THE WIND'S STORY.
"I wish you would not be so fond of choosing this nasty old ruinedhouse for our playground, Lolita!"
"Oh, don't you like it, Ana? I do so love to come here and listento the tales the Wind tells me, as it moans through these crumblingwalls!"
"The tales the Wind tells you, hermana [54] dear! what can you mean?"
"Oh, I forgot! you don't know the Wind's language; but I do, and Ilove to listen to it."
"Oh, Lolita dear, do tell me what the Wind tells you! What does itsay about this ruined cottage?"
"Why, it told me such a strange story, Ana! It said to me, 'A long,long while ago, when I was one day dancing happily this way ona sunbeam, this old ruined cottage was then just built; all wasthen bright and new within and without; the cock strutted aboutthe yard, keeping his fowls in order, and shouting, "Qui quirriqui!" the hens gathered their chickens under their wings, crying,"Ca, ca, ca, ca!" the cat sunned himself on the projecting roof,and frightened the birds from the cherry-tree that shaded it; andthe dog ran about wagging his tail, and keeping them all in order,with one eye at least ever open for the rabbit that would poach in thelettuce-bed. On the sunny side of the house was a magnificent parral[55], where every evening might be seen Pepito and Dolores sittingtogether in newly-wedded bliss. Pepito would be sawing or nailing wood,which was to make a cradle, and Dolores, stitching away at little finebits of clothes that looked as if they were meant for a fairy. Theywere so happy, that whenever I was sent that way I used to step asideand ask my sister the Breeze to sweep round that corner for me, becauseI am rough and she is gentle; and I used to love to watch how pleasedthey were with her refreshing visit, after the burning heat of the day.
"'But it happened one day that I had to go a long, long journey: somepirates were ravaging the sea, and I was to kick up a storm which wouldfrighten them away from some poor and hardy sailors who were not strongenough to encounter them; and then I had to sweep round the north ofAfrica, to disperse an army of locusts that were preparing to ravagethe land and destroy the work of the husbandman. So I passed throughthe parral as gently as I could, and kissed the young couple under it,and went lightly on my way.
"'It was some months before I was sent to Spain again, but the firstchance I had I went as near as I could to this cottage; and as I camealong, my attention was attracted by another cottage, which seemed tome something like it, so I looked in: there was only one cheery oldman inside it, and he was making preparations for a journey. "Won'tthey be pleased to see me? How little they think I could come sosoon!" he muttered, as he put his bundle together. I made the airclear and fresh for his journey, and passed along.
"'As I went over the mountains, I came upon a couple of muleteersdirecting a file of laden mules; they looked hot and wayworn, soI blew the dust off them, and cooled their feet, and the hoofs oftheir beasts. As I came near I recognized my friend Pepito, but he nolonger looked so happy as of old; his expression was dark and anxious,and it grew gloomier as he listened to some sombre tale his companionwas telling.
"'"Are you sure--certain sure?" he exclaimed.
"'"Mas cierto que el reloj, hombre [56]," replied the sinistercompanion, whom I now also recognized for a fellow of very badreputation in Pepito's village, and who was said to have vowedvengeance on Dolores because she had married Pepito instead of him.
"'"And if I turn back to-night, I shall find him of whom you speakin my cottage?" continued Pepito, in an agonized tone.
"'"No doubt of it," returned the other.
"'Now I would not believe any ill of Dolores, so I tried what I couldto divert their attention. I threw myself so violently against theface of the leading mule as to make her miss her way, and nearly stepover the brink of the precipice which the path they were travellingbordered; but Pepito was a practised muleteer, and caught her headin time to prevent an accident. Then I blew his hat over the edge,but he was as good a mountaineer as muleteer, and readily climbeddown the steep side after it. I could do no more.
