Part 5
by Marian Robinson
The horses are quickly led away from the fire while other citizens
form a bucket brigate and put out the fire. The fire consumed half
of the stable and the damaged part had already collasped.
Tio, the tavern owner, with his hands on either side of his head just
shakes his head back and forth and says, "What am I to do?"
Maria comes alongise of him and puts a hand on his shoulder, "Do not
worry we will rebuild the stable some how." Tio just smiles and goes
to look at the damage a little closer.
Mondego smiles from within the shelter of darkness....
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Morning at the de la Vega hacienda:
Don Diego and Don Alejandro are having their breakfast in the
courtyard when Benito comes rushing in all excited.
Diego and Alejandro look worried and get up to receive
him...."Patrons, hurry! We had rustlers very early this morning!
They took about 50 head of cattle from the herd in the far NorthEast
section. Some of the vacqueros are dead, some are injured. They are
being brought to the house now. We tried to follow the rustlers but
there were more of them than there were of us. It will be hard to
follow their tracks in the hard ground but I have some idea where
they could have gone."
Don Alejandro syas, "By the saints who can be doing this! By all
mean Benito, bring the men here. Constancia! Get the other women
and tend to the injured."
"Si, Don Alejandro," as Constancia puts down the dishes she has in
her hands and rushes off to organize the 'infirmary'.
"Father, I will go and help Benito track down these rustlers." To
Bernardo ("Bernardo, you stay here to help with the wounded".)
Bernardo nods and rushes off to help Constancia get things ready.
Alejandro says, "Juan, ride to town and get the doctor!"
Juan replies, "Si, Don Alejandro," and rushes to the stable and
within moments is off for town.
A few minutes later a wagon is heard outside the gate. Benito,
Diego, Alejandro and a few servants help the wounded off the wagon
and into the courtyard. Some men sit in the chairs available while
more chairs are brought out of the house. The women wash the wounds
and tie up the less serious wounds with bandages. The chest wounds
need better attention and these men are made comfortable on the
ground.
When things look like they are in control Diego goes over to
Benito, "Let us go and try and find our cattle, Benito. Get as many
men as you can. We do not know the full force of the enemy, but they
will be taken care of, "as Diego slames his right fist into his left
hand as he looks at the groaning men all around him. He fights back
the tears as he runs to the stable to saddle up Medianoche
(Midnight), the fastest horse they have in the stable. Diego had
captured this young black stallion a couple of weeks ago and the
horse had come along rather well in his training. He comes from the
same herd that Tornado had come from....could very well be a brother
to Tornado.
Benito is at the stable gate with 12 mounted vacqueros as Diego leads
his horse out and swings up into the saddle.
"Benito, lead the way to where you and the men were ambushed," Diego
commands. Benito turns his mount to the northeast with Diego beise
him with the vacqueros right behind them, galloping at full speed.
Don Alejandro hears them riding off and goes to the main gate and
wishes them a silent "God speed and good luck," with a smile on his
face. "My son has not lost ALL of the courage of his boyhood. Be
careful my son!"
Alejandro hears a carriage roll up from behind him and it is the
doctor but surprisingly there is Don Nacho Torres, Dona Louisa and
Elena as well. Don Nacho jumps off his horse as Alejandro comes
toward him with open arms. "We heard what happened in town so we
came along! Alejandro are you all right? Where is Diego? Can we be
of service to you? What happened here?" as Don Nacho throws
questions at Alejandro and gives him a hug.
Alejandro replies, "We are fine. Diego, Benito and others are out
looking for the banditos that attacked our men early this morning and
stole 50 head of cattle. We would love some help with the wounded my
friend," as Dona Louisa and Elena are helped from the carriage.
"Doctor, we have some serious wounds, please come this way," as
Alejandro rushes everyone into the courtyard. Don Nacho and
Alejandro lift one man onto a full length table so that the doctor
can get a better look at the wound. Dona Louisa and Elena help the
other women in cleaning wounds and bandaging and giving the less
serious wounded sips of water....
