diff options
Diffstat (limited to '33602.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 33602.txt | 16384 |
1 files changed, 16384 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/33602.txt b/33602.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2e9f1ff --- /dev/null +++ b/33602.txt @@ -0,0 +1,16384 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Firebrand, by S. R. Crockett + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Firebrand + + +Author: S. R. Crockett + + + +Release Date: September 1, 2010 [eBook #33602] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FIREBRAND*** + + +E-text prepared by Delphine Lettau, Suzanne Shell, Mary Meehan, and the +Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team +(http://www.pgdp.net) + + + +THE FIREBRAND + +by + +S. R. CROCKETT + + + + + + + +London +Macmillan and Co., Limited +New York: The Macmillan Company +1901 + +All rights reserved + +Printed by +William Clowes and Sons, Limited, +London and Beccles. + +Copyright in the United States of America by S. R. Crockett, 1901. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + I. THE MAKING OF AN OUTLAW + + II. THE MAN WITHOUT A FRIEND + + III. COCK O' THE NORTH + + IV. A LITTLE COMB-CUTTING + + V. THE ABBEY OF MONTBLANCH + + VI. BROTHER HILARIO + + VII. THE ABBOT'S DINNER + + VIII. SANCTUARY + + IX. THE SHADOW OF THE DESTROYER + + X. A MAN AND HIS PRICE + + XI. CARTEL OF DEFIANCE + + XII. THE CRYING OF A YOUNG CHILD + + XIII. DON TOMAS DIGS A GRAVE + + XIV. THE HOLY INNOCENTS + + XV. ROLLO INTERVENES + + XVI. DON LUIS IS WILLING + + XVII. A GRAVE IRREGULARITY + + XVIII. A FLUTTER OF RED AND WHITE + + XIX. SIGNALS OF STORM + + XX. THE BUTCHER OF TORTOSA + + XXI. TO BE SHOT AT SUNRISE! + + XXII. HIS MOTHER'S ROSARY + + XXIII. THE BURNING OF THE MILL-HOUSE + + XXIV. HOW TO BECOME A SOLDIER + + XXV. THE MISSION OF THE SENORITA CONCHA + + XXVI. DEEP ROMANY + + XXVII. THE SERGEANT AND LA GIRALDA + + XXVIII. THE DEAD AND THE LIVING + + XXIX. A LITTLE QUEEN AT HOME + + XXX. PALACE BURGLARS + + XXXI. THE QUEEN'S ANTE-CHAMBER + + XXXII. LIKE A FALLING STAR + + XXXIII. CONCHA WAITS FOR THE MORNING + + XXXIV. OUR ROLLO TO THE RESCUE + + XXXV. THE EXECUTIONER OF SALAMANCA + + XXXVI. THE DEATH-CART + + XXXVII. THE DEAD STAND SENTINEL + + XXXVIII. CONCHA SAYS AMEN + + XXXIX. A HANDFUL OF ROSES + + XL. ALL DANDIES ARE NOT COWARDS + + XLI. ROLLO USES A LITTLE PERSUASION + + XLII. A SNARE NOT SPREAD IN VAIN + + XLIII. THE RED BOINAS OF NAVARRE + + XLIV. "FOR ROLLO'S SAKE" + + XLV. FORLORNEST HOPES + + XLVI. THE SERGEANT'S LAST SALUTE + + XLVII. MENDIZABAL + + XLVIII. A POINT OF HONOUR + + XLIX. LIKE FIRE THROUGH SUMMER GRASS + + L. AVE CONCHA IMPERATRIX + + + + +THE FIREBRAND + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE MAKING OF AN OUTLAW + + +Ramon Garcia, called El Sarria, lay crouched like a wild beast. And he +was a wild beast. Yet he smiled as he blinked into the midnoon heat, +under his shaggy brows, from his den beneath the great rock of limestone +that shadowed him. + +El Sarria was hunted, and there was on his hands the blood of a man--to +be more particular, on his left hand. For El Sarria had smitten hard and +eager, so soon as he had seen Rafael de Flores--Rafael, the pretty boy, +the cousin of his young wife, between whom and her relative there was at +least cousinly affection. So the neighbours said, all but Manuela, the +priest's housekeeper. + +So Ramon smote and wiped his Manchegan knife on his vest, in the place +under the flap at the left side where he had often wiped it before. He +used the same gesture as when he killed a sheep. + +In his cave of limestone Ramon was going over the scene in his own mind. +That is why he licked his lips slowly and smiled. A tiger does that when +after a full meal he moves the loose skin over his neck twitchy-ways +and yawns with over-fed content. And Ramon, even though hunted, did the +same. + +When he married little Dolores, Ramon Garcia had not dreamed that so +many things would happen. He was a rich man as men go; had his house, +his garden, his vines, a quintaine of olive-trees, was accounted quite a +match by old Manuela, the village go-between, the priest's housekeeper, +in whose hands were the hearts of many maids. + +These things he, Don Ramon Garcia, had possessed (he was called Don +then) and now--he had his knife and the long, well-balanced gun which +was placed across the rests in the dryest part of the cavern. + + * * * * * + +He remembered the day well. He had been from home, down by Porta in the +Cerdagne, to buy cattle, and returning home more swiftly than he had +expected, his cattle following after in the herdsman's care, the thought +of pretty Dolores making his horse's feet go quicker, a song upon his +lips, he had approached the village of Sarria de la Plana, and the home +that was his own--and hers. + +A swift-falling Spanish twilight it was, he remembered, the sky, broadly +banded of orange and rose, was seen behind the highly piled houses. From +the whiteness of the long frontage, dots and flecks flashed out. Black +oblongs of glassless window-space splashed the white. Here and there a +hint of vivid colour flung itself out almost defiantly--a woman's red +petticoat drying on a cord, the green slats of a well-to-do +window-blind. There came to the ears of Ramon Garcia the click of +castanets from the semi-dark of wide-arched doors, and the soft +tink-a-tank of lightly thrummed guitars. He saw a lover or two "eating +iron," his hands clasping the bars behind which was the listening ear of +his mistress. + +And throughout this village were peace and well-accustomed pleasance. +Ramon smiled. It was his home. + +But not as he smiled up among the rocks of the Montblanch on the +borderlands betwixt Aragon and Catalunia. + +He smiled well-pleased and minded him upon the nights not so long gone +by, when he too had "eaten iron," and clung a-tip-toe to the window-bars +of little Dolores, who lent him such a shy attention, scuttling off like +a mouse at the least stirring within the house where all her kinsfolk +slept. + +There was none like her, his little Dolores! God had given her to a +rough old fellow like him, one who had endured the trampling of the +threshing floor as the car oxen drave round. + +Little Dolores, how all the men had been wild to have her, but she had +loved none but Ramon Garcia alone! So said Manuela Durio, the +go-between, the priest's housekeeper, and if any did, she knew. Indeed, +there was little told at confession that she did not know. Ramon smiled +again, a wicked, knowing smile. For if Manuela owned the legitimate +fifty years which qualified her for a place in the Presbytery of Sarria +de la Plana, eyes and lips belied her official age. Anyway, she kept the +priest's conscience--and--what was more important, she swore that little +Dolores loved Ramon Garcia and Ramon Garcia alone. + +"Caballero! Don Ramon!" + +He started. He had been thinking of the woman at that very moment, and +there was her voice calling him. He turned about. The broad rose-glow +had deepened to the smoky ruby of a Spanish gloaming, as it lingered +along the western hill-tops. These last shone, in spite of the glowing +darkness, with a limpid and translucent turquoise like that of the +distant landscape in a Siennese picture. + +"Don Ramon! wait--I would speak with you!" + +It was indeed the priest's Manuela who called him, and though his heart +hasted forward to Dolores, and overleaped boundaries as a dog leaps a +wall, still he could not refuse Manuela. Had she not brought them +together at the first? + +"Ah, Manuela, you are kind--there is good news up at the house, is there +not? No ill has befallen the little one?" + +"What has brought you home so soon?" cried the woman, a touch of +impatient eagerness in her tones. "You will frighten Dolores if you +blunder it upon her all unshaven and travel-stained like that. Have you +no more sense, when you know----?" + +"Know what? I know nothing!" Ramon slurred his speech in his eagerness. +"What is there to know?" + +Manuela laughed--a little strained sound, as if she had been recovering +a shaken equanimity, and was not yet sure of her ground. + +"You, so long married--five, six months, is it not so--and yet not to +know! But a fool is always a fool, Don Ramon, even if he owns a vineyard +and a charming young wife ten times too good for him!" + +"Truth of God!" gasped Ramon, with his favourite oath, "but I did not +know. I am the father of all donkeys. But what am I to do, tell me, +Manuela? I will obey you!" + +The woman's countenance suddenly cleared. + +"No, Don Ramon, we will not call the promised one--the blessed one, a +donkey. A father! Yes, Don Ramon, but no father of _borricos_. No, no! +There will not be so brave a babe from Navarra to Catalunia as yours and +Lola's. But we must go quietly, very quietly. He walks far who begins +slowly. He who treads upon eggs does not dance the _bolero_. You will +bide here and talk to the holy Father, and I myself will go to the house +of Ramon of the Soft Heart and the Lumbering Hoofs, and warn the little +one warily. For I know her--yes, Manuela knows her. I am a widow and +have borne children--ay, borne them also to the grave, and who, if not +I, should know the hearts of young wives that are not yet mothers!" + +She patted his arm softly as she spoke, and the great rough-husked heart +of Ramon of Sarria, the Aragonese peasant, glowed softly within him. He +looked down into Manuela's black eyes that hid emotion as a stone is +hidden at the bottom of a mountain tarn. Manuela smiled with thin +flexible lips, her easy subtle smile. She saw her way now, and to do her +justice she always did her best to earn her wages. + +Lovers would be lovers, so she argued, God had made it so. Who was she, +Manuela, the housekeeper of Padre Mateo of Sarria, to interfere for the +prevention of the designs of Providence? And cousins too--the young +cavalier so gallant, so handsome--and--so generous with his money. Had +he not even kissed Manuela herself one night when he came coaxing her to +contrive something? _Who_ could resist him after that? And what was a +hand thrust through the _rejas_? What a kiss if the bars of the grille +happened to be broken. A glass that is drunk from, being washed, is +clean as before. And when Ramon Garcia, that great Aragonese oaf, kissed +little Dolores, what knew he of pretty Don Rafael de Flores, the +_alcalde's_ son? They had been lovers since childhood, and there was no +harm. 'Twas pity surely, to part them before the time. Rafael was to +marry the rich Donna Felesia, the daughter of the vine-grower of +Montblanch, who farmed the revenues of the great abbey. He could not +marry pretty little Dolores! It was a pity--yes, but--she had a feeling +heart, this Manuela, the priest's housekeeper, and the trade had been a +paying one since the beginning of the world. + +"Padre--Padre Mateo!" she cried, raising her voice to the pitch +calculated by long experience to reach the father in his study. "Come +down quickly. Here is Don Ramon to speak with your reverence!" + +"Don Ramon--what Don Ramon?" growled a voice from the stair-head, a rich +baritone organ, unguented with daily dole of oil and wine, not to speak +of well-buttered trout in a lordly dish, and with rappee coloured red +with the umber of Carthagena to give timbre and richness thereto. It was +the voice of Don Mateo Balin, most pious and sacerdotal vicar of Christ +in the township of Sarria. + +"Don Ramon Garcia, most reverend father!" said Manuela, somewhat +impatiently. "If you will tap your snuff-box a little less often, you +will be all the sooner able to hear what he has to say to you!" + +"_Don_ Ramon, indeed!--here's advancement," grumbled the priest, +good-humouredly descending the staircase one step at a time. To do this +he held his body a little sideways and let himself down as if uncertain +of the strength of the Presbytery stairs, which were of stone of +Martorel, solid as the altar steps of St. Peter's. + +"Good, good!" he thought to himself, "Manuela wants something of this +chuckle-head that she goes Don-ing him, and, I wager, battening him with +compliments as greasy as an old wife's cookery the first day after Lent. +'Tis only eggs in the pan that are buttered, and I wonder why she has +been buttering this oaf." Then he spoke aloud. "Ah, Ramon, back already! +We thought you had been buying beeves in the Cerdagne. I suppose the +little Dolores dragged you back. Ho, ho, you young married men! Your +hearts make fools of your feet. 'Tis only celibacy, that most sacred and +wise institution of Holy Mother Church, that can preserve man his +liberty--certainly, Manuela, I will put away my snuff-box, I was not +aware that it was in my hand! And I will _not_ drop any more on my new +soutane, which indeed, as you say, I had no business to be wearing on an +ordinary day." + +While Don Mateo thus spoke, and, talking all the time, moved lightly for +so gross a man to and fro on his verandah, Manuela with a quick hitch of +her muffling mantilla about the lower part of her face, took her way +swiftly up the village street. + +"This way, Ramon--this way! A plague take those spider-legged chairs. +They are all set crosswise in the way of an honest man's feet. Manuela +keeps all so precise, nothing is ever left where it would be most +convenient. Not that she is not the best of souls, our good Manuela and +a pearl of price--a very Martha in the house, a woman altogether above +rubies! Is she quite gone? Sit you down then, Ramon, here is the +wine-skin, under the seat to the left, and tell me of your journey, +speaking at ease as man to man. This is no confessional, which reminds +me, sirrah, that you have not come to your duty since Easter. Ah, again +the married man! 'He minds the things of his wife,' saith the holy +apostle, in my opinion very justly." + +Ramon had seated himself on a chair at one corner of the priest's +verandah--a deep screen of leaves was over them. The mosquitoes and +gnats danced and lit, hummed and bit, but neither the priest nor yet +Ramon minded them in the least. They were men of Sarria, bred of the +reed-fenced villages of the Aragonese border, blooded by the +grey-backed, white-bellied mosquitoes which took such sore toll alike of +the stranger within the wall, and through the skin of the Proselyte of +the Gate. + +But as the priest boomed forth his good-humoured gossip in a voice +monotonous and soothing as the _coo-rooing_ of a rock pigeon, suddenly +there rose out of the tangle of roses and vine leaves behind him, an +evil thing against which Don Ramon's birthright gave him no immunity. It +stung and fled. + +"Go home, fool!" hissed a voice in his ear, as he sat silent and +spellbound in the dusk, "go home, shamed one. Your wife is with her +lover, and Manuela has gone to warn them!" + +The good priest hummed on, plaiting and replaiting his fingers and +pursing his lips. + +"As I was saying, 'tis no use marrying a woman without money. That is +the _olla_ without bacon. But for pleasure to himself, neither should a +man marry without love. 'Tis a lying proverb which sayeth that all +women are alike in the dark. A fair maid is surely worth a farthing +candle to kiss her by. Not that I know aught about the matter, being a +clerk and a man of years and bodily substance. But a wise man learns +many things in spite of himself. What is the use of being a priest and +not knowing? But believe me, if money be the bacon and beef, love is the +seasoning of the dish, the _pimientos_ and Ronda pippins of a wise man's +_olla_!" + +Through this sacerdotal meditation the hissing whisper lifted itself +again. Ramon had not moved. His great hand lay along the stone +balustrade. A mosquito was gorging himself at a vein upon the hairy +wrist. + +"There is a broken bar on the lower window, Ramon the fool! They are +kissing each other thereat and calling sweet names--these two, the +cousin whom she loves--Rafael, the pretty boy, and little Dolores whom +you have made your wife----" + +"God's blood, for this I will have your life!" cried Ramon so suddenly +that the worthy priest tumbled backward before he had even time to cross +himself. And Ramon was over the parapet with his long knife bare in his +hand. It had gone ill with the traitor if Ramon Garcia had caught him +then. + +But even as he had arisen, exhaled from the undergrowth like an evil +breath, so he vanished into the night, blown away by Ramon's rush over +the edge of the balcony like a fly escaping before a man's hand. + +"I will follow the liar to the world's end!" said Ramon between his +teeth, furiously, and he threshed through the tangle as an elephant +charges through young jungle. + +But even as he went the words of the viper fermented in his brain till +he went mad. + +"There _is_ a broken bar--what more likely! The house is old--my +father's father's. There was a tale of my grandfather's sister--avenged +truly, but still a tale told in whispers in the twilight. God's truth, +could it be even thus with Dolores, little Dolores, whom I have held +next in honour and purity to Mary the mother of God?" + +So he meditated, dashing this way and that to find his enemy. + +"Ah, fool! Three times fool to trust a woman! How true the proverb, 'Who +sees his wife crane her neck through the jalousies, had better twist it +and be done!'" + +He would go! Yes, he would know. If this thing were false (as he prayed +God), he would kneel and kiss her little white feet. They were +pink--yes, pink on the instep as the heart of a sea-shell. And he, +Ramon, would set the arched instep on his neck and bid her crush him for +a faithless unbelieving hound to suspect his own--his purest--his only! + +But, that cousin, Rafael de Flores--ah, the rich youth. He remembered +how once upon a time when he was a young man going to market driving his +father's oxen, he had seen Rafael rushing about the orchard playing with +Dolores. They had been together thus for years, more like brother and +sister than cousins. + +Was it not likely? How could it be otherwise? He knew it all now. His +eyes were opened. Even the devil can speak truth sometimes. He knew a +way, a quicker road than Manuela dreamed of--up the edge of the ravine, +across by the pine tree which had fallen in the spring rains. He would +go and take them together in their infamy. That would be his +home-coming. + + * * * * * + +"_You dog of dogs!_" + +In the darkness of the night Ramon saw a window from whose grille, bent +outward at the bottom like so many hoops, one had been slipped cunningly +aside. + +"Chica, dearest--my beloved!" + +The face of the speaker was within, his body without. + +Up rose behind him the great bulk of Ramon Garcia, henceforward to be El +Sarria, the outlaw. + +The Albacete dagger was driven deep between the shoulder-blades. The +young lithe body drew itself together convulsively as a clasp knife +opens and shuts again. There was a spurt of something hot on Ramon's +hand that ran slowly down his sleeve, growing colder as it went. A +shriek came from within the _rejas_ of bowed iron. + + * * * * * + +And after this fashion Ramon Garcia, the vine-dresser, the man of means, +became El Sarria, the man without a home, without friends, an outlaw of +the hills. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE MAN WITHOUT A FRIEND + + +Yet on the side of Rafael and little Dolores Garcia there was something +to be said. Ramon, had he known all, need not have become "El Sarria," +nor yet need young de Flores, the alcalde's son, have been carried home +to the tall house with the courtyard and the one fig tree, a stab under +his right shoulder-blade, driven through from side to side of his white +girlish body. + +It was true enough that he went to the house of Ramon to "eat iron," to +"pluck the turkey," to "hold the wall." But 'twas not Dolores, the wife +of Ramon, who knew of it, but pretty Andalucian Concha, the handmaiden +and companion Ramon had given his wife when they were first married. +Concha was niece to the priest's Manuela, a slim sloe-eyed witty thing, +light of heart and foot as a goose feather that blows over a common on a +northerly breeze. She had had more sweethearts than she could count on +the fingers of both hands, this pleasantly accommodative maiden, and +there was little of the teaching of the happy guileful province in which +Concha needed instruction, when for health and change of scene she came +to the house of Ramon and Dolores Garcia in the upland village of +Sarria. + +These were the two fairest women in all Sarria--nay, in all that border +country where, watered by the pure mountain streams, fertile Catalunia +meets stern and desolate Aragon, and the foot-hills of the Eastern +Pyrenees spurn them both farther from the snows. + +Well might her lovers say there was none like her--this Concha Cabezos, +who had passed her youth in a basket at her mother's feet in the tobacco +manufactories of Sevilla, and never known a father. Tall as the tower of +Lebanon that looketh towards Damascus, well bosomed, with eyes that +promised and threatened alternate, repelled and cajoled all in one +measured heave of her white throat, Concha of the house of Ramon, called +"little" by that Spanish fashion of speech which would have invented a +diminutive for Minerva herself, brought fire and destruction into +Sarria. As the wildfire flashes from the east to the west, so the fame +of her beauty went abroad. Also the wit of her replies--how she had +bidden Pedro Morales (who called himself, like Don Jaime, "El +Conquistador") to bring her a passport signed at all his former houses +of call; how she had "cast out the sticks" of half the youth of the +village, till despised batons strewed the ground like potsherds. And so +the fame of little Concha went ever farther afield. + +Yet when Rafael, the alcalde's son, came to the window on moonless +nights, Concha was there. Hers was the full blood, quick-running and +generous of the south, that loves in mankind a daintiness and effeminacy +which they would scorn in their own sex. + +So, many were the rich golden twilights when the two lovers whispered +together beneath the broad leaves of the fig-trees, each dark leaf +rimmed with the red of the glowing sky. And Rafael, who was to marry the +vine-dresser's daughter, and so must not "eat the iron" to please any +maid, obeyed the word of Concha more than all Holy Writ, and let it be +supposed that he went to the Ramon's house for the sake of his cousin +Dolores. + +For this he paid Manuela to afford him certain opportunities, by which +he profited through the cleverness of Concha and her aunt Manuela. For +that innocent maid took her mistress into her confidence--that is, after +her kind. It was wonderfully sad, she pleaded. She had a lover--good, +generous, eager to wed her, but his family forbade, and if her kind +mistress did not afford her the opportunity she would die. Yes, Concha +would die. The maids of Andalucia ofttimes died for love. Then the tears +ran down her cheeks and little Dolores wept for company, and because she +also was left alone. + +Thus it chanced that this foolish Rafael, the alcalde's son, marched +whistling softly to his fate. His broad sombrero was cocked to the left +and looped on the side. His Cordovan gloves were loosely held in his +right hand along with his tasselled cane. He had an eye to the +pavemented street, lest he should defile his lacquered shoes with the +points carved like eagle's beaks. He whistled the jota of Aragon as he +went, and--he quite forgot Ramon, the great good-humoured giant with +whom he had jested and at whom he had laughed. He was innocent of all +intent against little Lola, his playmate. He would as soon have thought +of besieging his sister's balcony, or "plucking the turkey" under his +own mother's window. + +But he should not have forgotten that Ramon Garcia was not a man to +wait upon explanations, when he chanced on what seemed to touch the +honour of his house. So Rafael de Flores, because he was to marry +Felesia Grammunt and her wine-vats, and Concha the Andaluse, because to +be known as Rafael's sweetheart might interfere with her other loves, +took the name of Ramon Garcia's wife in vain with light reckless hearts. +This was indeed valorously foolish, though Concha with her much wisdom +ought to have known better. But a woman's experience, that of such a +woman as Concha at least, refers exclusively to what a man will do in +relation to herself. She never considered what Ramon Garcia might do in +the matter of his wife Dolores. + +Concha thought that giant cold, stupid, inaccessible. When she first +came into the clear air of the foot-hills from Barcelona (where a +promising adventure had ended in premature disaster) she had tried her +best wiles upon Ramon. + +She had met him as he came wearied home, with a basin of water in her +two hands, and the deference of eye-lashes modestly abased. He passed +her by, merely dipping his finger-tips in the water without so much as +once looking at her. In the shade of the pomegranate trees in the +corner, knowing herself alone, she had touched the guitar all +unconscious, and danced the dance of her native Andalucia with a verve +and abandon which she had never excelled. Then when Ramon discovered +himself in an arbour near by and congratulated her upon her +performance--in the very middle of her tearful protestations that if she +had only known he was there, she would never, never have dared, never +have ventured, and could he forgive her--he had tramped unconscious +away. And instead of forgiving her in a fit and proper manner, he had +said he would go and bring down his wife to see her dance the _bolero_ +in the Andalucian manner. It would afford Dona Dolores much pleasure. + +With such a man who could do anything? It was a blessing all men were +not alike, said Concha with a pout. And indeed from Cadiz by the sea to +the mountains of the north she had found men otherwise--always quite +otherwise, this innocent much experienced little Concha. + + * * * * * + +Meanwhile the hunters closed in on Ramon the brigand on the hills above +Montblanch. One cannot kill (or as good as kill) an alcalde's son +without suffering for it, and it chanced that the government, having +been reproached on all sides for lack of vigour, and being quite unable +to capture Don Carlos or Zumalacarregui, had resolved to make an example +of Ramon, called "El Sarria." + +So to begin with, it had confiscated all that Ramon possessed--house and +farm, vineyard and oliveyard, wine-presses and tiers of well-carpentered +vats with the wine of half a score of vintages maturing therein. These +were duly expropriated in the name of the government of the most +Christian regent Dona Maria Cristina. But how much of the produce stuck +to the fingers of General Rodriguez, the military governor, and of Senor +Amado Gomez, administrator of so much of the province as was at that +time in the hands of the Cristinos, who shall say? It is to be feared +that after these gentlemen had been satisfied, there remained not a +great deal for the regencial treasure-chest at Madrid. + +Meantime Ramon lay on his rock-ledge and wondered--where little Dolores +was, chiefly, and to this he often returned. If he had had time that +night would he have killed her? Sometimes he thought so, and then +again--well, she was so small, so dainty, so full of all gentle ways and +winsomenesses and--hell and furies, it was all deceit! She had been +deceiving him from the first! Those upward glances, those shy, sweet +confidences, sudden, irresistible revealings of her heart, he had +thought they were all for him. Fool! Three times fool! He knew better +now. They were practised on her husband that she might act them better +before her lover. God's truth, he would go down and kill her even now, +as he had killed that other. Why had he not waited? He could easily have +slain the soldiers who had rushed upon him, whom that hell-cat Manuela +had brought--ah, he was glad he had marked her for life. + + * * * * * + +"_Ping! Ping!_" Two rifle bullets sang close past the brigand's head +as he lay in his rocky fastness. He heard them splash against the damp +stone behind him, and the limestone fell away in flakes. A loose stone +rumbled away down and finally leaped clear over the cliff into the mist. + +El Sarria's cavern lay high up on the slopes of the Montblanch, the holy +white mountain, or rather on an outlying spur of it called the Peak of +Basella. Beneath him, as he looked out upon the plain, three thousand +feet below, the mists were heaped into glistening white Sierras, on +which the sun shone as upon the winter snows of the far away Pyrenees. + +As the sun grew stronger Ramon knew well that his mountain fastness +would be stormed and enveloped, by these delusive cloud-continents. They +would rise and dissipate themselves into the faint bluish haze of +noonday heat. + +Already there appeared far down the cleft called the Devil's Gulf, which +yawned below the Peak of Basella, certain white jets of spray tossed +upwards as from a fountain, which were the forerunners of that coming +invasion of mist that would presently shut him out from the world. + +But not a moment did Ramon waste. As quick as the grasshopper leaps from +the flicked forefinger, so swift had been El Sarria's spring for his +rifle. His cartouches lay ready to his hand in his belt of untanned +leather. His eyes, deep sunken and wild, glanced everywhere with the +instant apprehension of the hunted. + +_Ping! Ping!_ + +Again the bullets came hissing past him. But Ramon was further back +within his cave this time, and they whistled over his head. The chips of +brittle limestone fell with a metallic clink on the hard stone floor. + +El Sarria saw from whence one at least of his enemies had fired. A +little drift of white reek was rising from the mouth of a cavern on the +opposite escarpment of the Montblanch. He knew it well, but till now he +had thought that but one other person did so, his friend Luis Fernandez +of Sarria. But at the same moment he caught a glimpse of a blue jacket, +edged with red, round the corner of a grey boulder up which the young +ivy was climbing, green as April grass. The contrast of colour helped +his sight, as presently it would assist his aim. + +"The Lads of the Squadron!" he murmured grimly. And then he knew that it +had come to the narrow and bitter pass with him. + +For these men were no mere soldiers drafted from cities, or taken from +the plough-tail with the furrow-clay heavy upon their feet. These were +men like himself; young, trained to the life of the brigand and the +contrabandista. Now they were "Migueletes"--"Mozos de la +Escuadra"--"Lads of the Squadron," apt in all the craft of the smuggler, +as good shots as himself, and probably knowing the country quite as +well. + +For all that El Sarria smiled with a certain knowledge that he had a +friend fighting for him, that would render vain all their vaunted +tracker's craft. Miguelete or red-breeched soldier, guerilla or +contrabandista, none could follow him through that rising mist which +boiled like a cauldron beneath. Ramon blew the first breath of its sour +spume out through his nostrils like cigarette smoke, with a certain +relish and appreciation. + +"They have found me out, indeed, how, I know not. But they have yet to +take Ramon Garcia!" he muttered, as he examined the lock of his gun. + +He knew of a cleft, deep and secret, the track of an ancient +watercourse, which led from his cave on the Puig, past the cliff at the +foot of which was perched the great and famous Abbey of Montblanch, to +another and a yet safer hold among the crags and precipices of +Puymorens. + +This none knew but his friend and brother, dearer to his soul than any +other, save little Dolores alone--Luis Fernandez, whose vineyard had +neighboured his in the good days when--when he had a vineyard. He was +the groomsman, who, even in those old days, had cared for Dolores with +more than a brother's care. The secret of the hidden passage was safe +with him. Ramon held this thought to his soul amid the general wreck. +This one friend at least was true. Meantime yonder was a Miguelete +behind a stone--a clumsy one withal. He, El Sarria, would teach him the +elements of his trade. He drew a bead on the exposed limb. The piece +cracked, and with a yell the owner rolled back behind his protecting +boulder. For the next hour not a cap-stem was seen, not a twig of +juniper waved. + +El Sarria laughed grimly. His eye was still true and his rifle good as +ever. That was another friend on whose fidelity he could rely. He patted +the brown polished stock almost as he used to do little Lola's cheek in +the evenings when they sat at their door to watch Jose, the goatherd, +bringing his tinkling flock of brown skins and full udders up from the +scanty summer pasturage of the dried watercourses. + +Ah, there at last! The mist rose quite quickly with a heave of huge +shoulders, strong and yet unconscious, like a giant turning in his +sleep. From every direction at once the mist seemed to swirl upwards +till the cave mouth was whelmed in a chaos of grey tormented spume, like +the gloom of a thundercloud. Then again it appeared to thin out till the +forms of mountains very far away were seen as in a dream. But Ramon knew +how fallacious this mirage was, and that the most distant of these +seeming mountain summits could be reached in a dozen strides--that is, +if you did not break your neck on the way, much the most probable +supposition of all. + +Ramon waited till the mist was at its thickest, rising in hissing +spume-clouds out of the deeps. Then with a long indrawing of breath into +his lungs, like a swimmer before the plunge, he struck out straight for +the cave on the face of the Montblanch from which the bullets had come. + +But long ere he reached it, the ground, which had been fairly level so +far, though strewn with myriads of rocky fragments chipped off by winter +frosts and loosened by spring rains, broke suddenly into a succession of +precipices. There was only one way down, and El Sarria, making as if he +would descend by it, sent instead a great boulder bounding and roaring +down the pass. + +He heard a shouting of men, a crash and scattering thunder of falling +fragments far below. A gun went off. A chorus of angry voices +apostrophised the owner, who had, according to them, just as much chance +of shooting one of his comrades as El Sarria. + +Ramon laughed when he heard this, and loosening a second huge stone ("to +amuse the gentlemen in the blue and red," he said), he sent it after the +first. + +Then without waiting to ascertain the effect, Ramon plunged suddenly +over an overhanging rock, apparently throwing himself bodily into space. +He found his feet again on an unseen ledge, tip-toed along it, with his +fingers hooked in a crack, and lo! the rock-face split duly in twain and +there was his cleft, as smooth and true as if the mountain had been cut +in half, like a bridescake, and moved a little apart. + +There was the same glad defiance in the heart of El Sarria, which he had +felt long ago, when as a boy he lay hidden in the rambling cellars of +the old wine-barn, while his companions exhausted themselves in loud and +unavailing research behind every cask and vat. + +And indeed the game was in all points identically the same. For in no +long space of time, Ramon could hear the shouting of his pursuers above +him. It was dark down there in the cleft, but once he caught a glimpse +of blue sky high above him, and again the fragrance of a sprig of thyme +was borne to his nostrils. The smell took him at an advantage, and +something thickened painfully in his throat. Dolores had loved that +scent as she had loved all sweet things. + +"It is the bee's flower," she had argued one night, as he had stood with +his arm under her mantilla, looking out at the wine-red hills under a +fiery Spanish gloaming, "the bees make honey, _and I eat it_!" + +Whereat he had called her a "greedy little pig," with a lover's fond +abuse of the thing he most loves, and they had gone in together quickly +ere the mosquitoes had time to follow them behind the nets which Ramon +had held aside a moment for her to enter. + +Thinking of this kept Ramon from considering the significance of the +other fact he had ascertained. Above he saw the blue sky, deep blue as +the Mediterranean when you see it lie land-bound between two +promontories. + +Then it struck him suddenly that the mist must have passed. If he went +now he would emerge in the clear sunshine of even. Well, it mattered +not, he would wait in the cleft for sunset and make his escape then. He +knew that the "Lads of the Squadron" would be very hot and eager on the +chase, after one of them had tasted El Sarria's bullet in his thigh. He +would have a short shrift and no trial at all if he fell into their +hands. For in those days neither Carlist nor Cristino either asked or +gave quarter. And, indeed, it was more than doubtful if even the +Carlists themselves would spare El Sarria, whose hand was against every +man, be he King's man or Queen's man. + +The evening darkened apace. Ramon made his way slowly to the bottom of +the cleft. There was the wide _arroyo_ beneath him, brick-red and hot, a +valley of dry bones crossed here and there by rambling goat tracks, and +strewn with boulders of all sizes, from that of a chick-pea to that of a +cathedral. + +It was very still there. An imperial eagle, serenely adrift across the +heavens, let his shadow sail slowly across the wide marled trough of the +glen. There could be no fear now. + +"Well," thought Ramon, with philosophy, "we must wait--none knows of +this place. Here I am secure as God in his Heaven. Let us roll a +cigarette!" + +So, patiently, as only among Europeans a Spaniard can, El Sarria waited, +stretching his fingers out to the sun and drawing them in, as a tiger +does with his claws, and meanwhile the afternoon wore to evening. + +At last it was time. + +Very cautiously, for now it was life or death, yet with perfect +assurance that none knew of his path of safety, Ramon stole onward. He +was in the jaws now. He was out. He rushed swiftly for the first huge +boulder, his head drawn in between his shoulders, his gun held in his +left hand, his knife in his right. + +But from the very mouth of the pass six men sprang after him, and as +many more fronted him and turned him as he ran. + +"Take him alive! A hundred duros to the man who takes El Sarria alive!" + +He heard the voice of the officer of Migueletes. He saw the short, +businesslike sword bayonets dance about him like flames. The uniforms +mixed themselves with the rocks. It was all strange and weird as in a +dream. + +But only one face he saw crystal clear. One man alone inevitably barred +his way. He dropped his gun. He could run better without it. They were +too many for that, and it was not needed. He tore his way through a +brace of fellows who had closed in upon him eager for the reward. + +But through all the pother he still dashed full at the man whose face he +knew. This time his knife made no mistake. For assuredly no enemy, but a +friend, had done this--even Luis Fernandez, the brother of his heart. + +And leaving the wounded strewn among the grey boulders and all the +turmoil of shouting men, Ramon the hunted, broke away unscathed, and the +desolate wilderness of Montblanch swallowed him up. Yet no wilderness +was like this man's heart as he fled down and down with his knife still +wet in his hand. He had no time to wipe it, and it dripped as he ran. + +_For this man had now neither wife nor friend._ + + + + +CHAPTER III + +COCK O' THE NORTH + + +"_Carai! Caramba! Car----!_ This bantam will outface us on our own +dung-hill! Close in there, Pedro! Take down the iron spit to him, Jose! +Heaven's curses on his long arm! A foreigner to challenge us to fight +with the knife, or with the sword, or with the pistol!" + +From the kitchen of the venta at San Vicencio, just where the track up +the Montblanch takes its first spring into the air, came these and other +similar cries. It was a long and narrowish apartment--the upper portion +merely of a ground-floor chamber, which occupied the whole length of the +building. + +Part of the space was intended for horses and mules, and indeed was +somewhat overcrowded by them that night. These being alarmed by the +tumult and shoutings, were rearing so far as their short unsinkered +head-stalls permitted them, and in especial making play with their feet +at the various _machos_ or he-mules scattered among them. These gladly +retaliated, that being their form of relaxation, and through the +resulting chaos of whinnying, stamping, neighing, and striking of sparks +from pavement stones, skirmished a score of brown imps, more than half +naked, each armed with a baton or stout wand with which he struck and +pushed the animals entrusted to their care out of the reach of harm, or +with equal good-will gave a sly poke with the sharp spur of the goad to +a neighbour's beast, by way of redressing any superiorities of heels or +teeth. + +But all the men had run together to the kitchen end of the apartment. +Where the stable ended there was a step up, for all distinction between +the abode of beasts and of men. Over this step most of those who had +thus hasted to the fray incontinently stumbled. And in the majority of +instances their stumble had been converted into a fall by a blow on the +sconce, or across the shoulders, from the flat of a long sword wielded +by the arm of a youth so tall as almost to reach the low-beamed ceiling +along which the spiders were scuttling, in terror doubtless of the +sweeping bright thing on which the firelight played as it waved this way +and that. + +First in the fray were a round dozen of Migueletes, come in from an +unsuccessful chase, and eager to avenge on a stranger the failure and +disgrace they had suffered from one of their own race. Next came a young +butcher or two from the killing-yards, each already a _toreador_ in his +own estimation. The rest were chiefly _arrieros_ or carriers, with a +stray gipsy from the south, dark as a Moor; but every man as familiar +with the use of his long curved sheath-knife as a cathedral priest with +his breviary. + +Meanwhile the tall young man with the long sword was not silent. His +Spanish was fluent if inelegant, and as it had been acquired among the +_majos_ of Sevilla and the mule-clippers of Aragon rather than in more +reputable quarters, his speech to the critical ear was flavoured with a +certain rich allusiveness of personality and virility of adjective +which made ample amends (in the company in which he found himself) for +any want of grammatical correctness. + +With the Spanish anathemas that formed the main portion of his address, +he mingled certain other words in a foreign tongue, which, being +strong-sounding and guttural, served him almost as well in the Venta of +San Vicencio as his _Carais_ and _Carambas_. + +"_Dogs of dog-mothers without honour!_ Come on, and I will stap twal +inches o' guid steel warranted by Robin Fleming o' the Grassmarket doon +your throats! A set o' gabbling geese--tak' that! With your virgins and +saints! Ah, would you? There, that will spoil your sitting down for a +day or two, my lad! Aye, scart, gin it does ye ony guid?" + +A knife in his left hand, and in his right the long waving sword, bitter +and sometimes unknown and mysterious words in his mouth, this youth kept +his enemies very successfully at bay, meeting their blades six at a +time, and treading and turning so lightly that as he lunged this way and +that, there was a constant disorganisation among the opposing ranks, as +one and the other sprang back to elude his far-reaching point. + +"He is of the devil--a devil of devils!" they cried. "We shall all +perish," wailed an old woman, shrinking back further into the +chimney-corner, and wringing her hands. + +Meanwhile the youth apostrophised his blade. + +"My bonny Robin Fleemin'--as guid as ony Toledan steel that ever was +forged! What do you think o' that for Leith Links? And they wad hae +made me either a minister or a cooper's apprentice!" + +As he spoke he disarmed one of his chief opponents, who in furious anger +snatched a pistol and fired point-blank. The shot would indubitably have +brought down the young hero of the unequal combat, had not a stout +ruddy-faced youth, who had hitherto been leaning idly against the wall, +knocked up the owner's arm at the moment the pistol went off. + +"Ha' done!" cried the new-comer in English; "twenty to one is bad +enough, specially when that one is a fool. But pistols in a house-place +are a disgrace! Stand back there, will ye?" + +And with no better weapon than a long-pronged labourer's fork snatched +from the chimney-corner, he set himself shoulder to shoulder with the +young Scot and laid lustily about him. + +That son of an unkindly soil, instead of being grateful for this +interference on his behalf, seemed at first inclined to resent it. + +"What call had ye to put your neck in danger for an unkenned man's +sake?" he cried, crabbedly. "Couldna ye hae letten me fill thae carles' +skins as fu' o' holes as a riddle?" + +"I am not the man to stand and see a countryman in danger!" said the +other, while the broad sweeps of his companion's sword and the energetic +lunges of his own trident kept the enemy at a respectful distance. + +Suddenly a thought struck the Englishman. Without dropping the fork, he +rushed to the hearth, where the _ollas_ and _pucheros_ of the entire +company bubbled and steamed, he caught the largest of the pots in one +hand and threatened to overturn the entire contents among the ashes and +_debris_ on the floor. + +"I speak their lingo but ill," he cried to his companion; "but tell them +from John Mortimer, that if they do not cease their racket, I will +warrant that they shall not have an onion or a sprig of garlic to stink +their breaths with this night. And if that does not fear them, nothing +will--not Purgatory itself!" + +The young man communicated this in his own way, and though every man +among his assailants was to the full as brave as himself, the threat of +the Englishman did not fail in its effect. The _arrieros_ and Aragonese +horse-clippers drew off and consulted, while the Scot who had caused all +the disturbance, dropped his point to the floor, and contented himself +with wrapping his cloak more tightly about his defensive arm. He had +evidently been some time in the country, for he wore the dark _capa_ and +red _boina_ of Navarra, and answered the deputation which now came +forward with readiness and composure. Whoever gave in, it would +certainly not be he. That, at least, was the impression given by his +attitude. + +"Certainly, most certainly," he said. "I will be glad to meet any one of +you anywhere. I will stand to my words spoken in any language, or any +field of honour, from the carpet of a prime minister to one of your +infernal dusty _campos_, with any weapon, from pistol and sword to a +tooth-pick--with any Spaniard, or Frenchman, or mongrel tyke that ever +lifted wine pot." + +"Is this a way to speak to gentlemen--I put it to you, caballeros?" +cried one of the deputation, a huge rawboned Galician, angrily. + +The Scot instantly detected the accent of the speaker and, dismissing +him with the gesture one uses to a menial, called out, "Caballeros, +indeed! What needs this son of the burden-bearing animal to speak of +Caballeros? Is there any old Castilian here, of the right ancient stock? +If so, let him arbitrate between us. I, for one, will abide by his +decision. The sons of gentlemen and soldiers will not do wrong to a +soldier and a stranger!" + +Then from the darkest and most distant corner, where he had sat wrapped +in his great striped mantle with the cape drawn close about his head, +rose a man of a little past the middle years of life, his black beard +showing only a few threads of grey, where the tell-tale wisdom tuft +springs from the under lip. + +"Young sir," he said courteously, "I am an Old Castilian from +Valladolid. I will hear your cause of quarrel, and, if you so desire, +advise my compatriots, if they in their turn will consent to put their +case into my hands." + +There was some demur at this among the rougher gipsies and muleteers, +but every one was anxious for the evening meal, and the fragrant earthen +pipkins and great iron central pot gave forth a good smell. Also a +red-waistcoated man-servant ran hither and thither among them, +whispering in the ear of each belligerent; and his communication, having +presumably to do with the stranger's quality and condition, had a +remarkable effect in casting oil upon the waters. Indeed, the Migueletes +had withdrawn as soon as the Castilian came forward, and presently he of +Galicia, having consulted with his fellows, answered that for his part +he was quite prepared to submit the causes of strife to the noble +cavalier from Valladolid, provided the stranger also would abide by the +decision. + +"I have said so," put in the Scot fiercely, "and _my_ custom is not to +make a promise at night for the purpose of breaking it in the morning!" + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +A LITTLE COMB-CUTTING + + +By his accent of defiance, the Scot evidently considered that he had +made a personal point here, but the Old Castilian gravely passed the +insult over. + +"Will the Senor state his case?" he said, bowing to the young man. + +"I came to this venta, the proprietor of which, and all his relations, +may God confound for liars and thieves! When I entered I paid for one +week's good straw and barley in coined silver of Mexico. The unshorn +villain stole the feed from under my horse's nose so soon as my back was +turned, and then to-night, upon my complaining, set his rascal scullions +on to vilify my country, or at least a country which, if not mine, is +yet no concern of his or theirs. Whereupon I tendered to all the cleaner +of them my cartel, offering to fight them with any weapon they might +name, and in any place, for the honour of Scotland and the Presbyterian +religion!" + +Though he had never heard of either of these last, the grey-bearded +umpire gravely wagged his head at the statement of the Scot, nodded in +acknowledgment, and turned with equal gravity and distinction to the +Gallegan as the representative of the opposite faction. He motioned him +to proceed. + +"This man," said the Galician, speaking in the harsh stuttering whisper +affected by these Iberian hewers of wood and drawers of water, "this man +for these ten days past hath given all in the _Venta_ bad money and +worse talk. To-day he would have cheated _Dueno_, and we, like true men, +took up the cudgels for the good patron." + +"Hear the bog-trotting cowards lie!" cried the Scot, fiercely. "Save for +the barley, I paid no money, good or bad. All I had remains here in my +belt. If I gave bad money, let him produce it. And, save in the matter +of his beast's provend, who gives money at the entering in of a hotel?" + +"Least of all a Scot," put in the Englishman, who had been following +with some difficulty the wordy warfare. + +"Then because he would not exchange good money for the bad, and because +of his words, which carried stings, we challenged him to fight, and he +fought. That, worthy Senor, is the beginning of the matter, and the +end." + +"Sir," said the Scot to the Old Castilian, "there was no question of +money. None brought my reckoning to me----" + +"No," sighed the landlord, from beyond the bottle-encumbered counter +where he had taken refuge, "because he threatened to let daylight into +the vitals of the man who carried it to him." + +"But as to the insults to his country?" asked the old Castilian, "you +ought to have borne in mind that for that cause will a man fight quicker +than for his sweetheart." + +"So it is, Senor, we deny it not," answered the Gallegan; "yet this +fellow, after abusing the English and their land till there were no more +ill words in the language, turned upon us because we chanced to agree +with him, outs with his pocket-book and deals round what he calls +'cartels of defiance' as if he dealt a hand at ombre. Then, after some +give and take of ill words, as your honour knows the custom is, he pulls +his blade upon us, and makes play as you saw. We are poor fellows, and +know no more than how to defend ourselves. And if we fight, our custom +is to do it with a couple of Albacete knives before half the town, and +be done with it. But this stranger was all for duels, and seconds, and +codes of honour, after the mode of Paris." + +"And a very excellent thing too, sir," said the Old Castilian, smiling +at the Scot, "but in their due place, and their place is hardly in the +kitchen of the venta of San Vicencio. Listen to me. My finding is this. +You will all shake hands, after an apology given and received in the +matter of the stranger's country, and since he has paid no reckoning +these ten days according to his own statement, the which I believe, he +shall defray his count so soon as it shall be presented to him by the +host. Are you agreed?" + +"Agreed!" said the Gallegan, holding out his hand to the Scot, "and I +regret, on behalf of myself and my companions, that we ever said aught +to the discredit of England, the very distinguished country of which the +Senor stranger is a native." + +The Scot shrugged his shoulders in the French manner, but nevertheless +held out his hand with some show of heartiness. + +"I am no citizen of England, thank God," he said, "I own no such +pock-pudding land, but it will be a heavy day when Rollo Blair of Castle +Blair, in the good shire of Fife, sits still with his hands in his +pockets and hears a garlic-eating Frenchman abuse the English, with +whom his forbears fought so many good fights." + +"I thank you on behalf of my country for your championship, such as it +is," said the stout Englishman, smiling; "things that cut and thrust or +go off with a bang, are not in my way. But if my knuckles are any good +against the bridge of a man's nose, they shall henceforth be at your +country's service. For the rest, bills of lading and exchanges at thirty +days are more in my line." + +"Ah," said the young Scot, twirling an almost invisible moustache, +"commerce I know little of. I was bred to the profession of arms. My +good father taught me the sword and the pistol, according to the +practice of the best modern schools. Sergeant McPherson, his orderly, +gave me instruction in the sabre and bayonet. I was intended for a +commission in the 77th, my father's old regiment, when a pecuniary loss, +the result of an unfortunate speculation, broke my poor father's heart +and sent me out to seek my fortune with no more than Robin Fleeming's +sword and my right arm." + +"Poor capital to start on," said the Englishman, in his bluff manner, as +he examined the article in question; "now you do not happen to write a +good round hand, do you?" + +The Scot started and laid his hand on his sword hilt. + +"Sir," he cried, "your avocations do not permit you to understand how +great an insult you offer to a gentleman!" + +"Oh," said the other, "I don't know at all that you would have suited. +Our manager down at Barcelona is a very particular man; but then I would +have said a good word for you, and being the owner's son----" + +"Say no more of the matter, I beg of you," said the Scot, haughtily. "I +have not yet been reduced to the necessity of choosing a mercantile +career." + +"And that is a most fortunate thing for you," quoth the Englishman, with +the utmost gravity. + +"Eh?" said the Scot, somewhat surprised, and, being occupied with his +own thoughts and with keeping an eye on the door, not exactly taking the +Englishman's meaning, "Oh, you were speaking of a mercantile career. +Yes, I am indeed fortunate in that my lines have been cast in pleasanter +places than before a ream of foolscap on a desk." + +"It pays well, though," said the other placidly. + +"For me, I care nothing for money," said Rollo Blair. "Eh! what is +this?" + +He wheeled round quickly in response to a tap upon his arm, and the +Englishman, looking at him keenly (though apparently intently regarding +the opposite wall), saw him turn visibly paler. + +The landlord was at Master Rollo Blair's elbow with the reckoning +written out upon a long sheet of paper. A couple of serving men, who +were probably privy to the extravagant total, stood sniggering and +whispering in a neighbouring archway. The Gallegan and his companions +sat crossing their legs and gossiping watchfully, darting inquisitive +glances under their brows at their late adversary, to see how he would +bear himself. Only that noble gentleman, the Old Castilian, sipped his +chocolate unmoved, and, with the perfection of good manners, stared at +the fire. + +From red to white, and from white back again to a kind of greenish +paleness, went and came the hues of the young man's complexion. The son +of the house of Blair of Blair was manifestly unhappy. He put his hand +in one pocket. He clapped another. His purse was not in either. + +"Perchance 'tis in your honour's equipage," suggested the landlord +wickedly; "shall I call your body-servant to bring it?" + +It was a face of bitter chagrin that Rollo Blair of Blair lifted to the +Englishman who had meantime never ceased from his study of a fly upon +the wall. He beckoned him a little apart with a look of inimitable +chagrin. + +"Sir," he said, "will you buy from me a silver-hilted sword. It was my +grandfather's, and he fought well with it at Killiecrankie. It is the +sole article of value I possess----" + +Here a kind of a sob came into his voice. "God knows, I would rather +sell my right hand!" he said brusquely. + +"How came you to run up such a bill, having no effects?" said the +Englishman, looking at him coolly, and taking no notice of the young +man's offer of his weapon, which he continued to hold by the scabbard. + +"I can hardly tell," said the Scot, hanging his head, "but only two +nights ago there was a young French lord here who out-faced me first at +the cards and then at the drinking of wine. So I was compelled to order +in more and better to be upsides with him!" + +"There is no meaner ambition, especially on an empty purse," said the +Englishman, not moving from the angle of wall upon which he leaned. + +"Curse me that ever I troubled myself to appeal to a cold-livered +Englishman!" cried the young man, "I will go to the Castilian over +yonder. He looks as if he might have the bowels of a man. At least he +will not palm off a gentleman in distress with moral precepts culled +from last week's sermon!" + +The Englishman leaped forward and clapped the hot-headed Scot on the +shoulder. With the other hand he drew a well-filled wallet, with a +mercantile calendar slipped into the band, from his pocket. + +"There," he said, heartily, "let me be your banker. 'Tis worth a score +of reckonings to hear a Scotsman speak disrespectfully of sermons. My +name is John Mortimer----" + +"Of the Mortimers of Plas Gwynedd in Caernarvonshire? Why, my +grandmother was of that----" Rollo Blair was beginning a genealogical +disquisition with great eagerness when the Englishman stopped him. + +"No," he said, "at least not that I know of. My father made mouse-traps +before he took to cotton-spinning, and I never so much as heard whether +I had any grandfather. I am plain John Mortimer of Chorley at your +service. I think you are an honest lad, sorely led astray by whimsies in +the brain, but you are honest, and in a far land. You are welcome to my +purse and, credit to any reasonable amount which will put you in the way +of repaying your obligation, as I am sure you desire to do." + +"I shall not sleep sound at night till I do," returned the youth, +firmly. "But first I desire to inform you that I have had an ill opinion +of your nation--an opinion to which, in spite of your great personal +kindness and the obligation under which you place me, I am bound to +adhere." + +The Englishman nodded carelessly. + +"There speaks an honest man, but also a foolish one!" said Mortimer, +shaking his head; "you should try the foreign wine trade for a year or +two. It is wonderfully curbing to a man's vocabulary!" + +The Scot stood a moment at gaze, manifestly debating with himself. + +"And you will not accept of my sword?" he said. "I assure you it is +worth enough to discharge my small liabilities twice over." + +"Swords are not legal tender in the wine business," said the other, +smiling, "nor yet when I go home with a knowledge of languages to help +sell my father's grey cloth! You are as welcome as my brother to the +loan," he added, "and I promise you I will accept repayment as gladly +from you as from him." + +"You make the matter easier indeed," said Rollo Blair, recovering his +spirits with a bound. "Here, landlord, can you change this gold ounce, +or is the matter too great a one for your petty venta?" + +The young men had been standing a little back, in the shadow of one of +the arches, in which were empty mangers and the rings of head-stalls, so +that the patron could not observe the passing of the Englishman's purse +from hand to hand. + +"Your servant, Senor!" said the innkeeper, no Spaniard, but a French Jew +of Roussillon, "what can I have the honour of ordering for your +excellencies' supper?" + +"Order yourself out of my sight!" cried the Scot imperiously. "We are +going up to the monastery to dine with my uncle the Abbot!" + +The patron of the venta fell back a couple of steps, and the two serving +men ceased to grin and instead bowed most obsequiously. + +"He is a nephew of the Abbot, perhaps (who knows) his son! There will be +fine doings out of this night's work, if he tells Don Baltasar all, as +he doubtless will." + +This was the whispered comment of one servitor in the ear of his master. +Said the other-- + +"Speak him fair, patron, for the love of God! For if the monks are +adverse, we are sped. Our pipe is as good as out. And perchance a yet +worse thing may happen!" + +And he leaned over till his lips almost touched mine host's ear. + +"My God!" gasped the latter, "what a country! Would that I were safe +back again in mine own house with green blinds in Roussillon!" + +The Englishman and the Scot were now walking amicably arm in arm to and +fro in front of the inn. The Scot had quite recovered his military +demeanour, and again twirled his moustache with an air. The +silver-hilted sword shone no brighter on the morn of Killiecrankie. The +unused spurs tinkled melodiously. + +The landlord stood with his hands deferentially folded. The young men +took not the faintest notice of him, but continued to pace slowly to and +fro. + +Mine host of the venta of Montblanch cleared his throat. The Scot cast a +single scornful glance at him, which he caught as a dog catches a bone. + +"My most noble lords," he said, "I trust that the unfortunate occurrence +of this evening will not prevent this house from having your honours' +custom in the future, and that you too will say no word of all this to +the most reverend Abbot Don Baltasar!" + +"Make yourself easy on that score," said the Scot; "as soon as we are +round the corner we will forget that such a refuge for fleabitten +knaves anywhere exists out of Pandemonium!" + +Lower still bowed the obsequious patron, for this was his idea of the +way a gentleman should speak to an innkeeper. Abuse showed his quality. + +"Shall I order a carriage to convey your honours up to the Abbey?" said +the landlord, preparing to take his leave. "I know a patron, who has a +coach-and-six!" + +"We will walk on our feet," replied the Scot, no whit abashed, "ah--in +pursuance of a vow made at Salamanca!" + +The landlord withdrew, making an obeisance that was almost an oriental +salaam. + +"But is the Abbot really your uncle?" inquired the Englishman, as they +set out. + +"As much as you are," said the Scot, "but all the same we shall dine +with him, or my name is not Rollo Blair of Blair Castle in the shire of +Fife!" + +"The Lord send it," said the Englishman devoutly; "perhaps in that case +he will part with his Priorato wine a farthing the gallon cheaper!" + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE ABBEY OF MONTBLANCH + + +The great monastery of Montblanch was of regal, nay almost of imperial +dignity. Though no emperor (as at Yuste) had here laid aside the world +and assumed the cowl, yet mighty Kings of Aragon and Navarra lay buried +within its walls, and its long line of mitred abbots included many in +whose veins ran the royal blood of all the Spains. + +Almost completely encircled by wild sierras, it was yet situated upon a +plain, as it were let into the very heart of the mountains. A clear +trout stream, which furnished many a Friday's breakfast to the monks, +ran through a rich vale. Of no place within fifty leagues, could it be +so truly said, that all about it and above it there was heard a sound of +many waters. + +Of the various potencies and pre-eminences of Montblanch, civil and +ecclesiastical, there was no end. A hundred villages owned its lordship. +The men were serfs, the women handmaids. Soul and body they were bound +to their masters of the monastery of Montblanch. Without permission they +dared neither to wed nor to bury, neither to increase nor to multiply, +to lay the bride on the bride-bed nor the corpse upon the bier. + +Nor, to thrill the listener's blood, were darker tales awanting, +whispered with a quiver of the flesh, as men crouched closer about the +glowing charcoal pan, and women glanced fearfully out between the green +lattice strips at the twinkling lights of the Abbey, set high above them +under the silent stars. + +It was said, not openly indeed, but rather with an awestruck lowering of +the voice and fearful glances to right and left, that when the +inquisition was done away with in the Spain of the cities and provinces, +the chiefs of the Holy Office had found a last place of refuge beneath +the grey rocks of Montblanch, and that whoso offended against the monks +of the mountain, or refused to them flock or herd, son or daughter, +sooner or later entered the doors of the monastery never to be visible +again in the light of day. + +So at least ran the tale, and as the two young men made their way upward +from San Vicencio, by the mountain path beside which the stream brattled +and sulked alternate, Rollo Blair told these things to the Englishman as +one who half believed them. + +"It is not possible," answered the latter scornfully; "this is no +century in which such things can be done. Has civilisation not reached +as far as Aragon? Who talks of the rack and the inquisition at this time +of day?" + +The young Scot halted a sturdy peasant who came whistling down the path, +a bundle of tough reed stems over his shoulder. + +"Did you ever hear of the black room of the monastery of Montblanch?" he +said, pinching the man's blue overall between finger and thumb. + +The sunburnt Aragonese crossed himself and was silent. + +"Speak, have you heard?" + +The other nodded, and made with his digits that "fig of Spain" which +averts the evil eye; but under his loose blouse half furtively as if +ashamed of his precaution. + +"I have heard!" he said, and was silent. + +"Do you wish to enter it?" said Rollo. + +"God forbid!" quoth the man with conviction. + +"And why?" pursued the Scot, wishful to make his point. + +"Because of those who go in thither, no one ever comes out." + +The man, having thus spoken, hastened to betake himself out of sight, +his feet, shod with sandals of esparto grass, pad-padding from side to +side of the narrow mountain path. + +"You see," said Rollo Blair, "mine uncle, reverend man, is no favourite +in his own district." + +It was now drawing towards evening, and the rich orange glow +characteristic of northern Iberia deepened behind the hills, while the +bushes of the wayside grew indistinct and took on mysterious shapes on +either side. + +"My object in coming to Spain is simple," said the Englishman, of whom +his companion had asked a question. "Before my father retires and +confides to me his spinning mills at Chorley, he stipulates that I shall +make by my own exertions a clear profit of a thousand pounds. I, on my +part, have agreed neither to marry nor to return till I can do so with a +thousand pounds thus acquired in my hand. I thought I could make it as +easily in the wine business as in any other of which I had no knowledge. +And so, here I am!" concluded the young man. + +"Lord," cried Blair, "if my father had insisted on any such conditions +with me, he would have made me a wandering Jew for life, and a +perpetual bachelor to boot! A thousand pounds! Great Saint Andrew, I +would as soon think of getting to heaven by my own merits!" + +"Spoken like an excellent Calvinist!" cried the Englishman. "But how +came you into this country, and can you in any way assist me in the +buying of good vintages, out of which I may chance to make profit? +Besides the firm's credit, I have a private capital of one hundred +pounds, of which at present eight or nine are in a friend's hands!" + +"Good Lord!" cried the Scot, "then I by my folly have put you by so much +farther from your happiness. But of course you have a sweetheart waiting +for you on your return?" + +"I have yet to see the woman I would give a brass farthing to marry, or +for whose mess of connubial pottage I would sell my good bachelor's +birthright." + +"Fegs," said Rollo Blair, gazing with admiration upon his shorter +companion, and, as was his wont when excited, relapsing into dialect, +"the shoe has aye pinched the ither foot wi' me, my lad. No to speak o' +Peggy Ramsay, I think I hae been disappointed by as mony as a round +dozen o' lasses since I shook off the dust o' the Lang Toon o' +Kirkcaldy." + +"Disappointed?" queried his companion, "how so, man? Did you not please +the maids?" + +"Oh, aye, it wasna that," returned the squire of Fife, taking his +companion's arm confidentially; "the lasses, to do justice to their good +taste, were maistly willing eneuch. There's something aboot a lang man +like me that tak's them, the craiturs, and I hae a way o' my ain wi' +them, though I never gat mair schooling than my father could thrash into +me wi' a dog whip. But the fact is that aye afore the thing gaed far +eneuch, I cam to words wi' some brither or faither o' the lass, and +maybe put a knife into him, or as it were an ounce o' lead, I wadna +wonder--to improve his logic." + +"In other words you are quarrelsome?" said Mortimer shortly. + +The Scot removed his hand from the Englishman's arm and drew himself to +his full height. + +"There" he said, "I beg to take issue with you, sir! Argumentative I may +be, and it is my nature, but to the man who flings it in my teeth that I +am of a quarrelsome disposition, I have but one answer. Sir, receive my +card!" + +And with great gravity he pulled from his pocket an ancient card-case of +damaged silver, bulged and dinted out of all shape, opened it, and burst +into a loud laugh. + +"I declare I have not one left! I spent them all on those Aragonese dogs +down there, who thought, I daresay, that they were soup tickets on the +_frailuchos'_ kitchen up above. And anyway it is heaven's own truth, I +_am_ a quarrelsome, ungrateful dog! But forgive me, Mr. Mortimer, it is +my nature, and at any rate it does not last long. I am not yet of those +'that age and sullens have,' as my father used to say. A desperate wise +man my father, and well read! I would have learned more from him if I +had not preferred Sergeant McPherson and the stables, to the study and +my father's Malacca cane about my shoulders each time I made a false +quantity." + +"But you have not answered my question," said the Englishman. "I am here +to buy wines. I am above all anxious to take over to England some +thousand hectolitres of the famous Priorato of Montblanch, and any +other vintages that will suit the English market." + +"But how on a hundred pounds can you expect to do so much?" asked the +Scot, with an unlooked-for exhibition of native caution. + +"Oh, I have enough credit for anything that I may buy on account of the +firm. The hundred is my own private venture, and it struck me that with +your command of the language and my knowledge of business, we might be +able to ship some Spanish wines to the Thames on very favourable terms. +I should of course be glad to pay you the usual commission." + +"Vintages and commissions and shipments are so much Greek to me," said +Rollo Blair; "but if I can do anything to lessen the weight of +obligement under which you have placed me, you can count on my services. +I am scarce such a fool as my tongue and temper make me out sometimes! +You are the only man alive I have tried to pick a quarrel with and +failed." + +"I think we shall do very well together yet," said Mortimer; "the usual +commission is five per cent, on all transactions up to a hundred +pounds--above that, seven and a half." + +"Damn you and your commissions, sir," cried Blair, hotly. "Did I not +tell you I would do my best, on the honour of a Scottish gentleman!" + +"Very likely," returned the other, dryly; "but I have always found the +benefit of a clear and early understanding between partners." + +They had been gradually ascending the narrow path which wound through +clumps of rosemary, broom, thyme, and bay-tree laurel to a sheltered +little plain, much of it occupied by enclosed gardens and the vast +white buildings of the monastery itself. + +The moon, almost full but with a shaving off its right-hand side which +kept it a full hour late, shone behind the two adventurers as they stood +still a moment to take in the scene. + +Pallid limestone pinnacles rose high into serene depths of indigo, in +which the stars twinkled according to their size and pre-eminence, +nearer and farther, gradually retiring into infinite space. In the +clefts high up were black tufts of trees, that seemed from below like so +many gooseberry bushes. A kind of three days' stubble of beard covered +the plain itself right up to the monastery wall, while here and there +was heard the continuous tinkle of many goat bells as the leaders +alternately strayed and cropped the herbage between the boulders. + +Stretching from side to side was the white abbey, not so much imposing +for architectural beauty, but because of its vast size, its Titanic +retaining walls and multitude of windows, now mere splashed oblongs of +darkness irregularly scattered along the white walls. Only at one end +the chapel was lit up, and from its windows of palest gold, and Madonna +blue, and ruby red, came the sweet voices of children beginning to sing +the evening hymn as it stands in the Breviary for the use of the +faithful in the arch-diocese of Tarragona-- + + "Rosasque miscens liliis. + Aram vetustam contegit." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +BROTHER HILARIO + + +At the great entrance gate they paused, uncertain which way to turn, for +from the windows of the chapel a bright light shone forth upon the grey +waste without, whitening alike the dark green creepers of the juniper +and the pale yellow spears of the restless broom. But a chance encounter +decided the matter for them. + +"Well, ah, my good sometime enemy," cried a shrill eager voice, "have +you forgotten Etienne de Saint Pierre, and how we are to fight below the +windmill at Montmartre the first time you come to Paris?" + +"Lord, it is the hare-brained Frenchman!" cried Rollo, yet with some +glow of pleasure in his face. The very talk of fighting stirred him. + +"Then there are a pair of you!" said John Mortimer, quietly, like a man +dropping his fly into a pool on a clear evening. + +"Eh, what's that?" angrily cried the Scot, but was diverted from further +inquiry by the sight of a figure that darted forward out of the darkness +of the wall. + +A smallish slender man, dressed in a costume which would have recalled +the Barber of Seville, had it not been for the ecclesiastical robe that +surmounted and as it were extinguished its silken gorgeousness. A great +cross of gold set with jewels swung at the young man's breast and was +upheld by links as large as those which sustain a lord mayor's badge of +office. + +"Ah, I have renounced the world, my dear adversary," cried the new-comer +enthusiastically, "as you will also. I am no longer Etienne de Saint +Pierre, but Brother Hilario, an unworthy novice of the Convent of the +Virgin of Montblanch!" + +"But, sir," cried Rollo Blair, "you cannot take up the religious life +without some small settlement with me. You are trysted to meet me with +the smallsword at the Buttes of Montmartre--you to fight for the honour +of Senorita Concha of Sarria and I to make a hole in your skin for the +sweet sake of little Peggy Ramsay, who broke my heart or ever I left the +bonny woods o' Alyth to wander on this foreign shore!" + +"Your claim I allow, my dear Sir Blair," cried the Frenchman, "but the +eternal concerns of the soul come first, and I have been +wicked--wicked--so very wicked--or at least as wicked as my health +(which is indifferent) would allow. But the holy Prior--the abbot--mine +uncle, hath shown me the error of my ways!" + +John Mortimer turned directly round till he faced the speaker. + +"Odds bobs," he cried, "then after all there is a pair of them. _He is +this fellow's uncle too!_" + +The Frenchman gazed at him amazed for a moment. Then he clapped his hand +fiercely on the place where his sword-hilt should have been, crying, "I +would have you know, Monsieur, that the word of a Saint Pierre is +sacred. I carry in my veins the blood of kings!" + +And he grappled fiercely for the missing sword-hilt, but his fingers +encountering only the great jewelled cross of gold filigree work, he +raised it to his lips with a sudden revulsion of feeling. + + "Torrentes iniquitatis conturbaverunt me. + Dolores inferni circumdederunt me." + +He spoke these words solemnly, shaking his head as he did so. + +"What! still harping on little Dolores?" cried Blair; "I thought little +Concha was your last--before Holy Church, I mean." + +The little Frenchman was beneath the lamps and he looked up at the long +lean Scot with a peculiarly sweet smile. + +"Ah, you scoff," he said, "but you will learn--yes, you will learn. My +uncle, the Prior, will teach you. He will show you the Way, as he has +done for me!" + +"It may be so," retorted the Scot, darkly; "I only wish I could have a +chance at him. I think I could prove him all in the wrong about +transubstantiation--that is, if I could keep my temper sufficiently +long. + +"But," he added, "if it be a fair question to put to a novice and a holy +man, how about the divine right of kings that you talked so much of only +a week ago, and especially what of Don Carlos, for whom you came to +fight?" + +"Ah, my good cousin Carlos, my dear cousin," cried Etienne Saint Pierre, +waving his hands in the air vehemently, "his cause is as dear and sacred +to this heart as ever. But now I will use in his behalf the sword of the +Spirit instead of the carnal weapon I had meant to draw, in the cause of +the Lord's anointed. I will _pray_ for the success of his arms night +and morning." + +At this moment the colloquy at the abbey gate was broken up by a +somewhat stout man, also in the garb of a novice, a long friar's robe +being girt uncomfortably tight about his waist. In his hand he held a +lantern. + +"Monsieur--Brother Hilario, I mean--a thousand devils run away with me +that ever I should speak such a shake-stick name to my master--the Holy +Prior wishes to speak with you, and desires to know whether you would +prefer a capon of Zaragoza or two Bordeaux pigeons in your _olla_ +to-night?" + +"Come, that is more promising," cried the Scot; "we will gladly accept +of your invitation to dine with you and your uncle, and give him all the +chance he wants to convert me to the religious life. We accept with +pleasure--pleased, I am sure, to meet either the Saragossan capon or the +two Bordeaux pigeons!" + +"Invitation!" cried the astonished Brother Hilario. "Did I invite you? +If so, I fear I took a liberty. I do not remember the circumstance." + +"Do you doubt my word!" cried the Scot, with instant frowning +truculence. "I say the invitation was implied if not expressed, and by +the eyes of Peggy Ramsay, if you do not get us a couple of covers at +your uncle's table to-night, I will go straight to the Holy Prior and +tell him all that I know of little Concha of Sarria, and your plot to +carry her off--a deal more, I opine, than you included in your last +confession, most high-minded friar!" + +"That was before my renunciation of the flesh," cried Saint Pierre, +manifestly agitated. + +The Scot felt his elbow touched. + +"I was under her balcony with a letter last Friday, no further gone, +sir," whispered the novice in the cord-begirt robe; "blessed angels help +me to get this nonsense out of his head, or it will be the death of us, +and we will never night-hawk it on the Palais Royal again!" + +"And on what pious principles do you explain the love-letter you sent +last Friday!" said Rollo, aloud. "What if I were to put it into the +hands of your good uncle the Prior? If that were to happen, I warrant +you would never ride on one of the white abbey mules in the garb of the +brothers of Montblanch!" + +The stout novice rubbed his hands behind his master's back, and grinned +from ear to ear. But the effect upon Saint Pierre was not quite what +Rollo intended. + +Instead of being astonished and quailing at his acuteness, the young +Frenchman suddenly fired up in the most carnal and unmonkish fashion. + +"You have been making love to my little Concha yourself, you dirty Scots +rogue! I will have your life, monsieur! Guard yourself!" + +"'_Your_ Concha'--do you say, Master Friar?" cried Blair; "and pray who +gave you a right to have Conchas on your hands with the possessive +adjective before them? Is that permit included in your monkish articles +of association? Is adoration of pretty little Conchas set down in black +and red in your breviaries? Answer me that, sir!" + +"No matter, monsieur," retorted the Frenchman; "I was a man before I was +a monk. Indeed, in the latter capacity I am not full-fledged yet. And I +hold you answerable if in anything you have offended against the lady +you have named, or used arts to wile her heart from me!" + +"I give you my word I never set eyes on the wench--but from what I +hear----" + +"Stop there," cried the second novice; "be good enough to settle that +question later. For me, I must go back promptly with the answer about +the capon of Zaragoza and the two Bordeaux pigeons!" + +The Scot looked at the Frenchman. The Frenchman looked at the Scot. + +"As a compliment to the fair lady the Senorita Concha, say to my uncle +the capon, Francois!" said the lover. + +"And as a compliment to yourself, my dear Brother Hilario, say to his +lordship _also_ the two Bordeaux pigeons!" + +"_And_ the pigeons, Francois!" quoth the latest addition to the +brotherhood of Montblanch, with perfect seriousness. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE ABBOT'S DINNER + + +Rollo Blair kept his gasconnading promise. He dined with "his uncle," +the abbot, that most wise, learned, and Christian prelate, Don Baltasar +Varela. + +The abbot of Montblanch was glad to see Milord of Castle Blair in the +land of the Scots. It was not a Christian country, he had been informed. + +"Then your venerability has been misinformed," cried Rollo, who thirsted +for argument with the high ecclesiastic upon transubstantiation, +consubstantiation, and all the other "ations" of his creed. But the +Abbot parried him neatly at the very first assault, by an inquiry as to +what he thought of _transverberacion_. + +At this Rollo gasped, and found immediate occasion to change the subject +to the famous wine of the Abbey, _el Priorato_, while the little +Frenchman beamed appreciation of his uncle's ecclesiastical learning, +and that wise prelate twirled his thumbs about each other and discoursed +at large, his shrewd unfathomable grey eyes now fixed on one and now on +another of the company, as though he were fathoming them severally with +some infallible mental gauge, by which he could calculate their measure +of capacity to a hair. + +Costly wines were on the table. Silver and cut glass of Venice sparkled +on spotless cloth. Silent-sandalled lay brethren of the Order waited on +the Prior and his guests. Course after course was brought in, discussed, +and removed. The Abbot, Don Baltasar Varela, himself ate little. He +watched his guests' appetites, however, with manifest interest, and +directed the servitors with almost imperceptible movements of his hand. +He appeared to favour each one of the three equally. + +Yet an observer as detached as Don Baltasar himself would have detected +that the chief part of his attention was given to the young man, Rollo +Blair, and that the Prior, with a gently subtle smile, kept murmuring to +himself at each quick retort and flash of repartee. + +"'Fiery as a Scot' indeed! A true proverb! This fellow is the man we +want, if so we can pay his price. The others----" + +And Don Baltasar shrugged his shoulders slightly and contemptuously, as +he glanced from the broad stolid features of John Mortimer of Chorley to +the bright volatile countenance of his nephew Etienne, Count of Saint +Pierre--though, as we know, in so doing he did much injustice to two men +very brave after their kind, albeit their kind was not that for which +the Prior of Montblanch happened to be presently on the outlook. + +Rollo never emptied his glass (and he did so frequently) but one of +Abbot Baltasar's eyelids quivered, and the glass was immediately filled +again. + +Thus supplied with inspiration the stream of the youth's conversation +flowed steadily. His tones rose till they dominated the table. His +vocabulary expanded, and as he had learned his Castilian in strange +places, his occasional freedom of expression bore somewhat heavily upon +the lay brothers, who, fearful of the watchful grey eye of their +superior, dared not so much as to smile behind their hands. + +As Rollo's tongue loosened and his heart enlarged, the Prior with a +twitch of his thumb indicated that the doors were to be closed, and +turned again to give yet graver and more courteous attention to the +conversation of his guest. + +Master Blair's muse was the historical--and, alas! the autobiographical. + +"Through his sword-arm I sent Killiecrankie, which is a better blade +than any ever forged at Toledo--as I, Rollo Blair, stand ready to affirm +and make good upon any man every day of the week!" + +"I agree," said John Mortimer, "'tis better than my only razor, which is +an infernally bad piece of metal, and not fit to scrape a hog with!" + +"And _I_ agree," sighed Etienne, "because the remainder of my life I +have resolved to devote to contemplation upon holy things. _Vade retro +me, Satana!_" + +The Scot turned upon him like a flash. + +"_You_ have renounced the world"--he queried--"did I hear you say?" + +The Frenchman nodded. "And its vanities!" he agreed with a twirl of his +chain. + +"Since Friday night, I presume?" Again began the fateful questioning, at +which Mortimer kicked Rollo severely under the table. The poor novice +and martyr to monarchial principles flushed visibly. He was afraid of +what the mad Scot might say next. But at that very moment of danger +Rollo curbed his tongue. He would not let the name of little Concha pass +his lips. Still the novice in his uncle's presence was game too +excellent to let slip easily. + +"Contemplation!" he laughed aloud, "you will, you say, pass your days in +contemplation. The relics of the saints will serve you from this day +forth, most gentle penitent. Why, man, you should go straight to +Cologne. They have the bones of eleven thousand virgins there, I am +told. These might chance to serve you some while!" + +"Speaking of relics," said the abbot, rising, to prevent further +awkwardness of discourse, "there is a midnight celebration which it is +my duty to attend, but do not let that disturb you from finishing your +wine. Son Hilario, I absolve you from attendance, that you may keep +these friends of yours in company. When you are weary, touch this bell, +and Father Anselmo, my confessor, will show you the treasures and +reliquaries of the Abbey--the former, alas! now scanty, since the visit +of your compatriots, Messire Etienne, who came in the year eight, with +their unhallowed melting-pots. But there are as many relics as ever, +praise be to the saints--mostly stones. There is never any lack of +stones at Montblanch, though sometimes we poor anchorites of the Virgin +may chance to lack bread." + +As he spoke he looked about at the well-laden table, the bursting figs, +the bunches of purple grapes, the shining silver and snowy linen. + +"_Benedicite_, good gentlemen!" he said, and went out with bowed head +and a rustle of flowing robe. + +"But the wine--the wine! You have forgotten the wine!" cried John +Mortimer, suddenly remembering his purpose in coming to Montblanch. + +"_Ma foi!_" exclaimed Brother Hilario, "has the Englishman not yet had +enough! I have heard of how these islanders drink, but this passes +credit." + +"Ay, it cowes Kirkcaldy!" cried Rollo. "He is indeed a maisterfu' +drinker, this Englishman!" + +"What?" queried the Frenchman, still mystified, and moving towards the +decanters. "Does he want more wine? How much would satisfy him, think +you?" + +"I could take somewhere about sixty thousand gallons at present, and as +much more in a week or two!" said Mortimer, pulling out his pocket-book. + +The Frenchman looked at Rollo for enlightenment. Our insular measures of +capacity were naturally strange to him. + +"About twenty thousand _arrobas_ at present might satisfy him, he says, +but he would like more in a week or two!" + +Monsieur Etienne de Saint Pierre fell back, lax with astonishment. + +"_Mon Dieu!_" he cried, "I never believed it before, but I see now it is +true. An Englishman bathes himself, and drinks the contents of his bath +when he is finished. It is that he may be ready for the twenty thousand +_arrobas_ of Priorato! But you are pleased to jest, gentlemen, is it not +so?" + +The matter was explained. + +"I can arrange that with my uncle," said Etienne, as soon as he fully +understood John Mortimer's purpose; "I understand something about wines, +for I grow some square leagues of vines on my lands in France. Moreover, +I will see to it that your friend does not pay too high a price for the +Priorato! And now for the relics! We have already wasted too much time." + +He rang the bell and called in the abbot's confessor. + +Father Anselmo was a gaunt, severe man, of more than the average height, +with black hair streaked with grey, and fixed and stony eyes. With him +there appeared a younger and more jovial monk, with small eyes that +perpetually twinkled, and a smile that seemed to catch itself up as with +a click each time that the stern gaze of Father Anselmo turned his way. +This monk was evidently only a novice, or a lay brother on his +probation, for he wore the lesser habit and carried in his hand a great +bunch of keys, which he tinkled freely, as if in that silent place he +took a certain pleasure in the sound. + +Father Anselmo gazed with severe disapproval upon the rich appointments +of the abbot's table, and austerely refused for himself and his +companion any refreshment beyond a glass of cold water. + +But on the other hand the eyes of the keybearer perused with evident +longing every salver and decanter. Whereupon the wild Scot, being +restrained by no scruples, religious or otherwise, passed him first of +all a glass of wine behind his superior's back, which he drank at a gulp +without a sound, his eyes all the while on the lean rounded shoulders of +the father confessor. + +A full bottle of wine followed and was instantly concealed beneath the +novice's long robe. A plate of grapes, half a dozen pears, a loaf of +wheaten bread, all were passed to him one by one, and as swiftly and +silently disappeared, none being bold enough to guess whither. + +"By the Lord, I'll try him with a whole melon," muttered Rollo; "I +believe that, swollen as he is, he could stow away a keg of butter quite +comfortably." + +But before he could put this jovial son of Peter the keybearer to the +test, Father Anselmo had gathered his robes ascetically about him, and +signed to the abbot's guests to follow him to the reliquary chamber. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +SANCTUARY + + +The severe confessor solemnly preceded them, a candle in his hand. Rollo +thought that Father Anselmo had the air of perpetually assisting at an +excommunication, a burning of heretics, or other extreme disciplinary +ceremony of Holy Church. His inferior, the bearer of the Petrine keys, +dimpled behind him, rattling the wards vigorously to hide any tendency +of the bottle of wine to make music of its own in his ample skirts. + +The treasury of Montblanch had indeed been most grievously despoiled by +the French, according to the immemorial custom of that most Christian +nation upon its campaigns, and only the most used dishes were now of +silver or silver gilt. All the rest were of homely pewter silvered +over--which, as the confessor said, resembled most men's characters, in +that they looked well enough from a distance, and on the whole served +just as well. He surveyed the company of young men so meaningly as he +said this, that the Scot was only restrained from challenging him on the +spot, by the pressure of John Mortimer's arm upon one side, and an +almost tearful expression of entreaty on Brother Hilario's face upon the +other. + +The Confessor selected two keys from the bunch and inserted them into a +couple of locks in a small iron door at the foot of certain gloomy +steps. + +The Scot who was imaginative, thought that he could discern some faint +stirrings of life about his feet. Accordingly he stamped once or twice, +having an instinctive hatred of little creeping vermin, which (with +wasps) were the only things he feared in heaven or earth. + +But the faint stirring ceasing, he grew interested in watching Father +Anselmo and the novice bearing simultaneously on the keys, which turned +together quite suddenly. Then the Confessor touched a spring concealed +behind some drapery and the door opened. + +A former visitor, Marshal Souchy, had obtained the same privilege by +tying the late Abbot up by the thumbs till he gave the order for the +treasury to be opened. In the despatches which he forwarded to his +imperial master this fact appeared in the following form: "After half an +hour's persuasion the Abbot of Montblanch decided to give up his +treasures to your officers, and to celebrate a solemn service in +thanksgiving for the arrival in Aragon of the delivering armies of his +Majesty the Emperor." + +The paucity of treasures of silver and gold in the treasury of +Montblanch was, however, more than made up for by the extraordinary +number of relics of saints which the monastery possessed. It was at this +point that the novice, who appeared to act as a kind of showman in +ordinary to the vaults, took up his tale. + +"Brother Atanasio, do your duty!" the Confessor had said with a solemn +voice, precisely as if he had been ordering the first turn of the great +wheel of the garotte. + +And in words that fairly tumbled over each other with haste the +custodian began his enumeration. + +"Here we have a bud from the rod of Aaron--also the body of Aaron +himself; the clasp of the robe of Elijah, the prophet, which Elisha did +not observe when he picked up the mantle--also the aforesaid Elijah and +Elisha; the stone on which the angel sat in the holy sepulchre; the +stone on which holy St. Peter stumbled when he let John outrun him; the +words he said on that occasion, which are not included in Holy Writ, but +were embroidered on a handkerchief by his mother-in-law, probably out of +spite; the stone on which the Sainted Virgin was sitting when the angel +saluted her, the stone on which she sat down to watch the crucifixion; +the stone from Mount Sinai upon which St. Joseph prayed going down to +Egypt; a stone from the house of St. Nicholas, and another from his +sepulchre----" + +Athanasius the rosy had only proceeded so far with his enumeration when +a groan came as it were from the ground, and the Scot leaped violently +aside. + +"Good God!" he cried, "there is some one suffering down here--through +that door, I think! Open it, you black-a-vised sweep of darkness! I am a +true-blue Presbyterian, I tell you, and I will have no Torquemada +business where Rollo Blair is." + +But the dark monk only shook his head, and for the first time smiled. + +"The exclamatory stranger is misled by a curious echo, which has given +this place its name. It is called 'The Gate of the Groans,' and our wise +predecessors chose the place for the entrance of their treasure-chamber, +as giving ignorant men the idea that the properties of the Abbey were +protected by demons! I had not, however, hoped that the ingenious little +arrangement would deceive one so wise and experienced as the _caballero_ +with the long sword. Our novice, Brother Hilario, will inform his friend +that what I have said is well known in the monastery to be the case!" + +"I have heard it so stated," said Etienne, with some reluctance, and +speaking not at all as his monastic name would import. + +The groans came again and again, apparently from the earth, and Rollo, +not yet fully convinced, stamped here and there with his foot and +battered the walls with the basket of his sword, till he added a dint or +two to the tasselled hilt of "Killiecrankie." All in vain, however, for +the walls were solid, and the floor beneath his feet rang dull and true. + +"Firm as the Rock of Peter," said the Confessor grimly, "on which Holy +Church is built. _Tu es Petrus, et super hanc petram----!