A report having arrived at the camp of the Count of Cifuentes that the
peasants around Saragossa had risen in insurrection, Jack thought that
he should be doing more good by discovering the truth of the rumor, and
by keeping the earl informed of the state of things in the enemy's rear,
than by remaining with the count. He hesitated whether he should take
his two orderlies with him, but as they were well mounted he decided
that they should accompany him, as they would add to his authority, and
would, in case of need, enable him the better to assume the position of
an officer riding in advance of a considerable force.
After a hearty adieu from the Count of Cifuentes, he started soon after
daybreak. After riding for some hours, just as he reached the top of a
rise, up which he had walked his horse, one of the orderlies, who were
riding a few paces behind him, rode up.
“I think, Captain Stilwell,” he said, “I hear the sound of firing. Brown
thinks he hears it too.”
Jack reined in his horse.
“I hear nothing,” he said, after a pause of a minute.
“I don't hear it now, sir,” the man said. “I think it came down on a
puff of wind.. If you wait a minute or two I think you will hear it.”
Jack waited another two minutes, and then was about to resume his
journey, when suddenly a faint sound came upon the wind.
“You are right, Thompson,” he exclaimed, “that's firing, sure enough. It
must be a convoy attacked by peasants.”
He touched his horse with the spur and galloped forward. Two miles
further on, crossing the brow, they saw, half a mile ahead of them in
the dip of the valley, a number of wagons huddled together. On either
side of the road men were lying, and the spurts of smoke that rose from
these, as well as from the wagons, proved that they were still stoutly
defending themselves. A light smoke rose from every bush and rock on the
hillsides around, showing how numerous were the assailants. Leaving
the road, Jack galloped toward the hill. Presently several balls came
singing round them.
“They think we are French, sir,” one of the troopers said. “I guess they
don't know much about uniforms.”
Jack drew out a white handkerchief and waved it as he rode forward,
shouting as he did, “English, English.” The fire ceased, and the little
party soon reached the spot where the peasants were lying thickly in
their ambushes.
“I am an English officer,” Jack said as he leaped from his horse. “Where
is your leader?”
“There is one of them,” a peasant said, pointing to a priest, who, with
a long musket in his hand, rose from behind a log.
“Reverend father,” Jack said, “I have come from the Earl of Peterborough
with a mission to understand how matters go in Arragon, and to ascertain
what force would be likely to join him in this province against the
invader.”
“You see for yourself how things go,” the priest said. “I am glad to
see an officer of the great Earl of Peterborough, whose exploits
have excited the admiration of all Spain. To whom have I the honor of
speaking?”
“I am Captain Stilwell, one of the earl's aides de camp; and you,
father?”
“I am Ignacio Bravos, the humble padre of the village of San Aldephonso.
And now, Captain Stilwell, if you will excuse me till we make an end of
these accursed Frenchmen, afterward I will be at your service.”
For another two hour's the conflict continued. Jack saw that the fire
of the defenders of the wagons was decreasing, and he was not surprised
when a white handkerchief was raised on the top of a bayonet and waved
in the air in token of desire to parley. A shout of exultation rose from
the Spaniards. The priest showed himself on the hillside.
“Do you surrender?” he shouted.
“We surrender the wagons,” an officer called back, “on condition that we
are allowed to march off with our arms without molestation.”
A shout of refusal rose from the peasants, and the firing was instantly
renewed. Jack went and sat down by the side of the priest.
“Father,” he said, “it were best to give these men the terms they ask.
War is not massacre.”
“Quite so, my son,” the priest replied coolly. “That is what you should
have told Marshal Tesse. It is he who has chosen to make it massacre.
Why, man, he has shot and hung hundreds in cold blood in and around
Saragossa, has burned numerous villages in the neighborhood, and put
man, woman, and child to the sword.”
“Then, if this be so, father, I should say, by all means hang Marshal
Tesse when you catch him, but do not punish the innocent for the guilty.
You must remember that these men have been taken away from their
homes in France, and forced to fight in quarrels in which they have no
concern. Like yourself, they are Catholics. Above all, remember how many
scores of villages are at present at the mercy of the French. If the
news comes to the marshal that you have refused quarter to his soldiers,
he will have a fair excuse for taking vengeance on such of your
countrymen as may be in his power.”
