"You're a scoundrel," replied a soldier.

"Hearkee, little fellow; you're all of a tremble, and the b.a.l.l.s you shoot go wide of the mark."

"Try this one then!"

"No, sir!... it didn't hit.... If I had ten men with me how you would all scatter, you lapdogs!"

"Do what you please, boys!... Kill that whelp!" cried the lieutenant at the height of irritation.

The soldiers broke for the mountain, and began to climb it with the agility of wildcats. The rage which possessed them redoubled their powers. But at the same time the lieutenant, s.n.a.t.c.hing a musket from one of the soldiers, levelled at Don Cesar and brought him down.

"That'll do, boys!... Come back!... the hawk is winged at last," he cried in triumphant accents.

"It only wounded my leg; ... my bill is whole yet," replied the ringleader, with hoa.r.s.e voice.

And in truth, though his hip was shot through, he managed to raise himself up and load his musket, which he instantly fired at those who were coming up against him. They roared with rage as they pulled themselves up by the ferns, or dug their fingers into the moss to climb faster.

"Come, come, you cowards," screamed Don Cesar, likewise maddened with rage. "Come and learn how to fight!... You see how a Carlist officer makes war!... You see how he is equal to fifty republicans!... To-morrow tell your exploit to General b.u.m b.u.m who sent you!... Let 'em give you the laurel wreath, you heroes! Now here goes a shot for Don Carlos!...

Ah! I know how you are taking off a girl as prisoner, you brave warriors of the republic!... Here goes another for Dona Margarita!... Did the pill taste bad, eh, fellow?... Oh, how glad I am to see you! _Viva Carlos!_ ..."

He was not allowed to finish. A soldier who had reached the summit put the muzzle of his gun to his forehead and blew off his head, saying,--

"Die, you hog!"

He killed him without heeding the voices of his comrades, who said, "Leave him for me! Leave him for me!"

As they reached him with pale cheeks and bloodshot eyes, they all discharged their guns at the lifeless body of the terrible ringleader, quickly destroying it in the most horrible manner. When that act of barbarism, inspired by wrath, was accomplished, the soldiers remained silent. Their irritation being calmed, they began to realize how they had been fighting with one single man, and they were dissatisfied with themselves. In spite of themselves they felt stirred to admiration.

"The old man had gall," said one, as he wiped off a few drops of blood which had spattered into his face.

"He was well quit of his life," declared a second.

"The truth is, that taking them one at a time, that old man would have swallowed this whole division, uniform and all," said a third, finally; and no one uttered a protest.

In the company there were one killed and five wounded, as the result of the skirmish. They placed them all, as well as they could, on improvised stretchers, and again took up the line of march. Not only the soldiers, but the prisoners, plodded on in silence and melancholy, profoundly impressed by the tragic event which had just occurred.

The night was still as calm and bright as before, and in the zenith the moon, which had just been lighting that unequal combat with her soft poetic beams, still shed them upon the company slowly ascending the highway, and upon the livid, dismembered corpse which they had left behind on the crag. The struggles, the joys, the griefs of us poor devils who creep on the earth, what worth have they? what do they signify before the august serenity of the heavens? For them the fall of an empire and the fall of a leaf are of equal consequence; for them the sigh of a maiden in love and the groan of a dying man are alike in sound. "Nature is deaf," said the great Leopardi, "and cannot pity."

But Maria walked along with her eyes fixed on the sky, regarding it with far different thoughts. There where the poet found nothing but a blind will, incapable of good, the pious girl saw a foreseeing and merciful G.o.d, as merciful as terrible, who received the good into his bosom, and sent the wicked to eternal torment--a G.o.d, who, like ourselves, was appeased by prayers and tears. She felt stirred as she thought of the fate which the soul of him who had just died would meet in presence of divine justice, and by a quick, spontaneous movement of her heart, she said in a loud, clear voice:--

"For the soul of the departed Don Cesar Pardo: Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven." The prisoners began to pray with fervor.

