However the air up here was bitterly cold, and, moreover, so thin that both I and the mule began to cough; therefore I made haste to urge her on her way, and we began descending.
We had passed through snow at the summit, knee-deep, but this thinned off by degrees, and then I saw a beautiful sight: across the scanty grass of the bare mountain slopes, for miles on miles, farther than I could see, there spread a carpet of small flowers, a pale lavender in colour, clustered so thickly that they gave their bloomy hue to the whole hillside. And in among them, here and there, sparkled a different one, a deep dark blue, that of the sky just before the stars come out. I wished that Nieves could have seen this marvellous sight.
I was still lost in wonder, gazing around me at the flowers, and riding with a loose rein, when I heard a shout ahead of me. Much startled, and cursing myself for my careless lack of attention, I looked to see where the noise came from.
By now I was descending a great pass whose bare sides, all misted over with the purple flowers, curved together like the sides of a cup. About half a mile ahead of me I saw two men clad in black cloaks. At first I thought that they must be brigands or rateros, guarding the way, but then it struck me that their behaviour was not that of brigands; they seemed to be shouting at one another, not at me; they were standing on opposing sides of the valley, facing one another, while their hobbled horses grazed at a distance.
It was plain that they had not expected to be disturbed by any other person, up on this lonely height, for they gazed at me with astonishment as I on my mule came clip-clopping down the road, and when I reached a point midway between them, they both strode down to accost me.
In spite of their brigand-like cloaks, they seemed to be caballeros; the younger was handsome, with flashing black eyes and a white ruffle to his shirt. The hair and beard of the elder was somewhat grizzled. Both faces were alert and weather-beaten; they might be soldiers, I thought, or, anyway, used to living out of doors.
‘Hola, boy, what are you doing here?’ demanded the older man.
I replied civilly that I was travelling towards Oviedo.
‘Hmn – he speaks well,’ remarked the younger man. ‘Not the country oaf you would think him from his clothes.’ His brows flew up as he surveyed me, and I thought that he looked like a young king-hawk. He added, ‘Shall we ask him to see fair play?’
‘If you wish,’ replied the other, shrugging. ‘He can drop the kerchief.’
Seeing my puzzled look, they gave me to understand that their reason for repairing to this high, silent spot was because they intended to fight a duel, and duelling was frowned on by the authorities of Oviedo.
‘The cause of our dispute need not concern you,’ the younger man said haughtily.
I said I had no wish to pry into their affairs and, if they wished it, would continue on my way and forget that I had ever seen them.
A glance passed between them at this. I read it as, Can we trust him? but there was more to it than that, as I would soon learn.
‘No; you can be of use to us,’ said the older man. ‘You shall stand here with this kerchief while we measure out thirty paces.’
They began doing so, very seriously. At first, in my alarm I had wondered if all this could be merely a scheme for shooting me, but I soon understood that such was not the case.
When they had established their positions on the sloping valley floor and marked the spot, each with a white stone, one of them called out, ‘A moment!’ and came striding back to me.
‘If by chance I should be killed,’ he said to me a little breathlessly – it was the elder of the two, the grizzle-bearded man – ‘I should be greatly obliged if you could have this note delivered to my stepdaughter who is a novice at the Convent of the Esclavitud in Santander. It relates to some property of her mother’s which will come to her at my death.’
He handed me a scrap of paper. I was on the point of telling him that I had no intention of going anywhere near Santander – but you can hardly refuse such a request, made at such a moment. And I supposed that I could find means to have the note despatched without visiting the place myself.
It fills me with wonder, now, looking back, to think how much depended on this slight-seeming occurrence. My whole future life, indeed.
I pocketed the paper and the grizzle-bearded man, having thanked me, returned to his position. I glanced towards the younger man – in case he had a like request to make; but with a haughty lift of the head he intimated that he had no wish to delay further. So I bade them see to their priming and then asked if they were ready. Upon their answering yes, I dropped the kerchief, and both pistols went off together with a sharp echoing crack.