“There is something in that,” the priest said. “For myself I have no
pity, not a scrap of it, for these Frenchmen, nor would you have, had
you seen as much of their doings as I have, nor do I think that any
retribution that we might deal out to the men could increase Tesse's
hatred and ferocity toward us.”
“Still, it might serve as an excuse,” Jack urged. “Remember the eyes
of Europe are upon this struggle, and that the report of wholesale
slaughter of your enemies will not influence public opinion in your
favor.”
“Public opinion goes for nothing,” the priest said shortly.
“Pardon me, father,” Jack replied. “The English and Dutch and the Duke
of Savoy are all fighting in your favor, and we may even boast that had
it not been for the Earl of Peterborough and the allies the chains of
France would be riveted firmly round your necks. You will tell me, no
doubt, that they are fighting for their own political ends, and from no
true love for the Spanish people. That may be so, but you must remember
that although governments begin wars it is the people who carry them on.
Let the people of England and Holland hear, as they will hear, of the
brutal ferocity of the French marshal on a defenseless people, and their
sympathies will be strongly with you. They will urge their governments
to action, and vote willingly the necessary sums for carrying on the
war. Let them hear that with you too war is massacre, that you take no
prisoners, and kill all that fall into your hands, and, believe me, the
public will soon grow sick of the war carried on with such cruelty on
both sides.”
“You are right, my son,” the priest said frankly. “Young as you are, you
have seen more of the world than I, who, since I left the University of
Salamanca, have never been ten miles from my native village. I will do
what I can to put a stop to this matter. But I am not solely in command
here. I lead my own village, but there are the men of a score of
villages lying on these hills. But I will summon all the chiefs to a
council now.”
The priest called half a dozen of the peasants to him, and dispatched
them with orders to bring all the other leaders to take part in a
council with an English officer who had arrived from the great Earl of
Peterborough.
In half an hour some twenty men were assembled in a little hollow on the
hillside, where they were sheltered from the fire of the French. Four
or five of these were priests. There were two or three innkeepers. The
remainder were small landed proprietors. Father Ignacio first addressed
them. He stated that the English officer had come on a mission from the
earl, and had arrived accidentally while the fight was going on, and
that he was of opinion that the French offer of surrender should be
accepted. A murmur of dissent went round the circle.
“I was at first of your opinion,” the priest said, “but the reasons
which this English officer has given me in support of his advice have
brought me round to his way of thinking. I will leave him to state them
to you.”
Jack now rose to his feet, and repeated the arguments which he had used
to the priest. He gathered from the faces of his hearers that, although
some were convinced that mercy would be the best policy, others were
still bent upon revenge. Father Ignacio then, in language which he
thought best suited to touch his hearers, repeated Jack's arguments,
urging very strongly the vengeance which the French marshal would be
sure to take upon the Spanish population of the country through which he
was passing when he heard the news.
“Besides,” Jack said, when he had finished, “you must remember you have
not conquered the enemy yet. I see the officer has withdrawn all his men
among the wagons, where their shelter will be nearly as good as yours.
They have, doubtless, abundant stores of ammunition in those wagons,
together with food and wine, and if you force them to fight to the last
man they can hold out for a very long time, and will inflict a heavy
loss upon your men before they are overcome.”
“But why should they take their weapons with them?” one of the men said;
“they will be useful to us. Why should we let them carry them away to
kill more Spaniards?”
“The reason why I would let them take their arms is this,” Jack said.
“Unless they march away armed you will not be able to restrain your
followers, who will be likely to break any convention you may make and
to massacre them without mercy. As to the arms being used again against
you, I will put the officers under their parole that they and their men
shall not take any further part in the war until they are exchanged for
an equal number of prisoners taken by the French.”
“Who would trust to a Frenchman's word?” a man asked scoffingly.
“I would trust to a French officer's word as much as to that of an
English officer,” Jack replied. “You would expect them to trust to your
word that they should be safe if they laid down their arms; and yet, as
you know, you might not be able to keep it. Better a thousand times
that a handful of French officers and men should be allowed to join the
enemy's ranks than that the national honor of Spain should be soiled by
a massacre perpetrated just after a surrender.”
