than I have bell buttons on my jacket. And now, when the war is over,
he has still a troublesome game to play in striving to please his
hot-headed commanding-officer and lady wife, whom it would be considered
a mortal sin to baste with a buff strap, as I may do Ignesa when she
becomes my helpmate and better half. Pedro's honours weigh heavily upon
him, and he has many folks to please; whereas I have none to humour save
myself, and perhaps that stubborn jade _Capitana_, my leading mule, or
Ignesa of Majorga, who gets restive, too, sometimes, and refuses to obey
either spur or bridle. But my long whip, and a smart rap from my
_cajado_, soothe the mule, and my sweet guitar and merry madrigal, the
maiden. I am a thousand times happier than Pedro! I never could endure
either domestic or military control, and would rather be Lazaro Gomez,
with his whip and his mules, than the stately king of the Spanish
nation. I have the bright sun, the purple wine, my cigar, and the
red-cheeked peasant-girls to kiss and dance with,--and what would mortal
man have more? _Bueno_!"
He concluded by throwing himself into an attitude, and flourishing his
sombrero round his head with a theatrical air. Ronald smiled; but he
thought that, notwithstanding all this display, and Lazaro's frequent
assertions that he was happier than Pedro, a little envy continued to
lurk in a corner of his merry and honest heart.
"But has Pedro never done aught for you, Lazaro, in all his good
fortune?" asked Ronald.
"Oh, senor! his lady wife, disliking that her brother-in-law should be
treading a-foot over sierra and plain at a mule's tail, gave me the post
of _Escrivano del Numero_ at Truxillo, which I kept for somewhere about
eight weeks. But I always grew sad when I heard the merry jangle of
mules' bells; and one morning, unable to restrain myself longer, I
tossed my Escrivano's cope and rod to _Satanas_, seized my whip and
sombrero, and once more took to the road as a merry-hearted muleteer of
Merida, and neither Pedro nor the condessa have been able to catch me
since."
"I am happy to find you are such a philosopher," said Ronald, with a
sigh, which was not unnoticed by the muleteer.
"I could say that, _Senor Caballero_, which would make you far happier,"
said he, with a glance of deep meaning. "But," he added, pointing to
the armed bandit, who kept a look-out on the bartizan near them, "but
there are unfriendly ears near us."
"Speak fearlessly, Lazaro!" said Ronald eagerly, while his heart bounded
with expectation. "I know that rascal to be a Guipuscoan, who
understands as little of pure Castilian as of Greek. In heaven's name,
Lazaro, what have you to tell me? I implore you to speak!"
"Senor," said the muleteer, lowering his voice to a whisper, "you have
thrice asked me about Don Alvaro, and I have thrice delayed to tell you
what I know: good news should be divulged cautiously. Well, senor, the
famous cavalier of Estremadura has encamped three hundred horse and foot
among the mountains near Elizondo. He comes armed with a commission
from the king, and his minister Don Diego de Avallo, to root out and
utterly destroy this nest of wasps, or _cientipedoros_. The place is to
be assailed about midnight; so look well to yourself, senor, that the
villains do not poniard you in the fray; and, if you have any
opportunity to aid us, I need not ask you to do so. I am to be Don
Alvaro's guide, as I know every foot of ground hereabout as well as I do
at Merida, having paid toll here twenty times. But this will be my last
visit of the kind; and I came hither only to reconnoitre and learn their
pass-word, in case it should be needed. Keep a brave spirit in your
breast for a few hours longer, senor, and perhaps, when the morning sun
shines down the long valley yonder, Alosegui and his comrades will be
hanging round the battlement, like beads on a chaplet. I pray to the
Santa Gadea of Burgos that the night be dark, that we may the more
easily take the rogues by surprise."
Ronald's astonishment and joy at the sudden prospect of liberation
revealed to him by Lazaro Gomez, deprived him of the power of utterance
for a time. He was about to display some extravagant signs of pleasure,
and to embrace the muleteer, when the keen cold glance of the Guipuscoan
bandit, who was watching them narrowly, recalled him to a sense of his
danger. He almost doubted the reality of the story, and narrowly
examined the broad countenance of the burly muleteer; but truth and
honesty were stamped on every line of it. The horizon of Ronald's
fortune was about to clear up again. He felt giddy--almost stunned with
the suddenness of the intelligence, and his heart bounded with the
wildest exultation at the prospect of speedy liberty, and of vengeance
for the thousands of insults to which he had been subjected while a
prisoner in the Torre de los Frayles.
