The Adventures of Gil Blas of Santillane - Alain René le Sage (best fiction books of all time .txt) 📗

have heard my

tale. The day I left you in the cave, and went with my troop to

Mansilla, for the purpose of selling the mules and horses we had

taken the evening before, we met the son of the corregidor of

Leon, attended by four men on horseback well armed, following his

carriage. Two of his people we made to bite the dust, and the

other two ran away. On this the coachman, alarmed for his master,

cried out to us in a tone of supplication — Alas! my dear

gentlemen, in God’s name, do not kill the only son of his worship

the corregidor of Leon. These words were far from softening my

comrades; on the contrary, their fury knew no bounds. Good folks,

said one of them, let not the son of a mortal enemy to men like

us escape our vengeance. How many ornaments of our profession has

his father cut off in their prime! Let us repay his cruelty with

interest, and sacrifice this victim to their offended ghosts. The

whole troop applauded the fineness of this feeling, and my

lieutenant himself was preparing to act as high priest at this

unhallowed altar, when I interdicted the rites. Stop, said I; why

shed blood without occasion? Let us rest contented with the

youth’s purse. As he makes no resistance, it would be against the

laws of war to cut his throat. Besides, he is not answerable for

his father’s misdeeds; nay, his father only does his duty in

condemning us to death, as we do ours in rifling travellers.

 

Thus did I plead for the corregidor’s son, and my intercession

was not unavailing. We only took every farthing of his money, and

carried off with us the horses of the two men whom we had slain.

These we sold with the rest at Mansilla. Thence we returned to

the cavern, where we arrived the following morning a little

before daybreak. We were not a little surprised to find the trap

open, and still more so, when we found Leonarda handcuffed in the

kitchen. She unravelled the mystery in two words. We wondered how

you could have overreached us; no one could have thought you

capable of serving us such a trick, and we forgave the effect for

the merit of the invention. As soon as we had released our

kitchen wench, I gave orders for a good luncheon. In the mean

time we went to look after our horses in the stable, where the

old negro, who had been left to himself for four-and-twenty

hours, was at the last gasp. We did all we could for his relief,

but he was too far gone; indeed so much reduced, that, in spite

of our endeavours, we left the poor devil on the threshold of

another world. It was very sad; but it did not spoil our

appetites, and, after an abundant breakfast, we retired to our

chambers, and slept away the whole day. On our awaking, Leonarda

apprized us that Domingo had paid the debt of nature. We carried

him to the charnelhouse where you may recollect to have lodged,

and there performed his obsequies, just as if he had been one of

our own order.

 

Five or six days afterwards, it fell out that one morning, on a

sally, we encountered three companies of the Holy Brotherhood, on

the outskirts of the wood. They seemed waiting to attack us. We

perceived but one troop at first. These we despised, though

superior in number to our party, and rushed forward to the onset.

But while we were at loggerheads with the first, the two others

in ambuscade came thundering down upon us; so that our valour was

of no use. There was no withstanding such a host of enemies. Our

lieutenant and two of our gang gave up the ghost on this

occasion. As for the two others and myself, we were so closely

pressed and hemmed in, as to be taken prisoners: and, while two

detachments convoyed us to Leon, the third went to destroy our

retreat. How it was discovered, I will briefly tell you. A

peasant of Luceno, crossing the forest on his way home, by chance

espied the trap-door of our subterraneous residence, which a

certain young runaway had not shut down after him, for it was

precisely the day when you took yourself off with the lady. He

had a violent suspicion of its being our abode, without having

the courage to go in. It was enough to mark the adjacent parts,

by lightly peeling with his knife bark from the nearest trees,

and so on, from distance to distance, till he was quite out of

the wood. He then betook himself to Leon, with this grand

discovery for the corregidor, who was so much the better pleased,

as his son had been robbed by our gang. This magistrate collected

together three companies to lay hold of us, and the peasant

showed them the way.

 

My arrival in the town of Leon was as good as that of a wild

beast to the inhabitants. Even though I had been a Portuguese

general made prisoner of war, the people could not have been more

anxious to see me. There he goes, was the cry; that is he, the

famous captain, the terror of these parts. It would serve him

right to tear him piecemeal with pincers, and make his comrades

join in the chorus. To the corregidor, was the universal cry; and

his worship began insulting me. So, so! said he, scoundrel as you

are, the powers of justice, worn to a thread with your past

irregularities, hand over the task of punishment to me as their

delegate. Sir, answered I, great as my crimes may have been, at

least the death of your only son is not to be laid at my door.

