第 21 页

you a remembrance of our journey together."

"Good-by, senors," Garcias said, shaking them by the hand; "you

English are different to us, and I am not surprised now at your

General holding Portugal against all the French armies." Then he

lowered his voice, so that the Spanish women standing by could not

hear him. "Be on your guard, senors; don't move on from the village

without a strong convoy is going on; change your disguise, if

possible; distrust every one you come across, and, in heaven's name,

get back to your lines as soon as possible, for you may be assured

that your steps will be dogged, and that you will be safe nowhere in

Spain from Nunez's vengeance. The guerillas communicate with each

other, and you are doomed if you fall into the hands of any, except,

perhaps, one or two of the greater chiefs. Be always on your guard;

sleep with your eyes open. Remember, except in the middle of a French

regiment, you will never be really safe."

"Thanks, Garcias!" the boys said earnestly, "we will do our best to

keep our throats safe. At any rate, if we go down, it shall not be for

want of watchfulness!"

Another shake of the hands, and the party separated. The Spanish woman

who was carrying the sleeping French child handed her over to Tom, who

took her without waking her while Peter lent his arm to the French

lady.

"Madam," Tom said in English, "you will soon be among your friends. I

know that you will keep your promise not to divulge the situation of

the village you have left. I must ask you, also, to promise me not

to say that we speak English, or to say anything which may create a

suspicion that we are not what we seem. You will, of course, relate

your adventures, and speak of us merely as Spanish boys, who acted as

they did being moved by pity for you. We must accompany you for some

time, for Nunez will move heaven and earth to get us assassinated, and

all we want is that you shall obtain permission for us to sleep in the

guard-room, so as to be under shelter of French bayonets until we can

decide upon our course of action."

The lady assented with a gesture, for she was too exhausted to speak,

and as they reached the French sentries she tottered and sank down on

the ground insensible.

CHAPTER X.

MADRID.

The French sentries, who had been watching with surprise the slow

approach of two peasant boys, the one carrying a child, the other

assisting a woman clad in handsome, but torn and disheveled clothes,

on seeing the latter fall, called to their comrades, and a sergeant

and some soldiers came out from a guard-room close by.

"Hallo!" said the sergeant. "What's all this? Who is this woman? And

where do you come from?"

The boys shook their heads.

"Of course," the sergeant said, lifting the lady, "they don't

understand French; how should they? She looks a lady, poor thing. Who

can she be, I wonder?"

"General Reynier," Tom said, touching her.

"General Reynier!" exclaimed the sergeant to his comrades. "It must be

the general's wife. I heard she was among those killed or carried off

from that convoy that came through last night. Jacques, fetch out

Captain Thibault, and you, Noel, run for Dr. Pasques."

The officer on guard came out, and, upon hearing the sergeant's

report, had Madame Reynier at once carried into a house hard by, and

sent a message to the colonel of the regiment. The little girl, still

asleep, was also carried in and laid down, and the regimental doctor

and the colonel soon arrived. The former went into the house, the

latter endeavored in vain to question the boys in French. Finding it

useless, he walked up and down impatiently until a message came down

from the doctor that the lady had recovered from her fainting fit, and

wished to see him at once.

Tom and Peter, finding that no one paid any attention to them, sat,

quietly down by the guard-house.

In a few minutes the French colonel came down. "Where are those boys?"

he exclaimed hastily. There was quite a crowd of soldiers round the

house, for the news of the return of General Reynier's wife and child

had circulated rapidly and created quite an excitement. "Where are

those boys?" he shouted again.

The sergeant of the guard came forward.

"I had no orders to keep them prisoners, sir," he said in an

apologetic tone, for he had not noticed the boys, and thought that

he was going to get into a scrape for not detaining them; but he

was interrupted by one of the soldiers who had heard the question,

bringing them forward.

To the astonishment of the soldiers, the colonel rushed forward, and,

with a Frenchman's enthusiasm, actually kissed them. "Mes braves

garcons!" he exclaimed. "Mes braves garcons! Look you, all of you,"

he exclaimed to the soldiers, "you see these boys, they are heroes,

they have saved, at the risk of their own lives, mark you, General

Reynier's wife and daughter; they have braved the fury of that

accursed Nunez and his band, and have brought them out from that den

of wolves." And then, in excited tones, he described the scene as he

had heard it from Madame Reynier.

At this relation the enthusiasm of the French soldiers broke out in

a chorus of cheers and excited exclamations. The men crowded round

the boys, shook them by the hands, patted them on the back, and in a

hundred strange oaths vowed an eternal friendship for them.

After a minute or two, the colonel raised his hand for silence. "Look

you," he said to the men. "You can imagine that, after what these boys

have done, their life is not safe for a moment. This accursed Nunez

will dog them and have them assassinated if he can. So I leave them to

you; you will take care of them, my children, will you not?"

A chorus of assurances was the reply, and the boys found themselves as

it were adopted into the regiment. The soldiers could not do enough

for them, but, as neither party understood the other's language,

the intercourse did not make much progress. They had, however, real

difficulty in refusing the innumerable offers of a glass of wine or

brandy made to them by every group of soldiers as they moved about

through the village.

The boys felt that their position was a false one; and although, in

point of fact, they had no report to make upon the regiment, still

the possibility that if discovered they might be thought to have been

acting as spies on men who treated them with so much friendliness was

repugnant to them. However, their stay was not to be prolonged, for

the regiment had already been stationed for a month at the village,

and was to be relieved by another expected hourly from France, and was

then to go on to Madrid. This they learned from one of the soldiers

who could speak a few words of Spanish.

