident caused me to decide what course to follow. Several merchants in Mexico, profiting by one of those political lulls so rare in the republic, were about to send a rich convoy of silver (conducta de platas) to Vera Cruz. Some muleteers were loading their mules with sacks of piastres, inclosed in little wooden boxes, in the great court of one of the houses in the street of Monterilla, where I lived. The sight of these preparations had drawn a great crowd of spectators around the gate, myself among the rest. When the mules had received their precious burden, they all instinctively huddled together in a corner of the court. A score of mozos de mulas (stable-helpers) kept up a running fire of oaths while at their work. Under the archway of the court the arriero brought matters to a close by signing the bills of lading, and invoking the Virgin and all the saints to give him a safe and successful trip, every now and then stopping to scold the helpers. In the street, the multitude speculated on ​the possibility of such a rich lading surviving the perils of a long and dangerous road, while the greatest part of the spectators in tatters did not take the least pains to conceal their real sentiments.
"Canario!" said a lépero, covering a breast seamed with scars with a cloak almost torn to ribbons, "if I had only a beast like the one that cavalier has between his legs!"
And he eyed a horse, black as jet, which a ranchero was riding. The animal, tightly reined in by his rider, champed his bit furiously, and threw the foam to the right and left. I could not help admiring the beauty of the horse, and remarking at the same time the firm but easy seat of the cavalier, who seemed to manage his steed only by his own will, a quality possessed in the highest degree by the gentlemen of Mexico.
"Well! what would you do if you had, Gregorito?" asked one of his companions.
"Canario! I would accompany the conducta to a spot on the road I know well; and though, as you are well aware, I am no braggart, I should count myself very unlucky if one or two such loads did-not fall to my share."
"One or two loads, Gregorito!" said the other, in a tone of surprise.
"Yes, three loads at most. You know I never had very much ambition, but the horseman there seems to have even less than I."
The ranchero, in appearance at least, looked on the whole convoy with disdain, but what was passing through his mind it was impossible to tell from his face.
Meanwhile a squadron of lancers, designed to serve ​as an escort, had great difficulty in keeping the crowd out of the court, among whom Gregorito was one of the most modest in the expression of his desires. The fluttering rags of the léperos, and the waving pennons at the points of their lances, formed a curious contrast. The loading was at length completed, the last mule left the court, and the detachment formed up to accompany the convoy. The crowd gradually melted away, and at last only the ranchero remained, who appeared to be counting the mules with care, besides eyeing attentively every individual mozo. At last the ranchero began to put his horse in motion. At this moment the lépero Gregorito approached him, and begged him to allow him to light his cigarette at his. A long and animated conversation, in a low tone, took place between the two men, but I paid little heed to an incident which appeared to me so insignificant. I left the place, and went home.
The sight of the convoy awakened in me a desire which I was not long in putting into execution. The departure of the convoy, whose escort I could easily join, would furnish me with the only opportunity I should ever have, not only of escaping the ennui of a diligence, but also of satiating my curiosity by exploring, in perfect security and by short stages, the long route between Mexico and Vera Cruz. The loaded mules would travel but slowly, and I could easily rejoin them, even though they were at several leagues distance from Mexico thanks to the proved swiftness of my horse so as to allow me a couple of days even to bid farewell to my friends. I began in all haste to make the necessary preparations for departure. My first object was to procure a horse for my servant. He had been so ill mounted during our long journey while ​searching for, and flying from, the bravo, that his horse had broken down entirely after we re-entered Mexico, and I had ordered him to replace it by another. As for my own steed, one of those I had brought with me from the hacienda of Noria, he nobly justified the name of Storm which I had given him; the strength and vigor which his free life in the desert had produced rendered him fit to endure the hardest fatigues.
