HOW THE COUNT OF CARRION GAINED NOTHING BY BULLYING
Just at the time when Guillen was describing to Doña Teresa the idea
which he had formed of marriage accompanied by love, a very different
scene was being performed in the lower portion of the castle, in the
room which had been occupied, and was now occupied again, by Sancha, the
peasant girl, whose father Don Suero had deprived of his sight. The
reader will have suspected who the girl was that the count had carried
off from Burgos; it was she who had assumed the name of Aldonza at the
time of her flight with Mari-Perez.
The girl was standing at a barred window which looked out on the open
country, for the Castle of Carrion consisted of a square turreted tower,
without exterior fortifications. At her side stood Don Suero, addressing
to her bitter reproaches, to which she was listening with apparent
disdain, gazing indifferently on the fields lit up by a very bright
moon.
"Ungrateful one," the count was saying, "did the love which I felt for
you deserve that you should fly from my side as you did? Were you not
the only woman to whom the Count of Carrion ever humbled himself? What
was ever wanting to you in my castle?"
"I wanted liberty, and I fled away to seek it; I wanted a father, of
whom you, cruel man, deprived me, and whom I have not succeeded in
finding."
"And were not those privations easy to be borne, being compensated by
the comforts and luxuries which you enjoyed in my castle, and more than
all, by the love of the noble Count of Carrion?"
The girl laughed, and replied disdainfully--
"More pleasant to me than the comforts and luxuries of your castle have
been the coarse apparel, the poor food, and the wretched habitation of
Mari-Perez, for they reminded me of what I had in my childhood; and as
to the love of the noble Count of Carrion, that of a poor squire of the
grandee of Vivar was much more agreeable to me."
"May you be confounded!" exclaimed Don Suero, scarcely able to speak
with rage, for that was the first time that a woman dared to scoff at
him, and that jealousy tortured his perfidious heart. "With tears of
blood you shall weep over your ingratitude; you shall never again see
your father, nor rejoice in that liberty which you sigh for so ardently,
nor enjoy any other love but mine."
The girl answered the threats of the count with another loud burst of
laughter, which caused his anger to rise to its highest point. Don Suero
then placed his hand on his dagger, but the girl threw herself on his
neck, changing suddenly her sarcastic words and her disdainful smiles
into the sweetest and most caressing smiles and words that a woman can
assume, in order to disarm the anger of a man.
"Thus do I like to see you, my love," exclaimed Sancha,--"thus do I like
to see you, for you appear to me the handsomest of men when anger
animates your countenance."
These words and the caresses of Sancha changed all at once the tiger
into a gentle lamb; that woman was beautiful, but she was endowed with
an animal and savage beauty, if we may so express ourselves; for that
reason did she exercise such a powerful influence over the soul of the
count, who set no value on those quiet kinds of loveliness which are the
delight of cultivated and pure minds. Between the souls of Don Suero and
Sancha there was a marvellous affinity, just as there was one, of a
vastly different description, between the souls of Guillen and Teresa.
"Sancha, Sancha!" murmured Don Suero, intoxicated with pleasure, and
returning the caresses of the wily peasant girl. "What pleasure can you
take in showing alternatively to me hell and heaven?"
"In order that heaven may appear fairer to you, having looked into
hell," responded Sancha, redoubling her caresses. "Oh, my love, what
happiness awaits us in the Castle of Carrion, if you do not force me to
fly from it!"
"Fly from it?" cried the count, almost terrified; "no, no, if you should
do so again, this dagger will pierce my heart."
"Let your heart be entirely mine, and then I will love you more than
myself and never leave you. You have called me ungrateful just now. How
unjust you are, my love! Learn, then, that I did not fly from you to
seek freedom, nor even to search for my father: I fled because you
bestowed on others the love which I thought should be mine alone. Do you
swear to amend your faults, and never again to set eyes on any woman but
me?"
"Yes, Sancha, I swear it to you."
"If you keep that promise, my sweet darling, how I shall love you! But
if not--I shall eternally hate you, and ever despise you."
A few minutes after Don Suero left the chamber of Sancha, and he might
be heard to murmur, "This, this is heaven. They are fools who seek it
beyond this life."
Just at this time a voice was heard, calling out, "Hallo! ye of the
castle!"
The count heard it, and, as he recognised it, hastened to order that the
stranger should be admitted, impatience and uncertainty exhibiting
themselves on his visage and in his words. The new-comer was at once
introduced into his presence, in one of the most private rooms of the
castle.
"You are welcome," Don Suero said to him; "I was expecting you with
impatience. What tidings do you bring?"
"Bad," answered Bellido, for he was the man.
