Lady Florence Dixie

“ A long line of mounted horsemen were advancing at topmost speed, horsemen whose size looked gigantic against the sky line, but whose figures were small when compared with the tall and magnificent Indian that rode at their head. In a moment Aniwee had recognised him, and with a cry of joy had put her horse into full swing, and sent him galloping over the pampas to meet the stately giant. This was no other than the great Cacique, Gilwinikush, her father, and paramount head of the Tehuelche or Patagonian Indians. ”

“ Hand over hand she descended, and the next moment stood beside her brother, uncle, aunt, cousin, and Aniwee, with Shag—brave dog!—fawning upon her, and uttering loud, joyous barks of delight.
Harry burst into tears, and threw his arms around his sister. The pent-up heart of the poor lad gave vent to the full measure of the suffering it had endured, and sought relief in tears. It is rare that we shed them in joy, but when we do so they bring comfort, and rest, and relief to the over-taxed brain. ”

“ She strove to be brave, this girl Queen, but her heart was grievously torn, and she who could charge in the fiercest battle, ride the wildest of horses, take a foremost part in the most dangerous of sports, found it hard to face the trial which had come to darken her life, just at the very moment when, by the restoration of Piñone, she had thought her life brimful of promise, and good fortune, and happiness bright beyond compare. ”

“ Most of it fell into the lake where the detached rock had already fallen, but some of it struck the cowering Indians, and severely injured many of them, a stone striking Graviel with fearful force, and half stunning him.
“Let us get out of this accursed place,” cried Sir Francis vehemently. “Any risk is better than remaining here to be crushed to death. Come, children, come, Ruby, let us make a rush for the passage and gain the raft. Piñone, Aniwee, entreat your people to make an effort to follow us. If we remain here we shall be killed, or buried alive.” ”

“ Then they heard a yell, whereat Shag sprung up, his eyes starting, and his coat bristling with defiance, and Topsie had hard work to control him. The next minute, with a furious bellow, the bull came crashing through the jungle into the open, with El Toro seated astride his back!
It was a most extraordinary sight, and fascinated the onlookers. The bull, terrified out of his wits, bounded high in the air with his head between his forelegs, and his knotted tail lashing his sides in wild anger, but El Toro was not to be dislodged by any buck-jumping; he was far too fine a rider for that. ”

“ Joining in the scrimmage, with loud barks of glee, was Topsie’s dog Shag, our dear old friend Shag of Castaway renown.
The shouting, firing, and galloping having come to an end, Harry and Topsie at once rode up to Aniwee with loud cries of welcome. It is not easy to describe the joy of the Indian girl at seeing her old friends again; for the Indian character is phlegmatic, and by no means demonstrative in its affections; and although Aniwee was an exception to this rule, she had a part to play before her warriors, and was bound to look dignified, as befitted a great Cacique. ”

“ As he did so an angry roar reverberated through the forest, and the next moment a messenger of death pinged forth from the young midshipman’s rifle, which was followed by a roar fiercer and more menacing than the one which had preceded it.
“A black jaguar!” shouted Topsie excitedly. “Have a care, all of you! Harry must have hit him, for he has bolted into the undergrowth. We shall have to be wary, for if he is lying in wait, he will spring out on some one as we ride by, and woe to the person on whom he springs.” ”

“ Yet was Aniwee equal to the occasion. Had she not Cuastral’s death and her own Piñone’s death to avenge? Was not her beautiful adopted country hemmed in on all sides by foes—Chilenos on the one hand, Argentines on the other—and should she not fight to the very death in its defence? It was a country well worth fighting for, extending from Las Manzanas on the south to Mendoza far away in the north, and peopled by hundreds of the great Warrior tribe, dwelling in fixed tolderias, many amidst the rich groves of piñones, apples, and araucarias with which the country abounded. ”

“ To the rescue of the child Cacique; to the rescue of Guardia!”
An icy chill ran through Aniwee’s heart. Then the baby Queen for whom she was risking her life, the beloved child of her lost Piñone, was a prisoner after all? The thought was maddening; it thrilled her to the quick; it almost unnerved her; it certainly made her lose her presence of mind; it was the means of saving many a white man’s life.
“Hark!” she cried, reining up her horse. “Warriors, the Cacique is in danger. Forward to the rescue!” ”