_" + +"I know that verse," cried the Scot, getting quickly in front of him; +"but I can show you in a quarter of an hour that the Romanist argument +from these words proceeds upon a misconception--if you will do me the +honour to follow me----!" + +"Follow _me_!" said the sepulchral monk curtly, and pointing upwards as +the sound of a bell was wafted down to them faintly. "That is the hour +of midnight. Let us attend the call!" + +So for that time Rollo's argument against the Romanist doctrine of the +Rock of Peter was shut within him. It was not long, however, before he +had other matters to think of. + +They followed their guide through a maze of dark passages, till, with a +sudden "Attention!" he halted them before a door, from the other side of +which came a sound of voices. + +The door opened and all the world seemed suddenly filled with clear +singing and glorious light. + +Without the least preparation or preface Father Anselmo ushered the +three young men into the great chapel of the order of the Virgin of +Montblanch. + +To Rollo it seemed almost an indecency to be thus transported from +stuffy cases of doubtful relics and the chill darkness of earth-smelling +passages, to this place where unseen suppliant voices assailed the Deity +with a perpetual song. + +The three youths blinked at the sudden light as they stepped within, and +each of them glanced at their dress, apprehending with the instinct +common to those who find themselves unexpectedly in crowded places, that +it must be disordered. They followed their guide mechanically to the +Holy Water laver. Etienne made the necessary signs and a low reverence +towards the altar. Rollo's devotion to the Presbyterian form of worship +did not prevent his imitating his companion with the easy adaptability +of youth to place and circumstance, but quite unexpectedly they ran upon +a rock in the matter of John Mortimer. + +"Do as I do, you obstinate ass!" hissed Rollo in his ear. "Take some of +the water on one finger and make the sign of the cross--that is, if you +want to sleep in an unpricked skin this night!" + +"Be hanged if I do," muttered John Mortimer, between his teeth. "I am +not much given to religion myself, but my father is a Primitive +Methodist, and built them a church in Chorley. And I never could look +the old man in the face again if I dotted myself all over with their +heathen holy water!" + +"It's little of the Abbot's Priorato you'll ever ship then, my good +friend," muttered Rollo; "but please yourself!" + +The Englishman had rooted his heels to the pavement and squared his +hands by his sides as one who would in nowise be dislodged from his +resolve. + +"I do not care if I never put a drop of wine into cask," he said, +doggedly. "I won't go back to Chorley after having denied my father's +brand of religion, even if my own vintage is of the poorest." + +"There's more ways of killing a cat than choking her with cream!" +growled Rollo; "take this, then, you stiff-necked English deevil!" + +And bowing towards the altar, and again towards the Father Confessor, +who had been regarding them with a sinister curiosity, with the utmost +gravity Rollo made certain gestures with his hands, and dipping his +fingers again in the laver, he made the sign of the cross on his +friend's forehead and breast, before the Englishman had time to protest. + +"In fulfilment of a vow!" he exclaimed in a whisper to Father Anselmo. +"My companion has promised to St. Vicente Ferrer of Valencia that he +will not make the sign of the cross upon his person till he can do it at +the Basilica of holy St. Peter at Rome. He hath a mortal sin still upon +his conscience." + +"Then let him come to me," said the Confessor. "I will deal with him in +a more summary fashion!" + + * * * * * + +It was the season of pilgrimage, and many were the penitents who availed +themselves of the monks' three days statutory hospitality. These were +seated about the dark church on chairs and stools supplied them by the +sacristans, and on two of the latter John Mortimer and Rollo presently +found themselves, while Brother Hilario went off to the gallery reserved +for novices of his standing. Now and then a woman would steal forward +and add a tall candle to the many thousands which burned upon the altar, +or a man kneel at the screen of golden bars beyond which were the +officiating priests and their silently-moving acolytes. + +The church lay behind in deep shadow, only the higher lights shining +here on a man's head, and there on a woman's golden ornament. The Abbot +sat to the right in his episcopal robes, with his mitre on a cushion +beside him. A priest stood by this chair with the crozier in his hand. + +The brethren of the Order could be seen in their robes occupying the +stalls allotted to them. There was another organ and choir far down the +church, high to the right of the pillar by which the young men sat. The +presence of this second choir was betrayed by a dim illumination +proceeding from behind the fretted balustrade of the loft. + +With the quick sympathy of his nature, Rollo, forgetting his sometime +devotion to his native Presbytery, which indeed was chiefly of the +controversial sort, permitted himself to be carried away by the +magnificent swing of the music, the resonance of the twin organs, now +pouring their thunder forth so as to shake at once the hearers' +diaphragms and the fretted roof of blue and gold above them, now sweet +and lonesome as a bird warbling down in Elie meadows in the noon +silences. Anon Rollo shut his eyes and the Chapel of the Virgin of +Montblanch incontinently vanished. He was among the great Congregation +of all the Faithful, he alone without a wedding garment. The place where +he stood seemed filled with surges of aureate light, but the night lay +banked up without, eager and waiting to envelop him, doomed to be for +ever a faithless wandering son of the great Father. Snatches of his +early devotions came ramblingly back to him, prayers his mother had +taught him, Psalms his old nurse had insisted on his learning, or mayhap +crooned about his cradle. Such were the first words which came to him-- + + "That man hath perfect blessedness, + Who walketh not astray, + In counsel of ungodly men, + Nor stands in sinners' way." + +The impressions, hitherto vivid, blurred themselves at this point. Rollo +Blair was kneeling at his mother's knee. He thought of his first +sweetheart who had nearly made him a minister, and, perchance, a better +man. The night that was waiting imminent outside, silently overleapt the +barriers of golden light. Rollo Blair's head fell forward against a +pillar--and, while the music thundered and wailed alternate, and the +great service swept on its gorgeous way, the wild unhaltered Scot, +soothed by a lullaby of sound, slept the sleep of the young, the tired, +and the heart-free. + +How long he slumbered he could not tell, but he was awakened by a +violent thrust in the ribs from the elbow of John Mortimer. + +"Great jimminy! what's that? Look, man, look!" + +Rollo opened his eyes, bleared with insufficient sleep, and for a long +moment all things danced weirdly before them, as gnats dance in the +light of the moon. He saw dimly without understanding the swinging altar +lamps in a blur of purple haze, the richly-robed priests, the myriad +candles, the dark forms of the worshippers. But now, instead of all eyes +being turned towards the brilliance of the golden altar, it was towards +the door at the dark end of the chapel that they looked. + +He could distinguish a tumult of hoarse voices without, multitudinous +angry cries of men, the clatter of feet, the sharp clash of arms. A shot +or two went off quite near at hand. + +"Seize him--take the murderer! Hold him!" + +The shoutings came clear now to Rollo's brain, and rising to his feet he +half drew his sword, as though he himself had been the hunted man. But +with a smile he let the blade slide back, which it did as easily as a +stone slips into water. For though Killiecrankie's hilt might be +battered, without ribbon or bow-knot, Rollo saw to it that Robin +Fleeming's blade played him no tricks. His life had depended too often +upon it for that, and might again. + +Within the chapel of the monastery the service went on almost unheeded, +save by a few of the elders, faithful women whom piety and deafness kept +to their reverence. The men crowded unanimously towards the door outside +which the turmoil waxed wilder and wilder. + +Then, shedding to either side a surge of men, as the bow of a swift ship +casts a twin wave to right and left, a man with only scraps of rags +clinging to him rushed up the aisle of the nave. His hair was red-wet +and matted about his brow. There was a gash on one shoulder. His right +arm hung useless by his side. He was barefooted, but still in his left +hand he held a long knife, of which the steel was dimmed with blood. + +"El Sarria! El Sarria!" cried the voices behind him. "There are a +hundred duros on his head! Take him! Take him!" + +And in a moment more the whole church was filled with the clangour of +armed men. Bright uniforms filled the doorways. Sword bayonets glinted +from behind pillars, as eager pursuers rushed this way and that after +their prey, overturning the chairs and frightening the kneeling women. + +Straight along the aisle, turning neither to right nor left, rushed the +hunted man. On the steps which lead up to the gilded railing he threw +down his knife, which with a clang rebounded on the marble floor of the +church. + +A priest came forward as if to bar the little wicket door. But with a +bound El Sarria was within, and in another he had cast himself down on +the uppermost steps of the high altar itself and laid his hands upon the +cloth which bore _Su Majestad_, the high mystery of the Incarnation of +God. + +At this uprose the Abbot, and stepping from his throne with a calm +dignity he reached the little golden gate through which the hunted man +had come one moment before the pursuers. These were the regular +Government troops, commanded by a Cristino officer, who with a naked +sword in his hand pointed them on. + +Blind with anger and the loss of many comrades, they would have rushed +after the fugitive and slain him even on the holy place where he lay. + +But the Abbot of the Order of the Virgin of Montblanch stood in the +breach. They must first pass over his body. He held aloft a cross of +gold with a gesture of stern defiance. The crozier-bearer had moved +automatically to his place behind him. + +"Thus far, and no farther!" cried the Abbot; "bring not the strife of +man into the presence of the Prince of Peace. This man hath laid his +hands upon the horns of the altar, and by Our Lady and the Host of God, +he shall be safe!" + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE SHADOW OF THE DESTROYER + + +The Abbot of Montblanch, Don Baltasar Varela, was supposed to be +occupied in prayer and meditation. But in common with many of his +abbatical brethren, he employed his leisure with quite other matters. +Many have been the jests levelled at the higher clergy of the Church of +Rome, rich, cloistered, and celibate, in their relations to the other +sex. + +But all such jests, good against even certain holy popes of Rome and +their nephews, fell harmless against the triple brass of the reputation +of Don Baltasar, present head of the great Monastery of Montblanch. + +Things might be whispered against the practice of divers of the brethren +of the Order. But out of the sphere of his immediate jurisdiction, Don +Baltasar concerned himself not with other men's matters. + +"To his own God he standeth or falleth," quoth Don Baltasar, and washed +his hands of the responsibility. + +But there were one or two offences which Don Baltasar did not treat in +this manner, and of these anon. + +Meantime the Abbot talked with his confessor, and in the security of his +chamber was another man to the genial host, the liberal and well-read +churchman, the courteous man of the world who had listened so +approvingly to the wild talk of Rollo the Scot, and so condescendingly +clinked glasses with Brother Hilario, the rich young recruit who had +come from his native province to support the cause of _el Rey Absoluto_, +Don Carlos V. of Spain. + +The chamber itself was different. It contained one chair, plain and rude +as that of any anchorite, in which the Abbot sat, a stool for the father +confessor, a pallet bed, a rough shelf with half a dozen worn volumes +above it, two great books with locked clasps of metal--these composed +the entire furniture of the chamber of one of the most powerful princes +of Holy Church in the world. + +"It is no use, Anselmo," said the Abbot, gravely toying with the clasp +of one of the open books, in which a few lines of writing were still +wet, "after all, we are but playing with the matter here. The cure lies +elsewhere. We may indeed keep our petty bounds intact, sheltering within +a dozen of leagues not one known unfaithful to the true King, and the +principles of the Catholic religion; but we do not hold even Aragon with +any certainty. The cities whelm us in spite of ourselves. Zaragoza +itself is riddled with sedition, rottenly Jacobin to the core!" + +"An accursed den of thieves!" said the gloomy monk. "God will judge it +in His time!" + +"Doubtless--doubtless. I most fully agree!" said the Abbot, softly, "but +meantime it is His will that we use such means as we have in our hands +to work out the divine ends. It is well known to you that there is one +man who is driving this estate of Spain to the verge of a devil's +precipice." + +With a look of dark shrewdness the priest dropped his head closer to his +superior's ear. + +"Mendizabal," he said, "Mendizabal, the Jew of Madrid, the lover of +heretic England, the overgrown cat's-paw of the money-brokers, the +gabbler of the monkeys' chatter called 'liberal principles,' the evil +councillor of a foolish queen." + +"Even so," sighed the Abbot. "To such God for a time grants power to +scourge His very elect. Great is their power--for a time. They flourish +like a green bay tree--for a time. But doth not the Wise Man say in the +Scripture, 'Better is wisdom than many battalions, and a prudent man +than a man of war'? You and I, father, must be the prudent men." + +"But will not our brave Don Carlos soon rid us of these dead dogs of +Madrid?" said the Confessor. "What of his great generals Cabrera and El +Serrador? They have gained great victories. God has surely been with +their arms!" + +The Prior shrugged his shoulders with a slight but inconceivably +contemptuous movement, which indicated that he was weary of the father's +line of argument. + +"Another than yourself, Anselmo, might mistake me for a scoffer when I +say that in this matter we must be our own Don Carlos, our own +generals--nay, our own Providence. To be plain, Carlos V.--that blessed +and truly legitimate sovereign, is a donkey; Cabrera, a brave but cruel +_guerrillero_ who will get a shot through him one fine day, as all these +gluttons for fighting do!--The rest of the generals are even as Don +Carlos, and as for Providence--well, believe me, reverend father, in +these later days, even Providence has left poor Spain to fend for +herself?" + +"God will defend His Church," said the Confessor solemnly. + +"But how?" purred the Abbot. "Will Providence send down three legions of +angels to sweep the Nationals from sea-board to sea-board, from Alicante +even to Pontevedra?" + +"I, for one, place neither bounds nor limits upon the Divine power!" +said the dark monk, sententiously. + +"Well, then, I do," answered the Prior; "those of common sense, and of +requiring us who are on earth to use the means, the commoner and the +more earthly the better." + +The monk bowed, but did not again contradict his superior. The latter +went on-- + +"Now I have received from a sure hand in Madrid, one of us and devoted +to our interests, an intimation that so soon as the present Cortes is +dissolved, Mendizabal means to abolish all the convents in Spain, to +seize their treasures and revenues, turn their occupants adrift, and +with the proceeds to pay enough foreign mercenaries to drive Don Carlos +beyond the Pyrenees and end the war!" + +During this speech, which the Prior delivered calmly, tapping the lid of +his golden snuff-box and glancing occasionally at the Father Confessor +out of his unfathomable grey eyes, that gloomy son of the Church had +gradually risen to his full height. At each slow-dropping phrase the +expression of horror deepened on his countenance, and as the Abbot +ended, he lifted his right arm and pronounced a curse upon Mendizabal, +such as only the lips of an ex-inquisitor could have compassed, which +might have excited the envy of Torquemada the austere, and even caused +a smile of satisfaction to sit upon the grim lips of San Vicente Ferrer, +scourge of the Jews. + +The Prior heard him to the end of the anathema. + +"_And then_?" he said, quietly. + +The dark monk stared down at his chief, as he set placidly fingering his +episcopal ring and smiling. Was it possible that in such an awful crisis +he remained unmoved? + +"The day of anathemas is over," he said; "the power of words to loose or +to bind, so far as the world is concerned, is departed. But steel can +still strike and lead kill. We must use means, Father Anselmo, we must +use means." + +"_I_ will be the means--_I_, Anselmo, unworthy son of Holy Church--with +this dagger I will strike the destroyer down! Body and soul I will send +him quick to the pit! I alone will go! Hereby I devote myself! +Afterwards let them rend and torture me as they will. I fear not; I +shall not blench. I, Anselmo, who have seen so many--shall know how +to comport myself!" + +"Hush!" said the Abbot, for the first time seriously disturbed, and +looking over his shoulder at the curtained door, "moderate your voice +and command yourself, father. These things are not to be spoken of even +in secret. The Jew of Madrid shall die, because he hath risen up against +the Lord's anointed; but your hand shall not drive the steel!" + +"And why, Baltasar Varela?" said the dark priest, "pray tell me why you +claim the right to keep me from performing my vow?" + +"Let that tell you why!" said the Prior with severity. And without +rising, so circumscribed was his chamber, he reached down the small +wall-mirror, which he used when he shaved, and handed it to the Father +Confessor. "Think you, would a countenance like that have any chance of +being allowed into the ante-rooms of the Prime Minister?" + +"I would disguise myself," said the priest. + +The Prior smiled. "Yes," he said, "and like a _sereno_ in plain clothes, +look three times the monk you are with your frock upon you! No, no, +Anselmo; Holy Church has need of you, but she does not require that you +should throw your life away uselessly." + +He motioned the Confessor to a seat, and passed him his snuff-box open, +from which the dark monk took a pinch mechanically, his lips still +working, like the sea after a storm, in a low continuous mutter of Latin +curses. + +"I have found my instruments," said the Prior. "They are within the +walls of the Abbey of Montblanch at this moment. And we have just two +months in which to do our business." + +The Father Confessor, obeying the beckoning eyebrow of his superior, +inclined his ear closer, and the Prior whispered into it for some +minutes. As he proceeded, doubt, hope, expectation, certainty, joy, +flitted across the monk's face. He clasped his hands as the Abbot +finished. + +"God in His Heaven defend His poor children and punish the +transgressor!" + +"Amen," said the Abbot, a little dryly; "and we must do what we can to +assist Him upon the earth." + + + + +CHAPTER X + +A MAN AND HIS PRICE + + +These were memorable days for all the three youths, who so unexpectedly +found themselves within the Convent of Montblanch. The Cristino +soldiery, having fraternised with the Abbey cooks, and having been +treated well from the Abbey cellars, departed about their business, +leaving guards behind them to watch the exits and entrances of the +hill-set monastery. + +Then a peace majestic, and apparently eternal as the circle of the +mountains, settled down upon Montblanch. Of all the men who dwelt there, +monk and novice, lay-brother and serving-man, only two, the Abbot +Baltasar and the gloomy Confessor, knew that the Abbey of the Virgin, +after existing six hundred years, and increasing in riches and dignity +all the while, had but eight weeks more in which to live its sweet and +cloistered life. + +For the rest the Abbot was the most unconcerned of all, and as to the +Confessor, even a sentence of immediate execution could not have added +to the consistent funereal gloom of his countenance. + +But to the three young men, altogether relieved from any cares of mind, +body, or estate, these days of peace revealed new worlds. The +sweet-tongued bells which called dreamily to morning prayer awoke them +in their cells. The soft yet fresh mountain air that came in through +their open windows, the Psalms chanted in a strange tongue, the walks to +the caves of the hermits, and the sanctuaries of the saints scattered up +and down the mountain steeps, had gone far to convince John Mortimer +that there had been religion in the world before the coming of his +father's Primitive Methodism. Even hare-brained Rollo grew less +argumentative, and it was remarked that on several occasions he left his +long sword Killiecrankie behind him when he pilgrimed to the conventual +chapel. + +As for Brother Hilario, he became so saintly that his man-servant, +Francois (who regretted bitterly the Palais Royal and its joys), haunted +him with offers to convey mission or missives to _la petite_ Concha of +Sarria with the utmost discretion, only to be repulsed with scorn. + +To chant in the choir, to live laborious days, to count the linen of the +brotherhood, to ride a white mule, and to sleep in a whitewashed cell, +these were in future to be the simple daily pleasures of Brother +Hilario, late Count of Saint Pierre. Never more would he sing a lusty +serenade beneath a lady's window, never more throw his cloak about his +mouth and follow a promising adventure at a carnival masquerade. + +These grey monastery walls were to contain his life for ever. Its simple +range of duties and frugal pleasures were to satisfy him till the day +when, the inhabitant of one of its rocky cells, he should be found dead +upon a stiff frosty morning, and the bones of this new Saint Hilario +(and eke the stone on which he had sat), would be added to the others in +the reliquary chamber of the Abbey. + +There were, however, at least two objections to this. Firstly, Brother +Hilario was not yet twenty-five years of age and a Frenchman, with the +blood of youth running very hotly in his veins; and, secondly, unless +the unexpected happened, the monastery in two months more would cease to +exist upon the face of the earth. + +The Abbot cultivated the society of all the three youths. But as the +Englishman spoke little French and no Spanish, as the manner of his +nation is, their intercourse was, of course, restricted. Nevertheless, +the affair of the Priorato wine went forward apace, and the bargain was +struck with the almoner of the convent at a rate which satisfied all +parties. John Mortimer paid L90 down in hard cash as earnest of the +price, being the balance of the private venture with which he meant to +purchase the right to return to Chorley and its paternal spindles. + +But the preference of the Abbot for the headstrong Scot of Fife was too +manifest to be ignored, and many were the speculations among the +brethren as to what might be the purpose of Don Baltasar in thus +spending so much of his time with a stripling heretic. + +That he had such purpose none doubted, nor that the results would in due +time be seen to the honour of the Holy House of Montblanch. For though +the brethren used the dearest privilege of all brotherhoods--that of +grumbling freely at the Superior--none questioned either Don Baltasar's +capacity or his single-mindedness where the Order was concerned. + +The Abbot sounded the depths of the young man. He met his Scottish +caution with a frank confession of his purpose. + +"I am putting my life and the lives of all these good and holy men in +your hands, Don Rollo," he said. "Any day there may be a Nationalist +army here. Their outposts are watching us even now. A fugitive was +pursued to the very altar of sanctuary the other night! What! You saw +him? Ah, of course, it was the night when our pleasant acquaintanceship +began. Frankly, then, we are all Carlists here, Don Rollo. We stand for +the King, who alone will stand for us." + +"Your secret, or any secret, is safe with me," said Rollo grandly, +turning his quick frank eyes upon the Prior. "Not death--no, nor +torture--could drag a word from me against my will." + +The Abbot perused him with his eyes thoughtfully for a moment. + +"No, I do not think they would," he said slowly, and without his usual +smile. + +"Further, I would desire to enlist you as a recruit," he went on, after +a pause. "There are many English fighting in our ranks, but few of your +brave northern nation. Don Rollo, we need such men as you are. We can +give them a career. Indeed, I have at present a mission in hand such as +might make the fortune of any brave man. It is worth a general's +commission if rightly carried through. Not many young men have such a +chance at twenty-two. Ah, rogue, rogue--I heard of your doings the other +night down at the inn of San Vicente, and of how with your sole sword +you held at bay a score of Migueletes and Aragonese gipsies--smart +fellows with their knives all of them!" + +"It was nothing," said Rollo modestly; "the cowards did not mean +fighting. It was never in their eyes." + +"Pardon me," said the Prior, "I know these fellows a great deal better +than you, and it was a very great deal indeed. Your life hung upon the +turning of a hair!" + +"Well, for that time the hair turned my way, at any rate," said Rollo, +who honestly thought nothing of the affair, and did not wish the Abbot, +if he had indeed serious business on hand, to measure him by a little +public-house _fracas_. + +"Ah," said he gently, "you follow your star! It is good policy for those +who would go far. Also I think that your star will lead you shortly into +some very good society." + +The Abbot paused a little ere he made the plunge. Perhaps even his +steadfast pulse felt the gravity of the occasion. + +Then he began to speak--lightly, rapidly, almost nervously, with the +sharp staccato utterance with which Don Baltasar concealed his intensest +emotion. + +"The commission is a great one," said the Abbot. "This great Order, and +all the servants of God in Spain, depend for their lives on you. If you +succeed, Don Carlos will assuredly sit on the throne of his fathers; if +you fail, there is an end. But it is necessary that you should carry +with you your two friends. I, on my part, will give you a guide who +knows every pass and bridle-path, every cave and shelter-stone, betwixt +here and Madrid." + +"Then I am to go to Madrid?" + +"Not, as I hope, to Madrid, but to La Granja, where your work will await +you. It is, as you may know, a palace on the slopes of the Guadarrama +mountains, much frequented by the court of the Queen-Regent at Madrid." + +"There is to be no bloodshed among the prisoners?" said Rollo. "Fighting +is very well, but I am not going to be heart or part in any shootings +of unarmed men!" + +"My friend," said the Abbot, with affectionate confidentiality, laying +his arm on the young man's sleeve, "I give you my word of honour. All +you have to do is to bring two amiable and Catholic ladies here--the +Lady Cristina and her little maid. They are eager to be reconciled to +mother Church, but are prevented by evil councillors. They will come +gladly enough, I doubt not, so soon as they are informed of their +destination." + +"Well," said Rollo, "on these conditions I will undertake the task; but +as to those who are there in the palace with her? How are they to fare?" + +"Your instructions," said the Abbot, "are these. You will go first to +the camp of General Cabrera, to whom I will give you a letter. He will +furnish you with such escort as may be thought desirable. You will also +receive from him detailed orders as to what you must do when you arrive +at La Granja. And I will see to it that you go from this place with a +colonel's commission in the service of Carlos V. of Spain. Does that +satisfy you?" + +It did, but for all that the Abbot gave Rollo no hint as to what was to +be the fate of those who might be taken at La Granja in the company of +the little queen and her mother, the Regent Maria Cristina. + +There was no difficulty at all about Etienne Saint Pierre, but John +Mortimer was all for devoting his energies to the task of getting his +casks of Priorato down to Barcelona for shipment. It was only after he +had seen the Nationalist guards stave in cask after cask of his beloved +wine, on which he was depending to lay the foundation of his fortune, +drinking as much as they could, and letting the rest run to waste on the +hillside, that the sullen English anger arose, and burned hotly in the +bosom of John Mortimer. + +"Then I will help to clear them out of the country, if they will not let +me ship the property I have bought and paid good earnest money upon! I +can shoot a pistol as well as any one--if the man is only near enough!" + +So presently, these three, and another behind them, were riding out of +the gates of Montblanch, a colonel's commission in the army of Don +Carlos in Rollo's breast-pocket, a monopoly promise of all the Priorato +wine for six years in that of John Mortimer, and in Brother Hilario's a +dispensation absolving him for the length of his military service from +all conventual and other vows. + +It is difficult to say which of the three was the happiest. + +"That bit of paper is worth more than a thousand pounds any day at +Barcelona!" said John Mortimer triumphantly, slapping the pocket which +contained the Abbot's undertaking about the Priorato. "It is as good as +done if only I can get those sixty hogsheads down to the sea, as an +earnest of what is to come!" + +Ah, if only, indeed! + +Rollo smiled quietly as he put his hand into his pocket, and touched the +colonel's commission that nestled there. + +"I must keep a tight rein on my command," he said. "I hear these Carlist +fellows are the devil and all!" + +But as for Brother Hilario, it is grievous to state that he stood up in +his stirrups and hallooed with pure joy when he lost sight of the +monastery towers, that he threw his pocket breviary into a ditch, and +concealed carefully the jewelled crucifix in the breast of his blue +velvet coat--with the intent, as he openly averred, of pawning it so +soon as they got to Madrid. + +He turned round upon the huge attendant--a simple Gallegan peasant by +his dress--who followed them by order of the Abbot. + +"By the way, sirrah," he cried, "we pass through the village of Sarria, +do we not?" + +The Gallegan lifted a pair of eyes that burned slumberously, like red +coals in a smith's furnace, and with a strange smile replied, "Yes, +_caballero_, we do pass through Sarria." + +As for the Prior, he stood at the gate where he had given the lads his +benediction, and watched them out of sight. Father Anselmo was at his +elbow, but half a pace behind. + +"There they go," said the Prior. "God help them if the Nationalists +overhaul them. They carry enough to hang them all a dozen times over. +But praise to St. Vincent and all the saints, nothing to compromise us, +nor yet the Abbey of Our Lady of Montblanch!" + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +CARTEL OF DEFIANCE + + +It was indeed Ramon Garcia, who on a stout shaggy pony, a portmanteau +slung before and behind him, followed his masters with the half-sullen, +wholly downcast look of the true Gallegan servitor. He was well attired +in the Galician manner, appearing indeed like one of those Highlanders +returning from successful service in the Castillas or in Catalunia, all +in rusty brown double-cloth, the _pano pardo_ of his class, his +wide-brimmed hat plumed, and his _alpargatas_ of esparto grass exchanged +for holiday shoes of brown Cordovan leather. + +But in his eyes, whenever he raised them, there burned, morose and +unquenchable, the anger of the outcast El Sarria against the world. He +lifted them indeed but seldom, and no one of the cavaliers who rode so +gallantly before him recognised in the decently clad, demure, +well-shaven man-servant supplied to them by the Abbot, the wild El +Sarria, whom with torn mantle and bleeding shoulder, they had seen fling +himself upon the altar of the Abbey of Montblanch. + +So when little Etienne de Saint Pierre, that Parisian exquisite and true +Legitimist, finding himself emancipated alike from vows conventual and +monkish attire, and having his head, for the time being, full of the +small deceiver Concha, the companion of Dolores Garcia, inquired for +the village of Sarria and whether they would chance to pass that way, he +never for a moment thought that their honest dullish Jaime from far away +Lugo, took any more interest in the matter than might serve him to +speculate upon what sort of _anisete_ they might chance to find at the +village venta. + +By favour of the Abbot the three voyagers into the unknown had most +gallant steeds under them, and were in all things well appointed, with +English and French passports in their own several names and styles as +gentlemen travelling for pleasure, to see strange lands, and especially +this ancient, restless, war-distracted country of Spain. + +Their servant, Jaime de Lugo, was appropriately horsed on a little +round-barrelled Asturian pony, able to carry any weight, which padded on +its way with a quiet persistence that never left its master far behind +the most gallant galloper of the cavalcade. + +So these three rode on towards the camp of the most redoubted and +redoubtable General Cabrera. + +This chief of all the armies of Don Carlos was then at the height of his +fame. His fear was on all the land. He was brave, cruel, perfectly +unscrupulous, this "Killer of Aragon," this "Butcher of Tortosa." In a +few months he had achieved a fame greater almost than that of +Zumalacarregui, the prince of _guerrilleros_, himself. + +At this time Cabrera was holding half a dozen of the Cristino generals +at bay, including Minos himself, the chief of all. His tactics consisted +in those immemorial rapid movements and unexpected appearances which +have characterised Spanish guerilla warfare ever since the Carthagenians +invaded the land, and the aboriginal Celtiberians took to the mountains +of Morella and the wild passes of Aragon, just as Cabrera and El +Serrador were doing at this date. + +Meanwhile southward out of the pleasant hills of Montblanch, our three +lads were riding, each with his own hopes and fears in his heart. Rollo +of course was the keenest of the party; for not only was the work to his +liking, but he was the natural as well as the actual leader. He alone +knew the Abbot's purposes, or at least as much of them as Don Baltasar +had thought it wise to reveal to his emissary--which after all was not a +great deal. + +But John Mortimer had failed to rouse himself to any enthusiasm even +under the spur of Rollo's defiant optimism. + +They would return to Montblanch in a week or two, the latter averred. By +that time the passes would be cleared. John's wine would be safe. The +Abbot's seven-year undertaking in his pocket was good for the face of it +at any wine-shipper's in Barcelona. In a month he (Rollo) would be a +colonel--perhaps a general, and he (John Mortimer) rich beyond the +dreams of avarice. + +"Or both of us may be dead, more likely!" suggested the latter, with +gloomy succinctness. + +"Dead--nonsense!" cried Rollo. "See here, man, you believe in God, or at +any rate your father does. So, hang it, you must have at least a kind of +second-hand interest Above. Now, is there not a time appointed for you +to die? Here, look at this clock" (he took an ancient and very +bulbous-faced watch out of his pocket). "This minute hand has to push +that hour hand so many times round before the moment comes for your +ghost to mount and ride. Till that time comes, let your heart sit +care-free. You cannot hasten, or retard that event by one solitary +tick--can you? No? Well then, keep the ball rolling meantime, and if it +rolls to the camp of Cabrera, why, you will be just as safe there as in +your bed at Chorley with the curtains drawn and your prayers said!" + +"I have a notion I could hasten the event in my own case by some few +ticks, with the assistance of this unaccustomed little plaything!" said +John Mortimer, who had been listening to this harangue of Rollo's with +manifest impatience. And as if to prove his words, he made a sweeping +motion with his pistol in the air. Instantly Rollo showed great +interest. + +"Good heavens, man, do you know that weapon is fresh-primed, and the +trigger at full cock? If you are anxious to get a ball through your +head, I am not!" + +John Mortimer laughed long and loud. + +"What about the appointed ticks on the watch-dial now, Master Blair? +Have you forgotten you can neither hasten nor retard the day of your +death? When the minute hand approaches the inevitable moment, Fate's +full stop--did you not call it, you must mount and ride to Hades! Till +then, you know, you are perfectly safe." + +Rollo looked disgusted. + +"That is the worst of trying to argue with an Englishman," he said; "his +head is like a cannon ball, impervious to all logic. He does not attend +to your premisses, and he never has any of his own! Of course, _if_ it +were ordained by the powers Above that at this moment you should +suddenly go mad and shoot us all, _that_ would be our appointed time, +and you would no more hasten it by your tomfoolery than if a star fell +out of the firmament and knocked this round world to everlasting +potsherds!" + +"_Umm!_" said John Mortimer, still unconvinced, "very likely--but--if I +saw my wine-barrels on the ship '_Good Intent_' of Liverpool, and my +thousand pounds upon deposit receipt in honest William Deacon's Bank in +Chorley, it would be a hanged sight more comfort to me than all the +appointed ticks on all the appointed watches in the world!" + +And so saying, the Englishman rode on his way very sullenly, muttering +and shaking his head at intervals, as if the journey and adventure they +had entered upon, were not at all to his liking. + +During this fatalistic controversy between Rollo and his friend, Etienne +de Saint Pierre had dropped somewhat behind. He had been interested in +the remark of the glum servitor who followed them that they must of +necessity pass through the village of Sarria. + +"Do you know that place well?" he said, speaking in Castilian, which, +being of Spanish descent on his mother's side, he knew as accurately as +his native language. + +"What place?" queried the Gallegan without raising his eyes. Etienne was +not disturbed by the apparent ill-humour of the fellow. It was, as he +knew, natural to these corner-men of Spain. But he wondered at the +rascal's quite remarkable size and strength. The arm which showed below +the velvet-banded cuff of the rusty brown coat was knotted and corded, +like the roots of an oak where the water wears away the bank in the +spring rains. His chest, where his embroidered shirt was open for a +hand's-breadth down, showed a perfect network of scars, ridged white +cuts, triangular purple stabs, as it were punched out and only half +filled in, as well as cicatrices where wounds reluctant to heal had been +treated by the hot iron of half the unskilful surgeons in Spain. + +But after all these things are no novelty in Iberia, where the knife is +still among the lower orders the only court of appeal, and Etienne made +no remark upon them. He had indeed other affairs on his mind of a more +engrossing nature. + +"Mon Dieu," he communed with himself, "'tis a full calendar month since +I kissed a pretty girl. I wonder what on earth it feels like?" + +The path to Sarria was steep and long, but their guide, now permanently +in the van, threaded his way betwixt stone and stone, now down the +narrow gorge of an _arroyo_ littered with _debris_ and then up the next +talus of slate chips like a man familiar from infancy with the way. + +From a commanding hill-top he pointed away to the southward and showed +them where the bayonet of a Cristino outpost glinted every half minute +as the sentinel stalked to and fro upon his beat. + +The Gallegan chuckled a little when the Englishman remarked upon their +danger, and tapped his long rifle significantly. + +"The danger of the Cristino soldier, you mean," he said, "why, masters +mine, I could lead you to a place from which you might shoot yonder lad +so secretly that his comrades would never know from what quarter arrived +his death." + +It was evening ere they drew near the village of Sarria, which lay, a +drift of rusty red roofs and whitewashed walls beneath the tumbled +Aragonese foot-hills. The river ran nearly dry in its channel and the +mill had stopped. There was not enough water to drive the clacking +undershot wheel of Luis Fernandez the comfortable, propertied miller of +Sarria, who had been so cruelly wounded by the outlaw Ramon on the night +when he claimed shelter from the Carlist monks of Montblanch. Ah, well, +all that would soon be at an end, so at least they whispered in Sarria! +If all tales were true, monks, monastery tithes, and rights of +sanctuary, they would all go together. The wise politicians at Madrid, +eager for their country's good (and certain advantages upon the stock +exchange), were about to pass the besom of destruction over the +religious houses, sweeping away in a common ruin grey friar and white +friar and black friar. Nay, the salaried parish priests would find +themselves sadly docked, and even stout Father Mateo himself was +beginning to quake in his shoes and draw his girdle tighter by a hole at +a time to prepare for the event. + +So at least the bruit went forth, and though none save the Prior of +Montblanch and his confidant knew anything for certain, the air was full +of rumours; while between the Carlist war and the report of the great +coming changes, the minds of men were growing grievously unsettled. +Honest folk and peaceful citizens now went about armed. The men sat +longer at the _cafes_. They returned later home. They spoke more sharply +to their wives when they asked of them why these things were so. + +By the little village gate where Gaspar Perico, the chief representative +of the town dues of Sarria, sat commonly at the receipt of custom, a +group of men occupied a long bench, with their pints of wine and the +sweet syrup of pomegranates before them, as is the custom of Aragon on +summer evenings. + +The venta of Sarria was kept by a nephew of Gaspar's, the octroi man, +one recently come to the district. His name was Esteban, and like his +uncle he had already got him the name of a "valiant," or of a man ready +with his tongue and equally ready with his knife. + +With the younger Perico's coming, the venta _El Corral_ had promptly +become the Cafe de Madrid, while the prices of all liquors rose to mark +the change, even as in a like proportion their quality speedily +diminished. Customers would doubtless have left at this juncture but for +the fact that Esteban was his uncle's nephew, and that Perico the Elder +sat at the receipt of custom. + +So at this newly named Cafe de Madrid our travellers alighted, and the +silent Gallegan, gathering the reins in his hands, disappeared into the +stables, whose roofs rose over the low front of the venta like a +cathedral behind its cloisters. + +"Good evening to you, young cavaliers!" cried the gallant Gaspar, who +commonly did the honours even in the presence of his nephew, the nominal +host of the venta. The younger man had followed the Gallegan to the +stables with a declared intent of seeing that the horses were properly +provided for. + +"You have come far to-day?" inquired Gaspar courteously. + +"From the Abbey of----" (here Rollo kicked Etienne suddenly) "I mean we +passed the Abbey of Montblanch, leaving behind us gladly such a nest of +Carlist thieves! From the true nationalist city of Zaragoza we come," +said the Count de Saint Pierre in a breath. + +"You are all good men and true here, I observe," said Rollo, who had +seen Cristino colours on the official coat of Gaspar Perico. + +"Good men and good nationals!" cried Gaspar. "Indeed, I believe you! I +should like to see any other show his face in Sarria. There never was +one since Ramon Garcia became an outlaw, and he fled the village rather +than face me, the champion of the province. Ah, he knew better than to +encounter this noble and well-tried weapon!" + +And as he spoke he tapped the brown stock of his blunderbuss, and took a +wholly superfluous squint down the stock to be certain that the sights +were properly adjusted, or perhaps to show the excellent terms he was on +with his weapon. + +At this very moment, Esteban the bully, Esteban the unconquered valiant, +came running from the stables of the venta, holding his hands to his +face, and behind him, towering up suddenly and filling the entire +doorway, appeared the huge figure of the Gallegan. What had occurred +between them no man could say. But the Gallegan with great coolness +proceeded to cast out upon the rubbish heap before the door, armful +after armful of chopped and partly rotten straw which exhaled a thin +steam into the cool air of evening. He followed this up by emptying a +huge leather-covered sieve full of bad barley several times upon the +same vaporous mound. Then with the greatest composure and with a +complete understanding of the premises, the Gallegan walked across to a +smaller stable, where the landlord's own cattle were kept. He kicked the +door open with two applications of his foot, and presently was lost to +sight within. + +"Shoot him--shoot him, uncle!" cried the half-tearful bully; "he hath +smitten me upon the nose to the outpouring of my blood! Shall a Perico +abide this? Shoot--for the honour of our name!" + +But the valiant man of the receipt of customs was also a cautious one. + +"Not so, dear Esteban," he said; "this man is the servant of three noble +cavaliers of a foreign nation. If he has done wrong, their purses will +make reparation. They are all rich, these foreigners! For all the spilt +fodder they will also doubtless pay. Is it not so, _caballeros_?" + +But Rollo, the readily furious, gripped his sword and said, "Not one +groat or stiver, not a single maravedi, will I pay till I have spoken +with our man-servant and know the cause of this disorder from himself." + +And he laid his hand so determinedly on the hilt of Killiecrankie, whose +basket had been endued with a new silk lining of red and tassels of the +same colour, that the valiant men of Sarria thought better of any +designs of attack they might have entertained, and preferred to await +the event. + +The Gallegan by this time had emerged from the smaller private stable +with a good bushel measure of straw and barley, which he carried on his +head towards the larger premises where his masters' three steeds and his +own round-barrelled Aragonese pony had been settled for the night. + +He waved his hand to the three at the venta door. + +"There is now no fault! It is of good quality this time!" he cried. + +And no one said a word more concerning the matter. Nor did Senor Esteban +Perico again advert to the stout buffet his nose had received at the +beginning of the affair. On the contrary, he was laboriously polite to +the Gallegan, and put an extra piece of fresh-cut garlic in his soup +when it came to supper-time. For after this fashion was the younger +Perico made. + +And while the three waited, they talked to all and sundry. For Etienne +had questions to ask which bore no small relation to the present +preoccupation of his mind. + +Concha--oh yes, little Concha Cabezos from Andalucia, certainly they +knew her. All the village knew her. + +"A pretty girl and dances remarkably well," said Esteban Perico +complacently, "but holds her head too high for one in her position." + +"I do not call that a fault," said Etienne, moving along the wooden +settle in front of the venta door to make room for the huge Gallegan, +who at that moment strolled up. He did this quite naturally, for in +Spain no distinctions of master or servant hold either upon church +pavements or on venta benches. + +"No, it is certainly no fault of Concha's that she keeps herself aloof," +said a young fellow in a rustic galliard's dress--light stockings, knee +breeches of black cloth, a short shell jacket, and a broad sash of red +about his waist. He twirled his moustachios with the air of one who +could tell sad tales of little Concha if only he had the mind. + +"And why, sir?" cried Etienne, bristling in a moment like a turkeycock; +"pray, has the young lady vouchsafed you any token of her regard?" + +"Nay, not to me," said the local Don Juan, cautiously; "but if you are +anxious upon the question, I advise you to apply to Don Rafael de +Flores, our alcalde's son." + +"What," cried the Frenchman, "is he her lover?" + +"Her lover of many months," answered Don Juan, "truly you say right. And +the strange thing is that he got himself stabbed for it too, by that +great oaf Ramon Garcia, whom they now call 'El Sarria.' Ha! ha! and he +was as innocent as yourself all the time." + +"I will presently interview the Don Rafael de Flores," muttered Etienne. +"This is some slander. 'Tis not possible Concha has been deceiving +me--and she so young, so innocent. Oh, it would be bitter indeed if it +were so!" + +He meditated a moment, flicking his polished boot with a riding-whip. + +"And all the more bitter, that up to this moment I thought it was I who +was deceiving her." + +But the young Don Juan of the Sarrian _cafe_ liked to hold the floor, +and with three distinguished cavaliers for listeners, it was something +to find a subject of common interest. Besides, who knew whether he might +not hear a tale or two to the disadvantage of little Concha Cabezos, who +had flouted him so sadly at last carnival and made a score of girls +laugh at him upon the open Rambla. + +"It happened thus," he said, "you have heard of El Sarria the outlaw, on +whose head both parties have set a price?" + +"He was of our village," cried half a dozen at once. It was their one +title to respect, indisputable in any company. They began all +conversations when they went from home with Ramon Garcia's name, and the +statement of the fact that they had known his father. + +"And a fine old man he was; very gracious and formal and of much +dignity." + +"It happened thus," the youthful dandy went on. "El Sarria came home +late one night, and when he arrived at his own gable-end, lo, there by +the _reja_, where the inside stairway mounts, was a youth 'plucking the +turkey' with his sweetheart through a broken bar, and that apparently +with great success. And the fool Ramon, his head being filled with his +Dolores, never bethought himself for a moment that there might be +another pretty girl in the house besides his wife, and so without +waiting either '_Buenos!_' or '_Hola!_'--_click_ went Ramon's knife into +the lover's back! Such a pair of fools as they were!" + +"And did this--this Rafael de Flores die?" asked Etienne, divided +between a hope that he had, and a fear that if so he might be balked of +his revenge. + +"Die? No--he was about again before many weeks. But this foolish Ramon +took straightway to the hills, because he thought that his wife was +false and that he had killed her cousin and lover." + +And even as Don Juan was speaking these words a young man of a slender +form and particularly lithe carriage, dressed in the height of Madrid +fashion, walked into the _cafe_ with a smiling flourish of his hat to +the company. + +"A glass of vermuth, Esteban," he said, "and if any of these gentlemen +will join me I shall feel honoured. Be good enough to tell them who I +am, Gaspar, my friend." + +"Senor cavalier," said the valiant man of Sarria, planting the butt of +his blunderbuss firmly on the ground that he might lean upon it, and as +it were more officially make the important introduction, "this is no +other than the only son of our rich and distinguished alcalde, Senor Don +Rafael de Flores, concerning whom you have already heard some speech." + +And Gaspar, who knew his place, stood back for the impressive civilities +which followed. The jaws of the villagers dropped as they saw the three +foreigners with one accord raise their hats from their heads and make +each a reverence after his kind. Rollo, the tragical Scot, swept back +his sombrero-brim in a grand curve as if it bore a drooping plume. John +Mortimer jerked his beaver vertically off and clapped it down again as +if he had a spite at the crown, while M. Etienne turned out his toes and +in his elbows, as he bowed sharply at the waist with a severe and +haughty expression, without, however, taking his hat from his head. + +"I must do the honours, I see," said Rollo, laughing, "since we have no +local trumpeter to do them for us. (Where in the world is that sullen +dog, our most faithful Galician?) This to the left is Monsieur de Saint +Pierre, count of that name. Then next Mr. John Mortimer of Chorley in +England, and as for me I am Rollo Blair of Blair Castle in the county of +Fife, at your service." + +At this point the aforesaid M. de Saint Pierre stepped forward. He had +drawn out his card-case and selected a pasteboard with the care and +deliberation with which a connoisseur may choose a cigar. + +"I have the honour to present Senor Don Rafael with my cartel of +defiance," he said simply. + +The young man thus addressed stood a long moment dumb and fixed in the +middle of the floor, gazing at the engraved lines on the card, which he +had mechanically accepted, without comprehending their meaning. + +"A cartel!" he stammered at last; "impossible. I can have no cause of +quarrel with this gentleman from France. I do not even know him!" + +But Etienne had all the science of the affair of honour at his +finger-ends. + +"I have nothing to say, sir," he replied, frigidly; "I refer you to my +second!" + +And he turned to his nearest companion, who happened to be John +Mortimer. The Englishman, however, had but imperfectly understood. + +"Well," he said in his best Spanish, "I am prepared to treat for any +quantity, provided the quality be to my satisfaction. But mind, the +terms are, 'delivered on the quay at Barcelona.' _No more Priorato pigs +in pokes for John Mortimer of Chorley._" + +He relapsed into English with the last clause, and sticking his thumbs +into the pockets of his waistcoat, he waited Don Rafael's reply to his +ultimatum. + +"Holy Virgin, are they all mad?" that young gentleman was crying in a +passion of despair when Rollo stepped forward and bowed courteously. + +"The matter is briefly this, as I understand it," he said. "My friend, +M. Etienne de Saint Pierre, has been in terms of considerable amity with +a certain young lady--whose name I need not repeat in a public place. He +has been given to understand that you claim a similar high position in +her favour. If this be so, Senor, my principal wishes to end the +difficulty by a duel to the death, so that the young lady may not be put +to the painful necessity of making a choice between two such gallant +men. I make it _quite_ clear, do I not? Two of you love one lady. The +lady cannot accept both. You fight. There remains but one. The lady is +in no difficulty! Do you both agree?" + +"I agree most heartily," said Etienne, rubbing his hands cheerfully, and +practising feints in the air with his forefinger. + +"But not I--not I!" cried Don Rafael, with sudden frenzy; "I do not +agree--far from it, indeed. I would have you know that I am a married +man. My wife is waiting for me at home at this moment. I must go. I +must, indeed. Besides, I am under age, and it is murder in the first +degree to shoot an unarmed man. I am not in love with any person. I make +claims to no lady's affection. I am a married man, I tell you, +gentlemen--I was never in love with anybody else. I told my wife so only +this morning!" + +"Not with Dona Concha Cabezos of this village?" said Etienne, sternly. +"I am advised that you have been in the habit of making that claim." + +"Never, never," cried the gallant, wringing his hands. "Saints, angels, +and martyrs--if this should come to my wife's ears! I swear to you I do +not know any Concha--I never heard of her. I will have nothing to do +with her! Gentlemen, you must excuse me. I have an engagement!" + +And with this hurried adieu the little man in the Madrid suit fairly +bolted out of the _cafe_, and ran down the street at full speed. + +And in the dusk of the gable arches the Gallegan sat with his head sunk +low in his hands. + +"What a fool, Ramon Garcia! What a mortal fool you were--to have thought +for a moment that your little Dolores could have loved a thing like +that!" + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE CRYING OF A YOUNG CHILD + + +"And now, gentlemen," said Monsieur Etienne grandly, "where is the young +gentleman who traduced in my hearing the fair fame of Dona Concha +Cabezos? _Ma foi_, I will transfer my cartel to him!" + +Then, with great dignity, uprose the ancient valiant man of the octroi +of Sarria, for he felt that some one must vindicate the municipality. + +"Cavalier," he said, with a sweeping bow which did honour at once to +himself and to the place in which they were assembled, "there may be +those amongst us who have spoken too freely, and on their behalf and my +own I convey to you an apology if we have unwittingly offended. In a +venta--I beg my nephew's pardon--in a _cafe_, like the Cafe de Madrid, +men's tongues wag fast without harm being intended to any man, much less +to any honourable lady. So it was in this case, and in the name of the +loyal town of Sarria, I express my regret. If these words be sufficient, +here is my hand. The Cafe de Madrid, sir, begs your acceptance of a +bottle of the best within its cellars. But if your lordship be still +offended, there are twenty men here who are ready to meet you on the +field of honour. For I would have you know, gentlemen, that we are also +_Caballeros_. But it must be with the weapons in the use of which we +have some skill--the cloak wrapped about the left arm, the Manchegan +knife in the right hand. Or, if our Aragonese custom please not your +honours, I make myself personally responsible for any words that may +have been spoken; aye, and will be proud to stand out upon the hillside +and exchange shots with you till you are fully satisfied--standing up, +man to man, at one hundred yards. This I do because the offence was +given in my nephew's _cafe_, and because for forty years I have been +called the Valiant Man of Sarria!" + +The ancient Gaspar stood before them, alternately patting the stock of +his blunderbuss and pulling the ragged ends of his long white +moustachios, till Rollo, who could recognise true courage when he saw +it, stepped up to him, and making a low bow held out a hand, which the +other immediately grasped amid plaudits from the assembled company. + +"You are a brave man, a valiant man, indeed, Senor----" he was +beginning. + +"Gaspar Perico, at your service--of the wars of the Independence!" +interrupted the old man, proudly. + +"You have not forgotten the use of your weapons, _Senor Valiente_!" said +the young Scot. "Take off your hat, Etienne," he added in French, "and +accept the old fellow's apology as graciously as you can. I am your +second, and have arranged the matter for you already!" + +With a little grumbling Etienne complied, and was graciously pleased to +allow himself to be appeased. Rollo felt for him, for he himself knew +well what it is to itch to fight somebody and yet have to put up one's +sword with the point untried. But a new feeling had come into his soul. +A steadying-rein was thrown over his shoulder--the best that can be set +to diminish the ardours of a firebrand like this hot-headed Scot. This +was responsibility. He was upon a mission of vast importance, and though +he cared about the rights and wrongs of the affair not at all, and would +just as soon have taken service with the red and yellow of the nationals +as with the white _boinas_ of Don Carlos, once committed to the +adventure he resolved that no follies that he could prevent should +damage a successful issue. + +So, having settled the quarrel, and partaken of the excellent smuggled +vermuth de Torino, in which, by his uncle's order, Esteban the host and +his guests washed away all traces of ill-feeling, the three sat down to +enjoy the _puchero_, which all this while had been quietly simmering in +the kitchen of the inn. At their request the repast was shared by Gaspar +Perico, while the nephew, in obedience to a sign from his uncle, waited +at table. It was not difficult to perceive that Senor Gaspar was the +true patron of the Cafe de Madrid in the village of Sarria. + + * * * * * + +So soon as he knew that the cause for which he had stabbed his wife's +cousin had been one that in no wise concerned little Dolores the +disguised Ramon Garcia went out to seek his wife, a great pity and a +great remorse tearing like hungry Murcian vultures at his heart. He was +not worthy even to speak to that pure creature. His hasty jealousy had +ruined their lives. He it was who had squandered his chances, lost his +patrimony, broken up their little home behind the whispering reeds of +the Cerde. Yes, he had done all that, but--_he loved her_. So he went +forth to seek her, and the night closed about him, grey and solemn with +a touch of chill in the air. It was not hot and stifling like that other +when he had come home to meet his doom and crept up through a kind of +blood-red haze to strike that one blow by the latticed _reja_ of his +house. + +Ramon did not hide and skulk now. He walked down the street with his +long locks shorn, his beard clean shaven, his Gallegan dress and plumed +hat, secure that none of his fellow townsmen would recognise him. And, +at least in the semi-darkness, he was entirely safe. + +There he could see the little white shed on the roof where Dolores used +to feed her pigeons, and he smiled as he remembered how before he +married he had been wont to keep various breeds, such as Valencia +tumblers, pouters, and fast-flying carriers upon which he used to wager +a few reals with his friends. + +But that was in his bachelor days. He smiled again as he thought that +when Dolores came it was a different story. Never was such a little +house-wife. She was all for the pot. She would have him part with his +fine sorts, save and except one or two tumblers that she used to feed +from her balcony. She loved to see them from her window circling, +wheeling, and as it were, play-acting in the air. For the rest, the +commonest kinds that laid the most eggs, brought up the largest broods, +and took on the plumpest breasts when fed with ground maize and Indian +corn, green from the patch which he grew on purpose for her behind the +willows--these were his wife's especial delight. + +Ramon opened the little wicket to which she had so often run to meet +him, under the three great fig trees. The gate creaked on unaccustomed +hinges. The white square of a placard on the post caught his eye. It +was too dark to see clearly, or else El Sarria would have seen that it +was a bill of sale of the house and effects of a certain Ramon Garcia, +outlaw. As he stepped within his foot slipped among the rotten figs +which lay almost ankle-deep on the path he had once kept so clean. A +buzz of angry wasps arose. They were drunken, however, with the +fermenting fruit, and blundered this way and that like men tipsy with +new wine. + +The path before him was tangled across and across with bindweed and +runners of untended vine. The neglected artichokes had shot, and their +glary seed-balls rose as high as his chin like gigantic thistles. + +The house that had been so full of light and loving welcome lay all dark +before him, blank and unlovely as a funeral vault. + +Yet for all these signs of desolation Ramon only reproached himself the +more. + +"The little Dolores," he thought, "she has felt herself forsaken. Like a +wounded doe she shrinks from sight. Doubtless she comes and goes by the +back of the house. The sweet little Dolores----" And he smiled. It did +not occur to him that she would ever be turned out of the house that was +his and hers. She would go on living there and waiting for him. And now +how surprised she would be. But he would tell her all, and she would +forgive him. And it is typical of the man and of his nation that he +never for a moment dreamed that his being "El Sarria," a penniless +outlaw with a price on his head, would make one whit of difference to +Dolores. + +After all what was it to be outlawed? If he did this service for the +Abbot and Don Carlos--a hard one, surely--he would be received into the +army of Navarra, and he might at once become an officer. Or he might +escape across the seas and make a home for Dolores in a new country. +Meantime he would see her once more, for that night at least hold her +safe in his arms. + +But by this time he had gone round the gable by the little narrow path +over which the reeds continually rustled. He passed the window with the +broken _reja_, and he smiled when he thought of the ignominious flight +of Don Rafael down the village street. With a quickened step and his +heart thudding in his ears he went about the little reed-built hut in +which he had kept Concha's firewood, and stood at the back-door. + +It was closed and impervious. No ray of light penetrated. "Perhaps +Concha has gone out, and the little one, being afraid, is sitting alone +in the dark, or has drawn the clothes over her head in bed." + +He had always loved the delightful terrors with which Dolores was wont +to cling to him, or flee to throw herself on his bosom from some +imaginary peril--a centipede that scuttled out of the shutter-crack or a +he-goat that had stamped his foot at her down on the rocks by the river. +And like a healing balm the thought came to him. For all that talk in +the venta--of Concha this and Concha that, of lovers and aspirants, no +single word had been uttered of his Dolores. + +"What a fool, Ramon! What an inconceivable fool!" he murmured to +himself. "_You_ doubted her, but the common village voice, so insolently +free-spoken, never did so for a moment!" + +He knocked and called, his old love name for her, "Lola--dear +Lola--open! It is I--Ramon!" + +He called softly, for after all he was the outlaw, and the Migueletes +might be waiting for him in case he should return to his first home. + +But, call he loud or call he soft, there was no answer from the little +house where he had been so happy with Dolores. He struck a light with +his tinder-box and lit the dark lantern he carried. + +There was another bill on the back-door, and now with the lantern in his +hand he read it from top to bottom. It was dated some months previously +and was under the authority of the _alcalde_ of Sarria and by order of +General Nogueras, the Cristino officer commanding the district. + +"This house, belonging to the well-known rebel, outlaw and murderer, +Ramon Garcia, called El Sarria, is to be sold for the benefit of the +government of the Queen-Regent with all its contents----" And here +followed a list, among which his heart stood still to recognise the +great chair he had bought at Lerida for Dolores to rest in when she was +delicate, the bed they twain had slept in, the very work-table at which +she had sewn the household linen, and sat gossiping with Concha over +their embroidery. + +But there was no doubt about the matter. Dolores was gone, and the eye +of El Sarria fell upon a notice rudely printed with a pen and inserted +in a corner of the little square trap-door by which it was possible to +survey a visitor without opening the door. + + "Any who have letters, packages, or other communications for + persons lately residing in this house, are honourably requested + to give themselves the trouble of carrying them to the Mill of + Sarria, where they will receive the sincere thanks and + gratitude of the undersigned + + "LUIS FERNANDEZ." + +Ramon saw it all. He knew now why his friend had arranged for his death +at the mouth of the secret hiding-place. He understood why there was no +talk about Dolores at the inn. She was under the protection of the most +powerful man in the village, save the alcalde alone. Not that Ramon +doubted little Dolores. He would not make that mistake a second time. + +But they would work upon her, he knew well how, tell her that he was +dead, that Luis Fernandez has been his only friend. He recollected, with +a hot feeling of shame and anger, certain speeches of his own in which +he had spoken to her of the traitor as his "twin brother," the "friend +of his heart," and how even on one occasion he had commended Dolores to +the good offices of Luis when he was to be for some weeks absent from +Sarria upon business. + +He turned the lamp once more on the little announcement so rudely traced +upon the blue paper. A spider had spun its web across it. Many flies had +left their wings there. So, though undated, Ramon judged that it was by +no means recent. + +"Ah, yes, Don Luis," he thought grimly, "here is one who has a message +to leave at the mill-house of Sarria." + +But before setting out Ramon Garcia went into the little fagot-house, +and sitting down upon a pile of kindling-wood which he himself had cut, +he drew the charges of his pistols and reloaded them with quite +extraordinary care. + +Then he blew out his lantern and stepped forth into the night. + + * * * * * + +At the venta the three adventurers supped by themselves. Their Gallegan +retainer did not put in an appearance, to the sorrow of Mons. Etienne +who wished to employ him in finding out the abiding-place of the +faithless but indubitably charming Dona Concha. + +However, the Gallegan did not return all night. He had, in fact, gone to +deliver a message at the house of his sometime friend Don Luis +Fernandez. + +When he arrived at the bottom of the valley through which the waters of +the Cerde had almost ceased to flow, being so drained for irrigation and +bled for village fountains that there remained hardly enough of them to +be blued by the washerwomen at their clothes, or for the drink of the +brown goats pattering down to the stray pools, their hard little hoofs +clicking like castanets on the hot and slippery stones of the river-bed. +Meanwhile El Sarria thought several things. + +First, that Luis Fernandez had recovered from his wound and was so sure +of his own security that he could afford to take over his friend's wife +and all her responsibilities. Ramon gritted his teeth, as he stole like +a shadow down the dry river-bed. He had learned many a lesson during +these months, and the kite's shadow flitted not more silently over the +un-peopled moor than did El Sarria the outlaw down to the old +mill-house. He knew the place, too, stone by stone, pool by pool, for in +old days Luis and he had often played there from dawn to dark. + +The mill-house of Sarria was in particularly sharp contrast to the abode +he had left. Luis had always been a rich man, especially since his +uncle died; he, Ramon, never more than well-to-do. But here were +magazines and granaries, barns and drying-lofts. Besides, in the +pleasant angle where the windows looked down on the river, there was a +dwelling-house with green window-shutters and white curtains, the like +of which for whiteness and greenness were not to be seen even within the +magnificent courtyard of Senor de Flores, the rich alcalde of Sarria. + +This was illuminated as Ramon came near, and, from the darkness of the +river gully, he looked up at its lighted windows from behind one of the +great boulders, which are the teeth of the Cerde when the floods come +down from the mountains. How they rolled and growled and groaned and +crunched upon each other! Ramon, in all the turmoil of his thoughts, +remembered one night when to see Dolores and to stand all dripping +beneath her window, he had dared even that peril of great waters. + +But all was now clear and bright and still. The stars shone above and in +nearly every window of the mill-house there burned a larger, a mellower +star. It might have been a _festa_ night, save that the windows were +curtained and the lights shone through a white drapery of lace, subdued +and tender. + +He crept nearer to the house. He heard a noise of voices within. An +equipage drove up rapidly to the front. What could bring a carriage to +the house of Luis Fernandez? + +A wild idea sprang into Ramon's brain. He had been so long in solitude +that he drew conclusions rapidly. So he followed the train of thought +upon which he had fallen, even as the flame runs along a train of +gunpowder laid on the floor. + +They had been long persuading her--all these months he had been on the +mountain, and now they had married her to his false friend, to Luis +Fernandez. It was the eve of the wedding-feast, and the guests were +arriving. His knife had deceived him a second time. He had not struck +true. Where was his old skill? There--surely his eyesight did not +deceive him--was Luis Fernandez walking to and fro within his own house, +arm in arm with a friend. They had lied to Dolores and told her he was +dead, even as the Migueletes would certainly do to claim the reward. +There upon the balcony was a stranger dressed in black; he and Luis came +to an open window, leaned out, and talked confidentially together. The +stranger was peeling an orange, and he flung the peel almost upon the +head of El Sarria. + +Ramon, fingering his pistol butt, wondered if he should shoot now or +wait. The two men went in again, and solved the difficulty for that +time. Moreover, the outlaw did not yet know for certain that his wife +was within the mill-house. + +He would reconnoitre and find out. So he hid his gun carefully in a dry +place under a stone, and stole up to the house through the garden, +finding his way by instinct, for all the lighted windows were now on the +other side. + +Yet El Sarria never halted, never stumbled, was never at a loss. Now he +stepped over the little stream which ran in an artificial channel to +reinforce the undershot wheel from above, when the Cerde was low. +Another pace forward and he turned sharply to the left, parted a tangle +of oleanders, and looked out upon the broad space in front of the house. + +It was a doctor's carriage all the way from La Bisbal that stood there. +It was not a wedding then; some one was ill, very ill, or the +_Sangrador_ would not have come from so far, nor at such an expense to +Don Luis, who in all things was a careful man. Moreover, to Ramon's +simple Spanish mind the _Sangrador_ and the undertaker arrived in one +coach. Could he have struck some one else instead of Don Luis that night +at the chasm? Surely no! + +And then a great keen pain ran through his soul. He heard Dolores call +his name! High, keen, clear--as it were out of an eternity of pain, it +came to him. "_Ramon, Ramon--help me, Ramon!_" + +He stood a moment clutching at his breast. The cry was not repeated. But +all the same, there could be no mistake. It was her voice or that of an +angel from heaven. She had summoned him, and alive or dead he would find +her. He drew his knife and with a spring was in the road. Along the wall +he sped towards the door of the dwelling-place: it stood open and the +wide hall stretched before him empty, vague, and dark. + +Ramon listened, his upper lip lifted and his white teeth showing a +little. He held his knife, yet clean and razor-sharp in his hand. There +was a babel of confused sounds above; he could distinguish the tones of +Luis Fernandez. But the voice of his Dolores he did not hear again. No +matter, he had heard it once and he would go--yes, into the midst of his +foes. Escape or capture, Carlist or Cristino did not matter now. She was +innocent; she loved him; she had called his name. Neither God nor devil +should stop him now. He was already on the staircase. He went +noiselessly, for he was bare of foot, having stripped in the river-bed, +and left his brown cordovans beside his gun. But before his bare sole +touched the hollow of the second step, the one sound in the universe +which could have stopped him reached his ear--and that foot was never +set down. + +_El Sarria heard the first cry of a new-born child._ + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +DON TOMAS DIGS A GRAVE + + +No Cristino bullet that ever was moulded could have stopped the man more +completely. He stood again on the floor of the paven hall, pale, shaking +like an aspen leaf, his whole live soul upturned and aghast within him. + +And above the youngling blared like a trumpet. + +El Sarria was outside now. His knife was hidden in his breast. There was +no need of it, at least for the present. He looked out of the gate upon +the white and dusty highway. Like the hall, it was vague and empty, +ankle-deep too in yet warm dust, that felt grateful to his feet after +the sharp stones of the _arroyo_ out of which he had climbed. + +Under the barn a woman crouched by a fire near a little tent pitched in +a corner, evidently taking care of the _tan_ in the absence of her +companions. Gipsies they were, as he could see, and strangers to the +place. Perhaps she could tell him something. She called aloud to him, +and he went and sat down beside her, nothing loth. + +"You are a Gallegan, I see!" said the woman, while she continued to stir +something savoury in a pot without appearing to pay Ramon much +attention. + +"A Gallician from Lugo--yes--but I have been long in these parts," +answered El Sarria, mindful of his accent. + +"And we of Granada--as you may both see and hear!" said the old gipsy, +tossing her head with the scorn of the Romany for the outlander. + +"What is going on up there?" he said, indicating the mill-house with his +thumb. And as he spoke, for the first time the woman ceased stirring the +pot and turned her eyes upon him. + +"What is that to thee?" she inquired with a sudden fiery thrill in her +speech. + +As fierce and strong beat the passion in the heart of El Sarria, but +nevertheless he commanded himself and answered, "Naught!" + +"Thou liest!" she said; "think not to hide a heart secret from a hax, a +witch woman. Either thou lovest to the death or thou hatest to the +death. In either case, _pay_! Pay, and I will tell thee all thy desire, +according to the crossing of my hand!" + +El Sarria drew a gold double _duro_ from his pouch and gave it into her +withered clutch. + +"Good," she said, "'tis a good crossing! I will tell you truth that you +may take oath upon, whether kissing or slaying be in your thought. A +woman is sick to the death or near by. A babe little desired is born. +The Tia Elvira is with her. Whether the woman live or die, the Tia will +decide according to the crossing of _her_ hand. And the babe--well, when +the mother is soon to be a bride, its life is not like to be long! A +rough crossing for so short a sojourn, I wot. Good morning, brave man's +son! And to you, sir, a safe journey till the knife strikes or the lips +meet!" + +The cryptic utterance of the witch woman sitting crooning over her pot +affected El Sarria greatly. He did not doubt for a moment that Dolores +lay within the house of Luis Fernandez, and that he had heard the +crying of his own first-born son. He arose uncertainly, as if the solid +earth were swaying beneath him. + +Leaving her pot simmering on the wood-ashes, the gipsy woman came after +Ramon to the corner of the garden. The broad-leaved fig-trees made a +dense green gloom there. The pale grey undersides of the olive whipped +like feathers in the light chill breeze of night. + +"There--go in there!" + +She pointed with her hand to a little pillared summer-house in the +garden. It was overgrown with creepers, and Luis had placed a fountain +in it, which, however, only played when the waters were high in the +Cerde. + +"Whether you hate the old or love the young, bide there," she whispered; +"there is no need that Tia Elvira should have all the gold. Cross my +hand again, and I am your servant for ever." + +Ramon gave her a gold _duro_. + +"I am not a rich man," he said, "but for your good-will you are +welcome!" + +"You run eager-hearted in the dust with bare and bleeding feet," she +said. "You carry a knife naked in your bosom. Therefore you are rich +enough for me. And I will spite Tia Elvira if I can. She would not give +me so much as an _ochavo_ of all her gettings. Why should I consider +her?" + +And she gripped Ramon by the arm with claws like eagles' talons and +stood leaning against him, breathing into his ear. + +"Ah, Gallego, you are strong to lean against. I love a man so," she +said. "Once you had not stood so slack and careless if La Giralda had +leaned her breast against your shoulder--ah me, all withered now is it +and hard as the rim of a sieve. But you love this young widow, you also. +She is El Sarria's widow, they tell me, he whom the Migueletes slew at +the entering in of the Devil's Canyon. A fine man that, _Caramba_! And so +you too wish to marry her now he is dead. If I were a widow and young I +would choose you, for you are of stature and thickness, yes--a proper +man through and through. Scarce can I meet my old arms about your chest. +Yet woman never knows woman, and she may chance to prefer Don Luis. But +the babe is in their way--the babe that cried to-night. Luis does not +wish it well. He longs for children of his own by this woman, and El +Sarria's brat would spoil his inheritance. The Tia let the secret out in +her cups!" + +She stopped and unclasped her arms. + +"Ah," she said, "you love not Don Luis. I felt it when I spoke of his +having issue by that woman. I wot well the thing will never happen. Your +knife or your pistol (of these you have two) will have conference with +him before that. But, if you wish this child to live--though I see not +why you should, save that its father was like you a proper man and the +slayer of many--stand yonder in the shadow of the summer-house, and if +any come out with the babe, smite! If it be a man, smite hard, but if it +be Aunt Elvira, the _hax_, smite ten times harder. For she is the devil +in petticoats and hath sworn away many a life, as she would do mine if +she could. I, who have never wished her any harm all the days of my +life! There, put your arm about me yet a moment--so. Now here is your +gold back. I wish it not. The other is better. Tighter! Hold me yet +closer a moment. Ay-ah, dearie, it is sweet to feel once more the grip +of a strong man's arms about one--yes--though he love another--and she +a little puling woman who cannot even deliver herself of her first-born +son without a _Sangrador_. Go--go, they are coming to the door. I see +the lights disappear from the chamber above. Remember to strike the Tia +low--in the groin is best. She wears amulets and charms above, and you +might miss your mark!" + +So, much astonished, and with his gold pieces in his hand, Ramon found +him in the little roughly finished lath-and-plaster temple. He sat on +the dry basin of the fountain and parted the vine leaves with his hands. +He was scarce a dozen yards from a door in the wall--a door recently +broken, which by two stone steps gave direct access to the garden. + +Behind him were the wall and the fig-tree where he had spoken with the +gipsy. As he looked he fancied a figure still there, dark against the +sky, doubtless the woman La Giralda waiting to see if his knife struck +the Tia in the proper place. + +Ramon listened, and through the darkness he could discern the keen, +insistent, yet to his ear sweet crying of the babe, presently broken by +a series of pats on the back into a staccato bleat, and finally stilling +itself little by little into an uncertain silence. + +Then the door into the garden was cautiously opened, and a man clumsily +descended. He shut the door softly behind him and stood a while gazing +up at the lighted room. Then shaking his fist at the illuminated panes, +he moved towards the summer-house. El Sarria thought himself discovered, +and with a filling of his lungs which swept his breast up in a grand +curve, he drew his knife and stood erect in the darkest corner. + +Stumbling and grumbling the man came to the aperture. He did not descend +the step which led to the interior, but instead groped through one of +the open windows for something behind the door. + +"May holy San Isidro strike my brother with his lightnings!" he +muttered. "He gives me all the ill jobs, and when I have done them but +scant thanks for my pains!" + +His hand went groping blindly this way and that, unwitting of what +lurked in the further gloom. + +"From Ramon Garcia's knife at the Devil's Gorge to this young one's +undoing, all comes to poor Tomas. And now, when he might have left me +the mill-house he must needs marry this widow Garcia and set to work +forthwith to chouse me out of my inheritance! A foul pest on him and on +his seed!" + +This mutter of discontent he interspersed with yet more potent +anathemas, as he groped here and there in the darkness for what he +sought. By-and-by he extracted a spade, a mattock, and a skin-covered +corn measure holding about the quarter of an _arroba_. + +With these he went grumbling off towards the deep shade of the fig-tree +where Ramon had talked with the gipsy woman. With great impartiality he +cursed his brother Luis, El Sarria and his knife, the widow Dolores and +her child. + +Ramon heard him laugh as he stumbled among the vine roots. + +"It is a blessing that such puling brats need no iron collar when +sentenced to the garotte. It will not be pleasant, I suppose--a nasty +thing enough to do. But after all, this little trench under the fig-tree +will be an excellent hold over my good brother Luis. Many a stout +'ounce' of gold shall he bleed because of the small squalling bundle +that shall be hushed to sleep under this garden mould!" + +Nothing was heard for the next ten minutes but the measured stroke of +the mattock, and the deep breathing of the night workman. But a broad +shadow had drifted silently out from the corner of the little temple +summer-house, and stood only a yard or two from the hole Don Tomas was +making in the ground under the fig-tree. + +El Sarria knew his man by this time, though he had not seen him for many +years. The grave-digger was Don Tomas, Luis Fernandez's ne'er-do-well +brother, who had been compelled to flee the country the year of +Angouleme's French invasion, for giving information to the enemy. He it +was whom he had seen at his old tricks by the Devil's Canyon. Not but +what Luis must all the same have set him on, for he alone knew of the +secret way of retreat. + +Presently with many puffs and pants Tomas finished the work to his +satisfaction. Then he shook a handful of grass and leaves into the +bottom of the excavation. + +"There," he muttered with a cackle of laughter, "there is your +cradle-bed cosily made, young Don Ramon! Would that your father were +lying cheek by jowl with you! Would not I cover you both up snugly. Holy +Coat of Treves, but I am in a lather! This it is to labour for others' +good! I wonder how soon that hell-hog Tia Elvira will be ready to do her +part. The _Sangrador_ must have gone home hours ago. She is to bring the +youngling out and then go back to tell her story to the mother how +sweetly it passed away--ah, ah--how heavenly was its smile. So it will +be--so it will! Tomas Fernandez knows the trick. He has quieted many a +leveret the same way!" + +The garden door opened again, this time very slightly, a mere slit of +light lying across the tangled green and yellowish grey of the garden. +It just missed El Sarria and kindled to dusky purple a blossom of +oleander that touched his cheek as he stooped. The whites of his eyes +gleamed a moment, but the digger saw him not. His gaze was fixed on his +brother in the doorway. + +"The signal," he muttered, "I am to go and wait outside for the Tia. Of +course, as usual, my good and respectable brother will not put a finger +to the job himself. Well, _toma_! he shall pay the more sweetly when all +is done--oh yes, Luis shall pay for all!" + +He was standing leaning upon his mattock at the head of the little grave +which he had destined for the child of Dolores Garcia. He had been +whistling a gay Andalucian lilt of tune he had learned on his long +travels. A devil of a fellow this Tomas in his day, and whistled +marvellously between his teeth--so low that (they said) he could make +love to a Senorita in church by means of it, and yet her own mother at +her elbow never hear. + +"Well, better get it over!" he said, dropping his mattock and starting +out towards the door. "Here comes the Tia!" + +But at that moment the heavens fell. Upon the head of the midnight +workman descended the flat of his own spade. El Sarria had intended the +edge, but Tomas's good angel turned the weapon at the last moment or +else he had been cloven to the shoulder-blade. For it was a father's arm +that wielded the weapon. Down fell the digger of infant graves, right +athwart the excavation he himself had made. His mouth was filled with +the dirt he had thrown out, and the arm that threw it swung like a +pendulum to and fro in the hole. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE HOLY INNOCENTS + + +With small compunction El Sarria turned Don Tomas over with his foot and +coolly appropriated the cloak he had discarded, as also his headgear, +which was banded with gay colours, and of the shape affected by the +dandies of Seville. + +Then swinging the cloak about him, and setting the hat upon his head +jauntily, he strode to the garden door. + +Above he could hear the angry voice of a woman, with intervals of +silence as if for a low-toned inaudible reply. Then came a wail of +despair and grief--that nearly sent him up the stairs at a tiger's rush, +which would have scattered his enemies before him like chaff. For it was +the voice of his Dolores he heard for the second time. But of late El +Sarria had learned some of the wisdom of caution. He knew not the force +Luis might have within the house, and he might only lose his own life +without benefiting either Dolores or his son. + +Then there was a slow foot on the stairs, coming down. The light went +out above, and he heard a heavy breathing behind the closed door by +which he stood. + +"Tomas--Tomas!" said a voice, "here is the brat. It is asleep; do it +quietly, so that the mother may not be alarmed. I cannot stir without +her hearing me and asking the reason." + +And in the arms of Ramon Garcia was placed the breathing body of his +first-born son. The door was shut before he could move, so astonished he +was by the curious softness of that light burden, and Tia Elvira's +unamuleted groin escaped safe for that time--which, indeed, afterwards +turned out to be just as well. + +So at the door of his enemy El Sarria stood dumb and stricken, the babe +in his arms. For the fact that this child was the son of his little +Dolores, annihilated for the moment even revenge in his soul. + +But a hand was laid on his shoulder. + +"Haste thee, haste," hissed the witch-wife, La Giralda, Elvira's friend +and rival, "hast thou smitten strongly? She lies behind the door. I +cannot hear her breath, so all must be well. I saw thee stoop to the +blow. Well done, well done! And the brain-pan of the ill-disposed and +factious Senor Tomas is comfortably cracked, too. He had but sevenpence +in his pockets, together with a bad peseta with a hole in it. Such +fellows have no true moral worth. But come away, come away! Presently +Don Luis will miss the Tia and give the alarm. Give me the babe!" + +But this Ramon would not do, holding jealously to his own. + +"What can you, a man, do with a babe?" she persisted. "Can you stop its +mouth from crying? Is there milk in your breasts to feed its little +blind mouth? Give it to me, I say!" + +"Nay," said El Sarria, shaking her off, "not to you. Did not this +murderous woman come from your waggons? Is not her place under your +canvas?" + +"It shall be so no more, if your stroke prove true," said the gipsy. "I +shall be the queen and bring up this youngling to be the boldest +horse-thief betwixt this filthy Aragon and the Gipsy-barrio of Granada, +where La Giralda's cave dives deepest into the rock." + +"No, I will not!" said the man, grasping the babe so tightly that it +whimpered, and stretched its little body tense as a bowstring over his +arm. "I will take him to the hills and suckle him with goat's milk! He +shall be no horse-thief, but a fighter of men!" + +"Ah, then you are an outlaw--a lad of the hills? I thought so," chuckled +the woman. "Come away quickly, then, brave manslayer; I know a better +way than either. The sisters, the good women of the convent, will take +him at a word from me. I know the night watch--a countrywoman of mine, +little Concha. She will receive him through the wicket and guard him +well--being well paid, that is, as doubtless your honour can pay!" + +"What, little Concha Cabezos?" said Ramon with instant suspicion. "Was +she not a traitress to her mistress? Was it not through her treachery +that her mistress came hither?" + +"Little Concha--a traitress," laughed the old woman. "Nay--nay! you know +her not, evidently. She may, indeed, be almost everything else that a +woman can be, as her enemies say. No cloistered Santa Teresa is our +little Concha, but, for all that, she is of a stock true to her salt, +and only proves fickle to her wooers. Come quickly and speak with her. +She is clever, the little Concha, and her advice is good." + +They passed rapidly along the road, deep in white dust, but slaked now +with the dew, and cool underfoot. The babe lifted up his voice and +wept. + +"Here, give him me. I cannot run away with him if I would," said the +gipsy. "You may keep your hand on my arm, if only you will but give him +me!" + +And the gipsy woman lifted the little puckered features to her cheek, +and crooned and clucked till the child gradually soothed itself to sleep +face-down on her shoulder. + +"How came Concha at the house of the nuns?" said Ramon. + +"That you must ask herself," answered the woman; "some quarrel it was. +Luis Fernandez never loved her. He wished her out of the house from the +first. But here we are!" + +First came a great whitewashed forehead of blind wall, then in the midst +a small circular tower where at one side was a door, heavily guarded +with great iron plates and bolts, and on the other a deep square +aperture in which was an iron turnstile--the House of the Blessed +Innocents at last. + +The gipsy woman went directly up to the wicket, and whispered through +the turnstile. There was a dim light within, which presently brightened +as if a lamp had been turned up. + +The woman stepped back to El Sarria's side. + +"The little Concha is on duty," she whispered. "Go thou up and speak +with her! Nay, take the child if thou art so jealous of him. I would not +have stolen the boy. Had the nationals not killed El Sarria at the +Devil's Gorge, I had said that thou wert the man himself!" + +Ramon took the babe awkwardly. + +"At any event thou art a brave fighter," she murmured, "and cracked that +evil-doing Tomas's skull for him to a marvel. Thou shalt have all the +help La Giralda can give thee!" + +Ramon, with the babe in his arms, put his head within, and spoke to +Concha. A little cry, swiftly checked, came forth from the whitewashed +portress' lodge of the House of the Innocents. Then after five minutes +Ramon kissed the little puckered face of his son, and each of the +dimpled fat red hands he held so tightly clenched, and laid him on the +revolving iron plate of the conventual turnstile. Without a creek the +axle turned, and in a moment more the child was in the arms of Holy +Church, pleasantly represented for the nonce by the very secular charms +of little Concha Cabezos. + +Then a word or two were spoken. Concha told the outlaw how, by a letter +purporting to come from himself, forged by Don Luis or his brother, +Dolores had been advised to put herself under the protection of his +beloved friend Don Luis Fernandez "until the happier days." Concha also +told how the miller had found an excuse to send her from the house in +disgrace, and how for her needlework and skill in fine broidery she had +been received at the Convent of the Holy Innocents, how Manuela from the +priest's house and this gipsy wise-woman "Tia Elvira" had watched over +Dolores ever since, not allowing her to hold any communication with the +outside world, and especially with her former waiting-maid. + +"Then came the news of your death," she continued, "and after that the +guard upon Dolores was redoubled, and till to-night I have heard +nothing. But the babe shall be safe and unknown here among the sisters. +Yet for the future's sake give me some token that you may claim him by. +All such things are entered in a book as being brought with a child." + +El Sarria passed within the turnstile a golden wristlet his mother had +given him at his first communion, when he was the best and most dutiful +boy in all Sarria, and held by the priest to be a pattern communicant. + +"Can you not stay yet other twenty-four hours in Sarria?" asked Concha. +"If so, we must try to bring your Dolores where she will be as safe as +the child." + +"I would stay a year to preserve from harm a hair of her head--I who +have wronged her!" + +"Ah," sighed Concha through the wicket, as if she knew all about +unworthy suspicion on the part of lovers, "men are like that. They are +ready to suspect the most loving and the most innocent, but we women +forgive them!" + +Then pouting her pretty red lips the little Concha spoke low in the ear +of El Sarria a while. After five minutes of this whispered colloquy, she +added aloud-- + +"Then we will proceed. Go, do your part. You may trust La Giralda. Go +quickly. You have much to do." + +And little Concha snapped to the shutter of the wicket in his face. + +Much to do. Yes, it was true. What with Dolores in the power of his +false friend Luis and the evil hag Tia Elvira, his gentlemen to attend +upon at their inn, and the grave-digger lying with a broken head in the +garden, El Sarria might be said to have had some private business upon +his hands. And this, too, in addition to his affairs of state--the +Abbot's commission, his own outlawry, and the equal certainty of his +being shot whether he fell into the hands of the Carlists or of the +national soldiers. + +Yet in spite of all these, never since the evil night of his first +home-coming to Sarria had he been so happy as when he retraced his way +in company with La Giralda in the direction of the mill-house. + +And as he went, thinking no thought save of Dolores and his love, +suddenly the only man who would have dared to cross his path stood +before him. + +"Ah, sirrah," cried Rollo the Scot, "is this your service? To run the +country with women--and not even to have the sense to choose a pretty +one. What mean you by this negligence, dog of Galicia?" + +"I attend to my own affairs," answered Ramon, with a sullen and boding +quiet; "do me the favour to go about yours." + +Hot-blood Rollo leaped upon him without a word, taking the older and +stronger man at unawares with his young litheness. He saw Ramon's +fingers moving to the knife in its sheath by his side. But ere they +could reach it, his hand was on the giant's wrist and his pistol at his +ear. + +"A finger upon your Albacetan and you die!" cried Rollo. "I would have +you Gallegans learn that the servant is not greater than his lord." + +Now Ramon knew that not his life, but that of Rollo, hung on a hair. For +he was conscious that La Giralda's knife was bare and that that +determined lady was simply choosing her opportunity. If Rollo had been +older most likely Ramon would have waited motionless for Giralda's +thrust, and then turned the young man under his heel, precisely as he +had done to the grave-digger earlier in the evening. But as they rode +from the abbey he had admired the young fellow's gallant bearing and +perhaps heard also of his flouting of his own Miguelete enemies at the +inn of San Vicente. So for this time he had pity upon him. + +"Stand back, Giralda," he commanded. Then to Rollo he said, "Forgive my +seeming negligence, Senor. It was only seeming. The honour of my wife +and the life of my child are at stake. I am Ramon Garcia the outlaw, +whom you saw fall upon the altar of the Abbey of Montblanch. This is my +home. My wife is here and near to death in the house of mine enemy. Let +these things be my excuse!" + +Rollo dropped his pistol, like a good sportsman mechanically uncocking +it as he did so. His generous impulses were as fierce and swift as his +other passions. + +"Tell me all," he said, "'fore God I will help you--ay, before any king +or monk on earth. A brave man in such trouble has the first claim of all +upon Rollo Blair!" + +"And your companions?" said El Sarria. + +"I give myself no trouble about them," cried Rollo. "Senor Mortimer will +visit the vineyards and wine cellars to-morrow and be happy. And as for +gay Master Etienne, has he not the little Concha to search for? Besides, +even if he had not, he would not be six hours in the place without +starting a new love affair." + +Then, as they turned backwards along the road, El Sarria told Rollo all +his tale, and the young Scot found himself, for the first time, deep +among the crude mother-stuff of life and passion. + +"And I thought that I had lived!" he said, and looked long at the huge +form of the outlaw by his side, to whom deadly peril was as meat and +drink, whom any man might slay, and gain a reward for the deed. + +"I see it!" cried Rollo, whose quick brain caught the conditions of the +problem even as Ramon was speaking. "And if I help, my companions will +help also. I answer for them!" + +For this young man was in the habit, not only of undertaking remarkable +adventures himself, but, out of mere generosity, of engaging his friends +in them as well. Yet never for a moment did Rollo doubt that he was +acting, not only for the best, but positively in a manner so reasonable +as to be almost humdrum. + +So upon this occasion, finding El Sarria in difficulties, he pledged +himself to the hilt to assist that picturesque outlaw. Yet, doubtless, +had he first come across a captain of Migueletes in trouble about +Ramon's capture, he would have taken a hand in bringing about that event +with a truly admirable and engaging impartiality. This was perhaps the +quality which most of all endeared Rollo to his friends. + +"Concha--Concha," Rollo was thinking deeply and quickly; "tell me what +kind of girl is this Concha?" + +"She is as other girls," said El Sarria, indifferently enough, who had +not till that night troubled his head much about her, "a good enough +girl--a little light-hearted, perhaps, but then--she is an Andaluse, and +what can you expect? Also well-looking----" + +"And has been told so as often as I was in my youth!" said the old woman +La Giralda, breaking in. "Of Concha Cabezos this man knows nothing, even +if he be El Sarria risen from the dead (as indeed I suspected from the +first). And if, as he says, she is somewhat light of heart and heel, +the little Concha has a wise head and a heart loyal to all except her +would-be lovers. Being a Sevillana, and with more than a drop of Romany +blood in her veins, she hath never gotten the knack of that. But you may +trust her with your life, young stranger, aye, or (what is harder) with +another woman's secret. Only, meantime, do not make love to her. That is +a game at which the Senorita Concha always wins!" + +Rollo twirled his moustache, and thought. He was not so sure. At +twenty-five, to put a woman on such a pedestal is rather a whet to the +appetite of a spirited young man. + +"And what do you intend to do with the grave-digging Fernandez?" asked +Rollo. + +"Why," said Ramon, simply, "to tell truth, I intended to cover him up in +the grave he had made, all but his head, and let him get out as best he +could!" + +"Appropriate," agreed Rollo, "but crude, and in the circumstances not +feasible. We must take this Fernandez indoors after we have arranged the +garrison of the house. We will make his brother nurse him. Fraternal +affection was never better employed, and it will keep them both out of +mischief. And how soon, think you, could your wife be moved?" asked +Rollo. + +Ramon shrugged his shoulders helplessly, and turned to La Giralda. + +"When I had my second," she said ("he that was hanged at Gibraltar by +the English because the man he stabbed died in order to spite him), it +was at the time of the vintage. And, lo! all unexpectedly I was +overtaken even among the very clusters. So I went aside behind the +watcher's _cana_ huts.... And after I had washed the boy I went back +and finished my row. There are no such women in these days, El Sarria. +This of thine----" + +"Peace, Giralda," said Ramon, sternly; "Dolores is as a dove, and weak +from long trouble of heart. On your head, I ask of you, could we move +her in twenty-four hours and yet risk nothing of the life?" + +"Yes, as the Virgin sees me," asserted La Giralda, holding up her hands, +"if so be I have the firming of the bands about her--of linen wide and +strong they must be made--to be mine own afterwards. And then she must +be carried between four stout men, as I will show you how." + +"It shall be done," cried Rollo. "I will find the men, do you provide +the linen, El Sarria. I will hie me to the convent early to-morrow +morning and talk with this little Concha!" + +"You will not be admitted," said La Giralda, somewhat scornfully; "the +Mother Superior is most strict with all within the walls." + +"But I shall ask for the Mother Superior," said the modest youth, "and, +gad! if I get only six quiet minutes of the old lady, I warrant she will +refuse me nothing--even to the half of her kingdom. Meantime, here we +are! Is it not so?" + +The huge black circle of the mill-wheel rose before them against the +whitewash of the un-windowed wall. They could not see the mill-house +itself from this point, and they halted before going further, in order +to make their dispositions. + +"What we are going to do is not strictly within the letter of the law," +explained Rollo, cheerfully, "but it is the best I can think of, and +containing as it does the elements of justice, may commend itself as a +solution to all parties. If these Fernandez gentlemen kidnap other +men's wives, devise the murder of their children, and strive to have the +men themselves shot, they cannot very well complain of a little +illegality. This is the house. Well, it must be ours for twenty-four +hours--no more, no less. Then, if no accidents happen, we will return it +to Senor Luis Fernandez. All set? _Adelante_, then!" + +And with Rollo in the van, El Sarria following a little behind and La +Giralda bolting the doors and generally protecting the rear, the party +of possession went upwards into the mill-house to argue the matter at +length with Senor Luis and his friend the Tia Elvira. + +These worthy people, however, were not in the sick-chamber of Dolores +Garcia, which, on the whole, was just as well. At an earlier part of the +night the Tia had administered to Dolores a potion which caused her to +sleep soundly for several hours. For the Tia was skilled in simples, as +well as in a good many things of a nature far from simple. A faint +clinking sound, as of counting money, guided Rollo to the spot. + +The master of the house and his faithful "Tia" sat bending over a table +in the upper hall, or general meeting-place of the family. The door +which opened off the stairway up which the visitors came, gave a slight +creak, but Luis Fernandez and his associate were so engrossed in their +work that neither of them lifted their eyes. + +A considerable number of trinkets of gold and silver, articles of +attire, crucifixes, and ornaments were spread out upon the table. As +soon as Ramon's eyes fell upon these, Rollo felt him grip his arm +convulsively, but the young man resolutely kept the outlaw behind him. +The time was not yet. + +Tia Elvira was not for the moment on good terms with her companion. + +"Listen, Luis Fernandez," she said, extending a pair of withered claws +across the table like the talons of some unclean bird; "if you think +that I am going to do your business and run hot chances of the iron +necklace that has no beads, and then when all is done allow your +father's son to cheat me out of my dues, you are much mistaken. If you +do not deliver me all the ornaments her husband gave this woman Dolores, +according to your agreement, by the chief of the devils that inhabit the +four hells I will go to the _Corregidor_ to-morrow at day-break and +lodge information against you and your brother for the crime of child +murder!" + +"And where, think you, would you find yourself in such a case?" quoth +Luis Fernandez, a cold-eyed, dark-haired man of forty years of age. He +sat leaning well over the table, the more precious of the objects +gathered between his arms. "You were the nurse in attendance, my Tia--to +that the _Sangrador_ would bear witness. He left you in charge of the +infant, my dear aunt. And though times are hard and men in office +unbelieving, I still think that I, Luis Fernandez, could command enough +testimony in this town to bring the guilt (if guilt there be) home to a +certain Elvira the Gipsy, whose record, at any rate, is none of the +best!" + +He laughed a little chuckling laugh as the hag exploded into a swarm of +crabbed gipsy oaths. + +"But enough of this, Tia," he said; "be reasonable, and you will find me +generous. Only I must be the judge of what is mine own, that is all, my +bitter-sweet Ronda pippin." + +"Curses upon you and all that you may bring forth, on your burying, on +your children and your children's children!" cried the woman. + +"Come--come--that will do, Tia," cried Luis, striking the table with his +hand. "I value not your curses this single fig of Spain." (Here he made +towards her the gesture with finger and thumb which averts the evil +eye.) "But if I hear any more of this I will put you to the door without +so much as a single silver spoon. Whereupon you will be welcome to do +your worst." + +"I do not see why you want both the woman and the goods," whined the +Tia, altering her tone. "Did you not say that you desired to keep +nothing which would remind her of her old life? And have not I, by my +decoctions and distillations, kept this silly Dolores in a dream like +that of a child all these weeks since we got rid of that imp of Satan, +Concha Cabezos of Seville?" + +"You have--you have indeed done well, my Tia," said the man soothingly, +"and you will find me by no means ungrateful. But come, let us get this +matter settled, and then I must go and look for my drunken +good-for-nothing of a brother, who has doubtless stolen the key of the +wine-cellar, and is at his old tricks again." + +"Well, at any rate, I insist upon that string of silver beads," said the +old woman, greedily. "I have been thinking of it all these days, and do +not forget that it was I who wormed out of the widow the hiding-place +where that cunning little Concha had placed Ramon Garcia's strong box." + +"There--take it, then," said the man impatiently, and a heavy string of +beads was slid across the table with a clanking noise. "I had not +thought you so good a Christian, Tia!" + +"Oh, it is not that," chuckled the hag, clutching the necklace fiercely, +as a starving dog might fall on a bone, and concealing it instantly +beneath her skirts. "But each link hath the stamp upon it--the mint +stamp of Seville--and will pass current for a good duro wherever one may +chance to be. With such a necklace one can never be in want." + +"Well," said Luis, "the devil fly away with you and it, Tia! I keep all +the ornaments of gold--let that be understood. My wife might, upon an +occasion, take a yearning for them, and if I had them not to give her, +it might be to the danger of my house and succession. So this gold +cross----" + +("My mother's!" breathed Ramon hotly in Rollo's ear.) + +"This knife with the hilt top set with brilliants----" + +("My father's--he had it from the great Lor' Wellington for a message he +brought to him at Vitoria.") + +"These trifles--a pair of ear-rings, a ring of pearls, a comb for the +hair in gold--all these I reserve for myself." + +As he spoke, he tossed them, one after the other, into a heavy +iron-bound box which, with chains and padlocks displayed, stood open +upon the floor. + +As each article tinkled among the others, the Tia gave a little wince of +bodily pain, and her skinny talons scratched the wood of the table with +a sound distinctly audible at the door behind which the intruders stood. + +Then a quick loud cackle of laughter came from Fernandez. He had found +something among the parchments. + +"'Hereby I plight thee my troth,'" he read from a paper in his hand, +"'for ever and for ever, as a true heart and a true lover, signed, +Ramon.' This she has kept in a case in her bosom, I suppose, with the +picture of the oaf," he added, "and is as like him as it is like St. +Nicholas, the patron saint of all thieves. And, holy Michael in the +seventh heavens! here is their marriage certificate all complete--a very +treasure-house of connubial happiness. But these need not go into the +strong box. I, Luis Fernandez, have made an end of them. The woman is +mine, and so will I also make an end of these relics of folly." + +He took the papers to tear them across, but the stout parchment resisted +a moment. His brow darkened, and he clutched them more securely to rend +them with an effort. + +But a slight noise in the apartment and a cry from the Tia caused him to +look up. + +A knife was at his throat, and a figure stood before him, one huge hand +pinning him to his seat. + +"Ramon," he cried, his voice, which had been full of chuckling laughter, +rising suddenly to a thin shriek. "God in heaven, Ramon Garcia!" + +And with a trembling hand he tried to cross himself. + +"Give!" said Ramon, in a hollow voice, and mechanically the miller +placed the papers in his hands. + +"'Fore God, Ramon, I thought you were dead!" gasped the man. + +"No, friend, not dead," came the answer, "but Ramon Garcia come back in +the flesh to settle certain accounts with his well-beloved comrade and +brother of many years, Luis Fernandez, of the mill-house of Sarria." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +ROLLO INTERVENES + + +With eyes injected, wide open mouth, and dropped jaw the man sat all +fallen together in his seat, the gold ornaments still strewed about him, +the pencil with which he had been checking them fallen from his +nerveless grasp. + +"I have accounted for the old lady," said Rollo, who with the eager +professional assistance of La Giralda had been gagging and securing the +Tia. La Giralda with a wicked glee also undertook the office of searcher +of her rival's person, into the details of which process the unlearned +historian may not enter--suffice to say that it was whole-hearted and +thorough, and that it resulted in a vast series of objects being slung +upon the table, many of them plundered from Don Luis's own house and +others doubtless secreted during the process of overhauling Ramon's +strong box. + +"Ah-ah, most excellent Tia, you will not refuse me a peseta as my share +next time you go out a-caudle-ing!" said La Giralda, all in a grinning +triumph when she had finished, and to fill the cup yet fuller, was +adjusting her friend's gag to a more excellent advantage. + +"Stay where you are, Luis Fernandez," said El Sarria, sternly, as he sat +down with his pistols on either side of him. "I advise you not to move +hand or foot, if you set any value upon your life. I shall have much to +say to you before--before the morning!" + +And the doomed man, recognising the accents of deadly intent in his late +friend's voice, let his head sink into his hands with a hopeless moan. + +"Meantime I will put these things in order," said the Scot, in whose +military blood ran the instinct of loot, and he was beginning to throw +all the objects of value indiscriminately into the open chest when El +Sarria checked him. + +"I will take only what is mine own--and hers," he said, "but meantime +abide. There is much to be said and done first!" + +Then he turned his broad deeply lined brow upon Fernandez, who looked +into his eyes as the trembling criminal, hopeless of mercy, waits the +black cap and the sentence. + +Rollo had settled the Tia on the floor with her head on a roll of +household stuffs which she herself had rolled up in her cloak for +transport. + +La Giralda asked her friend if she felt herself as comfortable as might +be, and the Tia looked up at her with the eyes of a trapped wild-cat. +Then the Scot stood on guard by the door which led to the staircase, his +sword drawn in his hand. The picturesqueness of the scene at the table +appealed to the play-actor in him. + +El Sarria held the documents in his hand which Fernandez had been about +to destroy, and waved them gently in his enemy's face as a king's +advocate might a written indictment in a speech of accusation. + +"You betrayed me to the death, friend Luis, did you not? You revealed +my hiding-place. That is count the first!" he began. + +And the wretched man, his lips dry and scarce obeying his will, strove +to give utterance to the words, "It was all my brother's doing. I swear +it was my brother!" + +"Bah," said El Sarria, "do not trouble to lie, Luis, being so near the +Other Bar where all must speak truth. You knew. You were the trusted +friend. Your brother was not, and even if you were not upon the spot, as +I thought, the blood-hounds were set on the trail by you and by no +other." + +Fernandez made no reply, but sank his head deeper between his hands as +if to shut out his judge and probable executioner from his sight. + +"Pass, then," said the outlaw, "there is so much else that it matters +not whether you were at the Devil's Canyon or no. At any rate, you +decoyed my wife here, by a letter purporting to be written to Dolores +Garcia by her husband----" + +"Concha Cabezos lies. She was a liar from the beginning. That also was +my brother. I swear to you!" cried the wretched man, in so pitiful an +accent that for the first time Rollo felt a little sorry for him. + +But there was no gleam of pity in the eyes of Ramon. Instead, he lifted +a pistol and toyed with it a moment thoughtfully. + +"Luis," he said, "your brother has his own sins to answer for. Beneath +the fig-tree in the corner an hour or two ago, his sins ran him to +earth. Whether at this moment he is alive or dead I know not--neither +care. But you cannot saddle him, in the flesh or out of it, with your +peccadilloes. Be a man, Luis. You used not to be a coward as well as a +thief and a murderer." + +But neither insults nor appeals could alter the fixed cloud of doom that +overspread the face of Don Luis. He did not again interrupt, but heard +the recital of El Sarria in silence, without contradiction and +apparently without hope. + +"You brought my wife here by this forged letter while you knew I was +alive and while you were plotting your best to kill me. You procured my +outlawry, and the confiscation of my property--which I doubt not you and +the worthy Alcalde de Flores shared between you. You have kept my wife +drugged by that hell-cat these many days, lest she should find out your +deceit. You plotted to slay the child of her womb--_my son_, Luis, do +you hear, _my only son_!" + +The outlaw's voice mounted into a solemn and awful tone of accusation, +like a man in hell calling the roll of his own past happinesses. + +"Now, Luis Fernandez," thundered Ramon, after a period of silence, "what +have you to say to all this? Have you any reasons to advance why you +should not die by my hand?" + +"Ramon, Ramon, do not kill me in my sins," cried the wretched man. "By +the memory of our boyhood together let me at least receive absolution +and go clean!" + +"Even as you would have made me go unshriven by the mouth of the Devil's +Canyon--even as this very night you sent forth to the holy ministry of +the worm, and the consolations of the clod the young child, unblessed +and unbenisoned, without touch of priestly hand or sprinkling drop of +holy water! Even so, Luis, friend of my youth, according to the measure +ye mete it shall be measured to you again. The barley bushel is good +measure also for the rye!" + +Rollo, standing by the door and looking over the heads of accuser and +accused, saw through a window the first green streaks of a doubtful dawn +drawn livid and chill athwart a black sky. He went across to El Sarria +and whispered in his ear. Fernandez lifted up his head and eyed the Scot +with a kind of dull curiosity as if he wondered what his part in the +affair might be. And the keen and restless eyes of the Tia watched him +also, from where she lay pillowed on her stolen bundle like a bound and +helpless Fury. + +In quick whispers Rollo urged a plan of action upon El Sarria, by which +he hoped to obtain a reprieve and perhaps his life for the wretched man. +But he did not advert to this, only to the necessity of haste, and to +the perilous state of Dolores. This was indeed his great argument. +Whatever happened she must be cared for. The matter of the traitors +could be arranged later. While Ramon sat considering, the active eyes of +the young Scot discovered a small iron-faced door open at one corner of +the chamber. He went across and pulled aside the curtain which half +concealed the entrance. + +"A regular strong room, by Jove!" he cried; "here is everything +comfortable for our friends while we settle our other affairs. We shall +need our good Senor Don Luis, from time to time during the morning, but +I doubt not he will oblige us." + +Rollo sounded all over the strong room of the mill-house for any signs +of another possible exit, but all was solid masonry. Besides which, the +chests of valuables and papers, the casks of fine liquors and smuggled +cigars proved that this was intended for a secret wall chamber in which +to conceal the valuables of the house in case of alarm. Such +hiding-places are not uncommon in the old houses of Spain, as Rollo +knew, though this was the first he had seen. + +"Give yourself the pain of entering, Senor," he said to Fernandez, and +without waiting for any overt permission from Ramon, he caught up the +old hag Tia Elvira in his arms and carried her, bundle and all, into the +room. + +"Here I am compelled to leave you for the time being in the dark, Don +Luis," he said courteously. "But I think you will agree that your state +is not the less gracious for that. I shall return immediately and +present certain propositions for your consideration." + +"You are an Englishman," cried Fernandez, "you will not stand by and see +a man murdered in cold blood." + +"The blood is none so cold that I can see," said Rollo, shrugging his +shoulders. "I will do the best I can for you, Senor; only do not try any +tricks with us. The least sign of further treachery will be fatal, and +we have many friends about us." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +DON LUIS IS WILLING + + +So saying, Rollo went out and locked the door behind him, leaving La +Giralda with a loaded pistol seated beside it to prevent any egress, in +case Fernandez had some way of opening the bolts from the inside known +only to himself. + +When Rollo returned from arranging these matters he found El Sarria's +place vacant. But the young man following the direction of La Giralda's +nod went out, and in a chamber about which hung a peculiar atmosphere of +drugs, he found the outlaw on his knees by a woman's bedside. + +Rollo stole forward on tiptoe, and in the pale glimmer of dawn he saw +for the first time the features of Dolores, the wife of Ramon the +outlaw. + +He could discern eye-lashes that lay very broad and dark upon colourless +cheeks, a white-wrapped form under snowy coverlets, straight as the dead +arrayed for burial, but nevertheless evidently alive, and sleeping +peacefully with gently heaving breast. + +The giant's head was sunk on the coverlet and his lips touched the damp +fingers of the hand which lay without the sheet. + +With true reverence Rollo touched Ramon on the shoulder and pointed to +the window. The pale unearthly green of the sky spaces between the dark +purple bars of cloud was fast changing to orange tinged with a smoky +scarlet. The sun would not long delay, and there was a little matter out +in the garden which must be arranged. + +As Rollo anticipated, Tomas the scapegrace did not look handsome as he +lay on the upturned soil. The blood had hardened upon the bruise on his +crown where his own spade in El Sarria's hands had beaten him down, much +as a gardener might level a rank stinging nettle. + +"Carry him within," he ordered; "we will attend to his case better +indoors!" + +Already with spade and mattock Rollo was filling up the grave, stamping +down the soil with his foot as he proceeded. Then after having laid away +the tools in the little temple, he followed El Sarria upstairs. Tomas +was lying very limp and still on the table from which the trinkets had +been gathered into the box, and El Sarria, who gave himself no concern +about his handiwork, was bending over the box of jewellery, rapidly +throwing out all articles which he did not recognise as belonging to his +wife or himself. + +Rollo reminded him of his gun which he had left in the dry river-bed, +and El Sarria set off to fetch it lest it should be recognised. + +Then Rollo, who was now thoroughly enjoying himself "in the belly of an +adventure" as he expressed it, called out, "Lay down that pistol, +mother, we shall not need it for a while, and do you give me a hand with +this rascal's sore head. What think you of it?" + +"The stroke was dealt with a strong arm," said La Giralda, critically. +"I saw it done--also heard it. It sounded like the driving in of a +gate-post. But yet, most unfortunately, I do not think the man will +die--unless--unless"--she fingered the keen little knife she carried +lovingly--"unless indeed matters are a little assisted." + +"Stop, mother; we cannot afford to have any _Barranco de los Martires_ +business this time! We are not in Granada within the gipsy barrio, +remember, nor yet within hearing of the bells of Sevilla. Do as I bid +you, and help me to bathe and bind up the scoundrel's pate." + +The old woman did so with an air of protest, finally, however, +consenting to make a plaster of certain herbs which she found in the +household cabinet of simples, and having boiled them, applied the result +like a turban to Don Tomas's unconscious crown. + +All the while she murmured bitterly at intervals, "It is a pity! A pity! +I do not believe he will die--unless, in spite of the Englishman, La +Giralda has the nursing of him!" + +Presently Ramon returned with his gun, which he would have set himself +down to clean with the utmost nonchalance, if Rollo had not summoned him +away to more important business. + +"It is the accursed night-dew!" he said in explanation; "much depends on +never putting off the drying and oiling of one's weapons." + +"Now," said Rollo, "if you are ready, I in my turn should like to have +my little interview with Don Luis!" + +"You?" cried the outlaw, astonished. + +Rollo nodded. + +"Why not?" he said cheerfully; "we shall need his assistance very often +to-day! Open the door, La Giralda." + +The door clicked open, and there sat Luis Fernandez blinking upon a +smuggled keg of French spirits, and in the corner the Tia's little +black eyes twinkled like restless stars from her uneasy pillow. + +Ramon carried in the limp body of Tomas, at sight of which Luis +Fernandez flung up his hands with a shrill cry. + +"You have killed him, then--as you will kill me!" he moaned, and ran +towards the door of the strong room. + +"Not so," said Rollo, stopping him with composure; "your brother is, as +I think, as comfortable as the circumstances will permit, and more +likely to recover than he deserves. Be good enough to tell La Giralda +where to find a lamp or candle-box, so that in taking care of him you +may not be hindered by darkness." + +As he spoke Rollo had been arranging a couch of boxes and pillows, on +which without the slightest regard to his enemy's comfort El Sarria +flung his burden down. + +But Rollo did his best for the unconscious man, and then when La Giralda +had returned with a lamp, he turned sharply upon Don Luis. + +"Sir," he said, "you know the causes of quarrel between yourself and Don +Ramon Garcia, for whom I am acting. You know also what chances you have, +if I do not use the influence I possess to counsel other and milder +methods. Are you then willing to be guided entirely by me or do you +prefer to be dealt with by my principal upon his own account, and +without regard to my advice?" + +Luis Fernandez clasped Rollo's hand. + +"By the Virgin and all the saints," he cried, "I will do to the line and +letter all that you desire of me in every particular. I know well that I +have no other hope." + +"Good," said Rollo; "then you will to-day show yourself about the Casa +as usual. You will give any necessary orders to your foreman when he +comes at the accustomed hour. This you will do in your own chamber and +in my presence, urging a slight _calentura_ as a reason for not +venturing out. You will speak to La Giralda as to your servant, and in +fine--you will comport yourself as if nothing had occurred, and as if no +such man as Ramon Garcia were within a thousand leagues of the +mill-house of Sarria! Do you agree?" + +"I agree to anything, to everything!" said Fernandez, eagerly. + +"But remember," continued Rollo, "in order to compass this I am +stretching a good many points. I saw your eye brighten just now when I +spoke of giving orders. Now, remember, if there is the slightest attempt +at foul play, we may indeed lose our game, and with it our lives, but +first of all and quite suddenly, one man shall die, and that man +is--Luis Fernandez." + +He added this asseveration-- + +"And this, I, Rollo Blair, of Blair Castle in the Shire of Fife, swear +by Almighty God and the honour of a Scottish gentleman." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +A GRAVE IRREGULARITY + + +The day wore in the mill-house of Sarria precisely as many thousands of +days had done before. The foreman came for the keys from his master's +bedroom at six of the clock. He wondered at the unwonted sight of his +patron up and fully dressed at that hour, and still more at the tall +young foreigner who sat with his book so studiously silent at the table +opposite his master. The old gipsy woman Elvira, too, was gone and +another in her place. But after all it was none of his business, and the +mill must go on. For the dam had filled up and there was much corn to +grind. Old withered Elisa, the goatherd "patrona," led her tinkling +flock past the door a score of yards and then returned with her pail as +was her wont. She saw Senor Fernandez at his window, and he made a +strange appealing motion with his hands to her, then glanced over his +shoulder. + +Perhaps (so she thought) the poor man had taken to drinking at night as +that wicked brother of his used to do down at the _venta_. But the true +nature of the Senor's complaint did not dawn upon her till later. + +From nine till half-past eleven none outside of the mill-house saw Senor +Luis. The stranger also was absent upon his occasions, and the doctor, +coming early to see his patient, found only the gipsy woman, who did not +appear to have understood the directions he had given her the day +before. The Senor himself was out of the way, but the doctor, glad to +find his patient so quiescent and apparently in such good condition, +soon took his leave, and in the mill-house La Giralda ruled alone. + + * * * * * + +With Rollo now for a time the tale runs more briskly. He set off for the +_venta_, where he found Etienne and John Mortimer sitting at meat. +Etienne was breaking his fast sparely upon a cup of chocolate and a +glass of water, while John Mortimer had by hook or crook evolved +something resembling a frying-pan, in which he had achieved the cooking +of some bacon and eggs together with a couple of mutton chops. He was +browning some bread before the fire to serve for English toast as Rollo +entered, looking as fresh as if he had been newly roused from a twelve +hour's sleep. + +"Good morning, friends of mine," he cried; "you are in excellent case, I +see. John, I have made arrangements for you to go and visit some +vineyards to-day. Old Gaspar will guide you with his gun over his +valiant shoulder. You can pick up points about wine-buying, without +doubt. As to you, Etienne, _mon vieux_, I have found your Concha, and I +am going to see her myself in half an hour. Shall I give her your love?" + +"What!" cried Saint Pierre; "you jest. It cannot be my cruel, cruel +little Conchita, she who fled from me and would not take the smallest +notice of all my letters and messages? Where is she?" + +"She is at the nunnery of the Sisters of Mercy outside the village. +Poor Etienne! I am indeed sorry for you. With your religious views, it +will be impossible for you to make love to a nun!" + +"Would I not?" cried Etienne, eagerly; "_mon Dieu_, only procure me a +chance, and I will let you see! But a nunnery is a hard nut to crack. +How do you propose to manage it?" + +"I intend to make friends with the Lady Superior," said Rollo, +confidently. + +"You have a letter of introduction to her, doubtless?" said Etienne. + +"I do not at present even know her name; but all in good time!" said the +youth, coolly. + +"For stark assurance commend me to a Scot," cried Etienne, with +enthusiasm. "You take to adventure as if it were chess. We poor French +take the most ordinary affairs as if they were dram-drinking, and so are +old and _ennuyes_ at thirty." + +"And the English?" asked Rollo. + +"Oh," laughed Etienne, "the English take to adventure as our friend +there takes to his breakfast, and that perhaps is the best way of all." + +He pointed with a smile to where, at the table's end, John Mortimer of +Chorley, having made all preparations with the utmost seriousness for +his repast, was on the point of turning on the operating mill. The cook +of the _venta_, who had been much interested in John's culinary +operations, had come up to see how he would deal with the result when +completed. + +John had brewed himself some tea from a small parcel he carried in his +saddle-bags. This, made in a coffee-pot, was arranged at a certain +distance from his dexter elbow. The bacon and eggs were on a platter +exactly in front, flanked on the left by the smoking mutton chops, +while the toast was stuck erect in an empty cruet-stand. In fact a +Chorley breakfast-table was reproduced as exactly as circumstances would +admit. + +Then John Mortimer bent his head a moment over his plate, murmured +something in memory of his father, the Primitive Methodist, in lieu of a +blessing, said "Hem" in a loud gruff tone, hitched his chair forward a +little, squared his shoulders, and fell to. + +"That is why we French have no colonies!" said Etienne, admiringly. "In +this little Spanish village he has found all the materials of an English +breakfast." + +"And that is why _I_ shall never make any money," said Rollo, and +proceeded to break his fast on a couple of eggs dropped into white wine, +before setting out for the convent. + +"Etienne," said Rollo, suddenly checking his glass in mid-air as an idea +occurred to him, "lend me that ring of your sainted uncle's, the one +with the picture of Don Carlos." + +The young Frenchman indolently drew it from his hand, laid it on the +polished marble top of the table, and with his forefinger flipped it +across to Rollo. + +"Who is the girl?" he said simply. + +But Rollo with equal simplicity ignored his question, and did not even +pause to thank him for the loan. It was a way these young men had with +one another. Like the early Christians, they had all things in common. +It was their single point of resemblance to the primitive Church. + +"What shall I say to your Concha--that is, if I chance to see her?" said +Rollo, as he brushed his clothes and saw to the neatness of his neck +ribbon. + +Etienne held down his head. + +"Indeed," he said a little reluctantly, "I am not so anxious that you +should say anything at all about me. The little minx did not treat me so +very well when I came this way on my last visit to my uncle. And to tell +the truth, there is an exceedingly pretty girl living only three doors +from the _venta_. I have already spoken to her, and she has smiled at me +thrice over the fence." + +"Take my advice, and stick to the little Andaluse," said Rollo, +laughing. "They do not understand that kind of thing here, dear Etienne. +Remember Master Rafael, who got a knife somewhere between his +shoulder-blades in this same village." + +"I shall bear in mind what you say, my good Rollo," said Etienne; +"meantime I shall dress myself afresh and walk in the gardens. They are, +as it seems to me, contiguous. Perhaps it may chance that I shall +see--_her_!" + +"That leaves me a freer hand with Concha, then," murmured Rollo to +himself, as he stuck his hat on the back of his head, and strode out +into the stable yard smiling to himself. + +He had his horse brought out and saddled. Then he mounted and rode down +the village street towards the convent of the pious Sisters of Mercy. +The plan he meant to adopt had entered his mind, as it were, with the +eggs and white wine. He had not given the matter a thought before. He +smiled to himself as he rode, for he wondered how he would succeed with +this good Mother Superior, and what manner of girl he would find that +wicked, tricksome Concha to be, whose name was in all men's mouths with +a certain approving flavour, as of a pleasant naughtiness to be +alternately scolded and cajoled. One thing this Master Rollo was as sure +of as that he was a Scot. And that was--he never could, would, or should +fall in love with such a girl. + +So Rollo rode with a clatter of spurs and accoutrement up to the gate of +the convent. Dismounting, he advanced briskly to the gate and knocked +loudly upon it with his riding-whip. + +In a few moments a sour-faced portress opened the little square wicket +and looked through at him. The diamond-shaped lattice bars, which cut +her features into minute lozenges, did not improve her good looks. + +"I must see the Mother Superior immediately on important business!" +quoth the brisk youth, slapping his waistcoat and settling the hilt of +his sword in a businesslike manner, as if he had all his life been in +the habit of making early morning calls upon Mothers Superior. + +The portress laughed. + +"A likely story," she said, "that I am to trail across the yard and +leave my business here, to fetch the Lady Superior from her devotions to +see a young man at the outer gate." + +"If you do not admit me," Rollo went on, unabashed, "not only the Lady +Superior will suffer, but the cause which all good Christians have at +heart." + +He suddenly thrust his bare hand close to the wicket and showed the ring +which Etienne had given him. + +"Do you know this?" he said. + +At his first threatening motion the woman had mechanically withdrawn, +but now curiosity brought her again closer to the grating, on +perceiving that Rollo made no attempt to intrude his hand within. + +"These are the royal arms of Spain, are they not?" she said, and dropped +an involuntary curtsy. + +Then Rollo played his trump card. The ring was made with a certain +secret spring beneath the stone, which when touched sprang up like the +lid of a box, and a beautiful little miniature was revealed, encircled +with hair of a dark brown colour. + +"Do you know who that is?" he said. + +"His absolute Majesty Carlos Quinto!" said the portress with a deep +reverence. + +"Well, then," Rollo went on, "take this ring, and with it the hair of +the anointed and Christian King. It is a great trust, but I give it into +your hands. Carry it reverently as a token to the Lady Superior that a +messenger from the King waits to speak a word with her!" + +The head of the portress disappeared from the young man's sight with the +profundity and compass of the reverence with which she received the +image of the sovereign of all true Catholic hearts. She went off +immediately, and by standing on tiptoe in the white dust, Rollo could +see her heavy black skirts playing bo-peep with a pair of very thick +ankles. + +As the young man stood drumming his fingers upon the window-sill, with +his nail he detached flake after flake of plaster, and filliped each as +it fell into the courtyard. He had only occupied himself with this +amusement for five minutes, when suddenly the most piquant face in the +world appeared at the wicket. + +"Better that you should look to your horse," a pair of red lips said in +the soft Southland speech of Andalucia, "he is chafing himself to pieces +on a too tight curb!" + +"Thank you, Senorita!" said Rollo, his heart instantly disturbed within +him, for he was a merciful man by nature and consistently kind to his +beast. Then he turned about, loosened the curb, and, looking over his +horse, noticed that the tail strap also lathered the animal, whereupon +he eased that. Then with a smiling countenance he turned for approval to +the face at the wicket, but he was too late. His mentor had vanished. + +He waited full ten minutes in the glaring sunshine, till indeed he +well-nigh staggered as he felt the hot beams reflected full upon him +from the whitewashed brick and painted door. There was not a handbreadth +of shade anywhere, and the iron handles and girds of the barred windows +were nearly red-hot. + +Presently, however, through the breathless noonday he heard heavy +footsteps approaching, accompanied by a most raucous and asthmatical +breathing. The door of the porter's lodge was opened, and he caught +again the heavy rustle of cloth clogging itself about unwontedly hasty +ankles. + +"The Mother Superior waits!" gasped the portress, opening the great door +suddenly, and the young man found himself forthwith within the Convent +of the Holy Innocents. + +The Lady Superior proved to be a woman of about fifty-five or sixty +years of age, in person stout and rubicund, a smile of good humour +habitually repressed upon her lips, and a mouth slightly pulled down at +the corners, contradicting the first impression of her jovial +countenance. + +"You are young, Colonel," she said, frowning upon Rollo's good looks +with a certain affectation of gloom quite foreign to her nature, "very +young to be the messenger of a King!" + +"I can, indeed, hardly claim that honour," said Rollo, smiling and +bowing, "but I have the honour to belong to the army of Carlos Quinto, +and to be entrusted with a most serious mission on his behalf. My good +friend Don Baltasar Varela, Prior of the Abbey of Montblanch, a name +probably known to you----" + +"He is my cousin germane--my good and honoured friend," said the Lady +Superior. + +Rollo bowed. + +"He has given me a general introduction to all religious houses where +the name of the true King is held in reverence. You will observe that +the mandate bears the seal of the Propaganda of the Faith and is dated +from Rome itself!" + +The Lady Superior looked again at the great and pious names upon Rollo's +commission, and marvelled yet more. + +"So young," she said, "so boyish almost--yet so highly honoured! It is +wonderful!" + +Then she handed the parchment back to him. + +"How can I assist you?" she said. "Command me. There is nothing +consistent with the order and discipline of this house that I will not +grant to you!" + +Rollo bowed grandly. + +"I thank you in the name of my master," he said; "the King will not +forget fitly to reward his faithful servants. I ask what is indeed +somewhat irregular, but is nevertheless necessary. There is a man of +this place, who for the King's cause has become an outlaw, one Ramon +Garcia----" + +The Prioress rose from her seat indignantly. + +"He is a murderer--in intent, if not in act," she said. "He is no true +man, but a villain----" + +"Many men have been called so," said Rollo, gravely, "who for the King's +sake have borne reproach gladly--of whom this Ramon, called El Sarria, +is one. What he has done has been by order of our Don Carlos----" + +"Indeed, that is true, my lady," interjected a very pretty and +unconventual young person, rising suddenly from behind certain frames of +embroidery where she had been at work unseen, "the gentleman refers to +that same Ramon Garcia, whose letters recommendatory I had the honour of +submitting to you this morning. To kill in the King's name is surely no +sin, else were soldiering a sin, and your reverend worthiness knows +that, shriven or unshriven, the soldiers of Carlos Quinto go straight to +heaven. And none can deny that, while on earth, a handsome uniform +covers a multitude of sins!" + +"Hush, child, hush!" cried the Abbess, holding up her hands in horror; +"your talk savours of the world. And indeed, that reminds me--how in the +world came you here?" + +"I was seated at the embroidery," said the girl, demurely; "you set me +the task yourself to be ready for our Lady of the Pillar's festival on +Tuesday next." + +"Well, child, well--you can go now," said the Abbess, with a nod of +dismission; "I would speak with this young man alone!" + +The girl cast a look at Rollo which remained with him long. It seemed to +say, "I would gladly talk more with you, for your person is somewhat to +my mind, and I do not think that further converse with me would prove +entirely disagreeable to you!" + +This message was conveyed in a single glance, and Rollo, not the most +impressionable of youths, read it every syllable without the slightest +difficulty. + +He held up his hand almost involuntarily. + +"If this damosel is by any chance the Senorita Concha Cabezos, as I have +some reason to suppose, though I have never before seen the young lady, +it might be advantageous if she remained. She was formerly, as I am +informed, in the family of Don Ramon Garcia, and can assist my mission +very materially." + +Then Rollo opened out his plans in so far as they concerned Dolores, +showing the Prioress how important it was, for the success of the +arduous mission on which they had been despatched, that El Sarria should +leave no anxieties behind him, and beseeching her for the sake of the +King's cause, to receive Dolores within the convent as she had already +received her child. + +The Prioress considered a while, and after many dubious shakings of the +head, finally agreed. + +"It is indeed gravely irregular," she said, "but in these untoward +circumstances the King's service overrides all. I will receive Dolores +Garcia." + +"And if it be your will I will arrange the details with the Senorita +Concha," said Rollo, promptly. "I need not, in that case, further detain +the noble and reverend Prioress!" + +The Lady Superior bent a quick sharp look upon the pair, but Rollo was +grave and high of demeanour as became the envoy of a King, while Concha +sat at her embroidery as demure as a mouse. She had gone back to her +frame and was engaged in elaborating the wings of a cherub of +exceedingly celestial aspect, in whom all the parts below the +shoulder-blades had been suppressed by order of the Lady Superior of +the Convent of the Holy Innocents. + +"You will do your best, Concha," she said gravely, admonishing that +maiden with her forefinger, "to further the objects of this young man. +And, above all, be sure to show him the deference due to his rank and +mission!" + +"Yes, my Lady Superior!" said little Concha Cabezos, "I will treat him +as if he were the King's own high majesty in person!" + +"A very proper spirit!" said the Prioress, nodding and going out; +"cultivate it, my young friend!" + +"I will!" said little Concha, and dropped a curtsey behind her back, +which, alas! was not without a certain wicked suggestion of contempt for +kings and dignitaries and their emissaries. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +A FLUTTER OF RED AND WHITE + + +"At your ambassadorial service!" said the Senorita Concha, bowing still +lower and holding out her skirts at either side with a prettyish +exaggeration of deference; "what commands has your Scottish Excellency +for poor little Concha?" + +"Ahem!" said Rollo, more than a little puzzled, "they were not so much +commands as--as--I thought you might be able to help me." + +"Now we are getting at it," said Concha Cabezos, nodding with a wise +air. + +("I must be on my guard with this girl," thought Rollo, "I can almost +bring myself to believe that--yet it seems impossible--that--the girl is +chaffing me--me!") + +"I wished to see you," he went on. + +The girl curtsied again, bringing her hands together in a little appeal +almost childish. It looked natural, yet Rollo was not sure. But at any +rate the sensation was a new one. He began to think of what he had heard +in the venta. But no, the girl looked so sweet and demure, such babyish +smiles flickered and dimpled about the mouth--all scented of fresh youth +like a June hayfield. No, she--she must have been traduced. Not that it +mattered in the least to him. He was cased in triple steel. His heart +was adamant. Or at least as much of it as he had not left in the +possession of Peggy Ramsay, and, when he came to think of it, of several +others. + +"You were wishful to see me, sir?" murmured little Concha, "a great +gentleman wanting to see me--wonderful--impossible." + +"Neither one nor yet the other," said Rollo, a trifle sharply, looking +at the girl with a glance intended to suppress any lurking tendency to +levity; "if I desired to see you, it was not on my own account, but upon +the King's service." He raised his voice at the last words. + +"That explains it," said the girl, with her eyes cast down. She raised +the lids sharply once and then dropped them again. Penitence and a +certain fear could not have been better expressed. Rollo was more +satisfied. + +("After all," he thought, "the little thing does not mean any harm. It +is only her simplicity!") + +And he twirled his moustachios self-confidently. + +"It is not often," he said to himself, "that she has the opportunity of +talking to a man like me--here in this village! I suppose it is +natural." It was--to Concha. + +But the girl's expression altered so soon as she heard the service that +was required of her, and she followed with rapt attention the tale of +the garrisoning of the mill-house of Sarria, and the dire need of her +former mistress and friend, Dolores Garcia. + +Little Concha's coquetry, her trick of experimenting upon all and sundry +who came near her, her moods and whimsies, transient as the flaws that +ruffle and ripple, breathe upon and again set sparkling the surface of a +mountain tarn--all these dropped from the Andalucian maiden at the +thought of another's need. A moment before, this young foreign soldier, +with the handsome face and the excellent opinion of himself, had been +but fair game to Concha; a prey marked down, not from any fell intent, +but for the due humbling of pride. For Concha was interested in bringing +young men to a sense of their position, and mostly, it may be confessed, +it did them a vast deal of good. + +But in that moment she became, instead, the eager listener, the ready +self-sacrificing comrade, the friend as faithful and reliable as any +brother. It was enough for her that El Sarria was there in danger of his +life, that Dona Dolores must be delivered and brought into the safe +shelter of the sisterhood, and--this with a glistening of little savage +teeth, small and white as mother-of-pearl--that Luis Fernandez should be +humbled. + +"Let me see--let me see," she murmured, thoughtfully. "Wait, I will come +with you." She took a glance at the young cavalier, armed _cap-a-pie_, +and thought doubtless of the horse chafing and shaking its accoutrements +in the shade of the porter's lodge. "No, I will not come with you. I +will follow immediately, and do you, sir, return as swiftly as possible +to the mill-house of Sarria." + +And without the slightest attempt at coquetry Concha showed Rollo to the +door, and that arrogant youth, slightly bewildered and uncertain of the +march of events, found himself presently riding away from the white gate +of the monastery with Etienne's ring upon his finger, and a belief +crystallising in his heart that of all the maligned and misrepresented +beings on the earth, the most maligned and the most innocent was little +Concha Cabezos. + +And instinctively his fingers itched to clasp his sword-hilt, and prove +this thesis upon Pedro Morales or any venta rascal who might in future +disparage her good name. + +Indeed, it was only by checking of his horse in time that he kept +himself in the right line for the mill-house. His instinct was to ride +to the venta straightway and have it out with all the blind mouths of +the village in parliament assembled. + +But luckily Rollo remembered the giant Ramon Garcia, reckless and simple +of heart, Dolores his wife and her instant needs, and the imprisoned +Fernandez family in the strong-room of the mill-house. It was clear even +to his warped judgment that these constituted a first charge upon his +endeavours, and that the good name of Mistress Concha, despite the +dimples on her chin, must be considered so far a side issue. + +The mill-house remained as he had left it when he rode away. The +sunshine fell broad and strong on its whitewashed walls and green +shutters, most of them closed hermetically along the front as was the +custom of Sarria, till the power of the sun was on the wane. A workman +or two busy down among the vents, and feeding the mouths of the grinding +stones, looked up curiously at this unwonted visitor. But these had been +too frequent of late, and their master's behaviour too strange for them +to suspect anything amiss. + +It was now the hottest time of the forenoon, and the heat made Rollo +long for some of Don Luis's red wine, which he would drain in the +Catalonian manner by holding the vessel well out and pouring a narrow +stream in a graceful arch into his mouth. But for this he must wait. A +captive quail on the balcony said _check-check_, and rattled on the bars +of his cage to indicate that his water was finished, and that if +somebody did not attend to him speedily he would die. + +As Rollo went down the little slope, past the corner of the garden where +Ramon had spoken first with La Giralda, it seemed to him that over the +broiling roofs of the mill-house he caught the glimmer of something cool +and white. He halted his horse and stood momentarily up in his stirrups, +whereupon the glimmer upon the roof seemed to change suddenly to red and +then as swiftly vanished. + +Certainly there was something wrong. Rollo hurried on, giving the three +knocks which had been agreed upon at the closed outer door of the house. +It was opened by La Giralda. + +"Who is signalling from the roof?" he asked hurriedly. + +The old gipsy stared at him, and then glanced apprehensively at his +face. It had grown white with sudden anxiety. + +"A touch of sun--you are not accustomed--you are not of the country to +ride about at this time of day. No one has been signalling. Don Ramon is +with his wife, waiting for you; and, as I think, not finding the time +long. I will bring you a drink of wine and water with a _tisane_ in it, +very judicious in cases of sun-touch!" + +The latter was much in the line of the young man's desires, yet being +still unsatisfied, he could not help saying, "But, La Giralda, I saw the +thing plainly, a signal, first of white and then of red, waved from the +roof, as it seemed, over the mill-wheel." + +La Giralda shook her head. + +"Eyes," she said, "only eyes and the touch of the sun. But tell me, +what of Concha, and how you sped with the Lady Superior?" + +But Rollo was not to be appeased till he had summoned El Sarria, and +with him examined the strong-room where the prisoners were kept; as +before, Don Luis sat listlessly by the table, his brow upon his hand. He +did not look up or speak when they entered. But his brother moaned on +about his wounded head, and complained that La Tia had drunk all the +water. This being replenished, Don Tomas wandered off into muttered +confidences concerning his early travels, how he had made love to the +Alcalde's daughter of Granada, how he had fought with a _contrabandista_ +at Ronda fair--with other things too intimate to be here set down, ever +returning, however, to his plea that the Tia Elvira had defrauded him of +his fair share of the water-jug. + +"Nay, not so," said the Tia, soothingly; "every drop of the water you +have drunk, Don Tomas. But it is your head, your poor head. I turned the +poultice, and with the water he speaks of moistened the leaves afresh. +And how, worthy Senors, is the dear lady? I trust, well. Ah! had she +been left in my care, all had gone right with her!" + +"In _your_ care! In _your_ care, hell-hag!" cried El Sarria, fiercely, +taking a step threateningly towards her, "aye, the kind of safety my +child would have experienced had that gentleman, your brother there, +been allowed to finish his grave-digging business. Let me not hear +another word out of your mouth, lest I do the world a service by cutting +short a long life so ill-spent!" + +The Tia took the hint and said nothing. But her eyes, cast up to the +roof, and her hands spread abroad palm outwards, expressed her +conviction that ever thus do the truly good and charitable suffer for +their good deeds, their best acts being mistaken and misinterpreted, and +their very lives brought into danger by the benevolence of their +intentions. + +Had Rollo but followed the direction of her gaze he might have had his +doubts of La Giralda's theory of sunstroke to explain the signalling +from the roof. For there, clearly to be seen out of the half-open +trap-door, was a little scarlet strip of cloth stirred by the wind, and +doubtless conspicuous from all the neighbouring hills about the village +of Sarria. + +But Rollo, eager to get to his task of arranging the transport for the +evening, so that Dolores might be taken in safety and comfort to the +Convent of the Holy Innocents, was already turning to be gone, while +Ramon Garcia, afraid to trust himself long in the same apartment with +the traitor, stood outside fingering the key. + +"Bring wine and water!" cried Rollo to La Giralda, "and, Don Luis, in an +hour I will trouble you to take a little tour of the premises with me, +just to show your men that all is right." + +Luis Fernandez bowed slightly but said nothing, while the invalid from +his couch whined feebly that all the water was for him. The others might +have the wine or at least some of it, but he must have all the water. + +So Rollo Blair and his companion withdrew into the cool guest-chamber of +the mill-house without having seen the little waving strip of red upon +the roof. As soon as they were gone, however, Don Luis leaped up, and +with a long fishing-pole he flaunted a strip of white beside the red, +waving it this way and that for a long time, till in the close +atmosphere of the strong-room the sweat rained from him in great drops. + +Then he leaped down at last, muttering, "If the General is within twenty +miles, as I think he is, that ought to bring him to Sarria. The angels +grant that he arrive in time" (here he paused a moment, and then added +with a bitter smile), "or the devils either. I am not particular, so be +that he come!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +SIGNALS OF STORM + + +A long strip of Moorish-looking wall and certain towers that glittered +white in the sun, advertised to Rollo that he approached the venta of +Sarria. Without, that building might have passed for the palace of a +grandee; within--but we know already what it was like within. + +Rollo was impatient to find his companions. He had just discovered that +he had most scurvily neglected them, and now he was all eagerness to +make amends. But the house-place of the Cafe de Madrid was tenanted only +by the Valiant and a clean silently-moving maid, who solved the problem +of perpetual motion by finding something to do simultaneously in the +kitchen, out in the shady _patio_ among the copper water-vessels, and up +in the sleeping chambers above. + +Rollo's questioning produced nothing but a sleepy grunt from Don Gaspar +Perico. + +"Gone--no! They had better not," he muttered, "better not--without +paying their score--bread and ham and eggs, to say nothing of the noise +and disturbance they had occasioned. The tallest was a spitfire, a +dare-devil--ah, your excellency, I did not know----" + +Here Don Gaspar the Valiant, who had been muttering in his beard more +than half asleep, awoke suddenly to the fact that the dare-devil +aforesaid stood before him, fingering his sword-hilt and twisting his +moustache. + +But he was a stout old soldier, this Gaspar Perico, and had a moustache +of his own which he could finger with anybody. + +"I crave your pardon, Senor," he said, rising and saluting, "I think I +must have been asleep. Until this moment I was not aware of your +honourable presence." + +"My companions--where are they?" said Rollo, hastily. He had much on his +mind, and wished to despatch business. Patience he had none. If a girl +refused him he sprang into the first ship and betook himself to other +skies and kinder maidens. If a battle went wrong, he would fight on to +the death, or at least till he was beaten into unconsciousness. But of +the cautious generalship which draws off in safety and lives to fight +another day, Rollo had not a trace. + +"Your companions--nay, I know nothing of them," said the veteran: "true +it is he of the stoutness desired to buy my wine, and when I gave him a +sample, fine as iced Manzanilla, strong as the straw-wine of Jerez, he +spat it forth upon the ground and vowed that as to price he preferred +the ordinary robbers of the highway!" + +Rollo laughed a little at this description of John Mortimer's method of +doing business, but he was eager to find his comrades, so he hastily +excused himself, apologised for his companion's rudeness, setting it +down to the Senor Mortimer's ignorance of the language, and turned to go +out. + +But as he passed into the arcaded _patio_ of the inn, the silent +maid-servant passed him with a flash of white cotton gown. Her grass +shoes made no noise on the pavement. As she passed, Rollo glanced at +her quickly and carelessly, as it was his nature to look at every woman. +She was beckoning to him to follow her. There could be no doubt of that. +She turned abruptly through a low doorway upon the top of which Rollo +nearly knocked out his brains. + +The Scot followed down a flight of steps, beneath blossoming oleander +bushes, and found himself presently upon a narrow terrace-walk, divided +from a neighbouring garden by a lattice of green-painted wood. + +The silent maid-servant jerked her thumb a little contemptuously over +her shoulder, elevated her chin, and turning on her heel disappeared +again into her own domains. + +Rollo stood a moment uncertain whether to advance or retreat. He was in +a narrow path which skirted a garden in which fuchsias, geraniums, and +dwarf palms grew abundantly. Roses also clambered among the +lattice-work, peered through the chinks, and drooped invitingly over the +top. + +A little to the right the path bent somewhat, and round the corner Rollo +could hear a hum of voices. It was in this direction also that the +silent handmaid of Gaspar Perico's kitchen had jerked her thumb. + +Rollo moved slowly along the path, and presently he came in sight of a +pretty damsel on the farther side of the trellis paling, deeply engaged +in a most interesting conversation. So far as he could see she was tall +and dark, with the fully formed Spanish features, a little heavy perhaps +to Rollo's taste, but charming now with the witchery of youth and +conscious beauty. + +Her hand had been drawn through one of the diamond-shaped apertures of +the green trellis-work, which proved how small a hand it was. And, so +far as the young Scot could judge from various contributory movements on +the lady's part, it was at that moment being passionately kissed by some +person unseen. + +The low voice he had heard also proceeded from this fervent lover, and +the whole performance made Rollo most unreasonably angry. + +"What fools!" he muttered, turning on his heel, adding as an +afterthought, "and especially at this time of day." + +He was walking off in high dudgeon, prepared to give the silent maid a +piece of his mind--indeed, a sample most unpleasing, when something in +the tone of the lover's voice attracted him. + +"Fairest Maria, never have I loved before," the voice was saying. "I +have wandered the world heretofore, careless and heart-free, that I +might have the more to offer to you, the pearl of girls, the all +incomparable Maria of Sarria!" + +The fair hand thrust through the lattices was violently agitated at this +point. Its owner had caught sight of Rollo standing on the pathway, but +the lover's grasp was too firm. As Rollo looked a head was thrust +forward and downwards--as it were into the picture. And there, kneeling +on the path, was Monsieur Etienne, lately Brother Hilario of Montblanch, +fervidly kissing the hand of reluctant beauty. + +As Rollo, unwilling to intrude, but secretly resolving to give Master +Lovelace no peace for some time, was turning away, a sharp exclamation +from the girl caused the kneeling lover to look up. She snatched her +hand through the interstices of the palisades on the instant, fled +upward through the rose and fuchsia bushes with a swift rustle of +skirts, and disappeared into a neighbouring house. + +Etienne de Saint Pierre rose in a leisurely manner, dusted the knees of +his riding-breeches, twirled his moustache, and looked at Rollo, who +stood on the path regarding him. + +"Well, what in the devil's name brings you here?" he demanded. + +The mirthful mood in which he had watched his comrade kneel was already +past with Rollo. + +"Come outside, and I will tell you," he said, and without making any +further explanation or asking for any from Etienne, he strode back +through the courtyard of the venta and out into the sunlit road. + +A muleteer was passing, sitting sideways on his beast's back as on an +easy-chair, and as he went by he offered the two young men to drink out +of a leathern goatskin of wine with a courteous wave of the hand. Rollo +declined equally courteously. + +Then turning to his friend, who still continued to scowl, he said +abruptly, "Where is Mortimer?" + +"Nay, that I know not--looking for another meal, I suppose," answered +the little Frenchman, shrugging his shoulders, one higher than the +other. + +Rollo glanced at him from under his gloomy brows. + +"Nay," he said, "this is serious. I need your help. Do not fail me +to-night, and help me to find Mortimer. I had not the smallest intention +of intruding upon you. Indeed, but for that maid at the inn, I should +never have found you." + +"Ah," commented Etienne, half to himself, "so I owe it to that minx, do +I? Yes, it is a mistake--so close as that. But no matter; what can I do +for you?" + +"It is not for myself," Rollo answered, and forthwith in a low voice +told his tale, the Frenchman assenting with a nod of the head as each +point was made clear to him. + +Unconsciously they had strolled out of the village in the direction of +the Convent of the Holy Innocents, and they were almost under its walls +when the little Frenchman, looking up suddenly, recognised with a start +whither he was being led. + +"Let us turn back," he said hastily; "I have forgotten an engagement!" + +"What, another?" cried Rollo. "If we stay here three days you will have +the whole village on your hands, and at least half a dozen knives in +your back. But if you are afraid of the Senorita Concha, I think I can +promise you that she is not breaking her heart on your account!" + +In spite of this assurance, however, Etienne was not easy in his mind +till they had turned about and were returning towards the village. But +they had not left the white walls of the Convent behind, before they +were hailed in English by a stentorian voice. + +"Here, you fellows," it said, "here's a whole storehouse of onions as +big as a factory--strings and strings of 'em. I wanted to go inside to +make an offer for the lot, and the old witch at the gate slammed it in +my face." + +Looking round, they saw John Mortimer standing on one leg to eke out his +stature, and squinting through a hole in the whitewashed wall. One hand +was beckoning them frantically forward, while with the other he was +trying to render his position on a sun-dried brick less precarious. + +"I suppose we must go back," said Etienne, with a sigh; "imagine +standing on a brick and getting so hot and excited--in the blazing sun, +too--all for a few strings of onions. I declare I would not do it for +the prettiest girl in Spain!" + +But there could be no doubt whatever that the Englishman was in earnest. +Indeed, he did not move from his position till they were close upon him, +and then only because the much-enduring brick resolved itself into its +component sand and sun-dried clay. + +"Just look there!" he cried eagerly; "did you ever see the like of +that--a hundred double strings hung from the ceiling to the floor right +across! And the factory nearly a hundred and fifty yards long. There's a +ship-load of onions there, a solid cargo, I tell you, and I want to +trade. I believe I could make my thousand pounds quicker that way, and +onions are as good as wine any day! Look in, look in!" + +To satisfy his friend, Rollo applied his eye to the aperture, and saw +that one of the Convent buildings was indeed filled with onions, as John +Mortimer had said. It was a kind of cloister open at one side, and with +rows of pillars. The wind rustling through the pendant strings filled +the place with a pleasant noise, distinctly audible even outside the +wall. + +"A thousand pounds, Rollo," moaned John Mortimer, "and that old wretch +at the wicket only laughed at me, and snapped the catch in my face. They +don't understand business here. I wish I had them apprenticed to my +father at Chorley for six months, only for six months. They'd know the +difference!" + +Rollo took his friend's arm and drew him away. + +"This is not the time for it," he said soothingly, "wait. We are going +to the Convent to-night. The Mother Superior has permitted the lady on +whose account we are here to be removed there after dark, and we want +your help." + +"Can I speak to the old woman about the onions then?" + +"Certainly, if there is an opportunity," said Rollo, smiling. + +"Which I take leave to doubt," thought Etienne to himself, as he +meditated on his own troubles in the matter of little Concha and the +maiden of the green lattice. + +"Very well, then," said Mortimer, "I'm your man; I don't mind doing a +little cloak-and-dagger considered as trimmings--but business is +business." + +The three friends proceeded venta-wards, and just as they passed the +_octroi_ gate the same muleteer who had passed them outward bound, went +in before them with the same leathern bottle in his hand. And as he +entered he tossed his hand casually towards Gaspar Perico, who sat in +the receipt of custom calmly reading an old newspaper. + +"Now that's curious," said John Mortimer, "that fellow had a red and +white cloth in his hand. And all the time when I was skirmishing about +after those onions in the nuns' warehouse, they were waving red and +white flags up on the hills over there--_wig wag_ like that!" + +And with his hand he illustrated the irregular and arbitrary behaviour +of the flags upon the hills which overlooked the village of Sarria to +the south. + +And at the sound of his words Rollo started, and his countenance +changed. It was then no mere delusion of the eye and brain that he had +seen when he entered the precincts of the mill-house of Sarria, as La +Giralda would fain have persuaded him. The thought started a doubt in +his mind. + +Who after all was that old woman? And what cause had El Sarria for +trusting her? None at all, so far as Rollo knew, save that she hated the +Tia Elvira. Then that flicker of red and white on the hillside to the +south among the scattered boulders and juniper bushes, and the favour of +the same colour in the muleteer's hand as he went through the gate! + +Verily Rollo had some matter for reflection, as, with his comrades, one +on either hand of him, he strolled slowly back to the venta. + +"I wonder," said John Mortimer, as if to himself, "if that young woman +who walks like a pussycat will have luncheon ready for us. I told her to +roast the legs of the lamb I bought at the market this morning, and make +an _olla_ of the rest. But I don't believe she understands her own +language--a very ignorant young woman indeed." + +"I, on the other hand, think she knows too much," murmured Etienne to +himself. + +But Rollo, the red and white flutter of the mysterious signal flags +before his eyes, seen between him and the white-hot sky of day, only +sighed, and wished that the night would anticipate itself by a few +hours. + +And so, dinner being over, and even John Mortimer satisfied, the drowsy +afternoon of Sarria wore on, the clack of the mill-wheel down at the +mill, and the clink of the anvil where Jaime Casanovas, the smith, was +shoeing a horse, being the only sounds without; while in the venta +itself the whisk of the skirts of the silent handmaid, who with a +perfectly grave face went about her work, alone broke the silence. But +Monsieur Etienne's ears tingled red, for he was conscious that as often +as she passed behind his chair, she smiled a subtle smile. + +He thought on the green lattices and the path so near and so cool. But +with all his courage he could not go out under the observant eyes of +Rollo and with that abandoned Abigail smiling her ironic smile. So, +perforce, he had to sit uneasily with his elbows on the table and watch +the dreary game of dominoes which his companions were playing with the +chipped and greasy cubes belonging to the venta of Gaspar and Esteban +Perico. + +And outside, though they knew it not, the red and white pennon was still +flying from the roof of the mill-house of Sarria, and on the hills to +the south, through the white sun-glare, flickered at intervals an +answering signal. + +Meanwhile in a hushed chamber the outlaw sat with his wife's hand in +his, and thought on nothing, save that for him the new day had come. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE BUTCHER OF TORTOSA + + +Upon the village of Sarria and upon its circling mountains night +descended with Oriental swiftness. The white houses grew blurred and +indistinct. Red roofs, green shutters, dark window squares, took on the +same shade of indistinguishable purple. + +But in the west the rich orange lingered long, the typical Spanish +after-glow of day edging the black hills with dusky scarlet, and +extending upwards to the zenith sombre and mysterious, like her own +banner of gold and red strangely steeped in blood. + +In the mill-house of Sarria they were not idle. Ramon Garcia and Rollo +had constructed a carrying couch for Dolores, where, on a light and +pliant framework of the great bulrush _canas_ that grew along the canal +edges, her mattress might be laid. + +It was arranged that, after Dolores had been conveyed with Concha and La +Giralda in attendance to the Convent of the Holy Innocents, the three +young men and El Sarria should return in order to release and warn the +brothers Fernandez of the consequences of treachery. Thereafter they +were to ride out upon their mission. + +Crisp and clear the night was. The air clean-tasting like spring water, +yet stimulating as a draught of wine long-cooled in cellar darkness. + +Very gently, and as it were in one piece like a swaddled infant, Dolores +was lifted by El Sarria in his arms and laid upon the hastily-arranged +ambulance. The four bearers fell in. La Giralda locked the doors of the +mill-house, and by a circuitous route, which avoided the village and its +barking curs, they proceeded in the direction of the convent buildings. + +As often as the foot of any of the bearers slipped upon a stone, Ramon +grew sick with apprehension, and in a whisper over his shoulder he would +inquire of Dolores if all was well. + +"All is well, beloved," the voice, weak and feeble, would reply. "You +are here--you are not angry with me. Yes, all is well." + +They moved slowly through the darkness, La Giralda, with many crooning +encouragements, waiting upon Dolores, now lifting up the corner of a +cover-lid and now anxiously adjusting a pillow. + +It was done at last, and with no more adventure than that once when they +were resting the carrying couch under a wall, a muleteer passed, and +cried, "Good-night to you, folk of peace!" To which El Sarria grunted a +reply, and the man passed on, humming a gay Aragonese ditty, and puffing +his cigarette, the red point of which glowed like a fire-fly long after +both man and beast had been merged in the general darkness of the +valley. + +They were soon passing under the eastern side of the convent. + +"Ah, I can smell them," murmured John Mortimer, exstatically, "a hundred +tons, if not more. I wonder if I could not tackle the old lady to-night +about them?" + +He spoke meditatively, but no one of the party took the least notice. +For Rollo was busy with the future conduct of the expedition. Etienne +was thinking of the girl behind the green lattices, while the others did +not understand a word of what he said. + +John Mortimer sighed a deep and genuine sigh. + +"Spain is very well," he muttered; "but give me Chorley for doing +business in!" + +At last they were at the little white cowl of the porter's lodge, out of +which the black bars of the wicket grinned with a semblance of ghastly +mirth. + +Rollo knocked gently. The panel slid back noiselessly, and there was the +face of Concha Cabezos dimly revealed. No longer mischievous or even +piquant, but drawn and pale with anxiety. + +"There are bad people here," she whispered, "who have persuaded the Lady +Superior that you are impostors. She will not receive or keep Dolores +Garcia unless she is satisfied----" + +"What?" came from the rear in a thunderous growl. + +"Hush, I bid you!" commanded Rollo, sternly, "remember you have put this +in my hands." And the outlaw fell back silenced for the moment--his +heart, however, revolving death and burnings. + +"Trust me with your papers--your credentials," said Concha, quickly. +"These will convince her. I will bring them to you at the mill-house +to-morrow morning!" + +Rollo ran his knife round the stitching of his coat where he carried +these sacredest possessions. + +"There," he said, "remember--do not let them out of your sight a moment. +I am putting far more than my own life into your hands." + +"I will cherish them as the most precious thing in the world. And now, +I will go and show them to the Lady Superior." + +"Not till you have taken in my Dolores as you promised," came the voice +of El Sarria, "or by Heaven I will burn your convent to the ground. She +shall not be left here in the damp dews of the night." + +"No, no," whispered Concha, "she shall be laid in the lodge of the +portress, and La Giralda shall watch her till her own chamber is +prepared, and I have eased the mind of the Lady Superior." + +The great bars were drawn. The bolts gave back with many creakings, and +through the black gap of the main gate they carried Dolores into the +warm flower-scented darkness of the portress's lodge. + +She was laid on a bed, and the moment after Concha turned earnestly upon +the four men. + +"Now go," she said, "this instant! I also have risked more than you +know. Go back!" + +"Can I not stay with her to-night?" pleaded El Sarria, keeping the limp +hand wet with chill perspiration close in his. + +"Go--go, I say!" said Concha. "Go, or it may be too late. See yonder." + +And on a hill away to the west a red light burned for a long moment and +then vanished. + +The three young men went out, but El Sarria lingered, kneeling by his +wife's bedside. Rollo went back and touched him on the shoulder. + +"You must come with us--for _her_ sake!" he said. And he pointed with +his finger. And obediently at his word the giant arose and went out. +Rollo followed quickly, but as he went a little palm fell on his arm and +a low voice whispered in his ear-- + +"You trust me, do you not?" + +Rollo lifted Concha's hand from his sleeve and kissed it. + +"With my life--and more!" he said. + +"What more?" queried Concha. + +"With my friends' lives!" he answered. + +And as he went out with no other word Concha breathed a sigh very softly +and turned towards Dolores. She felt somehow as if the tables were being +turned upon her. + + * * * * * + +Outside there was a kind of waiting hush in the air, an electric tension +of expectation, or so at least it seemed to Rollo. + +As they marched along the road towards the mill-house, they saw a ruddy +glow towards the south. + +"Something is on fire there!" said John Mortimer. "I mind when Graidly's +mills were burnt in Bowton, we saw a glimmer in the sky just like yon! +And we were at Chorley, mind you, miles and miles away!" + +"They are more like camp-fires behind the hills," commented Etienne, +from his larger experience. "I think we had better clear out of Sarria +to-night." + +"That," said Rollo, firmly, "is impossible so far as I am concerned. I +must wait at the mill-house for the papers. But do you three go on, and +I will rejoin you to-morrow." + +"I will stay," said El Sarria, as soon as Rollo's words had been +interpreted to him. + +"And I," cried Etienne. "Shall it be said that a Saint Pierre ever +forsook a friend?" + +"And I," said John Mortimer, "to look after the onions!" + +The mill-house was silent and dark as they had left it. They could hear +the drip-drip of the water from the motionless wheel. An owl called at +intervals down in the valley. Rollo, to whom La Giralda had given the +key, stooped to fit it into the keyhole. The door was opened and the +four stepped swiftly within. Then Rollo locked the door again inside. + +They heard nothing through all the silent, empty house but the sound of +their own breathing. Yet here, also, there was the same sense of strain +lying vague and uneasy upon them. + +"Let us go on and see that all is right," said Rollo, and led the way +into the large room where they had found Luis Fernandez. He walked up to +the window, a dim oblong of blackness, only less Egyptian than the +chamber itself. He stooped to strike his flint and steel together into +his tinder-box, and even as the small glittering point winked, Rollo +felt his throat grasped back and front by different pairs of hands, +while others clung to his knees and brought him to the ground. + +"Treachery! Out with you, lads--into the open!" he cried to his +companions, as well as he could for the throttling fingers. + +But behind him there arose the sound of a mighty combat. Furniture was +overset, or broke with a sharp crashing noise as it was trampled +underfoot. + +"Show a light, there," cried a quick voice, in a tone of command. + +A lantern was brought from an inner room, and there, on the floor, in +the grasp of their captors, were Ramon Garcia, still heaving with his +mighty exertions, and Rollo the Scot, who lay very quiet so soon as he +had assured himself that present resistance would do no good. + +"Bring in the others," commanded the voice again, "and let us see what +the dogs look like." + +Mortimer and Etienne, having been captured in the hall, while trying to +unlock the outer door, were roughly haled into the room. Rollo was +permitted to rise, but the giant was kept on his back while they +Fastened him up securely with ropes and halters. + +Then Luis Fernandez came in, an evil smile on his dark handsome face, +and behind him a little thick-set active man in some military dress of +light material. The uniform was unfamiliar to Rollo, who, for a moment, +was in doubt whether he was in the hands of the Cristinos or in those of +the partisans of Don Carlos. + +But a glance about the chamber eased his mind. The white _boinas_ of the +Basque provinces, mingled with the red of Navarra, told him that he had +been captured by the Carlists. + +"Well," said a little dark man with the curly hair, black and kinked +like a negro's, "give an account of yourselves and of your proceedings +in this village." + +"We are soldiers in the service of His Excellency Don Carlos," said +Rollo, fearlessly; "we are on our way to the camp of General Cabrera on +a mission of importance." + +Luis Fernandez looked across at his companion, who had seated himself +carelessly in a large chair by the window. + +"Did I not tell you he would say that?" he said. The other nodded. "On a +mission to General Cabrera," repeated the chief of Rollo's captors; +"well, then, doubtless you can prove your statement by papers and +documents. Let me see your credentials." + +"I must know, first, to whom I have the honour of speaking," said Rollo, +firmly. + +"You shall," said the man in the chair. "I am General Cabrera, in the +service of His Absolute Majesty, Carlos, Fifth of Spain. I shall be glad +to receive your credentials, sir." + +Then it flashed upon Rollo that all his papers were in the hands of +Concha Cabezos. He had given them to her that she might show them to the +Lady Superior, and so insure a welcome for poor little Dolores, whom +they had left lying on the bed in the portress's lodge at the Convent of +the Holy Innocents. + +"I can indeed give you the message, and that instantly," said Rollo; +"but I am unfortunately prevented from showing you my credentials till +the morning. They are at present at the--in the hands of a friend----" + +Here Rollo stammered and came to a full stop. Luis Fernandez laughed +scornfully. + +"Of course," he said: "what did I tell you, General? He has no +credentials." + +Cabrera struck his clenched fist on the table. + +"Sir," he said, "you are a strange messenger. You pretend a mission to +me, and when asked for your credentials you tell us that they are in the +hands of a friend. Tell us your friend's name, and how you came to +permit documents of value to me and to the cause for which you say that +you are fighting, to fall into any hands but your own." + +Rollo saw that to refer to the Convent of the Holy Innocents, or to +mention Concha's name, would infallibly betray the hiding-place of +Dolores to her enemies, so he could only reiterate his former answer. + +"I am unfortunately prevented by my honour from revealing the name of my +friend, or why the documents were so entrusted. But if your excellency +will only wait till the morning, I promise that you shall be abundantly +satisfied." + +"I am not accustomed to wait for the morning," said Cabrera. "There is +no slackening of rein on the King's service. But I have certain +information as to who you are, which may prove more pertinent to the +occasion, and may, perhaps, prevent any delay whatsoever." + +Cabrera leisurely rolled and lighted a cigarette, giving great attention +to the closing of the paper in which it was enwrapped. + +"I am informed," he said, when he had successfully achieved this, "that +you are three members of the English Foreign Legion which has been +fighting for the Cristino traitors. What have you to say to that?" + +"That it is a lie," shouted Etienne, thrusting himself forward. "I a +Cristino! I would have you know that I am the Count of Saint Pierre, a +cousin in the second degree of Don Carlos himself, and that I came to +Spain to fight for the only true and constitutional King, Carlos the +Fifth." + +Cabrera turned his head and scrutinised the little Frenchman. + +"Ah, then," he said dryly, "if that be so, perhaps you have taken better +care of your papers than this tall gentleman, who has such trust in his +friends." + +"A Saint Pierre does not need papers to prove his identity," said +Etienne, proudly. + +"They are sometimes convenient, nevertheless, even to a Saint Pierre," +said Cabrera, with irony: "they may prevent certain little mistakes +which are more easily made than remedied." + +There was a long pause at this point. + +"What is your business here, Monsieur de Saint Pierre?" continued the +Carlist General suavely, throwing away his cigarette end after inhaling +the "breast" to the last puff with infinite satisfaction. + +"I was sent on a mission, along with these two gentlemen, at the +instance of my uncle, Don Baltasar Varela, the Abbot of Montblanch, and +one of the most trusted councillors of Don Carlos!" + +"Doubtless--doubtless," said Cabrera; "but have you the papers to prove +it? Or any letter in your uncle's handwriting authorising you to commit +the lawless acts you have committed on the person and property of this +faithful servant of the King?" + +"All the papers in connection with the mission were in the care of my +friend Monsieur Rollo Blair, of Blair Castle," said Etienne. "He was +appointed chief of the expedition by my uncle, Don Baltasar, and if he +has parted temporarily with them, it is doubtless for good and +sufficient reasons." + +"Search them," commanded Cabrera, suddenly, in a sharp tone of anger, in +which for the first time the latent cruelty of his nature came out. + +Their captors, with no great delicacy of handling, began to overhaul the +contents of the pockets of the four. They examined their boots, the +lining of their coats, and ripped up the seams of their waist-coats. + +Upon Ramon, nothing at all was found, except the fragment of a handbill +issued by the Nationalist general offering a reward for his capture; at +which more than one of the men wearing the white _boinas_ began to look +upon him with more favour, though they did not offer to ease the +sharply-cutting ropes with which they had bound him. + +Upon John Mortimer was found a pocket-book full of calculations, and a +little pocket Testament with an inscription in English, which made John +Mortimer blush. + +"Tell them my mother gave me that, and made me promise to carry it. I +don't want them to take it away!" + +Rollo translated, and Cabrera, after turning over the pages, handed it +back with a bow. + +"A _gage d'amour_?" he said, smiling. + +"Yes, from my mother!" said John Mortimer, blushing yet more. + +The search through the pockets of Etienne produced nothing except a +number of brief notes, daintily folded but indifferently written, and +signed by various Lolas, Felesias, and Magdalenas. Most of these were +brief, and to the point. "Meet me at the gate by the rose-tree at seven. +My father has gone to the city!" or only "I am waiting for you! Come." + +But in the outer pocket of Rollo Blair was found a far more compromising +document. When the searcher drew it forth from his coat, the eyes of +Luis Fernandez gleamed with triumph. + +Cabrera took the paper and glanced it over carelessly, but as soon as +his eye fell upon the signature the fashion of his countenance changed. +He leaped to his feet. + +"Nogueras!" he cried; "you are in correspondence with Nogueras, the +villain who, in cold blood, shot my poor old mother, for no crime but +that of having borne me. Have the fellow out instantly, and shoot him!" + +Rollo stood a moment dumfounded, then he recovered himself and spoke. + +"General Cabrera," he said, "this is a trick. I have had no +correspondence with Nogueras. I had not even heard his name. This has +been dropped into my pocket by some traitor. I hold a commission in the +service of Don Carlos, and have had no communication with his enemies." + +"But in this place you gave yourselves out as Nationalists, is it not +so?" queried Cabrera. + +"Certainly," answered Rollo; "we were on a secret mission, and we were +given to understand that this was a hostile village." + +Cabrera took up the letter again and read aloud-- + + "_To the young Englishman of the Foreign Legion, pretending + service with Don Carlos._ + + "You are ordered to obtain any information as to the movements + of the brigand Cabrera and his men, by penetrating into their + district, and, if possible, joining their organisation. You + will report the same to me, and this pass will hold you safe + with all servants and well-wishers of the government of the + Queen-Regent. + + "NOGUERAS." + +The Carlist commander, whose voice had been rising as he read, shouted +rather than uttered the name of the murderer of his mother. He did not +again sit down, but strode up and down, his cavalry sword clanging and +battering against the furniture of the little room as if expressing the +angry perturbation of his mind. + +"General," said Rollo, as calmly as if arguing a point in theology, "if +I had been guilty of this treachery, would I have kept a paper like that +loose in an outer pocket? Is it not evident that it has been placed +there by some enemy--probably by that archtraitor there, the miller +Fernandez?" + +Luis Fernandez smiled benignly upon Rollo, but did not speak. He +believed that the poison had done its work. + +Cabrera took not the slightest notice of Rollo's words, but continued to +pace the floor frowning and muttering. + +More than one Carlist soldier glanced at his neighbour with a look which +said, plain as a printed proclamation, "It is all over with the +foreigners!" + +At last Cabrera stopped his promenade. He folded his arms and stood +looking up at Rollo. + +"The morning--I think you said. Well, I will give your friend till the +morning to be ready with the proofs of your innocence. But if not, so +soon as the sun rises over the hills out there, you four shall all be +shot for spies and traitors. Take them away!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +TO BE SHOT AT SUNRISE! + + +The Carlist soldiers conducted Rollo and his three friends to the +granary of the mill-house, where in the mean time they were permitted to +recline as best they might upon the various piles of grain heaped here +and there in preparation for the work of the morrow. + +The Carlists were mostly quite young, Basques and Navarrese, whose jokes +and horseplay, even after a long day's marching, were boyish and +natural. + +Rollo and El Sarria were placed at one side of the granary, and at the +other Etienne and John Mortimer lay at full length upon a heap of corn. +Between paced a sentry with musket and bayonet. + +The kindly lads had, with characteristic generosity, brought their +prisoners a portion of their scanty rations--sausages and dried fish +with onions and cheese, all washed down with copious draughts of red +wine. + +As before, owing to the position of Sarria among its mountains, the +night fell keen and chill. The Carlists slept and snored, all save the +double guards placed over the prisoners. + +"Shall we try a rush? Is it any use?" whispered Rollo to El Sarria. + +The outlaw silently shook his head. He had long ago considered the +position, and knew that it was impossible. The windows were mere slits. +There was only one trap-door in the floor, and that was closed. +Moreover, there were fifty Carlists asleep in the loft, and the floor +below was the bed-chamber of as many more. + +Cast back upon his own thoughts, Rollo reviewed many things--his short +life, the reckless ups-and-downs in which he had spent it--but all +without remorse or regret. + +"I might have been a lawyer, and lived to a hundred!" he said to +himself. "It is better as it is. If I have done little good, perhaps I +have not had time to do a great deal of harm." + +Then very contentedly he curled himself up to sleep as best he might, +only dreamily wondering if little Concha would be sorry when she heard. + +Ramon Garcia sat with his eyes fixed on the sentry who had ceased his +to-and-fro tramp up the centre, and now leaned gloomily against the +wall, his hands crossed about the cross-bar of his sword-bayonet. + +Across the granary John Mortimer reclined with his head in his hands, +making vows never to enter Spain or trust himself under the leadership +of a mad Scot, if this once he should get clear off. + +"It isn't the being shot," he moaned; "it's not being able to tell them +that I'm not a fool, but a respectable merchant able to pay my way and +with a balance at William Deacon's Bank. But it serves me right!" Then a +little inconsequently he added, "By gum, if I get out of this I'll have +a Spanish clerk in the works and learn the language!" + +Which was John Mortimer's way of making a vow to the gods. + +Etienne, having his hands comparatively free, and finding himself +sleepless, looked enviously at Rollo's untroubled repose, and began to +twist cigarettes for himself and the sentry who guarded his side of the +granary. + +Without, the owls circled and cried. A dog barked in the village above, +provoking a far-reaching chorus of his kind. Then blows fell, and he +fled yelping out of earshot. + +Rollo was not wholly comfortable on his couch of grain. The bonds about +his feet galled him, having been more tightly drawn than those of his +companions in virtue of his chiefship. Nevertheless he got a good deal +of sleep, and each time that he awoke it seemed to him that El Sarria +was staring harder at the sentry and that the man had moved a little +nearer. + +At last, turning his head a little to one side, he heard distinctly the +low murmur of voices. + +"Do you remember Pancorbo?" said Ramon Garcia. + +Rollo could not hear the answer, but he caught the outlaw's next +question. + +"And have you forgotten El Sarria, who, having a certain Miguelete under +the point of his knife, let him go for his sweetheart's sake, because +she was waiting for him down in the valley?" + +The sentry's reply was again inaudible, but Rollo was fully awake now. +Ramon Garcia had not abandoned hope, and why should he? When there was +anything to be done, none could be so alert as Rollo Blair. + +"I am El Sarria the outlaw," Ramon went on, "and these are my +companions. We are no traitors, but good Carlists to a man. Our papers +are----" + +Here the words were spoken so low that Rollo could not hear more, but +the next moment he was nudged by Ramon on the leg. + +"Write a note to Concha Cabezos, telling her to bring the papers here at +once if she would save our lives. You are sure she is faithful?" + +"I am sure!" said Rollo, who really had no reason for his confidence +except the expression in her eyes. + +He had no paper, but catching the sentry's eye, he nodded across to +where Etienne was still diligently rolling cigarettes. + +"Alcoy?" he whispered. + +The sentry shouldered his piece and took a turn or two across the floor, +keeping his eye vigilantly on his fellow guard, who, having seated +himself in the window-sill, had dozed off to sleep, the cigarette still +drooping from the corner of his mouth. Yes, he was certainly asleep. + +He held out his hand to Etienne, who readily gave him the last he had +rolled. The sentry thanked him with a quick martial salute, and after a +turn or two more, deftly dropped the crumbled tobacco upon the floor and +let the leaf drop on Rollo's knees with a stump of pencil rolled up in +it. + +Then the young man, turning his back upon the dozing guard in the stone +window-sill, wrote with some difficulty the following note, lying on his +breast and using the uneven floor of the granary for a desk. + + "Little Concha" (it ran), "we are General Cabrera's prisoners. + Bring the papers as soon as you receive this. Otherwise we are + to be shot at day-break.