Gaspar the Gaucho: A Story of the Gran Chaco

  CHAPTER SEVEN.

  VALDEZ THE "VAQUEANO."

  To solve the seeming enigma of Rufino Valdez travelling in the companyof the Tovas Indians, and on friendly terms with their young chief--forhe is so--it will be necessary to turn back upon time, and give somefurther account of the _vaqueano_ himself, and his villainous master; asalso to tell why Naraguana and his people abandoned their old place ofabode, with other events and circumstances succeeding. Of these themost serious has been the death of Naraguana himself. For the agedcacique is no more; having died only a few days after his latest visitpaid to his palefaced protege.

  Nor were his last moments spent at the _tolderia_, now abandoned. Hisdeath took place at another town of his people some two hundred milesfrom this, and farther into the interior of the Chaco; a more ancientresidence of the Tovas tribe--in short, their "Sacred city" andburying-place. For it is the custom of these Indians when any one ofthem dies--no matter when, where, and how, whether by the fate of war,accident in the chase, disease, or natural decay--to have the body borneto the sacred town, and there deposited in a cemetery containing thegraves of their fathers. Not graves, as is usual, underground; butscaffolds standing high above it--such being the mode of Tovasinterment.

  Naraguana's journey to this hallowed spot--his last in life--had beenmade not on horseback, but in a _litera_, borne by his faithful braves.Seized with a sudden illness, and the presentiment that his end wasapproaching, with a desire to die in the same place where he had beenborn, he gave commands for immediate removal thither--not only ofhimself, but everything and even body belonging to his tribe. It wasbut the work of a day; and on the next the old settlement was leftforsaken, just as the hunter-naturalist has found it.

  Had the latter been upon the banks of that branch stream just threeweeks before, he would there have witnessed one of those spectaclespeculiar to the South American pampas; as the prairies of the North.That is the crossing of a river by an entire Indian tribe, on the movefrom one encampment, or place of residence, to another. The men onhorseback swimming or wading their horses; the women and childrenferried over in skin boats--those of the Chaco termed _pelotas_--withtroops of dogs intermingled in the passage; all amidst a _fracas_ ofshouts, the barking of dogs, neighing of horses, and shrill screaming ofthe youngsters, with now and then a peal of merry laughter, as someludicrous mishap befalls one or other of the party. No laugh, however,was heard at the latest crossing of that stream by the Tovas. Theserious illness of their chief forbade all thought of merriment; soserious, that on the second day after reaching the sacred town hebreathed his last; his body being carried up and deposited upon thataerial tomb where reposed the bleaching bones of many other caciques--his predecessors.

  His sudden seizure, with the abrupt departure following, accounts forHalberger having had no notice of all this--Naraguana having beendelirious in his dying moments, and indeed for some time before. Andhis death has caused changes in the internal affairs of the Tovas tribe,attended with much excitement. For the form of government among theseChaco savages is more republican than monarchical; each new caciquehaving to receive his authority not from hereditary right, but byelection. His son, Aguara, however, popular with the younger warriorsof the tribe, carried the day, and has become Naraguana's successor.

  Even had the hunter-naturalist been aware of these events, he might nothave seen in them any danger to himself. For surely the death ofNaraguana would not affect his relations with the Tovas tribe; at leastso far as to losing their friendship, or bringing about an estrangement.Not likely would such have arisen, but for certain other events of moresinister bearing, transpiring at the same period; to recount which it isnecessary for us to return still further upon time, and again go back toParaguay and its Dictator.

  Foiled in his wicked intent, and failing to discover whither hisintended victims had fled, Francia employed for the finding of them oneof his minions--this man of most ill repute, Rufino Valdez. It did notneed the reward offered to secure the latter's zeal; for, as stated, hetoo had his own old grudge against the German, brought about by a stillolder and more bitter hostility to Halberger's right hand man--Gaspar,the gaucho. With this double stimulus to action, Valdez entered uponthe prosecution of his search, after that of the soldiers had failed.At first with confident expectation of a speedy success; for it had notyet occurred to either him or his employer that the fugitives could haveescaped clear out of the country; a thing seemingly impossible with itsfrontiers so guarded. It was only after Valdez had explored every nookand corner of Paraguayan territory in search of them, all to no purpose,that Francia was forced to the conclusion, they were no longer withinhis dominions. But, confiding in his own interpretation ofinternational law, and the rights of extradition, he commissioned hisemissary to visit the adjacent States, and there continue inquiry forthe missing ones. That law of his own making, already referred to, ledhim to think he could demand the Prussian's wife to be returned toParaguay, whatever claim he might have upon the Prussian himself.

  For over two years has Rufino Valdez been occupied in this bootlessquest, without finding the slightest trace of the fugitives, or word asto their whereabouts. He has travelled down the river to Corrientes,and beyond to Buenos Ayres, and Monte Video at the La Plata's mouth.Also up northward to the Brazilian frontier fort of Coimbra; all thewhile without ever a thought of turning his steps towards the Chaco!

  Not so strange, though, his so neglecting this noted ground; since hehad two sufficient reasons. The first, his fear of the Chaco savages,instinctive to every Paraguayan; the second, his want of faith, sharedby Francia himself, that Halberger had fled thither. Neither could fora moment think of a white man seeking asylum in the Gran Chaco; forneither knew of the friendship existing between the hunter-naturalistand the Tovas chief.

  It was only after a long period spent in fruitless inquiries, and whilesojourning at Coimbra that the _vaqueano_ first found traces of thosesearched for; there learning from some Chaco Indians on a visit to thefort--that a white man with his wife, children, and servants, hadsettled near a _tolderia_ of the Tovas, on the banks of the Pilcomayoriver. Their description, as given by these Indians--who were notTovas, but of a kindred tribe--so exactly answered to thehunter-naturalist and his family, that Valdez had no doubt of its beingthey. And hastily returning to Paraguay, he communicated what he hadbeen told to the man for whom he was acting.

  "El Supremo," overjoyed at the intelligence, promised to double thereward for securing the long-lost runaways. A delicate and difficultmatter still; for there was yet the hostility of the Tovas to contendagainst. But just at this crisis, as if Satan had stepped in to assisthis own sort, a rumour reaches Assuncion of Naraguana's death; and asthe rancour had arisen from a personal affront offered to the chiefhimself, Francia saw it would be a fine opportunity for effectingreconciliation, as did also his emissary. Armed with this confidence,his old enmity to Halberger and gaucho, ripe and keen as ever, Valdezdeclared himself willing to risk his life by paying a visit to the Tovastown, and, if possible, induce these Indians to enter into a newtreaty--one of its terms to be their surrendering up the white man, whohad been so long the guest of their deceased cacique.

  Fully commissioned and furnished with sufficient funds--gold coin whichpasses current among the savages of the Chaco, as with civilisedpeople--the plenipotentiary had started off, and made his way up thePilcomayo, till reaching the old town of the Tovas. Had Halberger'sestancia stood on the river's bank, the result might have beendifferent. But situated at some distance back, Valdez saw it not inpassing, and arrived at the Indian village to find it, as did thehunter-naturalist himself, deserted. An experienced traveller andskilled tracker, however, he had no difficulty in following the trail ofthe departed people, on to their other town; and it was the track of hishorse on the way thither, Halberger has observed on the edge of theinfluent stream--as too well he now knows.