When Lazaro departed, Stuart gave him the only token he could send to
Don Alvaro,--a button of his coat, bearing a thistle and the number
"92." He desired him to acquaint the cavalier that it would be
requisite to provide planks to cross the chasm before the tower,
otherwise the troops would fail to take its inmates by surprise.
This advice was the means of saving Stuart's life at a very critical
juncture.
*CHAPTER VII.*
*SPANISH LAW.*
"Hard the strife, and sore the slaughter,
But I won the victory,--
Thanks to God, and to the valour
Of Castilian chivalry."
_The Cid Rodrigo._
As nearly as Ronald could judge by the position of the sun,--being
without a watch,--it was about the hour of three in the afternoon when
Lazaro departed.
It was yet nine hours to midnight, and although that time seemed an age
to look forward to, yet so full was his mind of joy, and crowding
thoughts of gladness, hopes, and fears, that evening surprised him long
before he imagined it to be near; and he had much ado in preserving his
usual cold and serene look, and concealing the tumult of new ideas which
excited him from the insolent bravoes, who were continually swaggering
about, and, according to their usual wont, jostling him rudely at every
corner and place where he encountered them. To remonstrate would have
been folly, and to these petty annoyances he always submitted quietly.
On this last eventful evening he submitted to the penance of dining at
the same table with the banditti, and even condescended to 'trouble' his
friend the padre for a piece of broiled kid; but, as soon as the repast
was ended, he withdrew to the tower-head. He preferred to be alone,
almost dreading that his important secret might be read by Alosegui,
Cifuentes, or any other who bent his scowling and lack-lustre eyes upon
him.
At times, too, there came into his mind a doubt of the truth of Lazaro's
story; but that idea was too sickening to bear, and he dismissed it
immediately.
The sun had set. Masses of dun clouds covered the whole sky, which
gradually became streaked with crimson and gold to the westward, where
the rays of the sun yet illumined and coloured the huge mountains of
vapour, although his light was fast leaving the earth.
The appearance of the sky and aspect of the scenery were wonderful and
glorious. The whole landscape was covered with a red hue, as if it had
been deluged by a red shower. The mountain streamlet wound through the
valley of the Torre de los Frayles, like a long gilded snake, towards
the base of a dark mountain, where appeared part of the Bidassoa,
gleaming under the warm sky like a river of liquid fire. Beautiful as
the scene was, Ronald seemed too much occupied with his own stirring
thoughts to admire it, or to survey any part with curiosity, save that
which, by gradually assuming a more sombre hue, announced the approach
of night. It was not easy for him to observe a landscape with an
artist's eye, while placed in the predicament in which he then found
himself.
He remembered, with peculiar bitterness, the countless mortifications
and insults which he had received from Alosegui, the padre, and many
others, and he contemplated with gloomy pleasure the display which these
master-rogues would make when receiving, by the cord or the bullet, the
just reward of all their enormities. He remembered with pleasure that
he had never broken the parole of honour he had pledged to these
miscreants,--and truly he had been sorely tempted. Owing to their
irregular and dissipated course of life, more than one opportunity of
escape and flight had presented itself.
"I expect a storm to-night, senor," said Gaspar, breaking in abruptly on
his meditations.
"Indeed, senor!"
The other swore a mighty oath, which I choose not to repeat. "_San
Stephana el Martir! si, senor_,--and no ordinary storm either. We shall
miss our prize of a rich hidalgo of Alava, who, with an escort of twenty
armed men, would have departed to-night from a posada a few miles from
this, and meant to bivouac at a place on the hill-side, of which the
inn-keeper, who is an old friend of mine, sent us all due notice. Look
you: _hombre!_ the sky grows dark almost while we look upon it, and the
clouds, in masses of black and red, descend on every side, like gloomy
curtains, to shut out the sun from our view, and the wind, which blows
against our faces, seems like the very breath of hell! Pooh! this is
just such a night as one might expect to see our very good friend the
devil abroad."
"He is no friend of mine, Senor Alosegui, although he may be a
particular one of yours," said Ronald with a smile.