Some of the soldiers did the same. Then they relapsed into silence as they marched along, and nothing was heard but the sound of labored breathing, and occasionally the complaints of the wounded, not very well accommodated in their litters. At last they crossed the highest point of the watershed, and began to descend toward the wide valley of * * *. The dawn was already appearing in the confines of the east. The dull blue of the sky in that quarter was fading into a pale, melancholy light, which at the same time blotted out the sparkling stars. The travellers felt a chill, unpleasant breath of wind which turned their noses and hands purple. Very soon a great golden fringe spread over the eastern hills, and the band could regard at their pleasure the valley stretching out at their feet, where the green of the meadows and the yellow of the plowed lands shone in mult.i.tudinous tones, coa.r.s.e or soft, like a rich mantle of brocade. A few tufts of cloud were slowly rising from the depths of the streamlets which furrowed it; and yonder, in the west, a great curtain of black mountains, on whose summits the snow still gleamed white, shut it in abruptly, casting across it a great mantle of shadow.

In spite of this shadow, the eyes of the travellers who knew the region could distinguish in the very edge of the black curtain the spire of the proud tower of the cathedral of * * *. The prisoners and their guards reached the plain, and crossed the valley from one end to the other, expending much time in the transit, princ.i.p.ally because of the care required by the wounded. Finally, at eight o'clock in the morning, they reached the first houses of the suburb of * * *.

The inhabitants of the capital had heard of the sudden blow struck by the military governor against the Carlists of Nieva, and a great throng, collected in the streets, was impatiently waiting to see the prisoners pa.s.s by. It was composed almost entirely of what, during the revolutionary period, was called the sovereign people; that is, of all the ragam.u.f.fins and rough-scuff of the city, together with quite a number of respectable people, though loungers, and almost all the _ladies_ of the suburbs.

On seeing the band from afar, the mult.i.tude was stirred tempestuously, and there arose a dull, universal clamor:--

"There they are now! There they are now!"--"I was told that they intended to a.s.sa.s.sinate all the liberals of Nieva last night."--"Ah! the rascals! Fortunate they fell beforehand into the trap!"

"They must be undeceived," declared a fat and highly-colored caballero, with a good-natured face; "all the Carlists are either rascals or fools.

I would not employ any other means with them than extermination.... Fire and sword!"

"Let us sing them _El tragala_ when they pa.s.s," said a ragged lad to two other swells accompanying him.

The people pressed close as the band approached, those who could finding standing-room on the street-walls and the trees along the way. On seeing the wounded, and learning through the curt account of some soldier about the incident of Don Cesar, the inquisitive citizens felt justified in manifesting their indignation, and though at first they contented themselves with giving each other the benefit of their hostile thoughts, finally they began to belch forth against the prisoners furious insults, apostrophizing them in loud tones, as though they had all received from their hands some wrong. Thus they continued escorting them through the streets of the city, their fury and indignation ever on the increase, until words were not enough to satisfy them. The prisoners marched with sunken heads and flushed faces.

"Oh, you hypocrites! saint-killers!" shouted one at them; "may the day soon come when we shall see you strung up!"

"See how those cursed rascals[65] hang their heads! If they had us in their fists the meanest of them would be happier."

"Now cry 'Long live Carlos Seventh,' you rubbish!" But the popular fury was most madly excited against Maria. Neither her youth, nor her beauty, nor her weakness, served to spare her from ferocious, filthy insults.

"Who is that woman with 'em? They say she's a saint."--"Yes, a saint, but she's a loose character!"--"See here, wench, if you are hunting for a husband, you'll find one here!"--"That one needs a few dozen lashes!"--"See what hypocritical eyes the harridan[66] has!"

It is easy to appreciate the state of disturbance, wrath, anguish, and excitement which overmastered Don Mariano Elorza, at being obliged to listen to these rude remarks. In his impotent rage he bit his hands and stopped his ears, fearing that his blood would boil over and lead him to do something endangering his daughter's life.

As we have already said, the crowd, not content with flinging insults, took it into their heads to indulge in brutal treatment of them. One rough youth gave the example by hurling a piece of orange. Many others followed his example, and there fell on the unfortunate prisoners a hailstorm of projectiles, more disgusting, it must be confessed than deadly. However, a cabbage stalk thrown violently, hit Maria in the face and made her lips bleed.

Oh! then the unhappy Don Mariano's fury burst forth, terrible and resistless, as the sea in its moments of tempests, as a volcano in eruption. His athletic figure fell upon the group of loungers nearest him, and he annihilated it with his onslaught, scattering the men on the ground as though they had been made of straw; those who were left on their feet fled without awaiting a second attack. The Senor de Elorza would have made his way through the whole crowd, but meeting with resistance in the serried ranks, he grasped the throat of the first ruffian at hand and would have surely choked him to death, had not the soldiers come to his aid and pushed back the angry father. His wrath then broke out in a storm of frenzied words, which brought the throng to silence.