“The Englishman is right,” Father Ignacio said positively. “Let us waste
no further words on it. Besides, I have a reason of my own. I started
before daybreak without breakfast and have got nothing but a piece of
dry bread with me. If we don't accept these fellows' surrender we may
be on the hillside all night, and I told my servant that I should have
a larded capon and a flask of my best wine for dinner. That is an
argument, my sons, which I am sure comes home to you all; and remember,
if we accept the surrender we shall soon quench our thirst on the good
wine which, I doubt not, is contained in some of the barrels I see down
yonder.”
There was a hearty laugh and the question was settled; and it was
arranged at once that Father Ignacio, one of the other leaders, and Jack
should treat with the enemy. The other leaders hurried away to their
respective sections to order them to cease firing when a white flag was
raised; and, having given them twenty minutes to get to their several
posts, a white handkerchief was waved in the air. The Spanish fire
ceased at once, and as soon as the French perceived the flag they also
stopped firing.
“We are coming down, three of us, to discuss matters with you,” Father
Ignacio shouted out.
The three accordingly descended the hill, and when within a short
distance of the wagons were met by the officer in command of the convoy
and two others.
“We have come to discuss the terms of your surrender,” Jack said. “I am
Captain Stilwell, one of Lord Peterborough's aides de camp. You see your
position is desperate.”
“Not quite desperate,” the French officer replied; “we have plenty of
ammunition and abundance of provisions, and can hold out for a long
time, till rescue comes.”
“There is little chance of rescue,” Jack said. “Your marshal has his
hands full where he is; and even did he hear of your situation and
detach a force back to your rescue, neither of which he is likely to do,
that force would have to fight every foot of its way, and assuredly not
arrive in time. Nor is there any more chance of your receiving succor
from the rear. You have made a gallant defense, sir, and might perhaps
hold out for many hours yet; but of what use is it sacrificing the lives
of your men in a vain resistance?”
“What is your proposal?” the officer asked.
“We propose,” Jack said, “to allow you to march out with your arms and
five rounds of ammunition to each man, on you and your officers giving
me your parole to consider yourselves and your men as prisoners of war,
and not to serve again until exchanged.”
The terms were far better than the French officer had looked for.
“I may tell you,” Father Ignacio said, “that for these terms you are
indebted solely to this English officer. Had it depended upon us only,
rest assured that no one of you would have gone away alive.”
“You will understand,” Jack said, “that you will be allowed to take your
arms solely as a protection against the peasants, who have been justly
enraged by the brutal atrocities of your general. You know well that
even could their leaders here obtain from their followers a respect for
the terms of surrender, your men would be massacred in the first village
through which they passed were they deprived of their arms. My friends
here are desirous that no stigma of massacre shall rest upon the Spanish
honor, and they have therefore agreed to allow your men to keep their
arms for purposes of defense on their return march.”
After a few words with his fellow officers the commander of the convoy
agreed to the terms. “You will, however,” he said, “permit me to
take with me one or more wagons, as may be required, to carry off my
wounded?”
This was at once agreed to, and in ten minutes the two companies of
French infantry were in readiness to march. There were forty wounded
in the wagons, and twenty-seven dead were left behind them. The French
officer in command, before marching off, thanked Jack very heartily for
his interference on their behalf.
“I tell you frankly, Captain Stilwell,” he said, “that I had no hopes
whatever that I or any of my men would leave the ground alive, for these
Spaniards invariably massacre prisoners who fall into their hands. I
could not have left my wounded behind me; and even if I had resolved
to do so, the chances of our fighting our way back in safety would have
been small indeed. We owe you our lives, sir; and should it ever be in
the power of Major Ferre to repay the debt, you may rely upon me.”
“I trust that the fortune of war may never place me in a position when I
may need to recall your promise,” Jack said, smiling; “but should it do
so, I will not fail to remind you if I get a chance.”