"By the holy house of Nazareth!" swore the bandit, "you may come to a
close acquaintance with him after you have served for a time, as I
expect you shall, in our honourable company."
"Well; but what of the storm?" asked Ronald, more interested about that,
and unwilling to quarrel with his captor when there was so near a
prospect of release. "What leads you to suppose there will be one
to-night?"
"These few rain-drops now falling are large and round; hark, how they
splash on the battlement! The valley, the sierra, the tower, the river,
and every thing bear a deep saffron tint, partaking of the hue of the
troubled sky. _Santos!_ we shall have a storm roaring among the
mountains and leaping along the valleys to-night, which will cause the
old droning monks at Maya to grow pale as they look upon each other's
fat faces, and while they mumble their _aves_, count their beads, and
bring forth the morsel of the true cross to scare away _Satanas_ and his
imps of evil. By-the-by, speaking of Maya reminds me of your case,
senor. A train of mules, which crossed the Pyrenees without paying us
our customary toll, are on their return homeward from Bayonne to Maya,
laden with the very best of all the good things this world affords for
the use of the pious and abstaining fathers of the convent of Saint
Francis. Forty men, commanded by Narvaez Cifuentes, will set out
to-morrow to meet our friends in the Pass of Maya, and a sharp
engagement will probably take place. A priest is with them; on his
shoulder he bears the banner of Saint Francis of Assissi, but if they
imagine that we hidalgos of fortune will respect it, the holy fathers
are wofully mistaken. The mules are escorted by a party of armed
peasants, commanded by an old acquaintance of Gorgorza, the padre Porko,
who is as brave as the Cid, and has served with honour in the guerilla
bands during the war of independence. The muleteers are all stout
fellows, too, and being well armed with _cajados, trabucas_, and long
knives, will likely show fight,--and, truly, Narvaez will see some sharp
work. Now, hark you, senor; if you are willing to join him and his brave
companions, you will have an opportunity of making your first essay as a
cavalier of fortune under a very distinguished commander. Do this,
senor, and you will live among us honoured and respected, as an equal, a
friend, and a brave comrade. If you fall in conflict, all is at an end;
but if taken by the authorities, to suffer martyrdom by the law on the
gallows, the _garrote_, or the wheel, then you will have the glory of
dying amid a vast multitude, upon whose sympathy the fame of your
exploits will draw largely. You like not my proposition? Well, _senor
caballero_, I have to acquaint you that I shall not be able to resist
the fierce importunities of Narvaez Cifuentes, and those who are his
particular friends. Their poniards are ready to leap from their
scabbards against you now,--now that all chance of your being ransomed
has failed. I have a sort of friendship for you, senor, because, instead
of supplicating for life, you have rather seemed to defy fearlessly the
terrors of death; the which stubborness of soul, if it wins not the
pity, certainly excites the admiration of the jovial _picaros_, my
comrades. You are a fine fellow over the chessboard or wine-cup, and
your bearing would be complete if you would follow the example of
Cifuentes, and swear and swagger a little at times. But you will
acknowledge that the flowing ease of action and expression which
distinguishes that accomplished cavalier, are difficult of imitation."
"I must confess they are, Senor Gaspar," replied Ronald, who could
scarcely help smiling at the other's manner, which had in it a strange
mixture of impudence, and part serious, part banter. "But I have really
no desire to become the pupil of your friend."
"As you please, _amigo mio_; as you please," replied Alosegui, speaking
slowly as he puffed at his cigar; for, like a true Spaniard, he smoked
from the time he opened his eyes in the morning till he closed them
again at night. "I once saw you perform the bandit to the very life in
the* Posada de los Representes* at Aranjuez, when the British officers
acted _La Gitana_, and some of Lope de Vega's pieces, for the amusement
of themselves and the ladies of the city. You are a superb imitator,
and, under the tuition of Narvaez, would, I doubt not, fulfil my utmost
expectations."
"The devil take Narvaez!" muttered Ronald, who was getting impatient of
Gaspar's style of speech.
"All in good time," said the other quietly. "You have been enemies of
old, I believe; some affair of rivalry, in which Cifuentes was
successful. I understand perfectly; but in our community among the
Pyrenees here, we have no such petty feelings of dislike. However,
senor," continued the robber, suddenly changing his satirical tone for a
stern and bullying one; "however, I would have you to think well of all
I have said, as I should be sorry to see your bones cast into the vast
depth of the chasm, to swell the grisly company there. So give me a
definite answer to-morrow, senor, before Narvaez departs for Maya, or
fatal results may ensue."