--ROLLO BLAIR." + +There was still a little space left upon the leaf of Alcoy paper, and +with a half shamefaced glance at El Sarria, he added, "_And in any case +do not wholly forget R. B._" + +He passed the note to the outlaw, who folded it to the size of a postage +stamp and apparently gave directions where and to whom it was to be +delivered. + +"In half an hour we shall be relieved and I will go," said the Carlist +ex-Miguelete, and resumed his steady tramp. Presently he awoke his +comrade so that he might not be found asleep at the change of guard. + + * * * * * + +There was nothing more to be done till day-break. They had played their +last card, and now they must wait to see what cards were out against +them, and who should win the final trick at the hour of sunrise. + +Rollo fell asleep again. And so soundly this time, that he only woke to +consciousness when a soldier in a white _boina_ pulled roughly at his +elbow, and ordered him to get up. + +All about the granary the Carlists were stamping feet, pulling on boots, +and flapping arms. + +"It's a cold morning to be shot in," said the man, with rough +kindliness; "but I will get you some hot chocolate in a moment. That +will warm your blood for you, and in any case you will have a quick +passage. I will pick you a firing party of the best shots in the three +provinces. The general will be here in a quarter of an hour, and the sun +will rise in another quarter. One is just as punctual as the other. A +cigarette?--thank you. Well, you are a cool hand! I'm off to see about +the chocolate!" + +And Rollo Blair, with a slight singing in his ears, and a chill +emptiness about the pit of his stomach, stood on his feet critically +rolling a cigarette in a leaf of Etienne's Alcoy paper. + +John Mortimer said nothing, but looked after the man who had gone for +the chocolate. + +"I wish it had been coffee," he said; "chocolate is always bad for my +digestion!" + +Then he smiled a little grimly. His sufferings from indigestion produced +by indulgence in this particular chocolate would in all probability not +be prolonged, seeing that the glow of the sun-rising was already +reddening the sky to the east. + +Etienne was secretly fingering his beads. And El Sarria thought with +satisfaction of the safety of Dolores; he had given up hope of Concha a +full hour ago. The ex-Miguelete had doubtless again played the traitor. +He took a cigarette from Rollo without speaking and followed him across +the uneven floor between the heaps of trodden grain. + +They were led down the stairway one by one, and as they passed through +the ground floor, with its thick woolly coating of grey flour dust, a +trumpet blew without, and they heard the trampling of horses in the +courtyard. + +"Quick!" said a voice at Rollo's elbow, "here is your chocolate. Nothing +like it for strengthening the knee-joints at a time like this. I've seen +men die on wine and on rum and on brandy; but for me, give me a cup of +chocolate as good as that, when my time comes!" + +Rollo drank the thick sweet strength-giving stuff to the accompaniment +of clattering hoofs and jingling accoutrements. + +"Come!" said a voice again, "give me the cup. Do not keep the general +waiting. He is in no good temper this morning, and we are to march +immediately." + +The young man stepped out of the mill-door into the crisp chill of the +dawn. All the east was a glory of blood-red cloud, and for the second +time Rollo and his companions stood face to face with General Cabrera. + +It was within a quarter of an hour of the sun-rising. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +HIS MOTHER'S ROSARY + + +It was, as the soldier had said most truly, a cold morning to be shot +in. But the Carlists, accustomed to Cabrera's summary methods, appeared +to think but little of the matter, and jested as the firing parties were +selected and drawn out. Ragged and desolate they looked as they stood on +a slight slope between the foreigners and the red dawn, biting their +cartridges and fingering the pulls of their rifles with hands numbed +with cold. At elbow and knee their rags of uniforms flapped like bunches +of ribbons at a fair. + +"In the garden!" whispered Luis Fernandez to Cabrera. + +"To the garden!" commanded the general, lighting a new cigarette and +puffing vigorously, "and at this point I may as well bid you good-bye. I +wish our acquaintance had been pleasanter. But the fortune of war, +gentlemen! My mother had not so long time to say her prayers at the +hands of your friend Nogueras--and she was a woman and old, gentlemen. I +doubt not you know as well how to die as she?" + +And they did. Not one of them uttered a word. John Mortimer, seeing +there was now no chance of making his thousand pounds, set an example +of unbending dignity. He comported himself, indeed, exactly as he would +have done on his marriage day. That is, he knew that the eyes of many +were upon him, and he resolved not to shame the performance. So he went +through his part with the exact English mixture of awkward shyness and +sulky self-respect which would have carried him creditably to the altar +in any English church. + +Etienne faced his death like the son of an ancient race, and a good +Catholic. He could not have a confessor, but he said his prayers, +committed his soul to God and the Virgin, and faced the black muzzles +not greatly abashed. + +As for El Sarria, death was his _metier_, his familiar friend. He had +lived with him for years, as a man with a wife, rising up and lying +down, eating and breathing in his company. "The fortune of war," as +Cabrera said. El Sarria was ready. Dolores and her babe were safe. He +asked no more. + +And not less readily fell into line Rollo Blair. A little apart he stood +as they made ready to march out of the presence of the Carlist general. +John Mortimer was already on his way, carefully and conscientiously +ordering his going, that he might not in these last things disgrace his +nation and his upbringing. Etienne and Ramon were following him. Still +the young Scot lingered. Cabrera, nervously fingering his accoutrement +and signing papers at a folding table, found time to eye him with +curiosity. + +"Did he mean to make a last plea for mercy?" he thought. + +Cabrera smiled contemptuously. A friend of Nogueras might know Ramon +Cabrera of Tortosa better. But Rollo had no such thought. He had in his +fingers Etienne's last slip of Alcoy paper, in which the cigarette of +Spain, unfailing comforter, is wrapped. To fill it he had crumbled his +last leaf of tobacco. Now it was rolled accurately and with lingering +particularity, because it was to be the last. It lay in his palm featly +made, a cigarette worthy to be smoked by Don Carlos himself. + +Almost unconsciously Rollo put it to his lips. It was a cold morning, +and it is small wonder that his hand shook a little. He was just +twenty-three, and his main regret was that he had not kissed little +Concha Cabezos--with her will, or against it--all would have been one +now. Meantime he looked about him for a light. The general noticed his +hesitation, rose from the table, and with a low bow offered his own, as +one gentleman to another. Rollo thanked him. The two men approached as +if to embrace. Each drew a puff of his cigarette, till the points glowed +red. Rollo, retreating a little, swept a proud acknowledgment of thanks +with his _sombrero_. Cabrera bowed with his hand on his heart. The young +Scot clicked his heels together as if on parade, and strode out with +head erect and squared shoulders in the rear of his companions. + +"By God's bread, a man!" said Cabrera, as he resumed his writing, "'tis +a thousand pities I must shoot him!" + +They stood all four of them in the garden of the mill-house, underneath +the fig trees in whose shade El Sarria had once hidden himself to watch +the midnight operations of Don Tomas. + +The sun was just rising. His beams red, low, and level shot across the +mill-wheel, turning the water of the unused overshot into a myriad +pearls and diamonds as it splashed through a side culvert into the +gorge beneath, in which the gloom of night lingered. + +The four men still stood in order. Mortimer and Etienne in the middle, +with slim Rollo and the giant Ramon towering on either flank. + +"_Load with ball--at six paces--make ready!_" + +The officer's commands rang out with a certain haste, for he could +already hear the clattering of the horses of the general's cavalcade, +and he knew that if upon his arrival he had not carried out his orders, +he might expect a severe reprimand. + +But it was not the general's suite that rode so furiously. The sound +came from a contrary direction. Two horses were being ridden at speed, +and at sight of the four men set in order against the wall the foremost +rider sank both spurs into her white mare and dashed forward with a wild +cry. + +The officer already had his sword raised in the air, the falling of +which was to be the signal for the volley of death. But it did not fall. +Something in the aspect of the girl-rider as she swept up parallel with +the low garden wall, her hair floating disordered about her +shoulders--her eyes black and shining like stars--the sheaf of papers +she waved in her hand, all compelled the Carlist to suspend that last +irrevocable order. + +It was Concha Cabezos who arrived when the eleventh hour was long past, +and leaped from her reeking horse opposite the place of execution. With +her, wild-haired as a Maenad, rode La Giralda, cross-saddled like a man. + +"General Cabrera! Where is General Cabrera?" cried Concha. "I must see +him instantly. These are no traitors. They are true men, and in the +service of Don Carlos. Here are their papers!" + +"Where is Ramon Cabrera? Tell me quickly!" cried La Giralda. "I have +news for him. I was with his mother when she died. They whipped me at +the cross of Tortosa to tell what I knew--stripping me to the waist they +whipped me, being old and the mother of many. Cabrera will avenge me. +Let me but see Ramon Cabrera whom of old I suckled at my breasts!" + +The officer hesitated. In such circumstances one might easily do wrong. +He might shoot these men, and after all find that they were innocent. He +preferred to wait. The living are more easily deprived of life than the +dead restored to it. Such was his thought. + +In any case he had not long to wait. + +Round the angle of the mill-house swept the general and his staff, +brilliant in scarlet and white, heightened by the glitter of abundant +gold-lace. For the ex-butcher of Tortosa was a kind of military dandy, +and loved to surround himself with the foppery of the _matador_ and the +brigand. At heart, indeed, he was still the _guerrillero_ of Morella, +riding home through the streets of that little rebel city after a +successful foray. + +As his eyes fell on the row of men dark against the dusty _adobe_ of the +garden wall, and on the two pale women, a dark frown overspread his +face. + +"What is the meaning of this?" he cried. "Why have you not obeyed your +instructions? Why are these men not yet dead?" + +The officer trembled, and began an explanation, pointing to Concha and +La Giralda, both of whom stood for a moment motionless. Then flinging +herself over the low wall of the garden as if her years had more nearly +approached seventeen than seventy, La Giralda caught the great man by +the stirrup. + +"Little Ramon, Ramon Cabrera," she cried, "have you forgotten your old +nurse, La Giralda of Sevilla, your mother's gossip, your own playmate?" + +The general turned full upon her, with the quick indignant threat of one +who considers himself duped, in his countenance. It had gone ill with La +Giralda if she had not been able to prove her case. But she held +something in her hand, the sight of which brought the butcher of Tortosa +down from his saddle as quickly as if a Cristino bullet had pierced him +to the heart. + +La Giralda was holding out to him an old string of beads, simply carved +out of some brown oriental nut, but so worn away by use that the +stringing had almost cut through the hard and polished shell. + +"My mother's rosary!" he cried, and sinking on his knees, he devoutly +received and kissed it. He abode thus a moment looking up to the +sky--he, the man who had waded in blood during six years of bitter +warfare. He kissed the worn beads one by one and wept. They were his +mother's way to heaven. And he did not know a better. In which perchance +he was right. + +"Whence gat you this?" cried Cabrera, rising sharply as a thought struck +him; "my mother never would have parted with these in her life--you +plundered it from her body after her death! Quick, out with your story, +or you die!" + +"Nay, little foster-son," said La Giralda, "I was indeed with your +mother at the last--when she was shot by Nogueras, and five minutes +before she died she gave her rosary into my hands to convey to you. +'Take this to my son,' she said, 'and bid him never forget his mother, +nor to say his prayers night and morn. Bid him swear it on these sacred +beads!' So I have brought them to you. She kissed them before she died. +At the risk of my life have I brought it." + +"And these," said Cabrera--"do you know these dogs, La Giralda?" + +He pointed to the four men who still stood by the wall, the firing party +at attention before them, and the eyes of all on the next wave of the +general's hand which would mean life or death. + +La Giralda drew a quick breath. Would the hold she had over him be +sufficient for what she was about to ask? He was a fierce man and a +cruel, this Ramon Cabrera, who loved naught in the world except his +mother, and had gained his present ascendency in the councils of Don +Carlos by the unbending and consistent ferocity of his conduct. + +"These are no traitors, General," she said; "they are true men, and deep +in the councils of the cause." + +She bent and whispered in his ear words which others could not hear. The +face of the Carlist general darkened from a dull pink to purple, and +then his colour ebbed away to a ghastly ashen white as he listened. + +Twice he sprang up from the stone bench where he had seated himself, +ground his heel into the gravel brought from the river-bed beneath, and +muttered a characteristic imprecation, "Ten for one of their women I +have slain already--by San Vicente after this it shall be a hundred!" + +For La Giralda was telling him the tale of his mother's shooting by +Nogueras. + +Then all suddenly he reseated himself, and beckoned to Concha. + +"Come hither," he said; "let me see these fellows' papers, and tell me +how they came into your hands!" + +Concha was ready. + +"The Senor, the tall stranger, had a mission to the Lady Superior of the +Convent," she began. "From Don Baltasar Varela it was, Prior of the +great Carlist Monastery of Montblanch. He trusted his papers into her +hands as a guarantee of his loyalty and good faith, and here they are!" + +Concha flashed them from her bosom and laid them in the general's hands. +Usually Cabrera was blind to female charms, but upon this occasion his +eye rested with pleasure on the quick and subtle grace of the Andaluse. + +"Then you are a nun?" he queried, looking sharply at her figure and +dress. + +"Ah, no," replied Concha, thinking with some hopefulness that she was to +have at least a hearing, "I am not even a lay sister. The good Lady +Superior had need of a housekeeper--one who should be free of the +convent and yet able to transact business without the walls. It is a +serious thing (as your honour knows) to provision even a hundred men who +can live rough and eat sparely--how much harder to please a +convent-school filled from end to end with the best blood in Spain! And +good blood needs good feeding----" + +"As I well knew when I was a butcher in Tortosa!" quoth Cabrera, +smiling. "There were a couple of ducal families within the range of my +custom, and they consumed more beef and mutton than a whole _barrio_ of +poor pottage-eaters!" + +To make Cabrera smile was more than half the battle. + +"You are sure they had nothing to do with the slayers of my mother?" He +was fierce again in a moment, and pulled the left flange of his +moustache into his mouth with a quick nervous movement of the fingers. + +"I will undertake that no one of them hath ever been further South than +this village of Sarria," said Concha, somewhat hastily, and without +sufficient authority. + +Cabrera looked at the papers. There was a Carlist commission in the name +of Don Rollo Blair duly made out, a letter from General Elio, chief of +the staff, commending all the four by name and description to all good +servants of Don Carlos, as trustworthy persons engaged on a dangerous +and secret mission. Most of all, however, he seemed to be impressed with +the ring belonging to Etienne, with its revolving gem and concealed +portrait of Carlos the Fifth. + +He placed it on his finger and gazing intently, asked to whom it +belonged. As soon as he understood, he summoned the little Frenchman to +his presence. Etienne came at the word, calm as usual, and twirling his +moustache in the manner of Rollo. + +"This is your ring?" he demanded of the prisoner. Concha tried to catch +Etienne's eye to signal to him that he must give Cabrera that upon which +his fancy had lighted. But her former lover stubbornly avoided her eye. + +"That is my ring," he answered dryly, after a cursory inspection of the +article in question as it lay in the palm of the _guerillero's_ hand. + +"It is very precious to you?" asked the butcher of Tortosa, +suggestively. + +"It was given to me by my cousin, the king," answered Etienne, briefly. + +"Then I presume you do not care to part with it?" said Cabrera, turning +it about on his finger, and holding it this way and that to the light. + +"No," said Etienne, coolly. "You see, my cousin might not give me +another!" + +But the butcher of Tortosa could be as simple and direct in his methods +as even Rollo himself. + +"Will you give it to me?" he said, still admiring it as it flashed upon +his finger. + +Etienne looked at the general calmly from head to foot, Concha all the +time frowning upon him to warn him of his danger. But the young man was +preening himself like a little bantam-cock of vanity, glad to be +reckless under the fire of such eyes. He would not have missed the +chance for worlds, so he replied serenely, "Do you still intend to shoot +us?" + +"What has that to do with the matter?" growled Cabrera, who was losing +his temper. + +"Because if you do," said Etienne, who had been waiting his opportunity, +"you are welcome to the jewel--_after_ I am dead. But if I am to live, I +shall require it for myself!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +THE BURNING OF THE MILL-HOUSE + + +Cabrera bit his lip for a moment, frowned still more darkly, and then +burst into a roar of laughter. For the moment the _gamin_ in him was +uppermost--the same curly-pated rascal who had climbed walls and stolen +apples from the market-women's stalls of Tortosa thirty years ago. + +"You are a brave fellow," cried the general, "and I would to Heaven that +your royal cousin had more of your spirit. Are all of your company of +the same warlike kidney?" + +"I trust I am afraid of no man on the field of honour," answered the +loyal little Frenchman, throwing out his chest. "Yet I speak but the +truth when I aver that there is not one of my companions who could not +say grace and eat me up afterwards!" + +Among the letters which had formed part of Rollo's credentials there was +one superscribed "_To be opened in the camp of General Cabrera_." + +Cabrera now dismissed the firing party with a wave of his hand, the +officer in command exchanging an encouraging nod with Rollo. Then he +summoned that young man to approach. Rollo threw away the last inch of +his cigarette, and going up easily, saluted the general with his usual +self-possession. + +"Well, colonel," said the latter, "I little thought to exchange +civilities with you again; but for that you have to thank this young +lady. The fortune of war once more! But if young men will entrust +precious papers to pretty girls, they must have a fund of gratitude upon +which to draw--that is, when the ladies arrive in time. On this occasion +it was most exactly done. Yet you must have lived through some very +crowded moments while you faced the muzzles of yonder rifles!" + +And he pointed to the lane down which the firing party was defiling. + +Rollo bowed, but did not reply, awaiting the general's pleasure. +Presently Cabrera, recollecting the sealed letter in his hand, gave it +unopened to the youth. + +"There," he said, "that, I see, is to be opened in the camp of General +Cabrera. Well--where Cabrera is, there is his camp. Open it, and let us +see what it contains." + +"I will, general," said the young Scot, "in so far, that is, as it +concerns your Excellency." + +The Carlist general sat watching Rollo keenly as he broke the seal and +discovered a couple of enclosures. One was sealed and the other open. +The first he presented to Cabrera, who, observing the handwriting of the +superscription, changed colour. Meanwhile, without paying any attention +to him, Rollo read his own communication from beginning to end. It had +evidently been passed on to him from a higher authority than the Abbot, +for only the address was in the handwriting of that learned ecclesiast. + +It ran as follows: + + "To the Man who shall be chosen by our trusted Councillor for + the Mission Extraordinary in the service of Carlos + Quinto--These: + + "You will receive from General Cabrera such succour and + assistance as may seem to you needful in pursuance of the + project you have in hand, namely the capturing of the young + Princess Isabel together with her mother, the so-called Regent + Cristina. Thereafter you will bring them with diligence within + our lines, observing all the respect and courtesy due to their + exalted rank and to the sex to which they belong. + + "At the same time you are held indemnified for all killings of + such persons as may stand in your way in the execution of the + duty laid upon you, and by order of the King himself you hereby + take rank as a full Colonel in his service." + +Meanwhile Cabrera had been bending his brows over the note which had +been directed to him personally. He rose and paced the length of the +garden-wall with the letter in his hand, while Rollo stood his ground +with an unmoved countenance. Presently he stopped opposite the young man +and stood regarding him intently. + +"I am, I understand, to furnish you with men for this venture," he said; +"good--but I am at liberty to prove you first. That you are cool and +brave I know. We must find out whether you are loyal as well." + +"I am as loyal as any Spaniard who ever drew breath," retorted Rollo, +hotly, "and in this matter I will answer for my companions as well." + +"And pray in what way, Sir Spitfire?" said Cabrera, smiling. + +"Why, as a man should," said Rollo, "with his sword or his pistol, +or--as is our island custom--with his fists--it is all the same to me; +yes, even with your abominable Spanish knife, which is no true +gentleman's weapon!" + +"I am no unfriend to plainness, sir, either in speech or action," said +Cabrera; "I see you are indeed a brave fellow, and will not lessen the +king's chances of coming to his own by letting you loose on the men +under my command. Still for one day you will not object to ride with +us!" + +Rollo coloured high. + +"General," he said, "I will not conceal it from you that I have wasted +too much time already; but if you wish for our assistance in your +designs for twenty-four hours, I am not the man to deny you." + +"I thought not," cried Cabrera, much pleased. "And now have you any +business to despatch before we leave this place? If so, let it be seen +to at once!" + +"None, Excellency," said Rollo, "save that if you are satisfied of our +good faith I should like to see Luis Fernandez the miller dealt with +according to his deserts!" + +"I will have him shot instantly," cried Cabrera; "he hath given false +tidings to his Majesty's generals. He hath belied his honest servants. +Guard, bring Luis Fernandez hither!" + +This was rather more than Rollo had bargained for. He was not yet +accustomed to the summary methods of Cabrera, even though the butcher's +hand had hardly yet unclosed from himself. He was already meditating an +appeal in favour of milder measures, when the guard returned with the +news that Luis Fernandez was nowhere to be found. Dwelling-house, +strong-room, mill, garden, and gorge beneath--all had been searched. In +vain--they were empty and void. The tumbled beds where the general and +his staff had slept, the granary with its trampled heaps of corn ready +for grinding, the mill-wheel with the pool beneath where the lights and +shadows played at bo-peep, where the trout lurked and the water-boxes +seemed to descend into an infinity of blackness--all were deserted and +lonesome as if no man had been near them for a hundred years. + +"The rascal has escaped!" cried Cabrera, full of rage; "have I not told +you a thousand times you keep no watch? I have a great mind to stand +half a dozen of you up against that wall. Escaped with my entire command +about the rogue's home-nest! Well, set a torch to it and see if he is +lurking anywhere about the crevices like a centipede in a crack!" + +Cabrera felt that he had wasted a great deal of time on a fine morning +without shooting somebody, and it would certainly have gone ill with Don +Luis or his brother if either of them had been compelled by the flames +to issue forth from the burning mill-house of Sarria. + +But they were not there. The cur dogs of the village and a few +half-starved mongrels that followed the troops had great sport worrying +the rats which darted continually from the burning granaries. But of the +more important human rats, no sign. + +All the inhabitants of the village were there likewise, held back from +plundering by the bayonets of the Carlist troops. They stood recounting +to each other, wistfully, the stores of clothes, the silk curtains, the +uncut pieces of broadcloth, the household linen, the great eight-day +clocks in their gilt ormolu cases. Every woman had something to add to +the catalogue. Every householder felt keenly the injustice of +permitting so much wealth to be given to the crackling flames. + +"Yes, it was very well," they said; "doubtless the Fernandez family were +vermin to be burned up--smoked out. But they possessed much good gear, +the gathering of many years. These things have committed no treason +against either Don Carlos or the Regent Cristina. Why then are we not +permitted to enter and remove the valuables? It is monstrous. We will +represent the matter to General Cabrera--to Don Carlos himself!" + +But one glance at the former, as he sat his horse, nervously twisting +the reins and watching the destruction from under his black brows, made +their hearts as water within them. Their pet Valiant, old Gaspar Perico, +too, had judiciously hidden himself. Esteban the supple had accompanied +him, and the venta of Sarria was in the hands of the silent, +swift-footed, but exceedingly capable maid-servant who had played the +trick upon Etienne. + +The Sarrians therefore watched the mill-house blaze up, and thanked God +that it stood some way from the other dwellings of the place. + +Suddenly Cabrera turned upon them. + +"Hearken ye, villagers of Sarria," he cried, "I have burned the home of +a traitor. If I hear of any shelter being granted to Luis Fernandez or +his brother within your bounds, I swear by the martyred honour of my +mother that on my return I will burn every house within your walls and +shoot every man of you capable of bearing arms. You have heard of Ramon +Cabrera. Let that be enough." + +The villagers got apprehensively behind each other, and none answered, +each waiting for the other, till with mighty bass thunder the voice rang +out again: + +"Have you no answer?" he cried, "no promise? Must I set a dozen of you +with your backs against the wall, as I did at Espluga in Francoli, to +stimulate those dull country wits of yours?" + +Then a young man gaily dressed was thrust to the front. Very unwilling +he was to show himself, and at his appearance, with his knees knocking +together, a merry laugh rang out from behind Cabrera. + +That chieftain turned quickly with wrath in his eye. For it was a sound +of a woman's mirth that was heard, and all such were strictly forbidden +within his lines. + +But at the sight of little Concha, her dark eyes full of light, her +hands clapping together in innocent delight, her white teeth disclosed +in gay and dainty laughter, a certain _maja_ note of daring unconvention +in her costume, she was so exactly all that would have sent him into +raptures twenty years before when he was an apprentice in Tortosa, that +the grim man only smiled and turned again to the unwilling spokesman of +the municipality of Sarria. + +A voice from the press before the burning house announced the delegate's +quality. + +"Don Raphael de Flores, son of our _alcalde_." + +"Speak on, Don Raphael," cried Cabrera; "I will not shoot you unless it +should be necessary." + +Thus encouraged the trembling youth began. + +"Your Excellency," he quavered, "we of Sarria have nothing to do with +the family of Fernandez. We would not give any one of them a handful of +maize or a plate of lentil broth if he were starving. We are loyal men +and women--well-wishers to the cause of the only true and absolute King +Carlos Quinto." + +"I am credibly informed that it is otherwise," said Cabrera, "and that +you are a den of red-hot nationals. I therefore impose a fine of two +thousand _duros_ on the municipality, and as you are the alcalde's son, +we will keep you in durance till they be paid." + +Don Raphael fell on his knees. His pale face was reddened by the flames +from the mill-house, the fate of which must have afforded a striking +object-lesson to a costive magistracy in trouble about a forced loan. + +"We are undone," he cried; "I am a married man, your Excellency, and +have not a _maravedi_ to call my own. You had better shoot me out of +hand, and be done with it. Indeed, we cannot possibly pay." + +"Go and find your father," cried Cabrera; "he pocketed half of the price +of Don Ramon Garcia's house. I cannot see my namesake suffer. Tell him +that two thousand _duros_ is the price up till noon. After that it will +have risen to four thousand, and by three of the afternoon, if the money +be not paid into the treasury of the only absolute and Catholic +sovereign (in the present instance my breeches pocket), I shall be +reluctantly compelled to shoot one dozen of the leading citizens of the +township of Sarria. Let a strong guard accompany this young man till he +returns from carrying his message." + +In this way did Cabrera replenish the treasury of his master Don Carlos, +and with such pleasant argument did he induce reluctant _alcaldes_ to +discover the whereabouts of their strong boxes. + +For a remarkably shrewd man was General Ramon Cabrera, the butcher of +Tortosa. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +HOW TO BECOME A SOLDIER + + +The change in the aspect of affairs would have made a greater difference +to most companies of adventurers than it did to that of which Master +Rollo Blair of Blair Castle in the shire of Fife was the leader. In the +morning they had all risen with the expectation of being shot with the +sun-rising. At ten of the clock they were speeding southward on good +horses, holding acknowledged rank and position in the army of the only +Catholic and religious sovereign. + +But they were a philosophic quartette. Rollo drew in the morning air and +blew it back again through his nostrils without thinking much of how +nearly he had come to kissing the brown earth of Luis Fernandez's garden +with a dozen bullets through his heart. Mortimer meditated somewhat +sulkily upon his lost onions, rustling pleasantly back there in the cool +_patio_ of the nunnery. Etienne sorrowed for his latest love idyll +ruthlessly cut short, and as to El Sarria, he thought of nothing save +that Dolores had come back to him and that he had yet to reckon with the +Fernandez family. The next time he would attend to the whole matter +himself, and there would be no mistakes. + +It was not without sadness that Rollo looked his last on the white +walls of the convent of the Holy Innocents. He was glad indeed to have +placed Dolores in safety--glad that she and her child were together, and +that the good sisters were responsible for them. Between them the four +had made up a purse to be sent by Concha to the Mother Superior, to be +applied for the behoof of her guests till the better days should come, +and Ramon Garcia be able to claim his wife and first-born son. + +But Concha had refused point-blank. + +"The babe came through the wicket. The mother arrived by night, a +fugitive asking pity, like the Virgin fleeing down to Egypt in the +pictures," said Concha. "The convent needs no alms, nor does the Lady +Superior sell her help. Keep the money, lads. If I am not a fool you +will need it more than the sisterhood of the Holy Innocents before you +come to your journey's end." + +And with that she blew them each a dainty kiss, distinguishing no one +above the other, dropped a curtsey to the general, whose eyes followed +her with more than usual interest, leaped on her white mare and rode +off, attended by La Giralda riding astride like a man, in the same +fashion in which she had arrived. + +So little Concha was gone from his sight, and duty loomed up suddenly +gaunt and void of interest before Rollo. To risk his life was nothing. +When he got nearer to the goal, his blood would rise, that he knew. To +capture a queen and a regent at one coup, to upset a government, to +bring a desolating war to an end--these were all in the day's work. But +why, in the name of all that was sanest and most practical, did his +heart feel like lead within him and his new dignity turn to Dead Sea +ashes in his mouth? + +It was not long before Cabrera dropped back, that he might talk over +ways and means with the young colonel. It was clear that the _guerrilla_ +chieftain did not believe greatly in the project. + +"I do not understand all this," he said; "it is not my way. What have we +to do with taking women and children prisoners? Let us have no truck, +barter, or exchange with the government at Madrid except at the point of +the bayonet. That is my way of it, and if my advice had been taken +before, my master would at this moment have been in the royal palace of +his ancestors. But these secret embassies in the hands of +foreigners--what good can come of them?" + +Rollo explained such things as the Abbot of Montblanch had made clear to +him--namely, that the Regent and her daughter were by no means averse to +Holy Church, nor yet eager to keep the true King out of his own. But, +they were in the power of unscrupulous men--Mendizabal, Linares, and +others, who for their own ends published edicts and compelled the ladies +to sign them. If they were captured and sequestered for their own good, +the ministry would break down and Don Carlos would reign undisturbed. + +Rollo thought the exposition a marvel of clearness and point. It was +somewhat disappointing, therefore, when he had finished to hear from +Cabrera the unmoved declaration: "A Cristino is a Cristino whether in +the palace of Madrid or on the mountains of Morella. And the quickest +way is the best way with such an one, wherever met with!" + +"But you do not mean to say that you would shoot the girl-Queen or the +mother-Regent if they fell into your hands?" cried Rollo, aghast at the +horror. + +The deep underlying anger leaped up fiery red into the eyes of the +_guerrilla_ chief. + +"Aye, that would I," he cried, "as quickly as they slew my own old +mother in the barrack yard of Tortosa!" + +And thinking of that tragedy and the guilt of Nogueras, Rollo felt there +was something to be said for the indomitable, implacable little +butcher-general of Don Carlos. + +Cabrera was silent for a while after making this speech, and then +abruptly demanded of Rollo how many men he would require for his +undertaking. + +"I am bidden to place my entire command at your service," he said with +obvious reluctance, glancing out of his little oblique eyes at the young +colonel. + +Rollo considered a while before answering. + +"It is my opinion that the fewer men concerned in such a venture the +greater the chances of success," he said at last; "furnish me with one +petty officer intimately acquainted with the country between Zaragoza +and San Ildefonso, and I will ask no more." + +Cabrera drew a long breath and looked at the young man with infinitely +more approval than he had before manifested. + +"You are right," he said, "three times right! If you fail, there are +fewer to go to the gallows. In prison fewer ill-sewn wine-skins to leak +information. If you succeed, there are also fewer to divide the credit +and the reward. For my own part, I do not think you will succeed, but I +will provide you with the best man in my command for your purpose and in +addition heartily wish you well out of your adventure!" + +Cabrera was indeed immensely relieved to find the desires of our hero so +moderate. He had been directed to supply him with whatever force he +required, and he expected to be deprived of a regiment at least, at a +most critical time in the affairs of the Absolute King. + +"Young man," he said, "you will certainly be shot or hanged before you +are a month older. Nevertheless in the mean time I would desire to have +the honour of shaking you by the hand. If you were not to die so soon, +undoubtedly you would go far! It is a pity. And the Cristinos are bad +shots. They will not do the job half as creditably as my fellows would +have done it for you this morning!" + +The man who was chosen by Cabrera to accompany them on their mission was +of a most remarkable appearance. Tall, almost as tall as El Sarria, he +was yet distinguished from his fellows by a notable gauntness and +angularity of figure. + +"A step-ladder with the bottom bars missing!" was Rollo's mental +description of him, as he stood before them in a uniform jacket much too +tight for him, through which his ribs showed not unlike the spars of a +ladder. + +But in other respects Sergeant Cardono was a remarkable man. The iron +gravity of his countenance, seamed on the right-hand side by a deep +scar, took no new expression when he found himself detailed by his +general for this new and dangerous mission. + +With a single salute he fell out and instantly attached himself to +Rollo, whom he relieved of his knapsack and waterbottle on the spot. +Sergeant Cardono paid no attention whatever to the other three, whom he +evidently regarded as very subordinate members of the expedition. + +As soon as they arrived at the village where they were to part from the +command of Cabrera, Sergeant Cardono promptly disappeared. He was not +seen for several hours, during which Rollo and El Sarria wandered here +and there endeavouring in that poor place to pick up some sustenance +which would serve them in lieu of a dinner. They had but poor success. A +round of black bread, a fowl of amazing age, vitality, and muscular +development, with a few snails, were all that they could obtain by their +best persuasions, aided by the money with which Rollo was plentifully +supplied. John Mortimer looked disconsolately on. He had added a little +ham on his own account, which last he had brought in his saddle-bags +from the venta of Sarria. But everything pointed to a sparse meal, and +even the philosophic Etienne shrugged his shoulders and departed to +prospect at a certain house half a mile up the road where, as they had +ridden rapidly by, a couple of pretty girls had looked out curiously at +the tossing Carlist _boinas_. + +Rollo and El Sarria were carrying their scanty provend to a house where +a decent-looking woman had agreed to cook it for them, when their gloomy +reveries were interrupted by a sudden apparition which burst upon them +as they stood on the crest of a deep hollow. + +The limestone hills had been rent asunder at the place, and from the +bare faces of the rocks the neighbouring farmers and villagers had +quarried and carried away such of the overhanging blocks as could easily +be trimmed to suit their purposes. + +Part of what remained had been shaped into a _hornito_, or stone oven, +under which a fire had been kindled, and a strange figure moved about, +stirring the glowing charcoal with a long bar of iron. On a smaller +hearth nearer at hand a second fire blazed, and the smell of fragrant +cookery rose to the expectant and envious nostrils of the four. + +It was Sergeant Cardono, who moved about whistling softly, now attending +to the steaming _olla_, now watching the rising bread in the _hornito_. + +Perceiving Rollo, he saluted gravely and remarked, "Dinner will be +served in half an hour." The others, as before, he simply ignored. But +in deference to his new commander he stopped whistling and moved about +with his lean shoulders squared as if on parade. + +When the bread and the skinny chicken were placed in his hands, he +glanced at them with somewhat of superciliousness. + +"The bread will serve for crumbs," he said, and immediately began to +grate the baton-like loaf with a farrier's hoof-rasp which he used in +his culinary operations. "But this," he added, as he turned over the +bird, "is well stricken in years, and had better be given to the +recruits. They have young teeth and have had practice upon dead +artillery mules!" + +So saying, he went casually to the edge of the little quarry, whistled a +peculiar note and tossed the bird downward to some person unseen, who +appeared from nowhere in particular for the purpose of receiving it. + +When the dinner was ready Sergeant Cardono announced it to Rollo as if +he had been serving a prince. And what was the young man's astonishment +to find a table, covered with a decent white cloth, under the shelter of +a limestone rock, spread for three, and complete even to table napkins, +which the sergeant had tied into various curious shapes. + +As they filed down the slope the sergeant stood at attention, but when +El Sarria passed he quickly beckoned him aside with a private gesture. + +"You and I will eat after the foreigners," he explained. + +El Sarria drew himself up somewhat proudly, but Sergeant Cardono +whispered in his ear two or three words which appeared to astonish him +so much that he did as he was bid, and stood aside while John Mortimer +and Etienne de Saint Pierre seated themselves. + +But Rollo, who had no great love for eating, and considered one man just +as much entitled to respect as another, would not sit down till El +Sarria was accommodated also. + +"May it please your Excellency, Don Ramon and I have much to say to each +other," quoth the Sergeant, with great respect, "besides your honour is +aware--the garlic--the onions--we of this country love them?" + +"But so do I," cried Rollo, "and I will not have distinctions made on +this expedition. We are all to risk our lives equally and we shall all +fare equally, and if we are caught our dose of lead or halter-hemp will +be just the same." + +Here El Sarria interrupted. + +"With respect," he said, "it is true that this gentleman hath some +private matters to communicate to me which have nothing to do with the +object of our mission. I crave your permission that for to-day I may +dine apart with him!" + +After this there was no more to be said. El Sarria helped the sergeant +to serve the meal, which was at once the proof of his foraging ability +and his consummate genius as a cook. For though the day was Friday, the +soup was very far from _maigre_. The stew contained both lamb and fresh +pork cut into generous cubes with a sufficiency of savoury fat included. +A sausage had been sliced small for seasoning and the whole had been so +smothered in _garbanzos_, haricot beans, rice, mixed with strips of +toothsome salt fish, that John Mortimer bent and said a well-deserved +blessing over the viands. + +"I don't usually in this country," he explained, "but really this is +what my good old father would call a manifest providence. That fellow of +ours will prove a treasure." + +"It seems so," said Rollo, a little grimly, "that is, if he can scout +and fight as well as he can cater and cook." + +For himself the young Scot cared little what he ate, and would have +dined quite cheerfully on dry bread and water, if any one would have +listened to his stories of the wonders of his past life or the yet more +wonderful achievements of his future. He would have sat and spun yarns +concerning the notches on Killiecrankie at a dyke-back, though he had +not tasted food for twenty-four hours, with the utmost composure and +relish. But his companions were of another kidney, being all valiant +trencher-men--John Mortimer desiring chiefly quantity in his eating, +while Etienne, no mean cook himself, desiderated rather variety and +delicacy in the dishes which were set before him. + +At all events the dinner was a great success, though the Sergeant, who +evinced the greatest partiality for Rollo, often reproached him with +eating little, or inquired anxiously if the sauce of a certain dish +were not to his taste. Rollo, in the height of his argument, would +hastily affirm that it was delicious, and be off again in chase of some +deed of arms or daring, leaving the Sergeant's _chef-d'oeuvre_ +untasted on his plate. + +At this the Sergeant shook his head in private to El Sarria. + +"It will stand in his way, I fear me," he said sententiously; "was there +ever a notable general yet who had not a fine belly to wag before him +upon horseback? 'Tis as necessary as the cock's feathers in his hat. Now +there is your cut-and-thrust officer who is good for nothing but to be +first in charges and to lead forlorn hopes--this colonel of yours is +just the figure for him. I have seen many a dozen of them get the lead +between their ribs and never regretted it before. But it is a devil's +pity that this young cockerel is not fonder of his dinner. How regardeth +he the women?" + +This last question was asked anxiously, yet with some hope. But this +also El Sarria promptly scattered to the winds. + +"I do not think that he regards them at all! He has scarcely looked at +one of them ever since I first knew him." + +Sergeant Cardono groaned, seemingly greatly perturbed in spirit. + +"I feared as much," he said, shaking his head; "he hath not the right +wandering eye. Now, that young Frenchman is a devil untamed! And the +Englishman--well, though he is deeper, he also hath it in him. But the +colonel is all for fighting and his duty. It is easy to see that he will +rise but little higher. When was there ever a great soldier without a +weakness for a pretty woman and a good dinner? Why, the thing is +against nature. Now, my father fought in the War of the Independence, +and the tales that he told of El Gran' Lor'--he was a soldier if you +like, worthy of the white plumes! A cook all to himself closer at his +elbow than an aide-de-camp--and as to the women--ah----!" + +Sergeant Cardono nodded as one who could tell tales and he would. Yet +the Sergeant Cardono found some reason to change his mind as to Rollo's +qualifications for field-officership before the end of their first day +apart from Cabrera. + +It was indeed with a feeling of intense relief that the little company +of five men separated from the white and red _boinas_ of the +butcher-general's cavalcade. Well-affected to them as Cabrera might be +for the time being, his favour was so brief and uncertain, his affection +so tiger-like, that even Sergeant Cardono sighed a sigh of satisfaction +when they turned their horses' heads towards the far-away Guadarrama +beyond which lay the goal of their adventuring. + +Presently the tongues of the little cavalcade were unloosed. El Sarria +and Sergeant Cardono having found subjects of common interest, communed +together apart like old friends. John Mortimer and Etienne, who +generally had little to say to each other, conversed freely upon +wine-growing and the possibility of introducing cotton-spinning into the +South of France. For Etienne was not destitute of a certain Gascon eye +to the main chance. + +Rollo alone rode gloomily apart. He was turning over the terms of his +commission in his mind, and the more he thought, the less was he +satisfied. It was not alone the desperateness of the venture that +daunted Rollo, but the difficulty of providing for the Queen-Regent and +little princess when captured. There were a couple of hundred miles to +ride back to those northern fastnesses where they would be safe; for the +most part without cover and through country swarming with Nationals and +Cristino partisans. + +Riding thus in deep meditation, Rollo, whose gaze was usually so alert, +did not observe away to the right a couple of horses ridden at speed and +rapidly overtaking their more tired beasts. + +El Sarria, however, did not fail to note them, but, fearing a belated +message of recall from General Cabrera, he did not communicate his +discovery to his companions, contenting himself with keeping his eye +upon the approaching riders. + +Rollo was therefore still advancing, his reins flung loosely upon his +beast's neck and his whole attitude betokening a melancholy resignation, +a couple of lengths before his companions, when a sudden clattering of +hoofs startled him. He looked up, and there, on her white mare, +well-lathered at girth and bridle, was little Concha Cabezos, sitting +her panting beast with the grace of the true Andaluse. + +Her hair was a little ruffled by the wind. Her cheeks and lips were +adorably red. There was a new and brilliant light in her eye; and after +one curiously comprehensive glance at the company, she turned about to +look for her companion, La Giralda, who presently cantered up on a +lumbering Estramenian gelding. La Giralda sat astride as before, her +lower limbs, so far as these were apparent, being closely clad in +leather, a loose skirt over them preserving in part the appearance of +sex. + +Rollo was dumb with sheer astonishment. He could only gaze at the +flushed cheek, the tingling electric glances, the air completely +unconscious and innocent of the girl before him. + +"Concha!" he cried aloud. "Concha--what do you here? I thought--I +imagined you were safe at the Convent of the Holy Innocents!" + +And from behind Sergeant Cardono marked his cheek, alternately paling +and reddening, his stammering tongue and altered demeanour, with the +utmost satisfaction. + +"Good--good," he muttered under his breath to El Sarria; "he will make a +true general yet. The saints be praised for this weakness! If only he +were fonder of his dinner all might yet be well!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +THE MISSION OF THE SENORITA CONCHA + + +"I too have a mission, I would have you know," said Concha, a dangerous +coquetry showing through her grave demeanour, "a secret mission from the +Mother Superior of the Convent of the Holy Innocents. Do not attempt to +penetrate the secret. I assure you it will be quite useless. And pray do +not suppose that only you can adventure forth on perilous quests!" + +"I assure you," began Rollo, eagerly, "that I suppose no such thing. At +the moment when you came up I was wishing with all my heart that the +responsibility of the present undertaking had been laid on any other +shoulders than mine!" + +Yet in spite of his modesty, certain it is that from that moment Rollo +rode no longer with his head hanging down like a willow blown by the +wind. The reins lay no more lax and abandoned on his horse's neck. On +the contrary, he sat erect and looked abroad with the air of a +commander, and his hand rested oftener on the hilt of Killiecrankie, +with the air of pride which Concha privately thought most becoming. + +"And in what case left you my wife and babe?" suddenly demanded El +Sarria, riding up, and inquiring somewhat imperiously of the new +recruit concerning the matter which touched him most nearly. + +"The Senora Dolores is safe with the good sisters, and as in former +times I was known to have been her companion, it was judged safest that +I should not longer be seen in the neighbourhood. Likewise I was charged +with the tidings that Luis Fernandez with a company of Cristino +Migueletes has been seen riding southward to cut you off from Madrid, +whither it is supposed you are bound!" + +Rollo turned quickly upon her with some anger in his eye. + +"Why did you not tell me that at first?" he said. + +Concha smiled a subtle smile and turned her eyes upon the ground. + +"If you will remember, I had other matters to communicate to your +Excellency," she said meekly--almost too meekly, Rollo thought. "This +matter of Luis Fernandez slipped my memory, till it was my good fortune +to be reminded of it by Don Ramon!" + +And all the while the long lean Sergeant Cardono, his elbows glued to +his sides, sat his horse as if spiked to the saddle, and chuckled with +quiet glee at the scene. + +"He will do yet," he muttered; "'twas ever thus that my father told me +of the Gran' Lor' before Salamanca. Be he as stiff as a ramrod and as +frigid as his own North Pole, the little one will thaw him--bend +him--make a fool of him for his soul's good. She is not an Andaluse of +the gipsy blood for nothing! He will make him a soldier yet, this young +man, by the especial grace of San Vicente de Paul, only I do not think +that either of them will deserve readmission to the Convent of the Holy +Innocents!" + +More than once Rollo endeavoured to extract from Concha to what place +her self-assumed mission was taking her, and at what point she would +leave them. It was in vain. The lady baffled all his endeavours with the +most consummate ease. + +"You have not communicated to me," she said, "the purport of your own +adventures. How then can I tell at what place our ways divide?" + +"I am forbidden to reveal to any save General Cabrera alone my secret +instructions!" said Rollo, with such dignity as he could muster at short +notice. + +"And I," retorted Concha, "am as strictly forbidden to reveal mine to +General Cabrera or even to that notable young officer, Colonel Don Rollo +of the surname which resembles so much a _borrico's_ serenade!" + +That speech would have been undoubtedly rude save for the glance which +accompanied it, given softly yet daringly from beneath a jetty fringe of +eyelash. + +Nevertheless all Rollo Blair's pride of ancestry rose insurgent within +him. Who was this Andalucian waiting-maid that she should speak lightly +of the descendant of that Blair of Blair Castle who had stood for Bruce +and freedom on the field of Bannockburn? It was unbearable--and yet, +well, there was something uncommon about this girl. And after all, was +it not the mark of a gentleman to pay no heed to the babbling of women's +tongues? If they did not say one thing, they would another. Besides, he +cared nothing what this girl might say. A parrot prattling in a cage +would affect him as much. + +So they rode on together over the great tawny brick-dusty wastes of Old +Castile, silent mostly, but the silence occasionally broken by speech, +friendly enough on either side. Behind them pounded La Giralda, gaunt as +the sergeant himself, leather-legginged, booted and spurred, watching +them keenly out of her ancient, unfathomable gipsy eyes. + +And ever as they rode the Guadarrama mountains rose higher and whiter +out of the vast and hideous plain, the only interruption to the circling +horizon of brown and parched corn lands. But at this season scrub-oak +and juniper were the only shrubs to be seen, and had there been a +Cristino outpost anywhere within miles, the party must have been +discerned riding steadily towards the northern slopes of the mountains. +But neither man nor beast took notice of them, and a certain large +uncanny silence brooded over the plain. + +At one point, indeed, they passed near enough to distinguish in the far +north the snow-flecked buttresses of the Sierra de Moncayo. But these, +they knew, were the haunts of their Carlist allies. The towns and +villages of the plain, however, were invariably held by Nationals, and +it had often gone hard with them, had not Sergeant Cardono detached +himself from the cavalcade, and, venturing alone into the midst of the +enemy, by methods of his own produced the materials for many an +excellent meal. At last, one day the Sergeant came back to the party +with an added gloom on his long, lean, leathern-textured face. He had +brought with him an Estramaduran ham, a loaf of wheaten bread, and a +double string of sausages. But upon his descending into the temporary +camp which sheltered the party in the bottom of a _barranco_, or deep +crack in the parched plateau overgrown with scented thyme and dwarf +oak, it became obvious that he had news of the most serious import to +communicate. + +He called Rollo aside, and told him how he had made his way into a +village, as was his custom, and found all quiet--the shops open, but +none to attend to them, the customs superintendent in his den by the +gate, seated on his easy chair, but dead--the presbytery empty of the +priest, the river bank dotted with its array of worn scrubbing boards, +but not a washerwoman to be seen. Only a lame lad, furtively plundering, +had leaped backward upon his crutch with a swift drawing of his knife +and a wolfish gleam of teeth. He had first of all warned the Sergeant to +keep off at his peril, but had afterwards changed his tone and confessed +to him that the plague was abroad in the valley of the Duero, and that +he was the only being left alive in the village save the vulture and the +prowling dog. + +"The plague!" Sergeant Cardono had gasped, like every Spaniard stricken +sick at the very sound of the word. + +"Yes, and I own everything in the village," asserted the imp. "If you +want anything here you must pay me for it!" + +The Sergeant found it even as the cripple had said. There was not a +single living inhabitant in the village. Here and there a shut door and +a sickening smell betrayed the fact that some unfortunates had been left +to die untended. Etienne and John Mortimer were for different reasons +unwilling to taste of the ham and bread he had brought back, thinking +that these might convey the contagion, but La Giralda and the Sergeant +laughed their fears to scorn, and together retired to prepare the +evening meal. + +As the others made their preparations for the night, watering their +beasts and grooming them with the utmost care, the little crook-backed +imp from the village appeared on the brink of the _barranco_, his +sallow, weazened face peeping suspiciously out of the underbrush, and +his crutch performing the most curious evolutions in the air. + +There was something unspeakably eerie in the aspect of the solitary +survivor of so many living people, left behind to prey like a ghoul on +the abandoned possessions of the fear-stricken living and the +untestamented property of the dead. + +Concha shrank instinctively from his approach, and the boy, perceiving +his power over her, came scuttling like a weasel through the brushwood, +till little more than a couple of paces interposed between him and the +girl. Frozen stiff with loathing and terror, it was not for some time +that Concha could cry out and look round hastily for Rollo, who +(doubtless in his capacity of leader of the expedition) was not slow in +hastening to her assistance. + +"That boy--there!" she gasped, "he frightens me--oh hateful! make him go +away!" And she clutched the young man's arm with such a quick nervous +grasp, that a crimson flush rose quickly to Rollo's cheek. + +"No," muttered Etienne to himself as he watched the performance +critically, "she was never in love with you, sir! She never did as much +for you as that. But on the whole, with a temper like Mistress Concha's, +I think you are well out of it, Monsieur Etienne!" Which wise dictum +might or might not be based on the fox's opinion as to sour grapes. + +All unconsciously Rollo reached a protecting hand across to the little +white fingers which gripped his arm so tightly. + +"Go away, boy," he commanded; "do you not see that you terrify the +Senorita?" + +"I see--that is why I stay!" cried the amiable youth gleefully, +flourishing his crutch about his head as if on the point of launching it +at the party. + +Rollo laid his hand on the hilt of Killiecrankie with a threatening +gesture. + +"If you come an inch nearer, I will give you plague!" cried the boy, +showing his teeth wickedly, "and your wench also. You will grow +black--yes, and swell! Then you will die, both of you. And there will be +no one to bury you, like those in the houses back there. Then all you +possess shall be mine, ha, ha!" + +And he laughed and danced till a fit of coughing came upon him so that +he actually crowed in a kind of fiendish exaltation. But Rollo Blair was +not a man to be jested with, either by devil or devil's imp. He drew a +pistol from his belt, looked carefully to the priming, and with the +greatest coolness in the world pointed it at the misshapen brat. + +"Now listen," he said, "you are old enough to know the meaning of words; +I give you one minute to betake yourself to your own place and leave us +alone! There is no contagion in a pistol bullet, my fine lad, but it is +quite as deadly as any plague. So be off before a charge of powder +catches you up!" + +The sound of the angry voices had attracted La Giralda, who, looking up +hastily from her task of building the fire beneath the gipsy tripod at +which she and the Sergeant were cooking, advanced hastily with a long +wand in her hand. + +The imp wheeled about as on a pivot, and positively appeared to shrink +into his clothing at the sight of her. He stood motionless, however, +while La Giralda advanced threateningly towards him with the wand in her +hand as if for the purpose of castigation. As she approached he emitted +a cry of purely animal terror, and hastily whipping his crutch under his +arm, betook himself, in a series of long hops, to a spot twenty yards +higher up the bank. But La Giralda stopped him by a word or two spoken +in an unknown tongue, harsh-sounding as Catalan, but curt and brief as a +military order. + +The boy stood still and answered in the same speech, at first gruffly +and unwillingly, with downcast looks and his bare great toe scrabbling +in the dust of the hillside. + +The dialogue lasted for some time, till at last with a scornful gesture +La Giralda released him, pointing to the upper edge of the _barranco_ as +the place by which he was to disappear: the which he was now as eager to +do, as he had formerly been insolently determined to remain. + +During this interview Rollo had stood absent-mindedly with his hand +pressed on Concha's, as he listened to the strange speech of La Giralda. +Even his acquaintance with the language of the gipsies of Granada had +only enabled him to understand a word here and there. The girl's colour +slowly returned, but the fear of the plague still ran like ice in her +veins. She who feared nothing else on earth, was shaken as with a palsy +by the terror of the Black Death, so paralysing was the fear that the +very name of cholera laid upon insanitary Spain. + +"Well?" said Rollo, turning to La Giralda, who stood considering with +her eyes upon the ground, after her interview with the crook-backed +dwarf. + +"You must give me time to think," she said; "this boy is one of our +people--a Gitano of Baza. He is not of this place, and he tells me +strange things. He swears that the Queen and the court are plague-stayed +at La Granja by fear of the cholera. They dare not return to Madrid. +They cannot supply themselves with victuals where they are. The very +guards forsake them. And the Gitanos of the hills--but I have no right +to tell that to the foreigner--the Gorgio. For am not I also a Gitana?" + + * * * * * + +The village where Rollo's command first stumbled upon this dreadful fact +was called Frias, in the district of La Perla, and lies upon the eastern +spurs of the Guadarrama. It was, therefore, likely enough then that the +boy spoke truth, and that within a few miles of them the Court of Spain +was enduring privations in its aerial palace of La Granja. + +But even when interrogated by El Sarria the old woman remained +obstinately silent as to the news concerning her kinsfolk which she had +heard from the crippled dwarf. + +"It has nothing to do with you," she repeated; "it is a matter of the +Gitanos!" + +But there came up from the bottom of the ravine, the lantern-jawed +Sergeant, long, silent, lean, parched as a Manchegan cow whose pasture +has been burnt up by a summer sun. With one beckoning finger he summoned +La Giralda apart, and she obeyed him as readily as the boy had obeyed +her. They communed a long time together, the old gipsy speaking, the +coffee-coloured Sergeant listening with his head a little to the side. + +At the end of the colloquy Sergeant Cardono went directly up to Rollo +and saluted. + +"Is it permitted for me to speak a word to your Excellency concerning +the objects of the expedition?" he said, with his usual deference. + +"Certainly!" answered Rollo; "for me, my mission is a secret one, but I +have no instructions against listening." + +The Sergeant bowed his head. + +"Whatever be our mission you will find me do my duty," he said; "and +since this cursed plague may interfere with all your plans, it is well +that you should know what has befallen and what is designed. You will +pardon me for saying that it takes no great prophet to discover that our +purposes have to do with the movements of the court." + +Rollo glanced at him keenly. + +"Did General Cabrera reveal anything to you before your departure?" he +asked. + +"Nay," said Sergeant Cardono; "but when I am required to guide a party +secretly to San Ildefonso, where the court of the Queen-Regent is +sojourning, it does not require great penetration to see the general +nature of the service upon which I am engaged!" + +Rollo recovered himself. + +"You have not yet told me what you have discovered," he said, +expectantly. + +"No," replied the Sergeant with great composure--"that can wait." + +For little Concha was approaching; and though he had limitless +expectations of the good influence of that young lady upon the military +career of his officer, he did not judge it prudent to communicate +intelligence of moment in her presence. Wherein for once he was wrong, +since that pretty head of the Andalucian beauty, for all its clustering +curls, was full of the wisest and most far-seeing counsel--indeed, more +to be trusted in a pinch than the _juntas_ of half-a-dozen provinces. + +But the Sergeant considered that when a girl was pretty and aware of it, +she had fulfilled her destiny--save as it might be in the making of +military geniuses. Therefore he remained silent as the grave so long as +Concha stayed. Observing this, the girl asked a simple question and then +moved off a little scornfully, only remarking to herself: "As if I could +not make him tell me whenever I get him by himself!" + +She referred (it is needless to state) not to Sergeant Cardono, but to +his commanding officer, Senor Don Rollo Blair of Blair Castle in the +self-sufficient shire of Fife. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +DEEP ROMANY + + +The news which Sergeant Cardono had to communicate was indeed fitted to +shake the strongest nerves. If true, it took away from Rollo at once all +hope of the success of his mission. He saw himself returning disgraced +and impotent to the camp of Cabrera, either to be shot out of hand, or +worse still, to be sent over the frontier as something too useless and +feeble to be further employed. + +Briefly, the boy's news as repeated by La Giralda to the Sergeant, +informed Rollo that though the court was presently at La Granja and many +courtiers in the village of San Ildefonso, the royal guards through fear +and hunger had mutinied and marched back to Madrid, and that the gipsies +were gathering among the mountains in order to make a night attack upon +the stranded and forsaken court of Spain. + +In the sergeant's opinion not a moment was to be lost. The object of the +hill Gitanos was pure plunder, but they would think nothing of +bloodshed, and would doubtless give the whole palace and town over to +rapine and pillage. Themselves desperate with hunger and isolation, they +had resolved to strike a blow which would ring from one end of Spain to +the other. + +It was their intention (so the imp said) to kill the Queen-Regent and +her daughter, to slaughter the ministers and courtiers in attendance, to +plunder the palace from top to bottom and to give all within the +neighbouring town of San Ildefonso to the sword. + +The programme, as thus baldly announced, was indeed one to strike all +men with horror, even those who had been hardened by years of +fratricidal warfare in which quarter was neither given nor expected. + +Besides the plunder of the palace and its occupants, the leaders of the +gipsies expected that they would obtain great rewards from Don Carlos +for thus removing the only obstacles to his undisputed possession of the +throne of Spain. + +The heart of Rollo beat violently. His Scottish birth and training gave +him a natural reverence for the sanctity of sickness and death, and the +idea of these men plotting ghoulishly to utilise "the onlaying of the +hand of Providence" (as his father would have phrased it) for the +purposes of plunder and rapine, unspeakably revolted him. + +Immediately he called a council of war, at which, in spite of the frowns +of Sergeant Cardono, little Concha Cabezos had her place. + +La Giralda was summoned also, but excused herself saying, "It is better +that I should not know what you intend to do. I am, after all, a +black-blooded Gitana, and might be tempted to reveal your secrets if I +knew them. It is better therefore that I should not. Let me keep my own +place as a servitor in your company, to cut the brushwood for your fire +and to bring the water from the spring. In those things you will find me +faithful. Trust the gipsy no further!" + +Rollo, remembering her loyalty in the matter of Dolores at the village +of El Sarria, was about to make an objection, but a significant gesture +from the Sergeant restrained him in time. + +Whereupon Rollo addressed himself to the others, setting clearly before +them the gravity of the situation. + +John Mortimer shook his head gravely. He could not approve. + +"How often has my father told me that the first loss is the least! This +all comes of trying to make up my disappointment about the Abbot's +Priorato!" + +Etienne shrugged his shoulders and philosophically quoted a Gascon +proverb to the effect that who buys the flock must take the black sheep +also. + +El Sarria simply recollected that his gun and pistols were in good +order, and waited for orders. + +The conference therefore resolved itself into a trio of +consultants--Rollo because he was the leader, Sergeant Cardono because +he knew the country, and Concha--because she was Concha! + +They were within an hour or two's rapid march of La Granja over a pass +in the Guadarrama. The sergeant volunteered to lead them down into the +gardens in that time. He knew a path often travelled by smugglers on +their way to Segovia. + +"It is clear that if we are to carry away the Queen-Regent and her +daughter, we must forestall the gipsies," said Rollo. + +Concha clasped her hands pitifully. + +"Ah, the poor young Queen!" she cried. "Praise to the saints that I was +not born a princess! It goes to my heart to make her a prisoner!" + +The Sergeant uttered a guttural grunt which intimated that in his +opinion the influence of the petticoat on the career of a soldier might +be over-done. Otherwise he maintained his gravity, speaking only when he +was directly appealed to and giving his judgment with due submission to +his superiors. + +Finally it was judged that they should make a night march over the +mountains, find some suitable place to lie up in during the day, and in +the morning send in La Giralda and the Sergeant to San Ildefonso in the +guise of fagot sellers to find out if the gipsy boy of Baza had spoken +the truth. + + * * * * * + +San Ildefonso and La Granja are two of the most strangely situated +places in Spain. A high and generally snow-clad Sierra divides them from +Madrid and the south. The palace is one of the most high-lying upon +earth, having originally been one of the mountain granges of the monks +of Segovia to which a king of Spain took a fancy, and, what is more +remarkable, for which he was willing to pay good money. + +Upon the site a palace has been erected, a miniature Versailles, +infinitely more charming than the original, with walks, fountains, +waterfalls all fed by the cold snow water of the Guadarrama, and fanned +by the pure airs of the mountains. This Grange has been for centuries a +favourite resort of the Court of Spain, and specially during these last +years of the Regent Cristina, who, when tired with the precision and +etiquette of the Court of Madrid, retired hither that she might do as +she pleased for at least two or three months of the year. + +Generally the great park-gates stood hospitably open, and the little +town of San Ildefonso, with its lodgings and hostels, was at this season +crowded with courtiers and hangers-on of the court. Guards circulated +here and there, or clattered after the Queen-Regent as she drove out on +the magnificent King's highway which stretched upwards over the +Guadarrama towards Madrid, or whirled down towards Segovia and the +plains of Old Castile. Bugles were never long silent in _plaza_ or +barrack yard. Drums beat, fifes shrilled, and there was a continuous +trampling of horses as this ambassador or that was escorted to the +presence of Queen Cristina, widow of Fernando VII., mother of Isabel the +Second, and Regent of Spain. + +A word of historical introduction is here necessary, and it shall be but +a word. For nearly a quarter of a century Fernando, since he had been +restored to a forfeited throne by British bayonets, had acted on the +ancient Bourbon principle of learning nothing and forgetting nothing. +His tyrannies became ever more tyrannical, his exactions more shameless, +his indolent arrogance more oppressive. Twice he had to invoke the aid +of foreign troops, and once indeed a French army marched from one end of +Spain to the other. + +But with the coming of his third wife, young Maria Cristina of Naples, +all this was changed. Under her influence Fernando promptly became meek +and uxorious. Then he revoked the ordinance of a former King which +ordained that no woman should reign in Spain. He recalled his +revocation, and again promulgated it according as his hope of offspring +waxed or waned. + +Finally a daughter was born to the ill-mated pair, and Don Carlos, the +King's brother and former heir-apparent, left the country. Immediately +upon the King's death civil war divided the state. The stricter +legitimists who stood for Don Carlos included the church generally and +the religious orders. To these were joined the northern parts of Navarra +and the Basque countries whose privileges had been threatened, together +with large districts of the ever-turbulent provinces of Aragon and +Catalunia. + +Round the Queen-Regent and her little daughter collected all the liberal +opinion of the peninsula, most of the foreign sympathy, the influence of +the great towns and sea-ports, of the capital and the government +officials, the regular army and police with their officers--indeed all +the organised and stated machinery of government. + +But up to the time of our history these advantages had been to some +extent neutralised by the ill-success of the governmental generalship +and by the brilliant successes of two great Carlist leaders--Tomas +Zumalacarregui and Ramon Cabrera. + +These men perfectly understood the conditions of warfare among their +native mountains, and had inflicted defeat upon defeat on every Cristino +general sent against them. + +But a cloud had of late overspread the fair prospects of the party. +Their great general, Tomas Zumalacarregui, had been killed by a cannon +ball at the siege of Bilbao, and Cabrera, though unsurpassed as a +guerrilla leader, had not the swift Napoleonic judgment and breadth of +view of his predecessor. Add to this that a new premier, Mendizabal, and +a new general, Espartero, were directing operations from Madrid. The +former, already half English, had begun to carry out his great scheme of +filling the pockets of the civil and military authorities by conveying +to the government all the property belonging to the religious orders +throughout Spain, who, like our friend the Abbot of Montblanch, had +resolutely and universally espoused the cause of Don Carlos. + +It was an early rumour of this intention which had so stirred the +resentment of Don Baltasar Varela, and caused him to look about for some +instrument of vengeance to prevent the accomplishment of the designs of +"that _burro_ of the English Stock Exchange," as his enemies freely +named Mendizabal. + +But Cristina of Naples was a typical woman of the Latin races, and, +however strongly she might be determined to establish her daughter on +the throne of Spain, she was also a good Catholic, and any oppression of +Holy Church was abhorrent to her nature. + +Upon this probability, which amounted to certainty in his mind, the +Abbot of Montblanch resolved to proceed. + +Moreover, it was an open secret that a few months after the death of her +husband Fernando, Cristina had married Munoz, one of the handsomest +officers of her bodyguard. For this and other Bourbon delinquencies, +conceived in the good old Neapolitan manner, the Spaniards generally had +the greatest respect--not even being scandalized when the Queen created +her new partner Duke of Rianzares, or when, in her _role_ of honorary +colonel of dragoons, she appeared in a uniform of blue and white, +because these were the colours of the "Immaculate Conception." + +But enough has been said to indicate the nature of the adventure which +our hero had before him, when after a toilsome march the party halted in +the grey of the dawn in a tiny dell among the wild mountains of +Guadarrama. + +The air was still bleak and cold, though luckily there was no wind. +Concha, the child of the south, shivered a little as Rollo aided her to +dismount, and this must be the young man's excuse for taking his blue +military cloak from its coil across his saddle-bow, and wrapping it +carefully and tenderly about her. + +Concha raised her eyes once to his as he fastened its chain-catch +beneath her chin, and Rollo, though the starlight dimmed the brilliance +of the glance, felt more than repaid. In the background Etienne smiled +bitterly. The damsel of the green lattice being now left far behind at +Sarria, he would have had no scruples about returning to his allegiance +to Concha. But the chill indifference with which his advances were +received, joined to something softer and more appealing in her eyes when +she looked at Rollo, warned the much-experienced youth that he had +better for the future confine his gallantries to the most common and +ordinary offices of courtesy. + +Yet it was certainly a restraint upon the young Frenchman, who, almost +from the day he had been rid of his Jesuit tutor, had made it a maxim to +make love to the prettiest girl of any company in which he happened to +find himself. + +When, therefore, he found himself reduced to a choice between an +inaccessible Concha and La Giralda, riding astride in her leathern +leg-gear and sack-like smock, the youth bethought himself of his +religious duties which he had latterly somewhat neglected; and, being +debarred from earthly love by Concha's insensibility and La Giralda's +ineligibility, it did not cost him a great effort to become for the +nonce the same Brother Hilario who had left the monastery of Montblanch. + +So, much to the astonishment of John Mortimer, who moved a little +farther from him, as being a kind of second cousin of the scarlet woman +of the Seven Hills, Etienne pulled out his rosary and, falling on his +knees, betook him to his prayers with vigour and a single mind. + +Sergeant Cardono had long ago abandoned all distinctive marks of his +Carlist partisanship and military rank. Moreover, he had acquired, in +some unexplained way, a leathern Montera cap, a short many-buttoned +jacket, a flapped waistcoat of red plush, and leathern small-clothes of +the same sort as those worn by La Giralda. Yet withal there remained +something very remarkable about him. His great height, his angular +build, the grim humour of his mouth, the beady blackness of eyes which +twinkled with a fleck of fire in each, as a star might be reflected in a +deep well on a moonless night--these all gave him a certain distinction +in a country of brick-dusty men of solemn exterior and rare speech. + +Also there was something indescribably daring about the man, his air and +carriage. There was the swagger as of a famous _matador_ about the way +he carried himself. He gave a cock to his plain countryman's cap which +betokened one of a race at once quicker and more gay--more passionate +and more dangerous than the grave and dignified inhabitants of Old +Castile through whose country they were presently journeying. + +As Cardono and La Giralda departed out of the camp, the Sergeant driving +before him a donkey which he had picked up the night before wandering by +the wayside, El Sarria looked after them with a sardonic smile which +slowly melted from his face, leaving only the giant's usual placid good +nature apparent on the surface. The mere knowledge that Dolores was +alive and true to him seemed to have changed the hunted and desperate +outlaw almost beyond recognition. + +"Why do you smile, El Sarria?" said Concha, who stood near by, as the +outlaw slowly rolled and lighted a _cigarrillo_. "You do not love this +Sergeant. You do not think he is a man to be trusted?" + +El Sarria shrugged his shoulders, and slowly exhaled the first long +breathing of smoke through his nostrils. + +"Nay," he said deliberately, "I have been both judged and misjudged +myself, and it would ill become me in like manner to judge others. But +if that man is not of your country and my trade, Ramon Garcia has lived +in vain. That is all." + +Concha nodded a little uncertainly. + +"Yes," she said slowly, "yes--of my country. I believe you. He has the +Andalucian manner of wearing his clothes. If he were a girl he would +know how to tie a ribbon irregularly and how to place a bow-knot a +little to the side in the right place--things which only Andalucians +know. But what in the world do you mean by 'of your profession'?" + +El Sarria smoked a while in silence, inhaling the blue cigarette smoke +luxuriously, and causing it to issue from his nostrils white and +moisture-laden with his breath. Then he spoke. + +"I mean of my late profession," he explained, smiling on Concha; "it +will not do for a man on the high-road to a commission to commit himself +to the statement that he has practised as a bandit, or stopped a coach +on the highway in the name of King Carlos Quinto that he might examine +more at his ease the governmental mail bags. But our Sergeant--well, I +am man-sworn and without honour if he hath not many a time taken +blackmail without any such excuse!" + +Concha seemed to be considering deeply. Her pretty mouth was pursed up +like a ripe strawberry, and her brows were knitted so fiercely that a +deep line divided the delicately arched eyebrows. + +"And to this I can add somewhat," she began presently; "they say (I know +not with what truth) that I have some left-handed gipsy blood in me--and +if that man be not a Gitano--why, then I have never seen one. Besides, +he speaks with La Giralda in a tongue which neither I nor Don Rollo +understand." + +"But I thought," said El Sarria, astonished for the first time, "that +both you and Don Rollo understood the crabbed gipsy tongue! Have I not +heard you speak it together?" + +"As it is commonly spoken--yes," she replied, "we have talked many a +time for sport. But this which is spoken by the Sergeant and La Giralda +is deep Romany, the like of which not half a dozen in Spain understand. +It is the old-world speech of the Rom, before it became contaminated by +the jargon of fairs and the slang of the travelling horse-clipper." + +"Then," said El Sarria, slowly, "it comes to this--'tis you and not I +who mistrust these two?" + +"No, that I do not," cried Concha, emphatically; "I have tried La +Giralda for many years and at all times found her faithful, so that her +bread be well buttered and a draught of good wine placed alongside it. +But the Sergeant is a strong man and a secret man----" + +"Well worth the watching, then?" said El Sarria, looking her full in the +face. + +Concha nodded. + +"Carlist or no, he works for his own hand," she said simply. + +"Shall ye mention the matter to Don Rollo?" asked El Sarria. + +"Nay--what good?" said Concha, quickly; "Don Rollo is brave as a bull of +Jaen, but as rash. You and I will keep our eyes open and say nothing. +Perhaps--perhaps we may have doubted the man somewhat over-hastily. But +as for me, I will answer for La Giralda." + +"For me," said El Sarria, sententiously, "I will answer for no +woman--save only Dolores Garcia!" + +Concha looked up quickly. + +"I also am a woman," she said, smiling. + +"And quite well able to answer for yourself, Senorita!" returned El +Sarria, grimly. + +For the answers of Ramon Garcia were not at all after the pattern set by +Rollo the Scot. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +THE SERGEANT AND LA GIRALDA + + +The dust-heat of the desolate plains of Old Castile was red on the +horizon when the Sergeant and his companion started together on their +strange and perilous mission. Would they ever return, and when? What +might they not find? A Court deserted and forlorn, courtiers fleeing, or +eager to flee if only they knew whither, from the dread and terrible +plague? A Queen and a princess without guards, a palace open to the +plunder of any chance band of robbers? For something like this the imp +of the deserted village had prepared them. + +At all events, the Sergeant and La Giralda went off calmly enough in the +direction of the town of San Ildefonso, driving their donkey before +them. For a minute, as they gained the crest, their figures stood out +black and clear against the coppery sunrise. The next they had +disappeared down the slope, the flapping peak of Cardono's Montera cap +being the last thing to be lost sight of. + +The long, dragging, idle day was before the party in the dry ravine. + +Etienne went to his saddle-bags, and drawing his breviary from the +leathern flap, began to peruse the lessons for the day with an attentive +piety which was not lessened by the fact that he had forgotten most of +the Latin he had learned at school. John Mortimer, on the other hand, +took out his pocket-book, and was soon absorbed by calculations in which +wine and onions shared the page with schemes for importing into Spain +Manchester goods woven and dyed to suit the taste of the country +housewives. + +El Sarria sat down with a long sigh to his never-failing resort of +cleaning and ordering his rifle and pistols. He had a phial of oil, a +feather, and a fine linen rag which he carried about with him for the +purpose. Afterwards he undertook the same office for the weapons of +Rollo. Those of the other members of the expedition might take care of +themselves. Ramon Garcia had small belief in their ability to make much +use of them, at any rate--the sergeant being alone excepted. + +These three being accounted for, there remained only Rollo and Concha. +Now there was a double shelf a little way from the horses, from which +the chief of the expedition could keep an eye on the whole encampment. +The pair slowly and, as it were, unconsciously gravitated thither, and +in a moment Rollo found himself telling "the story of his life" to a +sympathetic listener, whose bright eyes stimulated all his capacities as +narrator, and whose bright smile welcomed every hairbreadth escape with +a joy which Rollo could not but feel must somehow be heartfelt and +personal. Besides, adventures sound so well when told in Spanish and to +a Spanish girl. + +Yet, strange as it may seem, the young man missed several opportunities +of arousing the compassion of his companion. + +He said not a word about Peggy Ramsay, nor did he mention the broken +heart which he had come so far afield to cure. And as for Concha, +nothing could have been more nunlike and conventual than the expression +with which she listened. It was as if one of the Lady Superior's +"Holiest Innocents" had flown over the nunnery wall and settled down to +listen to Rollo's tale in that wild gorge among the mountains of +Guadarrama. + + * * * * * + +Meantime the Sergeant and his gipsy companion pursued their way with +little regard to the occupations or sentiments of those they had left +behind them. Cardono's keen black eyes, twinkling hither and thither, a +myriad crows' feet reticulating out from their corners like spiders' +webs, took in the landscape, and every object in it. + +The morning was well advanced when, right across their path, a +well-to-do farmhouse lay before them, white on the hillside, its walls +long-drawn like fortifications, and the small slit-like windows +counterfeiting loopholes for musketry. But instead of the hum of work +and friendly gossip, the crying of ox-drivers yoking their teams, or +adjusting the long blue wool over the patient eyes of their beasts, +there reigned about the place, both dwelling and office-houses, a +complete and solemn silence. Only in front of the door several +she-goats, with bunching, over-full udders, waited to be milked with +plaintive whimperings and tokens of unrest. + +La Giralda looked at her companion. The Sergeant looked at La Giralda. +The same thought was in the heart of each. + +La Giralda went up quickly to the door, and knocked loudly. At +farmhouses in Old Castile it is necessary to knock loudly, for the +family lives on the second floor, while the first is given up to bundles +of fuel, trusses of hay, household provender of the more indestructible +sort, and one large dog which invariably answers the door first and +expresses in an unmistakable manner his intention of making his +breakfast off the stranger's calves. + +But not even the dog responded to the clang of La Giralda's oaken cudgel +on the stout door panels. Accordingly she stepped within, and without +ceremony ascended the stairs. In the house-place, extended on a bed, lay +a woman of her own age, dead, her face wearing an expression of the +utmost agony. + +In a low trundle-bed by the side of the other was a little girl of four. +Her hands clasped a doll of wood tightly to her bosom. But her eyes, +though open, were sightless. She also was dead. + +La Giralda turned and came down the stairs, shaking her head mournfully. + +"These at least are ours," she said, when she came out into the hot +summer air, pointing to the little flock of goats. "There is none to +hinder us." + +"Have the owners fled?" asked the Sergeant, quickly. + +"There are some of them upstairs now," she replied, "but, alas, none who +will ever reclaim them from us! The excuse is the best that can be +devised to introduce us into San Ildefonso, and, perhaps, if we have +luck, inside the palisades of La Granja also." + +So without further parley the Sergeant proceeded, in the most +matter-of-fact way possible, to load the ass with huge fagots of +kindling wood till the animal showed only four feet paddling along under +its burden, and a pair of patient orbs, black and beady like those of +the Sergeant himself, peering out of a hay-coloured matting of hair. + +This done, the Sergeant turned his sharp eyes every way about the dim +smoky horizon. He could note, as easily as on a map, the precise notch +in the many purple-tinted gorges where they had left their party. It was +exactly like all the others which slit and dimple the slopes of the +Guadarrama, but in this matter it was as impossible for the Sergeant to +make a mistake as for a town-dweller to err as to the street in which he +has lived for years. + +But no one was watching them. No clump of juniper held a spy, and the +Sergeant was at liberty to develop his plans. He turned quickly upon the +old gipsy woman. + +"La Giralda," he said, "there is small use in discovering the +disposition of the courtiers in San Ildefonso--ay, or even the defences +of the palace, if we know nothing of the Romany who are to march +to-night upon the place." + +La Giralda, who had been drawing a little milk from the udders of each +she-goat, to ease them for their travel, suddenly sprang erect. + +"I do not interfere in the councils of the Gitano," she cried; "I am +old, but not old enough to desire death!" + +But more grim and lack-lustre than ever, the face of Sergeant Cardono +was turned upon her, and more starrily twinkled the sloe-like eyes +(diamonds set in Cordovan leather) as he replied:--"The councils of the +Rom are as an open book to me. If they are life, they are life because I +will it; if death, then I will the death!" + +The old gipsy stared incredulously. + +"Long have I lived," she said, staring hard at the sergeant, "much have +I seen, both of gipsy and Gorgio; but never have I seen or heard of the +man who could both make that boast, and make it good!" + +She appeared to consider a moment. + +"Save one," she added, "and he is dead!" + +"How did he die?" said the Sergeant, his tanned visage like a mask, but +never removing his eyes from her face. + +"By the _garrote_" she answered, in a hushed whisper. "I saw him die." + +"Where?" + +"In the great _plaza_ of Salamanca," she said, her eyes fixed in a stare +of regretful remembrance. "It was filled from side to side, and the +balconies were peopled as for a bull-fight. Ah, he was a man!" + +"His name?" + +"Jose Maria, the Gitano, the prince of brigands!" murmured La Giralda. + +"Ah," said the Sergeant, coolly, "I have heard of him." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +THE DEAD AND THE LIVING + + +Not a word more was uttered between the two. La Giralda, for no reason +that she would acknowledge even to herself, had conceived an infinite +respect for Sergeant Cardono, and was ready to obey him implicitly--a +fact which shows that our sweet Concha was over-hasty in supposing that +one woman in any circumstances can ever answer for another when there is +a man in the case. + +But on this occasion La Giralda's submission was productive of no more +than a command to go down into the town of San Ildefonso, the white +houses of which could clearly be seen a mile or two below, while the +sergeant betook himself to certain haunts of the gipsy and the brigand +known to him in the fastnesses of the Guadarrama. + +Like a dog La Giralda complied. She sharpened a stick with a knife which +she took from a little concealed sheath in her leathern leggings, and +with it she proceeded to quicken the donkey's extremely deliberate pace. + +Then with the characteristic cry of the goatherd, she gathered her flock +together and drove them before her down the deeply-rutted road which led +from the farmhouse. She had not proceeded far, however, when she +suddenly turned back, with a quick warning cry to her cavalcade. The +donkey instantly stood still, patient amid its fagots as an image in a +church. The goats scattered like water poured on flat ground, and began +to crop stray blades of grass, invisible to any eyes but their own, amid +wastes of cracked earth and deserts of grey water-worn pebbles. + +As she looked back, Sergeant Cardono was disappearing up among the +tumbled foot-hills and dry beds of winter torrents, which render the +lower spurs of the Guadarrama such a puzzle to the stranger, and such a +paradise for the smuggler and _guerrillero_. In another moment he had +disappeared. With a long quiet sigh La Giralda stole back to the +farmhouse. In spite of her race, and heathenish lack of creed, the spark +of humanity was far from dead in her bosom. The thought of the open eyes +of the little girl, which gazed even in death with fixed rapture upon +her wooden treasure, remained with her. + +"The woman is as old as I--she can bide her time!" she muttered to +herself. "But the child--these arms are not yet so shrunken that they +cannot dig up a little earth to lay the babe thereunder." + +And at the chamber door La Giralda paused. Like her people, she was +neither a good nor yet a bad Catholic. Consciously or unconsciously she +held a more ancient faith, though she worshipped at no shrine, told no +beads, and uttered no prayers. + +"They have not been long dead," she said to herself, as she entered; +"the window is open and the air is sweet. Yet the plague, which snatches +away the young and strong, may look askance at old Giralda's hold on +life, which at the best is no stronger than the strength of a +basting-thread!" + +Having said these words she advanced to the low trundle-bed, and, +softly crooning in an unknown tongue over the poor dead babe, she +lovingly closed its eyes, and taking a sheet from a wall-press that +stood partially open, she began to enwrap the little girl in its crisp +white folds. The Spaniards are like the Scottish folk in this, that they +have universally stores of the best and finest linen. + +La Giralda was about to lay the wooden puppet aside as a thing of little +worth, but something in the clutch of the small dead hands touched and +troubled her. She altered her intention. + +"No, you shall not be parted!" she said, "and if there be a resurrection +as the priests prate of--why, you shall e'en wake with the doll in your +arms!" + +So the pair, in death not divided, were wrapt up together, and the gipsy +woman prepared to carry her light burden afield. But before doing so she +went to the bed. It was an ancient woman who lay thereon, clutching the +bed-clothes, and drawn together with the last agony. La Giralda gazed at +her a moment. + +"You I cannot carry--it is impossible," she muttered; "you must take +your chance--even as I, if so be that the plague comes to me from this +innocent!" + +Nevertheless, she cast another coverlet over the dead woman's face, and +went down the broad stairs of red brick, carrying her burden like a +precious thing. La Giralda might be no good Catholic, no fervent +Protestant, but I doubt not the First Martyr of the faith, the Preacher +of the Mount, would have admitted her to be a very fair Christian. On +the whole I cannot think her chances in the life to come inferior to +those of the astute Don Baltasar Varela, Prior of the Abbey of +Montblanch, or those of many a shining light of orthodoxy in a world +given to wickedness. + +Down in the shady angle of the little orchard the old gipsy found a +little garden of flowers, geranium and white jasmine, perhaps planted to +cast into the rude coffin of a neighbour, _Yerba Luisa_, or lemon +verbena for the decoctions of a simple pharmacopoeia, on the outskirts +of these a yet smaller plot had been set aside. It was edged with white +stones from the hillside, and many coloured bits of broken crockery +decorated it. A rose-bush in the midst had been broken down by some +hasty human foot, or perhaps by a bullock or other large trespassing +animal. There were nigh a score of rose-buds upon it--all now parched +and dead, and the whole had taken on the colour of the soil. + +La Giralda stood a moment before laying her burden down. She had the +strong heart of her ancient people. The weakness of tears had not +visited her eyes for years--indeed, not since she was a girl, and had +cried at parting from her first sweetheart, whom she never saw again. So +she looked apparently unmoved at the pitiful little square of cracked +earth, edged with its fragments of brown and blue pottery, and at the +broken rose-bush lying as if also plague-stricken across it, dusty, +desolate, and utterly forlorn. Yet, as we have said, was her heart by no +means impervious to feeling. She had wonderful impulses, this parched +mahogany-visaged Giralda. + +"It is the little one's own garden--I will lay her here!" she said to +herself. + +So without another word she departed in search of mattock and spade. She +found them easily and shortly, for the hireling servants of the house +had fled in haste, taking nothing with them. In a quarter of an hour the +hole was dug. The rose-tree, being in the way, was dragged out and +thrown to one side. La Giralda, who began to think of her donkey and +goats, hastily deposited the babe within, and upon the white linen the +red earth fell first like thin rain, and afterwards, when the sheet was +covered, in lumps and mattock-clods. For La Giralda desired to be gone, +suddenly becoming mindful of the precepts of the Sergeant. + +"No priest has blessed the grave," she said; "I can say no prayers over +her! Who is La Giralda that she should mutter the simplest prayer? But +when the Master of Life awakes the little one, and when He sees the look +she will cast on her poor puppet of wood, He will take her to His bosom +even as La Giralda, the mother of many, would have taken her! God, the +Good One, cannot be more cruel than a woman of the heathen!" + +And so with the broken pottery for a monument, and the clasp of infant +hands about the wooden doll for a prayer to God, the dead babe was left +alone, unblessed and unconfessed--but safe. + + * * * * * + +Meanwhile we must go over the hill with Sergeant Cardono. Whatever his +thoughts may have been as he trudged up the barren glens, seamed and +torn with the winter rains, no sign of them appeared upon his sunburnt +weather-beaten face. Steadily and swiftly, yet without haste, he held +his way, his eyes fixed on the ground, as though perfectly sure of his +road, like a man on a well-beaten track which he has trod a thousand +times. + +For more than an hour he went on, up and ever up, till his feet crisped +upon the first snows of Penalara, and the hill ramparts closed in. But +when he had reached the narrows of a certain gorge, he looked keenly to +either side, marking the entrance. A pile of stones roughly heaped one +upon the other fixed his attention. He went up to them and attentively +perused their structure and arrangement, though they appeared to have +been thrown together at random. Then he nodded sagely twice and passed +on his way. + +The glen continued to narrow overhead. The sunshine was entirely shut +out. The jaws of the precipice closed in upon the wayfarer as if to +crush him, but Sergeant Cardono advanced with the steady stride of a +mountaineer, and the aplomb of one who is entirely sure of his +reception. + +The mountain silence grew stiller all about. None had passed that way +(so it seemed) since the beginning of time. None would repass till time +should be no more. + +Suddenly through the utter quiet there rang out, repeated and +reduplicated, the loud report of a rifle. The hills gave back the +challenge. A moment before the dingy bedrabbled snow at Cardono's feet +had been puffed upwards in a white jet, yet he neither stopped for this +nor took the least notice. Loyal or disloyal, true or false, he was a +brave man this Sergeant Cardono. I dare say that any one close to him +might have discerned his beady eyes glitter and glance quickly from side +to side, but his countenance was turned steadfastly as ever upon the +snow at his feet. + +Again came the same startling challenge out of the vague emptiness of +space, the bullet apparently bursting like a bomb among the snow. And +again Cardono took as much notice as if some half-dozen of village +loungers had been playing ball among the trees. + +Only when a third time the _whisk_ of the bullet in the snow a yard or +two to the right preceded the sound of the shot, Cardono shook his head +and muttered, "Too long range! The fools ought to be better taught than +that!" Then he continued his tramp steadily, neither looking to the +right nor to the left. The constancy of his demeanour had its effect +upon the unseen enemy. The Sergeant was not further molested; and though +it was obvious that he advanced each step in about as great danger of +death as a man who is marched manacled to the garrote, he might simply +have been going to his evening billet in some quiet Castilian village, +for all the difference it made in his appearance. + +Up to this point Cardono had walked directly up the torrent bed, the +rounded and water-worn stones rattling and slipping under his iron-shod +half-boots, but at a certain point where was another rough cairn of +stones, he suddenly diverged to the right, and mounted straight up the +fell over the scented thyme and dwarf juniper of the mountain slopes. + +Whatever of uncertainty as to his fate the Sergeant felt was rigidly +concealed, and even when a dozen men dropped suddenly upon him from +various rocky hiding-places, he only shook them off with a quick gesture +of contempt, and said something in a loud voice which brought them all +to a halt as if turned to stone by an enchanter's spell. + +The men paused and looked at each other. They were all well armed, and +every man had an open knife in his hand. They had been momentarily +checked by the words of the Sergeant, but now they came on again as +threateningly as before. Their dark long hair was encircled by red +handkerchiefs knotted about their brows, and in general they possessed +teeth extraordinarily white gleaming from the duskiest of skins. The +beady sloe-black eyes of the Sergeant were repeated in almost every +face, as well as that indefinable something which in all lands marks the +gipsy race. + +The Sergeant spoke again in a language apparently more intelligible than +the deep Romany password with which he had first checked their deadly +intentions. + +"You have need of better marksmen," he said; "even the Migueletes could +not do worse than that!" + +"Who are you?" demanded a tall grey-headed gipsy, who like the Sergeant +had remained apparently unarmed; "what is your right to be here?" + +The Sergeant had by this time seated himself on a detached boulder and +was rolling a cigarette. He did not trouble to look up as he answered +carelessly, "To the Gitano my name is Jose Maria of Ronda!" + +The effect of his words was instantaneous. The men who had been ready to +kill him a moment before almost fell at his feet, though here and there +some remained apparently unconvinced. + +Prominent among these was the elderly man who had put the question to +the Sergeant. Without taking his eyes from those of the Carlist soldier +he exclaimed, "Our great Jose Maria you cannot be. For with these eyes I +saw him garrotted in the Plaza Mayor of Salamanca!" + +The Sergeant undid his stock and pointed to a blood-red band about his +neck, indented deeply into the skin, and more apparent at the back and +sides than in front. + +"Garrotted in good faith I was in the Plaza of Salamanca, as this +gentleman says," he remarked with great coolness. "But not to death. The +executioner was as good a _Gitano_ as myself, and removed the spike +which strikes inward from the back. So you see I am still Jose Maria of +Ronda in the flesh, and able to strike a blow for myself!" + +The gipsies set up a wild yell. The name of the most celebrated and most +lawless of their race stirred them to their souls. + +"Come with us," they cried; "we are here for the greatest plunder ever +taken or dreamed of among the Romany----" + +"Hush, I command you," cried the elder man. "Jose Maria of Ronda this +man may be, but we are _Gitanos_ of the North, and need not a man from +Andalucia to lead us, even if he carry a scarlet cravat about his neck +for a credential!" + +The Sergeant nodded approval of this sentiment and addressed the old +gipsy in deep Romany, to which he listened with respect, and answered in +a milder tone, shaking his head meanwhile. + +"I have indeed heard such sayings from my mother," he said, "and I +gather your meaning; but we _Gitanos_ of the North have mingled too much +with the outlander and the foreigner to have preserved the ancient +purity of speech. But in craft and deed I wot well we are to the full as +good Roms as ever." + +By this time it was clear to the Sergeant that the old man was jealous +of his leadership; and as he himself was by no means desirous of taking +part in a midnight raid against a plague-stricken town, he proceeded to +make it clear that, being on his way to his own country of Andalucia and +had been led aside by the gipsy cryptograms he had observed by the +wayside and the casual greeting of the crook-backed imp of the village. + +Upon this the old man sat down beside Sergeant Cardono, or, as his new +friends knew him to be, Jose Maria the brigand. He did not talk about +the intended attack as the Sergeant hoped he would. Being impressed by +the greatness of his guest, he entered into a minute catalogue of the +captures he had made, the men he had slain as recorded on the butt of +his gun or the haft of his knife, and the cargoes he had successfully +"run" across the mountains or beached on the desolate sands of +Catalunia. + +"I am no inlander," he said, "I am of the sea-coast of Tarragona. I have +never been south of Tortosa in my life; but there does not live a man +who has conducted more good cigars and brandy to their destination than +old Pepe of the Eleven Wounds!" + +The sergeant with grave courtesy reached him a well-rolled cigarette. + +"I have heard of your fame, brother," he said; "even at Ronda and on the +Madrid-Seville road your deeds are not unknown. But what of this venture +to-night? Have you enough men, think you, to overpower the town watchmen +and the palace-guards?" + +The old gipsy tossed his bony hands into the air with a gesture of +incomparable contempt. + +"The palace guards are fled back to Madrid," he cried, "and as to the +town watch they are either drunk or in their dotage!" + +Meantime the main body of the gipsies waited patiently in the +background, and every few minutes their numbers were augmented by the +arrival of others over the various passes of the mountains. These took +their places without salutation, like men expected, and fell promptly to +listening to the conversation of the two great men, who sat smoking +their cigarettes each on his own stone in the wide wild corrie among the +rocks of the Guadarrama which had been chosen as an appropriate +rendezvous. + +Singularly enough, after the sergeant had shown the scarlet mark of the +strangling ring about his neck, no one of all that company doubted for a +moment that he was indeed the thrice-famous Jose Maria of Ronda. None +asked a question as to his whence or whither. He was Jose Maria, and +therefore entitled not only to be taken at once into the secrets of +Egypt, but also, and it pleased him, to keep his own. + +And very desperate and bloody some of 'his own' were. In the present +instance, plunder and bloodshed were to proceed hand in hand. No quarter +was to be given to old or young. The plague-stricken sick man and the +watcher by the bed, the woman feeding her fire of sticks under her +_puchero_, the child asleep on its pillow, the Queen in the palace, the +Princess in her nursery--all were to die, quickly and suddenly. These +men had sworn it. The dead were no tale-tellers. That was the way of +Egypt--the ancient way of safety. Were they not few and feeble in the +midst of innumerable hordes of the _Busne_? Had they not been driven +like cattle, abused like dogs, sent guiltless to the scaffold, shot in +batches by both warring parties? Now in this one place at least, they +would do a deed of vengeance at which the ears of the world would +tingle. + +The Sergeant sat and smoked and listened. He was no stranger to such +talk. It was the way of his double profession of Andalucian bandit and +Carlist _guerrilero_, to devise and execute deeds of terror and death. +But nothing so cold-blooded as this had Jose Maria ever imagined. He had +indeed appropriated the governmental mails till the post-bags almost +seemed his own property, and the guards handed them down without +question as to a recognised official. He had, in his great days, +captured towns and held them for either party according to the good the +matter was likely to do himself. But there was something revolting in +this whole business which puzzled him. + +"Whose idea was all this?" he asked at last. "I would give much to see +the _Gitano_ who could devise such a stroke." + +The grim smile on the countenance of old Pepe of the Eleven Wounds grew +yet more grim. + +"No gipsy planned it and no man!" he said sententiously. "Come hither, +Chica!" + +And out from among the listening throng came a girl of thirteen or +fourteen, dressed neatly and simply in a grey linen blouse belted at the +waist with a leather belt. A gay plaid, striped of orange and crimson, +hung neatly folded over her shoulder, and she rested her small sunburnt +hand on the silver hilt of a pistol. Black elf-locks escaped from +beneath a red silk kerchief knotted saucily after the fashion of her +companions. But her eyes, instead of being beady and black with that +far-away contemplative look which characterises the children of Egypt, +were bright and sunny and blue as the Mediterranean itself in the front +of spring. + +"Come hither, Chica--be not afraid," repeated old Pepe of the Eleven +Wounds, "this is a great man--the greatest of all our race. You have +heard of him--as who, indeed, has not!" + +Chica nodded with a quick elfish grin of intense pleasure and +appreciation. "I was listening," she said, "I heard all. And I +saw--would that I could see it again. Oh, if only the like would happen +to me!" + +"Tell the noble Don Jose who you are, my pretty Chica," said Pepe, +soothingly. + +But the child stamped her sandalled foot. It was still white at the +instep, and the sergeant could see by the blue veins that she had not +gone long barefoot. The marks of a child either stolen for ransom or run +away from home owing to some wild strain in the blood were too obvious +to be mistaken. Her liberty of movement among the gipsies made the +latter supposition the more probable. + +"I am _not_ pretty Chica, and I am not little," she cried angrily. "I +would have you remember, Pepe, that _I_ made this plan, which the folk +of Egypt are to execute to-night. But since this is the great brigand +Don Jose of Ronda, who was executed at Salamanca, I will tell him all +about it." + +She looked round at the dark faces with which they were surrounded. + +"There are new folk among these," she said, "men I do not know. Bid them +go away. Else I will not speak of myself, and I have much to say to Don +Jose!" + +Pepe of the Eleven Wounds looked about him, and shook his head. Gipsydom +is a commonwealth when it comes to a venture like this, and save in the +presence of some undoubted leader, all Egypt has an equal right to hear +and to speak. Pepe's authority was not sufficient for this thing. But +that of the Sergeant was. + +He lifted his Montera cap and said, "I would converse a while with this +maid on the affairs of Egypt. 'Tis doubtless no more than you know +already, and then, having heard her story my advice is at your service. +But she will not speak with so many ears about. It is a woman's whim, +and such the wisest of us must sometimes humour." + +The gipsies smiled at the gay wave of his hand with which Cardono +uttered this truism and quickly betook themselves out of earshot in +groups of ten and a dozen. Cards were produced, and in a few minutes +half a score of games were in progress at different points of the +quarry-like cauldron which formed the outlaws' rendezvous. + +At once the humour of the child changed. + +"They obeyed you," she said; "I like you for that. I mean to have many +men obey me when I grow up. Then I will kill many--thousands and +thousands. Now I can do nothing--only I have it in my head--here!" + +The elf tapped her forehead immediately underneath the red sash which +was tied about it. The Sergeant, though eager to hear her story and +marvelling at such sentiments from the lips of a child, successfully +concealed his curiosity, and said gently, "Tell me how you came to think +of to-night----" + +"Of what to-night?" asked the girl quickly and suspiciously. + +"The deed which is to be done to-night," replied the Sergeant simply, as +though he were acquainted with the whole. + +She leaped forward and caught him by the arm. + +"You will stay and go with us? You will lead us?" she hissed, her blue +eyes aflame and with trembling accents, "then indeed will I be sure of +my revenge. Then the Italian woman and her devil's brat shall not +escape. Then I shall be sure--sure!" + +She repeated the last words with concentrated fury, apparently +impossible to one of her age. The Sergeant smoked quietly and observed +her. She seemed absolutely transfigured. + +"Tell me that you will," she cried, low and fierce, so that her voice +should not reach the men around; "these, when they get there, will think +of nothing but plunder. As if rags and diamonds and gold were worth +venturing one's life for. But I desire death--death--death, do you hear? +To see the Italian woman and her paramour pleading for their lives, one +wailing over against the other, on their knees. Oh, I know them and the +brat they call the little Queen! To-night they shall lie dead under my +hands--with this--with this!" + +And the girl flashed a razor-keen blade out of her red waistband. She +thrust the hilt forward into the Sergeant's hands as if in token of +fealty. + +"See," she said, touching the edge lovingly, "is it not sharp? Will it +not kill surely and swiftly? For months I have sharpened it--ah, and +to-night it will give me my desire!" + +It was the Sergeant's belief that the girl was mad, nevertheless he +watched her with his usual quiet scrutiny, the power of which she +evidently felt. For she avoided his eyes and hastened on with her story +before he had time to cross-question her. + +"Why do I hate them? I see the question on your lips. Because the +Italian woman hath taken away my father and slain my mother--slain her +as truly and with far sharper agony than she herself shall know when I +set this knife to her throat. I am the daughter of Munoz, and I swore +revenge on the man and on the woman both when I closed my mother's eyes. +My mother's heart was broken. Ah, you see, she was weak--not like me! It +would take a hundred like the Neapolitan to break my heart; and as for +the man, though he were thrice my father, he should beg his life in +vain." + +She snatched her knife jealously out of his hand, tried its edge on the +back of her hand with a most unchildlike gesture, and forthwith +concealed it in her silken _faja_. Then she laid her hand once more on +the Sergeant's arm. + +"You will lead us, will you not, Jose Maria?" she said pleadingly. "I +can trust you. You have done many great deeds. My nurse was a woman of +Ronda and told me of your exploits on the road from Madrid to Sevilla. +You will lead us to-night. Only you must leave these three in the palace +to me. If you will, you shall have also my share of the plunder. But +what do I say, I know you are too noble to think only of that--as these +wolves do!" + +She cast a haughty glance around upon the gipsies at their card-play. + +"I, that am of Old Castile and noble by four descents, have demeaned +myself to mix with _Gitanos_," she said, "but it has only been that I +might work out my revenge. I told Pepe there of my plan. I showed him +the way. He was afraid. He told ten men, and they were afraid. Fifty, +and they were afraid. Now there are a hundred and more, and were it not +that they know that all lies open and unguarded, even I could not lead +them thither. But they will follow you, because you are Jose Maria of +Ronda." The Sergeant took the girl's hand in his. She was shaking as +with an ague fit, but her eyes, blue and mild as a summer sky, had that +within them which was deadlier than the tricksome slippery demon that +lurks in all black orbs, whether masculine or feminine. + +"Chica," he said, "your wrongs are indeed bitter. I would give much to +help you to set the balance right. Perhaps I may do so yet. But I cannot +be the commander of these men. They are not of my folk or country. They +have not even asked me to lead them. They are jealous of me! You see it +as well as I!" + +"Ah!" cried the girl, laying her hand again on his cuff, "that is +because they do not wish you to share their plunder. But tell them that +you care nothing for that and they will welcome you readily enough. The +place is plague-stricken, I tell you. The palace lies open. Little +crook-backed Chepe brought me word. He says he adores me. He is of the +village of Frias, back there behind the hills. I do not love him, even +though he has a bitter heart and can hate well. Therefore I suffer him." + +The Sergeant rose to his feet and looked compassionately down at the +vivid little figure before him. The hair, dense and black, the blue +eyes, the red-knotted handkerchief, the white teeth that showed between +the parted lips clean and sharp as those of a wild animal. Cardono had +seen many things on his travels, but never anything like this. His soul +was moved within him. In the deeps of his heart, the heart of a Spanish +gipsy, there was an infinite sympathy for any one who takes up the blood +feud, who, in the face of all difficulties, swears the _vendetta_. But +the slim arms, the spare willowy body, the little white sandalled feet +of the little girl--these overcame him with a pitifully amused sense of +the disproportion of means to end. + +"Have you no brother, Senorita?" he said, using by instinct the title of +respect which the little girl loved the most. She saw his point in a +moment. + +"A brother--yes, Don Jose! But my brother is a cur, a dog that eats +offal. Pah! I spit upon him. He hath taken favours from the woman. He +hath handled her money. He would clean the shoes they twain leave at +their chamber door. A brother--yes; the back of my hand to such +brothers! But after to-night he shall have no offal to eat--no bones +thrown under the table to pick. For in one slaying I will kill the +Italian woman Cristina, the man Munoz who broke my mother's heart, and +the foisted changeling brat whom they miscall the daughter of Fernando +and the little Queen of Spain!" + +She subsided on a stone, dropped her head into her hands, and took no +further notice of the Sergeant, who stood awhile with his hand resting +on her shoulder in deep meditation. There was, he thought, no more to be +said or done. He knew all there was to know. The men had not asked him +to join them, so he would venture no further questions as to the time +and the manner of attack. They were still jealous of him with that +easily aroused jealousy of south and north which in Spain divides even +the clannish gipsy. + +Nevertheless he went the round of the men. They were mostly busy with +their games, and some of them even snatched the stakes in to them, lest +he should demand a percentage of the winnings after the manner of +Sevilla. The Sergeant smiled at the reputation which distance and many +tongues had given him. Then, with a few words of good fellowship and +the expression of a wish for success and abundant plunder, he bade them +farewell. It was a great deed which they designed and one worthy of his +best days. He was now old, he said, and must needs choose easier +courses. He did not desire twice to feel the grip of the collar of iron. +But young blood--oh, it would have its way and run its risks! + +Here the Sergeant smiled and raised his Montera cap. The men as +courteously bade him good-day, preserving, however, a certain respectful +distance, and adding nothing to the information he had already obtained. + +But Chica, seated on her stone, with her scarlet-bound head on her hand, +neither looked up nor gave him any greeting as his feet went slowly down +the rocky glen and crunched over the begrimed patches of last year's +snow, now wide-pored and heavy with the heat of noonday. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +A LITTLE QUEEN AT HOME + + +Meanwhile, leaving the grave in the shaded corner of the farm garden, La +Giralda went out with many strange things moving in her heart. More than +once she had seen her own children laid in the dust, with far less of +emotion than this nameless little girl clutching her wooden puppet and +smiling, well-pleased, in the face of the Last Terror. + +She found the donkey standing still and patient between his fagot +bundles. The she-goats, on the other hand, had scattered a little this +way or that as this blade of grass or that spray of _encina_ had allured +them. But a sharp cry or two called them together. For it was many hours +since any of them had been milked, and the full teats standing out every +way ached for the pressing fingers. + +The Sergeant had, of course, long since completely disappeared up the +hillside, so La Giralda, with one comprehensive look back at the +desolate farmhouse, drove her little flock before her towards the town +gates of San Ildefonso. Like a picture, the dustily red roofs lay +beneath in the sunshine, spire and roof-garden, pigeon-house and terrace +walk. Parts of the white palace of La Granja also were to be seen, but +indistinctly, since it lay amid a pleasant distraction of greenery, and +the woods waved and the falling waters glimmered about it like the +landscape of a dream. + +From the _Colegiata_ came the tolling of a bell, slow and irregular. All +else was silent. Presently, with her little flock before her, La Giralda +found herself skirting the high-paled ironwork which confines the +palace. She pursued her way towards the town, taking care, however, to +look sharply about her so that she might miss nothing. + +The palace grounds seemed utterly deserted. The fountains slept; "Fame" +drove no longer her waters fifty yards into the air; the Frogs rested +from their ungrateful labours open-mouthed and gasping for breath. Not +even a gardener was to be seen scratching weeds on a path, or in the +dimmest distance passing at random across one of the deep-shaded +avenues. An unholy quiet seemed to have settled upon the place, the +marvel of Castile, the most elevated of earthly palaces, broken only by +the sombre tolling of the chapel bell, which would cease for five +minutes without apparent reason, and then, equally without cause, begin +all over again its lugubrious chime. + +Down the zigzags towards the town went La Giralda, the goats taking +advantage of the wider paths to stray further afield, and needing more +frequently the touch of the wand, which the old woman had taken from the +donkey's load in order to induce them to proceed. + +As the gipsy passed along, a small shrill voice called upon her to stop, +and from a side walk, concealed by roses and oleander bushes, late +flowering because of the great elevation, a richly-dressed little girl +came running. She ran at the top of her speed towards the gilt railings +which towered high above her head. Her age appeared to be about that of +the little girl whom La Giralda had buried among the pottery shards in +that other meaner garden up on the mountain side. + +"Stop," she cried imperiously, "I bid you stop! I am the Queen, and you +must obey me. I have not seen any one for five days except stupid old +Susana, who will be after me in a moment. Stop, I tell you! I want to +see your goats milked. I love milk, and they will not give me enough, +pretending that there is none within the palace. As if a Queen of Spain +could not have all the milk she wanted! Ridiculous!" + +By this time the little girl had mounted the parapet and was clinging +with all her might to the iron railings, while a fat motherly person had +waddled out of the underbrush in search of her, and with many +exclamations of pretended anger and indignation was endeavouring to +entice her away. + +But the more the nurse scolded and pulled, the more firmly did the +little maid cling to the golden bars. At last the elderly woman, quite +out of breath, sat down on the stone ledge and addressed to her charge +the argument which in such cases betokens unconditional surrender. + +"My lady Isabel, what would your noble and royal mother say," she +gasped, "thus to forget all the counsels and commands of those put in +authority over you and run to the railings to chatter with a gipsy wife? +Go away, goatherdess, or I will call the attendants and have you put in +prison!" + +La Giralda had stopped her flock, obedient to the wishes of the little +maid, but now, with a low curtsey to both, she gathered them together +with her peculiar whistling cry, and prepared to continue her way down +into the village. + +But this the little girl would in nowise permit. She let go the iron +rail, and with both hands clenched fell upon her attendant with +concentrated fury. + +"Bad, wicked Susana," she cried, "I will have you whipped and sent about +your business. Nay, I myself will beat you. I will kill you, do you +hear? I have had nothing to eat and no one to play with for a week--not +a gardener, not a dog, not even a soldier on guard to salute me or let +me examine his sword-bayonet. And now when this dear, this sweet old +Senora comes by with her lovely, lovely goats, you must perforce try to +pull me off as if I were a village child that had played truant from the +monks' school and must be birched for its fault!" + +All the while she was speaking, the young Princess directed a shower of +harmless blows at the skirts of her attendant, which Dona Susana +laughingly warded off, begging all the while for pity, and instancing +the direct commands of the little girl's mother, apparently a very +exalted personage indeed, as a reason for her interference. + +But Isabel of Spain was not to be appeased, and presently she had +recourse to tears in the midst of her fury. + +"You hate me--I know you do--that is what it means," she cried, "you +would not have me happy even for a moment. But one day I shall be Queen, +and do as I like! Yes, and drink as much warm goat's milk as I want, in +spite of all the stupid, wicked, cruel Susanas in the world. And I shall +throw you into a dungeon with nothing but mice and rats and serpents and +centipedes--yes, and snails that leave a white slimy trail over you +when they crawl! Ugh! And I will have your hands tied, so that you shall +not be able to brush them off when they tickle your neck. Yes, I will, +Susana! I swear it, and I am growing big--so big! And soon I shall be +old enough to have you put in prison with the mice and snails, bad +Susana! Oh, wicked Susana!" + +Now, whether these childish threats actually had some effect, or whether +the old lady was so soft-hearted as her comfortable appearance denoted, +certain it is that she took a key from her pocket and passed it through +the tall gilt railings to La Giralda. + +"Go down a hundred yards or so," she said, "and there you will find a +gate. Open it with that key and bring over your animals to the little +pavilion among the trees by the fountain." + +Upon hearing this the Princess instantly changed her tune. She had got +her own way, and now it was "Beautiful Dona Susana! Precious and +loveliest companion, when I am Queen you shall have the greatest and +handsomest grandee in the kingdom to be your husband, and walk in +diamonds and rubies at our court balls! Yes, you shall. I promise it by +my royal oath. And now I will run to the house kitchen for basins to +catch the goats' milk in, and my little churn to churn the butter +in--and--and----" + +But before she had catalogued half the things that she meant to find and +bring she departed at the top of her speed, making the air ring with her +shouts of delight. + +Slowly, and with the meekest dignity, La Giralda did as she was bidden. +She found the little gate, which, indeed, proved so narrow that she +could not get her donkey to pass through with his great side-burdens of +fagots. But as these were not at all heavy, La Giralda herself detached +them, and, laying them carefully within the railings, she unhaltered the +patient beast and, tying him only with a cord about his neck, left him a +generous freedom of browsing upon the royal grass-plots and undergrowth. + +The goats, however, perhaps alarmed by the trim daintiness of the place +and the unwonted spectacle of unlimited leaves and forage, kept close +together. One or two of them, indeed, smelt doubtfully at luxuriant +tufts, but as they had only previously seen grass in single blades, and +amid Saharas of gravel and sand, the experiment of eating an entire +mouthful at a time appeared too hazardous and desperate. They were of a +cautious turn of mind, in addition to which their udders had become so +distended that little white beads were forcing themselves from the +teats, and they expressed their desire for relief by plaintive +whimperings and by laying their rough heads caressingly against La +Giralda's short and primitive skirt and leather-cased legs. + +In a few moments after they had reached the pavilion the Princess came +shouting back. She was certainly a most jovial little person, Spanish at +all points, with great dark eyes and cheeks apple-red with good health +and the sharp airs of the Guadarrama. Dona Susana had walked a little in +front of La Giralda and her flock, to show the superiority of her +position, and also, it may be, to display the amplitude of her several +chins, by holding them in the air in a manner as becoming as it was +dignified. + +"Milk them! Milk them quickly! Let me see!" the Princess shouted, +clanging the pails joyously together. The walls of the pavilion in which +La Giralda found herself were decorated with every kind of household +utensil, but not such as had ever been used practically. Everything was +of silver or silver-gilt. There was indeed a complete _batterie de +cuisine_--saucepans, patty-pans, graters, a mincing machine with the +proper screws and handles, shining rows of lids, and a complete +graduated series of cooking spoons stuck in a bandolier. Salad dishes of +sparkling crystal bound with silver ornamented the sideboard, while +various earthen pots and pans of humbler make stood on a curiously +designed stove under whose polished top no fire had ever burned. At +least so it appeared to La Giralda, who, much impressed by the +magnificence of the installation, would promptly have driven her goats +out again. + +But this the little Isabel would by no means permit. + +"Here--here!" she commanded, "this is mine--my very own. My mother has a +dairy--I have a kitchen. Milk the goats here, I command you, nowhere but +here!" + +And thrusting the bucket into the old woman's hand, she watched +carefully and eagerly as La Giralda pressed the milk downwards in +hissing streams. The she-goat operated upon expressed her gratitude by +turning to lick the hand which relieved her. + +At this the little girl danced with delight. + +"It looks so easy--I could do it myself! I am sure of it. I tell you, +Susana, I will do it. Stand still, _cabra_! Do you not know that I am +Isabel the Second, Queen of all the Spains!" + +But the she-goat, having no very strong monarchial sentiments, or +perhaps being inclined to Carlist opinions, as soon as she felt the grip +of unaccustomed fingers promptly kicked over in the dust the Queen of +all the Spains. + +The little girl had not time to gather herself up or even to emit the +howl of disappointment and anger which hovered upon her lips, before her +attendant rushed at her with pitiful cries: + +"Oh, the wicked goat! The devil-possessed emblem of Satan! Let it be +slain! Did not your poor Susana warn you to have nothing to do with such +evil things--thus to overturn in the dust the best, the sweetest, the +noblest of Princesses!" + +But the best and sweetest of Princesses, having violent objections to +being gathered up into the capacious embrace of her nurse, especially +before company, vigorously objected in much the same manner as the goat +had done, and at last compelled Dona Susana to deposit her once more on +the paved floor of the miniature kitchen. Having arrived in which place, +her anger completely vanished, for a tankardful of rich warm goat's milk +was handed to her by La Giralda, and in this flowing bowl she soon +forgot her woes. + +"You must come down to the palace and be paid," said the little girl; +"we are most of us very hungry there, and those who are not hungry are +thirsty. The waggons from Madrid have been stopped on the way, and all +the guards have gone to bring them back!" + +At this Dona Susana looked quickly across to the old goatherdess and +signalled that the little Princess was not to be informed of anything +she might happen to know. + +"You have not been in the town, I trust!" said Dona Susana. + +Now La Giralda could conscientiously have declared that she had never +been within the gates of San Ildefonso in her life, but thinking that in +the circumstances the statement might appear a suspicious one, she +modified it to a solemn declaration that she had come directly down from +her farm on the mountain-side, as, indeed, they themselves had seen. + +Satisfied of her veracity, Dona Susana took her very independent and +difficult charge by the hand and led the way towards the palace of La +Granja, glimpses of which could be obtained through the foliage which +was still everywhere verdant and abundant with the first freshness of +spring--so high did the castle lie on the hill-slopes, and so enlivening +were the waste waters downthrown from the rocky crests of Penalara, +whose snows glimmered through the trees, as it seemed, but a bowshot +above their heads. + +The goats, each expecting their turn of milking, followed at her heels +as obediently as well-trained dogs. Most of them were of the usual +dark-red colour, a trifle soiled with the grey dust on which they had +been lying. A few were white, and these were the favourites of the +little Queen, who, though compelled to go on ahead, looked constantly +back over her shoulder and endeavoured to imitate the shrill whistling +call by which La Giralda kept her flock in place. + +When they arrived at the palace front the doors stood wide open. At Dona +Susana's call an ancient major-domo appeared, his well-developed +waistcoat mating ill with the pair of shrunk and spindle shanks which +appeared beneath. The sentry boxes, striped red and gold with the +colours of Spain, were empty. At the guard-houses there were no lounging +sergeants or smart privates eager to rise and salute as the little Queen +passed by. + +There was already indeed about the palace an air of desolation. The +great gates in front towards the town had been closed, as if to shut off +infection, and the Court itself, dwindled to a few faithful old +retainers of Fernando VII., surrounded his widow and her new husband +with a devotion which was yet far more than their due. + +It was not long before La Giralda had milked the remainder of the flock +and sent the creaming white pitchers into the palace. Little Isabel +danced with delight as one she-goat after another escaped with infinite +tail-waggling and bleatings of pleasure. And in the dearth of other +amusement she desired and even commanded the old woman to remain and +pasture her herd within the precincts of the palace. But La Giralda had +much yet to do. She must find out the state and dispositions of the town +of San Ildefonso, and then rejoin her companions in the little corrie or +cauldron-like _cirque_ in which she and the sergeant had left Rollo and +the other members of the expedition. + +So after the small and imperious royal maid had been carried screaming +and battling upstairs by Dona Susana and the globular major-domo, La +Giralda, richly rewarded in golden coin of the realm, and with all the +requisite information as to the palace, betook herself back to the gate +by which she had left the ass. This she loaded again, and driving it +before her she retraced her steps past the corner of the palace, and so +to the porter's lodge by the great gate. + +Here she was presently ushered out by a mumbling old woman who informed +her that her husband and son had both gone to Madrid with the troops, +but would undoubtedly return in an hour or two, a statement which with +her superior information the old gipsy took leave to doubt. + +The town of San Ildefonso lay beneath the chateau, and to her right as +La Giralda issued from the gates. The houses were of an aspect at once +grave and cheerful. They had been built mostly, not for permanent +residence, but in order to accommodate the hordes of courtiers and their +suites who, in the summer months, followed the royal personages over the +mountains from Madrid. + +As most of these had fled at the first invasion of the cholera, the +windows, at this period of the year generally bright with flowers and +shaded with emerald barred _jalousies_, were closely shut up, and upon +several of the closed doors appeared the fatal black and white notices +of the municipality, which indicated that there either was or had been a +case of the plague within the infected walls. + +La Giralda went down the streets uttering the long wailing cry which +indicated that she had firewood to sell. But though she could have +disposed of the milk from the goats over and over again, there appeared +but little demand for her other commodity, even though she called, +"_Lena-a-a-a! Ah, lena-a-a-a!_" from one end of San Ildefonso to the +other. + +A city watchman, with a pipe in his mouth, looked drowsily and frowsily +out of the town-hall or _ayuntamiento_. He was retreating again to his +settle when it suddenly struck him that this intruder had paid no duty +upon her milk and firewood. True, he was not the functionary appointed +by law to receive the tax; but since he was on the spot, and for lack of +other constituted the representative of civic state, he felt he must +undertake the duty. + +So, laying aside his pipe and seizing his halberd and cocked hat, he +sallied grumblingly forth to intercept the bold contravener of municipal +laws. But the active limbs of the old gipsy, the lightened udders of the +she-goats, and the ass with his meek nose pointed homeward, took the +party out of the village gate before the man in authority could +over-take La Giralda. + +Soon, therefore, the roofs of San Ildefonso and the white palace again +lay beneath her as the gipsy reascended by her track of the morning. So +long had she occupied in her various adventures that the evening shadows +were already lengthening when she returned to the corrie where the party +had spent in restful indolence the burden and heat of the day. The +Sergeant had not yet arrived, and La Giralda delayed her story till he +should give her leave to speak. For not even to the gipsies of the +Guadarrama was Jose Maria a greater personage than Sergeant Cardono to +La Giralda of Sevilla. + +In the mean time she busied herself, with Concha's help, in preparing +the evening meal, as quick upon her legs as if she had done nothing but +lounge in the shade all day. It was almost sundown when the Sergeant +came in, dropping unannounced over the precipice as if from the clouds. + +"We must be in La Granja in two hours if we are to save a soul within +its walls," he said, "but--we have an hour for dinner first! Therefore +let us dine. God knows when we shall taste food again!" + +And with this dictum John Mortimer heartily agreed. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +PALACE BURGLARS + + +The startling announcement of the Sergeant at once set the whole party +in motion. Their suspicions of the morning were cast to the winds, as +the Sergeant and La Giralda in turn related their adventures. Concha, +having formerly vouched so strongly for the old gipsy woman, now nodded +triumphantly across to Rollo, who on his part listened intently. As +Sergeant Cardono proceeded the young man leaned further and further +forward, breathing deeply and regularly. The expression on his face was +that of fierce and keen resolution. + +The Sergeant told all the tale as it had happened, reserving only the +identification of himself with the famous Jose Maria of Ronda, which the +gipsies had made on the strength of the red mark about his neck, now +once more concealed under his military stock. Cardono, however, made no +secret that he was of the blood of Egypt, and set down to this fact all +that he had been able to accomplish. In swift well-chosen words he told +of the fierce little girl with the dark hair and blue eyes, who declared +herself to be the daughter of Munoz, sometime paramour and now reputed +husband of the Queen-Regent--making it clear that she had indeed planned +the wholesale slaughter, not only of those in the palace, but also of +the inhabitants of the town of San Ildefonso. + +Then in her turn La Giralda told of her visit to the pavilion, of the +little Queen, passionate, joyous, kindly natured, absolutely Spanish, +till the hearts of her hearers melted to the tale. + +"Our orders are to capture her and her mother the Regent," said Rollo, +thoughtfully. "It would therefore serve our purpose but ill if we +permitted these two to be sacrificed to the bloodthirsty fury of a mob +of plunderers!" + +"Then the sooner we find ourselves within the gates, the more chance we +shall have of saving them both!" said the Sergeant. "Serve out the +_puchero_, La Giralda!" + +Concha had taken no part in the discussion. But she had listened with +all her ears, and now in the pause that followed she declared her +unalterable intention of making one of the party. + +"I also am of Andalucia," she said with calm determination, "there are +two others of my country here who will answer for me. You cannot leave +me alone, and La Giralda will be needed as guide when once you reach the +palace precincts. I shall not be in the way, I promise you, and if it +comes to gun and pistol, there I think you will not find me wanting!" + +In his heart and though he made several objections, Rollo was glad +enough to give way. For with all the unknown dangers of the night before +them, and the certainty of bloodshed when the gipsies should attack, he +relished still less the thought of leaving Concha alone in that pit on +the chill side of Guadarrama. + +"I promise you, Colonel, the maid will be worth her billet," said the +Sergeant, "or else she is no true Andaluse. To such an one in old days I +have often trusted----" + +Thus far Cardono had proceeded when suddenly he broke off his +reminiscence, and with a paternal gesture patted Concha's arm as she was +bending over to transfer a second helping of the _puchero_ to his dish. + +The party was now in excellent marching order, well-provisioned, +well-fed, rested, and provided with the best and most recent +information. Even John Mortimer's slow English blood developed some +latent Puritanic fire, and he said, "Hang me if I do not fight for the +little girl who was willing to pay for the _whole_ of the goat-milk!" + +To fight for a Queen, who at the early age of five was prepared to give +a wholesale order like that, appeared to John Mortimer a worthy and +laudable deed of arms. He was free indeed to assist in taking her +captive, if by so doing he could further the shipping of the Priorato he +himself had paid for. But to make over to a set of thieves and murderers +a girl who had about her the makings of a good customer and a woman of +business habits, stirred every chivalric feeling within him. + +The night was so dark that it was resolved that the party should leave +their horses behind them in the stables of the deserted farm. They could +then proceed on foot more softly and with more safety to themselves. To +this La Giralda, knowing that they must return that way, readily +assented. For the thought of the dead woman she had left in the +first-floor room haunted her, and even in the darkness of the night she +could see the stark outlines of the sheet she had spread over the body. + +So it came to pass that once more horseshoe iron clattered, and there +was a flashing of lights and a noise of voices about the lonely and +stricken farmhouse. But only La Giralda gave a thought to the little +grave in the shady corner of the garden, and only she promised herself +to revisit it when the stern work of the night should be over and the +dawn of a calmer morning should have arisen. + +Now, as soon as Sergeant Cardono returned, he placed himself as +completely as formerly under the orders of Rollo. He was no more Jose +Maria the famous gipsy, but Sergeant Cardono of the army of H.M. Carlos +Quinto, and Senor Rollo was his colonel. Like a good scout he was ready +to advise, but to the full as ready to hold his tongue and obey. + +And Rollo, though new to his position, was not above benefiting +continually by his wisdom, and as a matter of fact it was the Sergeant +who, in conjunction with La Giralda, led the little expedition down the +perilous goat-track by which the old gipsy had followed her flock in the +morning. As usual Concha kept her place beside Rollo, with Mortimer and +Etienne a little behind, while El Sarria, taciturn but alert as usual, +brought up the rear. + +It can hardly be said that they carried with them any extraordinary +elements of success. Indeed, in one respect they were at a manifest +disadvantage. For in an expedition of this kind there ought to be one +leader of dignity, character, and military genius far beyond the others. +But among this little band which stole so quietly along the +mountain-paths of the Guadarrama, beneath the frowning snow-clad brow of +Penalara, there was not one who upon occasion could not have led a +similar forlorn hope. Each member of the party possessed a character +definite and easily to be distinguished from all the others. It was an +army of officers without any privates. + +Still, since our Firebrand, Rollo the Scot, held the nominal leadership, +and his quick imperious character made that chieftainship a reality, +there was at least a chance that they might bring to a successful +conclusion the complex and difficult task which was before them. + + * * * * * + +They now drew near to the palace, which, as one descends the mountains, +is approached first. The town of San Ildefonso lay further to the right, +an indistinguishable mass of heaped roofs and turrets without a light or +the vestige of a street apparent in the gloom. It seemed to Rollo a +strange thing to think of this stricken town lying there with its dead +and dying, its empty tawdry lodgings from which the rich and gay of the +Court had fled so hastily, leaving all save their most precious +belongings behind, the municipal notices on the door, white crosses +chalked on a black ground, while nearer and always nearer approached the +fell gipsy rabble intent on plunder and rapine. + +Even more strange, however, seemed the case of the royal palace of La +Granja. Erected at infinite cost after the pattern of Versailles and +Marly, the smallness of its scale and the magnificence of its natural +surroundings caused it infinitely to surpass either of its models in +general effect. It had, however, never been intended for defence, nor +had the least preparation been made in case of attack. It was doubtless +presumed that whenever the Court sojourned there, the royal personages +would arrive with such a guard and retinue as, in that lonely place, +would make danger a thing to be laughed at. + +But no such series of circumstances as this had ever been thought of; +the plague which had fallen so heavily and as it seemed mysteriously and +instantaneously upon the town; the precincts of the palace about to be +invaded by a foe more fell than Frank or Moor; the guards disappeared +like snow in the sun, and the only protection of the lives of the +Queen-Regent and her daughter, a band of Carlists sent to capture their +persons at all hazards. + +Verily the whole situation was remarkably complex. + +The briefest look around convinced Rollo that it would be impossible for +so small a party to hold the long range of iron palisades which +surrounded the palace. These were complete, indeed, but their extent was +far too great to afford any hope of keeping out the gipsies without +finding themselves taken in the rear. They must hold La Granja itself, +that was clear. There remained, therefore, only the problem of finding +entrance. + +Between the porter's lodge and the great gates near the _Colegiata_ they +discovered a ladder left somewhat carelessly against a wall where +whitewashing had been going on during the day, some ardent royal +tradesman having ventured back, preferring the chance of the plague to +the abandonment of his contract. + +This they at once appropriated, and Rollo and the Sergeant, being the +two most agile of the company, prepared to mount. + +If the time had been less critical, and a disinterested observer had +been available, it would at this moment have been interesting to observe +the demeanour of Concha. Feeling that in a manner she was present on +sufferance, she could not of course make any objection to the plan of +escalade, nor could she offer to accompany Rollo and the Sergeant, but +with clasped hands and tightly compressed lips she stood beneath, +repeating under her breath quick-succeeding prayers for the safety of +one (or both) of the adventurers. + +So patent and eager was her anxiety even in the gloom of the night that +La Giralda, to whom her agitation was manifest, laid her hand on the +girl's arm and whispered in her ear that she must be brave, a true +Andaluse, and not compromise the expedition by any spoken word. + +Concha turned indignantly upon her, shaking off her restraining hand as +she did so. + +"Do you think I am a fool?" she whispered. "I will do nothing to spoil +their chances. But oh, Giralda, at any moment he might be shot!" + +"Trust Jose Maria. He hath taken risks far greater than this," said La +Giralda in a low voice, wilfully mistaking her meaning. But Concha, +quite unconsoled, did nothing but clasp her hands and quicken her +supplications to the Virgin. + +The ladder was reared against the gilded iron railing and Rollo mounted, +immediately dropping lightly down on the further side. The Sergeant +followed, and presently both were on the ground. At a word from Rollo, +El Sarria pushed the ladder over and the two received it and laid it +along the parapet in a place where it would remain completely hidden +till wanted. + +The two moved off together in the direction of the porter's lodge, at +the door of which the Sergeant knocked lightly, and then, obtaining no +answer, with more vehemence. A window was lifted and a frightened voice +asked who came there at that time of night. + +The Sergeant answered with some sharpness that they wished for the key +of the great gate. + +Upon this the same old woman who had ushered out La Giralda appeared +trembling at the lattice, and was but little relieved when the Sergeant, +putting on his most serious air, informed her that her life was in the +utmost danger, and that she must instantly come downstairs, open the +gate, and accompany them to the palace. + +"I knew it," quavered the old woman, "I knew it since ever my husband +went away with the soldiers and left me here alone. I shall be murdered +among you, but my blood will be on his hands. Indeed, sirs, he hath +never treated me well, but spent his wages at the wine tavern, giving me +but a beggarly pittance. Nay, how do I know but he had an intent in thus +deserting me? He hath, and I can prove it, cast eyes of desire on Maria +of the pork-shop, only because she is younger and more comely than I, +who had grown old and wrinkled bearing him children and cooking him +_ollas_! Aye, and small thanks have I got for either. As indeed I have +told him hundreds of times. Such a man! A pretty fellow to be head +porter at a Queen's gate! I declare I will inform her Royal Majesty this +very night, if I am to go to the palace, that will I!" + +"Come down immediately and let us in, my good woman," said the Sergeant, +soothingly. For it appeared as if this torrent of accusation against the +absent might continue to flow for an indefinite period. + +"But how am I to know that you are not the very rogues and thieves of +whom you tell?" persisted the old lady with some show of reason. + +"Well," said the Sergeant forbearingly, "as to that you must trust us, +mother. It is the best you can do. But fear nothing, we will treat you +gently as a cat her kitten, and you will come up to the palace with us +to show us in what part of it dwell the Queen and her daughter." + +"Nay, not if it be to do harm to my lady and the sweet little maid who +this very day brought a pail of milk to poor old Rebeca the portress, +whose husband hath forsaken her for a pork-shop trull. I would rather +die!" + +Rollo was about to speak, but the Sergeant whispered that the old lady +was now in such good case to admit them, that she might be frighted by +his foreign accent. + +In a few moments the woman could be heard stiffly and grumblingly +descending the stairs, the door was opened, and Rebeca appeared with the +key in her hand. + +"How many are there of your party?" she asked, her poor hand shaking so +that she could scarcely fit the key in the lock, and her voice sunk to a +quavering whisper. + +"There are five men of us and two women," said the Sergeant, quickly. +"Now we are all within, pray give me the key and show us the road to the +Queen's apartments." + +"Two women!" grumbled the poor old creature, whose mind appeared to be +somewhat unhinged; "that will never suit her Royal Highness the Regent, +especially if they are young and well-looking. She loves not such, any +more than I love the hussy of the pork-shop. Though, indeed, my man hath +not the roving eye in his head as her Senor Munoz hath. Ah, the saints +have mercy on all poor deserted women! But what am I saying? If the +Lady Cristina heard me speak ill of him, she would set my poor old neck +in the garrote. Then--crack--all would be over!" + +The party now advanced towards the palace, which in the gloom of a +starless night was still entirely hidden from their sight, save as a +darker mass set square against the black vault of heaven. + +By this time Concha and La Giralda had taken the trembling portress by +the arms, and were bringing her along in the van, whispering comfort in +her ears all the way. The sergeant and Rollo came next, with Mortimer +and Etienne behind, a naked blade in the hand of each, for Rollo had +whispered the word to draw swords. This, however, El Sarria interpreted +to mean his faithful Manchegan knife, to which he trusted more than to +any sword of Toledo that ever was forged. + +At any other time they could not have advanced a score of yards without +being brought to a stand-still by the challenge of a sentry, the whistle +of a rifle bullet, or the simultaneous turning out of the guard. But now +no such danger was to be apprehended. All was still as a graveyard +before cock-crow. + +It is hard, in better and wiser days, when things are beginning to be +traced to their causes, to give any idea of the effect of the first +appearance of Black Cholera among a population at once so simple and so +superstitious as that of rural Spain. The inhabitants of the great +towns, the Cristino armies in the field, the country-folk of all +opinions were universally persuaded that the dread disease was caused by +the monks in revenge for the despites offered to them; especially by the +hated Jesuits, who were supposed to have thrown black cats alive into +rivers and wells in order to produce disease by means of witchcraft and +diabolical agency. + +So universal was this belief that so soon as the plague broke out in any +city or town the neighbouring monasteries were immediately plundered, +and the priors and brethren either put to death or compelled to flee for +their lives. + +Some such panic as this had stampeded the troops stationed in and about +the little town of San Ildefonso, when the first cases of cholera proved +fatal little more than a week before. A part of these had rushed away to +plunder the rich monastery of El Parral a few miles off, lying in the +hollow beneath Segovia. Others, breaking up into parties of from a dozen +to a hundred, had betaken themselves over the mountains in the direction +of Madrid. + +So the Queen-Regent and the handsome Senor Munoz remained perforce at La +Granja, for the two-fold reason that the palace of Madrid was reported +to be in the hands of a rebellious mob, and that the disbanding troops +had removed with them every sort and kind of conveyance, robbed the +stables of the horses, and plundered the military armoury of every +useful weapon. + +They had not, however, meddled with the treasures of the palace, nor +offered any indignity to the Queen-Regent, or to any of the inmates of +La Granja. But as the Sergeant well knew, not thus would these be +treated by the roving bands of gipsies, who in a few hours would be +storming about the defenceless walls. No resource of oriental torture, +no refinement of barbarity would be omitted to compel the Queen and her +consort to give up the treasures without which it was well known that +they never travelled. Obviously, therefore, there was no time to be +lost. + +They went swiftly round the angle of the palace, their feet making no +sound on the clean delicious sward of those lawns which make the place +such a marvel in the midst of tawny, dusty, burnt-up Spain. In a brief +space the party arrived unnoted and unchecked under the wall of the +northern part. + +Lights still burnt in two or three windows on the second floor, though +all was dark on the face which the palace turned towards the south and +the town of San Ildefonso. + +"These are the windows of the rooms occupied by my lady the +Queen-Regent," whispered the portress, Rebeca, pointing upwards; "but +promise me to commit no murder or do any hurt to the little maid." + +"Be quiet, woman," muttered Rollo, more roughly than was his wont; "we +are come to save both of them from worse than death. Sergeant Cardono, +bring the ladder!" + +The Sergeant disappeared, and it was not many seconds before he was back +again adjusting its hooks to the side of an iron balcony in front of one +of the lighted rooms. Almost before he had finished Rollo would have +mounted, impetuously as was his custom, but the Sergeant held him back +by the arm. + +"I crave your forgiveness," he whispered, "but if you will pardon me +saying so, I have much more experience in such matters than you. Permit +me in this single case to precede you! We know not what or whom we may +meet with above!" + +Nevertheless, though the Sergeant mounted first, Rollo followed so +closely that his hands upon the rounds of the ladder were more than once +in danger of being trodden upon by the Sergeant's half-boots. + +Presently they stood together on the iron balcony and peered within. A +tall dark man leaned against an elaborately carved mantelpiece +indolently stroking his glossy black whiskers. A lady arrayed in a +dressing-gown of pink silk reaching to her feet was seated on a chair, +and submitting restlessly enough to the hands of her maid, who was +arranging her hair for the night, in the intervals of a violent but +somewhat one-sided quarrel which was proceeding between the pair. + +Every few moments the lady would start from her seat and with her eyes +flashing fire she would advance towards the indolent dandy by the +mantelpiece as if with purpose of personal assault. At such seasons the +stout old Abigail instantly remitted her attentions and stood perfectly +well trained and motionless, with the brush and comb in her hand, till +it pleased her lady to sit down again. + +All the while the gentleman said no word, but watched the development of +the scene with the utmost composure, passing his beautiful white fingers +through his whiskers and moustache after the fashion of a comb. The +lady's anger waxed higher and higher, and with it her voice also rose in +an equal ratio. What the end would have been it is difficult to +prophesy, for the Sergeant, realising that time was passing quickly, +produced an instrument with a broad flat blade bent at an acute angle to +the handle, and inserting it sharply into the crack of the French +window, opened it with a click which must have been distinctly audible +within, even in the height of the lady's argument. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +THE QUEEN'S ANTE-CHAMBER + + +Out of the darkness Rollo and the Sergeant stepped quickly into the +room. Whereupon, small wonder that the lady should scream and fall back +into her chair, the waiting-maid drop upon the floor as if she had been +struck by a Carlist bullet, or the gentleman with the long and glossy +whiskers suspend his caresses and gaze upon the pair with dropped jaw +and open mouth! + +At his entrance Rollo had taken off his hat with a low bow. The Sergeant +saluted and stood at attention. There was a moment's silence in the +room, but before Rollo had time to speak the Queen-Regent recovered her +self-possession. The daughter of the Bourbons stood erect. Her long hair +streamed in dark glossy waves over her shoulders. Her bosom heaved +visibly under the thin pink wrapper. Anger struggled with fear in her +eyes. Verily Maria Cristina of Naples had plenty of courage. + +"Who are you," she cried, "that dare thus to break in upon the privacy +of the Regent Queen of Spain? Duke, call the guard!" + +But her husband only shrugged his shoulders and continued to gaze upon +the pair of intruders with a calm exterior. + +"Your Majesty," said Rollo, courteously, naturally resuming the +leadership when anything requiring contact with gentlefolk came in the +way, "I am here to inform you that you are in great danger--greater than +I can for the moment make clear to you. The palace is, as I understand, +absolutely without defence--the town is in the same position. It is +within our knowledge that a band of two hundred gipsies are on the march +to attack you this night in order to plunder the chateau, and put to +death every soul within its walls. We have come, therefore, together +with our companions outside, to offer our best services in your +Majesty's defence!" + +"But," cried the Queen-Regent, "all this may very well be, but you have +not yet told me who you are and what you are doing here!" + +"For myself," answered Rollo, "I am a Scottish gentleman, trained from +my youth to the profession of arms. Those who wait without are for the +present comrades and companions, whom, with your Majesty's permission, I +shall bid to enter. For to be plain, every moment is of the utmost +importance, that we may lose no time in putting the chateau into such a +state of defence as is possible, since the attack of the gipsies may be +expected at any moment!" + +Rollo stepped to the window to summon his company, but found them +already assembled on the balcony. It was no time for formal +introductions, yet, as each entered, Rollo, like a true herald, +delivered himself of a brief statement of the position of the individual +in the company. But when La Giralda entered, the stout waiting-maid rose +with a shriek from the floor where she had been sitting. + +"Oh, my lady," she cried, "do not trust these wicked people. They have +come to murder us all. That woman is the very old goatherdess with whom +the Princess Isabel was so bewitched this morning! I knew some evil +would come of such ongoings!" + +"Hush, Susana," said her mistress with severity; "when you are asked for +any information, be ready to give it. Till then hold your peace." + +Which having said she turned haughtily back again to the strangers, +without vouchsafing a glance at her husband or the trembling handmaiden. + +"I can well believe," she said, "that you have come here to do us a +service in our present temporary difficulty, and for that, if I find you +of approved fidelity, you shall not fail to be rewarded. Meantime, I +accept your service, and I place you and the whole of your men under the +immediate command of his Excellency the Duke of Rianzares!" + +She turned to the tall exquisite who still continued to comb his +whiskers by the chimney-piece. Up till now he had not spoken a word. + +Rollo scarcely knew what to reply to this, and as for the Sergeant, he +had the hardest work to keep from bursting into a loud laugh. + +But they were presently delivered from their difficulty by the newly +nominated commander-in-chief himself. + +"This scene is painful to me," said Senor Munoz, placidly, "it irritates +my nerves. I have a headache. I think I shall retire and leave these +gentlemen to make such arrangements as may be necessary till the return +of our guards, which will doubtless take place within an hour or so. If +you need me you can call for me!" + +Having made this general declaration he turned to Rollo and addressed +himself particularly to him. + +"My rooms, I would have you know, are in the north wing," he continued; +"I beg that there shall be no firing or other brutal noise on that +side. Anything of the kind would be most annoying. So pray see to it." + +Then he advanced to where his wife stood, her eyes full of anger at this +desertion. + +"My angel," he said, calmly, "I advise you sincerely to do the same. +Retire to your chamber. Take a little _tisane_ for the cooling of the +blood, and leave all other matters to these new friends of ours. I am +sure they appear very honest gentlemen. But as you have many little +valuables lying about, do not forget to lock your door, as I shall mine. +Adieu, my angel!" + +And so from an inconceivable height of dandyism his Excellency the Duke +of Rianzares would have stooped to bestow a good night salutation on his +wife's cheek, had not that lady, swiftly recovering from her stupor, +suddenly awarded him a resounding box on the ear, which so far +discomposed the calm of his demeanour that he took from his pocket a +handkerchief edged with lace, unfolded it, and with the most ineffable +gesture in the world wiped the place the lady's hand had touched. Then, +with the same abiding calm, he restored the cambric to his pocket, bowed +low to the Queen, and lounged majestically towards the door. + +Maria Cristina watched him at first with a haughty and unmoved +countenance. Her hands clenched themselves close to her side, as if she +wished the blow had been bestowed with the shut rather than with the +open digits. + +But as her husband (for so he really was, though the relationship was +not acknowledged till many years after, and at the feet of the Holy +Father himself in the Vatican) approached the door, opened it, and was +on the point of departing without once turning round, Cristina suddenly +broke into a half hysterical cry, ran after him, threw her arms tenderly +about his neck, and burst out weeping on his broad bosom. + +The gentleman, without betraying the least emotion, patted her +tolerantly on the shoulder, and murmured some words in her ear, at the +same time looking over her head at the men of the company with a sort of +half-comic apology. + +"Oh! Fernando, forgive me," she cried, "life of my life--the devil must +have possessed me! I will cut off the wicked hand that did the deed. +Give me a knife, good people--to strike the best and handsomest--oh, it +was wicked--cruel, diabolical!" + +Whatever may have been the moral qualities of the royal blow, Rollo felt +that in their present circumstances time enough had been given to its +consideration, so he interposed. + +"Your Majesty, the gipsies may be upon us at any moment. It would be as +well if you would summon all the servants of the palace together and arm +them with such weapons as may be available!" + +Maria Cristina lifted her head from the shoulder of her Ferdinand, as if +she did not at first comprehend Rollo's speech, and was resolved to +resent an intrusion at such a moment. Whereupon the Scot repeated his +words to such good purpose that the Queen-Regent threw up her hands and +cried, "Alas! this happens most unfortunately. We have only old Eugenio +and a couple of lads in the whole palace since the departure of the +guards!" + +"Never mind," said Rollo; "let us make the best of the matter. We will +muster them; perhaps they will be able to load and fire a musket apiece! +If I mistake not, the fighting will be at very short range!" + +It was upon this occasion that Senor Fernando Munoz showed his first +spark of interest. + +"I will go and awake them," he said; "I know where the servants are wont +to sleep." + +But on this occasion his fond wife would not permit him to stir. + +"The wicked murderers may have already penetrated to that part of the +castle," she palpitated, her arms still about his neck, "and you must +not risk your precious life. Let Susana go and fetch them. She is old, +and has doubtless made her peace with religion." + +"Nay, it is not fitting," objected Susana with spirit. "I am a woman, +and not so old as my lady says. I cannot go gadding about into the +chambers of all and sundry. Besides, there has been purpose of marriage +openly declared between me and the Senor Eugenio for upwards of thirty +years. What then would be said if I----" + +"Nay, then," cried Maria Cristina, "stay where you are, Susana. For me, +I am none so nice. I will go myself. Do not follow me, Fernando!" And +with that she ran to the door, and her feet were heard flitting up the +stairway which led to the servants' wing of the palace. Munoz made as if +to accompany her, but remembering his wife's prohibition, he did not +proceed farther than the door, where, with a curious smile upon his +face, he stood listening to the voice of the Queen-Regent upraised in +alternate appeal and rebuke. + +During the interval, while the Sergeant and El Sarria were looking to +their stores and munitions, Rollo approached the waiting-maid, Susana, +and inquired of her the way to the armoury, where he expected to find +store of arms and powder. + +"If this young maid will go also, I will conduct you thither, young +man!" said Susana, primly. + +And holding Concha firmly by the hand, she took up a candle and led the +way. + +But to Rollo's surprise they found the armoury wholly sacked. All the +valuable guns had been removed by the deserting guards. The gun racks +were torn down. The floor of beaten earth was strewed with flints of +ancient pieces of last century's manufacture. The barrels of +bell-mouthed blunderbusses leaned against the wall, the stocks, knocked +off in mere wantonness, were piled in corners; and in all the chests and +wall-presses there was not an ounce of powder to be found. + +While Rollo was searching, Senor Munoz appeared at the door, languid and +careless as ever. He watched the young Scot opening chests and rummaging +in lockers for a while without speaking. Then he spoke slowly and +deliberately. + +"It strikes me that when I was an officer of the bodyguard, in the +service of the late Fernando the Seventh, my right royal namesake (and +in some sort predecessor), there was another room used for the private +stores and pieces of the officers. If I mistake not it was entered by +that door to the right, but the key appears to be wanting!" + +He added the last clause, as he watched the frantic efforts of Rollo, +who had immediately thrown himself upon the panels, while the Senor was +in the act of rolling out his long-drawn Castilian elegances of +utterance. + +"Hither, Cardono," cried Rollo, "open me this door! Quick, Sergeant!" + +"Have a care," said the Duke; "there is powder inside!" + +But Rollo, now keen on the scent of weapons of defence, would not admit +a moment's delay, and the Sergeant, inserting his curiously crooked +blade, opened that door as easily as he had done the French window. + +Munoz stepped forward with some small show of eagerness and glanced +within. + +"Yes," he said, "the officers' arms are there, and a liberal allowance +of powder." + +"They are mostly sporting rifles," said Rollo, looking them over, "but +there is certainly plenty of powder and ball." + +"And what kills ibex and bouquetin on the sierras," drawled Munoz, "will +surely do as much for a mountain gipsy if, as you said just now, the +range is likely to be a short one!" + +Rollo began somewhat to change his opinion about the husband of the +Queen. At first he had seemed both dandy and coward, a combination which +Rollo held in the utmost contempt. But when Rollo had once seen him +handle a gun, he began to have more respect for his recent Excellency +the Duke of Rianzares. + +"Can you tell us, from your military experience," Rollo asked, "which is +the most easily vulnerable part of this palace." + +"It is easily vulnerable in every part," answered Munoz, carelessly +snapping the lock of a rifle again and again. + +"Nay, but be good enough to listen, sir," cried Rollo, with some heat. +"There are women and children here. You do not know the gipsies. You do +not know by whom they are led. You do not know the oaths of death and +torture they have sworn----" + +"By whom are they led?" said Munoz, still playing carelessly with the +rifle. "I thought such fellows were mere savages from the hills, and +might be slaughtered like sheep." + +"Perhaps--at any rate they are led by your own daughter!" said Rollo, +briefly, growing nettled at the parvenu grandee's seeming indifference. + +"_My daughter!_" cried Munoz, losing in a moment his bright complexion, +and becoming of a slaty pallor, "my daughter, that mad imp of hell--who +thrice has tried to assassinate me!" + +And as he spoke, he let the gun fall upon the floor at his feet. Then he +rallied a little. + +"Who has told you this lie?" he exclaimed, with a kind of indignation. + +"A man who does not make mistakes--or tell lies--Sergeant Cardono!" said +Rollo. "He has both seen and spoken to her! She has sworn to attack the +palace to-night." + +"Then I am as good as dead already. I must go directly to my wife!" +answered Munoz. + +But Rollo stepped before him. + +"Not without carrying an armful of these to where they will be of use," +he said, pointing to the guns. And the Duke of Rianzares, without any +further demur, did his will. Rollo in turn took as many as he could +carry, and the Sergeant brought up the rear carrying a wooden box of +cartridges, which had evidently been packed ready for transportation. + +They returned to the large lighted room, where Mortimer, Etienne, and El +Sarria had been left on guard. Concha and the waiting-maid seconded +their efforts by bringing store of pistols and ammunition. + +On their way they passed through a hall, which by day seemed to be +lighted only from the roof. Rollo bade them deposit the arms there, and +bring the other candles and lamps to that place. + +"Every moment that a light is to be seen at an outside window adds to +our danger," he said, and Concha ran at his bidding. + +Before she had time to return, however, the Queen-Regent came in with +her usual dignity, the three serving-men following her. Rollo saw at +once that nothing was to be expected of Eugenio, whose ancient and +tottering limbs could hardly support the weight of his body. But there +was more hope of the two others. They proved to be stout young fellows +from the neighbourhood, and professed the utmost eagerness for a bout +with the gipsies. From their youth they had been accustomed to the use +of firearms--it is to be feared without due licence--in the royal +hunting preserves of Penalara and the Guadarrama. + +But this made no difference to Rollo, who instantly set about equipping +them with the necessary arms, and inquiring minutely about the +fastenings of the lower doors and windows. These it appeared were +strong. The doors themselves were covered without with sheet-iron, while +all the windows were protected not only by shutters but by solid +stanchions of iron sunk in the wall. + +On the whole Rollo was satisfied, and next questioned the servants +concerning the state of the town and whether any assistance was to be +hoped for from that quarter. In this, however, he was disappointed. It +appeared that the whole municipality of San Ildefonso was so utterly +plague-stricken that scarce an able-bodied man remained, or so much as a +halfling boy capable of shouldering a musket. Only the women stood still +in the breach, true nursing mothers, not like her of Ramah, refusing to +be comforted, but continuing rather to tend the sick and dying till they +themselves also died--aye, even shrouding the dead and laying out the +corpses. A faithful brother or two of the Hermitage abode to carry the +last Sacraments of the Church through the deserted and grass-grown +streets, though there were few or none now to fall on their knees at the +passage of _Su Majestad_, or to uncover the head at the melancholy +tolling of the funeral bell. + +With characteristic swiftness of decision Rollo made up his mind that +the best plan for the defence of the palace would be to place his scanty +forces along the various jutting balconies of the second floor, +carefully darkening all the rooms in their rear, so that, till the +moment of the attack itself, the assailants would have no idea that they +were expected. It was his idea that the small doors on the garden side +of the house, which led right and left to the servants' quarters, would +be attacked first. He was the more assured of this because the Sergeant +had recognised, in the bivouac of the gipsies, a man who had formerly +been one of the royal grooms both at La Granja and at Aranjuez. He would +be sure to be familiar, therefore, with that part of the interior of the +palace. Besides, being situated upon the side most completely removed +from the town, the assailants would have the less fear of interruption. + +While Rollo was thus cogitating, Concha came softly to his side, +appearing out of the gloom with a suddenness that startled the young +man. + +"I have pulled up the ladder by which we ascended and laid it across the +balcony," she said. "Was that right?" + +"You--alone?" cried Rollo in astonishment. + +She nodded brightly. + +"Certainly," she answered; "women are not all so great weaklings as you +think them--nor yet such fools!" + +"Indeed, you have more sense than I," Rollo responded, gloomily; "I +ought to have remembered that before. But, as you know, I have had many +things to think of." + +"I am glad," she said, more quietly and submissively than ever in her +life, "that even in so small a matter I am permitted to think a little +for you!" + +Whereupon, though the connection of idea is not obvious, Rollo +remembered the moment when he had faced the black muzzles of Cabrera's +muskets in the chill of the morning, and the bitter regret which had +then arisen to his mind. Out there in the dark of the palace-garden, +death fronted him as really though not perhaps so immediately. He +resolved quickly that he should not have the same regret again, if the +worst came to the worst. There was no one in the alcove where Concha had +found him. The Queen-Regent had disappeared to her suite of rooms, and +thither after a time Senor Munoz had followed her. The rest were at that +moment being placed in their various posts by the Sergeant according to +Rollo's directions. + +So he stooped quickly and kissed Concha upon the mouth. + +It was strange. The girl's inevitable instinct on such matters seemed to +have deserted her. In a somewhat wide experience Concha could always +tell to a second when an attempt of this kind was due. Most women can, +and if they are kissed it is because they want to be. (In which, sayeth +the Wise Man, is great wisdom!) A fire-alarm rings in their brain with +absolute certainty, giving them time to evite the conflagration by a +healthy douche of cold water. But Rollo the Firebrand again proved +himself the Masterly Incalculable. Or else--but who could suspect +Concha? + +It is, again sayeth the Wise Man, the same with kicking a dog. The brute +sees the kick coming before a muscle is in motion. He watches the eye of +his opponent and is forearmed. He vanisheth into space. But when Rollo +interviewed an animal in this fashion, he kicked first and thought +afterwards. Hence no sign of his intention appeared in his eye, and the +dog's yelp arrived almost as a surprise to himself. + +So, with greatly altered circumstance, was it in the present instance. +Rollo kissed first and made up his mind to it some time after. +Consequently Concha was taken absolutely by surprise. She uttered a +little cry and stepped back indignantly into the lighted room where the +spare muskets were piled. + +But again Rollo was before her. If he had attempted to make love, she +would have scathed him with the soundest indignation, based on +considerations of time, place, and personality. + +But the young Scot gave her no opportunity. In a moment he had again +become her superior officer. + +"Take your piece," he said, with an air of assured command, "together +with sufficient ammunition, and post yourself at the little staircase +window over the great door looking towards the town. If you see any one +approaching, do not hesitate to fire. Good-bye. God bless you! I will +see you again on my rounds!" + +And Rollo passed on his way. + +Then with a curious constraint upon her tongue, and on her spirit a new +and delightful feeling that she could do no other than as she was +bidden, Concha found herself, with loaded musket and pistol, obediently +taking her place in the general defence of the palace. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +LIKE A FALLING STAR + + +Rollo judged aright. It was indeed no time for love-making, and, to do +the young man justice, he did not connect any idea so concrete with the +impulsive kiss he had given to Concha. + +She it was who had saved his life at Sarria. She was perilling her own +in order to accompany and assist his expedition. She had drawn up the +ladder he had foolishly forgotten. Yet, in spite of the fact that he was +a young man and by no means averse from love, Rollo was so clean-minded +and so little given to think himself desirable in the eyes of women, +that it never struck him that the presence of La Giralda and Concha +might be interpreted upon other and more personal principles than he had +modestly represented to himself. + +True, Rollo was vain as a peacock--but not of his love-conquests. +Punctilious as any Spaniard upon the smallest point of honour, in a +quarrel he was as ready as a Parisian _maitre d'armes_ to pull out sword +or pistol. Nevertheless when a man boasted in his presence of the +favours of a woman, he thought him a fool and a braggart--and was in +general nowise backward in telling him so. + +Thus it happened that, though Concha had received no honester or better +intentioned kiss in her life, the giver of it went about his military +duties with a sense of having said his prayers, or generally, having +performed some action raising himself in his own estimation. + +"God bless her," he said to himself, "I will be a better man for her +sweet sake. And, by heavens, if I had had such a sister, I might have +been a better fellow long ere this! God bless her, I say!" + +But what wonder is it that little Concha, in her passionate Spanish +fashion understanding but one way of love, and being little interested +in brothers, felt the tears come to her eyes as Rollo's step waxed +fainter in the distance, and said over and over to herself with smiling +pleasure, "He loves me--he loves me! Oh, if only my mother had lived, I +might have been worthier of him. Then I would not have played with men's +hearts for amusement to myself, as alas, I have too often done. God +forgive me, there was no harm, indeed. But--but--I am not worthy of +him--I know I am not!" + +So Rollo's hasty kiss on the dark balcony was provocative of a healthy +self-reproach on both sides--which at least was so much to the good. + +Concha peered out into the darkness towards the south where a few stars +were blinking sleepily through the ground-mist. She could dimly discern +the outline of the town lying piled beneath her, without a light, +without a sound, without a sign of life. From beyond the hills came a +weird booming as of a distant cannonade. But Concha, the careless maiden +who had grown into a woman in an hour, did not think of these things. +For to the Spanish girl, whose heart is touched to the core, there is +but one subject worthy of thought. Wars, battles, sieges, the distresses +of queens, the danger of royal princesses--all are as nothing, because +her lips have been kissed. + +"All the same," she muttered to herself, "he ought not have done it--and +when I have a little recovered I will tell him so!" + +But at that moment, poised upon the topmost spike of the great gate in +front of her, she saw the silhouette of a man. He was climbing upwards, +with his hand on the cross-bar of the railing, and cautiously +insinuating a leg over the barrier, feeling meanwhile gingerly for a +foothold on the palace side. + +"He is come to do evil to--to Rollo!" she said to herself, with a slight +hesitation even in thought when she came for the first time upon the +Christian name. + +But there was no hesitation in the swift assurance with which she set +the rifle-stock to her shoulder, and no mistake as the keen and +practised eye glanced along the barrel. + +She fired, and with a groan of pain the man fell back outside the +enclosure. + +The sound of Concha's shot was the first tidings to the besieged that +the gipsies had really arrived. Rollo, stealing lightfoot from post to +post, pistol in hand, the Sergeant erect behind the vine-trellis on the +balcony between the rearward doors, Etienne and John Mortimer a little +farther along on the same side of the chateau, all redoubled their +vigilance at the sound. But for the space of an hour or more nothing +farther was seen or heard north, south, east, or west of the beleaguered +palace of La Granja. + +The gipsies had not had the least idea that their intention was known. +They expected no obstacles till the discharge of Concha's piece put them +on their guard, and set them to concerting other and more subtle modes +of attack. It was too dark for those in the chateau to see whether the +wounded man lay where he had fallen or whether he had been removed by +his comrades. + +Rollo hastened back to Concha and inquired in a low voice what it was +she had fired at. Whereupon she told him the story of the man climbing +the railings and how she had stayed his course so suddenly. Rollo made +no remark, save that she had done entirely right. Then he inquired if +she had recharged her piece, and hearing that she wanted nothing and was +ready for all emergencies, he departed upon his rounds without the least +leave-taking or approach to love-making. In her heart Concha respected +him for this, but at the same time she could not help feeling that a +Spaniard would have been somewhat warmer in his acknowledgments. +Nevertheless she comforted herself with the thought that he had trusted +her with one of the most important posts in the whole defence, and she +prayed fervently to the Virgin that she might be able to do her duty +there. + +She thought also that, when the morning came, perhaps he would have more +time. For her, she could wait--here she smiled a little. Yes, she +acknowledged it. She who had caught so many, was now taken in her own +net. She would go to the world's end for this young Scot. Nor in her +heart of hearts was she ashamed of it. Above and beyond all courtesies +and sugared phrases she loved his free-handed, careless, curt-spoken, +hectoring way. After his one kiss, he had treated her exactly like any +other of his company. He did not make love well, but--she liked him none +the worse for that. In such matters (sayeth the Wise Man) excellence is +apt to come with experience. + +And he would learn. Yes, decidedly he might yet do credit to his +teacher. To-morrow morning would arrive, and for the present, well--she +would keep her finger upon the trigger and a pair of remarkably +clear-sighted eyes upon the grey space of greensward crossed by black +trellises of railing immediately before her. That in the mean time was +her duty to her love and (she acknowledged it), her master. + +Apart from these details of his feeling for Concha, however (which gave +him little concern), Rollo was far from satisfied with the condition of +affairs. He would rather (so he confided to the Sergeant) have defended +a sheepfold or a simple cottage than this many-chambered, many-passaged, +mongrel chateau. His force was scattered out of sight, though for the +most part not out of hearing of each other. It was indeed true that, +owing to his excellent dispositions, and the fortunate situation of the +balconies, he was able to command every part of the castle enclosure, +and especially the doors by which it was most likely that the chief +attempt would be made. + +So occupied had Rollo been with his affairs, both private and of a +military character, that he had actually wholly forgotten the presence +of the Queen-Regent, her daughter and husband, within the palace of La +Granja. And this though he had come all that way across two of the +wildest provinces of Spain for the sole purpose of securing their +persons and transporting mother and daughter to the camp of Don Carlos. +Nevertheless so instant was the danger which now overhung every one, +that their intended captor had ceased to think of anything but how to +preserve these royal lives and to keep them from the hands of the +ruthless gipsies of the hills. + +But circumstances quickly recalled the young man to his primary +purpose, and taught him that he must not trust too much to those whose +interests were opposed to his own. + +Rollo, as we have said, had reserved no station for himself, but +constantly circulated round all the posts of his little army, ready at +any time to add himself to the effective forces of the garrison at any +threatened point. It was while he was thus passing from balcony to +balcony on the second or defending storey that his quick ear caught the +sound of a door opening and shutting on the floor beneath. + +"Ah," thought Rollo to himself, suspiciously, "the Queen and her people +are safe in their chambers on this floor. No person connected with the +defence ought to be down there. This is either treachery or the enemy +have gained admission by some secret passage!" + +With Rollo Blair to think was to act. So in another moment he had +slipped off his shoes, and treading noiselessly on his stocking soles +and with a naked sword in his hand he made his way swiftly and carefully +down towards the place whence he had heard the noise. + +Descending by the grand _escalier_ he found himself in one of the narrow +corridors which communicated by private staircases with the left wing of +the palace. Rollo stood still in the deepest shadow. He was sure that he +could hear persons moving near him, and once he thought that he could +distinguish the sound of a muttered word. + +The Egyptian darkness about him grew more and more instinct with noises. +There was a scuffling rustle, as of birds in a chimney, all over the +basement of the house. A door creaked as if a slight wind had blown it. +Then a latch clicked, and the wind, unaided, does not click latches. +Rollo withdrew himself deeper into a niche at the foot of the narrow +winding-stair which girdled a tower in the thickness of the wall. + +The young man had almost resolved to summon his whole force from above, +so convinced was he that the enemy had gained a footing within the tower +and were creeping up to take them in the rear, when a sound altered his +intention. There is nothing more unmistakable to the ear than the +rebellious whimper of an angry child compelled to do something against +its will. + +Rollo instantly comprehended the whole chain of circumstances. The +treachery touched him more nearly than he had imagined possible. Those +for whom he and his party were imperilling their lives were in fact to +leave them to perish as best they might in the empty shell of the +palace. The royal birds were on the point of flying. + +A door opened, and through it (though dimly) Rollo could see the great +waterfall glimmering and above the stars, chill over the snowy shoulder +of Penalara. He could not make out who had opened the door, but there +was enough light to discern that a lady wrapped in a mantilla went out +first. Then followed another, stouter and of shorter stature, apparently +carrying a burden. Then the whole doorway was obscured by the tall +figure of a man. + +"Munoz himself, by Heaven!" thought Rollo. + +And with a leap he was after him, in his headlong course dashing to the +ground some other unseen person who confronted him in the hall. + +In a moment more he had caught the tall man by the collar and swung him +impetuously round back within the doorway. + +"Move one sole inch and your blood be on your own head!" he muttered. +And the captive feeling Rollo's steel cold at his throat, remained +prudently silent. Not so the lady without. She uttered a cry which rang +about the silent chateau. + +"Munoz! My husband! Fernando, where art thou? Oh, they have slain him, +and I only am to blame!" + +She turned about and rushed back to the door, which she was about to +enter, when a cry far more sudden and terrible rang out behind her. + +"_They have killed the Princess! Some one hath slain my darling!