"Guttersnipes! vile guttersnipes! cowards! beasts!... If they had not prevented me, I would have pulled your tongues out, one at a time....

You have wounded my daughter.... Didn't you know she was my daughter, you rascals! Here you showed your valor, you bullies! why don't you go to Navarra to fight with armed men, instead of attacking the defenceless?... Because you are cowards!... An indecent rabble that ought to be scattered with whips! If there be among you any one worthy of meeting me, let him come out so that I can spit in his face.... Let go of me, let go of me, for G.o.d's sake! Let me kill one of these pimps who have wounded my daughter. Let me go, senores, let me go!..."

Don Mariano struggled to tear himself from the arms of the soldiers. The rabble who had fallen back before his attack, seeing him in custody, recovered from their alarm, and crowded back again like basilisks, foaming at the mouth with rage.

"This old c.o.xcomb insults the people!"--"He's a crazy fool!"--"It's a shame for the people to be so insulted!"--"Why don't you kill this knave!"--"Kill him, yes, kill him!"--"Kill him!"--"Kill him!"

And the throng pressed up to the band closer and closer, though slowly, like an ocean of waves swelling and threatening, and would soon have put an end to Don Mariano and the prisoners, had not the lieutenant prevented such an act of barbarism by shouting at the top of his voice,--

"Attention, company--ready--aim!"

Then the swelling waves subsided as by magic. The lieutenant's voice was Neptune's _sed motos prestat componere fluctus_. The sovereign people turned tail, and saying in their hearts "escape if you can," started to run in all directions, tripping up here, and scrambling to feet again there. And it is reported that His Majesty ran so fast and so far, that in less than three minutes he disappeared from before the guns of the military.

Thanks to this, the prisoners were left in peace until they reached the prison, where they were lodged in a great hall, filthy enough, with a wooden floor, filled with rat-holes in many places. Maria was a.s.signed a separate room, comparatively clean and comfortable.

The hour set for the hearing before the council of war was twelve o'clock; and when the clock struck, the prisoners, perfectly guarded, were transferred to a handsomely decorated salon in the building where it met. The officers composing it were seated behind a long table, covered with red damask trimmed with gold lace, under a velvet canopy which, in other times, before we had the republic, had served to give regality and prestige to the portrait of the king. The presiding officer was the military governor, who was anxious to have done with the business in a rapid and violent manner. He wished to inflict exemplary punishment upon all of the conspirators, or, what is the same thing, "not to leave a mannikin with his head on," to use his own words. He was a chubby man, with great blub-cheeks and a thin mustache: a perfect image of what we, and likewise the Commandant Ramirez, and the lieutenant of the convoy, have already called him. The other officers had absolutely nothing remarkable in their faces: coa.r.s.e features, black eyes, twisted mustachios, sharp-pointed goatees, commonplace faces, on the whole, though manly. At first sight, it was evident that they wore their togas broad. When the prisoners entered, the doors and the standing-room of the building were invaded by a great crowd, not so rude and low as that of the morning; it was made up of people of more respectability,--students for the most part, hidalgos and officeholders.

This throng preserved a thoughtful, compa.s.sionate silence at seeing them enter.

They were introduced one at a time in the great hall of state. The captain, who acted as prosecutor,[67] took their depositions, having before him doc.u.ments in proof of the crime. The members of the Carlist committee of Nieva gave their testimony as best suited their ideas of propriety, denying the majority of the counts, astutely pleading guilty to others, and, in fine, doing all in their power to be let off easily.

The fat-cheeked brigadier lost his temper not a few times during the course of the hearing, interrupting the prosecutor to launch harsh apostrophes at the prisoners, and threatening to have them shot in the interim, if they did not reveal all the minutiae and ramifications of the conspiracy; but he accomplished little by his intimidations. When Maria's turn came, he smiled sarcastically, and said with rough irony,--

"Have the goodness to draw near, senorita, and to reply to the questions which this caballero capitan will put to you."

"What is your name?" asked the prosecutor.

"Maria de Elorza y Valcarcel."

"_De, dee, dee_," snorted the brigadier, "always the same aristocratic pretensions!"