“ Assuredly if he fell on them in his descent, he must be impaled alive.
But Shag, brave and watchful, was at hand to rescue. With a savage bark he sprang at the bull’s throat, and the brute, tackled by this new assailant, bent its head to the ground, and strove to stamp Harry’s deliverer with its fore feet. As it did so, the boy alighted face downwards on the bull’s back, and rolled therefrom to the ground, fortunately, beyond a good shaking and severe bruising, unhurt. At the same moment El Toro and Chorlo tightened the lasso, and Topsie, rushing from her retreat, took careful aim and fired. ”

“ An attempt made to rescue you would simply result in your being carried off and confined in one of these caves, where no mortal power could reach you. No; escape is the only hope. If we can steal away in the dark, and secrete ourselves, we might manage to obtain our freedom; and it is strange that both Cuastral and myself had made up our minds to attempt flight this very night—and lo! you come upon us.”
“What, Piñone! You are going to try and escape from these people in a strange country without arms, and without a knowledge of your whereabouts?” ”

“ As they crowded round the great Cuastral and his son Graviel was led up, and then Piñone’s eye fell upon Aniwee, who was kneeling by Kai Chileno.
He at once hurried to her side. “Aniwee,” he cried, “why is Graviel here, and why does he look so wild? Where is La Guardia Chica?”
“Stolen!” she wailed forth, “and Kai Chileno knows where she is, as such Graviel affirms; but see, he will not speak or answer, as I entreat him.”
“Does a Queen entreat a common Indian?” inquired Piñone proudly. “The Warrior Queen in her grief forgets who she is. ”

“ In this way the Queen sent forward some fifteen hunters, keeping around her five men, five women, and our young friends.
“I see them!” suddenly exclaimed Freddy in an excited whisper. “Look, Harry and Topsie, a splendid herd on the port hillside. There! can’t you see them? They seem to be moving towards the plain, and I can see some white specks amongst them.”
“I see them!” gasped Mary. It was her first sight of a herd of wild horses, and the thrill of excitement which rushed through her made her feel inclined to shout for joy. ”

“ As she stood and rested herself, Topsie’s quick eye perceived across the soft sandstone vein a stretch of rock slanting hollow-wards, which she saw at once, if only it could be reached, would enable her to scale at least thirty feet of the precipice without very great exertion, and which would thus bring her to some thick interlacing creepers, strong with the growth of ages, which would be of enormous assistance to her in her desperate enterprise. ”

“ Ah! why did I not listen to Graviel, who never loved him?”
“Come, Aniwee, be brave; remember you are a Warrior Queen. Inacayal will not dare to harm the child amidst so many warriors,” said Topsie encouragingly, for the young Queen was visibly overcome.
“And we must give all our energies now to the assistance of Cuastral and Piñone, Aniwee,” put in Sir Francis Vane. “What the white Cacique has related is truly wonderful, and sounds like a dream.” ”

“ Treachery sought to steal from you all the little Cacique, the child of Piñone, to carry her away as the puma does its prey. But she was saved—saved by the devotion of the youthful warrior Graviel, and protected by the few brave women and men of the Warrior tribe left within the camp. From her heart, Aniwee your Queen thanks them. Their deeds will be sung by the great tribe, and their children will tell their children, how a youth and a few brave women and men saved the baby Cacique, the child of Piñone. ”

“ But I noticed that in all things the men and women shared alike, fought side by side, enjoyed their simple pleasures in each other’s company, as well as their daily toil. Then I thought of thee, Aniwee, and all that thou hadst striven to teach thy Piñone, as to the rights of the Indian women to share alike in all things with the men, and I saw how wisely thou hadst spoken; for the Traucos are a happy people, and I rarely saw disagreement amongst them. ”

“ Some hundred white men, surrounded by Aniwee and her braves, fighting desperately for their lives. They had sought to catch the Warrior Queen in a trap, and had been caught themselves, and now they saw no chance of escape from the furious Araucanians who pressed upon them.
A weird scene indeed! The sun had sunk, the gloom of night was already upon everything, throughout the camp huge fires gleamed and sparkled, lighting up the faces of the combatants, and giving them a strange, fantastic appearance. As Inacayal swept upon the scene with his bevy of warriors, he took it all in at a glance. ”