Cecilio went about the business immediately. I told him that economy was to be considered in the purchase, but the fellow did not conform too scrupulously to my instructions. A few hours afterward he came to tell me that a picador, one of his friends, had a horse to dispose of which seemed to come up to my standard. In a few minutes, a sorry hack, of a dun color, with hanging head and tottering legs, that apparently had escaped from the bull-ring, came slowly into the court. I almost screamed when the picador, with matchless effrontery, asked ten piastres for the miserable brute; but, considering that the only time on which we needed to travel rapidly would be in joining the convoy, and that afterward short stages would be the rule, I consented to the purchase. The picador and Cecilio, seeing my impatience, began to expatiate on the noble qualities that lay hidden beneath the miserable skin of the wretched beast, and I paid the knave the sum he demanded, knowing well that my honest valet would partake in the plunder with the picador.
All my preparations being made, I determined to set out next morning; but a series of unforeseen events retarded my departure for several days. The time for sending this rich convoy of silver to Vera Cruz appeared to have been ill chosen. A dull, vague ​feeling of uneasiness weighed on all men's minds. The most alarming symptoms of an imminent political storm were apparent. Even on the very day after the convoy had left Mexico, it was universally regretted that a lading so valuable had been exposed to the dangers of a long road at this conjuncture, and several circumstances, it must be owned, justified these fears. General Don Anastasio Bustamente—after losing in Europe, in learned retirement, the remembrance of his country's misfortunes—had returned, and assumed the presidency of the republic. If disinterestedness and probity, joined to ardent patriotism, were sufficient to govern a great state, Bustamente was the man for Mexico. Like almost all the generals who have attained to power in Mexico, it was in the war of independence that he showed what he was capable of performing. A devoted friend and partisan of the Emperor Iturbide, he had taxed Santa Anna with the blackest in gratitude in commencing his military career by revolting against the one who had raised him from obscurity. This was the commencement of that personal enmity which still subsists between the two generals. During the time I was at Mexico, Santa Anna could not be prevailed on to forgive Bustamente for having forestalled him in the presidency. For three years Bustamente had been subjected to many trials. Two years had scarcely elapsed since the taking of Vera Cruz by the French, and already the emptiness of the public treasury had compelled Congress to impose an additional duty of fifteen per cent, upon imports. Commerce languished by this measure. The decision of Congress only augmented its sufferings. A general bad feeling began to gain ground in the state, which, to all accustomed to the march of political ​events in Mexico, seemed likely to be employed to the disadvantage of the existing government. Events were not long in confirming the justice of these fore bodings.
The reader may not, perhaps, have forgotten a certain lieutenant Don Blas, whom I had met at the venta of Arroyo Zarco, and had left seated at table with the bravo, Don Tomas Verduzco. The slight degree of acquaintanceship which I had with this officer never occurred to my mind without recalling to memory the mysterious relations which seemed to exist between him and a man who I had every reason to believe was my mortal enemy. Since my last meeting with Don Tomas I had been under a continual apprehension, but too well justified by the known antecedents of this ruffian.
I had, I believed, taken every precaution against an attack which would, according to all appearance, be made in the dark. Besides, I had conformed to the rules of the strictest prudence by restricting myself only to short walks from my place of abode. The porter of my house was an old soldier of the wars of independence, a brave and honorable man, who never showed more vigilance than when he was intoxicated. The result was, that the house could not have been better guarded. I was, it is true, the first victim of this excess of precaution on his part, for it was not without the greatest difficulty that, on one occasion, I prevailed upon him to unlock the iron chain that held together the two leaves of the entrance gate.