_" + +At the word Rollo abandoned the man whom he was holding down, and with +shouts of "Cardono!" "El Sarria!" "To me! They are upon us!" he flung +himself outside. + +There was little to be discerned clearly when he emerged into the cool +damp darkness, only a dim heap of writhing bodies as in some combat of +hounds or of the denizens of the midnight forest. But Rollo once and +again saw a flash of steel and a hand uplifted to strike. Without +waiting to think he gripped that which was topmost and therefore nearest +to him, and finding it unexpectedly light, he swung the thing clear by +the garment he had clutched. As he did so he felt a pain in his right +shoulder, which at the time appeared no more than the bite of a squirrel +or the sting of a bee. With one heave he threw the object, human or not +he could not for the moment determine, behind him into the blackness of +the hall. + +"Take hold there, somebody!" he cried, for by this time he could hear +the clattering of the feet of his followers on the stairs and flagged +passages. + +Outside under the stars something or some one larger and heavier lay on +the ground and moaned. As Rollo bent over it there came a rush of men +from all sides, and the young man had scarcely time to straighten +himself up and draw his pistol before he found himself attacked by half +a dozen men. + +His pistol cracked and an assailant tumbled on his face, while the flash +in the pan revealed that he had already an ally. The Sergeant was beside +him, by what means did not then appear. For he had certainly not come +through the door, and at this Rollo drew a long breath and applied +himself to his sword-play with renewed vigour. The assailants, he soon +found, were mostly armed with long knives, which, however, had little +chance against the long and expert blades of the Sergeant and Rollo. + +After proving on several occasions the deadly quality of these last, +they broke and ran this way and that, while from the windows above +(where the two royal servants were posted, with La Giralda on guard +between them), a scattering fire broke out, which tumbled more than one +of the fugitives upon the grass. + +With great and grave tenderness Rollo and the Sergeant carried that +which lay on the grass within. In a moment more they had the door shut +and bolted, when from the rear of the hall came the voice of El Sarria. + +"For God's sake," he cried, "bring a light! For I have that here which +is in human form, yet bites and scratches and howls like a wild beast! I +cannot hold it long. It is nothing less than a devil incarnate!" + + * * * * * + +Most strange and incomprehensible of all that the light revealed, was +the appearance of the giant El Sarria, who, his hands and face bleeding +with scratches, and seated on the final steps of the cork-screw +staircase, held in his arms clear of the ground the bent and contorted +form of a young girl. So desperate were her struggles that it was all he +could do to confine her feet by passing them under his arm, while with +one great palm he grasped two flat and meagre wrists in a grip of steel. +Yet in spite of his best efforts the wild thing still struggled, and +indeed more than once came within a hair's-breadth of fastening her +teeth in his cheek. + +As he had said, there was more of the wild beast of the woods taken in a +trap than of human creature in these frantic struggles and inarticulate +cries. The girl foamed at the mouth. She threw herself backward into the +shape of a bow till her head almost touched her feet, and again +momentarily twisting herself like an eel half out of El Sarria's grasp, +she endeavoured, with a force that seemed impossible to so frail a body, +to reach the group by the door, where Munoz was still supporting the +Queen Maria Cristina. + +Presently Cardono desisted from his examination of the body of the +waiting-woman. He shook his head murmuring--"Dead! Dead! of a certainty +stone-dead!" + +And the Sergeant was a good judge of life and death. He had seen much of +both. + +Then he came over to where El Sarria was still struggling awkwardly with +the wild and maniacal thing, as if he could not bring his great strength +to bear upon a creature so lithe and quick. At the first glance he +started back and turned his gaze on the royal group. + +For that which he now saw, distorted with the impotence of passion and +madness, was no other than the little girl whom he had met in the camp +of the gipsies on the side of Guadarrama--the daughter of Munoz, the +plan-maker and head-centre of the whole attack. + +The Sergeant stood a moment or two fingering his chin, as a man does who +considers with himself whether it is worth while shaving. Then with his +usual deliberation he undid a leathern strap from his waist and with +great consideration but equal effectiveness he buckled the girl's hands +firmly behind her back. Then with a sash of silk he proceeded to do the +like office with her feet. + +Just as he was tying the final knots, the girl made one supreme effort. +She actually succeeded in twisting her body out of the arms of El +Sarria, and flung herself headlong in the direction of Munoz and the +Queen, spitting like a cat. But the Sergeant's extemporised shackles did +their work, and the poor tortured creature would have fallen on her face +upon the cold flags of the stone floor but that El Sarria caught her in +his arms, and lifting her gently up, proceeded to convey her to another +apartment where she might more safely be taken care of. + +In order to do this, however, he had to pass close by the Queen-Regent +and her consort. It happened that the latter, who till that moment had +been wholly occupied by his cares for the recovery of his mistress, had +scarcely glanced either at the motionless heap staining the floor with +blood or at the wild thing scrambling and biting savagely in the arms of +El Sarria. + +But the girl's struggles were now over for that time. Her fit of +demoniacal fury had apparently completely exhausted her. Her head lay +back pale and white, the livid lips drawn so as to show the teeth in a +ghastly smile, and her whole body drooped, relaxed and flaccid, over her +captor's arm. + +The Queen-Regent was just able once more to stand upon her feet when El +Sarria passed with his burden. The eyes of Munoz fell upon the girl's +pale distorted features. He started back and almost dropped the Queen in +his horror. + +"Whence came this she-devil?" he cried, "What is she doing here? Let her +be locked in a dungeon. Eugene will show you where. She will cut all our +throats else!" + +"Has this child not the honour to be daughter to his Excellency the Duke +of Rianzares?" inquired the Sergeant, grimly. + +"She is a maniac, I tell you! I put her in a madhouse and she escaped! +She hath sworn my death!" cried Munoz, his supercilious calm for once +quite broken up. + +"And what is this that she hath done?" he cried, holding up his hands as +his eyes fell on the body of the nurse Susana. In another moment, +however, he had partially recovered himself. + +"My beloved lady," he said, turning to his wife, "this is certainly no +place for you. Let me conduct you to your own chamber!" + +"Not without the added presence of one of my people, sir," said Rollo, +sternly; "this had not happened but for your intention of secretly +deserting us, and leaving us to hold the castle alone against the cruel +enemy of whose approach we risked our lives to warn you!" + +Meanwhile the Queen-Regent had been casting her eyes wildly and +uncomprehendingly around. Now she looked at the motionless form of the +girl in the arms of El Sarria, now at the dead woman upon the floor, but +all without the least token that she understood how the tragedy had come +to pass. + +But suddenly she threw her arms into the air and uttered a wild scream. + +"Where is my Isabel--where is my daughter? She was in the arms of the +nurse Susana who lies there before us. They have killed her also. This +devil-born has killed her! Where shall I find her?--My darling--the +protected of the Virgin, the future Queen of all the Spains?" + +But it was a question no one could answer. None had seen the little +Isabel, since the moment when she had passed forth through the portal of +the palace into the night, clasped in the faithful arms of her nurse. + +She had not cried. She had not returned. Apparently not a soul had +thought of her, save only the woman whose life had been laid down for +her sake, as a little common thing is set on a shelf and forgotten. + +So, for this reason, the question of Maria Cristina remained unanswered. +For, even as a star shoots athwart the midnight sky of winter, so the +little Queen of Spain had passed and been lost in the darkness and +terror without the beleaguered castle of La Granja. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + +CONCHA WAITS FOR THE MORNING + + +The dead woman was carried into the mortuary attached to the smaller +chapel of the _Colegiata_, and placed in one of the rude coffins which +had been deposited there in readiness upon the first news of the plague. +This being done, the mind of Rollo turned resolutely to the problem +before him. + +Every hour the situation seemed to grow more difficult. As far as Rollo +was concerned, he owned himself frankly a mercenary, fighting in a cause +for which he, as a free-born Scot, could have no great sympathy. But +mercenary as he was, in his reckless, gallant, devil-take-the-hindmost +philosophy of life there lurked at least no trace of treachery, nor any +back-going from a pledged and plighted word. He had undertaken to +capture the young Queen and her mother and to bring them within the +lines of Don Carlos, and till utterly baffled by death or misadventure, +this was what he was going to continue to attempt. + +If therefore the little Princess were not in the castle, she must +immediately be sought for outside it. The palace of La Granja was, as he +well knew, surrounded by eager and bloody-minded foes, bent on the +destruction of all within its walls. It was conceivable that Isabel +might already be slain, though in the absence of the daughter of Munoz, +he doubted whether the gipsies would go such lengths. To be held to +ransom was a much more probable fate. At any rate it was clearly the +duty of some one of the party to make an attempt for her recovery. + +At the first blush Sergeant Cardono appeared to be the person designated +by experience and qualifications for the task. But, on the other hand, +how could Rollo entrust to the most famous of ex-brigands, a gipsy of +the gipsies, of the blackest blood of Egypt, the search for so great a +prize as the little Queen of Spain? The difficult virtue of self-denial +in such a case could hardly be expected from a man like Jose Maria of +Ronda. Consider--a ransom, a Queen put up to auction! For both sides, +Nationals and Carlists alike, would certainly be eager to treat for her +possession. In short, Rollo concluded that he had no right to put such a +temptation in the way of a man with the record of Sergeant Cardono. + +His thoughts turned next to El Sarria. Concerning Ramon Garcia's loyalty +there was no question--still less as to his courage. But--he was hardly +the man to despatch alone on a mission which involved so many delicate +issues. Once outside the palace there would in all probability be no +chance of return, and Rollo was persuaded that the best chance of +recovering the child lay in discovering her in some of the hiding-places +which would doubtless be familiar to her about the grounds. To find the +little maid, to induce her to trust herself completely to a stranger, +and to guide her to a place of safety, these would be tasks difficult +enough for any combination of scout and diplomat. Now El Sarria, upon +meeting with opposition, was accustomed to storm through it with the +rush of a tiger's charge. No, in spite of his assured fidelity and +courage, it would be impossible to send El Sarria. + +The others--well, they were good fellows, both of them, John Mortimer +and Etienne. But it was obvious to his mind that the quest was not for +them. + +Rollo must go himself. That was all there was for it. After which +remained the question as to who should command in the palace during his +absence. Here the Sergeant was obviously the man, both from his natural +talents for leadership, as well as from the confidence placed in him by +General Cabrera. No such temptation would be presented to him within the +walls as might confront him outside, in a position of authority among +his blood-kin, and with a Queen of Spain in his power. + +Whilst he was settling these questions in his mind, Rollo had been +standing at one of the windows, where the two royal servants, young men +of Castile, had been set to watch, with La Giralda between to perform +the same office upon them. To these he did not think it necessary to say +more than that they were to receive and obey the orders of Sergeant +Cardono as his own. The old gipsy would of a certainty do so in any +case. + +Then the young man passed on to the balconies occupied severally by +Etienne and Mortimer. These two volunteers he took occasion to commend +for their constancy in holding fast their positions during the attack on +the other side of the house. He also briefly communicated to them all +that had taken place there, the attempt of the royal family to slip off +in the darkness, the death of the old nurse, the capture of the daughter +of Munoz, and the fatal loss of the young Queen. + +He further told them that he considered it his duty to venture out to +seek for the missing girl. It came within the terms of his commission, +he said, that he should leave no stone unturned to recover the Princess. +Neither Etienne nor Mortimer offered any objection. + +"The saints and the Holy Virgin bring you safely back," said Etienne, +who was still in his pious mood; "I will not cease to pray for you." + +"Good-bye, and good-luck, old fellow!" quoth John Mortimer. "But I say, +if I should want more ammunition, where am I to get it?" + +Such were the characteristic farewells of Rollo's two comrades in arms. + +Equally simple was it to satisfy El Sarria, from whom our Firebrand +parted on the great southward balcony which the outlaw guarded alone. + +"Be of an easy mind. I will be responsible for all I can see from this +balcony!" said the giant, calmly, "may your adventure be prosperous! I +would I could both remain here and come with you!" + +All that Rollo had now to do was to inform the Sergeant of his plans and +to say good-bye to Concha. These tasks, however, promised something more +of difficulty. + +The Sergeant was immovable at his post behind the thick twisted +vine-stems of the little balcony, over the twin doors, by one of which +the royal party had attempted to escape into the garden. While Rollo was +explaining his intentions, Cardono bit his lip and remained silent. + +"Do you then not approve?" asked Rollo, gravely, when he had finished. + +"Who is to command here in your absence?" answered the Sergeant in the +young Scot's own national manner. + +"The command will naturally devolve on yourself," said Rollo, promptly; +"you will have the entire responsibility within the palace!" + +"Which includes complete discretion, of course?" + +"Certainly!" answered Rollo. + +"Then," said the Sergeant, firmly, "my first act will be to lay Senor +Don Fernando Munoz by the heels!" + +"As to that, you can do as you like," said Rollo, "but remember that you +may find yourself with another mad woman on your hands in the person of +the Queen-Regent!" + +"I know how to deal with her!" replied the Sergeant; "go your way, +Colonel--depend upon it, the palace will be defended and justice done!" + +Rollo nodded, and was turning on his heel without speaking, for the +thought of his interview with Concha was beginning to lie heavy on his +mind, when a whisper from the Sergeant called him back. + +"When you are ready to go, return hither," he said; "I have the safest +way out of the palace to show you without so much as the opening of a +door or the unbarring of a window." + +Rollo nodded again. He marvelled how it was that the Sergeant had +appeared so opportunely at his elbow when he had called upon him for +help. Now he was in the way of finding out. + +The darkness was of the sort which might have been felt as Rollo +stumbled along the passages to the opposite side of the palace where +Concha, a loaded musket leaning against the wall on either side, was +watching keenly the square of grey grass and green trees in front of +her. Dark as the night was without, the girl had drawn the curtains +behind her, so that she was entirely isolated upon the balcony on which +she kneeled. In this, as usual, she had obeyed Rollo's commands to the +letter, and made sure that no faintest gleam of light should escape by +the window at which she kept her watch. + +But spite of the intervening room and the thick curtains the girl had +heard his footsteps, light and quick, heard them across the entire +breadth of the palace, from the moment when he had quitted Sergeant +Cardono, to that when, drawing aside the hangings with his hand, he +stood behind her. + +Nevertheless, Concha did not move immediately, and Rollo, standing thus +close to her, was, for the first time in his life, conscious of the +atmosphere, delicate yet vivid, of youth, beauty, and charm, with which +a loving and gracious woman surrounds herself as with a garment. + +But these were stern times. He had come to her balcony for a purpose +and--there was no time to be lost. + +"Concha," he began without ceremony--for after the kiss, regulated and +conscientious as it had been and clearly justifiable to his sense of +honour and duty, somehow the prefacing "Senorita" had come to be omitted +between them. "Concha, the little Queen is lost! She may be wandering +out there to meet her death among brigands and murderers! It is my duty +to go and seek her. Listen!" + +And then when at last she turned from the window and slowly faced him, +Rollo told her all that had taken place below. + +"I knew you were in danger when the shots went off," she said; "yet +since you had not called for me, nor given me leave to quit my +post----" + +She did not finish her sentence. It was a kind of reproach that he had +called for the Sergeant and not for her in his hour of need. She knew on +whom _she_ would have called. + +"You did well--better than well--to stand by your post," said Rollo; +"but now I must make over my authority to another. The Sergeant is to +command here in my absence." + +"Do you then make _my_ allegiance over to the Sergeant?" asked Concha, +in a quiet tone. + +"God forbid!" cried Rollo, impetuously. + +And little Concha, looking abroad over the darkling hills, thought +within her heart that her morning was surely coming. It might be some +time on the way, but all the same it was coming. + +But yet when he told her of the desperate quest on which he was bound, +that which had been glad became filled with foreboding, and the false +dawn died out again utterly. The hills were both distant and dark. + +But as Rollo continued to speak bravely, confidently, and took her hand +to ask her bid him God-speed, Concha smiled once more to herself in the +darkness. And so, at the last, it came about that she even held up her +lips to be kissed. For now (so strangely natural grows this quaint +custom after one or two experiments) it seemed as if no other method of +saying good-bye were possible between them. And to Rollo the necessity +appeared even stronger. + +But was this the reason of Concha's smile in the darkness? Or was it +because she thought?--"He is indeed the prince of youths, and can lay +his orders on whom he will, binding and loosing like Peter with the +Keys. But there is that in the heart of a woman which even he cannot +bind, for all his good opinion of himself!" + +Yet stranger than all, she thought none the worse of Master Rollo for +his confidence and heady self-conceit. And what is more, she let him go +from her without a murmur, though she knew that her heart of hearts was +his. And that above all carrying off of queens and honours military, +more than many towns captured and battles won, she wished to hear from +Rollo Blair's lips that his heart also was her own--her very own. Many +men had told her that same thing in these very words, and she had only +laughed back at them with a flash of brilliant teeth, a pair of the +blackest Andalusian eyes shining meantime with contemptuous mirth. + +But now, it seemed that if she did not hear Rollo say this thing, she +would die--which shows the difference there may be between words which +we desire to hear spoken and those that others wish to speak to us. + +Yet in spite of all, or because of it, she let him go without a word or +a murmur, because of the hope of morning that was in her heart. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV + +OUR ROLLO TO THE RESCUE + + +And this was the manner of his going. He sought the Sergeant upon his +balcony, outside which climbed and writhed a great old vine-stem as +thick as a man's leg. He was for taking Killiecrankie by his side, +against the Sergeant's advice. + +"Killiecrankie and I," he urged, with the buckle in his hand, "have been +in many frays together, and I have never known him fail me yet." + +"A sword like a weaver's beam is monstrously unhandy dangling between +the legs!" replied the Sergeant, "and that you will find before you are +at the foot of yonder vine-stock. Take a pair of pistols and a good +Albacete leech. That is my advice. I think I heard El Sarria say that +you had some skill of knife-play in the Andalusian manner." + +"So, so," returned Rollo, modestly. "I should not like to face you--your +left hand to my right. But with most other men I might make bold to hold +my own." + +"Good!" said the Sergeant; "now listen. Let yourself down, hand-grip by +hand-grip, clipping the vine-stem as best you may with your knees to +make the less noise. You will be wholly hidden by the outer leaves. Move +slowly, and remember I am here to keep watch and ward. Then stand a +while in the shadow to recover your breath, and when you hear me +whistle thrice like a swallow's twitter underneath the eaves, duck down +as low as you can and make straight for the thickest of the underbrush +over there. I have watched it for an hour and have seen nothing move. +Yet that signifies less than nothing. There may be a score, aye, or a +hundred gipsies underneath the branches, and the frogs croaking +undisturbed upon the twigs above all the while. Yet it is your only +chance. If you find anything there in shape of man, strike and cry +aloud, both with all your might, and in a moment I will be with you, +even as I was before." + +Rollo grasped the Sergeant's hand and thanked him silently as brave men +thank one another at such times. + +"Nay," said the Sergeant, "let us wait till we return for that. It is +touch and go at the best. But I will stay here till you are safely among +the bushes. And then--I shall have some certain words to speak to Senor +Don Fernando Munoz, Duke of Rianzares and grandee of Spain, Consort in +ordinary to her Majesty the Queen-Regent!" + +Even as he spoke, Rollo, whose ears were acute, turned quickly and +dashed into the ante-chamber. He thought he had heard a footstep behind +them as they talked. And at the name of Munoz a suspicion crossed him +that some further treachery was meditated. But the little upper hall was +vague and empty, the scanty furniture scarce sufficient to stumble +against. If any one had been there, he had melted like a ghost, for +neither Rollo's swift decision nor the Sergeant's omniscient cunning +could discover any trace of an intruder. + +Rollo attempted no disguise upon his adventure. He wore the same +travel-stained suit, made to fit his slender figure by one of the most +honest tailors in Madrid, in which he first appeared in this history. So +with no more extent of preparation for his adventure than settling his +sombrero a little more firmly upon his head and hitching his waist-belt +a hole or two tighter, Rollo slipped over the edge of the iron balcony +and began to descend by the great twisted vine-stem. + +He did not find the task a difficult one. For he was light and agile, +firmed by continuous exercise, and an adept at the climbing art. As he +had been, indeed, ever since, on the east-windy braes of Fife, where +swarming rookeries crown the great hog-back ridges, he had risen +painfully through the clamour of anxious parents to possess himself of a +hatful of speckled bluish-green eggs for the collection wherewith he was +to win the tricksome and skittish heart of Mistress Peggy Ramsay, who +(tell it not in the ducal house which her charms now adorn!) was herself +no inexpert tree-climber in the days when Rollo Blair temporarily broke +his boyish heart for her sake. + +So in brief (and without a thought of Peggy) Rollo found himself upon +the ground, his dress a little disordered and his hands somewhat +scratched, but safe behind his screen of leaves. Remembering the advice +of the Sergeant, Rollo waited for the appointed signal to fall upon his +ear from above. He could see nothing indeed across the lawn but the +branches of the pine trees waving low, and beneath them feathery syringa +bushes, upland fern, and evergreens with leathery leaves. + +What might be hidden there? In another moment he might rush upon the +points of a hundred knives. Another minute, and, like the good Messire +Francois, cure of Meudon, it might be his to set forth in quest of the +Great Perhaps. + +At the thought he shrugged his shoulders and repeated to himself those +other last words of the same learned doctor of Montpellier, "Ring down +the curtain--the farce is over!" + +But at that same moment he thought of little Concha up aloft and the +bitterness died out of his heart as quickly as it had come. + +No, the play was not yet played out, and it had been no farce. There was +yet other work for him--perhaps another life better than this +cut-and-thrust existence, ever at the mercy of bullet and sword's point. +He stood up straight and listened, hearing for the first five minutes +nothing but the soft wind of the night among the leaves, and from the +town the barking of the errant and homeless curs which, in the streets +and gutters, yelped, scrambled, and tore at each other for scraps of +offal and thrice-gnawed bone. + +From above came the contented twitter of a swallow nestling under the +leaves, yet with a curious carrying quality in it too, at once low and +far-reaching. It was the Sergeant's signal for his attempt. + +Rollo set his teeth hard, thought of Concha, bent his head low, and, +like a swift-drifting shadow, sped silently across the smooth upland +turf. The thick leaves of the laurel parted before him, the sword-flower +of Spain pricked him with its pointed leaves, and then closed like a +spiked barrier behind him. A blackbird fled noisily to quieter haunts. +The frogs ceased their croaking. Panting, Rollo lay still under the +branches, crushing out the perfume of the scrubby, scented geranium, +which in the watered wildernesses of La Granja takes root everywhere. + +But among the leaves nothing moved hand or foot against him. Nor gipsy +nor mountaineer stirred in the thicket. So that when Rollo, after +resting a little, explored quietly and patiently the little plantation, +going upon all fours, not a twig of pine crackling under his palms, no +hostile knife sheathed itself between his ribs. + +For, as was now clear, the gipsies had not concealed themselves among +the bushes. They had all night before them in which to carry out their +projects. Doubtless (thought the young man) they had gone to possess +themselves of the town. After that the palace would lie at their mercy, +a nut to be cracked at their will. + +From the first Rollo was resolved to find the little pavilion of which +La Giralda had spoken. It was in his mind that the girl might, if free +and unharmed, as he hoped, make her way thither. He had indeed only the +most vague and general idea of its locality. The old gipsy had told him +that it was near to the northern margin of the gardens, and that by +following the mountain stream which supplied the great waterfall he +could not fail to come upon it. + +But ere he had ventured forth from his hiding-place, he heard again the +swallow's twitter, louder than before, and evidently meant for his ear. +Could it be a natural echo or his own disordered fancy which caused a +whistle exactly similar to reach him from the exact locality he meant to +search? + +Rollo moved to that extremity of the thicket from whence the more +regular gardens were visible. He concealed himself behind a pomegranate +tree, and, while he stood and listened, mellow and clear the call came +again from the vicinity of the waterfall. + +But Rollo was not of those who turn back. Good-byes are difficult things +to say twice within the same half-hour. No, he had burnt his boats and +would rather go forward into the camp of a thousand gipsies than climb +up the vine-stem and face the Sergeant and Concha with his task undone. +Shame of this kind has often more to do with acts of desperate courage +than certain other qualities more besung by poets. + +It was obvious, therefore, that the gipsies were still within the +enclosure of the palace, so Rollo gave up the idea of keeping straight +up the little artificial rivulet, whose falls gleamed wanly before him, +each square and symmetrical as a flag hung out of the window on a still +day. + +To the left, however, there were thickets of red geranium, the Prince's +Flower of Old Castilian lore, five or six feet high. Among these Rollo +lost himself, passing through them like a shadow, his head drooped a +little, and his knife ready to his hand. + +When he was halfway along the edge of the royal demesne he saw across +the open glade a strange sight, yet one not unwelcome to him. + +The palace storehouses had been broken into. Lights moved to and fro +from door to door, and above from window to window. A train of mules and +donkeys stood waiting to be loaded. Thieves' mules they were, without a +single bell or bit jingling anywhere about their accoutrements. + +Then Rollo understood in a moment why no further attack had been made +upon the palace. To the ordinary gipsy of the roads and hills--half +smuggler, half brigand, the stores of Estramenian hams, the granaries +full of fine wheat of the Castiles, of maize and rice ready to be loaded +upon their beasts, were more than all possible revenges upon queens and +grandees of Spain. + +In losing the daughter of Munoz they had lost both inspiration and +cohesion, and now the natural man craved only booty, and that as +plentifully and as safely as possible. So there in the night torches +were lighted, and barn and byre, storehouse and cellar were ransacked +for those things which are most precious to men gaunt and lantern-jawed +with the hunger of a plague-stricken land. + +After this discovery the young Scot moved much more freely and +fearlessly. For it explained what had been puzzling him, how it came +about that so far no sustained or concerted attack had been made upon +the palace. + +And this same careless confidence of his, for a reason which will +presently appear, had well-nigh wrecked his plans. All suddenly Rollo +came upon the open door of a little low building, erected something +after the model of a Greek temple. It was undoubtedly the pavilion which +had been mentioned by La Giralda as the place where the goats had been +milked. + +Of this Rollo was further assured by the collection of shining silver +utensils which were piled for removal before the door. A light burned +dimly within. It was a dark lantern set on a shelf, among broken +platters and useless crockery. The door was open and its light fell on +half a dozen dusky figures gathered in a knot about some central object +which the young man was not able to see. + +Rollo recoiled into the reeds as if a serpent had bitten him. Then +parting the tall tasselled canes carefully, he gazed out upon the +curious scene. A window stood open in the rear of the building, and the +draught blew the flame of the open lantern about, threatening every +moment to extinguish it. + +One of the gipsies, observing this, moved to the bracket-shelf to close +the glass bull's-eye of the lantern. + +A couple of others looked after him to see what he was about, and +through the gap thus made Rollo saw, with only a shawl thrown over her +white night-gear, the little Queen herself, held fast in a gipsy's bare +and swarthy arms. + +"I have told you before," he heard her say in her clear childish treble, +"I know nothing--I will tell nothing. I have nothing to give you, and if +I had a whole world I would not give a _maravedi's_ worth to you. You +are bad men, and I hate you!" + +Rollo could not hear what the men said in reply, but presently as one +dusky ruffian bent over the girl, a thin cord in his hand, high and +bitter rose a child's cry of pain. + +It went straight to Rollo's heart. He had heard nothing like it since +Peggy Ramsay got a thorn in her foot the day he had wickedly persuaded +her to strip and run barefoot over the meadows of Castle Blair. He +compressed his lips, and moved his knife to see that the haft came +rightly to his hand. Then as calmly as if practising at a mark he +examined his pistols and with the utmost deliberation drew a bead upon +the burly ruffian with the cord. The first pistol cracked, and the man +dropped silently. Instantly there ensued a great commotion within. The +most part of the gipsies rushed to the door, standing for a moment +clear against the lighted interior. + +Rollo, all on fire with the idea that the villains had been torturing a +child, fired his second pistol into the thick of them, upon which arose +a sudden sharp shriek and a furious rushing this way and that. The lamp +was blown out or knocked over in the darkness, and Rollo, hesitating not +a moment, snapped back the great Albacetan blade into its catch and +rushed like a charging tiger at the door. Twice on his way was he run +against and almost overturned by fugitives from the pavilion. On each +occasion his opponents' fear of the mysterious fusillade, aided by a +sharp application of the point of the _Albacete_, cleared Rollo's front. +He stumbled over a body prone on the ground, caught his hand on the cold +stone lintel, and in a moment was within. + +He said aloud, "Princess Isabel, I am your friend! Trust me! I have come +to deliver you from these wicked people!" + +But there was no answer, nor did he discover the little Queen's +hiding-place till an uncontrollable sobbing guided him to the spot. + +The child was crouching underneath the polished stove with which in +happier days she had so often played. Rollo took the little maid in his +arms. + +"Do not be afraid," he whispered, "I, Rollo Blair, am your friend; I +will either take you to your friends or lay down my life for you. Trust +me!--Do what I tell you and all will be well!" + +"Your voice sounds kind, though I cannot see your face," she whispered; +"yes, I will go with you!" + +He lifted her up on his left arm, while in his right hand he held the +knife ready to be plunged to the hilt into any breast that withstood +him. + +One swift rush and they were without among the reeds. + +"I will take you to your mother--I promise it," he said, "but first you +must come through the town with me to the Hermitage of the good friars. +The palace is surrounded with wicked men to-night. We cannot go back +there, but to-morrow I will surely take you to your mother!" + +"I do not want to go to my mother," whispered the little Queen, "only +take me to my dear, _dearest_ Dona Susana!" + +And then it was that Rollo first realised that he had undertaken +something beyond his power. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV + +THE EXECUTIONER OF SALAMANCA + + +But, indeed, the problem before Rollo was one difficult enough to cause +him to postpone indefinitely all less immediate and pressing evils. As +they lay hid among the reeds, and while Rollo endeavoured more +completely to gain the good-will of the little Queen, they heard the +bell of the Hermitage of San Ildefonso strike the hour sonorously. + +Rollo could hardly believe his ears as the number lengthened itself out +till he had counted twelve. He had supposed that it must be three or +four in the morning at the least. But the night had worn slowly. Many +things which take long to tell had happened in brief space, and, what to +Rollo appeared worst of all, it would be yet some five hours till +daylight. + +As they crouched among the canes, the effect of his sudden discomfiture +of the captors of the child Isabel became apparent. The whole palace was +ringed with a sudden leaping fire of musketry. The angry fusillade was +promptly answered from the balconies, and Rollo had the satisfaction of +knowing, from the shouts and yells of pain and fury beneath, that not +only were his folk on the alert, but that he had reason to be satisfied +with the excellence of their marksmanship. + +More than one rambling party of gipsies passed their hiding-place. But +these for the most part searched in a perfunctory manner, their heads +over their shoulders to listen to the progress of their comrades who +were attacking the palace, and perhaps also no little afraid lest death +should again leap out upon them from the darkness of the cane-brake. +Rollo, immediately upon his return to the thicket, had recovered and +recharged his pistols by touch, and presently, having made all ready, he +caught up the little girl in his arms, urging her to be silent whatever +happened, and to trust everything to him. + +Isabel, who was of an affectionate and easy disposition, though ever +quick to anger, put her arm readily about the young man's neck. He had a +winsome and gracious manner with all children, which perhaps was the +same quality that won him his way with women. + +Rollo had an idea which had come to him with the chime of the Hermitage +bell as it tolled the hour of midnight. There, if anywhere, he would +find good men, interested in the welfare of the Princess, and with +hearts large enough to remain calmly at the post of duty even in a +deserted and plague-ruined town. For one of the chief glories of the +Roman Church is this, that her clergy do not desert their people in the +hour of any danger, however terrible. Nothing else, indeed, is thought +of. As a military man would say, "It is the tradition of the service!" + +Now if Rollo had been in his own Scottish land during the visitation of +this first cholera, he would have had good grounds for _hoping_ that he +would find the ministers of his faith in the thick of the fight with +death, undismayed, never weary. There were many, very many such--many, +but very far from all. The difference was that here in ignorant Spain +Rollo knew without deduction that of a certainty the monks and parish +priests of the ancient creed would be faithful. + +It might indeed in some cases be otherwise with some selfish and +pampered Jesuits or the benefice-seeking rabble of clerics who hang +about the purlieus of a court. A father-confessor or two might flee +over-seas, an abbot go on timely pilgrimage to Rome, but here in San +Ildefonso, Rollo knew that he would either find the priests and holy +brothers of the Church manfully doing their noble work, or dead and in +their sainted graves--in any case, again in military phrase, "all +present or all accounted for!" + +To the Hermitage of San Ildefonso, therefore, recently enlarged and +erected into a monastery, Rollo directed his steps. It was no easy task +at such a time. There was the great railing to negotiate, and a passage +to force through a town by this time alive with enemies. In spite of the +darkness the gipsies at any point might stop his way, and he was +burdened with a child whom he must protect at all hazards. + +But this young man loved to be driven into a corner. Danger excited him, +as drinking might another man. Indeed, so quick were his parts, so ready +his invention, that before he had left the reed-bed he had turned over +and rejected half a dozen plans of escape. Yet another suggested itself, +to which for the moment he could see no objection. + +He spoke to the little Isabel, who now nestled closely and confidently +to him. + +"Did they not tell me," he said, "that there was somewhere about the +palace a dairy of cows?" + +"Yes--it is true," answered the little Queen; "at least, there is a +place where they are brought in to be milked. It belongs to my mother. +She loves them all, and often used to take me there to enjoy the sight +and to drink the milk warm with the froth upon it because it is good for +the breathing!" + +"Can you show me the way, little Princess Isabel?" said Rollo. + +"Yes, that can I, indeed," she made answer; "but you must not take away +my mother's milk-pails, nor let the wicked gipsies know of them. Old +Piebald Pedro drives the cows in and out every day, riding upon his +donkey. They live at my mother's farm in the valley that is called in +French '_Sans Souci_!' Is it not a pretty name?" + +"His donkey?" said Rollo, quickly, catching at the idea; "where does he +keep it?" + +"In a little shed not far from the dairy," she answered, "the stable is +covered all over with yellow canes, and it stands near a pool where the +green frogs croak!" + +It had been Rollo's intention to drive some of the royal cows out before +him as a booty, passing himself off as one of the gipsy gang. But upon +this information he decided that Pedro the cowherd's ass would suit his +purpose much better, if he should be fortunate enough to find it. He was +sure that among so many gipsies and ill-conditioned folk who had joined +the tribes of Egypt for the sake of adventure and booty, there must be +many who were personally unknown to each other. And though he could not +speak deep Romany like La Giralda and the Sergeant, Rollo was yet more +expert at the "crabbed Gitano" than nine out of ten of the northern +gipsies, who, indeed, for the most part use a mere thieves' slang, or as +it is called, _Tramper's Dutch_. + +The little girl directed him as well as she could, nevertheless it was +some time before he could find the place he was in quest of. For Isabel +had never been out at night before, and naturally the forms of all +things appeared strangely altered to an imaginative child. Indeed, it +may be admitted that Rollo stumbled upon the place more by good luck +than because he was guided thither by the advice of Isabel. For the +utmost the child could tell him was only that Piebald Pedro's hut was +near the dairy, and that the dairy was near Pedro's hut. + +The donkey itself, however, perhaps excited by the proximity of so many +of its kind (though no one of the thieves' beasts had made the least +actual noise), presently gave vent to a series of brays which guided +them easily to the spot. + +Rollo set the Princess on the ground, bidding her watch by the door and +tell him if any one came in sight. But the little girl, not yet +recovered from her fright, clung to his coat and pled so piteously to be +allowed to stay with him, that he could not insist. First of all he +groped all around the light cane-wattled walls of Pedro's hut for any +garment which might serve to disguise him. For though Rollo's garments +were by no means gay, they were at least of somewhat more fashionable +cut than was usual among the gipsies and their congeners. + +After a little Rollo found the old cowherd's milking-blouse stuffed in +an empty corn-chest among scraps of harness, bits of rope, nails, broken +gardening-tools, and other collections made by the Piebald One in the +honest exercise of his vocation. He pulled the crumpled old garment out +and donned it without scruple. His own _sombrero_, much the worse for +wear and weather, served well enough, with the brim turned down, to give +the young man the appearance of a peasant turned brigand for the nonce. + +His next business was to conceal the little girl in order that they +might have a chance of passing the gipsy picket at the gates, and of +escaping chance questionings by the way. + +Rollo therefore continued to search in the darkness till he had +collected two large bundles, one of chopped straw, and the other of hay, +which he stuffed into the panniers, in the larger of which he meant to +find room also for the Princess. Once settled, a sheet was thrown over +her shoulders, and the hay lightly scattered over all. Then she was +ordered to lie down and to keep especially still if she should hear any +one speak to her companion. And so naturally did the little girl take to +secrecy and adventure that after having assured herself of Rollo's +kindness, not a murmur passed her lips. + +On the contrary, she promised all careful obedience, and it was no great +while before they set out, making so bold as to pass once more by her +own private kitchen. For Rollo had resolved to take possession of some +of the silver utensils, that he might have somewhat wherewith to satisfy +plunderers if they should chance to be stopped, and the ass's burdens in +danger of being too closely examined. + +They found the silver vessels and pans lying where they had been piled +outside the door. Apparently no one had been near them. One of the +gipsies, however, who had been wounded, still lay groaning without, +cursing the cravens who had left him and fled at a couple of pistol +shots. But the other, he who had first been dealt with by Rollo's +bullet out of the cane-brake, gave no sign. He lay still, shot through +the heart, the torture-cord still in his hand. + +Without taking the least notice of the wounded man, Rollo coolly loaded +the silver dishes upon his own shoulders, placing one or two of the +largest copper pans upon the donkey in such a manner as to shelter the +Princess from observation should any one turn a lantern upon them on +their way to the Hermitage of San Ildefonso. + +They kept wide of the palace itself, however, for though the fire had +slackened, and the besieged only replied when one of their assailants +incautiously showed himself, yet the place was evidently still +completely beset, and the loaded trains of mules and donkeys departing +from the storehouses had released many of the younger and more +adventurous gipsies, who had brought no beast with them on which to +carry off their plunder. + +At about the same time, a red glow began to wax and wane uncertainly +above the granaries most distant from Rollo and his charge. A ruddy +volume of smoke slowly disengaged itself from the roofs. Windows winked +red, glowed, and then spouted flame. It was evident that the gipsies had +fired the plundered storehouses. + +In their own interests the act was one of the worst policy. For their +movements, which had hitherto been masked in darkness, now became clear +as day, while the advantages of the besieged within the palace were +greatly increased. + +But (what principally concerns us) the matter happened ill enough for +Rollo and the little Queen. They had to pass under the full glare of the +fire, through groups of gipsies assembled about the great gate, +chaffering and disputing. But there appeared to Rollo at least a chance +of getting past unobserved, for all seemed to be thoroughly occupied +with their own business. Rollo accordingly settled the little Queen +deeper in the great pannier, and readjusted the hay over her. He then +hung an additional pair of copper vessels across the crupper, chirruped +to the beast, and went forward to face his fate with as good a heart as +might be within his breast. + +"Whither goest thou, brother?" cried a voice from behind him, just when +Rollo was full between the portals of the great gate. + +"Brother, I go into the town to complete my plunder," answered Rollo in +Romany, "and to help my kinsfolk of the Gitano!" + +"Strangely enough thou speakest, brother," was the reply; "thy tongue is +not such as we wanderers of the Castiles speak one to the other!" + +Rollo laughed heartily at this, his hand all the while gripping the +pistol on his thigh. + +"Indeed," said he, "it were great marvel an it were. For I am of Lorca, +which is near to Granada; and what is more, I am known there as a very +pretty fellow with my hands!" + +"I doubt it not," said the Castilian gipsy, turning away; "and not to +speak of the pistol, that is a pretty enough plaything of a tooth-pick +which hangs at thy girdle, brother!" + +As he turned carelessly away he pointed to the long knife the Sergeant +had given Rollo, and which, owing to some mysterious marks upon its +handle, proved on more than one occasion of service to him. + +Presently, as he was urging his donkey to the left out of the silent +town, he came upon a knot of gipsies who stood with heads all bent +together as if in consultation. They were deep within the shadow of an +archway a little raised above the level of the street, and Rollo could +not see them before he was, as it were, under their noses. One of them, +a great brawny hulk of a man, sun-blackened to the hue of an Arab of the +Rif, struck his knuckles with a clang on the brazen vessel which +sheltered the little Queen. + +Rollo caught his breath, for it seemed certain that the child must cry +out with fear. + +But the little maid abode silent, her Spanish heart taking naturally to +concealments and subterfuges--then, as in after years. + +"Ha, brother," said this great hulk in deep tones, and in better Romany +than the former had used, "thou art strangely modest in thy plundering. +Hay and straw, brass kettles and tin skillets, my friend, are like that +neatherd's cloak of thine, they cover a multitude of things better worth +having. What hast thou there under thy pots and pans?" + +The young man's often tried fate stood again on tiptoe. He knew well +that he was within a pin-prick of getting his throat cut from ear to +ear. But nevertheless the cool head and fiery heart which were the +birthright of Rollo Blair once more brought him through. He instantly +laid his hand upon his knife-handle and half drew it from its leathern +sheath. + +"I would have you know, sir," he cried in an incensed tone, "that I am +Ruiz Elicroca of Lorca, own sister's son to Jose Maria of Ronda, who +gave me this knife, as you may see by the handle. I am not to be imposed +upon by cut-purses and bullies--no, not though they were as big as a +church, and as black-angry as the devil on a saint's day!" + +The huge fellow fell back a step, with a sort of mockery of alarm, +before Rollo's vehemence. For he had advanced into the middle of the +highway, so as to bar the path by the mere bulk of his body. He appeared +better satisfied, however, though by no means intimidated. + +"Well," he growled, "you are a cockerel off a good dung-hill, if things +be as you say. At all events you crow not unhandsomely. But whither go +you in that direction? You are well laden as to your shoulders, my young +friend. That plate looks as if it might be silver. I warrant it would +melt down into a hundred good _duros_ with the double pillar upon each +of them. You need not want for more. But turn and go another way. The +Hermitage is yet to be tapped, and I warrant that monk's roost hath good +store of such-like--gold and silver both. That we claim as ours, +remember!" + +"And, sir, what do you expect one man to do?" cried Rollo. "Can I take +and rob the armed and defended retreat of the friars? I warrant they +have either buried their plate in a safe place or have kept a sufficient +guard there to protect it--even as they have up yonder. Hark to them!" + +The sound of a brisk interchange of shots came to their ears from the +direction of the palace. + +"These be young fools who run their heads against stone walls," said the +huge gipsy; "we are wiser men. They seek gold, and are in danger of +getting lead. Like you, we will be content with silver. Altar furniture +is by no means to be despised. It fits the melting-pot as egg-meat fits +egg-shell! But whither do you fare?" + +"I am passing in this direction solely that I may reach a place known to +my uncle and myself, where the pair of us have a rendezvous," answered +Rollo; "mine uncle Don Jose hath no wish to meddle in other men's +matters, as indeed he told some of you yesterday morning. But as for me, +seeing that I was young of my years and desired to make my mark, he +permitted me to come. But I would rather give up all my booty, though +honestly taken with the strong hand, than keep Jose Maria waiting!" + +The Moorish gipsy now laughed in his turn. + +"Nay, that I doubt not," he said, "but here we are all good fellows, +right Roms, true to each other, and would rob no honest comrade of that +for which he hath risked his life. Pass on, brother, and give to Jose +Maria of Ronda the respects of Ezquerra, the executioner, who on the +Plaza Mayor of Salamanca removed the spike from the iron cravat that so +deftly marked him for life!" + +With a burst of gratitude quick and sincere, Rollo seized the huge hand +and wrung it heartily. + +"You saved Jose Maria's life," he cried, "then mine is at your service!" + +"Pass on, boy," smiled Ezquerra, grimly; "it is not the first time, +since I became usher to the Nether World, that I have been able to do a +friend and brave comrade a good turn. Only warn him that now they have a +new operator at Salamanca in whose veins circulates no drop of the right +black blood of Egypt. He must not try the collar twice!" + +Rollo passed on with his donkey, and he was into the second street +before he dared to lift the covering of hay which hid the child. He +expected to find her in a swoon with fright or half dead with fear and +anxiety. Isabel the Second was neither. + +"Take off that platter of metal," she whispered; "what funny talk you +speak. It sounded like cats spitting. You must teach it to me afterwards +when Dona Susana is out of the way. For she is very strict with me and +will only let me learn French and Castilian, saying that all other +languages are only barbarian and useless, which indeed may well be!" + +"Hush," said Rollo; "we are not yet in safety. Here is the way to the +Hermitage!" + +"But will you teach me the cat language?" + +"Yes, yes, that I will and gladly," quoth Rollo to the little Queen, +anxious to buy her silence on any terms, "as soon, that is, as there is +time!" + +After passing the gate and the group collected there, Rollo had turned +rapidly to the right, and soon the ancient walls of the Ermita of San +Ildefonso rose before him, gleaming dimly through the dense greenery of +the trees. If any of the fathers, who made their home at that sacred +place, still remained, the outside of the building gave no sign of their +presence. + +But it was not a time for Rollo to stand on any ceremony. With a rough +tug at the rein he compelled the donkey to follow a narrow winding path +which, entering at an angle, made its way finally to the main door of +the Hermitage. The young man thundered at the knocker, but, receiving no +answer, he selected a flattish stone of a size suitable for passing +between the iron _grille_ of the window-bars, and threw it up at them +with all his force. The jingling of glass followed, upon which presently +a white face was seen behind the bars, and a mild voice inquired his +business. + +"The brethren are either asleep or gone about the affairs of their order +in the town," the monk said; "there is no general hospitality here in +time of plague!" + +"I have not come to claim any," said Rollo; "I am here to warn you that +San Ildefonso is in the hands of wicked and cruel men--gipsies of the +mountains! Call your Superior and admit me at once!" + +"Alas," answered the man, "our Prior is dead! I am only almoner here, +and there are but three of us left. All the others are dead among the +sick folk of the town. They laboured till they died. I have laboured +also to provide them food when they could crawl back for it--setting it +in the guest-chamber and going out again upon their arrival--God knows, +not from any fear of the infection, but because if I chanced to be taken +our work would be at an end. For none of the others can so much as cook +an omelette or dish up a spoonful of _gazpacho_ fit for any son of man +to eat." + +"Well," said Rollo, "at any rate let me in. I carry no infection and the +time is short. I will help you to hold your Hermitage against the +malefactors!" + +"But how," answered the monk, shrewdly, "can I be certain that you are +not of the gang, and that if I open the door a hundred of you will not +rush in and slay me and us all out of hand?" + +Rollo put his hand into the pannier of his ass and raised the Princess +upon his arm. + +"Turn a light upon this little lady," he said, "and see whether she will +not convince you of my good intent!" + +It was a moment or two before the man returned with a lantern, and +directed the stream of light downwards. + +"The young Queen!" he cried aghast; "what is she doing here at this hour +of the night?" + +"Let me in, and I will tell you," cried the lady herself, "quick--do you +hear? I will complain to Father Ignacio, my mother's confessor, if you +do not, and you will be deprived of your office. You will be put on +bread and water, and very like have your head cut off as well!" + +In a minute more they heard the noise of the pulling of bolts and bars, +and were presently admitted into the little whitewashed hall of the +Ermita de San Ildefonso. There they found themselves face to face with +four monks in white habits, their faces pale and grave in the +candle-light. They gave Rollo no sign of welcome, but each of them bowed +his head low to the little Queen and then glanced inquiringly at her +protector. + +"Let the _burro_ enter also," commanded Rollo. "Thrice I have been +stopped on the way, and if our enemies find the ass without they will be +the readier to believe that I have hidden my treasure with you!" + +Then in the little whitewashed refectory, before the simple table on +which the fathers, now sadly reduced in numbers, took their repasts, +Rollo told his story. And, sinking on her knees devoutly before the +great crucifix that hung over the mantelpiece, the little Queen repeated +her childish prayers as placidly as if she had been at her nurse's knees +in the royal palace at Madrid, with the sentries posted duly, and the +tramp of the guard continually passing without. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI + +THE DEATH-CART + + +Thus came the little Isabel of Spain into sanctuary. That the respite +could only be temporary, Rollo knew too well. The monks were stout and +willing men, but such arms as they had belonged to almost primitive +times, chiefly old blunderbusses of various patterns from the middle of +the sixteenth century to the end of the eighteenth, together with a +halberd or two which had been used from time immemorial in the Hermitage +kitchen for breaking bones to get out the marrow, chopping firewood, and +such like humble and peaceful occupations. + +Two of the remaining brothers of the Ermita were as other men, plain, +simple and devout, ready to give up their lives, either by dying of +disease at their post of duty, or by the steel of cruel and ignorant +men, as the martyrs and confessors of whom they read in their breviaries +had done in times past. + +The cook-almoner on the other hand proved to be a shrewd little man, +with much ready conversation, a great humorist at most times, yet not +without a due regard for his own safety. Him the little Princess knew +well, having often stolen off through the gardens and down the long +"Mall" to taste his confectioned cakes, made in the Austrian manner +after a receipt which dated from the time of the founder of blessed +memory, Henry the Fourth of that name, and often partaken of by Catholic +sovereigns when they drove out to the lofty grange and Hermitage of the +Segovian monks of El Parral. + +The fourth and principal friar proved upon acquaintance to be a man of +another mould. He was a tall square-shouldered man, now a little bent +with age, but with the fires of loyalty burning deep within eyes of the +clearest and most translucent blue. His hair was now quickly frosting +over with premature infirmity, for not only was his constitution feeble +but he was just recovering from a dangerous attack of pneumonia. +Altogether Brother Teodoro was a northern-looking rather than a Spanish +man. It was not till afterwards that Rollo discovered that he belonged +to the ancient race of the Basques, and that in his day he had fought as +a bold soldier in the _partidas_, which rose in the rear of Napoleon's +marshals when he sent his legions across the Pyrenees. Indeed, he had +even followed _El Gran' Lor_ to Toulouse when the battered remnants of +that great army skulked back home again beaten by the iron discipline of +England and the gad-fly persistence of the Spanish _guerrilleros_. + +It was with Brother Teodoro then, as with a man already walking in the +shadow of death, that Rollo in quick low-spoken sentences discussed the +possibilities of the Hermitage as a place of defence. It was clear that +no ordinary military precautions and preparations would serve them now. +The four brethren were willing, if need were, to lay down their lives +for the young Queen. But saving the pistols and the limited ammunition +which Rollo had brought with him in his belt, and the bell-mouthed +blunderbusses aforesaid, rusted and useless, there was not a single +weapon of offence within the Hermitage of San Ildefonso of greater +weight than the kitchen poker. + +The Basque friar laid his hand on his brow and leaned against the wall +for a minute or two in silent meditation. + +"I have it," he said, suddenly turning upon Rollo, "it is our only +chance, a ghastly one it is true, but we are in no case for fine +distinctions. _We will get out the death-cart and gather us an army!_" + +Rollo gazed at the monk Teodoro as if he had suddenly lost his wits. + +"The death-cart! What is that?" he cried, "and how will that help us to +gather an army?" + +The Basque smiled, and Rollo noticed when he did so that his eyebrows +twitched spasmodically. There was a broad scar slashed across one of +them. This man had not been in the army of the _Gran' Lor_ for nothing. +For in addition to the sabre cut, he had great ideas under that +blue-veined, broad, sick man's forehead of his. + +"Yes," answered Teodoro, calmly, "our brother, whose duty it was to +collect the bodies of the plague-stricken, died two days ago, and the +oxen have not been in the town since. As for me, I too have been sick--a +mere _calentura_, though for a time the brethren feared that the plague +had laid its hand on me also; and as for those other two, they have +enough to do to keep up their ministrations among the living. To give +the last sacrament to the dying is, after all, more important than to +cover up the dead. At such times one has to remember how that once on a +time the Virgin's Son said, 'Let the dead bury their dead!'" + +He was silent a little, as if composing a homily on this text. + +"But all things work good to the chosen of God," he said. "To-night we +will make of these very dead an army to defend our little Queen--the +Lord's anointed. For in this matter I do not think as do the most of my +brothers of the Church. I am no Carlist, God be my witness!" + +Rollo was still in a maze of wonder and doubt when they arrived at the +little stables attached to the long low building of the Hermitage and +began to harness the oxen to the cart. He prided himself on his +quickness of resource, but this was clean beyond him. + +"One of us must abide here," continued the monk. "I am still sick unto +death, so that I greatly fear I can give you no help. Bleeding and this +_calentura_ together have left me without power in my old arms. But lend +me your pistols, of which you will have no need. I am an old soldier of +the wars of the Independence, and have not forgotten mine ancient skill +with the weapons of the flesh. Do not fear for the little Princess. Only +make such speed as you can." + +And with the utmost haste the Basque instructed Rollo as to his +behaviour when he should reach the town, whilst at the same time he was +helping him into the dress of a Brother of Pity and arranging the hood +across his face. + +"Hold your head well down," so ran the monk's rubric for the dread +office, "repeat in a loud voice '_Bring out your dead! Bring out your +dead!_' No more than that and no less. With the butt of your ox-staff +strike the doors whereon you see painted the red cross, and those that +remain will bring out whom the plague hath smitten." + +The young man listened as in a dream. The oxen started at the friar's +gentle chirrup. The ox-staff was placed in Rollo's hand, and lo, he was +guiding the meek bent heads softly towards the town before he even +realised that he was now to encounter a foe far more terrible than any +he had ever faced in battle or at the rapier's point upon the field of +honour. + +The trees were as solidly dark as black velvet above him. The oxen +padded softly over the well-trodden path. In the gloom he dropped his +goad, and only became conscious when he tried to pick it up that the +Basque had drawn over his hands a pair of huge gloves which reached down +almost to his wrists. These had been carefully tarred outside, and +doubtless furnished at least some protection against infection. + +The great well-fed beasts, white oxen of the finest Castilian breed, a +gift of the Queen-Regent to the brethren, were under perfect control; +and though Rollo had only once or twice before handled the guiding +staff, he had not the least difficulty in conducting the cart towards +the town. + +Indeed, so often had the animals taken the same road of late, that they +seemed to know their destination by instinct, and gave the tall young +monk in the hood no trouble whatever. The wheels, however, being of +solid wood of a style ancient as the Roman occupation, creaked with +truly Spanish _crescendo_ to the agony point. For in all countries +flowing with oil and wine no man affords so much as a farthing's worth +of grease for his waggon-wheels. But upon this occasion the lack was no +loss--nay, rather a gain. For even before Rollo's shout gained assurance +and sonorousness, the creaking of the wheels of the cart far-heard +scattered various groups of marauders about the streets of the town as +if it had been the wings of the angel of death himself. + +"_Bring out your dead! Bring out your dead!_" + +Certainly it was a solemn and awful cry heard echoing through the +streets in the chilly hours of the night. Here and there at the sound a +lattice opened, and some bereaved one cried down to the monk to stop. + +Then staggering down the staircase, lighted (it may be) by some haggard +crone with a guttering candle, or only stumbling blindly in the dark +with their load, the bearers would come. In a very few cases these were +two men, more frequently a man and a woman, and most frequently of all +two women. + +"_Bring out your dead! Bring out your dead!_" + +"Brother, we cannot!" a shrill voice came from high above; "come up +hither and help us, for God's sake and the Holy Virgin's! She is our +mother, and we are two young maids, children without strength." + +Rollo looked up and saw the child that called down to him. Another at +her shoulder held a lighted candle with a trembling hand. + +"She is so little and light, brother," she pleaded, "and went so +regularly to confession. Brother Jeronimo gave her the sacrament but an +hour before she parted from us. Come up and help us, for dear Mary's +sake!" + +It went to Rollo's heart to refuse, but he could not well leave his +oxen. He was a stranger to them and they to him; and his work, though +well begun, was yet to finish. + +While he stood in doubt, his mind swaying this way and that, a figure +darted across to him from the opposite side of the street, a boy dressed +in a suit of the royal liveries, but with a cloak thrown about his +shoulders and a sailor's red cap upon his head. + +"Give me the stick," he said in a muffled voice; "go up and bring down +the woman. If need be, I will help you." + +Without pausing to consider the meaning of this curious circumstance, +where all circumstances were curious, Rollo darted up the staircase, his +military boots clattering on the stone steps, strangely out of harmony +with his priestly vocation. + +He found the little maiden with the candle waiting at the door for him. +She appeared to be about eight years old, but struck him as very +small-bodied for her age. Her sister had remained within. She was +older--perhaps ten or twelve. She it was who had pleaded the cause of +the dead. + +"Indeed, good brother," she began, "we did our best. We tried to carry +her, and moved her as far as the chair. Then, being weak, we could get +no farther. But do you help, and it will be easy!" + +Rollo, growing accustomed to death and its sad victims, lifted the +shrouded burden over his shoulder without a shudder. He was in the mood +to take things as they came. The two little girls sank on their knees on +the floor, wailing for their lost mother, and imploring his blessing in +alternate breaths. + +"Our mother--our dear mother!" they cried, "pray for us and her, most +holy father!" + +"God in heaven bless you," Rollo said aloud in English, and strode down +the stairs. A knot of straggling gipsies furtively expectant stood about +the door. The cart was still in the middle of the street with its +attendant boy, in the exact place where Rollo had left it. + +"Here, lend me a hand," he cried in a voice of command, as he emerged +into their midst with his white-wrapped burden. + +But at the mere sight of the monk's habit and of the thing he carried on +his shoulder, the gipsies dispersed, running in every direction as if +the very plague-spectre were on their track. The boy in the red cap, +however, crossed the road towards him, and at the same moment the elder +of the little girls sobbingly opened the lattice, holding the candle in +her hand to take a last look at her mother. + +The feeble rays fell directly on the boy's upturned face. At the sight +Rollo stumbled and almost fell with his burden. The youth put out his +hand to stay him. His fingers almost touched the dead. + +"Hands off!" thundered Rollo, in fierce anger. "Concha Cabezos, how dare +you come hither?" + +The boy looked up at the man and answered simply and clearly-- + +"Rollo, I came because _you_ dared!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII + +THE DEAD STAND SENTINEL + + +They walked on for a while in silence, Rollo too much thunderstruck and +confounded to speak a word. His whole being was rent with the most +opposite feelings. He was certainly angry with Concha. So much was clear +to him. It was rash, it was unmaidenly to follow him at such a time and +in such a guise. Yet, after all the girl had come. She was risking a +terrible death for his sake. Well, what of that? It was right and +natural that he should hold his life in his hands. All his life he had +loved adventure as men their daily bread--not passionately, but as a +necessity of existence. + +But this--it was too great for him, too mighty, too surprising. For his +sake! Because he dared! All the girls to whom he had made love--ay, +even Peggy Ramsay herself, running barefoot in the braes of +Falkland--instantly vanished. Life or death became no great +matter--almost, as it seemed to him then, the same thing. For here was +one who held all the world as well lost for him. + +Meanwhile Concha walked silently alongside, the ox-staff still in her +hands, but dimly understanding what was passing in his mind. Love to her +was exceedingly simple. Her creed contained but two articles, or rather +the same truth, brief, pregnant, uncontrovertible, stated in different +ways: "_If he live, I will live with him! If he die, I will die with +him!_" + +So with her eyes on the oxen and her goad laid gently on this side and +that of the meek heads, Concha guided them along the silent streets. +Nevertheless, she was keenly aware of Rollo also, and observed him +closely. She did not understand what he was doing in the garb of a +friar, collecting the dead of the plague on the streets of San +Ildefonso. But it did not matter, it was sufficient that he was doing +it, and that (thank God!) she had escaped from the beleaguered palace in +time to help him. She even reminded him of his duty, without asking a +single question as to why he did it--self-abnegation passing wonderful +in a woman! + +"You have forgotten to cry," she whispered, dropping back from the ox's +head. "We have passed two alleys without a warning!" + +And so once more there rang down the streets of the town of San +Ildefonso that dolorous and terrible cry which was to be heard in the +dread plague-years, not only in the Iberian peninsula but also in +England and Rollo's own Scotland, "_Bring out your dead! Bring out your +dead!_" + +It chanced that in the next street, the last of the little town, they +made up their full complement. The heads of the oxen were directed once +more towards the Hermitage. They turned this corner and that slowly and +decorously till, with a quickening of pace and a forward inclination of +the meek, moist nostrils, the pair struck into the woodland path towards +their stable at the Hermitage. + +Not one word either of love or of reproach had Rollo spoken since those +into which he had been startled by the fear lest the girl should set +her hand upon the dead of the plague. Nor did they speak even now. Rollo +only put out his gloved hand to steady the cart here and there in the +deeper ruts, motioning Concha to remain at the head of the oxen, where +no breath of the dead might blow upon her. + +Thus, no man saying them nay, they arrived at the Hermitage of San +Ildefonso. It was quiet even as they had left it. + +As they came round to the front of the building, the Basque at the door +was before them. He met them on the steps, a lantern in his hand. + +"Who is this?" he asked, with a significant gesture towards Concha. + +"Carlos--a lad of our company, an Andalucian," said Rollo, in answer. "I +met him by chance in the town, and he has helped me with the oxen." + +The friar nodded and, letting down the rear flap of the cart, he +surveyed the melancholy harvest. + +"Twelve!" he said. "Not many, but enough. The dead will guard us well +from the evil men! Ay, better than an army of twelve thousand living!" + +And attiring himself in an apron of tarred stuff similar to the gloves, +he fastened another of the same material upon Rollo. + +"We will now proceed to set our sentries!" he said, grimly. + +As Rollo put on the gauntlets and approached to help Brother Teodoro to +draw out the corpses, Concha hovered near, half timid, and yet with a +certain decision of manner. The timidity was lest she should be refused +in that which it was upon her tongue to ask. + +"Let me help the brother," she said at last; "I have nursed many--no +plague will touch me!" + +The monk stared at the lad in wonder as he proffered his request. But +Rollo roughly and angrily ordered Concha back to the heads of the oxen, +which, with true Spanish fortitude, stood chewing the cud till they +should be set free and returned to their stalls. + +"Is this boy by any chance your brother?" said the monk, as between them +they settled the first sheeted dead in his niche by the side of the +great door. + +"Nay," said Rollo, "not my brother." + +"Then of a surety he hath a great affection for you," continued the +monk. "It is a thing unusual in one of his age!" + +To this Rollo did not reply, and in silence the cart was led about the +house till every door and practicable entrance was guarded by one of +these solemn warders. Then, the dead-cart being pushed within its shed +and the oxen restored to their stalls, the three went within and the +doors were locked, the bolts drawn, and everything about the Hermitage +made as secure as possible. + +It was yet a good two hours from daylight, and if the gipsies were +coming that night their appearance would not be long delayed. It was +Rollo's opinion that they would attack with the first glimmer of light +from the east. For the Ermita de San Ildefonso was not like La Granja, a +place set amongst open _parterres_. It was closely guarded by tall +trees, and in the absence of a moon the darkness was intense, a faint +star-glimmer alone being reflected from the whitewashed walls of the +Hermitage. + +Within, the two stout brothers and the little humorously featured +almoner had already seen to the safety of every window and door. Above +stairs in a retired chamber the little Queen had been sequestered from +any breath of the plague-stricken sentries keeping their last vigil +without, and also that she might be safe from every random bullet if the +place should be attacked. + +Rollo followed the Basque upwards to the roof, and Concha, with her +_capa_ still about her shoulders, followed Rollo into the light of the +hall, nervously dragging the folds as low as possible about her knees. + +The little Queen had two candles before her, and under her fingers was a +great book of maps, upon which dragons and tritons, whales and sea +monsters, writhed across uncharted seas, while an equal wealth of +unicorns and fire-breathing gryphons freely perambulated the unexplored +continental spaces. As it chanced Isabel was not at all sleepy, and to +quiet her the Basque had set out some of the illuminating materials +belonging to the order on slabs of porcelain, and with these she was +employed in making gay the tall pages with the national yellow and red, +and (as her great namesake had done before her) planting the flag of +Spain over considerably more than half the world. + +But as soon as the girl's eyes fell on Concha, she sprang up and let +paint-brush and china-slab fall together to the ground. + +"Oh, I know you," she cried (here Rollo trembled); "you are the new +page-boy from Aranjuez! He was to arrive to-day. What is your name?" + +"Carlos," said the new page-boy from Aranjuez, from whose cheek also the +rose had momentarily fled. + +"And why do you wear that curious red cap?" cried the little Queen. "I +know Dona Susana would be very angry if she saw you. Pages must show +their own hair and wear it in curls too. Have you pretty hair?" + +"It is the cap of liberty the boy wears, Princess!" said the Basque +friar, breaking in quickly, and with some irony. "Do you not know that +since Senor Mendizabel came to Madrid from England we are all to have as +much liberty as we want?" + +"Well," replied the Princess, tartly, "all I know is that I wish _I_ had +more of it. Dona Susana will not let me do a single thing I want to do. +But when I grow up I mean to do just what I like." + +Which truly royal and Bourbon sentiment had a better fate than most +prophecies, for Isabel the Second afterwards lived to fulfil it to the +uttermost, both in the spirit and in the letter. + +But the girl had not yet finished her inspection of Concha. + +"Do you know," she went on, "I think you are the very prettiest boy I +have ever seen. You may come and kiss me. When I am grown up, I will +make you an officer of my bodyguard!" + + * * * * * + +Leaving little Isabel Segunda to make friends according to her heart +with the page-boy from Aranjuez (to whom she immediately proceeded to +swear an unalterable fidelity), Rollo and Brother Teodoro retired, to +await with what patience they might the long-delayed approach of the +gipsies. + +"Twice during your absence did I believe them on their way," said the +friar. "On the first occasion I heard in the wood wild cries, mixed with +oaths, cursings, and revilings, unfit for any Christian ears. God help +this land that holdeth such heathens within it! But something must have +affrighted the factious, for little by little the noises died away. I +saw the red gleam in the sky wax and wane. And once there was a scream, +strange and terrible, like that of a demon unchained. But, lo! when you +came again with the oxen and the dead, all grew still. It was passing +strange!" + +"Not, as I think, more strange than that!" said Rollo, looking out over +the parapet and pointing to the grim line of sentries which guarded the +Hermitage of San Ildefonso. The ruddy light of approaching day scarce +tinged the tree-tops, but the highest fleecy clouds had caught the glow +long before the horizon was touched. Yet the darkness down among the +trees was less absolute than before. There was also a weird, far-away +crying, and then the cheerful clatter of hoofs upon a road nearer at +hand. A slight stirring among the higher foliage advertised the coming +of a breeze. Involuntarily the two men shivered, as with a soughing +murmur a blast of icy wind swept down from the peaks of Penalara, and +the Basque gripped his companion by the arm. Priest as he was, the +superstitions of his ancient race were not dead in his heart, nor had he +forgotten his early military association with camps and sentinels. + +"_Grand rounds!_" he cried; "_it is the Angel of Death visiting his +outposts!_" + +But Rollo had other and more practical thoughts. He was aware that after +the fatigues of the night and the proximity of so many victims of the +plague, a chill would most likely be fatal. So he carefully drew a +silken handkerchief from his pocket and fastened it calmly about his +throat, advising the monk to cover his head with his hood. + +Then suddenly another sound caught his ear. It was the identical signal +he had heard from Sergeant Cardono, the same that had been repeated in +the garden of the royal palace as he stood among the reeds of the cane +brake. Beginning with the low morning twitter of the swallow, it +increased in volume till it carried far over the woodlands, wild and +shrill as he remembered the winter cry of the whaups sweeping down from +the Fife Lomonds to follow the ebb tide as it sullenly recedes from Eden +Mouth towards Tents Muir. + +"They are here," he whispered hoarsely to his companion. "It is the +gipsies' battle signal!" + +The Basque spread abroad his hands, raising them first to heaven and +anon pointing in the direction of the approaching foe. + +"The scourge of God!" he cried, "let the scourge of God descend upon +those that do wickedly! The prayer of a dying man availeth! Let the doom +fall!" + +He was silent a moment, and then added with an air of majestic +prophecy--"Oaths and cursings are in their mouths, but, like the dead in +the camp of Sennacherib, they shall be dead and dumb." + +Again he spread his hands abroad, as if he pronounced a benediction upon +the sentries posted below. + +"Blessed souls," he cried, "for whom we of this Holy House have died +that you might live, cause that your poor vile bodies may fight for us +this night! Let the dead meet the living and the living be over-thrown! +Hear, Almighty Lord of both quick and dead--hear and answer!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII + +CONCHA SAYS AMEN + + +Looking down from their station on the roof, Rollo and the friar could +see what appeared to be the main force of the gipsies drawing near +through the alleys of the wood. They approached in no order or military +formation, which indeed it was never their nature to adopt. But they +came with a sufficiency of confused noise, signalling and crying one to +another through the aisles of the forest. + +"They are telling each other to spread out on the wings and encircle the +house on the north," whispered Rollo in a low voice to the Basque friar +by his side. + +The monk laughed a low chuckling laugh. + +"They will find the holy Hermitage equally well guarded on that side!" +he said. And as they stood silent the rose of dawn began slowly to +unfold itself over the tree-tops with that awful windless stillness +which characterises the day-breaks of the south. The glades of the wood +were filled with a glimmering filmy light, in which it was easy to +imagine the spirits of the dead hovering over their earthly tenements. + +The gipsies came on as usual, freely and easily, land pirates on their +own ground, none able to make them afraid. They had been checked, it is +true, at the palace. The royal guard (so they imagined) seemed to have +returned unexpectedly thither, contrary to their information, but on the +other hand they had successfully plundered all the storehouses, cellars, +and _despachos_ of the great square. + +Some of them still carried _botas_ of wine (the true "leather bottel") +in their hands or swung across their shoulders, and ever and anon took a +swig to keep their courage up as they came near. Some sang and shouted, +for were they not going to rout the lazy monks, always rich in money and +plate, out of their lurking places? Was it not they who had first tried +to make Christians of the Romany, and by so doing had shown the +government how to entrap them into their armies, subjecting the free +blood of Egypt to their cursed drafts and conscriptions? + +"To the knives' point with them, then!" they shouted. "They who prate so +much of paradise, let them go thither, and that with speed!" This would +be a rare jest to tell for forty years by many a swinging kettle, and +while footing it in company over many a lonely and dispeopled heath. + +Thus with laughter and shouting they came on, and to Rollo, peering +eagerly over the battlements, the white-wrapped corpses along the walls +seemed to turn slowly blood-red before his eyes--the flaunting crimson +of the sky above contrasting with the green of the woods, and tinging +even the white shrouds with its ominous hue. But still the gipsies came +on. + +First of all strode the man who had called himself the Executioner of +Salamanca, Ezquerra, he who had saved the life of Jose Maria upon the +scaffold. He came forward boldly enough, intending to thunder with his +knife-handle upon the great door. But at the foot of the steps he +stopped. + +Looking to either hand, he saw, almost erect within their niches, a +strange pair of figures, apparently wrapped in bloody raiment from head +to foot. He staggered back nerveless and shaken. + +"What are these faceless things?" he cried; "surely the evil spirits are +here!" And in deadly fear he put his hand before his eyes lest his +vision should be blasted by a portent. + +And from the other side of the Hermitage came an answering cry of fear. + +"Be brave, Ezquerra!" called out one behind him; "'tis nothing--only +some monk's trick!" + +Ezquerra over his shoulder cast a fierce glance at the speaker. + +"Brother," he cried, "you who are so full of courage that you can supply +others, go up these steps and find out the trick for yourself!" + +Nevertheless through very pride of place as their temporary leader, +Ezquerra set his feet once more to the steps and mounted. The shrouded +figures grew less red as he approached. + +"After all it is some trick!" he shouted angrily. "We will make the +fools pay for this! Did they think to practise the black art upon those +whose fathers have used all magic, black and white, for ten thousand +years?" + +So saying he set his hand to the face-cloth of the nearest figure and +plucked it away. Then was revealed to his affrighted and revolted gaze +the features swollen and bloated of one who had died of the Black +Plague. + +At the same moment, and before his followers could set their hands to +their mouths or retreat a step, round both corners of the building there +came a double swarm of gipsies, running at random through the tangle of +the wood and streaming frantically along the paths. + +The Executioner of Salamanca also turned and ran down the steps. + +"Touch the thing who will!" he cried; "I have done with it!" + +And the entire attacking party with their knives and sledge-hammers +would in like manner have fled, but for a strange and unlooked-for event +which happened at that moment. + +As Rollo peered over the low parapet, he saw a slight form rush suddenly +across the front of the fleeing gipsies, shouting at and striking the +fugitives. And even at that distance he was sure that it must be the +daughter of Munoz, whom he had left captive in La Granja. She had been +safely enough locked in the castle--how then had she escaped? He +remembered the Sergeant's last threat that he would have some +conversation with Senor Munoz. He wondered if the girl's escape had +anything to do with that. That it was not impossible to escape from the +palace, the presence of Concha Cabezos upstairs informed him. + +But all theorising of this kind was stopped at sight of the vehement +anger of the girl, and of the evident power she had over these wild and +savage men. She did not even hesitate to strike a fugitive with her +clenched fist if he attempted to evade her. Nay, in her fury she drew a +knife from Ezquerra's belt and struck at the throat of the Executioner +of Salamanca. + +So vehement was her anger and so potent her influence, that the girl +actually succeeded in arresting more than half the fleeing gipsies. +Some, however, evaded her, and she would stay her headlong course a +moment to send a fierce curse after them. + +"She is crazed!" thought Rollo; "her wrongs have driven her mad!" + +But the sight of that glimmering array of plague-stricken sentinels +waiting for them still and silent in the red dawn, was more than the +fortitude of the rallied forces could stand. Upon approaching the +Hermitage the gipsies again showed symptoms of renewed flight. + +Whereupon the girl, shrilly screaming the vilest names at them and in +especial designating Ezquerra as the craven-hearted spawn of an obscene +canine ancestry, mounted the steps herself with the utmost boldness and +confidence. + +"I will teach you," she screamed; "I, a girl and alone, will show you +what sacks of straw ye are frighted of. Do ye not know that the great +prize is here, within this very house, behind these defenceless windows +and cardboard doors? The Queen of Spain, whose ransom is worth twice ten +thousand _duros_, even if your coward hearts dared not shed her black +Bourbon blood. Behold!" + +It was only by craning far out over the parapet (so far indeed that he +might easily have been discovered from below had there been any to look) +that Rollo was able to see what followed. But every eye was fixed on the +girl. No one among all that company had even a glance to waste upon the +skyline of the Ermita de San Ildefonso. + +This was the thing Rollo saw as he looked. + +The girl spurned the fallen face-cloth with her bare foot, and catching +the body of the dead man in her arms, she dragged it out of its niche +and cast it down the steps upon which it lay all abroad, half revealed +and hideous in the morning light. This done, rushing back as swiftly and +with the same volcanic energy to the occupant of the other niche, she +hurled him by main force after his companion. Then, panting and wan, +with her single tattered garment half rent from her flat ill-nourished +body, she lifted one arm aloft in triumph and cried, "There, you dogs, +that is what you were afraid of!" + +But even as she stood thus revealed in the morning light, a low murmur +of terror and astonishment ran round all who saw her. For in the +struggle the girl had uncovered her shoulder and breast, and there, upon +her young and girlish skin, appeared the dread irregular blotches which +betrayed the worst and most deadly form of the disease. + +"The Black Plague! The Black Plague!" shrieked the throng of besiegers, +surging this way and that like a flock of sheep which strange dogs +drive, as with wild and shrill cries they turned and fled headlong +towards the mountains. + +The girl, speechless with wrath, and perhaps also with the +death-sickness far advanced within her, took a step forward as if to +follow them. But forgetful of where she stood, she missed her footing, +fell headlong, and lay across the dead sentinel whom she had first +dragged from his post. + +The Basque priest looked over Rollo's shoulder and pointed downwards +with a certain dread solemnity. + +"What did I tell you?" he said. "The finger of God! The finger of God +hath touched her! Let us go down. The sun will be above the horizon in +twenty minutes." + +"Had we not better wait?" urged Rollo. "They may return. Think of our +responsibility, of our feeble defences, of----" + +"Of Concha," he was about to say, but checked himself, and added +quietly, "of the little Queen!" + +The monk crossed himself with infinite calm. + +"They will not return," he said; "it is our duty to lay these in the +quiet earth ere the sun rises. There is no infection to be feared till +an hour after sunrise." + +"But the girl, the daughter of Munoz?" said Rollo, "did not she take the +disease from the dead?" + +"Nay," said the Basque. "I have often beheld the smitten of the plague +like that. It works so upon very many. For a time they are as it were +possessed with seven devils, and the strength of man is vain against +them. They snap strong cords even as Samson did the Philistine withes. +Then--puff! Comes a breath of morning air chill from the Sierra, and +they are gone. They were--and they are not. The finger of God hath +touched them. So it was with this girl." + +"I will follow you!" said Rollo, awe-stricken in spite of himself. "Tell +me what I am to do!" + +The monk pressed his hand again to his brow a little wearily. "I fear," +he said, "that it will fall to you to perform the greater part of the +work. For Brother Domingo, our good almoner, he of the merry +countenance, died of his fatigues early this morning, and the other two, +my brethren, are once more in the town bringing God to the dying!" + +Instinctively Rollo removed his hat from his head. + +"But," added the monk, "they dug the graves in holy ground before they +went!" + +In silence Rollo permitted himself to be covered with an armour of +freshly tarred cloth, which was considered in Spain at that time to be +a complete protection against plague infection. The monk Teodoro was +proceeding to array himself in like manner, when Concha appeared beside +them and held out her hands for the gauntlets. + +"The little Princess is asleep," she said eagerly; "I am strong. I have +as good a right to serve God as either of you--and as great is my need!" + +The Basque gazed at her curiously. Her hair was still wholly covered by +the sailor's red cap. To the eye she appeared a mere boy in her page's +dress, but there was at all times something irresistibly attractive +about Concha's face. Now her lips quivered sensitively, but her eyes +were steady. She continued to hold out her hands. + +"I demand that you permit me to serve God!" she cried to Brother +Teodoro. + +The monk shrugged his shoulders with a pitying gesture and looked from +one to the other. + +"I am an old dragoon," he said, "and under the guidons of _El Gran' +Lor'_ I have seen the like. It is none of my business, of course, but +all the same it is a pity. I should be happier to leave you watching the +slumbers of the Princess!" + +"Ah!" cried Concha, earnestly, "if you are indeed an old soldier, and a +good one under guidon or holy cross--for this time let me be one also!" + +"You are young--I pray you, think!" urged the Basque. "There is great +danger! Look at that maid yonder, and what she hath brought on herself." + +"Ah," said Concha, softly--so softly indeed as to be almost +inaudible, "but the difference is that she did this thing for +hate--while--I--I----" + +She did not finish her sentence, but raising her eyes, wet with +seldom-coming tears, to those of the stern-faced brother, she said +instead, "Give me the dress and let us be gone. The sun is rising!" + +"If you are indeed determined, you shall have that of Brother Domingo," +said Teodoro; "he was of little more than your height, and died, not of +the plague, but simply from doing his duty." + +"Then let me die in no other way!" said Concha, putting it on as happily +as another maiden might dress for a ball. + +These three went out to their terrible task, and as they were harnessing +the bullock cart once more and spreading a clean cloth over it, Rollo, +moved in his heart of hearts, came near. Never did two such lovers as +they meet more strangely arrayed. Yet he laid his black gauntlet across +her arm and whispered a word which Brother Teodoro did not hear, being, +as he took good care to be, much busied about the straps and +harnessings. + +"I do not think that Love will let us die--yet!" he said. + +"That is a prayer. Amen!" said Concha, in a whisper, lifting her eyes to +his. + +It was a strange betrothing, and little said. But when at last he put +the ox-goad in her hands, Concha knew that the night had indeed passed +away and that the morning was come. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX + +A HANDFUL OF ROSES + + +Patiently and softly went the oxen about the little pottage garden of +the friars, till, where the soil was sandiest and the ground most open, +under a south-looking wall on which the roses were still clustering (for +they grow roses late at La Granja), lo! a trench was dug. It was not so +deep as a rich man's grave in other countries, but in Spain as elsewhere +a little earth covers a multitude of sorrows. + +The long shallow trench had been the last work of the two remaining +monks ere they departed to their duty in the stricken village. Savage +men, heathen of heart and cruel of hand, might await them there. Black +plague would certainly lurk in every doorway. Yet these two brothers, +simple in the greatness of their faith--not of the wise of the land, not +of the apparent salt of the earth, but only plain devout men, ignorant +of all beyond their breviaries and their duty to their fellows--had gone +forth as quietly and unostentatiously as a labouring man shoulders his +mattock and trudges to his daily toil. + +Of the three that remained, Brother Teodoro did his best; but in spite +of his endeavours the bulk of the work fell to Rollo and Concha. Yet +under the page's dress and the rude outer slough of tarred canvas the +girl's heart sang. There was nothing terrible in death when he and she +together lifted the spent stuff of mortality and laid it in its last +resting-place. Without a shudder she replaced a fallen face-cloth. With +Rollo opposite to her she took the feet of the dead that had guarded +them so well in the red morning light, and when all were laid a-row in +the rest which lasts till the Judgment Day, and before the first +spadeful of earth had fallen, Concha, with a sudden impulse, took a +kerchief from her neck, and plucked a double handful of the roses that +clustered along the wall. They were white roses, small, but of a sweet +perfume, having grown in that high mountain air. Then without a word, +and while the monk was still busy with his prayers for the dead, she +sprang down to where at the corner opposite to Brother Domingo the +daughter of Munoz had been laid, the pinched fierceness of her +countenance relaxed into a strange far-away smile. + +Concha spread the kerchief tenderly over the face of the girl, dropping +tears the while. And she crossed the little hands which pain and madness +had driven to deeds of darkness and blood, upon the breast in which the +angry young heart had beaten so hotly, and scattered the white roses +over all. + +Then while the Basque Teodoro did his office over his dead brother, +Concha kneeled at the foot of the trench, a little crucifix in her hand. +Her lips moved as she held the rude image of the Crucified over that +fierce little head and sorely tortured body. He who had cast out so many +devils, would surely pardon and understand. So at least she thought. +Rollo watched her, and though brought up to be a good Presbyterian by +his father, he knew that this little foolish Concha must yet teach him +how to pray. + +"God may hear her before the other, who knows!" he murmured. "One is a +man praying for men--she, a maiden praying for a maid!" + +Then Rollo made the girl, whom the scene had somewhat overwrought, go +off to a secluded part of the garden and wash in the clean cool water of +a fountain, while he remained to shovel in the soil and pack it well +down upon the bodies of the dead who had served his purpose so +faithfully. Last of all he unyoked and fed the oxen, leaving them +solemnly munching their fodder, blinking their meek eyes and ruminating +upon the eternal sameness of things in their serene bovine world. He +came out, stripped himself to the skin, and washed in one of the +deserted kitchens from which Brother Domingo, sometime almoner and cook +to the Ermita of San Ildefonso, had for ever departed. + +This being completed to his satisfaction, he went out to find Concha, +who, her face radiant with the water of the Guadarrama (and other things +which the young morning had brought her), met him as he came to her +through the wood. + +She held up her face to be kissed as simply and naturally as a child. +Death was all about them, but of a truth these two lived. Yea, and +though they should die ere nightfall, still throughout the eternities +they might comfort themselves, in whatsoever glades of whatsoever +afterworlds they might wander, that on earth they had lived, and not in +vain. + +For if it be true that God is Love, equally true is it that love is +life. And this is the secret of all things new and old, of Adam and Eva +his wife, of Alpha and Omega, of the mystic OM, of the joined serpent, +of the Somewhat which links us to the Someone. + + * * * * * + +It was now Rollo's chiefest desire to get back to the palace and find +out what had happened there during his absence. He had heard the rattle +of musketry fire again and again during the night, and he feared, as +much from the ensuing silence as from the escape of the daughter of +Munoz, that some disaster must have occurred there. He would have +started at once to reconnoitre, but Brother Teodoro, hearing of his +intention, volunteered to find out whether the gipsies had wholly +evacuated the neighbourhood. + +There was a private path from the grounds of the Hermitage which led +into those of the palace. By this the Basque hastened off, and it was no +long time before he returned, carrying the news that not only was the +town clear and the gardens of the palace free from marauders, but that +Rollo's people were still in full possession of La Granja. He had even +been able to speak with one of the royal servants for an instant, a man +with whom he had some acquaintance. But this conference, the Basque +added, had been hastily interrupted by a certain old woman of a fierce +aspect, who had ordered the young man off. Nevertheless he had gained +enough information to assure him that there would now be no danger in +the whole party returning openly to the Palace of La Granja. + +Accordingly Rollo set out, with Concha still wrapt in the cloak which +covered her page's dress. Rollo would gladly have carried the little +Princess, but Isabel had taken so overwhelming a fancy to Concha that +she could not be induced to quit her side for a moment. Indeed, she +declared her intention of leaving her mother and Dona Susana and +returning to Aranjuez with Concha so soon as her message should be +delivered. + +Rollo whispered that the pretended page should not discourage this +sudden devotion, since in the journey that still lay before them the +willingness of the little Princess to accompany them might make all the +difference between success and failure. + +The Sergeant received them at the garden door, which he had so carefully +watched all night. There was a kindlier look than usual upon his +leathern and saturnine features. + +"I judge, Senor," he said, as he saluted Rollo, "that you have more to +tell me than I have to tell you." + +"In any case, let me hear your story first," said Rollo; "mine can +keep!" + +"In brief, then, having your authority," began the Sergeant, "I +permitted his Excellency the Duke of Rianzares to have an interview with +his daughter, at which, for safety's sake, I was present, and gained a +great deal of information that may be exceedingly useful to us in the +future. But in one thing I confess that I was not sufficiently careful. +The girl, being left to herself for a moment, escaped--by what means I +know not. Nor" (this with a quaint glance at Concha) "was she the only +lady who left the palace that night without asking my leave!" + +But without answering, the cloaked page passed him rapidly, and with the +Princess still clinging to her hand, she passed upstairs. The Sergeant +looked after her and her young charge. + +"You are sure of this lady's discretion?" he said. + +"I have proved it to the death," answered the young man briefly and a +little haughtily. + +The Sergeant shrugged his shoulders as if he would have said with the +Basque friar, "It is none of my business." But instead he took up his +report to his superior and continued, "We buried the body of the poor +woman Dona Susana within the precincts of the _Colegiata_----" + +"And an hour ago I buried the body of her slayer," said Rollo, calmly. + +For an instant the Sergeant looked astonished, as indeed well he might, +but he restrained whatever curiosity he felt, and only said: + +"You will let me hear what happened in your own time, and also how you +discovered and regained the little Princess?" + +Rollo nodded. + +"And speaking of the Princess, if she asks questions," continued +Cardono, "had she not better be told that Dona Susana has gone to visit +her relations--which, as she was the last of her family, is, I believe, +strictly true!" + +"But the Queen-Regent and the Duke--Senor Munoz, I mean?" queried Rollo. +"What of them?" For the young man had even yet no high opinion of that +nobleman or of his vocation in life. + +"Oh, as to the Duke," answered the Sergeant, "I do not think that we +shall have much trouble with him. The Queen is our Badajoz. She is so +set on returning to Madrid that she will not move a step towards Aragon, +and we have not enough force to carry her thither against her will with +any possibility of secrecy." + +"We might take the little Princess alone," mused Rollo; "she would go +with Concha anywhere. Of that I am certain." + +The Sergeant shook his head. + +"The Queen-Regent, and she alone, is the fountain of authority. If you +kidnap and sequester her within the Carlist lines, you will certainly +paralyse the government of Madrid. Especially you may prevent the +sweeping away of the monasteries--which, I take it, is at the bottom of +all this pother, though for the life of me I cannot see what concern the +matter is of yours. But to carry off the Princess would profit you +nothing. Isabel Segunda is but a child, and will not come of age for +many years. Your friend the Abbot would gain nothing by her captivity. +But the Queen-Regent were a prize indeed!" + +After he had spoken thus freely, Rollo continued to muse, and the +Sergeant to watch him. The latter had a great opinion of this young +man's practical ability. + +"If he had had but the fortune to be born poor--and in Andalucia, he +might have been one day as great as I!" was the opinion of this modest +Sergeant. And indeed he spoke but the words of truth and soberness. For +it was the opinion of nine out of ten of his countrymen that he, Jose +Maria of Ronda, was the greatest man of all time. + +"Well," said Rollo at last, "let us go up and talk a little to my +friends and El Sarria. I think I see a way of inducing her Royal +Highness to accompany us. But it will require some firmness, and even a +certain amount of severity." + +The Sergeant nodded with grim appreciation. + +"It is a pity with women," he said philosophically, "but sometimes, I +know, it is the only way." + +"The severity I speak of," continued Rollo, not regarding his words, +"will mostly fall to the lot of the Senor Munoz. But we may chance to +work on the lady's feelings through him." + +The Sergeant gave Rollo a quick glance, in which was discernible a +certain alertness of joy. The Sergeant also did not love his +grandeeship, the Duke of Rianzares. + +So these two went abreast up the great staircase, and found the Princess +Isabel already playing joyously with Etienne, John Mortimer joining +clumsily in as best he could. Concha had vanished, and La Giralda was +nowhere to be seen. + +"The rogue is in no haste to visit her mother after her night +adventure!" said the Sergeant in a low tone, as Rollo and he stood +watching the scene from the doorway. + +"Nor I," admitted Rollo with a smile, "yet see the lady we must!" + +"And shall!" said the Sergeant. + +Yet in spite of the unpleasant interview which lay before him, Rollo +could not help smiling at the game that was going forward in the upper +hall. + + "_Sur le pont d' Avignon, + Tout le monde y passe,_" + +chanted Etienne. + +"_Tout le monde y passe!_" chorused the little Princess, holding out her +hands. + +John Mortimer made a confused noise in his throat and presently was +compelled to join the circle and dance slowly round, his countenance +meantime suggestive of the mental reserve that such undignified +proceedings could only be excused as being remotely connected with the +safe shipment of a hundred hogsheads of Priorato. + + "_The children walk like this, + And the ladies walk like that----_" + +There was no help for it. Etienne and the Princess first mimicked the +careless trip of the children, and then, with chin in the air and lift +of imaginary furbelow, the haughty tread of the good dames of Avignon +as they took their way homeward over that ancient bridge. + +But suddenly arrested with both hands in the air and his mouth open, +John Mortimer looked on in confusion and a kind of mental stupor. He was +glad that no one of his nation was present to see him making a fool of +himself. The next moment Isabel had seized his hand, and he found +himself again whirling lumpishly round to the ancient refrain:-- + + "_Sur le pont d' Avignon, + Tout le monde y passe!_" + +The little Queen's merry laugh rang out at his awkwardness, and then +seeing Rollo she ran impetuously to him. + +"Come you and play," she cried, "the red foreigner plays like a wooden +puppet. And where is that darling little page-boy from Aranjuez?" + +"That I cannot tell," quoth Rollo, smiling, "but here comes his sister!" + +A moment after Concha entered the room talking confidentially to La +Giralda. She was now dressed in her own girlish costume of belted +blouse, black _basquina_ pleated small after the Andalucian manner, and +the quaint and pretty _rebozo_ thrown coquettishly back from the finest +and most bewitching hair in Spain. + +The little Isabel went up to Concha, took her by the hand, perused her +from head to foot, and then remarked with deep feeling-- + +"You are very well, Senorita, but--I liked your brother better!" + + + + +CHAPTER XL + +ALL DANDIES ARE NOT COWARDS + + +It was not, however, so simple a matter as Rollo supposed to obtain an +audience with the Queen-Regent of Spain. Her daughter, willing, but by +no means eager to see her mother, had at last been taken up to her room +by one of the serving-men, whose faithfulness during the night had been +so greatly stimulated by La Giralda's declared intention of shooting +either of them who should fail from his post for an instant. + +To the same gold-laced functionary, upon his return, Rollo made his +request. + +"Tell her Majesty that those gentlemen who last night defended the +palace, wish to be admitted into her presence in order that they may +represent to her the danger of remaining longer in a house exposed alike +to the attacks of bloodthirsty villains and to the ravages of the +plague." + +"Her Majesty, being otherwise engaged, is not at present able to receive +the gentlemen," was the civil but unsatisfactory answer brought back. + +Rollo stood a moment fuming, biting his thumb-nail as he had a fashion +of doing when thinking deeply. Then he asked a sudden question-- + +"Where is El Sarria?" + +"Without on the terrace--doing a little sentry duty on his own +account," said the Sergeant. "I told him that the gipsies, being walkers +in darkness, had gone off for at least twelve hours, and that there was +no use in any further vigilance till nightfall, should it be our +ill-fortune to spend another night in this place. But" (here the +Sergeant shrugged his shoulders very slightly, as only an Andalucian or +a Frenchman can), "well--our excellent Don Ramon is the best and bravest +of men. But it is a pity that he has not room here for more than one +idea at a time!" + +And Sergeant Cardono tapped his brow with his forefinger. + +"I do not know," said Rollo, smiling, "if the one idea is a good one, it +may carry a man far! But that matters nothing now. Let these two friends +of mine, Don Juan and M. de Saint Pierre, take his place on the terrace. +We have a difficult part to play upstairs, and we want only men of your +nation or mine--men neither easily excited nor yet too over-scrupulous!" + +He added the last words under his breath. + +And so, on pretext that it was time El Sarria should be relieved, a few +minutes thereafter John Mortimer and Etienne found themselves pleasantly +situated on the broad terrace looking out on the dry fountains and the +glittering waterfalls of La Granja, while El Sarria solemnly mounted the +stairs to hold audience with his young leader. + +No great talker was El Sarria at any time, and now he had nothing to say +till Rollo informed him why he wanted his help. Then he was ready to do +everything but talk--go to the world's end, fight to the death, give up +all except Dolores (and risk even her!) that he might do the will of his +chief. El Sarria was not good at fine ethical distinctions, but he +understood obedience prompt and unquestioning, through and through and +up and down. + +Rollo did not directly reveal his intentions to his followers, nor did +he take Concha into his confidence. He had not even spoken another word +to her, but a glance had passed between them, and Concha was satisfied. +It had told her much--that he loved her, that his heart held her to be +the best-beloved thing the sun shone on--that there were dangers and +difficulties before them, but that whatever happened neither would look +back nor take their hands from the plough. Yes, oh too wise sceptic, it +was indeed a comprehensive glance, yet it passed as swiftly as when in a +placid lake a swallow dips his wing in full flight and is off again with +the drops pearling from his feathers. + +"I wish you to follow me, gentlemen," he said slowly. "Bring your arms. +If her Majesty the Queen-Regent of Spain will not see us, perhaps we may +fare better with the Queen's Consort! I for one intend that we shall!" + +Without offering any further explanation, Rollo turned and marched +steadily but not hastily to the chamber door of Senor Munoz, Duke of +Rianzares. The liveried servant who was approaching with a jug of hot +water (the younger of La Giralda's charges on the previous night), +called out to them that they could not at that moment see his +Excellency. He was, it appeared, in the act of dressing. With the coming +of the morning light these two gentlemen of the bed-chamber had resumed +the entire etiquette of the Spanish court, or at least such modified +forms of it as, a little disarranged by altitude and the portent of an +informal and (as yet) unauthorised Prince Consort, prevailed at La +Granja. + +But Rollo would have nothing of all this. Enough time had been wasted. +He merely moved his head a hair's-breadth to the side, and the young man +in gold lace, a most deserving _valet-de-chambre_, found himself looking +down at the curved edge of El Sarria's sword-bayonet, whose point +touched his Adam's apple in a suggestive manner. He promptly dropped the +silver pipkin, whereupon the shaving-water of the Duke slowly decanted +itself over the _parqueterie_ floor. A portion scalded the valet's +finely shaped leg, yet he dared not complain, being in mortal fear of +the sword-bayonet. But in spite of the danger, his mind ran on the +question whether the skin would accompany the hose when he had an +opportunity to remove the latter in order to examine his injuries. + +Rollo knocked on the Duke's door with loud confident knuckles, not at +all as the gentleman with the shaving-water would have performed that +feat. + +Whereupon, inclining his ear, he heard hasty footsteps crossing the +floor, and, suspecting that if he stood on any sort of ceremony he might +find the door bolted and barred in his face, Rollo turned the handle and +quietly intruded a good half of a bountifully designed military +riding-boot within the apartment of the Duke. + +So correctly had he judged the occupant's intentions that an iron bolt +was actually pushed before Don Fernando discovered that his door would +not close, owing to an unwonted obstruction. + +"Your Excellency," cried Rollo, in a stern voice, "we desire to speak +with you on a question which concerns the lives of all within this +castle. Being unable to obtain an interview with her Majesty the +Queen-Regent, we make bold to request you to convey our wishes and--our +intentions to her!" + +"I am dressing--I cannot see you, not at present!" cried a voice from +within. + +"But, Senor, see you we must and shall," said Rollo, firmly; "in half a +minute we shall enter your apartment, so that you have due notice of our +intention." + +For this Rollo of ours had an etiquette of his own applicable even to +circumstances so unique as obtained at the Castle of La Granja--which, +had the occurrences we describe not been the severest history, might +justly have been called the chiefest of all "Chateaux en Espagne." + +Watch in hand Rollo stood, absorbed in the passage of the thirty seconds +of which he had given notice, and had not the Sergeant suddenly dashed +the chamber door open, the young Scot's foot would certainly have been +crushed to a jelly. For by this act the excellent Duke of Rianzares was +disclosed in the very act of dropping a ponderous marble bust of his +wife's grandfather upon the young man's toes. + +After that, of course, there was no more ceremony with Senor Munoz. He +was immediately relieved of his weapons, ordered to the farther side of +the room away from all possible avenues of escape, and further guarded +by the Sergeant, who bent upon him a stern and threatening brow. + +Then Rollo began to develop his intentions in a loud clear voice. For +if, as he suspected, Maria Cristina chanced to be within earshot, it +might save an explanation in duplicate if she should hear at first hand +what he was now about to communicate to her consort. + +On either side of the young man were his two aides, the Sergeant and +Ramon Garcia, the first gaunt, tough, and athletic, of any age between +thirty and sixty, courage and invincible determination written plainly +on his brow, and in his eyes when as now he was angered, the Angel of +Death himself standing like a threat. On the other side stood Don Ramon +Garcia, gigantic in stature, deep-chested and solemn, driven by fate to +actions of blood, but all the same with the innocent heart of a little +child within his breast. + +"Senor Munoz," said Rollo, speaking sharp and sudden, "let me introduce +these gentlemen to your notice. They are two of the most famous men in +all Spain and worthy of your acquaintance. This on my left is Senor Don +Jose Maria, late of the town of Ronda, and this on my right is Don Ramon +Garcia, better known as El Sarria of Aragon!" + +For the first time the colour slowly forsook the handsome but somewhat +florid countenance of the Duke of Rianzares. He was, as his valet had +truly said, engaged at his toilet, and it is certainly difficult to look +impressive in a flowered dressing-gown. Being Spaniards and therefore +gentlemen, El Sarria and the Sergeant bowed slightly at Rollo's +introduction, and stood waiting. Rollo, noways loth, continued his +speech. + +"Your Excellency is now aware of the names of two of those whom you may +thank for your safety. I myself, to whom the Queen-Regent owes the +recovery of her daughter, am a Scottish gentleman of good birth. My +companions below are severally the Count de Saint Pierre, a French +nobleman of ancient family, and Don Juan Mortimer, an English merchant +of unchallenged probity. + +"Here therefore are five men who have defended the Queen-Regent with +their lives, and who now judge it to be necessary for her and the +Princess that they should put themselves immediately under our +protection and leave this place of instant and terrible danger!" + +"The Queen will not be dictated to by any combination of men +whatsoever," the Duke answered; "she has resolved to remain at La +Granja, and therefore nothing can move her!" + +Rollo bowed gracefully, but there was a dangerous glitter in his eye +which might have warned his opponent. + +"Your Excellency," he went on, with great calmness, "we look confidently +for your voice and interest in this matter. You will have the goodness +to introduce us into the presence of the Queen-Regent. You are at +liberty to announce our intentions and prepare her Majesty for a visit!" + +A quick light flashed over the indifferent and dogged countenance of +Senor Munoz. The hope of escape was written there as plainly as if +printed in Roman characters across his brow. But for this also Rollo had +made provision. + +"Guard that inner door," he cried to El Sarria; and the giant moved +swiftly to his post, motioning away the gentleman-in-waiting as one +might displace a dog from a cushion. Then Rollo stepped briskly into the +corridor, set his hand to his mouth and called a single word aloud. + +"_Concha!_" + +And the girl stood before him almost ere his voice had ceased to echo +along the corridors. Silent she waited his pleasure. For this time it +was not Rollo, upon whose love for her the new sun had risen, who called +her, but Colonel Rollo Blair, the chief of the expedition of which she +was no insignificant part. + +"You are armed?" he queried, as she followed him within the door and +her quick eyes took in the scene. + +The girl nodded a little resentfully. Surely it was a superfluous +question. An Andalucian maiden, whose lover's life is in danger every +hour, always goes armed. But of course it was Rollo's duty as an officer +to make certain. All the same he might have known. _She_ would. + +"Then," said Rollo, firmly, "you will accompany this gentleman to the +apartments of the Queen-Regent. You will permit him ten minutes' private +conversation with her Majesty in your presence. You will then accompany +him back. During his absence he is not to lay his hand upon any weapon, +have any personal contact with the Queen, or open any drawer, cabinet, +or case-of-arms. Also he is to return with you as soon as you inform him +that the time allotted is at an end. Here is my watch!" + +"And if the _Senor_ should refuse to comply with any of these demands?" +suggested Concha. + +"He will not refuse," answered Rollo; "but if the thing should happen, +why, you have full discretion! You understand?" + +Concha nodded, and her lips, ordinarily so sweet and yielding, grew firm +with determination. She understood. So also did Munoz. + +"You do not need to say more," she said clearly; "I am an Andalucian." + +Rollo turned to Munoz. Not being a Spaniard, he thought it necessary to +make the matter yet more clear. + +"You have heard," he said; "treachery will do you no good, and may +indeed suddenly deprive her reigning Majesty of the inestimable +consolations of your companionship. Be good enough to accompany this +young lady, sir. In ten minutes I shall expect your return with a +favourable answer. Permit them to pass, Don Ramon!" + +But the consort of the Queen-Regent Maria Cristina fingered his chin +uncertainly without moving, and Rollo's brow darkened ominously, while +the Sergeant began to look hopeful. Neither were in the mood to put up +calmly with any further refusal or hesitation. + +"I am quite willing--nay, even anxious to oblige you," said Munoz; "I +would gladly undertake the commission, but--but----!" + +He stopped as if searching for words, still, however, rubbing his chin. + +"But what?" thundered Rollo. The blood of all the Blairs was rising. + +"Well, to put the matter plainly, I have never appeared before her +Majesty in this condition before. You would not have me go as I am?" + +"In what condition?" cried the Scot in great astonishment. + +"Unshaven, and with my hair undressed. That idiot there"--pointing to +the trembling valet--"spilt the water just when you came in." + +"Nay," laughed Rollo, much relieved that there was to be no shedding of +blood, "indeed you must forgive him for that. El Sarria there is +entirely to blame. And on this occasion I trust that her Most Catholic +Majesty will pardon the informality of your appearance. You can point +out to her that you come, not on your own part, but as the ambassador of +others who were somewhat over-earnest in persuading you. I am sure that +my two friends here will share with me the very serious responsibility +of your unshaven chin." + +"That I shall not fail to represent to her Majesty," said the Duke, +bowing imperturbably. + +And without any further objections he went out, followed by Concha. And +that young lady with all the dignity of responsibility swelling in pride +under the crossed folds of her _rebozo_, did not vouchsafe even so much +as one glance to Rollo, but passed her commanding officer with eyes like +those of a rear-rank man on parade, fixed immovably on the broad back of +Senor Munoz. As soon as they were alone, however, she moved up +alongside, fingering her pistol-butt significantly. For this little +Concha was quite resolved to use her discretion to the uttermost should +any treachery be intended--aye, or even the appearance of it. + +During their absence the remaining quartette in the chamber of Don +Fernando Munoz held their ground without a word of mutual converse. +Rollo stared out of the window and listened eagerly to the slamming of +doors and the far-away murmur of voices in the direction of the royal +apartments. Ramon, like the natural fine gentleman he was, fixed his +eyes on the Persian rugs which strewed the polished floor and awaited +orders. But Sergeant Cardono, unconditioned by any such fine scruples, +regarded with undisguised contempt mingled with pity the gold and ivory +fittings of the ducal dressing-table, the plated lamps, the gilt +candelabra, the Dresden china shepherdesses holding out ash-trays, and +all the varied elegancies which the affection and gratitude of a Queen +had provided for the tobacco-seller of Torrejon de Ardoz, who, like our +own Shakespeare, was said to have held many a steed outside his father's +door for a meagre dole of pence. For thus by merit, diverse in kind it +is true, do the really great soar above the insignificance of their +birth. + +Thus in a straining silence, acute almost to breaking point, they +waited. Yet something of the epic's argument came to them even at that +distance--a shrill woman's voice vehemently debating, then a bass mutter +of masculine argument, a quick stamp, distinctly feminine, upon the +floor, then the slamming of a door, and on the back of that the sound of +returning footsteps. + +"The Queen refuses to receive you, I am sorry to inform you, gentlemen," +said the Duke. "That I did my best this lady will bear me witness. But +having had no opportunity of private conference with her Majesty, I was +unable (as indeed I anticipated) to effect anything." + +Rollo turned to Concha without wasting words on his former ambassador. + +"Return to the Queen's chamber," he said, "and inform her Majesty that +we will wait her pleasure here for other ten minutes. And if by the end +of that time we are not honoured with a visit from her Majesty, we shall +(most reluctantly and with all respect) be compelled to shoot Senor +Fernando Munoz, whose person we hold as a hostage for her Majesty's +complaisance in the affair we have undertaken. We can waste no more +time." + +Concha's lips became more rigid than ever. They looked as if they never +would, should, or could be kissed. Juno herself, passing sentence upon +the object of great Jove's latest admiration, could not have appeared +more inflexibly stern. + +But she only saluted, turned on her heel like a drill-sergeant, and +marched out by the side door. + +In these trying circumstances the Duke of Rianzares displayed an +unexpected and wholly admirable calm. He leaned against the mantelpiece, +glanced once at the ormolu timepiece with the address of a Paris maker +below the winding-holes, and fell again to fingering his unshaven chin. +He then turned quickly toward the trembling valet, who regarded him with +eyes which seemed to apologise for such unprecedented circumstances. + +"There would have been time to shave me even yet," he said, "only that +you were fool enough to spill the shaving-water." + +Then, as if relinquishing hope, he sighed again and fell listlessly to +regarding himself in the mirror. He was a handsome man, even with an +unshaven chin that showed over a dressing-gown with yellow flowers on a +purple ground. Also the pulses of the tobacco-seller's son of the Ardoz +_estanco_ must have been urged by a pretty equal-beating heart, to +enable him to take matters so calmly. + +The Sergeant muttered to himself once or twice as if making mental note +of an important fact which he desired to remember. + +"All dandies are not cowards," was what he was saying. + + + + +CHAPTER XLI + +ROLLO USES A LITTLE PERSUASION + + +Five, six, seven, eight of the ten slow minutes passed away, and beyond +a glance at the clock and a more absorbing interest in the furze on his +chin, Senor Munoz had not moved. The seconds hand upon the clock on the +mantelshelf was crawling round its miniature dial for the ninth time +with vast apparent deliberation, when a noise was heard from the +direction of the Queen's apartments. + +There was a rapid gabble of tongues, a scurry of footsteps, the hissing +rustle of stiff silken skirts along narrow passages, and a voice which +exclaimed more and more shrilly, "The murderers! The cowards! Surely +they will never dare! Have they forgotten that I am a Queen?" + +And with these words Maria Cristina of Naples burst like a whirlwind +into the room. Her long black hair streamed down her back. Her little +daughter followed, a comb still in the hand with which she had been +struggling to take the place of the lost Dona Susana, who, as before +related, had gone to visit her relations. + +After these two Concha followed, in appearance calm and placid as the +windless Mediterranean on a day of winter. + +Upon his mistress's entrance the Duke threw himself upon one knee. The +rest of the company bowed with grace or awkwardness according to their +several abilities, but the Queen-Regent did not heed them. She flew +instantly to her husband and raised him in her arms. + +"Fernando," she cried, "what is this I hear? Did they threaten to kill +you if I would not grant them an interview? Well, here I am. Let them +slay me instead. What have you to say to me, gentlemen and cowards? What +I have to say to you is that I hope you may not live to repent having +used such compulsion with a woman and a Queen." + +Again Rollo bowed very low, and was about to speak when the Queen +interrupted. + +"And as for this hussy," she cried, turning upon Concha, "if I had my +way she should be indicted for witchcraft and burnt alive at the stake +as in the good times of the Holy Office. Yet you, Fernando, for whom I +daily risk my life, you defended her--yes, defended her to my very +face!" + +"Beloved and most honoured," said the Duke, soothingly, "I did but +suggest that it would be better to convert the girl--to make a good +Christian of her----" + +"Yes--yes," cried the Queen, stamping her foot, "but did you not add +that in that case you would like to be her Father-Confessor?" + +"Certainly I did not, most gracious one," answered her husband, +soothingly, "you wholly mistook my meaning. All that I said was +no more than that many might be anxious to obtain the office of +Father-Confessor, being, as it were, eager to take the credit for the +restoration of so notable a penitent." + +But Rollo had small patience with the bickerings of royal lovers at such +a time. + +"I must crave your Majesty's strict and instant attention," he said, +suddenly dropping all ceremony. "I will only detain you for a moment if, +as I anticipate, I receive your consent to what I have the honour of +proposing to you." + +At once the easily jealous woman froze into a Queen and fronted the +young man with a haughty stare. + +"Your Majesty," he began, "I do not dwell upon our services of the past +night. They are known to you. Had it not been for my friends it is +probable that no one of your party would at this moment have been left +alive. Now the day is passing and you are no safer than you were last +night. It is necessary, therefore, that you put yourselves unreservedly +under the escort and protection of myself and my friends. We must leave +La Granja at once." + +"Never!" cried Maria Cristina, fiercely. "Am I, the Queen-Regent of +Spain, to be thus badgered and commandeered? I have never suffered it +since I left my father's house in Naples. A boy and a foreigner shall +not be the first. My royal guards will assuredly be here in an hour at +the latest. The roads will be cleared, and as for you, you shall be safe +in prison cells, where, for your insolences, you ought to be lying at +this moment." + +"Then," said Rollo, gravely, "I deeply regret that I am obliged to use +the only means that are open to me to fulfil my orders, and to induce +your Highness to place yourself in safety." + +"And pray," cried Maria Cristina, indignantly, "from whom can you have +orders to place a Queen of Spain in restraint?" + +In a moment Rollo realised that it was impossible for him to reveal his +position as an officer of the Carlist armies, but a fortunate +remembrance of some words dropped by the Abbot of Montblanch instantly +gave him his cue. + +"I act," he said calmly, "under the immediate direction of the Holy +Father himself, at whose feet, in the Vatican of Rome, you shall one day +kneel to ask pardon of your sins." + +This unexpected reply seemed to agitate the Queen-Regent, who, though +forced to create herself a party out of the men of liberal opinions in +her realm, was at heart, like all the Bourbons, a convinced and even +bigoted religionist. But Munoz, who had hitherto been silent, stooped +and whispered something in her ear. + +"How am I to be convinced of that?" she cried, turning on him fiercely. +"I will not believe it even from you!" + +"I regret," said Rollo, "that your Highness must be compelled to believe +it. Pray do me the honour of following my argument. The Holy Father +judges it necessary for the peace of this realm, and your own soul's +profit, that you should be placed in a situation where you may be able +to act more in accordance with what he knows to be your secret desires +for the welfare of the Church of which he is God's vicegerent on earth." + +Rollo was glad to reflect that, in uttering these words, he was only +repeating the sonorous phrases of Don Baltazar Varela when the Abbot +delivered him his commission in his own chamber at Montblanch. He added +of his own accord a little prayer to the recording angel that he might +be guilty of no blasphemy in thus acting at second hand as an emissary +of Holy Church. After all, it was entirely the Abbot's affair, and Rollo +was anxious that it should so be understood above. + +But the lady chiefly concerned continued obdurate. She would not budge +an inch. She professed an absolute certainty that her guard would appear +in a few hours, and with them her Father-Confessor, who would inform her +how to reply to any genuine and authentic message from his Holiness +Gregory the Sixteenth. Further than that she could not be moved. + +"In that case," said the young man, "I will not conceal it from your +Highness that considerable discretion has been granted to me. Your +company and that of your daughter we must have upon our journey. It is +our intention to place you and her in a place of safety----" + +"To steal us--to kidnap us, you mean!" cried the Queen, with the utmost +indignation. + +"Your Majesty," continued Rollo, "I am not disputing about words. Our +actions of last night will best explain our intentions of this morning. +But with respect to this gentleman"--he turned to Senor Munoz as he +spoke--"I have no directions either to permit or compel him to accompany +us. Yet since we must act with the greatest speed and secrecy, it is +clearly impossible to leave him behind. I am compelled, therefore, to +put an alternative before you, which, having had an opportunity to +remark the Senor's courage, I am pained to declare. If your Majesty will +consent to accompany us at once and without parley, Don Fernando may do +so also. But if not, since we have not force sufficient to deal with +additional prisoners on such a journey, it will be my unhappy duty to +order the gentleman's instant execution." + +A shriek from the Queen punctuated the close of this speech--one of the +longest that Rollo had ever made. But the Queen, hardly yet believing +in the reality of their threats, still held out. As for Munoz, he said +no word until Rollo abruptly ordered him to kneel and prepare for death. + +"In that case," said the ex-guardsman, "permit me to put on a decent +coat. A man ought not to die in a dressing-gown. It is not soldierly!" + +Rollo bade the valet bring his master what he wanted, and presently the +Duke of Rianzares, in his best uniform coat, found himself in a position +to die with credit and self-respect. + +But so unexpected was the nerve and resolution of the Queen that it was +only when the Duke had been bidden kneel down between the halves of a +French window which opened out upon a balcony that Cristina, flinging +dignity finally to the winds, fell upon his neck and cried to her +captors, "Take me where you wish. Do with me what you will. Only +preserve to me my beloved Fernando." + +Rollo turned away with a sudden easing of his heart and no little +admiration. He was glad that the strain was over, and besides, he would +rather have led the forlornest of hopes than have played twice upon a +woman's fears for her lover. But at his back he heard the Sergeant +whisper across to El Sarria, who, entirely unmoved, was uncocking his +piece with much deliberation, "'Tis a deal more than she would have done +for her _first_ well-beloved Fernando!" + + * * * * * + +In less than an hour the whole party was well on its way. The +Queen-Regent was mounted on a white mule, which had been brought in from +the hill pastures above El Mar. Behind came Piebald Pedro's donkey, with +a basket-chair strapped upon its back for the little Princess, who was +in high glee, holding Concha's hand and singing for gladness to be done +with La Granja. The Sergeant and El Sarria walked one on either side of +Senor Munoz, who, by suggestion of Rollo, had assumed a coat less +decorative than that in which he had proposed to make his exit from +life. + +In addition to the Queen's mule and the donkey, the Sergeant led a horse +which was presently to be mounted by Munoz, so soon, that is, as the +rest of the party should regain the steeds they had left behind at the +deserted farmhouse on the hill. But till that time it was judged most +safe that the Queen's consort should walk between Ramon Garcia and the +Sergeant. Rollo, with a wandering eye towards Concha and the Queen, +walked and talked with Etienne and John Mortimer, whom of late the joint +compulsions of love and war had compelled him somewhat to neglect. + +But these good fellows bore no malice, though certainly Etienne grew a +little red when Rollo, with the frankness that distinguished his every +word and action, launched into enthusiastic praise of the nobility, +courage, fidelity, and every other virtue characteristic of La Senorita +Concha. + +"In addition to which she is very pretty!" added Etienne, significantly. + +Rollo stopped with the semi-indignant air of a horse pulled up short in +full career. But in a moment he had recovered himself. + +"Yes," he said doggedly, "she _is_ very pretty!" + +"Not that you are a man to care for beauty. You never were!" persisted +Etienne, with a side look at Mortimer. "You have always said so +yourself, you know!" + +"No! I never did care!" Rollo agreed a little hastily. "But yonder is +the farmhouse. I wonder if we shall find our horses as we left them." + +Here Etienne laughed sardonically for no reason at all. + +"I am in hopes that they will be fed and refreshed," continued Rollo, +imperturbably; "we must let them have a feed of corn, too, before they +start." + +La Giralda, who had been leading the Queen's white mule, at that moment +gave up her post to Concha, and fell back in order to whisper something +to the Sergeant. + +"Ah," said he aloud, as soon as he had listened to her, "that is well +thought on. La Giralda and I have a little business of our own to attend +to which may occupy us a few minutes. With your leave, Colonel, we will +go on ahead and arrange matters for the Queen's reception. From what La +Giralda tells me, it may be as well to avoid entering the house." + +So when the Queen-Regent, with Concha in attendance and the little +Isabel riding demurely alongside on her diminutive donkey, delighting in +the unexpected excursion, arrived at the farm, they found that a large +barn and granary, cool, airy, and with a roof of stone arched like the +vaults of a fortress, had been prepared for them. The horses of the +party had been fed and watered. Cloaks had been unstrapped and laid on +piles of straw for the ladies to rest upon--that is, for her Majesty the +Queen Maria Cristina--Concha being one of the comity, and little Isabel +dancing everywhere after her as her inseparable tyrant and slave. For +with the easy and fortunate memory of childhood, Isabel had ceased even +to mention the nurse who had been with her ever since her birth, or at +most remembered her only when she happened to be tired or hurt or +sleepy. Indeed, she learned in a wondrously short space to run to Concha +with all her troubles. So constant was the companionship of these two +that it was with the utmost difficulty, and after several failures, that +Rollo managed to exchange even a word with his sweetheart. + +"You have been very brave," he whispered. "I should have failed but for +you!" + +Concha blushed hot with swift pleasure, but on this occasion her usual +readiness of speech seemed to have deserted her, and she stood silent +like a tongue-tied maid, greedy for the first time in her life of her +own praise. + +Before either could speak again, the Sergeant was back to report that La +Giralda and he had dinner ready for the party. + +"You must not expect much," he said; "there is little available for the +pot which may with safety be cooked." + +But indeed in such weather there was need for nothing better than the +_arroz con pollo_--the chicken with rice, together with the abundant +_gazpacho_, for the first of which he had found the materials in the +store-chamber and barn-yard of the deserted farmhouse. + +"Also there is an abundance of vegetables in the garden--when you get +them separated from the weeds, that is," he explained; "the clear air of +these heights has enabled them to keep their flavour to perfection." + +He did not add that he had also seen in that same garden a mound of +newly-dug earth, under which lay, beside her little daughter, a mother +as loving and more faithful than that Queen-Mother for whose sake they +were risking their lives. + +The Sergeant's hurriedly prepared lunch was a prodigious success. + +The great folk partook as heartily as any, and (perhaps owing to their +extreme youth) the _pollos_ tasted much more tender than could have been +expected, considering the fact that the Sergeant had found them +industriously pecking and scratching in the dust of the farmyard upon +his arrival, and that, while he dug the grave, he had sent La Giralda to +drive them into a wood-shed, where presently they were captured _en +masse_. + +Rollo ate but little, for he was intensely excited. He had succeeded +beyond expectation so far, and now he was beginning to see his way past +all entanglements to the successful accomplishment of his mission. His +plan was to proceed by unfrequented paths, such as were, however, +perfectly familiar to his adjutant Sergeant Cardono, along the northern +slopes of the Guadarrama till he should be able to look out across the +fertile plain of the Duero towards the mural front of the Sierra de +Moncayo. + +Thence by forced marches across the valley, undertaken at night, he +might hope in two stages at most to put his charges under the care of +General Elio, the immediate representative of Don Carlos, who had +established his headquarters there. Small wonder that Rollo grew +excited. The worst seemed over--the myriad adventures, the perilous +passes, the thousand enemies. Now the plains lay before him, and--Concha +loved him. + +If only this weight of responsibility were once off his mind--ah, then! + +Poor Rollo! And indeed poor humankind in general! How often the wind +falls to a breeze, heat-tempering, grateful, which comes in fits and +starts, not severe enough to chill, yet long enough to cool the body +weary of the summer heats, with a sense of grateful relief. + +And it is precisely in the teeth of such a gentle-breathing, +cheek-fanning earth-wind that the thunderstorm comes riding up overhead, +its flanks black and ragged with rain and fierce spurts of hail, and in +the midst of all the white desolating lightnings zigzagging to the +ground. + + + + +CHAPTER XLII + +A SNARE NOT SPREAD IN VAIN + + +The town of Aranda lay to the left, perched high above them on the +slopes of the Sierra de Moncayo. Rollo looked past the crumbling grey +turrets of the little fortalice and over the juniper-and-thyme covered +foot-hills to the red peaks of the Sierra. From the point at which they +stood Moncayo fronted them like a lion surprised at the mouth of his +lair, that raises his head haughtily to view the rash trespassers on his +domain. + +The lower slopes of the mountain were tawny-yellow, like the lion's +fell, but from the line at which the scant mane of rock-plants ceased, +Moncayo shone red as blood in the level rays of the setting sun. + +"There, there!" thought Rollo, "I have it almost in hand now. Beyond +that flank lie Vera and the headquarters of General Elio!" + +They were riding easily, debouching slowly and in single file out of one +of the many defiles with which the country was cut up. The Sergeant and +Rollo were leading, when, as they issued out upon the opener country, +suddenly they heard themselves called upon peremptorily to halt, at the +peril of their lives. + +"Whom have we here? Ah, our highly certificated Englishman! And in his +company--whom?" + +The speaker was a dark-haired man of active figure and low stature, +whose eyes twinkled in his head. He was dressed in the full uniform of a +Carlist general. About him rode a brilliant staff, and from behind every +rock and out of every deep gully-cleft protruded the muzzle of a rifle, +with just one black eye peering along it from under the white Basque +_boina_ or the red one of Navarre. + +And for the third time Rollo Blair, out upon his adventures, had come +face to face with General Don Ramon Cabrera of Tortosa. + +Yet it was with glad relief in his heart that Rollo instantly rode up to +Cabrera, and having saluted, thus began his report, "I have the honour, +General, to report that I have been fortunate enough to induce her +Majesty the Queen-Regent of Spain and her daughter the young Queen +Isabel to place themselves under my protection. I am proceeding with +them to the headquarters of General Elio according to my instructions; +and if it be at all convenient, I should be glad of an additional +escort, that I may be able to bring my charges safely within the lines +of Vera!" + +The brow of General Cabrera had been darkening during this speech, and +at the close he burst out with an oath. + +"I know no such person as the Queen-Regent of Spain. I have heard of a +certain light-o'-love calling herself Maria Cristina, widow of the late +King Fernando the Seventh. And if this be indeed the lady and her brat, +we of the true opinion owe you, Don Rollo, a debt of gratitude which +shall not be easily repaid. For she and hers have troubled the peace of +this country much and long. Of which now, by San Nicolas, there shall be +a quick end!" + +As he spoke he ran his eyes along the line to where Munoz rode behind +his mistress. + +"And the tall gentleman with the polished whiskers? Who may he be?" he +cried, a yet more venomous fire glittering in his eyes. + +"That, General Cabrera," said Rollo, quietly, "is his Excellency the +Duke of Rianzares." + +"At last, _estanco_-keeper!" cried Cabrera, riding forward as if to +strike Munoz on the face. "I, Ramon Cabrera of Tortosa, have waited a +long time for this pleasure." + +Munoz did not answer in words, but, as before, preserved his +imperturbable demeanour. His half contemptuous dignity of bearing, which +had irritated even Rollo, seemed to have the power of exciting Cabrera +to the point of fury. + +"Colonel," he cried, "I relieve you of your charge. You have done well. +I am the equal in rank of General Elio, and there is no need that you +should convoy this party to his camp. I will assume the full +charge--yes, and responsibility. By the Holy St. Vincent, I promised +them twenty for one when they slew my mother in the Square of the +Barbican. But I knew not from how evil a vine-stock I should gather my +second vintage. A poor commandant's wife from a petty Valentian fort was +the best I could do for them at the time. But now--the mother of Ramon +Cabrera shall be atoned for in such a fashion as shall make the world +sit dumb!" + +While Cabrera was speaking Rollo grew slowly chill, and then ice-cold +with horror. + +"Sir," he said, his voice suddenly hoarse and broken, "surely you do not +realise what you are saying. These ladies are under my protection. They +have committed themselves to my care under the most sacred and absolute +pledges that their lives shall be respected. The same is the case with +regard to Senor Munoz. It is absolutely necessary that I should place +them all under the care of General Elio as the personal representative +of the King!" + +"I have already told you, sir," cried Cabrera, furiously, "that I am of +equal rank with any Elio or other general in the armies of Don Carlos. +Have not I done more than any other? Was it not I who carried my command +to the gates of Madrid? Aye, and had I been left to myself, I should +have succeeded in cutting off that fox Mendizabal. Now, however, I am +absolutely independent, owing authority to no man, save to the King +alone. It is mine to give or to withhold, to punish or to pardon. +Therefore I, General Ramon Cabrera, having sworn publicly to avenge my +mother, when, where, and how I can, solemnly declare that, as a +retaliation, I will shoot these three prisoners to-morrow at sunrise, +even as Nogueras, the representative of this woman who calls herself +Queen-Regent of Spain, shot down my innocent mother for the sole crime +of giving birth to an unworthy son! Take them away! I will hear no +more!" + + * * * * * + +Thus in a moment was Rollo toppled from the highest pinnacle of +happiness, for such to a young man is the hope of immediate success. He +cursed the hour he had entered the bloodthirsty land of Spain. He cursed +his visit to the Abbey of Montblanch, and the day on which he accepted a +commission from men without honour or humanity. He was indeed almost in +case to do himself a hurt, and both Concha and the Sergeant watched him +with anxious solicitude during the remainder of the afternoon as he +wandered disconsolately about the little camp, twirling his moustache +and clanking Killiecrankie at his heels with so fierce an air, that even +Cabrera's officers, no laggards on the field of honour, kept prudently +out of his way. + +The royal party had been disposed in a small house, a mere summer +residence of some of the _bourgeois_ folk of Aranda, and there, by an +unexpected act of grace and at the special supplication of the Sergeant, +La Giralda had been permitted to wait upon them. + +The beauty of Concha was not long in producing its usual effect upon the +impressionable sons of Navarre and Guipuzcoa. But the Sergeant, whose +_prestige_ was unbounded, soon gave them to understand that the girl had +better be left to go her own way, having two such protectors as Rollo +and El Sarria to fight her battles for her. + +To the secret satisfaction of all the Sergeant did not resume his duties +in the camp of Cabrera. The troop to which he belonged had been left +behind to watch the movements of the enemy. For Cabrera had barely +escaped from a strong force under Espartero near the walls of Madrid +itself, by showing the cleanest of heels possible. Cardono, therefore, +still attached himself unreproved to the party of Rollo, which camped a +little apart. A guard of picked men was, however, placed over the +quarters of the royal family. This Cabrera saw to himself, and then +sullenly withdrew into his tent for the night to drink _aguardiente_ by +himself, in gloomy converse with a heart into whose dark secrets at no +time could any man enter. It is, indeed, the most charitable +supposition that at this period of his life Ramon Cabrera's love for a +mother most cruelly murdered had rendered him temporarily insane. + +Deprived of La Giralda, and judging that Rollo was in no mood to be +spoken with, Concha Cabezos took refuge in the society of El Sarria. +That stalwart man of few words, though in the days of her +light-heartedness quite careless of her wiles, and, indeed, unconscious +of them, was in his way strongly attached to her. He loved the girl for +the sake of her devotion to Dolores, as well as because of the secret +preference which all grave and silent men have for the winsome and gay. + +"This Butcher of Tortosa," she said in a low voice to Ramon Garcia, +"will surely never do the thing he threatens. Not even a devil out of +hell could slay in cold blood not the Queen-Regent only, but also the +innocent little maid who never did any man a wrong." + +El Sarria looked keenly about him for possible listeners. Concha and he +sat at some distance above the camp, and El Sarria was idly employed in +breaking off pieces of shaly rock and trying to hit a certain pinnacle +of white quartz which made a prominent target a few yards beneath them. + +"I think he will," said Ramon Garcia, slowly. "Cabrera is a sullen dog +at all times, and the very devil in his cups. Besides, who am I to blame +him--is there not the matter of his mother? Had it been Dolores--well. +For her sake I would have shot half a dozen royal families." + +"The thing will break our Rollo's heart if it cannot be prevented," +sighed Concha, "for he hath taken it in his head that the Queen and her +husband trusted themselves to his word of honour." + +Ramon Garcia shook his head sadly. + +"Ah, 'tis his sacred thing, that honour of his--his image of the Virgin +which he carries about with him," he said. "And, indeed, El Sarria has +little cause to complain, for had it not been for that same honour of +Don Rollo's, Dolores Garcia might at this moment have been in the hands +of Luis Fernandez!" + +"Aye, or dead, more like," said Concha; "she would never have lived in +the clutches of the evil-hearted! I know her better. But, Don Ramon, +what can we, who owe him so much, do for our Don Rollo?" + +"Why--what is there to do?" said Ramon, with a lift of his eyebrows. +"Here in the camp of Cabrera we are watched, followed, suspected. Do you +see that fellow yonder with the smartly set _boina_? He is a miller's +son from near Vitoria in Alava. Well, he hath been set to watch that +none of us leave the camp unattended. I will wager that if you and I +were to wander out fifty yards farther, yonder lad would be after us in +a trice!" + +"Ah!" said Concha, in a brown study. "Yes--he is not at all a +bad-looking boy, and thinks excessively well of himself--like some +others I could mention. Now, El Sarria, can you tell me in which +direction lies Vera, the headquarters of General Elio?" + +"That can I!" said El Sarria, forgetting his caution. And he was about +to turn him about and point it out with his hand, when Concha stopped +him. + +"The miller's son is craning his neck to look," she whispered: "do not +point. Turn about slowly, and the third stone you throw, let it be in +the direction of Vera!" + +El Sarria did as he was bid, and after the third he continued to project +stones Vera-wards, explaining as he did so--"Up yonder reddish cleft the +road goes, a hound's path, a mere goat's slide, but it is the directest +road. There is open ground to the very foot of the ascent. Many is the +time I have ridden thither, God forgive me, on another man's beast! Then +cast him loose and left him to find his way home as best he could. There +are good hiding-places on the Sierra de Moncayo, up among the red +sandstone where the caves are deep and dry, and with mouths so narrow +and secret that they may be held by one man against fifty." + +Concha did not appear to be greatly interested in El Sarria's +reminiscences. Even guileless Ramon could not but notice her wandering +glances. Her eyes, surveying the landscape, lighted continually upon the +handsome young Vitorian in the red _boina_, lifted again sharply, and +sought the ground. + +At this El Sarria sighed, and decided mentally that, with the exception +of his Dolores, no woman was to be trusted. If not at heart a rake, she +was by nature a flirt. And so he was about to leave Concha to her own +devices and seek Rollo, when Concha suddenly spoke. + +"Don Ramon," she said, "shall we walk a few hundred yards up the +mountain away from the camp and see if we are really being watched?" + +El Sarria smiled grimly to himself and rose. The stratagem was really, +he thought, too transparent, and his impression was strengthened when +Concha presently added, "I will not ask you to remain if you would +rather go back. Then we will see whom they are most suspicious of, you +or I. A girl may often steal a horse when a man dares not look over the +wall." + +In the abstract this was incontestable, but El Sarria only smiled the +more grimly. After all Dolores was the only woman upon whose fidelity +one would be justified in wagering the last whiff of a good _cigarillo_. +And as if reminded of a duty El Sarria rolled a beauty as he dragged one +huge foot after another slowly up the hill in the rear of Concha, who, +her love-locks straying on the breeze, her _basquina_ held coquettishly +in one hand, and the prettiest toss of the head for the benefit of any +whom it might concern, went leaping upwards like a young roe. + +All the while Rollo was sitting below quite unconscious of this +treachery. His head was sunk on his hand. Deep melancholy brooded in his +heart. He rocked to and fro as if in pain. Looking down from the +mountain-side Ramon Garcia pitied him. + +"Ah, poor innocent young man," he thought, "doubtless he believes that +the heart of this girl is all his own. But all men are fools--a +butterfly is always a butterfly and an Andaluse an Andaluse to the day +of her death!" + +Then turning his thoughts backward, he remembered the many who had taken +their turn with mandolin and guitar at the _rejas_ of Concha's window +when he and Dolores lived outside the village of Sarria; and he (ah, +thrice fool!) had taken it into his thick head to be jealous. + +Well, after all this was none of his business, he thanked the saints. He +was not responsible for the vagaries of pretty young women. He wondered +vaguely whether he ought to tell Rollo. But after turning the matter +this way and that, he decided against it, remembering the dire +consequences of jealousy in his own case, and concluding with the sage +reflection that there were plenty of mosquitoes in the world already +without beating the bushes for more. + +But with the corner of an eye more accustomed to the sun glinting on +rifle barrels than to the flashing eyes of beauty, El Sarria could make +out that the Vitorian in the red _boina_ was following them, his gun +over his shoulder, trying, not with conspicuous success to assume the +sauntering air of a man who, having nothing better to do, goes for a +stroll in the summer evening. + +"'Tis the first time that ever I saw a soldier off duty take his musket +for a walk!" growled El Sarria, "and why on the Sierra de Moncayo does +the fellow stop to trick himself out as for a _festa_?" + +Concha looked over her shoulder, presumably at El Sarria, though why the +maiden's glances were so sprightly and her lips so provokingly pouted is +a question hard enough to be propounded for the doctorial thesis at +Salamanca. For Ramon Garcia was stolid as an ox of his native Aragon, +and arch glances and pretty gestures were as much wasted on him as if he +chewed the cud. Still he was not even in these matters so dull and +unobservant as he looked, that is, when he had any reason for observing. + +"Here comes that young ass of Alava," he murmured. "Well, he is at least +getting his money's worth. By the saints favourable to my native parish, +the holy Narcissus and Justus, but the _burro_ is tightening his +girths!" + +And El Sarria laughed out suddenly and sardonically. For he could see +the lad pulling his leathern belt a few holes tighter, in order that he +might present his most symmetrical figure to the eyes of this dazzling +Andalucian witch who had dropped so suddenly into the Carlist camp from +the place whence all witches come. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIII + +THE RED BOINAS OF NAVARRE + + +Concha and El Sarria sat down on an outcrop of red sandstone rock, and +gazed back at the prospect. There below them lay the camp and the house +in which was imprisoned the reigning branch of the royal family of +Spain. A couple of sentries paced to and fro in front. A picket had +established itself for the night in the back courtyard. Beyond that +again stood the tent in which the General was at present engaged in +drinking himself from his usual sullen ferocity into unconsciousness. + +A little nearer, and not far from their own camp-fire, at which the +Sergeant was busily preparing the evening meal, sat Rollo, sunk in +misery, revolving a thousand plans and ready for any desperate venture +so soon as night should fall. Concha gave a quick little sigh whenever +her eye fell on him. Perhaps her conscience pricked her--perhaps not! +With the heart of such a woman doth neither stranger nor friend +intermeddle with any profit. + +The sauntering Vitorian halted within speaking distance of the pair. + +"A fine evening," he said affably. "Can you give me a light for my +cigarette?" + +It was on the tip of El Sarria's tongue to inquire whether there were +not plenty of lights for his cigarette back at the camp-fires where he +had rolled it. But that most excellent habit, which Don Ramon had used +from boyhood, of never interfering in the business of another, kept him +silent. + +"Why should I," he thought, "burn my fingers with stirring this young +foreigner's _olla_? Time was when I made a pretty mess enough of my +own!" + +So without speech he blew the end off his _cigarillo_ and handed it +courteously to the Carlist soldier. + +But Concha had no qualms about breaking the silence. The presence of a +duenna was nowise necessary to the opening of her lips, which last had +also sometimes been silenced without the intervention of a chaperon. + +"A fine evening, indeed," she said, smiling down at the youth. "I +presume that you are a foot soldier from the musket you carry. It must +be a fine one from the care you take of it! But as for me, I like +cavaliers best." + +"The piece is as veritable a cross-eyed old shrew as ever threw a bullet +ten yards wide of the mark," cried the Alavan, tossing his musket down +upon the short elastic covering of hill-plants on which he stood, and +taking his cigarette luxuriously from his lips. "Nor am I an +infantry-man, as you suppose. Doubtless the _Senorita_ did not observe +my spurs as I came. Of the best Potosi silver they are made. I am a +horseman of the Estella regiment. Our good Carlos the Fifth (whom God +bring to his own!) is not yet rich enough to provide us with much in the +way of a uniform, but a pair of spurs and a _boina_ are within reach of +every man's purse. Or if he has not the money to buy them, they are to +be had at the first tailor's we may chance to pass!" + +"And very becoming they are!" said Concha, glancing wickedly at the +youth, who sat staring at her and letting his cigarette go out. "'Tis +small wonder you are a conquering corps! I have often heard tell of the +Red Boinas of Navarre!" + +"I think I will betake me down to the camp--I smell supper!" broke in El +Sarria, curtly. He began to think that Mistress Concha had no further +use for him, and, being assured on this point, he set about finding +other business for himself. For, with all his simplicity, Ramon Garcia +was an exceedingly practical man. + +"The air is sweet up here; I prefer it to supper," said Concha. "I will +follow you down in a moment. Perhaps this gentleman desires to keep you +company to the camp and canteen." + +But it soon appeared that the Vitorian was also impressed by the +marvellous sweetness of the mountain air, and equally desirous of +observing the changeful lights and lengthening shadows which the sun of +evening cast, sapphire and indigo, Venetian red and violet-grey, among +the peaks of the Sierra de Moncayo. When two young people are thus +simultaneously stricken with an admiration for scenery, their +conversation is seldom worth repeating. But the Senorita Concha is so +unusual a young lady that in this case an exception must be made. + +Awhile she gazed pensively up at the highest summits of the mountain, +now crimson against a saffron sky, for at eventide Spain flaunts her +national colours in the very heavens. Then she heaved a deep sigh. + +"You are doubtless a fine horseman?" she cried, clasping her hands--"oh, +I adore all horses! I love to see a man ride as a man should!" + +The young man coloured. This was, in truth, the most open joint in his +armour. Above all things he prided himself upon his horsemanship. Concha +had judged as much from his care of his spurs. And then to be mistaken +for an infantry tramper! + +"Ah," he said, "if the _Senorita_ could only see my mare La Perla! I got +her three months ago from the stable of a black-blooded National whose +house we burnt near Zaragoza. She has carried me ever since without a +day's lameness. There is not the like of her in the regiment. Our mounts +are for the most part mere _garrons_ of Cataluna or Aragonese ponies +with legs like the pillars of a cellar, surmounted by barrels as round +as the wine-tuns themselves." + +At this Concha looked still more pensive. Presently she heaved another +sigh and tapped her slender shoe with a chance spray of heath. + +"Oh, I wish----" she began, and then stopped hastily as if ashamed. + +"If it be anything that I can do for you," cried the young man, +enthusiastically, "you shall not have to wish it long!" + +As he spoke he forsook the stone on which he had been sitting for +another nearer to the pretty cross-tied shoes of Andalucian pattern that +showed beneath the skirts of Concha's _basquina_. + +"Ah, how I love horses!" murmured Concha; "doubtless, too, yours is of +my country--of the beautiful sunny Andalucia which I may never see +again!" + +"The mare is indeed believed by all who have knowledge to have +Andalucian blood in her veins," answered the Alavan. + +Concha rose to her feet impulsively. + +"Then," she said, "I must see her. Also I am devoured with eagerness to +see you ride." + +She permitted her eyes to take in the trim figure of the Vitorian, who +had also risen to his feet. + +"Do go and bring her," she murmured; "I will take care of your musket. +You need not be a moment, and--I will wait for you!" + +A little spark kindles a great fire in a Spanish heart, and the young +man, counting the cost, rapidly decided that the risk was worth running. +The horses of the Estella regiment were picketed in a little hollow a +few hundred yards behind the main camp. It was his duty to watch these +two strangers, of whom one had already gone back to the camp, while as +to the other--well, Adrian Zumaya of the province of Alava felt at that +moment that he could cheerfully devote the rest of his life to watching +that other. + +In a moment more he had laid down his musket at Concha's feet, and set +off as fast as he could in the direction of the horses, keeping well out +of sight in the trough of a long roller of foot-hill until he was close +to the cavalry lines, and could smell the honest stable-smell which in +the open air mingled curiously with those of aromatic thyme and resinous +juniper. + +In five minutes he was back, riding his best and sitting like a Centaur. + +Concha's eyes glistened with pleasure, and she ran impulsively forward +to pat the cream-coloured mare, a clean-built, well-gathered, +workmanlike steed. + +Now the young man was very proud of the interest this pretty Andalucian +girl was showing in his equipment and belongings to the exclusion of +those of his comrades. Perhaps he might have been less pleased had he +known that the young lady's interest extended even to the gun he had +left behind him, the charge of which she had already managed to extract +with deft and competent fingers. + +"La Perla she is called," he cried with enthusiasm, "and sure none other +ever better deserved the name! I wish we of the camp possessed a +side-saddle that the _Senorita_ might try her paces. She has the easiest +motion in the world. It is like riding in a great lady's coach with +springs or being carried in a Sedan-chair. But she is of a delicate +mouth. Ah, yes--if the _Senorita_ mounted, it would be necessary to +remember that she must not bear hard upon the reins. Then would La Perla +of a certainty take the bit between her teeth and run like the devil +when Father Mateo is after him with a holy water syringe!" + +Concha smiled as the young fellow dismounted, flinging himself off with +the lithe grace of youth and constant practice. + +"You forget," she said, "I also am of the Province of Flowers. Do not be +afraid. La Perla and I will not fall out. A side-saddle--any saddle! +What needs Concha Cabezos with side-saddle when she hath ridden unbroken +Andalucian jennets wild over the meadows of Mairena, with no better +bridle than their manes of silk and no other saddle than their glossy +hides, brown as toasted bread!" + +As she made this boast Concha patted La Perla's pretty head, who, +recognising a lover of her kind, muzzled an affectionate nose under the +girl's arm. + +"Oh, how I wish I could try you," she cried, "were it but for a +moment--darling among steeds, Pearl of Andalucia!" + +"La Perla is very gentle," suggested the young cavalier of Alava, as he +thought most subtly. "With me at the mare's head the _Senorita_ might +safely enough ride. But for fear of interruption let us first proceed a +little way out of sight of the camp." + +They descended behind the long ridge till the camp was entirely hidden, +and as they did so the heart of the young Vitorian beat fast. They think +plentifully well of themselves, these young men of Alava and Navarre. +And this one felt that he would not disgrace the name of his parent +city. + +"Only for a moment, _Senorita_, permit me--there! The _Senorita_ goes up +like a bird! Now wait till I take her head, and beware of jerking the +rein hastily on account of the delicacy of the little lady's mouth. So, +La Perla,--gently and daintily! Consider, jewel of mares, what a +precious burden is now on thy back!" + +"A moment, only a moment!" cried Concha, her hands apparently busy about +her hair, "this rebozo is no headgear to ride in. What shall I do? A +handkerchief is not large enough. Ah, _Cavallero_, add to your kindness +by lending me your _boina_! I thank you a thousand times! There! Is that +so greatly amiss?" + +And she set the red _boina_ daintily upon her hair, pulling the brim +sideways to shade her eyes from the level evening sun, and smiled down +at the young man who stood at her side. + +"Perfect! Beautiful!" cried the young Vitorian, clasping his hands. "The +sight would set on fire the heart of Don Carlos himself. Ah, take care! +Bear easily on that rein. Stop, La Perla! Stop! I beseech you!" + +And he started running with all his might. Alas, in vain! For the wicked +Concha, the moment that he had stepped back to take in the effect of the +red _boina_, dropped a heel (into which she had privately inserted half +an inch of pin, taken from her own headgear), upon the flank of La +Perla. The mare sprang forward, with nostrils distended and a fierce +jerk of the head. Concha pulled hard as if in terror, and presently was +flying over the plain towards the cleft on the shoulder of Moncayo +beyond which lay the camp of General Elio. + +The young Carlist stood a moment aghast. Then slowly he realised the +situation. Whereupon, crying aloud the national oath, he ground his heel +into the grass, snatched at his gun, kneeled upon one knee, took careful +aim, and clicked down the trigger. No report followed, however, and a +slight inspection satisfied him that he had been tricked, duped, made a +fool of by a slip of a girl, a girl with eyes--yes, and eye-lashes. He +leaped in the air and shouted aloud great words in Basque which have no +direct equivalents in any polite European language, but which were well +enough understood in the stone age. + +However, he wasted no time foolishly. Well he knew that for such +mistakes there was in Cabrera's code neither forgiveness nor, indeed, +any penalty save one. Adrian Zumaya of the province of Alava was young. +He desired much to live, if only that he might meet that girl again at +whose retreating figure he had a moment before pointed an empty gun +barrel. Ah, he would be even with her yet! So, wasting no time on +leave-taking, he bent low behind the ridge, and keeping well in the +shelter of boulder and underbrush, made a bee-line for the cliffs of +Moncayo, where presently, in one of the caves of which El Sarria had +spoken, he counted his cartridges and reloaded his rifle, with little +regret, except when he wished that the incident had happened after, +instead of before supper. + +However, he had in reserve a hand's-breadth of sausage in his pocket, +together with a fragment of most ancient and rock-like cheese. These, +since no better might be, he made the best of, and as the sun sank and +the camp below him grew but a blur in the gloom, he washed them down +with the water which percolated through the roof of the cave and fell in +great drops, as regularly as a pendulum swings, upon the floor below. +These he caught in his palms and drank with much satisfaction. And in +the intervals he execrated the Senorita Concha Cabezos, late of +Andalucia, with polysyllabic vehemence. + +But ere he curled himself up to sleep in the dryest corner of the cave, +he burst into a laugh. + +"In truth," he said, "she deserves La Perla. For a cleverer wench or a +prettier saw I never one!" + +The young man's last act before he laid himself down in his new quarters +had been to take from his coat the circular disc with the letters "C. +V.," the badge of the only Catholic, absolute, and legitimate king. +Then, approaching the precipice as nearly as in the uncertain light he +dared, he cast it from him in the direction of the Carlist lines. + +"Shoot whom you will at sunrise, queen or camp-wench, king or knave," he +muttered, "you shall not have Adrian Zumaya of Vitoria to put a bullet +through!" + +So easily was allegiance laid down or taken up in these civil wars of +Spain. And that night it was noised abroad through all the camp that +young Zumaya of the Estella regiment of cavalry had taken his horse and +gone off with the pretty _Senorita_ whom he had been set to watch. + +Upon which half his comrades envied him, and the other half hoped he +would be captured, saying, "It will be bad for Adrian Zumaya of the +Estella regiment if he comes again within the clutches of our excellent +Don Ramon Cabrera." + +And this was a fact of which the aforesaid Adrian himself was +exceedingly well aware. But the most curious point about the whole +matter is that when he awoke late next morning he found the sun shining +brilliantly into the mouth of the cave. The camp had vanished. There was +a haze of sulphur in the air which bit his nostrils, and lo! beneath +him, on a little plot of coarse green grass and hill-plants, a +cream-coloured horse was quietly feeding. + +"It is my own Perla!" he cried, as, careless of danger, he hastened +down. There was a red object attached to the mare's bridle. He went +round and detached a red _boina_, to which was pinned a scrap of paper. +Upon it was written these words: + + "_I hope you have not missed either of the objects herewith + returned. They served me nobly. I send my best thanks for the + loan.--C. C._" + +"That is very well," said the young man, smiling as he mounted his +horse, "but all the same, had my heels not served me better than my +head, your best thanks, pretty mistress, had come too late. They would +not have kept me from biting the dust at sunrise with half a dozen +bullets in my gizzard, instead of waking here comfortably on an empty +stomach. Well, I suppose I must don the cap of liberty now and be a +_chapelgorri_. It is a pity. 'Tis not one half so becoming as the +_boina_ to one of my complexion." + +Then Adrian Zumaya, late of the Estella regiment of Carlist horse, +meditated a little longer upon the mutability of all earthly affairs. + +"Yet perhaps that is just as well!" he added. "It is ever my hard fate +to lose my head where a woman is concerned." + +For he thought how the last admirer of his red _boina_ had served him. +So with a little sigh of regret he tossed it into the first juniper +bush, and tying a kerchief about his head in the manner of the +Cristinos, rode forth light-heartedly to seek his fate, like a true +soldier of _fortune_. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIV + +"FOR ROLLO'S SAKE" + + +Yet for all this brave adventure Concha was as far as ever from meeting +with General Elio. She had not even reached Vera, where it sits proudly +on the northern slopes of the Moncayo--not though El Sarria had quite +correctly pointed out the path, and though La Perla had served her like +the very pearl and pride of all Andalucian steeds. + +For once more, as so often in this history and in all men's lives, the +cup had slipped on its way to the lip, the expected unexpected had +happened--and Concha found herself in the wrong camp. + +She rode at full speed (as we have seen) out of sight--that is, the +sight of La Perla's owner. And owing to the red _boina_--which Master +Adrian considered to become her so well, she came very near to riding +out of this history. For, through the higher _arroyo_ of Aranda de +Moncayo, which (like a slice cut clean out of a bride's cake) divides +the shoulder of the mountain, she rode directly into the camp of a field +force operating against Cabrera under the personal command of General +Espartero, the future dictator and present Commander-in-Chief of all the +armies of the Queen-Regent. + +At first she was nowise startled, thinking only that Vera and General +Elio were nearer than had been represented. "Well," she thought, "so +much the better!" + +But as she came near she saw the measured tread of sentries to and fro. +She observed the spick-and-span tents, the uniforms and the shining +barrels of the muskets, which in another moment would have arrested her +headlong course. + +Concha at once perceived, even without looking at the standard which +drooped at the tent door of the officer in command, that this could be +no mere headquarters of Carlist _partidas_. + +As women are said by the Wise Man to be of their lover's religion if he +have one, and if he have none, never to miss it; so Concha was quite +ready to be of the politics which were most likely to deliver Rollo from +his present difficulties. Therefore, taking the red _boina_ from her +head, an act which disturbed still more the severe precision of her +locks, she dashed at full speed into the camp, crying, "_Viva la Reina! +Viva Maria Cristina! Viva Isabel Segunda!_" + +Checking her steed before the standard, Concha first saluted the +surprised group. Then giving a hand to the nearest (and best-looking) +officer, she dismounted with a spring light as the falling of a leaf +from a tree. With great solemnity she advanced to the staff from which +the heavy standard hung low, and taking the embroidered fringe between +finger and thumb, touched it with her lips. + +Yet if you had called our little Concha a humbug--which in certain +aspects of her character would have been a perfectly proper +description--she would have replied in the utmost simplicity, and with a +completely disarming smile, "But I only did it for Rollo's sake!" + +Which was true in its way, but (strangely enough) the thought of an +audience always stirred Mistress Concha to do her best--"for Rollo's +sake!" + +"Take me to the General," she said, with a glance round the circle; "I +have ridden from the camp of the enemy to bring him tidings of the +utmost importance. Every moment is precious!" + +"But the General is asleep," a staff-officer objected; "he gave orders +that he was not to be called on any account." + +"Tell him that upon his hearing my news depend the lives of the +Queen-Regent and her daughter, the young Queen. The Cause itself hangs +in the balance!" + +And to hear Concha pronounce the last words was enough to have made a +convert of Don Carlos himself. Who could have supposed that till within +a few hours she had been heart and soul with the enemies of "The Cause"? +Certainly not the smart Madrid officers who stood round, wishing that +they had shaved more recently, and that their "other" uniforms had not +been hanging, camphor-scented on account of the moths, in the +close-shuttered lodgings about the Puerta del Sol. + +The Commander-in-Chief solved the difficulty, however, at that very +moment, by appearing opportunely at the door of his tent. + +General Espartero at this time was a man of forty-five. His services in +South America had touched his hair with grey. In figure he was heavily +built, but, in spite of fever-swamps and battle-wounds, still erect and +soldierly. + +"What news does the _Senorita_ bring?" he asked with a pleasant smile. + +"That I can only tell to yourself, General," the girl answered; "my name +is Concha Cabezos of Seville. My father had the honour to serve with +you in the War of the Independence!" + +"And a good soldier he was, _Senorita_," said Espartero, courteously. "I +remember him well at Salamanca. He fought by my side like a brother!" + +Now since Concha was well aware that her father had not even been +present at that crowning mercy, she smiled, and was comforted to know +that even the great General Baldomero Espartero was an Andalucian--and a +humbug. + +For which the Commander-in-Chief had the less excuse, since _he_ could +not urge that it was done "for Rollo's sake!" + +Concha knew better than to blurt out her news concerning the presence of +the Queen and her daughter so near the camp. That wise little woman had +her terms to make, and for so much was prepared to give so much. + +Therefore from the first word she kept Rollo in the foreground of her +narrative. He it was who, single-handed, had saved the little Queen. He +it was who had defended La Granja against the gipsies. It was, indeed, +somewhat unfortunate that the Queen-Regent should have conceived a +certain prejudice against him, but then (here Concha smiled) the General +knew well what these great ladies were--on mountain-heights one day, in +deep sea-abysses the next. Rollo had compelled the party to leave the +infected district of La Granja for the healthy one of the Sierra de +Moncayo. What else, indeed, could he do? The road to Madrid was in the +hands of roving _partidas_ of the malignant, as his Excellency knew, and +it was only in this direction that there was any chance of safety. That +was Master Rollo's whole offence. + +Most unfortunately, however, when on the very threshold of safety, his +party had been ambushed and taken by Cabrera. But the captor's force was +a small one, and with boldness and caution the whole band of the +malignants, together with their prisoners, might be secured. The Carlist +General had threatened to murder the two Queens and the Duke of +Rianzares at sunrise, as was his butcherly wont. And if Espartero would +deliver the royal party, not only was his own future assured, but the +fortunes of all who had taken any part in the affair. + +The General listened carefully, looking all the while, not at Concha, +but down at the little folding table of iron which held a map of +Northern Spain. He continued to draw figures of eight upon it with his +forefinger till Concha's eyes wearied of watching him, as she nervously +waited his decision. + +"How came you here?" he asked at last. + +"I borrowed a mare and a Carlist _boina_, and rode hither as fast as +horseflesh could carry me. I heard from a friend of the Cause that your +command was in the neighbourhood!" + +"And from whom did you receive that intelligence? I thought the fact was +pretty well concealed? Indeed, we only arrived an hour ago!" + +Concha cast about for a name. The necessary fiction was also, of course, +"for Rollo's sake." A thought struck her. She would serve another +comrade, as it were, _en passant_. + +"From a good friend in the Carlist ranks," she said, "one Sergeant +Cardono!" + +The General looked a little nonplussed, for, like many generals of all +nationalities, he had no slight _penchant_ for omniscience. + +"I never heard of him," he said sharply. "Who may he be?" + +Concha leaned yet closer and laid a small, soft, brown hand gently upon +the General's gold-embroidered cuff. The General, not being so simple as +he looked, drew back his arm a little so that the hand rested a moment +on his wrist ("for Rollo's sake") before it was gently withdrawn. + +"You have heard of Jose Maria of Ronda?" she whispered. + +The General's face lighted up, and as swiftly dulled down. + +"Certainly; what Andalucian has not?" he said. "But Jose Maria is dead. +He was executed at Salamanca!" + +"Ah," said Concha, "that tale was for the consumption of Don Carlos and +his friends! In fact, he is the best spy we Nationals ever had--aye, or +ever will have!" + +"Ah!" said Espartero, lost in thought. There were some matters which +seemed to need clearing up, but on the whole the thing looked probable. + +Espartero had but recently been appointed to the district, and, being an +Andalucian, he was naturally still imperfectly acquainted with much that +had been done by his many incapable predecessors. Now, it is true that +on this occasion our Concha was inventing or rather (for the word is a +hard one to use of so charming a personality) restating as facts certain +hints which had fallen from the lips of La Giralda. But she was also +speaking from a profound knowledge of gipsy nature, which, as in the +case of Ezquerra and La Giralda herself, never attaches itself +permanently or from conviction to any cause, but uses all equally +according to whim, liking, or self-interest. + +Concha, in a whirlwind of excitement, would have liked the General to +attack the Carlist camp immediately, but the more cautious Don Baldomero +only shook his head. + +"That is all very well when a small force is to be rushed at any cost," +he said, "or a strong position taken along lines previously studied by +daylight or opened up by artillery. But when our object is to preserve +the lives of persons so important to the world as the royal family of +Spain, lying at the mercy of ruffians who would not hesitate to murder +every one of them in cold blood--it is best to wait for the attack till +the morning. So I will push forward my forces on all sides, and, if all +goes well, surprise Cabrera at the earliest glimmering of dawn." + +"And my friends who have suffered so much to bring this about?" urged +Concha, anxiously. "What of them?" + +"I promise you, on my honour, that they shall be protected and +rewarded!" said Espartero. + +"And Don Rollo, the brave Scot--even if the Queen continues to dislike +him?" persisted Concha. + +"_Senorita_," smiled the General, "it will be a vastly greater peril to +the young man, I fear, if _you_ like him! He will have so many jealous +rivals on his hand!" + +For Baldomero Espartero also was an Andalucian, and the men of that +province, high and low, never permit themselves to get out of practice +when there is opportunity for a compliment. + +Concha looked the General full in the face with her deep, magnificent +eyes, which were aquamarine, violet, or dark-grey, according to the +light upon them. They were (as she would sometimes own) fallacious eyes, +and upon occasion were wont to express far more than their owner meant +to stand by. But, the latent love power behind them once fixed, these +same eyes could convince the most sceptical of the unalterable nature of +the affection which they professed. So it was in the present instance. +Concha merely looked at the General squarely for a moment, and said, +without flinching, "_I love him!_" + +Espartero stooped and touched her brow lightly with his lips, graciously +and tenderly as a father might upon a solemn occasion. Then he gathered +up her little brown hands in his. They were trembling now, not +rock-steady as when they held the musket on the balcony at La Granja. + +"My daughter," he said, "do not fear for your young Scot. Queens and +consorts and premiers are not the most powerful folk in Spain--not, at +least, so long as Baldomero Espartero, the Andalucian, commands those +good lads out there!" + +Then the future Dictator stepped to his tent door, summoned a staff +officer, and ordered him to put a tent at the disposal of the young +_Senorita_. "And request the commandants of the several columns to come +immediately to me at headquarters, as also the gipsy-spy Ezquerra, our +late headsman of Salamanca!" + +Thus did Mistress Concha, "for Rollo's sake!" + + + + +CHAPTER XLV + +FORLORNEST HOPES + + +But Rollo himself, our firebrand from the slopes of the Fife +Lothians--what of him? The foxes that Samson sent among the cornfields +of Philistia, with the fire at their tails, ran not more swiftly than +his burning thoughts. + +We have followed his career long enough to know that he is not of those +who sit long with his head upon his hands. Even as we look we feel +assured that while he grasps it between his palms, plans, ideas, +possibilities, are passing and repassing within that brain, coming up +for judgment, being set aside for reconsideration, kicked into the limbo +of the finally rejected, jerked sharply back by the collar for another +look over, or brayed in a mortar and mixed into new compounds--all +finally settling down within him into a series of determinations and +alternatives as definite as Euclid and more certain of being carried +into practice than most Acts of Parliament. + +After a long time Rollo raised his head. With supremest indifference he +heard about him the first hubbub of the hue-and-cry after Concha. So +heavy was his heart within him that (to his shame be it writ!) he had +never even missed her as she went up the mountain. Yet she would have +missed him had fifty queens and princesses been in danger of their +lives--aye, and her own honour and that of her race at stake throughout +all their generations. + +Rollo, however, gave no heed, but following his intent, stalked slowly +and steadily to the General's quarters. + +"No one is allowed to enter," called out an officer, whose only mark of +rank was a small golden badge with "C. V." upon it, pinned upon the +collar of his blue shirt. He was sitting cross-legged on the grass, +mending the hood of his cloak with a packing needle. + +"I am Colonel Rollo Blair," said the young man; "I brought hither the +royal party, and I must see General Cabrera!" + +"Young man," said the other, in good English, "I am a countryman of +yours--in so far, that is, as a poor Southern may be, whose ancestors +fought on the wrong side at Bannockburn. But for your own sake I advise +you not to disturb the General at this hour. The occupation cannot be +recommended on the score of health." + +"I thank you, sir," said Rollo, "but I have my duty to do and my risks +to run as well as you. And if you, an Englishman, desire to be art and +part in the shooting of a Queen-Mother and her little royal daughter, +well--I wish you joy of your conscience and your birthright of +Englishman!" + +The other shrugged his shoulders as he answered. + +"I have nothing to do with the matter. Colonel Rollo Blair brings the +party hither, and General Cabrera shoots them. You two can divide the +responsibility between you as you please!" + +"That is just what I mean to do," quoth Rollo, and lifted the flap of +the tent door. + +"General Cabrera," he said, "I would speak to you!" + +An inarticulate growl alone replied, and though there was more of wild +beast wrath than permission to enter in the tone, Rollo put aside the +flap and entered. + +Cabrera was lying on a camp bed, his face a deathly white, from which a +pair of small bloodshot eyes peered out with startling effect. He had +bound a red handkerchief about his black hair, and altogether his +appearance was more that of an engorged tiger roused from the enjoyment +of his kill, than that of a leading General in the service of the most +Christian and Catholic of Pretenders. + +"Your Excellency," said Rollo, "I have come to urge you to reconsider +your intentions with regard to Queen Maria Cristina, widow of the late +King, and the child her daughter, and that for several reasons." + +"Let me hear them--and as briefly as may be, senor," thundered Cabrera. +"I shall then make up my mind whether it would not make for the King's +peace that such a firebrand adventurer as you should not be shot along +with them. And, I can tell you this, that if all the pretty girls in the +peninsula were to come with a whole herd of Papal Bulls, they would not +save you a second time!" + +As he spoke Cabrera reared himself on his elbow and glared at Rollo, who +stood still holding the tent flap in his hand. + +"These are my reasons for this request, General," said Rollo, without +taking the least notice of the threat. "First, such an act would +alienate the sympathy of the whole civilised world from the cause of Don +Carlos." + +"For that I do not give the snap of my finger," cried Cabrera. "I bite +my thumb at the civilised world. What has it done for us or for Don +Carlos either? Next!" + +"Secondly, I appeal to your pity, as a man with the heart of a man +within his breast. This lady hath never done you any wrong. Her daughter +is little more than a babe. Spare them, and if an example must be made, +be satisfied with executing Senor Munoz and myself. I shall right +willingly stand up by his side, if the shedding of my blood will save +the Queen and the little Princess!" + +"And the fair maid Dona Concha?" said Cabrera, mockingly. "What would +she say to such an act of self-sacrifice?" + +"She would rejoice to see me do my duty, General!" said Rollo, with +confidence. + +Cabrera laughed long, loud, and scornfully. + +"Not by a thousand leagues!" he cried, "not if I know a maiden of +Spain--to save another woman! No, no; go out of this tent in safety, Don +Rollo. I like a man who has no fear. And indeed great need have you of +the fear of God, for, when a man dares thus to beard Ramon Cabrera, the +fear of man is not in him. Go out, I say, and give thanks to any god you +heathen Scots may worship. But do not come hither a second time to prate +of mercy and innocence, and 'those who never did me any harm.' See here, +_hombre_----" + +Rollo was about to speak, but Cabrera suddenly rose to his feet, +steadied himself a moment upon the tent pole, and lifted from a stool a +small tin case like a much battered despatch box. Opening it, he +revealed another casket within. He unlocked that, and drawing out a long +grey tress of woman's hair he put it to his lips. + +"The hatred of men has been mine," he cried fiercely, "aye, ever since I +was twelve years old has my knife kept my head. But through all one +woman has loved me--and only one. See that! 