His life was saved by me; you owe me some acknowledgment on that

score. Oh! wretch, exclaimed he, there are no measures to be kept

with people of your description. And though it were my wish to

save you, my sacred office would not allow me to indulge my

feelings. Having spoken to this effect, he committed us to a

dungeon, where my companions had no time to lament their hard

fate. They got out of confinement, at the end of three days, to

expatiate with tragic energy at the place of execution. For my

part, I took up my quarters in limbo for three complete weeks. My

punishment seemingly was deferred only to render it more

terrible; and I was looking out for some refinement on the

ordinary course of criminal justice, when the corregidor, having

summoned me before him, said: Give ear to your sentence. You are

free. Had it not been for you, my only son would have been

assassinated on the highway. As a father, my gratitude was due

for this service; but not being competent to acquit you in my

capacity of a magistrate, I have written up to court in your

favour; have solicited your pardon, and have obtained it. Go,

then, whithersoever it may seem good to you. But take my advice;

profit by this lucky escape. Look to your paths, and give up the

trade of a highwayman for good and all.

 

I was deeply impressed by this advice, and took my departure for

Madrid, in the firm determination of mending my ways, and living

quietly in that city. There I found my father and mother dead,

and what they left behind them in the hands of an old kinsman,

who administered duly and truly, as all trustees of course do. I

saved three thousand ducats out of the fire; scarcely a quarter

of what I was entitled to. But where was the remedy? There was no

standing to the quirks and evasions of the law. Just to be doing

something, I have purchased an alguazil’s place. My colleagues

would have set their faces against my admission, for the honour

of the cloth, had they known my history. Luckily they did not, or

at least affected not to know it, which was just as good as the

reality; for, in that illustrious body, it is the bounden duty

and interest of every member to wear a mask. The pot cannot call

the kettle hard names, thank heaven. The devil would have no

great catch in the best of us. And yet, my friend, I could

willingly unbosom myself to you without disguise. My present

occupation is much against the grain; it requires too circumspect

and too mysterious a conduct; there is nothing to be done but by

underhand dealings, gravity, and cunning. Oh! for my first trade!

The new one is safer, to be sure; but there is more fun in the

other, and liberty is my motto. I feel disposed to get rid of my

office, and to set out some sunshiny morning for the mountains at

the source of the Tagus. I know of a retreat thereabouts,

inhabited by a numerous gang, composed chiefly of Catalonians;

when I have said that, I need say no more. If you will go along

with me, we will swell the number of those heroes. I shall be

second in command. To make your footing respectable at once, I

will swear that you have fought ten times by my side. Your valour

shall mount to the very skies. I will tell more good of you than

a commander-in-chief of a favourite officer. I will not say a

word about the runaway trick, that would render you suspected of

turning nose, therefore mum is the word. What say you to it? Are

you ready to set off? I am impatient to know your mind.

 

Every one to his own fancy, said I then to Rolando, you were born

for bold exploits, and your friend for a serene and quiet life. I

understand you, interrupted he; the lady whom love induced you to

carry off still preserves her influence over your heart, and you

doubtless lead with her that serene life of which you are

enamoured. Own the truth, master Gil Blas, she is become a thing

of your own, and you are both living on the pistoles carried off

from the subterraneous retreat. I told him he was mistaken; and,

to set him right, related the lady’s adventures and my own while

we sat at dinner. When our meal was finished he led back to the

subject of the Catalonians, and attempted once more to engage me

in his project. But finding me inflexible, he looked at me with a

terrific frown, and said seriously — Since you are dastard

enough to prefer your servile condition to the honour of

enlisting in a troop of brave fellows, I turn you adrift to your

own grovelling inclinations. But mark me well, a lapse may be

fatal. Forget our meeting of to-day, and never prate about me to

any living soul; for if I catch you bandying about my name in

your idle talk … . you know my ways, I need say no more. With

these words he called for the landlord, paid the reckoning, and

we rose from table to go away.

 

CH. III — Gil Blas is dismissed by Don Bernard de Castil Blazo,

and enters into the service of a beau.

 

As we were coming out of the tavern, and taking our leave, my

master was passing along the street. He saw me, and I observed

him look more than once at the captain. I had no doubt but he was

surprised at meeting me in such company. It is certain that

Rolando’s physiognomy and air were not much in favour of moral

qualities. He was a gigantic fellow, with a long face, a parrot’s

beak, and a very rascally contour, without being absolutely ugly.

 

I was not mistaken in my guess. In