The Angelus was still sounding from all the churches in Mexico when, returning from a gallop on the Paseo, I rode through the streets, as I fancied, for the last time. Night was coming on when I gained my ​lodging, and it was not without a longer parley than ordinary with the old porter that I succeeded in gaining admittance. Leaning against the wall to steady himself and keep up appearances, the brave man, with a bayonet in his hand, contented himself by jerking his thumb over his shoulder in the direction of a soldier, who, seated on one of the stone benches of the vestibule, rose up eagerly at my approach. A peakless shako, too small for the head it covered, tottered on the top of a dense thatch of thick yellow hair. A uniform coat of thick cloth, and a pair of trowsers as large as the shako was small; shoes, whose upper leather had long parted company from the sole, not only allowing the toes to be seen, but also ventilating on the most approved principles the wearer's feet, and a complexion of a bright copper color, all served to stamp the man as a lépero who had been torn away, by the exigencies of the service, from following his profession of sleeping in the sun on the pavement. However, a sort of picaresque and arrogant bearing about the fellow showed that he was not insensible to his profession, and to the splendor of his military dress. The soldier, who was the asistente of Don Blas, had been sent by him with a letter to me. I recognized, in fact, his handwriting. The note ran thus:
"My dear Friend,—I have just read with much emotion, in a French novel that you lately lent me, a story of two friends, who, when in need, aided one another with their purse and their sword. As I require some money at present, I should be obliged by your sending with the bearer, in whom I have every confidence, an ounce of gold, which I shall restore to you ​on the first opportunity. I can tell you that this will be a service with which the country will be as well pleased as your devoted friend and servant,
Q. S. M. B.,
"Blas P——.
"P.S.—On reflection, if you will bring the ounce of gold yourself, it will be better; and, to imitate the devotion of those friends whose story has made such an impression upon me, I offer you my sword."
I thought, as the lieutenant did, that the ounce of gold would have a greater chance of coming into his hands if I carried it myself.
"Where is your officer?" I inquired of the soldier.
"At the Guadaloupe gate."
"It is a pity," I said, "that the oracion has sounded, as we can not now ride thither."
"If it is the intention of your lordship to accompany me, as my captain said you might," the messenger replied, "he recommended you to go on foot."
In spite of the great honor that would accrue to me by rendering this service to the Mexican nation, I could not hide from myself that I would have the worst of it in this chivalrous exchange of purse and sword. However, the desire of knowing from the mouth of Don Blas how much I ought to fear the resentment of the bravo with whom chance had brought me acquainted, determined me not to allow this opportunity to escape. I took time only to throw a cloak over my shoulders, and hide my pistols under my coat. I then set out, followed by the soldier. Still, I took care, while passing through the town—which became more and more solitary as we ​approached the suburbs to walk in the middle of the road, as well to see all who were approaching, as to avoid the angles in the wall that might shelter ambuscades. I arrived without accident at the Guadaloupe gate, some times smiling at my terrors, sometimes shuddering at some sudden noise. The night, was very dark, and the July rains were already announced by a thick fog, the moisture of which rendered the pavement slippery.
"Shall we soon be there?" I asked of the soldier, when we came to the gate.
"Immediately," he replied.
A drizzling rain succeeded the fog. We soon arrived at a road which ran between the lakes, without the soldier showing any signs of having reached the end of his journey. A thick mist, which hovered over the water, hid the two snowy peaks of the volcanoes which cap the Cordilleras. At last I perceived at some distance the lighted windows of a small house, and very soon a confused sound of voices reached my ear. Arrived at the house, the soldier tapped with his bayonet, and the door opened. He entered first with out any ceremony, and motioned me to follow him. Under any other circumstances, I should have seen nothing very extraordinary in this invitation; but my ideas having been running on ambuscades for the last month, I hesitated about penetrating into such a cut throat looking place. A voice that I knew put an end to my hesitation: it was that of the Lieutenant Don Blas, who was conversing with his asistente about the result of his mission. All my fears then vanished, and I entered. At the same time Don Blas sprang to meet me, and pressed me in his arms with all a Mexican's warmth. After the first compliments had passed, he led me through a room (crowded with men of ​all grades), a kind of vestibule, into a spacious hall, where some individuals of a higher rank sat round half a dozen tables, drinking and gambling. They all appeared to be military men, judging at least from their mustaches, and Don Blas himself bore no other insignia of his rank than a round jacket, decorated with a sort of epaulet on each shoulder, denoting only the brevet captain. We sat down at a table by ourselves. The men looked at me in a way that was not altogether pleasant or comfortable.
