Gaspar Ruiz

by Joseph Conrad

  X

  "AFTER this--as he called it--act of justice, Ruiz crossed the RioBlanco, followed by the greater part of his band, and entrenched himselfupon a hill A company of regular troops sent out foolishly against himwas surrounded, and destroyed almost to a man. Other expeditions, thoughbetter organised, were equally unsuccessful.

  "It was during these sanguinary skirmishes that his wife first began toappear on horseback at his right hand. Rendered proud and self-confidentby his successes, Ruiz no longer charged at the head of his partida, butpresumptuously, like a general directing the movements of an army,he remained in the rear, well mounted and motionless on an eminence,sending out his orders. She was seen repeatedly at his side, and fora long time was mistaken for a man. There was much talk then of amysterious white-faced chief, to whom the defeats of our troops wereascribed. She rode like an Indian woman, astride, wearing a broad-rimmedman's hat and a dark poncho. Afterwards, in the day of their greatestprosperity, this poncho was embroidered in gold, and she wore then,also, the sword of poor Don Antonio de Leyva. This veteran Chileanofficer, having the misfortune to be surrounded with his small force,and running short of ammunition, found his death at the hands of theArauco Indians, the allies and auxiliaries of Gaspar Ruiz. This was thefatal affair long remembered afterwards as the 'Massacre of the Island.'The sword of the unhappy officer was presented to her by Peneleo, theAraucanian chief; for these Indians, struck by her aspect, the deathlypallor of her face, which no exposure to the weather seemed to affect,and her calm indifference under fire, looked upon her as a supernaturalbeing, or at least as a witch. By this superstition the prestige andauthority of Gaspar Ruiz amongst these ignorant people were greatlyaugmented. She must have savoured her vengeance to the full on that daywhen she buckled on the sword of Don Antonio de Leyva. It never left herside, unless she put on her woman's clothes--not that she would orcould ever use it, but she loved to feel it beating upon her thigh asa perpetual reminder and symbol of the dishonour to the arms of theRepublic. She was insatiable. Moreover, on the path she had led GasparRuiz upon, there is no stopping. Escaped prisoners--and they were notmany--used to relate how with a few whispered words she could change theexpression of his face and revive his flagging animosity. They told howafter every skirmish, after every raid, after every successful action,he would ride up to her and look into her face. Its haughty-calm wasnever relaxed. Her embrace, senores, must have been as cold as theembrace of a statue. He tried to melt her icy heart in a stream of warmblood. Some English naval officers who visited him at that time noticedthe strange character of his infatuation."

  At the movement of surprise and curiosity in his audience GeneralSantierra paused for a moment.

  "Yes--English naval officers," he repeated. "Ruiz had consented toreceive them to arrange for the liberation of some prisoners of yournationality. In the territory upon which he ranged, from sea coast tothe Cordillera, there was a bay where the ships of that time, afterrounding Gape Horn, used to resort for wood and water. There, decoyingthe crew on shore, he captured first the whaling brig Hersalia, andafterwards made himself master by surprise of two more ships, oneEnglish and one American.

  "It was rumoured at the time that he dreamed of setting up a navy of hisown. But that, of course, was impossible. Still, manning the brig withpart of her own crew, and putting an officer and a good many men of hisown on board, he sent her off to the Spanish Governor of the island ofChiloe with a report of his exploits, and a demand for assistance in thewar against the rebels. The Governor could not do much for him; but hesent in return two light field-pieces, a letter of compliments, with acolonel's commission in the royal forces, and a great Spanish flag. Thisstandard with much ceremony was hoisted over his house in the heart ofthe Arauco country. Surely on that day she may have smiled on her guassohusband with a less haughty reserve.

  "The senior officer of the English squadron on our coast maderepresentations to our Government as to these captures. But Gaspar Ruizrefused to treat with us. Then an English frigate proceeded to the bay,and her captain, doctor, and two lieutenants travelled inland under asafe conduct. They were well received, and spent three days as guestsof the partisan chief. A sort of military, barbaric state was kept upat the residence. It was furnished with the loot of frontier towns. Whenfirst admitted to the principal sala, they saw his wife lying down (shewas not in good health then), with Gaspar Ruiz sitting at the foot ofthe couch. His-hat was lying on the floor, and his hands reposed on thehilt of his sword.

  "During that first conversation he never removed his big hands fromthe sword-hilt, except once, to arrange the coverings about her, withgentle, careful touches. They noticed that when ever she spoke he wouldfix his eyes upon her in a kind of expectant, breathless attention, andseemingly forget the existence of the world and his own existencetoo. In the course of the farewell banquet, at which she was presentreclining on her couch, he burst forth into complaints of the treatmenthe had received. After General San Martin's departure he had beenbeset by spies, slandered by civil officials, his services ignored, hisliberty and even his life threatened by the Chilian Government. He gotup from the table, thundered execrations pacing the room wildly, thensat down on the couch at his wife's feet, his breast heaving, his eyesfixed on the floor. She reclined on her back, her head on the cushions,her eyes nearly closed.