All was now ready for the march. Two wagons which had been hastily
emptied were, with the wounded men, placed in the center, and the
French, numbering now less than a hundred, started on their march. The
Spanish peasants remained in their places on the hillside till they had
departed, as the leaders had agreed that it was better they should be
kept away from the vicinity of the French, as a quarrel would be
certain to take place did they come to close quarters. The peasants
were indignant at what they deemed the escape of their enemies; but the
desire of plunder soon overcame other considerations, and as soon as the
French had marched off they poured down from the hills. Their leaders,
however, restrained them from indiscriminate plundering. There were in
all eighty-seven wagons loaded with wine, corn, flour, and provisions
for the use of the army.
An equal division was made of these among the various bands of peasants
in proportion to their strength. A few casks of wine were broached. The
peasants then buried their own dead--who were very few in number, so
securely had they been sheltered in their hiding places--and then the
force broke up, each party marching with its proportion of wagons back
to its village.
“Now, Signor Capitano,” Father Ignacio said, “I trust that you will come
home with me. My village is six miles away, and I will do my best to
make you comfortable. Hitherto you have seen me only as a man of war. I
can assure you that I am much more estimable in my proper character as a
man of peace. And let me tell you, my cook is excellent; the wine of
the village is famous in the province, and I have some in my cellars ten
years old.”
“I cannot resist such a number of good arguments,” Jack said, smiling,
“and till tomorrow morning I am at your service; but I warn you that
my appetite just at present is ravenous, and that my two dragoons
are likely to make a serious inroad upon the larders of your village,
however well supplied.”
“They will be welcome,” the priest said, “and I guarantee the larders
will prove sufficiently well stocked. Fortunately, although nearly every
village in the neighborhood has been raided by the French, owing to our
good fortune and the interposition of the blessed San Aldephonso our
village has escaped a visit.”
The party under Father Ignacio soon turned off from the main road, and,
with the six wagons which fell to their share, journeyed along a. rough
country road until they reached the village. Father Ignacio sat on the
leading wagon, and Jack rode alongside chatting with him. The priest was
a stout built man, with a good humored countenance and merry twinkle of
the eye, and Jack wondered what could have been the special wrong that
induced him to take up a musket and lead his flock to the attack of a
French convoy.
“Katherine!” he shouted as the wagon stopped in front of his house and
a buxom serving woman appeared at the door, “dinner as quickly as
possible, for we are starving; and let it be not only quick, but
plentiful. Lay a cover for this gentleman, who will dine with me; and
prepare an ample supply of food in the kitchen for these two English
soldiers, who have come across the sea to fight for the good cause.
“And now,” he said to Jack, “while dinner is preparing I must distribute
the spoil.”
The wagons were unloaded and their contents divided among the men who
had take a part in the expedition, his flock insisting upon the padre
taking a bountiful share.
The mules and bullocks in the wagons were similarly divided, in this
case one being given to each family; for there were but thirty animals,
while the fighting contingent from the village had numbered nearly
eighty men. There were five or six animals over when the division had
been made, and these were given, in addition to their proper share, to
the families of three men who had been killed in the fight.
“Now, my sons,” the padre said when all was done, “take your axes and
fall upon the wagons. A wagon is a thing to swear by. Every man knows
his own goods; and should the French ever visit our village again these
wagons might cost us dear. Therefore let them be made into firewood as
quickly as possible, and let them all be consumed before other fuel is
touched. And now, capitano, I think that Katherine will be ready for
us.”
So saying he led the way back into his house. A capital meal was
provided, and Jack found that the priest had by no means over praised
either his cook or his cellar. After the meal was over and the two had
drawn their chairs up to the hearth, on which was blazing brightly some
wood which Jack recognized as forming part of one of the wagons, and the
priest had placed on a small table close at hand a large flask which he
had himself gone into the cellar to fetch, Jack said:
“How is it, father, that, as you told me, you have seen such acts
of brutality on the part of the French as to cause you to wage a war
without mercy against them, when, as you say, they have never penetrated
to your village? Your reasons must be strong, for your profession is a
peaceful one. You do not look like a man who would rush into deeds of
violence for their own sake, and your cook and your cellar offer you
strong inducements to remain at home.”