"He is a friend," Don Blas said, hastily; "he won't betray us."
I had the best of reasons for being discreet on such an occasion, and made no remark upon the words of the lieutenant. We were served with an infusion of tamarind with a strong dash of brandy in it; I then asked him, "How comes it that you did not, in person, ask for the favor you expected from me? You would have saved me a long walk, and a return home alone in the dark."
"I am going to reply to your question," said the lieutenant, stretching out his hand for the ounce of gold, and putting it into his pocket. "The reason why I have given you so much trouble is that I am kept here as a kind of pledge for the money I owe; as for you, you will return home at daybreak in the company of your very devoted servant."
"Does that mean that I am to be kept here as a kind of pledge also?"
"Not at all; but certain affairs will happen, two hours hence, which will prevent you from returning. At present I can tell you nothing farther."
Such a disclosure as this opened a wide field for conjecture; but I wished, at the moment, to obtain ​some information regarding an affair which touched me more nearly.
"You were good enough," said I to the lieutenant, "to place yourself at my disposal in exchange for the small favor that I was able to render you, and doubt less you will be happy to learn that a very important conjuncture makes it necessary for me to ask the assistance of your valorous sword."
A cloud came over the hitherto smiling face of Don Blas, and I fancied that the lieutenant never thought that he was so soon to be taken at his word. How ever, he promptly recovered himself, and cried, "Play is an unfortunate thing! Caramba! my sword is in pledge with the rest of my accoutrements; but what have you done to need the loan of mine?"
"It is your strong right arm, and not your sword, that I require," I replied, smiling at the evasive subterfuge of the lieutenant. "The sword of the Cid would be useless in my hands against an enemy so formidable as—"
"Speak lower," said Don Blas, interrupting me and twirling his mustache; "my rash bravery is well known here. All are aware that danger electrifies me, and it might be feared that I had lent for another motive the weight of that arm which belongs to my country alone."
​At this moment the gallop of a horse rang on the stone causeway, and almost at the same moment a young lad, about fifteen years of age, bounced into the room. By his military cap a kind of beret, ornamented with a profusion of gold lace, as well as his uniform I immediately discovered that he was a cadete (cadet).
"Every thing goes on swimmingly, gentlemen," cried he; "the colonel is coming to receive his general's commission. This evening his division reached Cordova. Valencia is advancing. In three days we shall be masters of Mexico, and then I shall be alferez!"
All in the room sprang to their feet; and I asked the lieutenant, by a motion of my eye, what I should do.
"Do you still wish to leave?"
It was evident that I was witnessing the first act of some new revolution which was about to take place, and that I was a spectator of some of those little scenes which serve as the prelude to some grand event.
Among the numerous causes which have tended to exhaust the public exchequer in Mexico, and contributed to isolate the country from European progress, the most deplorable and the most striking are, without contradiction, those which prevail in the military executive. In a country whose geographical position effectually preserves it from all rivalry with neighboring nations, the army was, it may be said, disbanded at the declaration of independence, but in a short time afterward it sprang again into existence. Unhappily, the heads of the new republic only looked to that power as an instrument for executing its own ambitious designs. Since then, a warlike mania has seized a people that had been pacifically disposed for ​three hundred years, and gradually the army had become accustomed to decide upon and settle all political questions. The result of this warlike transformation is well known. To-day the pettiest Mexican officer fancies himself called on, not by a political conviction, but only by his own ambition, to protect or to overturn the established government. It would seem, as one might say, that an article of the Constitution gives to every one the right of becoming a colonel.
