The Smuggler Chief

troyed by an earthquake, as has already happened twice), to become the finest city of South America, experiences-according as he belongs to one of the two classe

but few differences, the same appearance as we meet with when we traverse the smiling plains

rley, rice, and alfalfa, and orchards filled with apple, pear, and peach trees, and all the other fruit trees which grow prolifically in these superb countries. On the horizon, upon hills exposed to the rising sun, countless patches of that vine

d regard the travellers with their large eyes full of gentleness and intelligence. An infinite number of small streams wind with capricious turns

leras of the Andes. The soil, ruder to the eye and more rebellious to cultivation, although it has not yet completely acquired those sublime, savage beauties which, a few leagues further on, will cause the blessings of civilization to be forgotten, holds a mid place betwe

party of travellers composed of fifteen men, both masters and peons, and three ladies whose features it was impossible to distinguish, as they were careful to conc

nt. Ahead of the horsemen a dozen mules, trotting one after the other, and each loaded with two heavy bales, followed with a firm ste

, and were mounted on those capital Chilian horses which have no equals

order to stimulate the vigour of the poor brutes, no one said a word. Nothing was audible save the sharp foot

more than twelve hundred yards in depth, down which the slightest slip on the part of their steeds might hurl them, and on their left a wall of granite rising perpendicularly to an incalculable

apped themselves, in order to avoid the heat, and prepared to enjoy for a few minutes the truce which the sun had granted them. Gaiety had returned, the muleteers were beginning to strike up those interminable complaints with which, if we may be allowed to use the expression, they seem to keep the mules in step, and the masters lit their paper cigarettes. They rode on thus for about half a

said, as he spurred his horse and wiped hi

rankly confess to you that I

in the direction they were following; "do you perceive a little to the left that la

al, whom our readers have doubtless recogni

hat is where we s

in the conversation; "but are you not mistaken, Se?or Captain,

ed, while accompanying his words with a

to a thing so simple for us sons of the Sierra as a calculation of distan

o on; for the great heat has now passed, and the rising breeze i

n on his brow, in the attitude of a man who seems afraid he shall not find the traces which he is in search of. He had rejoined the caravan two days before, and as yet not a syllable had b

g to his promises? Evidently not; since at the hour when the Vaquero left Leon, the young lady arrived under the saf

ly during the six days which had elapsed since his visit to the Convent of the Purísima Concepción. Returning at full speed, Leon reached the Rio Claro during the night, and after two or thr

ready to start, a loud exclamation burst from a young lady whom the captain's eyes had been gr

y of surprise uttered by the maiden. Leon at once felt it echo to his heart, and a flash of joy escaping f

imagination could conceive. They had scarce hoped to see each other again, and they were about

getting everything else in this world, kept her eyes incessantly fixed on this man, the mere sight of whom caused her heart to beat. And there was no lack of excuses: at one moment he must encourage by a shout or a signal the youn

Soto-Mayor and her other daughter, the smuggler's manner delighted the general, who applau

and approach Maria, who was admiring the magnificent spectacle which the moonlight offered, by

ling with emotion, "do you not fear lest the

p, but the night is so long that I cannot weary of admiring this super

ret your abode in th

e my heart with all the joy which it can feel! Oh, Caba

ded the maiden's features; "the fact is, that my thoughts ever revert to the moment when I

those convent walls to see you again, do not remind me that I must s

u! Oh; forgive me, se?orita; forgive my speaking to you

do you

lieve that if I were called on to sacrifice my life to save you any pai

t uttered will never pass from my mind: but as I told you, I am happy now, and when the convent

st; he looked at the maiden, who

ill join my sister again, for I f

ria. This man, with the nerves of steel, who had witnessed the most terrible scenes without turning pale, who with a smile on his lips had braved the greatest dangers, found himself without the strength to combat the strange feeling which had un

ove which seems to grow in proportion to the insurmountable obstacles opposed to it, yielded to

ew that the half-breed's will did not recoil before any excess; that if he had resolved to avenge himself on the Soto-Mayor family, no power would be str

my part; all the better, brother, it is your duty to watch

the words to expire on his lips. The reader now knows why the captain, after salu

ached the wood which Leon had indicated to Don Juan as the spot where they

mber ours, and where travellers are so pitilessly plundered. In these countries, which are almost deserted, owing to the tyrannical r

ncts, which never deceive them, and enable them to find pasture. The bales are placed upon one another in a circle of sixty or eighty feet; in the middle of this enclosure a lar

the centre of the camp, and as it was divided into two parts, it formed sleeping rooms for Don Juan, his wife, and his daughters. After a supper of jerked beef and ham,

he distance they still had to go before reaching their destination. In these countr

to a peon standing close be

n, which might contain some fift

to taste this rum; it is a present made me by General Saint Martin, in memory

the ladies, seated on carpets, were sip

on, after swallowing a mou

ly; "for in that case, you will not refuse to accept this bota

whose cheeks turned purple, "I shall remember it, bel

r captain; and tell me whether you

by ten in the forenoon at the mountain o

?" Maria

ted Talca from Valdivia, the ladies smoked, and Diego was deep in thought. Suddenly the sound of ga

adies, by Leon's orders, went into the tent to lie down on the ground an

he repeated, as he

answered, which re-echoed i

the darkness about thirty yards off; but the gloom was so dense that i

the sentry shouted for the thir

same voice, still perfectly calm,

lly, as he threw down his gun, "I recogn

the officer who entered the camp, while his escort remaine

" he asked him. "I fanci

tant communications to make to you. But first permit me

e that no one leaves the camp, and post yourself here, and t

the corporal ans

, with surprise. "Are you reall

ile; "in the meanwhile, however, lead me to your tent, for wha

present you to these ladies, who will

the smugglers did the honours of the camp to the soldiers with all the courtesy they were capable of displaying under such circumstances. At the end o