“That is so, my son,” the priest said with a laugh. “I am, as you may
see, an easygoing man, well contented with my lot, and envy not the
Bishop of Toledo; but you know it is said that even a worm will turn,
and so you have seen the peaceful priest enacting the part of the
bloodthirsty captain. But, my son,”--and his face grew grave now--“you
can little imagine the deeds which the ferocious Tesse has enacted
here in Arragon. When warring with you English the French behave like
a civilized nation; when warring with us Spanish peasants, who have no
means of making our wrongs known to the world, they behave worse than
a horde of brutal savages. But I will tell you the circumstances which
have driven me to place myself at the head of my parishioners, to wage a
war of extermination with the French, and to deny mercy to every one of
that accursed nation who may fall into my hands. I have a brother--or
rather I should say I had one--a well to do farmer who lived at a
village some six miles from Saragossa. He had an only daughter, who was
to be married to the son of a neighboring proprietor. A handsome, high
spirited lad he was, and devoted to Nina. They were to have been married
some three months ago, and they wrote to me to go over to perform the
ceremony.
“I went; the wedding day arrived, and all was ready. It was a holiday in
the village, for both were favorites. The bride was dressed; the village
maidens and men were all in their best; the procession was about to set
out, when a troop of dragoons rode suddenly in from Saragossa. A shot
or two had been fired at them as they rode through a wood. When they
arrived they dismounted, and the commander ordered the principal men
of the village to be brought to him. My brother and the father of the
bridegroom were among them.
“'My troops have been fired at,' the Frenchman said, 'and I hold you
responsible.'
“'It was no one from this village,' my brother said; 'we have a wedding
here, and not a soul is absent.'
“'I care not,' the officer said; 'we have been fired at, and we shall
give the people of this district a lesson.'
“So without another word he turned to his soldiers and ordered them to
fire the village from end to end.
“'It is outrageous,' my brother said, and the others joined him in the
cry. I, too, implored him to pause before having such an order carried
into execution. His only reply was to give the order to his men.
“The six principal men were seized at once, were set with their backs
against the wall of a house, and shot.”
“You cannot mean it!” Jack exclaimed indignantly. “Surely such an
outrage could never be perpetrated by civilized soldiers?”
“I saw it done,” the priest said bitterly. “I tried to throw myself
between the victims and their murderers, but I was held back by force
by the soldiers. Imagine the scene if you can--the screaming women, the
outburst of vain fury among the men, The bridegroom, in his despair
at seeing his father murdered, seized a stick and rushed at the French
officer; but he, drawing a pistol, shot him dead, and the soldiers
poured a volley into his companions, killing some eight or ten others.
Resistance was hopeless. Those who were unwounded fled; those who fell
were bayoneted on the spot. I took my niece's arm and led her quietly
away. Even the French soldiers drew back before us. You should have seen
her face. Madre de Dios! I see it now--I see it always. She died that
night. Not one word passed her lips from the moment when her father and
her affianced husband fell dead before her eyes. An hour later the troop
rode off, and the people stole back to bury their dead among the ashes
of what had been their homes. I went to Saragossa after reading the
funeral service over them. I saw Tesse and told him of the scene I
had witnessed, and demanded vengeance. He laughed in my face. Senor, I
persisted, and he got angry and told me that, were it not for my cloth,
he would hang me from the steeple. I called down Heaven's curse upon
him, and left him and came home. Do you wonder, senor, that I found it
hard to spare those Frenchmen for whom you pleaded? Do you wonder that
I, a man of peace, lead out my villagers to slaughter our enemy?”
“I do not, indeed!” Jack exclaimed warmly. “Such acts as these would
stir the blood of the coldest into fire; and, priest or no priest, a man
would be less than a man who did not try to take vengeance for so foul a
deed. Have many massacres of this sort been perpetrated?”
“Many,” the priest replied, “and in no case has any redress been
obtained by the relatives of the victims.”
“And throughout all Arragon, does the same hatred of the French
prevail?”
“Everywhere,” the priest said.
“Then King Charles would meet with an enthusiastic welcome here!”