My eyes flew from one to the other. For a brief moment I hoped that neither had been hit, for they stood still and upright – but then the younger one turned slightly, as if he heard a noise behind him; his knees began to bend; then he slid to the ground, where he lay motionless.
It was not grief I felt, exactly, for his youth and handsomeness, but a kind of awe at this terribly sudden change, which had taken him away for ever.
‘Vaya!’ said the older man, having walked over to examine him. ‘He is dead; we can do nothing more for him. You may go on your way.’
‘And leave him there?’ I looked to where his black-clad body lay among the flowers.
‘Oh, the hawks will soon pick him clean,’ the other man answered calmly. ‘Two days, and he will be white bones. We saw enough of that when Soult was chasing Moore over the mountains.’
Observing that I was troubled, however, he added, ‘Don’t concern your mind over it, boy. He knew what he was about when we began. If I had lost, I would not have complained.’
‘I suppose not, senor; but then, you would have been dead!’
At that he grinned, and, taking a flask of aguardiente from the horse’s saddle-bag, offered it to me. On my declining, he drank from it himself and returned it to its place. It seemed to me that he was in a strange state of mind – elated, hopeful, amazed, excited.
I said, ‘Senor, since you have survived the duel, you will not now wish this note delivered. I will give it you back.’
But to that, after thinking, he replied, ‘No, for the dangers ahead of me are as great as any that I have come through. The gente de reputacion will be on my trail like bloodhounds. I will add a line, saying that if she hears no more of me after two months, she is to assume that I am dead.’
This he did and then, looking up, seeing, I presume, my look of curiosity, he smiled and said,
‘You wonder what this is all about, I daresay?’
‘It is none of my business, senor.’
But of course I did wonder. Who could help it? And he, made talkative by his victory perhaps, or the drink, lit a cigarillo and explained,
‘There were ten of us, you see, who knew the whereabouts of the treasure.’
‘Treasure?’
‘One of the ten was there, that snowy night, and barely escaped with his life. But then, later, he became drunk – drink is a terrible hazard, boy – and he let out the secret to the other nine men who were with him in the wineshop. Fool, sot, idiot that he was!’
Despite the matter-of-fact way in which he brought this out, I found something very frightening about it; perhaps the source of my fear lay in his strange composure. I said faintly,
‘Are you sure you should be telling me this, senor?’
‘Oh, it is all long ago now. Have you not heard that when Baird and Fraser were retreating with the English forces from Villafranca to Corunna, with General Soult hard on their heels, they were obliged to toss twenty-five thousand pounds’ worth of gold dollars down a mountain-side, because their baggage-oxen had all died and they had no means of dragging it with them?’
Dumb, I shook my head. Vaguely, I remembered hearing from Bob how, when General Moore had to run from the French across half north Spain, his army suffered from terrible losses of men and material – but all this was a long time ago, 1809, the year
I was born; surely whatever lay on that snowy mountain-side had long since been discovered and taken away?
‘Not so,’ said the bearded man. ‘Somebody who was there – he saw it stowed in a safe place. Aha! He kept his wits, while everybody else was running and screaming and shouting that the French were half a mile away. He thought he might be able to get back one day. But then the fool had to get drunk and blab it all out to nine others. So what then? He makes a plan. Twenty-five thousand is fine pickings for one, but what use among ten? A bare two thousand apiece. So, ‘Let us ten split into five pairs,’ says he, ‘each pair fight, the winners fight one another, until there’s but one left. And he scoops the pool.’ This was agreed – we fought – something told me that I should survive – and I was right. I’m the one that’s left!’
‘Ay de mi!’ I murmured faintly. There seemed something so terrifyingly cold-blooded about this scheme – whereby nine men should die in order for one to succeed – that I could hardly believe it. But yet the duel I had just witnessed did convince me. This bright-eyed, brisk-spoken man in front of me, smoking his cigarillo in quick puffs, must indeed be the winner of the murderous contest.