Benito starts to pull up his horse as they come to a rise, Diego
slows down Medianoche and the others follow suit. "Over this rise is
where we were attacked, Patron," Benito says to Diego, as they walk
up and over the rise and see a lush green valley dotted with cattle
watering in a stream and grazing on the hillsides.
Benito and Diego ride down the hill and the men follow. Benito
says, "Patron, the banditos went in that direction," as he points due
East. Diego rides ahead with everyone following. Benito and Diego
dismount and find tracks that they can follow. They swing back up
into the saddles again and ride East slowly. The ground is hard,
they could lose the tracks at anytime. Half an hour later they hear
cattle up ahead. They ride up a small rise and halfway up Diego
holds up his right hand and motions to halt and dismount. Beinto and
Diego leave their horses and walk up to the top of the rise with
their rifles, just before they get to the top they fall to the ground
and inch the rest of the way. They peer over the top of the rise and
there are the cattle with only a few men guarding them. Diego turns
and motions the vacqueros to come up. Diego motions Benito to go in
one direction and Benito takes a few men with him. Diego goes in the
other direction with a few men while the rest stay behind. The few
guards are overpowered quickly and Diego whistles to the other men.
Medianoche comes running up and over the hill to join his master.
Diego smiles and pats him, "Good boy, you learn fast!"
Benito says, "Patron, there were many more men than this. Where
could they be?!"
Diego's face turns white! "maybe this was a ruse to get us away from
the house! Benito, I fear my father is in danger! Pick two men to
drive the cattle back to the main herd. We must ride back to the
house....." as he literally flies towards his horse and jumps into
the saddle and gallops back towards home.....
Diego comes to the last hill before the hacienda comes into full
view. He reins Medianoche up and to the southeast he sees a bunch of
riders headidng towards the house. Diego puts the horse into a dead
run and at the same time keeps an eye on the southeast....the men are
coming into view but now they see Diego and some of them are
galloping after him...but Diego is far ahead of them or he thinks so
when a shot is fired. The horse goes down and Diego is knocked
unconscious....
Diego wakes up with a horrible headache. His vision is cloudy but it
clears finally. He sees a woman at his side. It is Elena and she is
applying another cool compress to his forehead. Diego groans and
Elena calls out, "Doctor, Don Alejandro, Diego is awake." Several
people come into the room. Elena steps back as the doctor checks
Diego's eyes and head. Don Alejandro and Don Nacho are on the other
side of the bed. Don Alejandro is sick with worry.
"Diego, my boy, are you all right?" Don Alejandro asks.
"I think so father. I wish the room would quit spinning
around....ohhhh my head!" as Diego holds both his hands to his head.
The doctor says, "He will be all right Don Alejandro. Just a nasty
bump on the head. Thank you Elena for being such a great nurse."
"Thank you," as Elena replies and applies another cool compress on
Diego's forehead which he accepts gratefully.
Sgt. Garcia's voice is heard, "when I saw Diego fall I thought the
worst. Thank goodness the horse did not step on him when he got up.
Well, at least these banditos will never hurt anyone else."
"What.....?" Diego says weakly.
"Diego, just as the banditos were coming at you Sgt. Garcia and the
Lancers were coming from tow to see what the trouble was here and
vanquished all the banditos. Between Benitos' men, Garcia's men and
our men from the house we were able to kill most of them and only a
few gave up and will be put in jail. Lucky for us Garcia and his men
came when they did! Thank you, Garcia!" Don Alejandro says.
"No problem, Don Alejandro, glad my men and I could be of service,"
Sgt. Garcia replies.
In the distance a lone figure on horseback has seen all his men
killed or captured. A familiar voice rings out, "I will defeat
you....the house of de la Vega will fall! I wear an oath to this!"
as he raises his fist towards the heavens..........
