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cause he considered the right one, will perhaps be seen in the sequel.

The civil war in Spain had lasted nearly three years, when towards the close of a fine summer evening, a traveller rode his horse into the shallow water opposite the door of the venta of Armentia. The horseman, although not in uniform, was apparently a military man, his dress and accoutrements being those that had been adopted by many who took a very active part in the intestine commotions of the country. His loose jacket of black lambskin was fastened down the front and at the collar by silver clasps and chains, and a scarlet boina or cap, with a large tassel of gold twist on the top, was brought forward over the eyes, in order to protect from the August sun so much of the face of the wearer as was not already covered by his large whiskers and mustaches. Round his waist was a leathern belt supporting a heavy cavalry sabre, and from under the flounce or cover of his holsters peeped forth the butt-ends of two pistols. His horse, a dark bay with black mane and tail, and displaying great bone and power, was white with sweat and foam, and his blood-stained sides appeared to have suffered severely from the huge double-rowelled spurs that were at tached to the heels of his rider. The reason of the punishment the animal had received was apparent so soon as the cavalier, after barely allowing him to dip his nose in the stream, forced him up the sloping bank and regained the high-road. The poor beast had lost his two fore-shoes, and had evidently been afterwards ridden far and fast; for his hoof was worn down to the quick, and he was distressingly lame. In fact, it seemed impossible he should proceed a mile farther in the state he then was, and of this his rider appeared aware; for having reached the road, he again halted and cast a somewhat anxious glance around him, which changed to an expression of doubt and hesitation as his eye rested on the countenance of a man who was lounging at the door of the venta. This personage returned the gaze of the stranger with perfect composure, then removing his cigarito from his lips, and puffing out a volume of smoke through his nostrils, he walked deliberately up to the traveller, and laying his hand on his horse's mane, gave him the good-evening by the name of

Don Antonio. The first impulse of the person thus addressed was a slight movement of the hand towards his holsters; but this was instantly checked, and nodding carelesly and somewhat scornfully in acknowledgment of the salutation, he uttered the question, "Me conoces ?"-"Do you know me?"

"Si, Señor," was the reply; "I have reason to remember your worship, and also Don Martin, were it only for the bright gold ounces your last visit cost me.'

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“Ha! ha!” laughed the stranger; "is it there the shoe pinches, honest Pablo ? Methinks the lapse of a twelvemonth, and the depredations of some score of Carlist guerilla parties, might have driven the loss of the paltry coins from your memory. But I forget," added he, resuming the scornful smile which for a moment had been replaced by one of good-humoured frankness, "I forget that the visits of the accursed faction are rather acceptable than otherwise at the venta of Armentia; and, if all tales be true, they are more productive of profit than of injury to the worthy Pablo Quintanar." And with a jerk of the rein, and a smart application of the spur, he endeavoured to make his wearied steed resume his march. The gallant horse lent himself willingly to his master's wish, but the short halt had cooled and stiffened him, and increased his lameness, and he had not advanced twice his own length, when the pain of his worn-down hoofs caused him to stumble and fall under his rider. Don Antonio was in an instant on his feet, and, muttering a deep curse, drew a pistol from his holster, and applied it to his horse's ear, but at the same instant his arm was seized by Quintanar.

"Spare the good horse, Señor!" said the innkeeper; "and however bad an opinion you may entertain of me, place confidence in me for once, and I swear by the blood of Christ to do my utmost to save you from the peril in which you stand."

"What peril do you mean? and how can I place confidence in a spy and a Carlist?" angrily demanded the other.

At this insulting interrogation, the blood rushed into the face of Quintanar, his features worked with violence, and for a moment he seemed to hesitate whether he should persist in his offer of assistance; but the struggle

was short, and the better nature of the man prevailed. "Señor Capitan," he said, in a deep hurried tone," time is precious, if you value your life. You have already seen that I know you to be one of Zurbano's officers, and, as such, a prize of no small value to the Carlists. For what reason you have thought proper to risk your neck by passing alone on this road, where the whole of your free company would not be too much for an escort, I know not. This morning a score of Carlist cavalry passed the venta with the intention of visiting the villages between this and Vittoria, and I heard them say that they should return by the same road to-night. Between this and Trevino is a picket of infantry, and not half a league to the left are two farm-houses, in which a company is quartered. Your horse is knocked up, your progress in every direction cut off; for even if you return to Peñacerrada, you are almost sure to meet some straggling party of your enemies, who, like the wolves, prowl by preference after nightfall. Trust your self to me, and I will save you, although I hazard my life by so doing." Antonio Perez was a Navarrese by birth, and commenced his military career towards the close of what, in Spain, is called the Guerra de la Independencia, but which, to English readers, is better known as the Peninsular war. He entered the service as a private dragoon, and at the peace, being only a sergeant, and seeing little chance of obtaining the epaulette, he took advantage of some reductions in the Spanish army to obtain his discharge. In 1823, he served under Mina, and rose to the rank of lieutenant ;and seven years afterwards was one of the small force which, under the same chief, made an abortive attempt to raise the liberal standard in Spain. The intervals between his periods of service were filled up by various adventures, not all, it was said, of the most creditable description; and when the civil war broke out in 1833, Perez had made himself a reputation as one of the most daring and successful contrabandistas on the whole line of the Pyrenees. In the course of his illegal traffic he had become acquainted with Zurbano; and when the latter, shortly after the commencement of the war, raised a free corps, Perez joined him, and, in consideration of his skill and intrepidity, was soon promoted

to be second in command. Although more than fifty years old, he had lost not a whit of his strength and activity, and men of any age would have found ample employment if opposed to the sinewy arm, stout heart, and cool head of Martin Barea's lieutenant. On the present occasion he had been on leave of absence at Logroño; but having been informed that morning that his chief, who was at Vittoria, meditated an expedition, he had started by the shortest road, in order to arrive the same night, regardless of the risk of passing through a country infested by the enemy. By this rashness he now found himself exposed to the almost certainty of being taken by the Carlists in whatever direction he moved, with only the alternative, nearly as dangerous in his opinion, of confiding in the assurances and good faith of Quintanar.

There was little time, however, for deliberation, and, after a moment's pause, he accepted the innkeeper's offer. "Beware," added he, "of playing me false: you may betray me; but, before I die, rest assured that I shall find a shot or a stab for my betrayer."

Pablo made no reply to the menace, but occupied himself in getting the crippled horse on his legs, and leading him into the stable, in a dark corner of which he left him, after placing in the manger an abundant feed of barley. The saddle and bridle he removed, and placed under a heap of dried fern, which was piled up in a corner to serve as litter for the cattle, and then led the way up the ladder, which, as in most posadas of an inferior sort in Spain, went directly from the ground floor inhabited by the beasts, to the upper story inhabited by human beings. Entering a large gloomy-looking room, he pulled aside an old-fashioned oaken bedstead, the head of which, carved in a fantastical manner, rose to the height of six feet from the ground, and concealed a recess in the wall, sufficiently large to admit a man in a sitting posture. Into this recess the innkeeper caused Don Antonio to creep, and then supplied him with a loaf of coarse bread, a jug of wine, and half-a-dozen sausages smelling strongly of garlic.

"The cavalry that went by this morning may return at any moment," said he; "you do not want light to eat and drink, and you must be con

tent to be shut up here till they have passed. As soon as I can do so with safety, I will release you, and after midnight I trust you will be able, without much risk, to proceed on your march, and to reach Vittoria before daybreak."

Without giving time for a reply, he restored the bed to its former position, and, descending the stairs, resumed his paper cigar and his lounging posture at the stable-door.

The lad and the decrepid old woman who composed the whole of the domestics of the venta, being at some distance in the fields, Quintanar supposed his interview with the Christino officer, and the subsequent entry of the latter into the house, to have been unobserved by human eye. He was

not aware that, during the conversation outside the venta, a head, covered with a blue boina, had been cautiously raised above the bushes on the bank which overhung the road. A moment's glance had been sufficient for the keen eye of the lurking Carlist; and he again concealed himself, and lent an attentive ear to the conversation on the highway, to which he was near enough not to lose a word.

The sun had completely set, when the stillness of the summer evening was suddenly broken by the tramp of horses, and five-and-twenty Carlist lancers rode up to the venta, and shouted lustily for wine. After much swearing and thumping at the door, accompanied by numerous epithets not at all flattering to Pablo Quintanar, admittance was at last afforded them by that worthy, whose countenance assumed a most chapfallen expression, when the subaltern commanding the party declared his intention of passing the night at the venta with all his men. Remonstrance would have been worse than useless; so Pablo, who had removed Don Antonio's horse to a small shed in rear of the house, gave up the stable to the new comers, furnished them with corn and straw, and then proceeded to make preparations for supper in the kitchen. This ar rangement, however, was not agree. able to his peremptory guests, who, having unbridled and fed their horses,

had been amusing themselves by rummaging every corner of the house, and orders were given to remove the supper-table into the room in which Don Antonio was concealed. This was reluctantly done by Pablo, and the Carlists, placing themselves on chairs, benches, tubs, and such other seats as the poorly-furnished venta afforded, commenced a furious attack on the coarse provisions placed before them, and an equally fierce one on a pigskin of Navarre wine. Their conversation ran chiefly on their morning's foray, in the course of which they had had a skirmish with a picket of the Queen's troops, and was plentifully garnished with such profane and blas phemous oaths as proved that, although their device might be, "El Rey y la Religion," the respect they bore to the latter was but scanty.

Their appetites were somewhat appeased, and their devotion to the wineskin increasing, when a Carlist infantry soldier entered the room, and, advancing to within a few paces of the table, carried arms to the leader of the party, who enquired whence he came, and what he wanted. "Mi alferez,"* answered the soldier, "this man," and he pointed to Pablo, who had just entered, "this man is a spy and a traitor. Not two hours have elapsed since he afforded shelter and concealment to the negro † Perez, the lieutenant of the infamous Barea."

"You lie!" interrupted Pablo, with perfect sang froid; "there is not aliving creature in the house, except the two servants and these señores, nor has there been all day."

"It will soon be seen who is the liar," retorted the other. "For the future, most worthy Pablo, when you hold a conference on the high-road, make sure beforehand that the bushes have not ears; and when you conceal a Christino in your house, close your windows, lest the opposite bank should have eyes."

As he said this, he advanced to the bed, and pulling it on one side, discovered Perez crouched down in his retreat like a tiger in his lair, with a cocked pistol in either hand, and his naked sabre lying before him. Two

* Alferez is a sub-lieuter ant, equivalent to our cornet or ensign.

↑ Negro, black—a name given by the Carlists to the Christinos, in return for the word "factious," applied by the latter to the former.

Carlists fell by the rapid discharge of his fire-arms; and seizing his sabre, he seemed for the space of a second to be about to plunge it into his own breast. He would probably have done so, and thus have avoided being taken alive; but the clamour in the room, and the thickness of the oak planks around him, had prevented his distinguishing the sense of the conversation that had passed; he saw Quintanar standing unharmed, and apparently at liberty amongst the Carlists, and doubted not that it was he who had betrayed him. The desire of revenge overcoming all other considerations, he bounded with uplifted weapon towards the innkeeper; but before he could attain his object, a dozen men threw themselves upon him, and after a desperate struggle, he was subdued and pinioned. Pablo also, after having been sufficiently ill-treated to satisfy Don Antonio that he had no part in his capture, was bound until the cords cut into his wrists; and, on his attempting to remonstrate, he received a blow across the face from a sheathed sabre, which caused the blood to gush from his nose and mouth. The soldiers would gladly have revenged on both the captives the death of their comrades slain by Antonio's pistol-shots; but were restrained by their officer, who thought the prisoners of sufficient importance to be submitted to a higher authority than his own.

Before daylight, the Carlists were in the saddle, and on their road to the headquarters of their squadron, bearing with them the two prisoners, who were led by cords fastened round the middle, each end of which was held by a lancer. The venta had been sacked of every thing that could be carried away, the furniture broken, and the doors and shutters, which did duty as windows, beaten off their hinges. Don Antonio's horse was left behind, being too lame to pro

ceed, but his arms and saddlery were placed on the two riderless troophorses, and even his clothes had been taken from him and divided amongst the men, being replaced by others old and shabby. His handsome fur jacket was strapped over the holsters of a sergeant, his boina had been taken as a trophy by the leader of the party, and a private soldier had exchanged his worn-out shoes for the boots and spurs of the unfortunate captive.

The detachment set off at the sort of amble which is the favourite marching pace of Spanish cavalry;* and with which the two prisoners were compelled to keep up, under pain of being stimulated by a prick from a lance point, administered by hands that were not likely to be particular as to the depth of the puncture. Under this rough guidance we will for the moment leave them, whilst we observe what is passing on the same day and at the same hour under the walls of Vittoria.

The dim grey twilight which precedes the dawn, had just begun to appear, and at about half musket-shot from the gates, a body of troops were drawn up on a piece of stubble, in readiness to start on a foraging expedition. They consisted of about a thousand infantry and fifty horse, a sufficient force, in the absence of any large masses of the enemy from the immediate neighbourhood, to scour the road for four or five leagues, and collect the straw from the adjacent farm-houses and villages. The officer appointed to command galloped to the front of the line, the word was given, and the troops filed out of the field, and proceeded on their march. In the uncertain light, the grey coats and dark green forage-caps of the men gave a gloomy appearance to the column, which might have been taken for some huge black snake winding along the road. In a short

* Spanish horses, which receive from nature an elegant form, great speed, and powers of endurance, are generally spoiled by being badly broken in. No care is taken to give them good paces, and the consequence is that not one in twenty can either walk or trot. They are either on a graceless fidgety amble or at full gallop, and on hard level ground they go fast; but no ditch or hedge must intervene to bar their passage, for they have no notion of leaping. A Spaniard when mounted is usually aiming at display, to attain which end even when standing still he galls his horse with the spur, and checks him with a severe bit, thus keeping him perpetually on the fret. Spanish cavalry on the march, instead of adopting the alternate trot and walk of our dragoons, go at a clumsy amble, at which they keep up the whole day.

The season was winter, and frost on the ground,
And the prentices' nolyday week was come round;
When they think it their glory to kick up a row,
And do as much mischief as time will allow.

So when these three snobs had long troubled the town,
Had tripp'd young women up, and push'd old women down,
Not to let their vile mischief go down ere the sun,

They went off to the country-all three-with one gun.

Thus with popping at sparrows and larks in the tillage,
Tomtits in the hedges and cats in each village,
At a horse that was blind, at a sow and a ewe,
Behold them arrived at the precincts of Chew.

Now the butcher close by to an orchard had built
A shed for his sheep, where much blood had been spilt ;
And there John Meek's Magpie sat perch'd on a tile,
And saw the three snobs getting over the stile.

George Hobbs held the gun, and a gun is a thing
At the sight of which magpies take instantly wing;
So, with a short jump, and just keeping his tail in,
The Magpie adroitly pops over the paling.

But a poor tame redbreast had come to the shed,
As daily he did, by John Meek to be fed,

With his large patient eye, which, if robins could speak,
Meant, "Do ye come hither and feed me, John Meek!"

But that rascal, George Hobbs, when the redbreast he sees,
Creeps close by the hedge, almost down on his knees,
And pokes through a hazel, that keeps it from bobbing,
His gun, with the muzzle quite close to poor Robin,

Determined to kill-so, long from this rest,
He takes a sure aim, and the trigger is press'd,
Then bang went the gun, up ran Piper and Pitts
To pick up the bird-that was blown into bits.

But the Magpie, well knowing the danger was o'er,
Jumping up, was soon perch'd on the tile as before;
And facing the snobs, gave his tail a queer jerk,

And said, "That's what I call bloody work, bloody work!"

Away scamper'd Pitts and away scamper'd Piper,

As if their last steps were pursued by a viper;

George Hobbs stood aghast-"'Twas old Nick or a witch!"
And, closing his eyes, threw his gun in the ditch.

His eyes being closed, terror painted a figure,
A black horned monkey (enormously bigger),

With two saucer eyes, each as large as a moon,

And flames from his mouth-and it nigh made him swoon.

But he soon made a start, for he felt that his legs,

As he broke through the hedge, were fast stiff'ning like pegs;
And the Magpie flew after the frighten'd delinquent,
Who dropp'd, in a swoon, in the orchard propinquent,

With but sense enough left to believe that Old Nick,
As the Magpie perch'd on him, had dealt him a kick ;

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