What would he do with his twenty-five thousand pounds’ worth of gold dollars? I wondered. Supposing the gold was still there. Supposing he found it.
Then a thing occurred to me.
‘Senor, you seem to know much about Baird and Fraser’s forces – ’
‘Yes, boy?’ he said, dragging on his cigarillo so hard that it made him cough.
‘Perhaps you were with them yourself?’ At his nod, I asked, ‘Did you ever come across a Captain Brooke?’
‘No, I do not remember the name,’ he said, to my great disappointment. ‘But why do you ask?’
‘He was my father.’
‘Hey?’ he said, coughing again. ‘So you are English?’ He spoke in that tongue and I also replied in it.
‘Yes, sir. But my mother was Spanish.’
‘Ah, I see. Plenty of that kind about. Well, well! So you’re half a Johnny Anglais. When I first laid eyes on you I wondered where you got that yellow hair!’
He puffed again, coughed again, and said abruptly,
‘You look a decent lad – I’ve taken a fancy to you.’ And he added in a mutter, half to himself, ‘As well leave you the cash as poor little Annunciata, mewed up in her convent. – Would you care to bear me company through the mountains? Help me dig out the treasure?’
At his words I was seized by a peculiar excitement – half-avarice, half-dread. Who was this strange man? I asked myself. And if I went with him – if we should chance to find the treasure – in whose existence I did not really believe – what would he do to me then? Would he make me fight him for it?
I did not know what to make of him.
I said carefully, still in English,
‘No, I thank you, senor. It is kind of you to make the offer to me – but I go to the sea, and then to England, to seek my father’s family. I go north-east, not south-west.’
He answered, rather slowly, and heavily,
‘Going to England, are you? Lucky, lucky young devil!’
He seemed to speak with such a strange bitterness that I inquired, curiosity overcoming my fear of him,
‘You too are English, senor? But you do not go back there?’
‘Can’t, curse it,’ he said. ‘I was in Baird’s division, you see; slipped my leash on the way from Astorga; rompéd off before Johnny Crapaud caught up – and there was one or two unpaid accounts back at home, where I was a night-hawk by trade – if ever I was to show my face in England, they’d hang me up from Tyburn Tree. Otherwise, Lord love ye, I’d ha’ been home long agone. As it is – well, it’s been a long haul, but now I’m on my way. With twenty-five thousand gold ’uns in my knapsack, I should be able to find me a snug little crib somewhere in Spain.’
‘Why did it take you so long,’ I could not help wondering, ‘to go after the treasure?’
He coughed, and winked. ‘Ah, well, d’ye see, boy, the gente de reputacion were interested – where there’s gold, the vultures gather. We had to lay a long, slow trail – You’re sure you won’t join me?’
I shook my head and he said, sighing,
‘Well, I won’t say I don’t wish I was going your way. Whereabouts are you bound for?’
‘That I do not really know, senor. All I know is that my father’s name was Captain Felix Brooke – as mine is, too. I shall just have to ask my way.’
He looked doubtful at this, but, seeing that I was resolved, said,
‘Eh, well – good luck, in your search – if you won’t come with me.’
‘And good luck to you, too, senor,’ I said politely.
He winked, coughed, and went for his horse; threw a leg over it, then turned to say,
‘You might as well take poor Manolo’s nag; I’ve no use for it in the mountains where I’m going. You can sell it for a good sum in Oviedo; it’s from Andalusia, there’s no better breed in Spain.’
Indeed it was a beautiful horse: dark brown, with a small intelligent head, fiery eyes, a broad chest, straight legs, and fine shoulders.
‘Very well,’ I said – there was no sense in leaving the poor beast in these mountain uplands, where it might die of cold and hunger, or, more likely, be pursued and brought down by wolves.
He sat on his steed watching as I caught the horse and then mounted my own mule. Waving his hand, he was about to depart, when I bethought me of something, and called to him,
‘Senor?’
‘Well?’