  "'And now I am an honoured Spanish officer,' he added in a calm voice.

  "The captain of the English frigate then took the opportunity to informhim gently that Lima had fallen, and that by the terms of a conventionthe Spaniards were withdrawing from the whole continent.

  "Gaspar Ruiz raised his head, and without hesitation, speaking withsuppressed vehemence, declared, that if not a single Spanish soldierwere left in the whole of South America he would persist in carrying onthe contest against Chile to the last drop of blood. When he finishedthat mad tirade his wife's long white hand was raised, and she justcaressed his knee with the tips of her fingers for a fraction of asecond.

  "For the rest of the officers' stay, which did not extend for more thanhalf an hour after the banquet, that ferocious chieftain of a desperatepartida overflowed with amiability and kindness. He had been hospitablebefore, but now it seemed as though he could not do enough for thecomfort and safety of his visitors' journey back to their ship.

  "Nothing, I have been told, could have presented a greater contrast tohis late violence or the habitual taciturn reserve of his manner. Like aman elated beyond measure by an unexpected happiness, he overflowed withgood-will, amiability, and attentions. He embraced the officers likebrothers, almost with tears in his eyes. The released prisoners werepresented each with a piece of gold. At the last moment, suddenly, hedeclared he could do no less than restore to the masters of the merchantvessels all their private property. This unexpected generosity causedsome delay in the departure of the party, and their first march was veryshort.

  "Late in the evening Gaspar Ruiz rode up with an escort, to their campfires, bringing along with him a mule loaded with cases of wine. He hadcome, he said, to drink a stirrup cup with his English friends, whom hewould never see again. He was mellow and joyous in his temper. He toldstories of his own exploits, laughed like a boy, borrowed a guitarfrom the Englishmen's chief muleteer, and sitting cross-legged on hissuperfine poncho spread before the glow of the embers, sang a guassolove-song in a tender voice. Then his head dropped on his breast, hishands fell to the ground; the guitar rolled off his knees--and a greathush fell over the camp after the love-song of the implacable partisanwho had made so many of our people weep for destroyed homes and forloves cut short.

  "Before anybody could make a sound he sprang up from the ground andcalled for his horse. 'Adios, my friends!' he cried, 'Go with God.I love you. And tell them well in Santiago that between Gaspar Ruiz,colonel of the King of Spain, and the republican carrion-crows of Chilethere is war to the last breath--war! war! war!'

  "With a great yell of 'War! war! war!' which his escort took up, theyrode away, and the sound
of hoofs and of voices died out in the distancebetween the slopes of the hills.

  "The two young English officers were convinced that Ruiz was mad. Howdo you say that?--tile loose--eh? But the doctor, an observant Scotsmanwith much shrewdness and philosophy in his character, told me that itwas a very curious case of possession. I met him many years afterwards,but he remembered the experience very well. He told me too that inhis opinion that woman did not lead Gaspar Ruiz into the practice ofsanguinary treachery by direct persuasion, but by the subtle way ofawakening and keeping alive in his simple mind a burning sense of anirreparable wrong. Maybe, maybe. But I would say that she poured halfof her vengeful soul into the strong clay of that man, as you may pourintoxication, madness, poison into an empty cup.

  "If he wanted war he got it in earnest when our victorious army began toreturn from Peru. Systematic operations were planned against this bloton the honour and prosperity of our hardly-won independence. GeneralRobles commanded, with his well-known ruthless severity. Savagereprisals were exercised on both sides, and no quarter was given in thefield. Having won my promotion in the Peru campaign, I was a captain onthe staff.

  "Gaspar Ruiz found himself hard pressed; at the same time we heard bymeans of a fugitive priest who had been carried off from his villagepresbytery, and galloped eighty miles into the hills to perform thechristening ceremony, that a daughter was born to them. To celebrate theevent, I suppose, Ruiz executed one or two brilliant forays clear awayat the rear of our forces, and defeated the detachments sent out to cutoff his retreat. General Robles nearly had a stroke of apoplexy fromrage. He found another cause of insomnia than the bites of mosquitoes;but against this one, senores, tumblers of raw brandy had no more effectthan so much water. He took to railing and storming at me about mystrong man. And from our impatience to end this inglorious campaign, Iam afraid that we young officers became reckless and apt to take unduerisks on service.

  "Nevertheless, slowly, inch by inch as it were, our columns were closingupon Gaspar Ruiz, though he had managed to raise all the Araucaniannation of wild Indians against us. Then a year or more later ourGovernment became aware through its agents and spies that he hadactually entered into alliance with Carreras, the so-called dictator ofthe so-called republic of Mendoza, on the other side of the mountains.Whether Gaspar Ruiz had a deep political intention, or whether he wishedonly to secure a safe retreat for his wife and child while he pursuedremorselessly against us his war of surprises and massacres, I cannottell. The alliance, however, was a fact. Defeated in his attempt tocheck our advance from the sea, he retreated with his usual swiftness,and preparing for another hard and hazardous tussle began by sending hiswife with the little girl across the Pequena range of mountains, on thefrontier of Mendoza."