It was upon the third day after their arrival that the expected

regiment came in, and next morning the boys started soon after

daybreak with their friends. They had not seen Madame Reynier during

their stay in the village, for she was laid up with a sharp attack of

illness after the excitement she had gone through. She was still far

from fit to travel, but she insisted on going on, and a quantity of

straw was accordingly laid in a cart, pillows and cushions were heaped

on this, and an awning was arranged above to keep off the sun. The

regiment had taken on the transport animals which had come in with the

baggage of the troops the night before; hence the mule drivers and

other followers were all strangers. The boys were marching beside the

regiment, talking with one of the sergeants who had been previously

for two years in Spain, and spoke a little Spanish, when the colonel,

who had been riding alongside Madame Reynier, told them as he passed

on to the head of the regiment, that she wished to speak to them.

The boys fell out, and allowed the troops and the line of baggage

animals and carts to pass them. As the latter came along, Tom observed

one of the Spanish drivers glance in their direction, and immediately

avert his head.

"Peter, that fellow is one of Nunez's band; I will almost swear to his

face. No doubt he has joined the convoy for the purpose of stabbing us

on the first opportunity. I expected this. We must get rid of them at

once."

The boys had both been furnished with heavy cavalry pistols by order

of the colonel, to defend themselves against any sudden attack, and,

placing his hand on the butt in readiness for instant use, Tom,

accompanied by his brother walked up to the Spaniard.

"You and those with you are known," he said. "Unless you all fall out

at the next village we come to, I will denounce you, and you haven't

five minutes to live after I do so. Mind, if one goes on you all

suffer."

The Spaniard uttered a deep execration, and put his hand on his knife,

but seeing that the boys were in readiness, and that the French

baggage guard marching alongside would certainly shoot him before he

could escape, he relinquished his design.

"Mind," Tom said, "the first village; it is only a mile ahead, and

we shall probably halt there for five minutes; if one of you goes a

single foot beyond it, you will swing in a row."

So saying, the boys dropped behind again until Madame Reynier's cart

came along. The sides were open, and the lady, who was sitting up,

supported by pillows, with her child beside her, saw them, and called

to them to climb up to her. They did so at once, and she then poured

forth her thanks in tones of the deepest gratitude.

"My husband is not at Madrid," she said when she saw by the boys'

confusion that they would be really glad if she would say no more;

"but when he hears of it he will thank you for saving his wife and

child. Of course," she went on, "I can see that you are not what you

seem. Spanish boys would not have acted so. Spanish boys do not speak

English. That makes it impossible for me in any way to endeavor to

repay my obligation. Had you been even Spanish peasants, the matter

would have been comparatively easy; then my husband could have made

you rich and comfortable for life; as it is--"

She paused, evidently hoping that they would indicate some way in

which she could serve them.

"As it is, madam," Tom said, "you can, if you will, be of great

service to us by procuring for us fresh disguises in Madrid, for I

fear that after what happened with Nunez our lives will not be safe

from his vengeance anywhere in Spain. Already we have discovered that

some of his band are accompanying this convoy with the intention of

killing us at the first opportunity."

"Why do you not denounce them instantly?" Madame Reynier said, rising

in her excitement and looking round.

"We cannot well do that," Tom said, "at least not if it can be

avoided. They know already that we have recognized them, and will

leave at the next village; so we are safe at present, but in Madrid we

shall be no longer so. We cannot remain permanently under the guard of

the bayonets of the 63d Line; and indeed our position is as you may

guess, a false and unpleasant one, from which we would free ourselves

at the first opportunity. We shall therefore ask you, when you get to

Madrid, to provide us with fresh disguises and a pass to travel west

as far as the limits of the French lines."

"You can consider that as done," Madame Reynier answered; "I only

regret that it is so slight a return. And now," she said lightly, to

change the conversation, "I must introduce you to this young lady.

Julie," she asked in French, "do you remember those boys?"

"Yes," Julie said; "these are the boys who gave mamma and Julie water

when those wicked men would not give us anything to drink when we were

thirsty; and it was these boys that mamma said prevented the wicked

men from killing us. They are good boys, nice boys, but they are very

ragged and dirty."

Madame Reynier smiled, and translated Julie's answer.

"You know," she went on, hesitatingly, "that I know that--that you are

English officers. I heard you say so when you saved us. But how is it

that you can be officers so very young?"

Tom explained that in England the officers entered for the most part

directly, and not, as in the French army, by promotion from the ranks,

and that, consequently, the junior officers were much younger than

those of equal rank in the French service.

The convoy had now reached the village, and a halt was ordered,

and the boys alighting, walked forward to see that their unwelcome

attendants quitted them. As the soldiers fell out from their order of

march and sat down under the shade of the houses many of the Spaniards

with the baggage-train followed their example, and the boys saw the

man to whom they had spoken go up to four others, and in a short time

these separated themselves from the rest, went carelessly round a

corner, and when the order came to continue the march, failed to make

their appearance. Their absence passed unnoticed save by the boys,

for the natives frequently took advantage of the passage of troops

and convoys to travel from one part of the country to another, for

the guerillas were for the most part little better than brigands,

and would plunder their own countrymen without scruple whenever the

opportunity was favorable.

The march to Madrid was accomplished without adventure, and the boys

improved the occasion by endeavoring to pick up as many French phrases

as they could, as they marched along by the side of the sergeant who

had specially taken them under his charge. He knew a little Spanish,

so they managed to keep up a conversation with him in a strange medley

of the two languages, which helped to pass the time away merrily. At

Madrid they took up their quarters in the barracks with the regiment;