"'Damp mists were gathering along the banks of the Guadalquivir:my mission was to disperse them before they became injurious tohealth. I might not tarry, so I passed on my way, sighing throughthe tall trees. But before the sun rose next morning, I contrived toreach Pepito's cottage. No one was stirring, but I easily made myway in through the open windows. There lay in the bed in calm andpeaceful slumber, the old man whom I had seen making up his bundlein glad expectation of his visit proving a joyful surprise. The doorsand casements rattled for fear, as they always will do when they seeme coming, and I was vexed to find my curiosity had thus disturbedthe old man's sleep. But there was something worse than my coming torouse him. First there was a noise of footsteps under the window,then the barking of the watchful dog, then the sound of some oneclimbing up the wall, then groping his way through the window. Theold man started in his bed, nerved with the consciousness that he wasthe guardian for the time of his son-in-law's property; he hastilydisengaged his navaja [57] from his belt by the bedside, and stood upto grapple with the intruder, who, similarly armed, advanced straightinto the room with an assurance which showed he was no stranger.
"'Then I perceived that Pepito, misled by his perfidious friend, hadreturned in the night-time, so as to prove the truth of the reportgiven him. When he found himself confronted by a man's arm, he felt nolonger any doubt, but closed upon him in rage and fury. I had no heartto stay and see the result of a fight between two armed and desperatemen, but I set up my loudest and most desolate howl, and swept madlythrough the pueblo [58]. I made the branches of the trees crack, andthe fittings of the houses clatter; wherever I saw a door or gate open,I set it banging to and fro, and by a supreme effort, I even moved thegreat church-bell so that it gave one or two deep tolls. Thus wakened,the people soon heard the cries and recriminations of the combatants,and ran out of their houses in numbers to track the sound.
"'It is part of my fate that I must ever be moving onward; I cannever stand still and never go back, though I can make a grand sweepover a large tract of country, and so come round again to a placeafter a time. It was a long time, however, before I was able towork my way round after this, but one day I happened to overtake mysister the Breeze, and knowing the interest I had taken in the youngcouple under the parral, she immediately began telling me about them;I desired nothing more than to learn what had befallen them.
"'"Oh," she said, "I hope you will never have to go by there again,you couldn't bear it!"
"'I began to suspect what had happened that fatal night. "Then theneighbours were not in time to part the men after all?" I exclaimed.
"'"They were parted, but both died of their wounds next day."
"'"And Dolores?"
"'"Dolores was so horror-stricken at the dreadful sight, that sheentirely lost her reason. Some good people have taken her quite away,far, far off, thinking she may get better in an entirely differentscene. But all the time she was here, I used to stir gently throughthe room to fan her burning forehead when the air was sultry; and Ioften looked deep into her eyes when they stared so wildly, seekingfor Pepito and her father, who she always thought were coming to seeher, and I always saw there a look which told me she was not longfor this world."
"'"God take her in His mercy!" I exclaimed. "And the parral and thecottage, what of them?"
"'"All left desolate. The hares and the foxes have the grapes tothemselves. No one will go to live in the house. No one will evenpass by it if they can any how avoid going that way; and I hope youwill keep away from it too, brother, for the sight would make yousad indeed."
"'Our ways parted here; and I was not sorry, for my heart was too fullfor more talk. I need hardly say that on the first opportunity I wentto see how the old place looked. And sad enough it seemed; sadder eventhan now, because the memory of Pepito and Dolores was fresher upon it.
"'I feel so sad whenever I am there, that I moan and sigh, andthe simple people say it is Pepito and his father-in-law crying outagainst each other. Sometimes, wild wit
h anger, I feel ready to crumblethe whole place to atoms--and then I dash down beams and stones andbranches of trees; and then, again, I fear to lose all the traces Ihave loved so well, and I blow sand and mould and seeds of creepingplants to bind the scattered portions together, and root them againto the spot.'
"That's a dreadfully sad story, Lolita; it has made me feel shyerthan ever of this dreary place."
"The Wind's stories are always melancholy, Ana dear; though you don'tknow his language, you hear that his tone is always plaintive."
"Then I don't want any more of the Wind's stories. I'll tell you whatI like. I like the sights I see in the Sunbeam."
"Oh, tell me what you see in the Sunbeam!"
"Then you must come out of this dreary place, and sit down with meon the sunny bank yonder, and I'll tell you what I have seen."