He carries them into the light, where the moon is shining outside the shadow.
Merciful heaven! what does it mean?
His captors let go their hold, and fall back with a simultaneous shout.
It is a scream of wild terror!
Not another instant do they stay under the cypress; but commence retreating at top speed towards the thicket where their own steeds have been left tied.
Mounting in mad haste, they ride rapidly away.
They have seen that which has already stricken terror into hearts more courageous than theirs--_a horseman without a head_!
CHAPTER FORTY FIVE.
A TRAIL GONE BLIND.
Was it a phantom? Surely it could not be human?
So questioned El Coyote and his terrified companions. So, too, had the scared Galwegian interrogated himself, until his mind, clouded by repeated appeals to the demijohn, became temporarily relieved of the terror.
In a similar strain had run the thoughts of more than a hundred others, to whom the headless horseman had shown himself--the party of searchers who accompanied the major.
It was at an earlier hour, and a point in the prairie five miles farther east, that to these the weird figure had made itself manifest.
Looking westward, with the sun-glare in their eyes, they had seen only its shape, and nothing more--at least nothing to connect it with Maurice the mustanger.
Viewing it from the west, with the sun at his back, the Galwegian had seen enough to make out a resemblance to his master--if not an absolute identification.
Under the light of the moon the four Mexicans, who knew Maurice Gerald by sight, had arrived at a similar conclusion.
If the impression made upon the servant was one of the wildest awe, equally had it stricken the conspirators.
The searchers, though less frightened by the strange phenomenon, were none the less puzzled to explain it.
Up to the instant of its disappearance no explanation had been attempted--save that jocularly conveyed in the bizarre speech of the borderer.
"What _do_ you make of it, gentlemen?" said the major, addressing those that had cl.u.s.tered around him: "I confess it mystifies me."
"An Indian trick?" suggested one. "Some decoy to draw us into an ambuscade?"
"A most unlikely lure, then;" remarked another; "certainly the last that would attract me."
"I don"t think it"s Indian," said the major; "I don"t know what to think. What"s your opinion of it, Spangler?"
The tracker shook his head, as if equally uncertain.
"Do you think it"s an Indian in disguise?" urged the officer, pressing him for an answer.
"I know no more than yourself, major," replied he. "It _should_ be somethin" of that kind: for what else _can_ it be? It must eyther be a man, or a dummy!"
"That"s it--a dummy!" cried several, evidently relieved by his hypothesis.
"Whatsomever it is--man, dummy, or devil," said the frontiersman, who had already p.r.o.nounced upon it, "thar"s no reason why we should be frightened from followin" its trail. Has it left any, I wonder?"
"If it has," replied Spangler, "we"ll soon see. Ours goes the same way--so fur as can be judged from here. Shall we move forr"ad, major?"
"By all means. We must not be turned from our purpose by a trifle like that. Forward!"
The hors.e.m.e.n again advanced--some of them not without a show of reluctance. There were among them men, who, if left to themselves, would have taken the back track. Of this number was Calhoun, who, from the first moment of sighting the strange apparition, had shown signs of affright even beyond the rest of his companions. His eyes had suddenly a.s.sumed an unnatural gla.s.siness; his lips were white as ashes; while his drooping jaw laid bare two rows of teeth, which he appeared with difficulty to restrain from chattering!
But for the universal confusion, his wild manner might have been observed. So long as the singular form was in sight, there were eyes only for it; and when it had at length disappeared, and the party advanced along the trail, the ex-captain hung back, riding un.o.bserved among the rearmost.
The tracker had guessed aright. The spot upon which the ghostly shape had for the moment stood still, lay direct upon the trail they were already taking up.
But, as if to prove the apparition a spirit, on reaching the place there were no tracks to be seen!
The explanation, however, was altogether natural. Where the horse had wheeled round, and for miles beyond, the plain was thickly strewn with white shingle. It was, in trapper parlance, a "chalk prairie." The stones showed displacement; and here and there an abrasion that appeared to have been made by the hoof of a horse. But these marks were scarce discernible, and only to the eyes of the skilled tracker.
It was the case with the trail they had been taking up--that of the shod mustang; and as the surface had lately been disturbed by a wild herd, the particular hoof-marks could no longer be distinguished.
They might have gone further in the direction taken by the headless rider. The sun would have been their guide, and after that the evening star. But it was the rider of the shod mustang they were desirous to overtake; and the half hour of daylight that followed was spent in fruitless search for his trail--gone blind among the shingle.
Spangler proclaimed himself at fault, as the sun disappeared over the horizon.
They had no alternative but to ride back to the chapparal, and bivouac among the bushes.
The intention was to make a fresh trial for the recovery of the trail, at the earliest hour of the morning.
It was not fulfilled, at least as regarded time. The trial was postponed by an unexpected circ.u.mstance.
Scarce had they formed camp, when a courier arrived, bringing a despatch for the major. It was from the commanding officer of the district, whose head-quarters were at San Antonio do Bexar. It had been sent to Fort Inge, and thence forwarded.
The major made known its tenor by ordering "boots and saddles" to be sounded; and before the sweat had become dry upon the horses, the dragoons were once more upon their backs.
The despatch had conveyed the intelligence, that the Comanches were committing outrage, not upon the Leona, but fifty miles farther to the eastward, close to the town of San Antonio itself.
It was no longer a mere rumour. The maraud had commenced by the murder of men, women, and children, with the firing of their houses.
The major was commanded to lose no time, but bring what troops he could spare to the scene of operations. Hence his hurried decampment.
The civilians might have stayed; but friendship--even parental affection--must yield to the necessities of nature. Most of them had set forth without further preparation than the saddling of their horses, and shouldering their guns; and hunger now called them home.
There was no intention to abandon the search. That was to be resumed as soon as they could change horses, and establish a better system of commissariat. Then would it be continued--as one and all declared, to the "bitter end."
A small party was left with Spangler to take up the trail of the American horse, which according to the tracker"s forecast would lead back to the Leona. The rest returned along with the dragoons.