“ Undisturbed, the travellers had made their way through the primeval forests which girt the Andes, and guided by Harry and Topsie, had at length reached the lonely hut, far up the mountain side, in which for so many years Sir Harry Vane had dwelt, and where Topsie, and Harry, and Aniwee in former wanderings had come upon him, living the life of a hermit, dead to that world to which he had died more than half a century before his young relatives had found him. ”

“ But Graviel held on. He knew that Kai Chileno was a big and heavy man, and that a horse could not hope with such a weight to keep up the same pace long. He knew that he himself, Mary, and Willie were light weights, and, moreover, being mounted on three of Aniwee’s picked hunters, could gain ground on the flying Araucanian. He had put two and two together in the twinkling of an eye the moment that he had recognised this Indian, and saw him fly. He felt sure that a diabolical plot had been hatched, in which Inacayal, Guaitu, and the villainous Kai Chileno had each a part ”

“ In a moment the ping of five rifles rang forth. Far and wide the reports echoed and re-echoed. They started an avalanche high above, which was trembling in the balance, and brought it roaring and dashing down the mountain’s sides. At the same time the Trauco uttered a hoarse cry, the first human sound which Topsie had heard him utter. Throwing up his arms, he fell forward over the steep side, and came crashing into the crevassed rock below.
In a moment Topsie sprung to her feet, and rushing to the cave’s mouth, cast down the supple stem which her captor had drawn up on to the ledge. ”

“ Searching about the outskirts of the forest, a little stream was found, which proved a great boon to all three, thirst having attacked them in a most acute form.
Time passed on slowly. It seemed as though the others would never arrive; but all things come at last if we only wait for them. It was well on in the afternoon, when a cavalcade of horses could be seen threading the distant gorge, which gave outlet from one plain into the other. About an hour later Freddy, Lady Vane, and Aniwee came galloping up.
“Oh, Francis!” was Lady Vane’s first words, “this is terrible. Poor, poor Topsie!” ”

“ An unnatural stillness pervaded the air, and nature seemed to have been metamorphosed into stone. In their voyage up the dark river, the travellers had been amused and interested by the numerous and strange birds which were continually flying overhead. Lovely green woodpeckers, with scarlet heads and waistcoats, parrots of gaudy plumage and impudent ways, tiny parroquets, which sought to ape their superiors in size and cousins in species by many absurd movements, would continually enliven the raft party as they worked their way up stream. ”

“ The thrilling sensation which pervades the explorer can only be properly realised by one who has experienced it, and there is no language which adequately conveys the mixed feelings with which one surveys a beautiful and hitherto unveiled scene, and realises that one is the first that yet has burst upon its lonely loveliness. So thought the young Vanes, as they lay outstretched on the raft, and revelled in the beauty which that moonlight night unveiled before them. ”

“ They had to keep a sharp look-out too, for there was no knowing what these strange, unexplored forests contained, and they might at any moment be confronted by an angry jaguar, or, more terrible still, an Andes demon, to say nothing of creatures yet unseen, and yet in all probability no less existent, for the vast solitudes which stretch beneath the mighty chain of South America’s giants have yet to be explored; and who knows what wonders they may not have in store for the adventurous explorer who is hardy enough to penetrate their mysterious depths? ”

“ No sooner had the sun sunk behind the green groves of araucarias, than all the Traucos hurried to their huts, and curling themselves up within were soon fast asleep. But before betaking herself off, the big woman who had fetched and given us the meat, led us, like two children, towards a large hut, and motioned to us to enter. We did so, and found the ground strewn with skins of the wild cat, puma, and sundry other kinds, which at any rate made it soft and warm. We were terribly tired, and had no thought of attempting escape that night ”

“ As she spoke she struck her silver spurs into her horse’s side, and with a loud cry sped along the valley, followed by the two hundred Araucanians whom she had bidden attend her.
“Well, Harry and Topsie, you have led us into a warrior land indeed,” exclaimed Lady Vane, laughing. “Hardly has your Queen welcomed us than she dashes away into strife and turmoil. What can it all mean?”
“I can’t make out, aunt,” answered Harry, just a shade anxiously. “Those cries we hear are war cries. ”

“ With a loud yell the horsemen on the ridge charged down the steep slope at an amazing pace, and then Aniwee for the first time raised herself erect in her stirrups.
Whirling her lasso round her head, the young Queen shouted the order to charge. Full well the horses understood the signal; and almost before they knew where they were, our young friends found themselves racing across the plain at the top of their horses’ speed. ”