Accustomed since infancy to trample under foot all civil institutions, the cadet, transformed into an officer almost before the age of reason, and the soldier of fortune, to whom a long series of pronunciamentos, in which he has taken part, has given a commission, have both in view the same design, a rapid promotion by the same way, that of insurrection. Liable to be broken at every instant by a sudden change in the government, the officers have no hope of obtaining a higher grade but by their swords. Then, according to the fortunes of civil war, the officer who has fought his way to a higher rank, or who has seen the banner under which he fought leveled with the dust, has no more chance of getting his pay from the new government than he had from the old. He thus constitutes himself a creditor of the state till some stray bullet closes his account forever, or till the time when he can dip his fingers into the public purse, and become a permanent debtor of those who have outstripped him in his career. However, although the vicissitudes to which the country has been subjected are numberless, it is the exception, and not the rule, if the officer arrive at the head of affairs; his life, in such a case, becomes only a continual series of annoyances. Then, a revolutionist by ambition— a gambler by nature— a ​contrabandist on occasion—a knave by necessity—a remendon de voluntades when in want, the officer practices every trade, deals in all sorts of merchandise, and becomes at last more an object of pity than blame; for he knows nothing of business, and his country never has paid him for any service he has rendered her, not even though he may have shed his best blood in her behalf.
The news of an approaching insurrection was doubtless soon communicated to the men in the other room, for a deafening din drowned the general hurrah, in which cries of Santa Anna forever! Death to Bustamente! Down with Congress, and fifteen per cent.! and others, of a like import, were shouted, and which will always find an echo in the hearts of people still too young to know what true liberty is. When silence had been re-established, I questioned my friend the lieutenant about the political movement; but in a hurried tone, "Tut!" he replied; "here you must seem to know nothing. I shall make you acquainted with every thing afterward. For the moment, I have nothing more pressing than to pay my score and go away. You must know that the country is as much your debtor as if the debt had been committed to writing, for its safety is concerned in the liberty of my person."
"About two such debtors I need have no fear," I said, gravely; "but how comes it that a mere civilian has dared to place an embargo on a military man?"
"Alas!" replied Don Blas, in a melancholy tone, "one must borrow wherever one can. The misfortune is, that this inn is kept by an officer, and I only learned that when, enchanted with the credit I ​received here, I had used the place as if the owner had been a civilian."
That the inn was kept by an officer was not at all astonishing to one, like me, well acquainted with Mexican manners, but that an officer had ventured to give credit to a comrade appeared a piece of the most inexplicable rashness.
"Halloo! Juanito," cried the lieutenant to his asistente. The man soon made his appearance in a costume still more picturesque than the one I had seen him wear an hour before. His peakless shako still trembled on the top of his frightful mop of hair, but he had donned the horseman's jacket instead of the foot-soldier's coat; and it being too short for him, a large portion of his copper skin was exposed to view above the waistband of his trowsers. The fellow was evidently in a bad humor.
"What's the matter, muchacho?" asked Don Blas.
"The deuce!" cried Juanito, sharply; "you called me away at the very moment I was going to receive a dragoon's helmet for my shako; and who do you think would be pleased with that?"
"Request the huesped to come here," said Don Blas, affecting not to perceive the rough reply of the soldier.
Juanito wheeled half round, and went out without saying a word.
"That is a man devoted to my interests, and I overlook the liberties he takes in consideration of his devotion," remarked the lieutenant, by way of apology; "devotedness is such a rare thing in this world."
The host was not long in appearing, and I immediately explained to him the position in which the lieutenant stood. The huesped was a man of Herculean proportions, with broad shoulders and a florid ​complexion. He sported a formidable pair of mustaches curled up at the ends. In a word, he had quite the appearance of a valento (bully) of the first class.
"How much do I owe you?" inquired Don Blas; "for it is always a pleasure to me to pay my debts."
"The fact is, if the rarity of the pleasure doubles the value of it, the payment of a debt ought to be a perfect treat to you," replied the host: "you owe me fifteen piastres and a half."
"Fifteen piastres and a half!" cried the lieutenant, jumping up hurriedly; "demonio!"
And, handing the colonel the ounce of gold that he had newly received from me, he received in return change to the amount of four reals.
