Part 44 (2/2)
When Don Luis went to pay a visit to Don Mattinao, the cacique, which word meaneth 'your Highness,' in the eastern tongue, Sancho must go with him, and Sancho went. When King Caonabo came down from the mountains to carry off the Princess Dona Ozema for a wife, and the princess was unwilling to go, why there remained nothing to be done, but for the Conde de Llera and his friend Sancho of the s.h.i.+p-yard-gate, to fight the whole army in her defence, which we did, gaining as great a victory as Don Fernando, our sovereign master, ever gained over the Moors.”
”Carrying off the princess yourselves, as would seem! Friend Sancho, of the s.h.i.+p-yard-gate, if that be thy appellation, this tale of thine is ingenious, but it lacketh probability. Were I to deal justly by thee, honest Sancho, it would be to order thee the stripes thou merietst so well, as a reward for this trifling.”
”The man speaketh as he hath been taught,” observed Mercedes, in a low, unsteady voice; ”I fear, Senora, there is too much truth in his tale!”
”You need fear nothing, beautiful Senorita,” put in Sancho, altogether unmoved at the menace implied by the words of the Marchioness, ”since the battle hath been fought, the victory hath been gained, and both the heroes escaped uninjured. This ill.u.s.trious Senora, to whom I can forgive any thing, as the aunt of the best friend I have on earth--any thing _spoken_, I mean--will remember that the Haytians know nothing of arquebuses, by means of which we defeated Caonabo, and also, that many is the column of Moors that Don Luis hath broken singly, and by means of his own good lance.”
”Ay, fellow,” answered Dona Beatriz, ”but that hath been in the saddle, behind plaits of steel, and with a weapon that hath overturned even Alonzo de Ojeda!”
”Hast thou truly brought away with thee the princess thou hast named?”
asked Mercedes, earnestly.
”I swear to it, Senora and Senorita, ill.u.s.trious ladies both, by the holy ma.s.s, and all the saints in the calendar! A princess, moreover, surpa.s.sing in beauty the daughters of our own blessed queen, if the fair ladies who pa.s.sed out of this room, even now, are they, as I suspect.”
”Out upon thee, knave!” cried the indignant Beatriz--”I will no more of this, and marvel that my nephew should have employed one of so loose a tongue, on any of his errands. Go to, and learn discretion ere the morning, or the favor of even thy admiral will not save thy bones.
Mercedes, we will seek our rest--the hour is late.”
Sancho was immediately left alone, and in a minute a page appeared to show him to the place where he was to pa.s.s the night. The old mariner had grumbled a little to himself, concerning the spirit of Don Luis'
aunt, counted anew his gold, and was about to take possession of his pallet, when the same page reappeared to summon him to another interview. Sancho, who knew little distinction between night and day, made no objections, especially when he was told that his presence was required by the lovely Senorita, whose gentle, tremulous voice had so much interested him, in the late interview. Mercedes received her rude guest in a small saloon of her own, after having parted from her guardian for the night. As he entered, her face was flushed, her eye bright, and her whole demeanor, to one more expert in detecting female emotions, would have betrayed intense anxiety.
”Thou hast had a long and weary journey, Sancho,” said our heroine, when alone with the seaman, ”and, I pray thee, accept this gold, as a small proof of the interest with which I have heard the great tidings of which thou hast been the bearer.”
”Senorita!” exclaimed Sancho, affecting indifference to the doblas that fell into his hand--”I hope you do not think me mercenary! the honor of being the messenger, and of being admitted to converse with such ill.u.s.trious ladies, more than pays me for any thing I could do.”
”Still, thou may'st need money for thy wants, and wilt not refuse that which a lady offereth.”
”On that ground, I would accept it, Dona Senorita, even were it twice as much.”
So saying, Sancho placed the money, with a suitable resignation, by the side of that which he had previously received by order of the queen.
Mercedes now found herself in the situation that they who task their powers too much, are often fated to endure; in other words, now she had at command the means of satisfying her own doubts, she hesitated about using them.
”Sancho,” Mercedes at length commenced, ”thou hast been with the Senor Colon, throughout this great and extraordinary voyage, and must know much that it will be curious for us, who have lived quietly in Spain, to hear. Is all thou hast said about the princes and princesses true?”
”As true, Senorita, as such things need be for a history. Ma.s.s!--Any one who hath been in a battle, or seen any other great adventure, and then cometh to hear it read of, afterward, will soon learn to understand the difference between the thing itself, and the history that may be given of it. Now, I was”--
”Never mind thy other adventures, good Sancho; tell me only of this. Are there really a Prince Mattinao, and a Princess Ozema his sister, and have both accompanied the admiral to Spain?”
”I said not that, beautiful Senorita, for Don Mattinao remained behind to rule his people. It is only his handsome sister, who hath followed Don Christopher and Don Luis to Palos.”
”Followed!--Do the admiral and the Conde de Llera possess such influence over royal ladies, as to induce them to abandon their native country and to _follow_ them to a foreign land?”
”Ay, Senorita, that might seem out of rule in Castile, or Portugal, or even in France. But Hayti is not yet a Christian country, and a princess there may not be more than a n.o.ble lady in Castile, and, in the way of wardrobe, perhaps, not even as much. Still, a princess is a princess, and a handsome princess is a handsome princess. Dona Ozema, here, is a wonderful creature, and beginneth already to prattle your pure Castilian, and she had been brought up at Toledo, or Burgos. But Don Luis is a most encouraging master, and no doubt made great head-way, during the time he was living in her palace, as it might be alone with her, before that incarnate devil Don Caonabo came down with his followers to seize the lady.”
”Is this lady a Christian princess, Sancho?”
”Heaven bless your own pure soul, Dona Senorita, she can boast of but little in that way; still, she hath made something of a beginning, as I see she now weareth a cross--one small in size, it is true, but precious in material, as, indeed it ought to be, seeing that it is a present from one as n.o.ble and rich as the Count of Llera.”
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