"May the wrath of God confound the bandits!" exclaimed the count. "How
is it that they can thus go on, mocking the laws, with impunity? Why
cannot some means be found to exterminate them?"
"Calm your impatience, my lord, for you must not yet abandon the hope,
which my anxious desire to serve you has caused you to conceive. I have
proposed to them what we arranged, and they would not accept my plan; on
the contrary, they almost threatened my life for having believed them
capable of committing an act of treachery, for they look upon the
gaining entrance into the castle without fighting as such."
Don Suero broke into loud laughter.
"Since when," he cried, "have bandits become so very honourable?
Perchance they have also converted you, Bellido? So much the worse for
you, however; for your honour will cost you two hundred gold pieces,
which I promised you if you brought the Vengador and his band into an
ambush, in which they all might perish."
"Who has told you," replied Bellido, "that I have given up the idea of
earning the two hundred gold marks? Do you imagine that Bellido Dolfos,
when he undertakes an enterprise, abandons it at the first check? Is it
a small matter to have enlisted in the band of the bandits; to have
borne hunger, cold, and fatigue; to have been at the very head of the
band whilst attacking the castles of twenty other grandees--all to gain
the confidence of the Vengador? After all that, do you think I would
renounce the fruit of my labours because our plans have met with a
slight check? You know me but badly, count."
"Pardon me, Bellido," said Don Suero, recovering the hope which he had
almost completely lost "I am so unlucky that I thought there was no
further expedient."
"We have still hopes."
"Tell me, then, what they are."
"I shall do so, if you listen to me without getting impatient."
"Speak, then, for I am very desirous of hearing you."
"The Vengador indeed spurned my proposal, but there is another way to
ensure the destruction of the band. We have arranged that the castle
shall be assaulted to-morrow night. The plan adopted is to force the
postern, to seize on the men-at-arms who guard the castle; all this
would be an easy matter, as the Vengador has three hundred bandits, and
the garrison of the castle consists of only fifty crossbow-men. Well,
then, I have thought out a very simple plan to dispose of the band:
arrange the postern in such a way that there will be but little
difficulty in forcing it open; loosen the stones of the arch which
covers the first chamber inside that gate, so that, on letting a heavy
stone fall violently on the upper part of the arch, it may give way at
the opportune moment; and finally, secure well the door between the
first and second chambers. As soon as the brigands get in through the
postern, they will rush to the next door, and whilst they are occupied
in forcing it open, the arch will crush down upon them, and they will
almost all be annihilated beneath the heavy stones, to the weight of
which will be added that of those which will cause the arches to give
way."
"Bellido," exclaimed the count, filled with enthusiasm, and extending
his hand to the traitor, "I congratulate you, and I am in thorough
accord with your plan, which appears to me to be an excellent one. What
a joyous day it will be for me when I succeed in exterminating that
infernal band, which is a perpetual nightmare to me! It is not two
hundred golden pieces that I will give you, but three hundred, as soon
as your scheme succeeds as well as we both hope it shall."
"I can rely upon you to carry out exactly the instructions which I have
given you. You will not forget that the attack is to take place on
tomorrow night?"
"I shall not forget it, Bellido; nor shall I forget either to have the
three hundred gold pieces ready counted for you. Take care not to enter
the postern at the head of the band, for it would be very ungrateful of
me to wish you ill, when you are serving me so well."
"You may be quite sure I shall not do so; I shall remain outside, and if
the door has not been closed after the bandits enter, I shall take care
to shut it and also to bolt it outside, so that none of them may get out
when the arched ceiling is about to fall."
A short time after, Bellido Dolfos returned to the camp of the bandits.
As soon as he had sent the traitor away, and when almost all were asleep
in the castle, Don Suero summoned one of his servants, who acted as
architect whenever repairs had to be carried out in the castle, and gave
him instructions as to what was necessary to be done to the arched
ceiling of the chamber which was to serve as the sepulchre of the
bandits. During what remained of the night heavy hammering could be
heard in the direction of the postern, and before morning everything was
arranged as Bellido had ordered; the keystones of the arch had been
loosened, two enormous stones had been suspended over it, by means of
pulleys fastened to the roof, and the postern had also been manipulated
so that it could be pushed open without much force, and afterwards
bolted outside.
Notwithstanding the certainty which the count felt of destroying the
bandits by the ingenious plan which Bellido had devised, he was very
uneasy, when he reflected on the insult which he had offered to Rodrigo
Diaz by calling him a coward, and he doubted not but that De Vivar would
endeavour to take revenge on him. All this weighed heavily on the mind
of the count, as he feared the serious consequences which it might bring
upon him.