‘Have you heard of a thing – I do not know if it is a house or a ship, or a place in England – its name is The Rose and Ring-Dove?’
‘Why, yes,’ he said at once. ‘I’ve heard of it – who hasn’t? It’s a tavern – a famous inn. I never was there myself, but I’ve heard of it. It’s as famous as the Mitre at Oxford or the Boar’s Head in Eastcheap.’
‘Where is it, senor?’
‘Why, at Bath – is that where your folk live? Ah, you don’t know. Well, Bath is a fine town. I hope you find them.’
‘And I hope you find your treasure, senor.’
But I felt sure in my heart that he would not. He would perish in those savage mountains, between here and Los Nogales. I felt certain of it.
But he, riding up the valley without looking back, again waved a carefree hand; while I, leading the Andalusian horse, turned my mule’s head north towards Oviedo. Once or twice I glanced back, at the tiny black spot, which was the dead man, lying in that great curved field of lavender flowers; and I said a silent prayer for him. But I gave up looking back, for great birds had begun to hover over the spot where he lay.
I wondered about him as I rode on: whether he, too, had a daughter in a convent somewhere, or a novia – for he seemed quite young – who would go on hoping for his return and wondering why he did not come. Then I reflected that I had by some means to despatch the other man’s letter to the Convent of the Esclavitud at Santander, which I knew lay well to the east of where I was bound. Well – I thought – I would take the letter as far as I was going, and then find means to send it on from there.
After several hours, always descending, the road came within sight of Oviedo, which is a very ancient town. It is situated between two mountains, one of them high, rugged, and covered with snow. The other is of a gentler shape, and its sides are all planted with vines. The tall tower of the cathedral may be seen from miles away.
I entered through a crumbling gateway in the high town wall; as rain was falling in torrents, and it was now dusk, I did not loiter to admire the streets, but asked the way to an inexpensive posada, and was directed to a very old-looking building where I found accommodation for myself and the two beasts.
The cattle and horses were housed on the ground floor, I on the floor above them; such is the habit of these parts. The house was built around a court so that I could, if I wished, step out on to the gallery outside the door of my room, and look down
to satisfy myself that all was well with the animals.
This posada also had a public dining-room upstairs, but I did not wish to eat there, being unused to such places, and also wishful to save my money. Besides, I still had much of the food the Lopez family had given me. I therefore munched bread and olives sitting on the floor of my room (for there was no chair, although the room was huge, and cold as a barn). It struck me as I squatted there, wrapped in my great cloak, that this was only my sixth night away from home – yet already I felt as if a whole lifetime had passed since I quitted Villaverde. The people of that place – now that I was away from them – seemed like people in a dream, without reality; and, considering them from this distance, I found that I felt quite calm in my mind towards them, and bore them little ill-will – even spiteful Dona Isadora, with her talebearing ways, even mean-minded Father Tomas, with his love of punishment. How little they know about what takes place outside the four walls of that house! thought I.
But, though I had lost my hate, I felt inexpressibly glad to be away from them.
Concerning my grandfather I had different feelings.
While I had been at the mill, Don Jose had asked me one or two questions concerning my grandfather’s treatment of me, and then, sighing, had said,
‘Ay de mi! Poor old man! To lose all four sons – and his daughter too. That is a heavy blow. I hope your loss will not grieve him too much.’
‘Not likely! He will be glad to be rid of me,’ said I.
But now I wondered if I had been quite right. Perhaps he might be a little sorry that I had left: I did not know. He was a silent man, who kept his thoughts to himself.
I said a prayer for him, that he might not be grieved by my going, and then many more for the Lopez family. Indeed, I missed them a thousand times more than my own kin, and felt such a sorrow in my heart, when I thought of that happy place, that I was fain to go downstairs and purchase a rush-light from the ancient limping man who was the landlord. For I did not think I would be able to sleep yet awhile; if I shut my eyes, I saw the dead man stretched in the field of flowers, and the carrion-eaters hovering over him.