“I do not say that,” the priest answered. “He would be well received,
doubtless, simply because he is the enemy of the French; but for
himself, no. We Arragonese cannot for the life of us see why we should
be ruled over by a foreigner; and in some respects a German king is even
less to be desired than a French one. The connection between the two
Latin nations is naturally closer than between us and the Germans, and
a French king would more readily adapt himself to our ways than would a
stiff and thick headed German.
“Apart from the recent doings of the French army Arragon would have
preferred Philip to Charles. Moreover, Charles is looked upon as the
choice of the Catalans and Valencians, and why should the men of Arragon
take the king others have chosen? No, King Charles will doubtless be
received well because he appears as the enemy of the French; but you
will not find that the people of Arragon will make any great sacrifices
in his behalf. Let a French army enter our province again, every man
will rise in arms against it; but there will be little disposition to
raise troops to follow King Charles beyond the limits of the province.
Castile is strong for Philip; the jealousy there of the Catalans is even
greater than here, and the fact that Arragon will go with Catalonia and
Valencia will only render the Castilians more earnest in the cause of
Philip. There have been several skirmishes already between bands of our
Miquelets and those of Castile, and the whole country along the border
is greatly disturbed.”
“It is a pity that Spaniards cannot agree among themselves as to who
shall be king.”
“Ah, my son, but it will be very long yet before. Spaniards agree upon
any point. It is a mistake to think of us as one nation. We are half
a dozen nations under one king. If you are asked your nationality,
you reply an Englishman. If you ask a Spaniard, he will reply, I am
a Castilian or a Catalan, an Arragonese or Biscayan--never I am a
Spaniard. We hate each other as you Scotchmen and Englishmen hated each
other a hundred years back, and even now regard yourselves as different
peoples. What connection is there between the hardy mountaineer of the
northern provinces and the easygoing peasant of Valencia or Andalusia?
Nothing. Consequently, if one part of Spain declares for one man as a
king, you may be sure that the other will declare against him.
“As long as we had great men, Spaniards, for our kings--and the descent
went in the regular way from father to son--things went smoothly,
because no pretender could have a shadow of claim. As between two
foreign princes, each man has a right to choose for himself. Were there
any Spaniard with a shadow of claim, all parties would rally round him;
but, unfortunately, this is not so; and I foresee an epoch of war and
trouble before the matter is settled. For myself, I tell you I would not
give that flask of wine were I able to put the crown upon the head of
one or other of these foreigners. Let whoever gets the crown govern well
and strongly, tax my villagers lightly, and interfere in no way with our
privileges, and I shall be well content, and such you will find is the
opinion of most men in Spain. And now, tell me if there is aught that I
can do for you. You say you must be on your way by daybreak. Tell me
in which direction you journey, and it will be hard if I cannot find
a friend there with whom my introduction will insure you a hearty
welcome.”
“If you can tell me where are the largest gatherings of Miquelets, I
can tell you which way I shall ride,” Jack replied. “My mission is to
ascertain what aid the king can rely upon in this province.”
“Three days ago there were many thousands of men under arms,” the priest
replied; “by tonight there will be less than as many hundreds. The day
Tesse crossed the frontier with his army the greater portion of the
bands went to their homes, and their arms will be laid aside until the
news comes that the French army is on its return from Barcelona. I
fancy there is but little chance of our seeing King Charles among us.
In another day or two Tesse will be before Barcelona; and joined, as he
will be there, by the French army marching down from Roussillon, he will
make quick work of that town, and King Charles will have the choice of
going to Valencia to be hunted shortly thence, or of sailing away again
from the country in your ships.”
“It would seem like it,” Jack agreed; “but you are reckoning without the
Earl of Peterborough.”
“Your English general must be a wonder,” the priest said, “a marvel; but
he cannot accomplish impossibilities. What can he do with two or
three thousand trained troops against twenty thousand veteran French
soldiers?”
“I cannot tell what he will do,” Jack laughed; “but you may rely upon
it that he will do something, and I would take fair odds that he will
somehow or other save Barcelona and rid Catalonia of its invaders.”
“That I judge to be altogether impossible,” the priest replied.
“Anything that man could do I am ready to admit that your general
is capable of; but I do not judge this to be within the range of
possibilities. If you will take my advice, my son, you will not linger
here, but will ride for Valencia and embark on board your ships with him
when the time comes.”
“We shall see,” Jack said, laughing. “I have faith in the improbable. It
may not be so very long before I drop in again to drink another flask
of your wine on my way through Arragon with King Charles on his march
toward Madrid.”
“If you do, my son, I will produce a bottle of wine to which this is
but ditch water. I have three or four stored away in my cellar which I
preserve for great occasions. They are the remains of the cellar of my
predecessor, as good a judge of wine as ever lived. It is forty years
since he laid them by, and they were, he said, the best vintage he had
ever come across. Had the good old man died ten years earlier, what
a heritage would have been mine! but in his later years he was not so
saving as it behooves a good man to be, and indulged in them on minor
occasions; consequently, but two dozen remained when I succeeded to the
charge twenty years ago. I, too, was not sufficiently chary of them to
begin with, and all but six bottles were drunk in the first ten years.
Since then I have been as stingy as a miser, and but two bottles have
been opened.”
“I hope, father, that you have laid in a similar supply for whomsoever
may come after you.”
“Surely I have, my son. Fifteen years ago I had a hogshead of the
finest vintage in the neighborhood bricked up in my cellar. I had an
inscription placed on the wall by which, should I be taken suddenly, my
successor may know of the store that awaits him. At present you would
not find the inscription did you search for it; for when those troubles
began I filled up the letters in the stone with mortar, and gave the
wall two or three coats of whitewash. I did not choose to run any risk
of my grand wine going down the throats of thirsty French soldiers. It
would be an act of sacrilege. When matters are settled, and we are at
peace again, I will pick out the mortar from the letters; but not till
then. I have often reflected since how short sighted it was not to have
stowed away another hogshead for my own consumption. It would have been
something to have looked forward to in my declining years.”
“Ah, father, who knows what may happen before that? The wall may fall
down, and then naturally you would wish to see whether the wine is in
as good a condition as it should be. Besides, you will say to yourself,
why, when my successor left me but a miserable two dozen of that grand
wine of his, should I bequeath a whole hogshead to him who may come
after me, and who, moreover, may be so bad a judge of wine that he will
value my treasure no more than an equal quantity of the rough country
vintage?”
“Avaunt, tempter!” the priest said, laughing. “But,” he added more
seriously, “you have frightened me. I never thought of that. I have
always pictured my successor as a man who would appreciate good wine
as I do myself. Truly, it would be a terrible misfortune did he not
do so--a veritable throwing of pearls before swine. Now that you have
presented this dreadful idea it will be ever in my mind. I shall no
longer think of my hogshead with unmixed satisfaction.”
“The idea is a terrible one, truly,” Jack said gravely, “and to prevent
it I would advise you when the time of peace arrives to open your
cave, to bottle off your wine, and to secure its being appreciated by
indulging in it yourself on special occasions and holidays, taking care
always to leave a store equal to, or even superior to, that which you
yourself inherited.”
“I will think it over, my son, and it may be that I shall take your
advice. Such a misfortune as that which you have suggested is too
terrible to think of.”
“It is so, father, terrible indeed; and I feel confident that you will
do the best in your power to prevent the possibility of its occurrence.
Besides, you know, wine may be kept even too long. I judge you not to be
more than forty-five now; with so good a cook and so good a cellar you
may reasonably expect to live to the age of eighty; there is, therefore,
plenty of time for you to lay in another hogshead to mature for your
successor.”
The priest burst into a roar of laughter, in which Jack joined him.
“Your reasoning powers are admirable,” he said when he recovered his
gravity, “and you have completely convinced me. An hour ago if it had
been suggested to me that I should open that cellar I should have viewed
the proposal with horror; now it seems to me that it is the very best
thing that could be done for all parties, including the wine itself.”
There was some further chat as to the course which Jack would follow in
the morning, and he decided finally to ride to the borders of Castile
in order that he might learn as much as possible as to the feeling
of people in that province. Father Ignacio gave him a letter of
introduction to the priest in charge of a village a mile or two within
the border of Arragon, and the next morning Jack started at daybreak,
after a hearty adieu from his host, who insisted on rising to see him
off.