He flourished the paper cigar which he held between two fingers and
withdrew, nodding significantly as his tall and bulky figure descended
the narrow staircase leading down from the paved roof of the tower.
Ronald, who was glad of his strange friend's departure, turned again to
watch the long vista of the valley, which was now involved in darkness.
He would probably have remained there till midnight, but he was soon
compelled to follow Alosegui, as the storm, which had long been
threatening, now descended in all its fury.
The atmosphere became dense and close, while the sky grew rapidly darker
and darker, till it assumed the dreary blackness of a winter night, and
an ocean of rain descended on the earth with such violence, that it was
a wonder the little tower was not levelled beneath it like a house of
cards. The thunder-peals were grand and sublime: louder and louder than
a thousand broadsides, they roared as if heaven and earth were coming
together.
The banditti grew pale as they viewed each other's grim visages in the
blue glare of the lightning. They grew pale as death, and their "felon
souls" quaked within them, for there is a terrible something in the
sound of thunder, which appals most men. It seems like God's own voice
speaking in the firmament.
But Alosegui called for lights and for liquor, and pig-skins and jars
were speedily set abroach; the half-ruined hall was soon illuminated by
candles of all sorts and sizes, which streamed and guttered, untrimmed
and unheeded, in the currents of air that passed freely through the
place, although the crazy windows were covered up with boards, and
stuffed with cloaks, bags of straw, &c. to keep out the wind and rain.
Assembled in the dilapidated hall, if it deserved such a name, the
banditti withdrew their guards and scouts, and forgot the storm without
amid the laughter and brutal uproar of their carousal. Wine and the
strong heady _aguadiente_--a liquor not unlike Scottish whisky,--were
flowing like water, and the noise within the Torre de los Frayles almost
equalled the uproar of the elements without.
Ronald's spirits fell, and he grew sad; he expected that there would be
no attack that night, and he pitied the unfortunate soldiers who were
exposed on a night-march to such a storm. From old experience he well
knew the misery of such a duty. He withdrew from the scene of bandit
merriment, and seeking a solitary place, watched the elemental war
without, and gazed with mingled awe and pleasure on the bright streaks
of forked lightning as they darted through the sky, lighting up the
shattered cliffs, the mountain tops, the deep valley, and the swollen
river,--displaying them vividly, tinging them all over with a pale
sulphurous blue, and causing the whole scene to assume a wild and
ghastly appearance. Again the thunder roared, then died away, and
nought could be heard but the howling wind, and the rain rushing
fiercely down from the parted clouds.
After continuing for about two hours, the storm at last began to abate,
and Stuart's hopes of freedom revived. It yet wanted some hours of
midnight, but he greatly feared that the fury of such a tempest would
scatter Don Alvaro's command of horse and foot, drench them to the skin,
and destroy their arms and ammunition. Yet he still continued at the
loophole, watching the dispersion of the clouds, the appearance of the
stars, and the increasing light of the moon as the successive shrouds of
gauze-like vapour withdrew from her shining face.
While thus engaged, he was aroused by the sound of some one standing
behind him. He turned sharply round, and beheld Cifuentes, flushed with
his potations and ripe for brawl and uproar, reeling about with a horn
of liquor in one hand and a drawn stiletto in the other. In his drunken
insolence he dashed the cup, which was full of the rich wine of Ciudad
Real, in Ronald's face, and he was for a moment almost blinded by the
liquor. Full of fury at the insult, he rushed upon the robber, and
grasping him by his strong and bull-like neck, tripped up his heels and
hurled him to the floor in a twinkling, He dashed the head of the
aggressor twice on the pavement to stun him, and wresting the poniard
from his grasp, would inevitably have slain him with it, had he not been
prevented by the interference of the _ci-devant_ padre Gorgorza and
others. He was grasped from behind and drawn away from his antagonist,
who had very little breath left in his body after such a knock down.
Drawn daggers were gleaming on every side; but the ruffians stood so
much in awe of Alosegui's formidable strength and vengeance, that they
longed yet feared to strike Stuart with their weapons. In the grasp of
so many, his arms were pinioned fast, so that his rage could only be
indicated by the heaving of his breast, by the fire which glared in his
eyes, and by the swollen veins of his forehead.
A short pause ensued, until Narvaez staggered up from the floor,
completely sobered, but at the same time completely infuriated by the
assault which he had sustained. He at first howled like a wild beast,
and sprang upon his helpless prisoner with the intention of poniarding
him on the spot; but suddenly changing his mind, he laughed wildly, and
swore and muttered while pointing to a rope which, unhappily, was at
that time dangling from the stone mullion of a window, about twelve feet
from the floor, and he proposed to hang Stuart here. The idea was
greeted with a perfect storm of yells and applause.
A cold perspiration burst over the form of the captive, and he struggled
with a strength and determination of which hitherto he had believed
himself incapable; but his efforts were as those of a child, in the
hands of so many. He had to contend with forty devils incarnate, well
armed, and flushed with rage and wine.
How eagerly at that moment Stuart longed for the appearance of Alvaro,
and how deeply he deplored his having given loose to passion, when, by
restraining it, another hour had perhaps seen him free! But he longed
in vain, for Alvaro came not, and his regrets were fruitless. He was to
die now, and by the ignominious cord!
As they dragged him across the apartment, he called frantically on
Alosegui; but that worthy lay on the floor in a corner insensible,--or
perhaps pretending to be so,--from the quantity of liquor he had
imbibed. In this dreadful extremity, when hovering on the very verge of
death, Ronald condescended to remind Cifuentes that he saved his life at
Merida, when Don Alvaro was about to hang him like a cur in the
chapter-house of a convent there.
But Narvaez only grinned, as, with the assistance of his great row of
teeth, he knotted a loop on the cord, and said that it was by the rope,
the bullet, or the dagger he always paid his debts, and that he had
permitted Stuart to live too long to satisfy his scruples as an
honourable Spaniard.
"Up with him, _amigos mios_!" cried he, flourishing the hateful noose.
"_Carajo!_ pull, and with a strong hand!"
At that moment Ronald uttered a cry of triumphant joy; Narvaez dropped
the cord, and the banditti started back, cowering with alarm. The
stairs and the doorway of the apartment were filled with soldiers, the
sight of whose bristling bayonets, with the shout of "Death to the
_bandidos_! _Viva el Rey_!" struck terror on the recreant garrison of
the Torre de los Frayles. Several officers rushed forward with their
swords drawn, and in the tall cavalier with the steel helmet, corslet,
and cavalry uniform, Ronald recognised his old friend Alvaro de Villa
Franca.
"Dogs and villains!" he exclaimed, "surrender! But expect no mercy; for
I swear to you, by the head of the king, that ye shall all die, and
before another day dawns,--ay, every man of you!"
By this time the hall was crowded by about fifty infantry, while a
number of dismounted dragoons, armed with their swords and carbines,
occupied the stair and adjacent passages. The cowards whose den had
been so suddenly surprised, forgetting to use the weapons with which
they were so well equipped, fell upon their knees, every man excepting
Narvaez. They cried for mercy in the most abject terms, but the
cavalier turned a deaf ear to their entreaties, as they had done to
hundreds before.
"Senor Don Ronald!" said he, embracing Stuart, "our Lady has been
singularly favourable to us to-night. We toiled our way over these
rocky mountains, notwithstanding the storm, and have truly arrived at a
most critical moment. Our friends of the Friars', or rather the
Thieves' Tower, shall find that I have not made a fruitless journey from
Madrid. But first allow me to introduce an old friend, Don Pedro
Gomez."
A number of ceremonious Castilian bows were exchanged, after which the
cavalier continued,--
"Immediately on receiving your letter, and obtaining all the information
requisite about this den of the devil, I ordered the bearer,
Juan--Juan--I forget his name, to be hanged; and, waiting on Diego de
Avallo, our secretary for home affairs, I procured a commission under
the great seal to proceed as I chose in the duty of rooting out this
nest of ruffians, who have so long been the terror of the country
hereabout, and by the sacred shrine of the Virgin del Pilar! I will
avenge your captivity and their crimes most signally. Guard well the
staircase and doorway with our own troopers, Don Pedro."
The _ci-devant_ sergeant was garbed and equipped like Alvaro, and had
evidently acquired very much the air of a well-bred cavalier.