He was thinking on this, when he was informed that four cavaliers had
arrived at the castle from Burgos, and that they were the bearers of a
message for him. The greatest fear seized on Don Suero when he received
that announcement, and, as he did not at once reply to the servant who
was awaiting an answer, the latter ventured to say to him--
"My lord, what reply shall I bring to the messengers?"
"May hell swallow me!" exclaimed Don Suero, violently stamping on the
floor. "I should like to have the entire human race in my power, to
destroy it with my hands!"
Thus speaking, he sought for a dagger in his girdle, and not finding it,
he took up a stout piece of wood, which lay amongst those beside the
fireplace, and gave several blows to the unlucky servant, who bore them
resignedly, persuaded that submission was best when the count was in a
passion.
When he had treated his servant in this unjust manner, he sat down
beside the fireplace and remained for some instants buried in thought;
he then suddenly exclaimed--
"No, I shall not fight with him; Martin Gonzalez was stronger and more
skilful than I.... Lucifer protects De Vivar."
Having said this, he raised his head, and seeing the servant, who was
still patiently awaiting his orders, he added--
"Are you still there, fellow?"
And he was about to take up again the piece of wood with which he had
belaboured his shoulders; suddenly, however, abandoning his threatening
attitude, he said--
"Pardon me, Gonzalo; I have beaten you, not knowing what I was doing;
introduce to my presence those cavaliers, or whatever they are."
The servant obeyed, and a minute after Antolin Antolinez, Alvar Fañez
Minaya, and two other cavaliers, also of Burgos, stood in the presence
of Don Suero.
"To you, Don Suero Gonzalez, Count of Carrion," said Antolin, "Don
Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar sends us,--he whom you insulted in Burgos, by
calling him coward and low-born"--
Don Suero interrupted Antolin Antolinez, saying humbly--
"Certainly, I called him coward, not knowing that it was he; for my
anger, at seeing my servitors ill-treated, blinded me."
"Don Suero, you must give this apology to the offended on the field of
battle, and not here," replied Antolinez.
"For two cavaliers to engage in deadly strife," answered the count,
still humbly, "it is necessary that they should hate each other, and I
have no rancour towards De Vivar, nor do I consider him a coward or
low-born; on the contrary I acknowledge him to be one of the bravest and
most honourable cavaliers of Castile."
"If, then, you believe that," said Antolin Antolinez, "publish it, and
make it known in all parts. Thus only, except by fighting face to face,
can you satisfy the offended. The honour of De Vivar is of such value
that its master will defend it with the greatest ardour."
"Do you believe that the humiliation, which you propose to me, should be
inflicted on a good cavalier, such as I am?"
"And do you believe that a good cavalier, such as Don Rodrigo is, should
be called a coward with impunity? No, no, as God lives! If Rodrigo Diaz
is not himself able to avenge the insult which you have cast on him,
there are a thousand cavaliers in Castile ready to unsheath their swords
in defence of his honour. Listen, mean and calumnious count! Don Rodrigo
Diaz de Vivar challenges you to single combat, and tells you that, if
you do not accept the challenge, he will put up notices all through
Castile and Leon, denouncing your villainy and cowardice to the
execration of the public."
"Be silent, be silent! and do not force me to add fresh insults to those
which I addressed to De Vivar in Burgos," exclaimed Don Suero,
abandoning the submissive tone which he had hitherto used.
"In fine, what is your reply to him who has sent us?"
Don Suero stood up with haughty demeanour, and answered, with supreme
disdain--
"Tell De Vivar,--tell him that he may do what suits him best; tell him
that the Count of Carrion does not choose to fight with so base a
cavalier."
"We have delivered the message of Don Rodrigo, and we shall carry back
your reply to him," answered Antolin Antolinez; and he and his
companions immediately set out on their return journey to Burgos.
They had scarcely left the castle when Don Suero began to meditate on
the reply which he had just given; he thought on the stain of cowardice
which would be cast on him, broke out into furious imprecations, and
maltreated in a barbarous way the first servants who presented
themselves to his sight. Very soon, however, his rage changed into
discouragement and terror, and he wept like a weak woman. But the hope
of destroying the bandits on that very night roused up his spirits, and,
full of that subject, he ceased to think on the challenge of Rodrigo.
Two days after, Rodrigo Diaz caused proclamations to be posted up
throughout Castile and Leon, publishing the cowardice of Don Suero, and
returning, with interest and the greatest justice, the insults which he
had received; two days after, the Count of Carrion, who before was well
hated by some, was now abhorred by all; two days after, the country
people were singing the ballads which the troubadours had composed,
setting forth, in the blackest form, against Don Suero, the question
between him and De Vivar.