"Caramba! colonel, you will give me a real more, I hope," said the debtor, in a suppliant tone.
The host turned a deaf ear to this demand, and taking from a press the sword and helmet of the lieutenant, he gave them to him, saying, "Take notice that I charge you nothing for the trouble I have been at in retaining these articles in pledge for two days."
​The rain had ceased. A thick mist still covered the surface of both lakes, but their still waters already reflected in their bosom a sky less sombre than before. The volcano of Popocatapetl was still shrouded in mist, while the snow of the neighboring mountain sparkled in the gentle light of the moon. By her uncertain light the White Woman (Iztaczihuatl) looked more like one of the pale Scandinavian divinities under a northern sky than an American nymph reclining under that of the tropics. The lights of the town went out one after the other, and a deep silence reigned around. A confused noise, however, like the wind agitating the reeds in the lake, at times came stealing upon our ears.
"Come on," said Don Blas to me; "it is close upon the hour, and I am astonished that I have seen nothing yet."
"What are you waiting for?" I asked.
"You will soon see; come on."
After walking for about a quarter of an hour, the indistinct noise which broke the stillness of the night soon resolved itself into the tramp of a body of horse. The sounds were deadened by the damp air, and the soft, moist earth on which they moved. It was doubtless a troop of cavalry on march. A dark mass was not long, in fact, in advancing.
"Who goes there?" cried one of the leaders.
"Friends!" replied Don Blas.
"Que gente?" asked the same voice.
"Mexico!" was the lieutenant's reply. He demanded, in his turn, where the division had come from.
"From Cordova," answered the same voice.
The troop passed, and we remained in the same ​place. A little after, a second troop, and then a third, came in sight, and made the same replies, and after ward continued their march to Mexico. I saw nothing, however, in these men but ordinary travelers, for there was little in their bearing that betokened them as regular troops, when some distant lights sparkled in the midst of the fog, and I fancied I heard repeated vivas; this was another band advancing. In the centre, and clearly seen by the light of the torches, rode two officers on fiery horses, in the costume of country gentlemen—half military, half civilian. The superior officer had a physiognomy and men which struck me forcibly, and awoke in my mind a feeling of curiosity and vague remembrance. He was a man apparently about forty-five years of age, of a lofty and commanding aspect, and swarthy complexion. A high forehead, which his hat but imperfectly concealed, and a rounded chin, perhaps too large for the perfect regularity of his features, denoted obstinacy and resolution; a nose slightly aquiline, great black eyes full of expression, and flexible lips, stamped him with an air of haughty nobility; his strong black curly hair flowed over his temples, and shaded his high cheek-bones. I remarked, also, that his bridle hand was mutilated.
Don Blas made a gesture of surprise, and, scarcely giving himself time to reply to the countersign which was asked of him, bounded toward the officer on horseback.
"Your excellency ought not to forget that we are within a short distance of Mexico," said he, uncovering respectfully, "and prudence requires that you come no nearer."
"Ah! is it you, Captain Don Blas?" said the cavalier, stopping his horse; "I am very glad to see you ​among us." Then, addressing himself to his cortege, "You know well, Señores," said he, "that the pleasure I feel in finding myself once more among you has caused me to forget my own safety; but the time is not far distant, I hope, when I shall come again, and find there," pointing to Mexico, "none but brothers and friends."
After this speech he wheeled his horse half round, and I could see that it was a wooden leg which rested in the right stirrup. A general hurrah followed his last words. The torches were hurled far into the lake, and went out with a hiss, and all again was dark, but not before I had recognized in the cavalier who was conversing with Don Blas the man who for twenty-five years had been the evil genius of Mexico, the cause and fomenter of all its revolutions in one word, General Don Antonio Lopez Santa Anna.
* ↑ A kind of farmer.
* ↑ Que sus manos besa.—Lit., he who kisses your hands.
* ↑ Lit., Humorer of caprices.