Chata and Chinita, Chapters XXIX-XXX [pp. 522-539]

Chata and Chinita.
her that which shall please her, " said Pepe.
"Look you, Sefior, she is one who will have
the world turn to suit her."
"A wilful girl," thought Ashley; "with
all the craftiness and deceit of the Indian,
and the pride and passion of a Spaniard.
What if I should follow her? No, no; mere
circumstance and conjecture shall not turn
me! Adios, Pep6, and beware! it is Dofia
Isabel you serve and not the young girl who
has bewitched you."
Pep6 smiled vaguely; his glance roved
over the landscape. "Her heart is virgin
honey in a cup of alabaster!" he murmured.
Ashley was becoming accustomed to the
poetic expressions of these unlettered rancheros, and with some impatience he took in
his own hand the bridle rein of his horse,
and reminding Pep6 that it was nearly noon,
and that he would be missed should he
longer delay, bade him mount and hasten
with his excuses to I)ofia Isabel.
With the customary apparent submission
of a peon, Pep6 prepared to obey. He was
in fact anxious to set forth as soon as he
could be certain that no straggler was near
to mark his movements. The troops and
their followers had disappeared. " The
Seior Don'Guardo should leave this solitary spot on the instant," he said with genuine concern; "in these days of revolution,
one can never say what,ente mala may be
wandering abroad."
"I have nothing to fear from them," answered Ashley, "unless it should be that
they might attempt to rob me of the horse
Doha Isabel has loaned me. Well, for its
sake, I will be prudent; though in truth the
sight of a ghost in this desolate spot of sunk en graves, would seem more probable than
that any living being should pass here. But
adios, PepS."
''Hasta luego, Sefior!" replied Pep6 grave lv, lifting his hat. He had attached himself
to Ashley, and it seemed to him an evil
omen that they should part at a grave, and
he thus attempted to console himself by the
pretence that it was but for a little while.
" fasta luego, Senor, y Dios le guarde!"
Ashley shook his hand warmly. The
ranchero drew his hat over his eyes, adjusted his serape so that his face was almost
hidden, and dropping into that utterly ungraceful posture into which the skilled horseman of Mexico relapses when he suffers his
steed to take his own way and pace across
a wearisome stretch of country, he turned
his horse's head toward the vereda they
had left, and slowly receded from Ashley's
gaze. Once, however, beyond the crest of
the hill, his eye brightened, his figure
straightened; a distant sound of voices
reached his keen ear-it was so remote that
but for the rarity of the atmosphere it
would have failed to reach him. Bending
his head he listened intently for a moment;
then raising it he gazed searchingly on every
hand; rode for a short distance to the right,
guided his nimble-footed beast down the
cleft sides of a' deep ravine, and along the
dry bottom of a rock strewn path, which
rapid floods had in some past time cut in
their fierce descent from the steep sides of
the frowning mountains; and so gradually
gained the dark and solitary defiles that led
directly to those eyries of bandit mountaineers, who under the guise of shepherds,
charcoal burners, and goat herds, had been,
as Pep6 well knew, the chosen comrades
of Pedro Gomez and his mates, in the boyhood days of that Don Leon whose wild
deeds were still the theme of many a tale,
and like the story of his death became more
mythical with every repetition.
Pep6 rode steadily on for hours, picturing
to himself his meeting with Pedro should he
find him; or the quiet exultation of Chinita
when she heard that he had deserted the
troops; or, again, the return of Don'Guardo
to the hacienda. In his heart he was not
displeased that he should be separated from
Chinita, though it left her the more com pletely to the gallant care of Ruiz. He had
comprehended instantly the emotion which
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