'Tis my mother's hair, which +the butcher officers of the woman Cristina sent me in mockery, warm and +clotted from the shambles of the Barbican. Touch it, cold man of the +north! Aye, let it stream through your fingers like a love token, and +say--what would you do to those who sent you that?" + +Again he kissed the long grey tresses passionately, ere he laid them in +Rollo's hand. + +"Your mother's hair, wet with your mother's blood!" he cried, "a pretty +talisman to make a man merciful! '_Never harmed me_,' did I hear you +say? Answer me now! What harm had my poor mother done them? Answer me! +Answer me, I say. You Scots know the law. They say you read the Bible. +'An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth!' So I have heard the +clerics yelp. Is it not true? Well, for each hair you hold in your hand +will I exact a life, queen or consort, maid or babe, what care I? Have +you any more to say? No? Then give it back to me!" + +With these final words he raised his voice to a shout, and threw himself +on the bed in a passion of tears, with the tress of long grey hair +pressed to his face. + +And Rollo went out, having indeed no words wherewith to reply. + + * * * * * + +But though worsted at the General's tent, the young adventurer was by no +means defeated. None knew better how to fall back that he might the +further leap. He had failed utterly with Cabrera, and as he came out +the camp was still humming with the scandal concerning Concha. The +Englishman, having finished repairing the cape of his military cloak, +had been awaiting events within the tent with the greatest interest. In +fact, he had been undisguisedly listening. + +As Rollo came out he congratulated him in a low tone. + +"Every moment since you entered," he said, "I have been expecting to +hear the guard summoned and orders given to have you shot forthwith. +Ramon Cabrera does not wait a second time to assure himself of his +prisoners, I can tell you. You have come off very well. Only take my +advice and don't try it again!" + +"I will not!" said Rollo, whose thoughts were elsewhere. "I am obliged +to you, sir!" + +"By the way," continued the other, with a pertinacity which offended +Rollo in his present state of mind, "there is great news in the camp. +That girl who came with you proved to be a spark among our tinder. These +Spaniards can resist nothing in the shape of a petticoat, you know. And +gad, sir, I don't know why in this case they should. For I will say that +a handsomer girl I never set eyes upon, and demmy, sir, Colonel Frank +Merry has seen some high steppers in his time, I can tell you!" + +"If you refer to the Senorita Concha Cabezos," said Rollo, haughtily, +"she is betrothed in marriage to me, and such remarks are highly +offensive!" + +"No offence--no offence--deuced sorry, I'm sure," said Colonel Frank, +whose name as well as his jolly proportions indicated the utmost +good-humour. "But the fact is, I heard--mind, I only say I _heard_--that +the young lady has gone off with a good-looking young Vitorian trooper +of the Estella regiment, one Adrian Zumaya. He removed his horse from +the lines on pretext of grooming it, and the pair have gone off +together!" + +"If you will favour me with the name of your informant," answered Rollo, +"I shall have the pleasure of running him through the body!" + +The Falstaffian Colonel Don Francisco Merry waved his hand and smiled +blandly. + +"In that case, I fear, you must decimate the entire command," he said; +"the boys down there are all on the shout on account of Master Adrian's +good fortune. But I should advise that ingenious young gentleman to make +the best of his time, for if he comes across his old comrades and their +General, he will get singularly short shrift!" + +"You are at liberty to contradict the story," said Rollo, serenely, +passing, as his nature was, instantly from anger to indifference. +"Listen--the Senorita Concha may have left the camp. Your Vitorian +friend may have left the camp. Only, these two did not go together--note +that well. If any man affirm otherwise, let him come to me. I will +convince him of his error!" + +And having spoken these words, Master Rollo dismissed the matter from +his mind and marched off towards his companions' camp-fire, revolving +his new alternative plan for the saving of the royal party. + +The bivouac of the little group of friends and allies was close beside +the white house where were bestowed the Queen, her husband, and her +little daughter. But sentinels paced vigilantly to and fro before it, +and besides the soldiers in the courtyard, there was a Carlist post upon +a rocky eminence equipped with a field-gun, which commanded the whole +position. So that for the present at least there was no hope of doing +anything to deliver the prisoners. + +Rollo called his council together cautiously. They could talk without +suspicion during supper, which in old friendly Spanish (and Scottish) +fashion was served up in the pot in which it had been cooked. Thus they +clustered round and discussed both plans and pottage as they dipped +their spoons into the steaming _olla_. + +One of the leader's most serious difficulties had been to decide whether +or not he could afford to trust the Sergeant; a little thought, however, +soon assured Rollo that he could not do without Jose Maria, so that +there remained no choice. The Sergeant had openly attached himself to +their party. They could discuss nothing and undertake nothing without +exciting his suspicion. Certainly he had been in Cabrera's command. He +had joined them thence, but--Concha vouched for him, and La Giralda +swore by him. He was a gipsy, and therefore his own interests were his +only politics. + +So to the company about the steaming _olla_-pot on the hillside, as the +twilight deepened, Rollo related the story of his interview with +Cabrera. There was no hope in that quarter. So much was certain. If the +Queen-Regent and her little daughter could not be delivered before the +morning, they would assuredly be murdered. + +"You have a plan, I can see that," said the Sergeant, shrewdly, +polishing upon a piece of wash-leather the silver spoon which he +habitually carried. + +"You will aid me in carrying it out if I have?" Thus with equal +swiftness came Rollo's cross-question. + +A curious smile slowly overspread the gipsy's leathern visage. + +"I think," he said slowly, "that all of us here have most to gain by +keeping the two queens alive. But I confess I would not be sorry to make +the General a present of my gentleman of the dressing-gown!" + +Then Rollo, reassured by the Sergeant's words, went on to develop his +plans. + +"We must obtain sufficient horses to mount the royal party, and one of +us must guide the Queen and the others on their way to General Elio's +camp. For the horses we will look to you, Sergeant." + +"I have done as much under the eyes of an army in broad daylight, let +alone at night and on a mountain-side," replied the man of Ronda, +calmly, lighting another of his eternal cigarettes. + +"Then," continued the young leader, "next we must secure some means of +communicating with the prisoners within the house. La Giralda will +afford us that. The sentries must first be drawn off, then secured, and +with one of us to accompany and guide the party, we must start off the +great folk for the camp of General Elio at Vera, where, at least, their +persons will be safe, and they will be treated honourably as prisoners +of war." + +"And who is to accompany them?" inquired the Sergeant, his face like a +mask. For he hated the thought that Munoz should escape a half-dozen +Carlist bullets. Jose Maria the brigand, El Sarria the outlaw--even +Cabrera the butcher of Tortosa were in the scheme of things, but this +Munoz--pah! + +"This is what I propose," said Rollo. "Let no more than three horses be +brought. So many can easily be hidden in the side gullies of the +barranco. That will allow one for the Queen, one for Munoz, and +whichever of us is chosen to accompany them can carry the little +Princess before him as a guarantee for the good behaviour of the other +two." + +"But which may that be?" persisted the Sergeant, with his usual +determination to have his question answered. + +Rollo made a little sign with his hand as if he would say, "All in good +time, my friend!" + +"Those of us who stay behind," he went on, "will take up such a position +that we may stay the pursuit till the fugitives are out of reach. One +thing is in our favour. You have heard the silly cackle of the camp +about the escape of Concha. If I know her, she is on her way to warn +Elio of the disgrace to the cause intended by Cabrera. In that case, we +may, if we can hold out so long, hope to be rescued by an expeditionary +party. Moreover, Elio will come himself, knowing full well that nothing +but his presence as representative of Don Carlos will have power to move +Cabrera from his purpose--that, or the menace of a superior force." + +"And who is to go with the Queen?" asked the Sergeant, for the third +time. + +Rollo waited a moment, his glance slowly travelling round the group +about the little camp-fire. + +"Let us see first who cannot go--that is the logical method," he +answered, weighing his words with unaccustomed gravity. "For myself +obviously I cannot. The post of danger is here, and I alone am +responsible. Don Juan there and the Count are also barred. Etienne does +not know the way, nor Mortimer the language. La Giralda is an old woman +and weak. Sergeant Cardono and El Sarria--you two alone remain. What say +you? It lies between you." + +"Go or stay--it is the same to me," said the Sergeant. "Only let me +know." + +"I say the same!" echoed El Sarria. + +"Then we will settle it this way," said the young man. "Sergeant, whom +have you in the world depending solely on you for love or daily bread?" + +A gleam, like lightning seaming a black cloud irregularly, for a moment +transfigured the face of the ex-brigand of Ronda. + +"Thank God," he said, "there is now no one!" + +"Then," said Rollo, with a mightily relieved brow, "it is yours to go, +El Sarria! For not one alone, but two, await you--two who depend upon +you for very life." + +Ramon Garcia did not reply, but an expression, grim and sardonic, +overspread the features of the Sergeant. + +"For other reasons also it is perhaps as well," he said; "for had I been +chosen, an accident might have happened to a grandee of Spain!" + + + + +CHAPTER XLVI + +THE SERGENT'S LAST SALUTE + + +It was almost time for starting. The two sentries lay on their faces, +trussed and helpless, with gags in their mouths. El Sarria and Rollo had +dropped down upon them as if from the clouds a few minutes after the +officer had made his two-hourly visitation. The Sergeant was ready with +the horses in the hollow, keeping them quiet with cunning gipsy caresses +and making soft whistling _chalan_ noises in their ears. + +So far all had gone well, and Rollo, standing with his knife in +suggestive proximity to the tied-up sentries, silently congratulated +himself. The dawn was doubtless coming up behind the hills to the east, +but the darkness was still absolute as ever about the camp, save indeed +for the lambent brilliancies of the stars. + +They were now waiting only for the royal party, and the time seemed long +to impatient Rollo. Were all his plans, so carefully laid, to be made +naught because, forsooth, a queen in danger of her life must still keep +up the punctilios of a court and cherish the pettishnesses and caprices +of a spoilt child? Was his reputation to go down to posterity as that of +a man who, being trusted with the lives of a woman and a child, had +brought them straight to the shambles? + +At last--there! They were coming. But why, for God's sake, could not +they make less noise? + +With a motion of his hand which directed El Sarria to keep an eye upon +the gagged sentries, Rollo went forward to receive the Queen and conduct +her to her horse. Munoz, however, came out first, carrying in his arms +the little Princess, who, so soon as she heard Rollo's voice, whispered +her desire to be transferred to him. But Rollo had already offered the +Queen his arm, and whispering her to tread carefully, led the way to the +little hollow where Sergeant Cardono kept the three bridles in his hand, +cursing meanwhile the slow movements of crowned heads and ennobled +_estanco_-keepers in Romany of the deepest and blackest. + +He had cause to curse another peculiarity of monarchs and spoilt +children before many minutes had gone by. Till now the success of the +plot had been complete. There remained indeed only to mount and ride. El +Sarria brought up the rear, assuring himself for the hundredth time that +his weapons were in good order and ready to his hand. No great general, +Ramon Garcia was a matchless legionary. + +But the Queen-Regent would by no means submit to be assisted to her seat +(it was a man's saddle) by Rollo. She called to her husband in a voice +clearly audible all about. + +"Fernando--my love! Come to me--I want you!" + +As Rollo said afterwards--no queen born under the lilies of Bourbon ever +ran a nearer chance of having the rude hand of a commoner set over her +august mouth than did Maria Cristina of Naples on this occasion. + +Nor was the appeal without effect. + +Senor Munoz instantly put the little Princess down upon the ground and +hastened to his wife. What happened _after_ that is not very clear, even +when the subject has been repeatedly and exhaustively threshed out by +the persons most immediately concerned. + +Perhaps the little Princess, deposited thus suddenly upon the ground, +caught instinctively at one of the long tails of the horses which (in +common with those of almost all Spanish horses) almost swept the ground. +Perhaps the animals themselves grew suddenly panic-stricken. At all +events one of the three lashed out suddenly. The Sergeant bent sideways +to snatch Isabel from among their hoofs. In so doing he dropped a rein, +and in another moment one of the steeds went clattering up the dry +_arroyo_, scattering the gravel every way with a wild flourishing of +heels, and making, as the Sergeant growled, "enough noise to arouse +twenty camps." + +For a hundred heart-beats all the party held their breath. Then Rollo +whispered to Senor Munoz to mount and take the little Princess before +him. + +"As for you, you must run for it, Ramon!" he said to El Sarria. "The fat +is in the fire now, and all we can do is to hold them back as long as we +can. Make straight for the gorge towards Vera. You know the way. May God +help you to reach it before they can turn our flank!" + +Then it was that the Sergeant received a definite shock of surprise. +That queens would be foolish, arbitrary, even absolutely idiotic, was no +marvel to him. That they should choose their favourites from +_estanco_-keepers and guardsmen, and elevate them at a day's notice to +grandeeships, dukedoms of Spain, and privileges even higher, did not in +the least astonish him. But that the person so elevated should after +all, in his less corporeal attributes, prove to be a man, was a +first-rate surprise to Jose Maria. + +Munoz was now to furnish the Sergeant with an absolutely new sensation. + +"_Senor_," he said, quietly addressing El Sarria, "be good enough to +mount and conduct the Queen to a place of safety. I intend to remain +here with these gentlemen!" + +Then he went up to Maria Cristina and spoke a few sentences to her in a +tone so low that only the last words were audible. + +"If not, by the Immaculate Virgin, I swear that you shall never see my +face again!" + +"Fernando! Fernando! Fernando! You are cruel!" was the answer uttered +through choking sobs. + +But El Sarria was by this time in the saddle. The little Princess was +set in her place in front of him. + +"Off with you!" whispered Rollo. + +And in this manner the cavalcade began its momentous march. + +The Sergeant stood gazing at Munoz, who rubbed the backs of his hands +alternately as if there had been a chill in the night air. Munoz on his +part turned to Rollo. + +"Let me have the use of that gentleman's piece," he said; "I do not like +this silence. I think we shall have a hot time of it within the next +five minutes." + +At that moment the escaped charger came cantering back, neighing and +alarming all the picketed horses for miles, which snorted back an +answer. Sentries meditating in quiet corners became upon a sudden +exceedingly awake. One of the two whom Rollo and El Sarria had left +triced up at the door of the royal prison at last got the extemporised +gag out of his mouth, and found his breath in a lusty shout of warning. + +The ex-guardsman was right. Within less than five minutes the entire +camp was awake. The escape of the prisoners had been discovered. The +recovered sentry pointed out the direction of the _barranco_ as that in +which the fugitives had taken their departure. + +Whereupon there ensued a hurried rush thither. Indeed, scarcely had the +dark forms of the two horses with their riders ceased to break the +skyline upon one verge of the ravine, before Cabrera's men were +clambering and shouting along the other. Luckily the precipice was sheer +immediately opposite, and the pursuers had to try a furlong or two +farther down, at a place where a landslide had enabled them on the +previous evening to lead their horses to and from the few stagnant pools +which now represented those full-fed torrents the spring rains send down +from the Sierra de Moncayo. + +"Let them have it!" whispered Rollo, as the first straggling groups +stood up dark between them and the stars. + +Accordingly, out of the darkness of the _barranco_, a volley flamed +irregularly enough, the rattle of musketry running down the whole front +of the line. Six pieces in all spoke out their message to Cabrera's men +to halt. For La Giralda, having taken possession of Concha's armament, +drew a bead upon her man with probably as much success as any of the +others. It was still too dark for accurate shooting, and the worst shot +was not much inferior to the best. + +But these six bullets sent across the valley from unseen foes, +spattering the stones about their feet, checked that first fierce rush +of angry men. Some enemy was in force on their front--so much was +evident. It would be well to discover of what sort. + +"We are holding them," said Rollo, triumphantly, "that is all we can +hope for. Pass down the word to fire only when they advance. Time is +what El Sarria and his party need. And so far as I can see, unless +Concha hurries, a dead Carlist or so more or less will not make much +difference to us!" + +But Rollo soon found that the men who were opposed to him knew all there +was to know about _guerrilla_ warfare. They pushed forward steadily from +rock to rock, and as they came on in overwhelming numbers the dauntless +six were compelled to retire upwards till they gained the rugged brink +of the _barranco_, from which the uplands swell away in broad unclothed +downs in the direction of the gorge of Vera. + +Here they took up their several posts in a position of great natural +strength, if only they had had a sufficiency of men to defend it. + +Already the morning was growing manifestly lighter. The red peaks of +Moncayo above their heads began to emerge out of the grey uncoloured +night. They could see each other now, and Rollo looked down his line +with some pride. + +There they were, each behind his shelter, loading and firing according +to his liking and the bowels that were in him. The Sergeant was sternly +winging each shot with intent to slay, Munoz firing as if he had been +practising at a target for sport and feeling bored for the want of a +cigarette, Etienne with swift and contagious gaiety of mood, while John +Mortimer did his work with a plain and businesslike devotion to the +matter in hand that argued well for his father's spinning mills at +Chorley if ever he should return thither--a chance which at present +seemed somewhat remote. + +La Giralda, like the Sergeant, fired to kill her man, and as for Rollo +himself, he did not fire at all unless he could plant a bullet where it +would induce a Carlist to alter his mind about advancing further. + +The end, however, was clearly only a matter of time. The light came +faster up out of the east. Rollo stood on his feet, and heedless of the +bullets that buzzed like bees about him looked eagerly towards the gorge +of Vera. He could see nothing of Ramon Garcia or of the Queen, and his +heart gave a bound of thankful joy. + +But there were ups and downs on the rolling moorland country that +stretched away to the right. El Sarria and his companions might only be +temporarily hidden in the trough of one of these waves. + +"We can hold on a while yet, lads!" he cried, and dropped down behind +his rock, shaking his rifle into its nook beside his ear to be ready for +the next spot of red or white crawling towards them through the dusty +_arroyo_. + +But at that moment there came from far away the sound of cheering. A +mounted man dashed at full gallop up to the edge of the ravine opposite +to them. + +"Do not fire," said the Sergeant; "that is Cabrera--he is a brave man!" + +But John Mortimer, not caring or not understanding the language, fired +promptly, and his rifle bullet threw up a cloud of dust between the +horse's feet. The animal reared and almost threw his rider. But in a +moment he was erect as ever in the saddle, and Rollo could see him +shouting furious commands to his men--apparently ordering them to bear +round to the left so as to take the defending party on their least +protected side. + +For the next few minutes, as Munoz had foretold, it was hot work enough, +and Rollo had no time to look behind him, or he might have seen a sight +that would have astonished him--a single horsewoman, riding swiftly +towards the _barranco_, followed at the distance of half a mile by a +cloud of mounted men. + +Suddenly the General on the opposite bank, who all the while had been +darting about hither and thither like a gad-fly, held up his arm, and +with astonishing pride of horsemanship (and faith in the soundness of +his girths) rode his charger straight down the shelving sides of the +ravine, the slaty fragments crumbling and slipping under the iron-shod +hoofs. + +With a cheer the red _boinas_ of the Estella regiment followed, and then +straight up the opposite slopes of shale they dashed towards Rollo and +his poor defences. + +"Hold your fire!" he cried, first in English, and then in Spanish. "Wait +till you are sure of them. We are only half a dozen, and we must wing a +man apiece!" + +It chanced, however, just as the horseman (who, as the Sergeant had +supposed, was Cabrera himself, almost out of his mind with disappointed +fury) surmounted the ridge a little to the right of Rollo's position, +but close to where the Sergeant lay behind his rock, that Concha threw +herself off her charger (or rather one of General Espartero's), and with +a joyous shout informed them that the Queen was safe and that twelve +hundred Cristino regulars were following close behind her! + +Thus these two, the disappointed murderer and the triumphant deliverer, +met almost face to face. Cabrera heard Concha's glad proclamation. He +saw the plumes of Espartero's troopers already topping the rise, strong +well-knit men of the best farming stock in Old Castile mounted on +Gallegan horses. + +Quite breathless with her headlong course, Concha stood panting, her +hand pressed on her breast. Her eyes were wandering every way in search +of Rollo, and in her haste and happiness she had left her weapons behind +in the camp of Espartero. + +"At any rate I will make sure of you!" cried the Butcher of Tortosa, +bitterly, and drawing a pistol he covered Concha at point-blank +distance. But from behind his rock (as it were out of the ground) arose +the tall gaunt form and leathern visage of Sergeant Cardono. + +With a sweep of the arm he set Concha behind him, and as the General's +pistol went off he received the shot in his own bosom. + +The next moment the Castilian horsemen crashed full on the front of +Cabrera's advance and hurled it down the side of the ravine, the General +himself being borne away in the thickest of the surge. + +Meantime another part of Espartero's command had bent round to the east +and was by this time taking the Carlists on the flank. In thirty seconds +the ridge of the _barranco_, which the six had defended so well, was +deserted; even slow-going John Mortimer had been swept into the tide of +pursuit. + +But the Sergeant lay still, with the breast of his jacket opened, and +his head on Concha's shoulder. She dropped warm tears over his face. +Rollo, too, was there, and held the dying man's hand. He beckoned La +Giralda to him and whispered a word in Romany. She nodded, and presently +returned with the same great bulk of a man, brown as a Moor of Barbary, +whom Rollo had encountered on the night of the plunder of San Ildefonso. + +"Ezquerra," the Sergeant whispered, "I am spent. There is a spike in the +neck-band this time. All that is honestly come by, I want you to give to +this young lady. You will find it by itself under the hearthstone in my +house at Ronda. The rest you will take no objections to, I know, on the +ground of morals. Keep it for yourself!" + +Concha glanced once up at Rollo and then, receiving his nod of approval, +bent down and kissed the Sergeant. + +The Andalucian looked up with that wondrous flavour of gay humour which +distinguishes those born in the joyous province. His saturnine visage +brightened into the sweetest smile. Very feebly he raised his hand to +his brow in a last salute in acknowledgment of Concha's favour. His head +fell back on her breast. + +"A thousand grateful thanks, _Senorita_!" he said. And then noting the +executioner he added, "Ah, Ezquerra, this is better than dying on the +Plaza Mayor of Salamanca with the iron collar about one's neck!" + +They were his last words. And so passed Jose Maria of Ronda, whom to +this day every Spanish peasant holds to have been the greatest man Spain +has seen since the dead Cid rode forth on Babieca for the last time to +outface the Moors. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVII + +MENDIZABAL + + +Rollo and his companions rode into Madrid amid the clamour and rejoicing +of thousands, as indeed he might have done behind Don Carlos had he been +successful in his first intention. Madrid was healthy and hungry. The +plague had been stayed by the belt of barren country which cinctures the +capital village of Spain. And as for fear, do not the inhabitants say +that what happens not in Madrid, happens not at all! + +Rollo, so long accustomed to the high clear silences of the _sierra_ or +the scarcely less restful valleys where the birds sing all day in the +spring, felt himself closed in and deafened by the clamour, blinded by +the brilliant colours, and in ill-humour with all things--chiefly, it +must be confessed, because Concha, attired by the Queen's own +waiting-maid from Aranjuez, sat in a carriage with the aplomb of a +duchess. + +They were all in high favour. For Munoz (now more than ever the Power +behind the Throne, and perhaps secretly proud of having played the man +at the defence of the _barranco_ of Moncayo) had quickly turned the tide +of the Queen-Regent's displeasure. And at this period there was scarcely +any honour that she would not have bestowed upon her preservers. + +For in distracted hither-and-thither Spain of the early Carlist wars, it +seemed nothing extraordinary to any one that Rollo should have saved +their Majesties' lives with a Carlist commission in his pocket, or that +Sergeant Cardono of the command of General Cabrera should have been shot +dead by his superior officer while fighting vehemently for the opposite +party. For these are incidents common to most civil wars and specially +common in Spain, that land of adventurous spirits with little to do and +plenty of time in which to do it. Indeed a feather or a favour, the +colour of a riband or the shape of a cap, often made young men Carlist +or Cristino, National or Red Republican, as the case might be. + +On the third day after their arrival the privilege of a royal interview +was granted to the young Scot. Rollo smiled as he thought of the first +he had been favoured with, and of that other when he had started off a +cavalcade consisting of two Queens and an outlaw under sentence of death +with the loud "_Arre!_" of a muleteer. + +But Rollo had learned to be calm-eyed before royalties. He was a +Scottish gentleman, and had grown accustomed to Queens during these +latter days. Court lords and the ruck of Madrid politicians stared at +him in the corridors, but, affrayed by something in his eye, meekly or +reluctantly according to their mood took the wall from him as he strode +on, careless, hard-bitten, a little insolent, perhaps, in bearing. At +last he stood in the great hall of audience, his plain well-worn coat +and knee-breeches the secret scorn of every courtier. But a glance at +Killiecrankie, once more a-swing by his side, was sufficient to sober +too impertinent male interest, while the reputation of his exploits and +the keen soldierlike face which he turned so pensively towards the +window, awakened the liveliest interest in many a pair of dark eyes. + +Somewhat after this fashion ran the prattle. + +"Look! there goes the man who delivered the Regent and the young Queen! +They say that both Jose Maria, whom every one thought dead, and El +Sarria the outlaw were of his band. More than that, it is certain that +one very near to the Queen-Regent's person was content to take service +with him as a common soldier. How great and famous then must he be! And, +above all, how certain of preferment! It were indeed well to cultivate +his acquaintance. For what shall be done to the man whom two Queens and +a Consort unite in delighting to honour? His threadbare coat? A mere +eccentricity of genius, my love. His huge battered sword a-dangle at his +side? It is said that he has slain over twenty men with that same blade! +Decidedly not a man to be despised; speaks all languages, even the +crabbed Gitano-Castilian like a native of Valladolid. He will marry a +Spanish wife and become one of _nosotros_, as did O'Donnel, Duke of +Tetuan, Sarsfield, Blake, and a score of others--all once poor and +neglected, now thrice-hatted and set among the finest clay of the court +potter." + +Thus in the ante-chambers of Queens spake the wily, the wise, the +far-seeing. And from such Rollo had many offers of service. But with a +delicate politeness at which none could take offence he declined all +these, making (as his father had advised him) his words at once "firm +and mannerly." + +Thank you, but he was content to wait. He had been sent for by the +Queen-Regent. Till then--but at that moment, after a preliminary peep +from behind a curtain, the Princess herself ran skipping across the +hall, and, catching Rollo by the hand, bewildered him with a chatter of +joyous questionings. + +Where was Concha? Would her brother never come back? Why had he not been +at Aranjuez? She sent him a kiss. (The which Rollo promised without fail +to deliver, and what is more, meant to keep his word.) + +Yes (he answered with amusement), perhaps one day the Princess would see +Concha's brother again. It was certainly very dull in Madrid. Royal +palaces were as little to his liking as to that of the Princess. + +Then the little lady had her turn. Did he remember when he had hidden +her underneath the great brass pot among the hay? Did he know that once +a straw had tickled her beneath the chin so funnily that she came near +to bursting out laughing? Rollo did not know, but the very thought +turned him cold even among that throng of courtiers, all casting +sidelong glances and trying to get near enough to listen politely to the +conversation without appearing to do so. He seemed to be once more +threading his way through the scattered groups of gipsies, the dark +brows of Egypt bending suspiciously upon him and the royal storehouses +flaring up like torches. + +"Ah, there he comes--just like him!" cried the little girl, stamping her +foot after the pattern of her mother; "now you and I will have no more +good talk. But I shall wait for you at the gate when you come out. +There--now bend down. I want to give you another kiss for that pretty +boy, the brother of that Concha of yours!" + +As she ran off Rollo found a friendly hand on his arm, and lo! there at +his elbow was Don Fernando Munoz, Duke of Rianzares, come in person to +convey him into the presence. His manner was characterised by the utmost +cordiality, together with a certain humanity altogether new, which made +Rollo think that a few more _barrancos_ to defend would do this favoured +grandeeship a great deal of good. + +Rollo had expected to be ushered into the presence of her Majesty in +person, but instead, a plain English-looking man stood alone in a little +room, the window of which commanded a vast and desolate prospect. There +was a tall chair with a golden crown over it at the top of a table +covered with red cloth, while several others, all uncushioned and +severely plain, were ranged regularly about it. + +The English-looking man came forward bluffly, and put out his hand to +Rollo. He looked more like a healthy fox-hunting squire, just +intelligent enough to sit in Parliament and make speeches against reform +and the corn laws, than the political confidant of a Queen of Spain. + +Then in a moment it flashed through Rollo's mind that this hearty +Anglo-Iberian could be none other than Mendizabal himself, the Prime +Minister of Spain, the scourge of monks and monasteries, the promised +regenerator of the finances of Spain. Another thought crossed his mind +also. He had actually not so very long ago practically accepted a +commission to kill this man if he should chance to cross his path. + +Yet the remembrance did not dim the brightness of the young man's smile +as he took the other's hand. + +"Ten to one he will talk to me about the weather," said Rollo to +himself, "to me who ought at this moment to be inserting a twelve-inch +Manchegan knife between his ribs." + +And it fell out even as he had anticipated. + +"You have been favoured with fine weather for your many adventures," +said the Prime Minister of the Queen-Regent; "it is almost like an +English June, clear, but with a touch of cold in the mornings and after +sunset." + +Rollo modestly supplied the appropriate conversational counter. + +"Your name strikes me as in some way familiar," said Mendizabal; "was +not your father Alistair Blair of Blair Castle, a client of mine when I +was a banker in London and operating on the Stock Exchange?" + +"He was, sir," quoth candid Rollo, "not greatly to his advantage--or +mine!" + +The Premier coloured a little but did not alter his friendly tone. + +"Well, perhaps not," he said; "I myself lost every penny I possessed in +the world at the same time. Our Spanish stocks were not so favourable an +investment as they have become since we obtained recognition and a +guarantee from England. But when I have been turned out of my present +occupation, I wish you would permit me to look into your affairs. Your +father's old vouchers should be worth something now. You have not, I +hope, had to sell the old place of your ancestors?" + +"No," said Rollo, carelessly; "an ancient retainer of the family lives +in the castle with his wife. There is a dovecote in the yard, so they +eat the pigeons which eat the farmers' crops, who in turn forget to pay +their rents. Thus the ball rolls. And indeed the years have been so bad +of late that I have not asked them!" + +"You prefer a life of adventure abroad?" asked the Premier, who had not +ceased to look at Rollo with the most earnest attention. + +Rollo shrugged his shoulders slightly at the question. + +"I do not know," he said simply, "I have not tried. The most ordinary +affairs turn out adventurous with me. But then, I would rather undergo +any conceivable hardship than live on in one place like a beetle pinned +to a card, able only to waggle my feet, till a merciful death put a +limit to my sufferings." + +Further conversation was cut short by the entrance of the Queen-Regent. +Her husband conducted her to the door or rather _portiere_ curtain of +the council-room, and immediately withdrew--a slight waving of the +tapestry, however, affording some reasons for suspecting that his +Excellency the Duke of Rianzares had not removed himself the entire +distance required by etiquette from the councils of his Sovereign. + +Maria Cristina extended first to Mendizabal and then to Rollo a plump +hand to kiss. + +"I have to thank you," she said to the latter, not ungraciously, "for +the many and great services you have rendered to me, my +daughter--and--to other friends also. The result has certainly been most +fortunate, though the manner of service at times left something to be +desired!" + +Then as Rollo kept his head modestly lowered, the Queen-Regent relented +a little, thinking him covered with confusion at her severity, which +indeed was far from being his real state of mind. + +"But after all you are a brave man, of excellent parts, and personable +to a degree----" + +"Which in this age and country goes for no little!" said Mendizabal, +bowing to the Queen as if he intended a compliment. "You have heard how +our soldiers chant as they go into battle: + + "'_Old Carlos is a crusty churl, + But Isabel's a sweet young girl!_'" + +The Queen bowed, with however a little frown upon her face. She was +never quite sure whether her Prime Minister was laughing at her or not. +Then she returned to the subject of Rollo. + +"You have some employment of a sort suited to the taste of this +adventurous young man?" she went on. "I understand and sympathise with +his desire not to return to the wars in the North." + +"There is the little matter of the suppression of the monasteries," +returned Mendizabal, "to take effect (as your Majesty doubtless +remembers) on the twentieth of the month. It is already the sixth. There +may be some slight trouble where the orders are strong. I propose that +we send this distinguished young Scottish soldier (whose noble father I +had the honour of knowing somewhat intimately) to Valencia or the +Baleares with vice-regal powers. We have great need of such men at such +a time." + +Rollo gasped and bowed his head. The crimson rose to his cheek. To be a +Governor with almost regal powers and soldiers at his beck, to hold a +turbulent province quiet under his hand! How he wished there were no +such thing as "honour" anywhere, keeping him by mere iteration and +irritancy to the resolution his conscience had extorted from him. + +Mendizabal thought the young man only doubtful of his capacity, and +patted him on the shoulder with fatherly tolerance and encouragement. + +"You will do very well," he said kindly, "we will give you a free hand, +full powers, and as many soldiers as you want. Besides, the Carlists +have been some while in these regions, and we have not been able to get +our own men. Now you can look them up!" + +Then Rollo, suddenly finding words, spoke his mind fully and freely. + +"I cannot go," he said; "at least, not till I have fulfilled a sacred +duty which lies heavily upon me. I took up a charge. I have not +fulfilled it. I cannot serve the Queen-Regent till I have laid down that +which I undertook, and to the person who charged me with the mission!" + +The Queen stared at the bold young man, but the Prime Minister +understood better. + +"It is his point of honour," he explained to Maria Cristina; "those of +his nation cannot help it. It is in the blood and in the gloomy creed +which they profess--a sour and inconvenient religion in which there is +no confession." + +"No confession!" cried the Queen, casting up her hands in horror, "no +absolution! How then can they go on living from day to day?" + +"Much like other people," said the Premier, smiling; "they repent, and +then--repent of their repentances!" + +"And is this young man not a Christian?" cried the Queen. "Is he also of +this dark and gloomy superstition--what was it that you called the +heresy?" + +"I am indeed a Presbyterian," said Rollo, smiling; "at least, my father +was, and I also when any one contradicts me. For the rest I am, I fear, +but an indifferent Christian!" + +"Ah," murmured the Queen with a reflective sigh, "then even heretics may +have their uses. In that case it will be easier for you to oppress--I +mean to argue with and convince the holy friars of the righteous +intentions of the government with regard to them!" + +"Well," said Mendizabal, quickly, desirous of diverting the conversation +from a dangerous subject, "off with you, sirrah! Go satisfy that +Calvinistic conscience of yours! But first kiss her Majesty's royal +hand. Let no one spoil your beauty, and return betimes to the post which +we will keep open for you!" + +Rollo did as he was bidden. He kissed the hand of the Queen, who was +graciously pleased to give his fingers a slight pressure as hers rested +a moment in his. For the handsome face and high bearing of Rollo Blair +had been working their usual way with Maria Cristina. + +The Prime Minister, noting a slight movement of the _portiere_ curtains, +bustled Rollo off lest he should lose his favour with the Power Behind +the Throne. But, pausing a moment at the door, he whispered in his +ear--"Have you any objection to telling me the name of the person from +whom you had this commission? I promise you upon my sacred honour that +you shall have no cause to repent your frankness. Neither you nor he +shall suffer on account of my knowledge--no, not if it were Don Carlos +himself." + +"His name is Don Baltasar Varela, Prior of the Abbey of Montblanch!" +said Rollo, after a moment's hesitation. + +"I understand," said Mendizabal, with an inscrutable expression. +"Nevertheless, I will keep my word." + + + + +CHAPTER XLVIII + +A POINT OF HONOUR + + +There remained Concha to be dealt with. Ah, yes, and also his companions +El Sarria, Mortimer, and Etienne. Only--they did not count. What man +does count when the one woman is in the question? Friends of a lifetime +are skipped like the historical introduction of an exciting romance, +through whose pages battle, murder, and sudden death play gaily at +leap-frog and devil-take-the-hindmost. + +Yes, Rollo owned it, Concha mattered. There was no blinking the fact. It +would be bitter almost as death for him to tell her that he must once +more leave her to take his life in his hand, upon a mere point of +honour. She might not understand. Like his friends she might denounce +his purpose as arrant quixotry and folly. Well, that would certainly +make it harder--but even then he would carry it through. + +He found them seated in the lodgings which Rollo had secured for Concha +and La Giralda in a house that looked upon the Puerta del Sol. Opposite, +but upon the same staircase and landing, lodged El Sarria, who, if it +would have given any pleasure to Rollo, would have slept all night +outside his sweetheart's door. + +Etienne, Mortimer, and Rollo himself had rooms on the other side of the +great square. But upon Rollo's return all were now assembled in Concha's +sitting-room, as had grown to be their easy custom. Concha needed no +chaperon, and if the straiter _convenances_ required one, was there not +La Giralda with her myriad wrinkles busied about the pots in the little +adjacent kitchen or seated with her knitting in the window-seat like a +favoured guest? For it was in this simple fashion that these six people +had come to dwell together. And as he entered, the heart of the young +man smote him sore. + +Alas! that he, Rollo Blair, whom these had followed loyally, +questionless, as clansmen follow their chief through mirk midnight and +the brazen glare of noon, should now come among these faithful hearts +like a mute with the bowstring, to put an end to all this comradeship +and true comity! + +All knew in a moment that there was something in the air, for though +Concha offered to prepare a cigarette with her own fingers, Rollo +declined it and sat down among them heavy and sad. It was some time +before he could bring himself to speak. + +"You who are all my friends," he said, "my best and only friends--listen +to me. I will hide nothing from you. I have come directly from the +Queen. She and Mendizabal have offered me a high position, and one in +which we might all have kept together in great content, if such had been +your desire. Yet for the present I cannot accept it. I am not a free +man. For it lies on my soul that the Abbot of Montblanch trusted us +three when we had neither aim nor end in life. He gave us both of these. +He fitted us out for our mission. For me he did much more. He made me an +officer in the army of Don Carlos, though Heaven knows Don Carlos was +no more to me than any other stupid fool--I crave your pardon, Etienne! +I forgot your relationship." + +"Say on," cried Etienne, gaily, flipping his cigarette ash with his +little finger, "do not consider my feelings. All my cousins are stupid +fools! I have always said so." + +"Well, then," said Rollo, "to this man, who among other things gave us +each other's friendship, and" (here he reached out his hand to take +Concha's) "who gave me this----" + +He was silent for some moments, still holding the girl's hand, while her +eyes were doubtless lovely as moonlit waters, could any man have seen +them. But no man did, for the fringed lashes remained resolutely, if +somewhat tremulously, downcast. + +"Well, then, I cannot leave this man to think me a mere common traitor. +No, not if it loses me life and--all. I have failed in my mission. Not +only so, but by the irony of fate I have fought against his friends and +been saved by his enemies." + +"We were saved by Concha Cabezos there, I tell you," said John Mortimer, +who thought all this mere rant. "Let the old priest alone, Rollo. Marry +the girl you want to marry, and take a good job when it is offered to +you. You may not get a second chance of either. And that is a plain +man's mind upon the matter, whether you want it or not!" + +Sadly but determinedly Rollo shook his head. + +"No, John," he said, "that I cannot do. I were bankrupt for life in my +own esteem if I did not go straight to the Prior, frankly explain our +failure, resign my commission into his hands, and offer him any other +service in my power. I think I see my way to one even now!" + +"My advice," said Etienne, suddenly striking in, "is to let my good +uncle continue in his mistake a little longer, if indeed any mistake +there be. You use a delicacy he would have been the last to use with +you. I do not believe the old fox would have cared a straw if all our +throats had been cut, so that we had served his turn. Depend upon it, we +three were the poorest kind of pawns in his game. If I am not greatly +mistaken Cabrera and Elio were only his prancing knights, and Don +Carlos, my dear cousin, the stupid old king who is of no use except to +get himself checkmated." + +"And who," said Rollo, smiling for the first time, "may the Queen be +upon this little family chessboard?" + +"There is indeed rather a superabundance of Queens, as we have seen," +said Etienne, "but he who pushes about all the pieces is doubtless the +petticoated old rogue himself. Baltasar Varela has been at the bottom of +every plot these thirty years, and if anything goes wrong, he will be +the first to skip over the mountains! Take a friend's advice, +Rollo"--here the honest fellow grasped his friend's hand hard--"send +your explanations and unused commissions to my respected relative by +post. For me, I would not go within fifty miles of him for all the +revenues of Montblanch twice told!" + +"Well, El Sarria, what say you? They are all against me, you see!" said +Rollo, mournfully, adding after a moment, "as indeed I knew they would +be!" + +As usual the ex-outlaw had little to say, and was deplorably shy as to +saying it. + +"Senor," he said after a long pause, "you have doubtless your own point +of honour. I had one once which very nearly cost myself and another a +lifetime of misery. Let the senor weigh the matter well and often before +he runs a like risk!" + +"That also is against me!" said Rollo, smiling; "Concha, you have heard +all the others--what do you say?" + +Concha rose and stood beside him. She put her arm gently on his shoulder +so that her hand touched his cheek. + +"I understand, if they do not!" she said. "I understand all. You are +right. Go!" + + * * * * * + +So Rollo set forth, and with him there also journeyed to the north +Etienne--first, because he was tired of Madrid, second, because he was +returning to France, thirdly (and privately), because the village of +Sarria and a certain green garden lattice were to be found on the route +thither; John Mortimer, because if Rollo were bound to see the Prior, +perhaps after all something might be done about the _Priorato_; El +Sarria, because night and morning, noon and midnight, he prayed with his +face towards that Convent of the Holy Innocents where Dolores and her +babe waited for him; La Giralda, because she might as well go northward +as in any other direction; and Concha--but it is superfluous to say why +Concha was going. + +Nevertheless Rollo insisted that since he was solely responsible, he +alone should adventure the anger of the Prior, though indeed any or all +of the others would readily have accompanied him to Montblanch. + +But the young Scot felt acutely how perversely, and like a cross-grained +jade, Fate had treated him. He knew also that appearances were against +him and in what fashion his actions might have been misrepresented to +the Prior. Being singularly little given to suspicion, Rollo was not +greatly affected by Etienne's estimate of his uncle. Besides, there was +the information concerning the approaching suppression of the convents +to be communicated, in such a form that it might be of use to the Abbot +and brethren of Montblanch, and yet do no injury to those through whom +he had come into possession of the secret. + +In due time, therefore, after leaving Madrid the party arrived at the +village of Sarria. For, being possessed of all manner of governmental +passes and recommendations, they travelled rapidly and luxuriously +considering the difficult and troublous times. At Sarria, Rollo, looking +out eagerly northward to where above the horizon the peaks of Montblanch +pushed themselves up blue and soft like a row of ragged and battered +ninepins, paused only to assure himself of the well-doing of Dolores +Garcia and her son under the roof of the good Sisters in the Convent of +the Holy Innocents. There were also a few arrangements to be made--and +his will. Which last did not take long time. It contained only one +clause: "I leave all of which I die possessed to my betrothed wife +Concha Cabezos of Seville.--ROLLO BLAIR." + +The arrangements were these--Concha remained to assist Don Ramon, who +had once more assumed the position of a property-holder and man of +authority among his townsfolk, to open out and prepare his house for the +reception of Dolores. That little wife and mother, in spite of her new +joy, continued delicate in health, though (needless to say) the nuns had +given her the very best possible nursing. But those who saw the meeting +of husband and wife knew that now she would have a better chance of +recovery than all the bitter tisanes and laborious simples of the +Sisters' store-cupboard had afforded her. + +Etienne and John Mortimer decided to await events at the hostelry of +Gaspar Perico. The former took the first opportunity of converting the +silent serving-maid as far as possible to his interests by a judicious +gift of some half a dozen gold pieces. Immediately thereafter, having +thus protected his rear, he sought the green lattice. It had been taken +down and a seven-foot wall had been built. Indeed a mason, who was at +that moment engaged in laying the coping, informed him that the family +had left for South America. Whereupon Etienne went back in haste and +found the barefooted Abigail. + +"Why did you not tell me that they were gone--before----?" he demanded +angrily. + +"Before what?" asked the Abigail, putting the corner of her apron to her +mouth and biting it with the utmost simplicity. + +"Before I gave you that money?" + +"Because--why, because your Excellency never asked me!" + +"And pray, _Senorita_," growled Etienne, waxing grimly satirical, "what +did you suppose that I gave you the money for?" + +The maid-servant let go the apron, put one finger to her mouth instead, +and, looking down with infinite modesty, sketched with her bare toe upon +the ground. + +"Well?" queried Etienne, impatiently, and with a sharp rising +inflection. + +"Because," fluttered the little maid-of-all-work, "because I--_I thought +you liked me_!" + +Etienne turned away in a dumb rage, and the small sharp-featured Abigail +got behind the back-kitchen door to dance three steps and a double +shuffle all to herself. + +When he had recovered his powers of speech Etienne called her the +several kinds of fiend which can be defined by the French language, but +this broke no bones. + +"Well, dear _Senorita_," she remarked very sagely, when tasked by Concha +with duplicity (after the manner of Satan reproving sin), "he never +asked me, and besides, _then_ he would not have given me the six +Napoleons!" + +Which last proposition of the Abigail of Sarria would not have gained in +credibility had it been supported by a Papal Bull. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIX + +LIKE FIRE THROUGH SUMMER GRASS + + +On the whole Rollo could not complain of his reception at the Abbey of +Montblanch. His heart had indeed been at war within him as he took his +way up the long zigzags of the hill road. There was the very thorn +branch which had brushed off his hat as he set forth so gladsomely with +his new commission in his pocket, his comrades riding staunchly by his +side, and the Abbot's good horse between his knees. + +Well, he had done his best. Things, after their manner, had turned out +cross-grained--that was all. He had, thank Heaven, enough of +Mendizabal's generous draft left in his pocket to repay the Abbot for +what he had spent upon their outfit. After returning the commission, it +only remained as delicately as possible to impart the disastrous news of +the coming dissolution of monasteries and the date of the assumption of +all conventual property by the State. + +Then he would depart. Sarria and Concha were not so far off. He began to +take heart even before he reached the great gate of the Abbey. + +No one could have been more cordially moved to see a long-lost brother +than Don Baltasar Varela, the Abbot of Montblanch, to welcome his dear, +his well-beloved Don Rollo. + +And his noble nephew Saint Pierre--how fared he? Then that stolid solemn +Englishman--did he know that his _Priorato_ had long been shipped from +Barcelona, an arrangement having been made with the Cristino +custom-house? + +"But the price? He has not paid it. I warrant that Mortimer knows +nothing of the matter," said Rollo, excited for his friend's credit and +good name. + +The Abbot smiled as he answered. + +"Our agent in France," he said blandly, "has received and cashed a draft +from some one of the same name in England--ah, there are none like the +English for business the world over! But here is a letter which has long +been waiting for that young gentleman here." + +"I will deliver it to him immediately, and with great pleasure," quoth +Rollo. + +The Abbot did not pursue the subject, but rising, said courteously, "You +will excuse me for the present. You know the library. You will find my +Father-Confessor there, whom I think you have met. There are also works +on travel and lives of the saints in various languages, exceedingly +improving to the mind. And above all you must dine with me to-night." + +Thus the Abbot, with a kindness which Rollo felt deeply, put off hearing +the full story of his adventures till the evening. Dinner was served in +the Prior's own chamber as before, but on this occasion much more +simply--indeed rather as two gentlemen might have dined at a good inn +where their arrival had been expected and prepared for. + +Rollo's simple heart was opened by the hospitality shown him. The +beaming and paternal graciousness of Don Baltasar, the difference +between what he had expected and what he found, wrung his soul with +remorse for the message he had to deliver. + +At last he was permitted to tell his tale, which he did from the +beginning, slurring only such matters as concerned his relations with +Concha. And at the end of each portion of his story the Abbot raised a +finger and said smilingly to his Father-Confessor, who stood gloomily +silent in the arch of the doorway, "A marvel--a wonder! You hear, Father +Anselmo?" + +And without stirring a muscle of his immovable countenance the +ex-inquisitor answered, "I have heard, my Lord Abbot." + +Then Rollo told of the plague and the strange things that had happened +at La Granja, their setting out thence with the Queen-Regent and the +little Princess, their safe arrival upon the spurs of Moncayo, almost +indeed at the camp of General Elio. Then, with his head for the first +time hanging down, he narrated the meeting with Cabrera, and that +General's determination to murder the Queen-Regent and her little +daughter. + +"Abominations such as that no man could endure," said Rollo more than +once as he proceeded to tell the tale of their delivery, of how he had +despatched mother and daughter to the camp of General Elio, of their +subsequent capture by Espartero, and how he, Rollo Blair, had hastened +all the way from Madrid to lay the whole matter before the Prior. + +"'Tis a marvellous tale, indeed, that our young friend tells--have you +missed nothing?" inquired the Abbot of the Father-Confessor. + +"Nothing!" said the Confessor, glaring down upon Rollo as a vulture +might upon a weakly lamb on the meadows of Estramadura, "not one single +word hath escaped me!" + +Then Rollo delivered to the Abbot (who handed them forthwith to his +reverend conscience-keeper) all his commissions and letters of +recommendation. With a drooping head and a tear in his eye, he gave them +up. For though he had enlisted in the Carlist cause purely as a +mercenary, he had yet meant to carry out his undertakings to the letter. + +When at last Rollo looked up, he found the grey eyes of the Abbot +regarding him with a quiet persistence of scrutiny which perturbed him +slightly. + +"Have you anything more to tell me?" inquired the ecclesiastic, laying +his hand affectionately on Rollo's shoulder, "you have done all that was +possible for you. No man could have done more. May a continual peace +abide in your heart, my son!" + +"My Father," said Rollo, laying a strong constraint upon himself, "I +have indeed a thing to tell that is hard and painful. The monasteries +throughout all Spain are to be suppressed on the twentieth day of this +month by order of the Madrid Government." + +As the words passed his lips, the bland expression on Don Baltasar's +face changed into one of fierce hatred and excitement. There was forced +from his lips that sharp hiss of indrawn breath which a man +instinctively makes as he winces under the surgeon's knife. + +Then almost instantly he recovered himself. + +"Well," he said, "we cannot save the Abbey, we cannot save the Holy +Church from this desecration. I have cried 'Pater mi, si possibile est, +transeat a me calix iste!' But now I say 'Verumtamen non sicut ego volo, +sed sicut tu!'" + +Then with a curious change of countenance (the difference between a +priest's expression at the altar and in the sacristy when things have +gone crossly) he turned to Rollo. + +"Nevertheless," he said, "I do not deny that to you we owe all thanks +and gratitude. Perhaps some day you shall be repaid!" + +When Rollo looked round the saturnine priest had disappeared. His host +and he were alone. The Abbot poured out the coffee. + +"You will take some of our famous _liqueur_," he said, calmly and +graciously as ever. "The receipt has been in the possession of the Abbey +for well-nigh a thousand years." + +It seemed a pity that so many things which had lasted a thousand years +should come to an end on the twentieth day of the month. Meantime, +however, he imitated the nonchalance of the Abbot. The _liqueur_ was not +to be despised. + +Rollo held out his glass scarcely knowing what he did. The Abbot poured +into it a generous portion of the precious fluid. It was of the keen +cold green known to painters as viridian--the colour of turnip leaves +with the dew on them. + +Don Baltasar drew a glass towards him across the table. + +"I am no winebibber," he said, "my vows do not allow of it. But I will +give you a toast, which, if you permit me, I will drink with you in the +pure wine of the flint." + +Rollo rose to his feet, and stood looking at the Prior out of his +steadfast blue eyes. They touched their glasses ceremoniously, the +elder, however, avoiding the gaze of the younger. + +"May you be rewarded, not according to your successes, but according to +your deserts!" said Don Baltasar. + +They drank, and Rollo, astonished by the strange bitter-sweet taste of +the _liqueur_, could only stammer, "I thank you, Prior. Indeed, you are +over kind to me. I only wish I had had--better news--better news to +bring you!" + +And then, somehow, it appeared to the young man that a kind of waving +blackness in wreaths and coils like thick smoke began to invade the +room, bellying upwards from the floor and descending from the roof. He +seemed to be sinking back into the arms of the Father-Confessor Anselmo, +who grimaced at him through the empty eye-sockets and toothless jaws of +a skull. There were at least fifty abbots in the room, and a certain hue +of dusky red in the shadows of the window curtains first made him +shudder to the soul and then affected him with terror unutterable. +Finally chaos whirled down darkling and multitudinous, and Rollo knew no +more. + + * * * * * + +When the young man came to himself he was in altogether another place. +He lay flat on his back, with something hard under his head. His face +seemed cold and wet. The place, as his eyes wandered upward, was full of +shifting shadows and uncertain revealings of cobwebby roof-spaces filled +with machinery, huge wheels and pulleys, ropes and rings and hooks, on +all of which the blown light of candles flickered fitfully. + +To one side he could dimly perceive the outlines of what seemed like a +great washerwoman's mangle. He remembered in Falkland town turning old +Betty Drouthy's for hours and hours, every moment expecting that Peggy +Ramsay would come in, basket on arm, the sweetest of Lady Bountifuls, +to visit that venerable humbug, who had all her life lived on too much +charity and who died at last of too much whiskey. Strange, was it not, +that he should think of those far-off days now? + +His head, too, was singing and thumping even as poor Betty's must have +done many a morning after Rollo had paid her for the privilege of +turning the mangle, and Peggy Ramsay secretly bestowed half-a-crown out +of her scanty pocket-money upon her, because--well, because she was a +widow and everybody spoke ill of her. + +After a while Rollo began to see his surroundings more clearly. Some one +was sitting at a great table covered with black cloth. A huge crucifix +swung over his head--upon it a figure of the Safety of the World, +startlingly realistic. + +"Who has brought me here?" he said aloud, uncertain whether or not he +still dreamed. His voice sounded in his own ears harsh and mechanical. + +Then Rollo tried to lift a hand in order to wipe his brow. He could move +neither the right nor the left. Both appeared to be fastened firmly to +some band or ring let into a framework of wood. + +Then he heard a voice from the figure seated under the black crucifix. + +"Bring forward the traitor! He shall learn the great mystery!" + +Rollo felt himself slowly lifted on to his feet, or rather the entire +wooden oblong to which his limbs were lashed was erected by unseen +forces. He could discern the breathing of men very close to his ear. + +"Listen," said the voice from the tribunal. "You, Rollo Blair, have not +only betrayed the sacred cause of the blessed King Carlos, but, what is +ten thousand times worse, you have been a traitor to Holy Church, in her +battle against much wickedness in high places." + +"Who charges me with these things?" cried Rollo, giving up a vain +struggle for freedom. + +"Out of your own mouth are you condemned," came the answer. "I who speak +have heard your confession." + +Then Rollo knew that Anselmo, the dark confessor, was his accuser and +judge. His executioners he had yet to make acquaintance with. The voice +from the tribunal went on, level and menacing. + +"The Abbot of Montblanch may forgive a traitor and he will. He may make +and unmake pacts with a heretic if it please him. As for me, my +conscience shall be clean as were those of blessed San Fernando, of +Gimenez, of holy Torquemada, and of the most religious San Vicente +Ferrar. Die you shall, as every traitor ought. But since I would not +send an immortal soul quick to hell, I offer you this opportunity to be +reconciled to Holy Church. I bid you disavow and utterly abhor all your +treacheries and heretic opinions!" + +"I am sorry enough for my sins, God knows, if so be I must die," said +Rollo, making a virtue of necessity; "but I have done no treacheries. +And as for heresy--I have none too much religion of any sort. If you can +help me to more and better, I shall be grateful, without being too +particular as to creed. But my father lived and died a good +Presbyterian, and so, Heaven helping me, shall I!" + +The gloomy monk rose at these words, made the gesture of washing the +hands, and then, turning about, kissed the wood of the black crucifix. + +"Lay the young man on the rack," he said; "when he is ready to recant +and be reconciled, you know where to find me!" + +The two executioners of Anselmo's will were clad in black robes from +head to foot, even their hands being hidden. A tall pointed mask with +eye-holes alone revealed anything human underneath, as, panting with the +exertion, the men raised Rollo to the level of the huge table with the +double rollers beneath. Then he felt his hands and feet one by one +deftly loosened and refastened. The frame was slipped from underneath +him, and Rollo found himself stretched on the rack. + +Then calmly seating themselves on a raised shelf close to his head, his +two executioners removed their tall black hoods, apparently in order +that they might wipe their beaded brows. But that they had a further +purpose was immediately apparent. + +With infinite surprise Rollo recognised Luis Fernandez and his brother +Tomas. Luis smiled evilly as his ancient enemy rolled his head in his +direction. + +"Yes," he said, "I told you my turn would come. I only wish that we had +also the pleasure of the company of your friend the outlaw, Ramon +Garcia. But after all, that great maundering oaf would never have spoilt +my plans but for your cursed interference. Twice, thrice, I had him +trapped as surely as a sheep in a slaughter-pen with the butcher's knife +at his throat. And then you must needs come in my way. Well, every dog +has his day, and now this day I shall square all reckonings." + +Fernandez waited for Rollo to reply, but though his Scots instinct was +to give back defiance for defiance, he held his peace. After a pause the +ex-miller of Sarria rolled a cigarette and continued serenely between +the puffs. + +"Now listen," he said, "this is my revenge. I have had to pay blood for +it, but now it is mine. For this I sold myself to the monks, truckled to +them, fetched and carried for them. To poor mad Anselmo, with his +antiquated inquisition and holy office, I became a bond-slave. I knew +you would come back hither, and now I can do with you as I will. How +much the Prior knows or suspects of this pleasant subterranean retreat I +am unable to determine. At any rate you cannot expect that he will be +very much delighted with your performances. But, mark you, it is I, and +not he, who will rack your body till you weep and howl for mercy. I have +studied these dainty instruments. I alone put them in order--I, Luis +Fernandez, whose home you broke up, whose house you burnt down to the +bare blackened walls, whom you made desolate of the love of woman----" + +"Nay," cried Rollo, hot on a sudden as El Sarria himself--"the love of +Dolores Garcia never was yours--no, nor ever would have been in a +thousand years!" + +"It would--I tell you!" responded Fernandez, as fiercely. "I know these +soft, still, easy-tempered women. They cannot do without a shoulder to +lean upon. In time she would have loved me--aye, and better than ever +she did that hulking man-mountain of a Garcia! Do you hear that?" + +Rollo heard but did not reply. + +"So this is my sweet revenge," Fernandez continued. "The good +Father-Confessor prates of heretics and times for repentance. But he is +mad--mad--mad as Don Quixote, do you understand? I, Luis Fernandez, am +not mad. But if you have any reason for desiring to live--live you +shall--_on my terms_. All I ask is that you answer me one question, or +rather two--as the price of your life." + +Only Rollo's eyes looked an interrogation. For the rest he held his +peace and waited. + +"Tell me where you have hidden Dolores Garcia--and at what hour, and in +what place Ramon, her husband, lays him down to sleep! If you declare +truthfully these two things, I promise to leave you with three days' +water and provisions, and to provide for your liberation at the end of +that time. If not, I bid you prepare to die, as the men died who have +lain where you lie now!" + +Rollo's answer came like the return of a ball at tennis. + +"Senor Don Luis," he said, "if I had ten Paradises from which to choose +my eternal pleasures, I would not tell you! If I had as many hells from +which to select for you the tortures of the damned, I would not speak a +word which might aid such a villain in his villany! Let it suffice for +you to know that Dolores Garcia is now where you will never reach her, +and as for her husband--why, you cowardly dog, asleep or awake, sick or +well, you dare not venture within a mile of him! Nay, I doubt greatly if +you dare even face him dead!" + +Fernandez rose and motioned his brother to the handle which turned the +great wooden wheel at Rollo's feet. Then the young man lay very still, +listening to the dismal groaning of the ungreased bearings and wondering +almost idly what was about to happen to him. + + * * * * * + +"God in Heaven, he is here! I tell you I heard him cry! Do you think I +do not know his voice? I will tear up the floor with my fingers, if you +do not make haste!" + +It was Concha who spoke or rather shouted these words along the +rabbit-warren of passages which ran this way and that under the Abbey of +Montblanch. + +But it had been through Ezquerra and La Giralda that the dread rumour of +danger to Rollo had first come to Sarria. The gipsies have strange ways +of knowledge--mole-runs and rat-holes beneath, birds of the air to carry +the matter above. Some servitor in the Monastery, with a drop of black +blood in him, had heard a word let fall by Don Tomas Fernandez in his +cups. The brothers, so he boasted, would not now have long to wait. The +cherry had dropped into their mouths of its own accord--thus Don Tomas, +half-seas-over, averred--or at least his confessorship would shake the +bough and the fruit would come down with a run. This silly Tomas also +knew who was to have Rollo's horse when all was over--a _tostado_ not +met with every day. + +It was enough--more than enough. From Sarria to Espluga in Francoli +Concha raged through the villages like fire through summer grass. The +Abbey--the Friars, the accumulated treasure of centuries, the power of +pit and gallows, of servitude and Holy Office--all these were to end on +the twentieth of the month. Meantime a man was being tortured, done to +death by ghouls--a friend of El Sarria, a friend of Jose Maria--nay, the +saviour of two Queens and the beloved of generals and Prime Ministers! +Would they help to save him? Ah, would they not! + +Other rumours came up, thick and rank as toadstools on dead wood. There +was such-an-one of the village of Esplena, such-an-other of Campillo in +the nether Francoli--they refused the Friars this, that, and the other! +Well, did not they enter the Monastery walls, never to be heard of more? + +Given the ignorant prejudices of villagers, the hopes of plunder +awakened by a lawless time and an uncertain government, Concha a +prophetess volleying threats and promises--and what wonder is it that in +an hour or two a band of a thousand men was pouring through the gates of +the great Abbey, clambering over the tiles, and with fierce outcries +diving down to the deepest cellars! But from gateway to gateway not a +brother was found. All had been warned in time. All had +departed--whither no man knew. + +El Sarria, by his reputation for desperate courage, for a while kept the +mob from deeds of violence and spoliation. But still Rollo was not +found. + +Concha, pale of face and with deep circles under her eyes, ran this way +and that, her fingers bleeding and bruised. In her despair she flung +herself upon one obstacle after another, calling for this door and that +to be forced. And strong men followed and did her will without halt or +question. + +But of all others it was the cool practical John Mortimer who hit upon +the trail. He remembered how, on their first visit to Montblanch, Rollo +himself, at a certain place near the door of the strong-room in which +the relics were kept, had declared that he heard a sound like a groan. +And there in that very place Concha was driven wild by hearing, she knew +not whence, the voice of her lover. It seemed to her that he called her +by name. + +Men ran for crowbars and forehammers. The floor was forced up by mere +strength of arm. The dislodging of a heavy stone gave access to an +underground passage, and men swarmed down one after the other, El +Sarria leading the way, a bar of iron like a weaver's beam in his hand. + +The searchers found themselves in a strange place. The vaulting which +they had broken through so rudely, enabled them to scramble downward +amongst great beams and wheels to a raised platform covered with +moth-eaten black. The groaning which Concha had heard was stilled, but +as El Sarria held up his hand for silence they could hear something +scuffling away along the dark passages like rats behind a wainscot. + +Without regarding for the moment something vague and indefinite which +lay stretched out on a strange mechanism of wood, El Sarria darted like +a sleuth-hound on the trail up one of the passages into which he had +seen a fugitive disappear. It was no long chase. The pursued doubled to +the right under a low archway. The dim passage opened suddenly upon a +kind of gallery, one side of which was supported on pillars and looked +out upon the great gulf of air and space on the verge of which the +Monastery was built. + +The quarry came into view as they reached the sunlight, dazzled and +blinking--a smallish lithe man, running and dodging with terror in his +eyes. But he was no match for his pursuer, and before he had gained the +end of the gallery, the giant's hand closed upon the neck of his enemy. + +Then Luis Fernandez, knowing his hour, screamed like a rabbit taken in a +snare. + +And through the manifold corridors of the Abbey, and up from +underground, rang the dread cry "Torture!" "They have been torturing him +to death in their accursed dungeons! Kill! Kill! Death to the Friars +wherever found!" + +For the blind mouths of down-trodden villages, long dumb, had at last +found a universal tongue. + +Ramon Garcia looked once only into the face which glared up at him. In +that glance Luis Fernandez read his fate. Without a word of anger or any +sound save his own footsteps, El Sarria walked to the nearest open +arcade of the gallery and threw his enemy over with one hand, with the +contemptuous gesture of a man who flings carrion to the dogs. + +Luis Fernandez fell six hundred feet clear and scarce knew that he had +been hurt. + +"God grant us all as merciful a death!" cried Concha; "little did he +deserve it!" + +They untied Rollo from the trestle work of the rack which the miller of +Sarria had used to gratify his revenge. At first he could not stand on +his feet. His hands trembled like aspen leaves, and he had perforce to +sit down and lean his head against Concha's shoulder. + +"Nay, do not weep, little one," he said, "I am not hurt. You came in +time! But" (here he smiled) "another turn of that wheel and I would have +told them all!" + +Meanwhile the hammers were clanging multitudinous. At the sight of +Rollo's pale drawn face the populace went wild. Their mad clamour rose +to heaven. All that night the great Abbey of Montblanch, with its +garniture of stall and chapel, carven reredos and painted picture, went +blazing up to the skies. + +At such times men knew no half measures, drew no fine distinctions. For, +especially in Spain, revolutions are never yet effected with a spray of +rose-water. The great Order of our Lady of Montblanch which had endured +a thousand years, perished in one day because of the vengeance of Luis +Fernandez and the madness of the priest Anselmo. + +Meanwhile, in the sacristy of a little chapel by the gate, safe from the +spoilers' hand, but lit irregularly by the bursting flames, and to which +the wild cries of the iconoclasts penetrated, Concha sat nursing Rollo. + +From time to time he would doze off, awaking with a start to find his +hand clasped in that of his betrothed. Her ear was very near his lips, +and when he wandered a little she soothed him with the tender croonings +of a mother over a sick child, moaning and cooing over him with +inarticulate love, her hands a hundred times lifted to caress him, but +ever fluttering aside lest they should awake the beloved from his +repose. + +"Who is it?" he said once, more clearly than usual, yet with remains of +fear in his eyes very pitiful to see. + +"It is I--Concha!" + +Ah, how soft, how tender at such times a woman's voice can be! The wind +in the barley, the dove calling her mate, the distant murmur of a +sheltered sea--these are not one-half so sweet. The angels' voices about +the throne--they are not so human. Children's voices at play--they have +known no sorrow, no sin. They are not so divine. + +"_It is I--Concha!_" + +"Ah, beloved, do not leave me--they may come again!" + +"_They cannot. They are dead!_" + +Keen as the clash of rapiers, triumphant as trumpets sounding the +charge, rang the voice that was erstwhile so soft, so tender. + +"All the same, do not leave me! I need you, Concha!" + +Who would have believed that this swift and resolute Rollo, this +firebrand adventurer of ours, would have been brought so low--or so +high. But his words were better than all sweet singing in the ears of +Concha Cabezos. She clasped his hand tightly and smiled. She would have +spoken but could not. + +"Ah--I knew you would not leave me!" he murmured, turning a little +towards her. "It was foolish to ask!" + +Then he was silent for a moment, and as she settled his head more easily +on an extemporised pillow, he glanced towards the closed shutters of the +little sacristy. + +"When will the morning come?" he asked wearily. + +For answer Concha threw open the outer door and the new-risen sun shone +full upon his pale face. + +"_The morning is here!_" she said, with all the glory of it in her +eyes. + + + + +CHAPTER L + +AVE CONCHA IMPERATRIX! + + +Thus ended the princely Abbey and its inmates. And so it stands unto +this day, a desolation of charred beams, desecrated altars, fire-scarred +walls roofless and weed o'ergrown, to witness if I lie. Time hath +scarcely yet set its least finger-mark upon it. Under the white-hot +southern sun and in that dry upland air, Montblanch may remain with +scarce a change for many a hundred years. Ezquerra's hammer strokes are +plain on the stones. The crowbar holes wherewith El Sarria drove out the +flagstones over the torture chamber--once called the Place of the Holy +Office--these any man may see who chooses to journey thither on +mule-back, jolting _tartana_, or by the plain-song office of +heel-and-toe. + +As to the brethren, they had had, thanks to Rollo Blair, due and +sufficient warning. They mounted their white mules and rode over the +mountains into France, by a secret way long settled upon and laid with +friendly relays of food and equipage. + +Only the Father-Confessor, the gloomy and fanatic Anselmo, was found +dead in his bed, whether from the excitement of reviving his ancient +functions of Inquisitor-in-Chief, or from poison self-administered was +never rightly known or indeed inquired into. Men had other things to +think of in those days. + +His body was hastily huddled into a grave in the cloister, where, +equally with those of mitred priors and nobles of twenty descents, you +may see the wild roses clambering about it in the spring. + +On the day which followed the great spoliation, a man limped painfully +and slowly along the ravine beneath the still smouldering turrets and +gables of Montblanch. From the despoiled Abbey a thin blue reek +disengaged itself lazily into the air far above him. The man was +following a path which passed along the side of the deep cleft. His +method of advance was at once skulking and arrogant. + +Thirty yards or so beneath him he saw a congregation of vultures, the +national and authorised scavengers of Spain. So thickly did these unholy +fowls cluster that the man, being evidently curious, was compelled to +throw several stones among them, before he could induce them to move +that he might catch a glimpse of their quarry. + +Then having made his observation, he said, "Ah, brother Luis, you that +were so clever and despised poor Tomas, giving him ever the rough word +and the bitter jest, hath not that same poor Tomas somewhat the best of +it now? He at least shall not be meat for vultures yet awhile. No, he +will drink many good draughts yet--that is, when he hath sold the +freehold of the mill and disposed of any outlying properties that are +left. Luis liked red wine, I liked white--and _aguardiente_. Ha, ha, +Luis will never again taste the flavour of the _Val-de-penas_ he was so +fond of, and so the more will be left for Tomas!" + +He stood and meditated awhile. Then he struck his pockets lugubriously. +"I wish I had a cup of good _aguardiente_ now," he muttered. Anon his +face brightened, as he looked at the dark object among the vulture folk. + +"_Caramba!_ I have it. It will help me over a difficulty. Brother Luis's +pockets were always well lined. The birds have no need of golden ounces +nor do they carry off silver _duros_. Besides, there is the key of the +strong box hidden in the ravine! Ah, I remember that he carried it about +his neck. These can do no good now to Luis, or indeed, for the matter of +that, to any vulture alive. It were only kind and fraternal to take such +things for a keepsake. I ever loved Luis. He was my favourite brother!" + +So saying, Don Tomas descended slowly and painfully to the body--for +indeed he had been roughly used by the mob before they brought him to El +Sarria, that the outlaw might do with him as with his brother. For they +wanted to see the sight. + +The vultures slowly and reluctantly withdrew on heavily flapping +pinions. + +"Ah," meditated Tomas, as he went placidly about his gruesome business, +"what a fine thing it is to be known for a man quiet and harmless. For +Ramon Garcia said to me with a wave of his hand, 'There is the door! Get +through it hastily and let me see your face no more!' Then to the robber +crew he said, 'Without his brother, senors, this fellow is as a serpent +without the fangs, harmless as a blade of grass among the stones which +the goats nibble as they wag their beards.'" + +So after a pause this most respectable man finished his task and went +his way, jingling full pockets and pleasing himself with meditations +upon the abiding usefulness of a good character and of being in all +things blameless, humble, and a man of peace. + + * * * * * + +There dwells an old peasant now at Montblanch who will act as your guide +for a _real_, and points you out the place before the great altar where +Ramon Garcia, sometime called El Sarria, cast himself down. Then he +shows you where the Abbot stood when he stopped the pursuit of the +outlaw to his own ultimate undoing. + +"Yes, Excellency," he says, in a voice like green frogs croaking in the +spring, "true it is as the sermon preached last Easter Day. For these +dim old eyes saw it--also the chamber of the relics I will show you, and +the cloisters with the grave of the Father-Confessor Anselmo. + +"And truly the devil's own work I have to keep that same reverend and +undefiled, for Anselmo was a man much hated. Yet as I think unjustly, +being mad and at the last not rightly responsible for his acts. But only +a stout stick will convince these young demons of the village that +thrice-blessed ground is not a draught-house wherein to play their evil +cantrips! I declare to the Virgin I have worn out an entire plantation +of saplings chasing them forth of the holy place." + +Last of all (but this will cost another _real_ and is worth the money) +the peasant-guide shows you the Place of the Holy Office. That black +stain against the wall is where they burnt the last rack in Spain. One +or two great wooden wheels with scarce a spoke remaining, loom up, +imagined rather than seen, in the dusky shadows above. + +"This way along a passage (take care of your honourable head!) and I +will show you the window from which Luis Fernandez was cast forth like +the evil spawn he was." + +"And was anything ever heard thereafter of the Prior or the Brethren?" +you ask, looking around on all the wasted splendour. + +The old man shakes his head, but there is something in his eye which, if +you are wise, causes you to slip him a piece of silver. + +"Nothing more," he says, "nothing!" + +Then looking about him cautiously, he adds, "But upon a certain evening +near the time of sundown there came one all clad in poor garments of +leather, worn and frayed. He wore a broad hat and the names of many holy +places were cut on his staff--altogether such a wandering pilgrim the +man was, as you may see at any fair in Spain. And very humbly the +penitent asked permission of me to view the ruins. So knowing him for a +pilgrim and thinking that perchance he desired to say a prayer in peace +before the great altar (and also because I had no expectations of a +gift), I let him go his way unattended, and so forgat about him. But +when I came up out of my vegetable garden a little after sunset to close +the great gate, such being the order of the Governor of the Province who +pays me a yearly stipend (four duros it is, and very little, but I +depend upon the generous charity of those who like your Excellency come +hither!)--well, as I say, coming out of my pottage garden I remembered +of this pilgrim. I went in search of him, and lo! he stood weeping in +the place where the Abbot's great chair had been. + +"Then looked I full in his face and all at once I knew him. It was Don +Baltasar Varela--of a surety the last Abbot of Montblanch. There was no +mistake. For many years I had known him as well as I knew my old dame. +And through his tears he also knew that I knew him. So he said +presently, 'Reveal not that I came hither, and I will give +thee--this--together with my blessing!' And with one hand he gave me a +golden ounce worth sixty _pesetas_ and more in these bad times. And with +the other, as I kneeled down (for I am a good Christian), he bestowed +upon me his episcopal blessing with two fingers outstretched, being as +you remember a bishop as well as an Abbot! Then after he had stood +awhile and the sun was quite gone down, Baltasar Varela, Abbot of +Montblanch--the last they say of eighty-four, went out into the +darkness, weeping very bitterly." + + * * * * * + +With the after history of the Queens Maria Cristina and Isabel the +Second, this historian is not concerned. Nor is it his to tell how, +greatly wronged and greatly tempted, the daughter followed all too +closely in the footsteps of her mother. Such things belong to history, +and especially to Spanish history--which, because of its contradictions +and pitiful humanities, is the most puzzling in the world. His business +is other and simpler. + +For a moment only he must lift the curtain, or rather a corner of +it--like one who from the stage desires to see how the house is filling, +or perchance to give the carpet a final tug for the characters to pair +off upon and make their farewell bows. + + * * * * * + +In another southern province far enough from the village of Sarria, +there is a white house with sentinels before it. They do not slouch as +they walk nor lean bent-backed against a pillar when nobody is looking, +as is the wont of Spanish sentries elsewhere. It is the house of the +Governor of the once turbulent province of Valencia. The Governor is +one General Blair, Duke of Castellon del Mar, and twice-hatted grandee +of Spain, but he is still known from Murcia even to Tarragona as "Don +Rollo." For he has cleared the southern countries of Carlists, put down +the Red Republicans of Valencia and Cartagena with jovial good humour, +breaking their heads affectionately with his stout oak staff when they +rioted. They had grown accustomed to being shot in batches, and rather +resented the change at first, as reflecting on their seriousness. +However, they have since come to understand the firebrand General and to +like him. Usually they favour him with a private message a day or two +before they intend to make a revolution. Whereupon Rollo goes himself +into the woods and cuts himself a new stick of satisfactory proportions. + +In this manner he has survived an abdication, two dictatorships, and a +restoration with undiminished credit, chiefly by holding his province +easily and asking from Madrid neither reinforcements of soldiers nor of +money. + +His wife is not receiving to-day, but in English fashion there are a few +friends who drop in for dinner, _habitues_ of the house, beloved +comrades of Don Rollo's with whom (for the Senora is the old Concha +still) his wife flirts a little, chats a great deal, and gives the best +advice in return for boundless admiration and delight in her beauty and +wit. + +"Dolores," she says to a friend who has arrived and sits patiently +folding her little hands on a sofa, "it was pretty of you to come in +such a lovely gown--just to please those poor old bachelors. Here, +Etienne, hold the baby, and be sure not to drop him, sir. There--what +did I tell you? You have made him cry! Monster! Well, he shall be sent +away, sweetest pet, that he shall! He is a buffalo of the _marisma_, a +tiger of the jungle, an ogre out of a story book--that he is, sweetest! +There, La Giralda, take the darling away! Oh, and give him--but stay--I +too will come, else the little villain may howl till midnight." + +She continues to talk quickly as she goes toward the door. + +"What a voice--just like his father's when he is in the place of arms +and the men do not please him! There--sweetest" (she goes behind the +curtain), "there----!" + +And, contented, the young man stills that parade voice of his into +gentle murmurings like those of a bee within the bell of a flower. + +Presently a tall young man comes striding in, in a plain uniform with +the starred shoulder-straps of the highest rank. Behind him is a +broad-chested, deep-bearded veteran, his chest blazing with decorations. + +The younger man, whose hair gives promise of early threads of grey, +enters with swift impetuosity, dashing a chance servitor out of the way +and opening the inner door as if a gust of wind had come rioting through +the corridors. + +"Where is Concha?" he cries as soon as he enters. + +"Here!" replies a voice, a little muffled, it is true, from a +neighbouring room; "no, stay where you are! I shall be back in a +moment." + +"Ah, Etienne--John, how are you? Have they given you any breakfast? +Etienne, any more loves? There are four pretty girls in the Plaza +Villarasa. I saw them on the balcony as I rode through with the Sagunto +regiment the other day----" + +"Trust him for that!" comes the voice from behind the curtain. + +"My Lord Duke," says Etienne in a master-of-ceremonies' voice, "so long +as I am permitted daily to gaze upon the beauty of your incomparable +wife, how can this heart turn from that to the admiration of any meaner +object?" + +"What nonsense is he talking now?" asks Concha, returning demurely. "I +know at least three girls of this city of Valencia who have the best +reasons for expecting M. de Saint Pierre to make proposals for the +honour of their hands. But what can you expect of such a wretch?" + +"Well, Master Etienne," says Rollo, "you will now have a chance to +forget Mistress Concha and make some fair Castilian happy. For I must +send you immediately with these despatches to Madrid. You will stay a +week and return with the answers. That will give such a lady-killer +ample time to bring matters to a head with the most hard-hearted of the +senoritas of the capital." + +"Ah," sighs Etienne, kissing a hand to Concha, as he prepares to take +his leave, "your husband wrongs me. He who hath so much, misjudges me +who have so little! Truly, I shall be soon able to say, turning about +the old catch: + + "'_My soul is in Valencia, + My body is in Madrid!_'" + +"Well, John, this is great seeing," said Rollo, when Etienne had +departed to busy himself about horses and an escort; "what in the world +has brought you hither? Surely your father cannot want you to make +another thousand pounds in order that you may have the right to attend +his twirling spindles from 8.30 every morning to 5.30 every night?" + +"Oh, I am a partner now," Mortimer answered, "even though the old boy +insisted upon pocketing every penny of the profit on the Abbot's +_Priorato_. Strict man of business, my father! He said it would teach me +in the future to be spry about getting my goods shipped. And when I +explained, he only said that what had been possible for him there in +England, sitting at ease in his arm-chair, ought to have been possible +for me on the spot and with money in my pocket!" + +"And what did you do?" asked Rollo, smiling. + +"Well, at any rate, I struck him for a commission on my having secured +the order, and the Convent onions were good for the rest. So now I am a +partner in the firm with a good quarter interest." + +"And what are you doing here? More onions?" laughed his friend. + +John blushed and looked down at the carpet. They had a carpet at the +Governor's house--though in her heart Concha always wants to have it up +when any one comes in lest they should tread upon it. + +"No," he said slowly, "the fact is I think you spoiled me a bit for +staying at home, mill hours--and that sort of thing. So now I am to be +foreign agent and buyer. I've been taking lessons in the language, and +if you can put any business in my way, I shall be glad." + +Rollo took him to the window by the arm. + +"Do you see those fellows?" he demanded. + +As he spoke he pointed to a detail of the wiry little Valencian +soldiers in their white undress blouses and _bragas_. + +"Now, John," he went on, "I can't get stuff here that won't tear the +first time they do the goose-step or even sneeze extra hard. The +contractors are thieves every man Jack. What can you do for me? I have +twenty thousand of these fellows and lots more coming on, down in the +_huertas_ and rice fields!" + +"Heavens!" cried John Mortimer, "this is an order indeed. Wait! I will +let you know my best possible in a moment!" + +And he pulled out a notebook crammed with figures. + +"I can give you very good terms indeed," he said after a moment. + +Concha jumped to her feet and clapped her hands. + +"Oh," she cried joyously, "and I know Senor de Mendia, the head of the +Customs. And oh, Rollo, you and he can arrange about getting it through, +and all my dress materials as well. It will be quite an addition to our +income, if Don Juan sells you the stuff cheap!" + +For an instant Rollo looked a little indignant and then went up to his +wife and kissed her. + +"My dear," he said, "you can never understand! We don't do these things +in our country!" + +At which John grinned incredulously. + +"I have done business in Glasgow," he said suggestively. + +"At any rate," said Rollo, nettled, "_I_ don't do them." + +Here Concha pouted adorably, and with her slippered toe kicked a +footstool which certainly was not doing her any harm. + +"I am sure we are very poor!" she cried. "I wish that wretch Ezquerra, +whom they have made a General of, had given us much more than he did. I +think you should write to him, Rollo!" + +"Better keep friends with Ezquerra," laughed the Governor; "you and I +are rich enough, Concha, and baby shall have an ivory ring to cut his +teeth upon. You shall have one new dress a year, and there are always +enough vegetables in the garden with which to toss you up a salad. Oh, +we shall live, spoilt one, we shall live!" + +And he kissed her, not heeding the others. + +"But why must we keep in with Ezquerra?" said Concha, still unsatisfied; +"he was an executioner once." + +"Well," said Rollo, "the fellow has been at his old trade again, it +seems. He may be Dictator any day now. They say he has ended the war in +the north--murdered fourteen of his own brother Generals and bought +fourteen of the other side. Bravo, Ezquerra, I always knew he would do +something in the fine old style one of these days! But fourteen at a +time is epic, even for Spain!" + +"And so the war is ended--well, that is always one good thing anyway!" +said Concha, careless of the means; "come, Dolores, let us go and look +at the babes! These people ache to talk politics. They don't want us. It +is easy to see that!" + +So taking the arm of Dolores Garcia (who had glanced once at her husband +when he came in and never looked at him again), little Concha walked to +the door sedately as became a matron and the wife of a grandee. Then in +her old flashing manner she turned about swiftly and from her +finger-tips blew the company a dainty collective kiss. + +The curtain closed, leaving the three men all staring after her. + +But in another moment it was put aside and Concha's pretty head peeped +out. + +"Rollo," she said, softly, "you can come up when you like--when you have +quite finished your politics--just to look at baby. He has not seen you +since morning." + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FIREBRAND*** + + +******* This file should be named 33602.txt or 33602.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/3/6/0/33602 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://www.gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://www.gutenberg.org/about/contact + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: +http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + |