CHAPTER XII.

HISTORY OF BLAS EL GUERRILLERO--_continued._

"_La rueda de la fortuna anda mas lista que una rueda de molino, y que los que ayer estaban en pinganitos, hoy estan por el suelo._"[145]-- DON QUIJOTE.

It was at Castrò el Rio that we last met Don Carlos; it is now eleven years since,--rather more, but still I have a perfect recollection of it. My memory, indeed, is the only thing that has served me well through life. Friends have abandoned--riches corrupted--success has hardened--ambition disappointed me; and now, as you see, my very limbs are failing me, but memory--excepting for one short period, when my brain was affected--has never abandoned me. I cannot flee from it--it pursues me incessantly: it is as impossible to get rid of, as of one's shadow in the sun's rays, and seems indeed, like it, to become more perfect, as I too proceed downward in my rapidly revolving course.

Alas! it often brings to mind the words of my good father, addressed, whilst I was yet a child, to my too-indulgent mother:--"If we consult the happiness of our son, we must not bring him up above the condition to which it has pleased Providence to call him." It was my unhappy lot, however, to become an _educated pauper_. I grew up discontented, and became a profligate: I coveted riches, to feed my unnatural cravings, and became criminal: I scoffed at religion, and came to ridicule the idea of a future state of rewards and punishments. And as I thus brought myself to believe that I was not an accountable creature, nothing thenceforth restrained me from committing any act which gratified my passions. What is man, I argued, that I should not despoil him, if he possess that which I covet? What should deter me from taking his life, if he stand between me and that which I desire? _Crime_ is a mere word,--a term for any act which certain _men_, for their mutual advantage, have agreed shall meet with punishment. But what right have those men to say, this is just, and that is unlawful?

Such were my feelings at the time I met and related to you the adventures of my early life; adventures of which I was then not a little proud, though, nevertheless, I slurred over some little matters that I thought would not raise me in your opinion. Well was it for me that I was not cut off in the midst of my iniquitous career, but have, on the contrary, been allowed time, by penance and prayer, to make what atonement is in my power for my former sinful life.

My journey to Castrò had been undertaken at the desire of the political chief of ----, for the purpose of watching the proceedings of the Royal Regiment of Carbineers, which, as you may remember, was at that time quartered there.

I soon, under pretence of being a stanch royalist, wormed myself into the confidence of the officers, and learnt that they were in communication with the King's Guards at Madrid, and were plotting a counter-revolution, to reestablish Ferdinand on a despotic throne. The advice I gave them, and the information I furnished the government, led to the unconnected and premature developement of their treason, and to the vigorous steps which were taken by the executive to meet and put it down.

These, however, are matters of history, on which it is unnecessary to dwell; suffice it, therefore, to say, that my good services on the occasion were rewarded by promotion to a more lucrative _corregimiento_. I did not long enjoy this new post, for, on the French columns crossing the Pyrenees the following spring, I threw up my civil employment, and, collecting a small band of _guerrillas_, flew to the defence of my country; joining the traitor Ballasteros, then entrusted with the command of the army of the south.

The deplorable events which followed deprived me of a home; but, leaving my wife and infant son (the only child, of three, whom it had pleased Providence to spare us) at the secluded little town of Cañete la Real, perched high up in the Sierra de Terril, I wandered about the country with a few adherents, seeking opportunities of harassing the French during their operations before Cadiz.

They afforded us no opportunities, however, of attacking their convoys with any chance of success, and my followers could not be brought to engage in any daring enterprise without the prospect of booty. The feeling of patriotism appeared, indeed, to be extinct in the breasts of Spaniards, and after a few weeks my band, which was nowhere well received, having been induced to commit excesses in some of the villages situated in the open country about Arcos, several parties of royalist volunteers were formed to proceed in quest of us; and so disheartened were my followers, that I shortly found my band reduced to a dozen desperadoes, who, like myself, had no hopes of obtaining pardon.

We betook ourselves, therefore, to the innermost recesses of the Ronda mountains, moving constantly from place to place, as well to harass our pursuers, as to avoid being surrounded by them; and such is the intricacy of the country, and so numerous are the rocky fastnesses of the smugglers (from whom we were always sure of a good reception), that we readily baffled all pursuit, and exhausted the patience of our enemies; and, at length, seizing a favourable opportunity of inflicting a severe loss upon one of their parties, the patriotic zeal of these gentry so completely evaporated, that we were left in the undisturbed command of the Serranía.

All hope of being serviceable to our country at an end, we were compelled, as a last resource, to adopt the only calling to which we were suited, viz., that of highway robbers; and for several months every road between Gibraltar and Malaga, and the inland towns, was, in turn, subject to our predaceous visits.

On one occasion a dignitary of the church, whose name and particular station it would not be prudent of me to mention, fell into our hands. His attendants, who were of a militant order, defended their master with great obstinacy. They were eventually overpowered, however, but several of my men having been badly wounded in the scuffle, were so exasperated, that they determined to shoot all those who had fallen into our hands, as well as the ---- himself; who, though he had not taken an active part in the combat, had made no attempt to restrain his pugnacious adherents.

As soon as our prisoners had been secured, therefore, the portly ecclesiastic was directed to descend from his sleek mule, deliver up his money, and prepare for death. He inveighed in eloquent terms at our barbarity, pointed out to us the iniquity of our proceedings, the probability of a speedy punishment overtaking us in this life, and the certainty of having to endure everlasting torments in that which is to come. But it was to no purpose; indeed, it only tempted my miscreants to prolong his misery; and, having tied him to a tree, they insisted upon his blessing them all round, ere they proceeded to shoot him.

"My children," said the worthy ----, "my blessing, from the tone in which you ask it, would serve you little. My life is in the hands of my Maker, not in your's; and if it be His pleasure to make you the instruments of his divine will, so be it. I am prepared; death has no terrors for me; and may you obtain _His_ forgiveness for the sin you are about to commit, as readily as I grant you _mine_. Now, I am ready;" and, looking upwards to the seat of all power and grace, he paid no further attention to their scoffing.

"Now Señor Bias," said one of my men, "since he will give us no more sport, give the word, and let us finish his business."

"Hold!" exclaimed one of the ----'s suite, addressing me, "Is your name Blas Maldonado?"

"It is: wherefore?"

"Because, if such be the case, in his Excellency's _portefuille_ you will find a letter addressed to you."

I forthwith proceeded to examine its contents, and, true enough, found a letter bearing my address. It was from my old friend _Jacobo_, requesting, should the ---- fall into my hands, that I would suffer him to pass without molestation, in return for services conferred on him, which would be explained at our next meeting.[146]

_Jacobo_, though we had not met for many months, I knew was in that part of the country, following the honest calling of a _Contrabandista_, and I felt, in honour, bound to grant this request of my old friend and ever faithful lieutenant. My followers, however, objected strongly to spare either the ----, or his attendants, and a violent altercation ensued; for, I declared that my life must be taken ere that of any one of our prisoners.

Four only of the band sided with me, and we had already assumed a hostile attitude, when the ---- called earnestly upon me to desist.

"Peril not your sinful souls!" he exclaimed, "by hurrying each other, unrepented of your manifold sins, into the presence of an offended Maker.--Take our gold--take every thing we possess; and if those misguided men cannot be satisfied without blood, let mine flow to save the lives of these, my followers, who have stronger ties than I to bind them to this world."

My hot temper, little used to contradiction, would listen, however, to no terms; my word was pledged that the ---- and his attendants should go free, and my word was never given in vain. I persisted, therefore, in declaring that those must pass over my body who would touch a hair of the ----'s head, or take a m_aravedi_ from his purse.... If he chose to make them a present after he had been released, he was his own master to do so.

This delicate hint was eagerly seized by the worthy dignitary's attendants, and a large sum of money was distributed amongst the gang, in which I declined sharing. The ----, meanwhile, remounted his mule, and, calling me to his side, placed a valuable ring upon my finger. "I am indebted to you for my life, Blas Maldonado," he said, with the most lively emotion; "but that is little; I owe to you--what I value infinitely more--the safety of these faithful attendants, whose attachment had led them, like Simon Peter, to defend their Pastor. Such debts cannot be cancelled by any gift I can bestow, and it is not with that view I offer you this bauble, but a day may come when you may need an intercessor--if so, return this ring to me by some faithful member of our holy church, and let me know how I can serve you: or--which is probable, considering my age and infirmities--should I, ere that comes to pass, have been called from this world to give an account of my stewardship; then, fear not to lay it at the foot of Fernando's throne, and, in the name of its donor, beg for mercy. I trust you may not have occasion to require its services, for my prayers shall not be wanting for your conversion from your present evil ways--my blessing be upon you--farewell."

How powerful is the influence of religion! Whilst listening to the worthy ----'s words, my head, which since the days of my childhood no act of devotion had ever led me to uncover, was bared as if by instinct; and, to receive the blessing he had called down upon me, I humbled myself to the earth!

Although those of the band who had so vehemently opposed sparing the ----'s life had finally been satisfied with the _donation_ bestowed upon them, yet their disobedience made me determine on ejecting them from my band, and accordingly, accompanied only by my four supporters in the late dispute, I proceeded to my old rendezvous, Montejaque, hoping to pick up some recruits. I purposed, also, availing myself of the first favourable opportunity to remove my wife and child to that place, it being more conveniently situated, and offering greater security than even Cañete la Real.

We had been there but a few days, when I received a letter without a signature, but in the well-known characters of my bosom friend, Miguel Clavijo, under whose protection I had placed my wife and child, giving warning of impending danger to them. There was yet time to avert it, my correspondent concluded, but in twenty-four hours from the date of this communication, their fate would probably be sealed.

It was within two hours of sunset when I received this letter, and eight hours had already elapsed since it had been written. Not a moment, therefore, was to be lost. I procured a pillion, and, placing it on an active horse, set off with all possible haste for Cañete, keeping along the course of the river Ariate to avoid the town of Ronda, and traversing at full speed the village bearing the name of the stream, in order to escape recognition.

I reached the rounded summit of the chain of hills which forms the northern boundary of the cultivated valley of Ronda, just as the sun was sinking behind the western mountains; and, checking my horse to give him a few moments' breath ere commencing the rugged descent on the opposite side, I turned round to see if all were quiet in the wide-spread plain I had just traversed, and that no one was following my traces. At this moment the last ray of the glorious luminary lit upon the distant town of Grazalema. The remarkable coincidence of the warning of treason I had received there on this very day, twelve years before, came vividly to mind, and with it the recollection of my extraordinary escape from the snare laid for me--the debt of gratitude due to her who had risked her life, and sacrificed her honour to save me--the cruelty with which my preserver had been treated. Poor abandoned Paca! From the moment of our angry separation, never had I once taken the trouble of enquiring what had been her fate. Scarcely, indeed, had I ever bestowed a thought upon her.

I resumed my way down the rough descent, pondering, for the first time in my life, on the ingratitude I had been guilty of, and had reached some high cliffs that border the road beneath the village of La Cuera del Becerro, when a pistol was discharged within a few yards of me, and, looking up, I saw a witchlike figure standing on the edge of the precipice overhanging the path--It was Paca!

Had my eyes wished to deceive me, she would not have allowed them, for, with a wild, demonaical laugh, she screamed out "_Adelante, Adelante, embustero desalmado!_[147]--You will yet be in time to dig the grave for your child, though too late to snatch your _wife_ from the arms of her paramour. Forward, forward; recollect the old saying, '_no hay boda, sin tornabóda_;'[148] you may have forgotten Paca of _Benaocaz_, but I shall never forget Blas Maldonado. The creditor has ever a better memory than the debtor. I have paid myself now, however--ride on, and see the receipt I have left for you at Cañete--ha, ha, ha!"

There was something perfectly fiendish in her laughter. A horrible presentiment possessed me.--With a hand tremulous with passion, I drew forth a pistol and fired. Paca staggered, and fell backwards; but, not waiting to see if she were killed, I put spurs to my horse, and hurried forward to Cañete.

I rode straight to the house where I had left my wife, but it was uninhabited. I turned from it with a shudder, and proceeded to the abode of my faithful friend Clavijo, who was confined to his bed with ague. He received me with a face foreboding evil.

"Where is my wife?" I hastily demanded--"my child, where is he?"

"Alas!" he replied, "why came you not earlier?"

"Earlier! how could that be? It is but twelve hours since your summons was penned! Tell me, I implore you--what horrible misfortune has befallen?"

"But twelve hours, say you?" exclaimed Clavijo; "It is now _three days_ since I intrusted my letter to Paca to convey to you! she it was who informed me of the plot to carry off your wife, (which has been but too truly effected,) and offered to be herself the bearer of my letter to you at Montejaque, where she assured me you were. I have not seen her since, and fancied she had not succeeded in finding you."

I stood stupified whilst listening to this explanation--for such it was to me; the truth, the horrible truth, at once flashing upon me--and then, without waiting to obtain further information from the bed-ridden Miguel, hastened to the late residence of my wife, which one of his domestics pointed out to me. In few words, I explained to its owner the object of my visit, begging for information concerning my child. "This will explain all, Señor Blas," she replied, taking a letter from a cupboard, and placing it in my hands; "would to God it had been in my power to prevent what has happened."

The letter was in my wife's hand-writing, I tore it open, and to my astonishment read as follows.

"Monster of iniquity! The veil that has but too long concealed thy unequalled crimes from the eyes of a confiding woman, has been rudely torn aside. Murderer of my brother! Apostate! Traitor! Adulterer! receive at my hands the first stroke of the Almighty's anger. The illegitimate offspring of our intercourse lies a mangled corpse upon our adulterous bed! Yes, unparalleled villain; my hand, like thine own, is stained with the blood of my child--_our_ child. But on thy head rests the sin. In a moment of delirium, produced by the sight of my husband, and the knowledge of thy atrocious crimes, the horrid deed was committed. I leave thee to the pangs of remorse. I cannot curse thee. Even with the bleached corpse of my poor boy before me, I cannot bring myself to call down a heavy punishment upon thee. We shall never meet again; but fly instantly and save thyself if possible; and may the Almighty Being, whose every command thou hast violated, extend the term of thy life for repentance; and may a blessed Saviour and the holy saints, whose mediation thou hast ever derided, intercede for the salvation of thy sinful soul."

My first feeling on reading this epistle was incredulity! _I_, who had stopped at no crime to gratify any evil passion; even I could not persuade myself that it was not a forgery, nor believe that one so gentle, so affectionate, as Engracia, could be guilty of so diabolical an act. I took up a lamp and walked composedly to the adjoining chamber, to satisfy my doubts. With a steady hand I drew aside the curtain of the bed--nothing was visible. A thrill of delight ran through my veins. I tore off the counterpane, and--horrible revulsion of feeling!--discovered my boy, my darling boy, with anguish depicted in every feature, and every muscle contracted with excessive suffering; a cold--black--fetid--putrid corpse!

Until that moment I had not known the full extent to which the chords of the human heart are capable of being stretched. All my love of life had centred in that child. Each of his infantile endearments came fresh upon my memory. The pangs of jealousy and hate, too, had never before been so acutely felt; and, lastly, I thought of my Fernando's dying malediction! It seemed as if a poisoned dart had pierced to the very innermost recess of the heart, and that my envenomed blood waited but its extraction, to gush forth in one irrepressible flood.

I stood speechless--awe-struck--motionless; but not yet humbled. I thought of Paca, and a curse rose to my throat; but ere I had time to give it utterance, a noise, as of many persons assembled at the door of the house, attracted my attention, and I heard an unknown voice say, "This, _Tio_, you are sure is the house? Then in with you, comrades, without ceremony, and bring out every soul you may find there, dead or alive."

In another moment the door was broken open and a party of armed men rushed in. My precaution of extinguishing the lamp was vain, as several of them bore blazing torches. I rushed to a back window of the inner apartment, and drew forth a pistol to keep them at bay whilst I effected my escape by it. It had the desired effect. Not one of the dastard crew would approach to lay his hand upon me. The shutter was already thrown open; the strength of desperation had enabled me to tear down one of the iron bars of the _reja_; and one foot rested on the window-sill; when, rushing past the soldiers, a ghost-like female figure, whose face was bound up in a cloth clotted with gore, seized me in her convulsive grasp, and in a half-articulate scream cried, "Wretch! you shall not so escape me!"--It was Paca! I tried in vain to shake her off; she clung to me with the pertinacity of a vampire, I placed the muzzle of my pistol to her temple, and pulled the trigger; but, in my hurry, I had drawn that which I had already fired at her. I attempted to snatch another from my belt, but the soldiers taking courage rushed forward and overpowered me, just as Paca, from whose mouth I now perceived blood was rapidly issuing, fell exhausted upon the floor.

The commander of the party was now called in, who gave directions for a priest and a surgeon to be instantly sent for, and that I should be bound hand and foot with cords. They took the bedding from under the corpse of my son to form a rest for Paca, whose life seemed ebbing rapidly.

In a few minutes the surgeon arrived, and shortly after a tinkling bell announced the approach of the Host. The doctor having examined Paca's wounds, pronounced them to have been inflicted by the discharge of some weapon loaded with slugs, one of which had fractured her jaw-bone, whilst another had inflicted a wound that occasioned an inward flow of blood which threatened immediate dissolution, and consequently the services of the church were more likely to be beneficial than his own. The priest then approached, and offered the last and cheering consolation that our holy religion offers to a dying penitent.

Paca opened her now lustreless eyes, and with a motion of impatience, putting aside the proffered cup, pointed to me. "There is my murderer," she muttered in broken accents; "Villain! monster! my vengeance is at length complete. I leave you in the hands of justice, and die ... happy." An agonized writhe belied her assertion. She never spoke after, but continued groaning whilst the worthy priest attempted to call her attention to her approaching end.

I have not much more to add to my history. It appeared, by what I learnt afterwards, that Beltran had most miraculously escaped death, when thrown from the rock of Montejaque, and having been discovered by some French soldiers who made an attack upon the place a few days afterwards, was conveyed to Ronda, when the loss of his ears led to his being recognised by the French governor, who had, in the meanwhile, received my _present_, and discovered the trick I had played him.

Beltran's tale thus proved to have been the true one, he was well-treated, and sent with a party of prisoners to France, where he remained until the conclusion of the war. He was then on his way back to his native country, in company with several other Spaniards, when he was arrested as being an accomplice, "_sans préméditation_," in a robbery, attended with loss of life, and was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment; but, before this term was fully completed, he obtained his release, returned to Spain, and proceeding immediately to his native province, there first learnt that Engracia had become my wife.

I think, by the way, that in the former part of my narrative I omitted to mention--for fully persuaded as I _then_ was of Beltran's death, it was a matter of no moment--that previous to Engracia's becoming my wife, she informed me of her having, at the urgent instances of her brother Melchor, consented to a private marriage with my rival; and from this circumstance she had expressed the greatest anxiety to ascertain his fate with certainty, and had delayed for so long a period bestowing her hand upon me.

This marriage with Beltran had taken place at Gaucin within an hour of my departure from that town, after making the arrangements for our combined attack on Ronda; and had been strongly advocated by Melchor, from an apprehension that, should any thing happen to him in the approaching conflict, his elder brother, Alonzo, who was kept in perfect ignorance of this proceeding, would abandon his friend Beltran, and insist on their sister's marrying me, whom he (Melchor) detested.

I, however, as you are aware, had every reason to believe that Beltran had been killed by his fall from the rock of Montejaque; and therefore, on eventually eliciting from Engracia the reason of her reluctance to marry me, I had no scruple in declaring that Beltran's dead body had been seen rolling down the shallow pebbly bed of the Guadiaro, after our action with the French. The crime I had led her to commit was consequently unintentional. Would I could as easily acquit myself of another her letter accused me of, namely, that of being the murderer of her brother: for, through my machinations was his death brought about.

Whilst the crop-eared traitor, Beltran, (the _Tio's_ revengeful feelings were not so entirely allayed as to prevent his bestowing an occasional term of reproach on those who had thwarted his prosperous career of iniquity) was skulking about the mountains, endeavouring to obtain tidings of his re-married wife, chance threw him in the way of Paca, engaged in a similar pursuit, but with a very different purpose.

This wretched woman had, for many years after our separation, been the inmate of a mad-house; but, at length, her keepers finding that, excepting on the subject of her supposed wrongs, she was perfectly tractable, became careless of watching her, and she effected her escape.

The sole object of this vindictive creature's life appears now to have been to wreak vengeance upon me. But not satisfied with the mere death of her victim, she sought first to torture him with worldly pangs; and informed that Engracia lived, and had given birth to a son, whom I loved with a more fervent affection than even the mother, she determined _they_ should first be sacrificed to her revenge.

On discovering Beltran alive, however, a scheme yet more hellishly devised entered her imagination; in the execution of which he became a willing agent, though in some degree her dupe.

Well acquainted with all my haunts, she soon got upon my track; and that discovered, had little difficulty in finding out the hiding-place of Engracia. Making a shrewd guess at the person under whose protection I had placed my wife and child, she forthwith presented herself to Don Miguel, and informed him that a plot was laid, and on the eve of execution, to carry them both off; adding, that it might yet be frustrated if I could but arrive at Cañete within twenty-four hours--that she knew where I then was, and would undertake to have any warning conveyed to me which his prudence might suggest--that her messenger was sure, but still the utmost caution, as well as despatch, was necessary.

Miguel, quite taken by surprise, and unable from illness to leave his bed, wrote the short note which has already been given; and this point gained, Paca proceeded to the nearest town to give information to the authorities that the bandit Blas, whom they were seeking in every direction, was to be at Cañete la Real on a certain night; and proposed, if a detachment of troops was sent quietly to the neighbouring village of El Becerro, that she would repair thither at the proper time, and conduct the soldiers to the traitor's very lair.

This proposal was readily acceded to, and Paca then repaired to Cañete, to tell Miguel not to be uneasy as to the result of his message to me, as, since sending it, she had ascertained on good authority that something had occurred to postpone the elopement of Engracia for a day or two.

Bending her steps thence to where Beltran was anxiously awaiting her return, she told him that after much difficulty she had discovered Engracia was at Cañete; he had therefore but to proceed there after dark, provided with the means of carrying her off. But this, she informed him, must be done with the utmost celerity and circumspection, as the inhabitants of the place were so desperate a set, and so attached to me, that, if they got the slightest inkling of what was going forward, they certainly would handle him very roughly; and the authorities, unless backed by a body of troops, would be afraid to interfere in his behalf.

If, however, she pursued, he preferred waiting until an escort could be procured, that he might avoid all personal risk--but delays were dangerous, for frequently

_"De la mano a la boca_ _se cae la sopa._"[149]

The law, too, was uncertain.--He thought so also, and they proceeded together to Cañete.

Beltran, imagining that Paca had informed Engracia of his being alive, conceived that no intimation of his coming was requisite; but such was not the case, and the shock given by his unexpected visit caused the aberration of mind which led the hapless Engracia to commit the horrid crime of infanticide; and, in the state of inanition that followed, she was carried out of the town.

The letter to me was written afterwards, and delivered to the old woman of the house by Paca, the last act of whose fiendish plot now commenced.

Altering the date of Miguel's letter, so as to make it correspond with the time arranged for the arrival of the troops at _La Cueva del Becerro_, she forwarded it to me at Montejaque--what followed has already been stated.

These details became known on my trial, which took place shortly afterwards. I was condemned to suffer death by the _garrote_. The day was fixed; I sent for a priest, and entrusting to him the ring given me by the ----, begged he would forward it without delay to Madrid.

This was done, but day after day passed without bringing any answer to my appeal. At first I had been so sanguine as to the result, that I was affected but little at my position, for I knew how easily a pardon is obtained in Spain, when application is made in the proper quarter; but, as the fatal time approached, the darkest despair took possession of my soul.

I cannot indeed convey to you, Don Carlos, an adequate idea of the horrible torments I endured during the last few days preceding that fixed for my execution. The pious father Ignacio--he has since (sainted soul!) been taken from this earth, and is now, I trust, my intercessor in heaven--was unremitting in his endeavours to bring me to repentance; but Satan was yet strong within me, and my heart remained hardened. The pardon came not, and I exclaimed against the justness of the Most High: I, whom no considerations of justice had influenced in any one action of my life--who had recklessly transgressed each of His commandments!

"We must not ask for _justice_ at the hands of the Almighty," urged Ignacio; "We are all born in sin, in sin we all live; _mercy_ is what we must pray for."

"Mercy!" I exclaimed; "_Why_ was I born in sin? Why led to commit crime? Why...."

"Your unbridled passions led you to transgress the laws of your Creator," replied Ignacio; "be thankful that you were not cut short in your mad career, and that time has been allowed you for repentance."

"Repent!--I cannot--I have ever denied, I cannot now believe in the existence of a Maker."

"Unhappy man!" ejaculated the worthy priest; "unhappy, impious, inconsistent man! You deny the existence of the Being against whose justice your voice was raised e'en now in reproaches! Do you not look forward to behold again to-morrow the bright luminary round which this atom of a world revolves? Look on that pale moon, which perhaps you now see rising for the last time--Observe that fiery meteor which has this moment dashed through the wondrous, boundless firmament; and ask yourself if this admirable system can be the effect of accident? Do the trees yearly yield us their fruits by chance? Is the punctual return of the seasons a mere casualty? If so, how is it that this accidental atom--this globe we inhabit, has so long held together _without_ accident? Has any work of man, however cunningly devised, in like manner withstood the effects of time? Is not the protecting hand of the Deity clearly perceptible in the unvarying continuance of these phenomena?

"My son, had you studied the Holy Scriptures more, and the philosophy of Voltaire and other infidels less, you would not have been brought to this strait; neither would you have shocked my ears with a confession, which, a few years since, would have consigned you to the dungeons of the Inquisition. Repent! unhappy man, repent! and save your soul--there is still time. Nay, an omnipotent Maker may even yet think fit to prolong your life here below, for the perfection of this good work, if you will but pray to him in all sincerity."

The pious father saw that I was touched, and, pouring in promises of future happiness, brought me to reflect. I begged him to be with me early on the following morning. He came; I had passed the night in prayer; and now unburdened my mind, by making to him a full confession of my sins.

Ignacio remained comforting me, until the hour of the arrival of the post, when he repaired, as usual, to the _Corregidor_, to ascertain whether any pardon had reached him. He returned not, however. Eleven o'clock was the hour fixed for my execution; it came, but still Ignacio did not appear. Hours passed away, and not a soul visited me; the sun again sank below the horizon, and I yet lived.

It was evident--so, at least, I thought--that a pardon had arrived, and my spirits rose accordingly. At length, towards nightfall, Ignacio entered my cell. "Blas," he said, "though it would appear there is no longer a chance of your receiving a pardon, yet your life has been miraculously spared this day, to give you time for repentance. I trust you have turned it to good account."

"How!" I exclaimed, "have I not been pardoned? What, then, has occasioned this delay?"

"You owe your life," he replied, "to a rumour, that a band of robbers had appeared in the vicinity--some of your old friends, it was thought--which caused all the troops to be sent out in pursuit. They have but now returned, and to-morrow you will be executed."

A pang of withering disappointment ran through me, for I had confidently imagined that the delay had been the consequence of the arrival of a pardon, and Satan once more obtained dominion over me.

Ignacio read in my overcast countenance the change his information had wrought in my feelings. "Your repentance is not sincere, my son," he observed. "Alas! when death is in sight, how fondly do we cling to this earth. And yet you have braved death in the field a thousand times!"

"Father," I replied, "it is not death I fear--it is the disgrace of a public execution."

"What absurd sophistry is this?" said he. "Can one, who but yesterday denied the existence of a future state, care for one moment _how_ he quits this world, or regard the opinion of those he leaves behind in it?--as well might he be fearful of losing the good opinion of a herd of swine. Away with such fine-spun subtilties--it is the prospect of meeting your Maker face to face that makes you quail. You are yet but ill prepared, I see. Oh! may He yet mercifully extend your life, if but a short span."

The morrow came, but the pious Ignacio's prayer remained apparently unheard. He repaired to my call soon after the arrival of the post, to exhort and prepare me. Alas! I was as much in want of his assistance as ever, for I had all along clung to the hope of obtaining a pardon through the influence of the ----, and was more inclined to rail than to pray.

A party of soldiers at length arrived, and I was led off in chains to the place of execution. A vast crowd was assembled from all the neighbouring towns to witness my punishment. Ignacio addressed the multitude on our way, saying, I was a repentant sinner, and implored the prayers of all good Christians. For myself I said not a word, and the crowd gave no signs of either gratification or commiseration. I mounted the scaffold, the fatal instrument was placed round my throat, a curse was yet on my lips, when a distant shout attracted the Father's attention. Laying a hand upon the arm of the executioner to stay his proceedings, he watched with eager eyes the signs of some one who was approaching at a rapid pace, holding a paper high in the air. The paper was handed to Ignacio by the breathless messenger. "It is a pardon," he exclaimed; "your life is miraculously spared--it has been sent express from the Escurial! Return your thanks, to Him, who has been pleased thus to extend his mercy towards you."

I had already sunk on my knees--I prayed earnestly for the first time in my life.

Marvellously, indeed, had my life been preserved. But for the rumoured appearance of the band of robbers, I should have suffered death the day before; again, this day, but for Ignacio's presence, the pardon would have arrived too late.

I was immediately released, but a fever, caused, probably, by my previously excited feelings, confined me to my bed for many weeks. I became delirious, and my life was despaired of. Ignacio tended me like a brother. A second time he saved my life; but, alas! he himself contracted the contagious disorder, and fell a victim to his warm and disinterested friendship.

I expended all I was worth in masses for his soul, and was once more thrown upon the world to seek a livelihood.

I thought of applying to the ---- to procure me some employment, but learnt that he too had closed his mortal career. The fever had given such a shock to my constitution, that old age, I may say, came suddenly upon me, and to gain a livelihood by hard labour was out of the question. I had no relations; my friends were all new; so that I had no claims on any one: my present occupation presented itself, as the only one I was fit for; and, thank God, it enables me to earn my bread without begging, and even to lay by a little store for pious purposes:--for much of my time is devoted to the performance of penances and austerities, to expiate the sins of my past life. Thrice, on my knees, have I ascended to the _Ermita_ you see there peeping through the clouds gathered round the peaks of the Sierra Morena. Once, too, have I walked barefoot to prostrate myself before the _Santa faz_[150] of Jaen; and this winter (God willing!) I purpose visiting the most holy shrine of _Sant' Iago de Compostela_.

It is a long journey, and will, probably, be my last pilgrimage, for I feel myself sinking fast.

You have now had the history of my whole life, Don Carlos--I wish it could be published. It might, probably, warn my fellow-creatures to rest contented with the lot to which it has pleased God to call them; and, if so, I may have lived to some purpose.