Part 30 (2/2)
he had wheedled with thethe allowed to spend part of his time in the kitchen and scullery Not in idleness, however, but occupied ork for which he had proved himself well qualified It was found that he had once been ”boots” in a _posado_, which fitted him for usefulness in many ways
In the _cocina_ of the old convent his te cruel sport of him But he bore it with a meekness very different to what he had shohile in the Acordada
Thus acquitting hiard him as a useful if not ornamental addition to his do, the precaution was still continued of locking hi the chain to his ankle This last was ht else he had to endure He could bear the jibes of his fellow-scullions, but that fetter sorely vexed hiht he was accusto the key in its clasp
”It's so unco for and's very troublesome when I want to turn over, as I often do on account of the pains in my poor humped shoulders Nohy need you put it on? Surely you're not afraid ofone's back upon best friends _Cascaras_! I fare too well here to think of changing quarters Above all, going into the Acordada; where I'd have to go sure, if I were to show ain Oh no, Senor!
you don't catch 's you allow me to board and bed in it Only I'd like you to letIt's cold too; interferes with ht try me without it And if you're not satisfied with the result, then put it on ever after, and I won't complain, I promise you”
In sohts in succession, but without th, however, it proved effectual A various other avocations he had been a _Zapartero_, of the class cobbler, and on a certain day did service to thehis shoes For which he received pay discoorio!” he said, when ht to sleep sound this night, anyhow But whether I do or not, I shall pray for you before going to bed all the saht outside, but almost total darkness within the cell, as the ht have seen on the dwarfs features an expression calculated to make him repent his act of kindness, and instantly undo it Could he have divined the thoughts at that h Zorillo's mind, the clasp would have quickly closed around the latter's leg, despite all gratitude due to hiet out,” he commenced in mental soliloquy, as the footfall of the mayor-domo died away in the distant corridor, ”out and away fros in store for me From this time forth I needn't fear to present ht into it No danger of Don Pedro keeping ain with a free pardon and a full purse _Chingara_, talk of a cat in the cupboard, here are a score of them--half a hundred! And when I let the to his feet, ainst it to listen He heard sounds, but they were sounds ofmeal--and did not concern hietting coupled to that great brute and brought here! That is, if all goes well, and I can give theetting out of this hole _Carrai_! Ithe door, he glided across to the , and set hiainst it, as if to measure its breadth by that of his own body It was but a slit, unglazed, a single iron bar, placed vertically, dividing the aperture into two Without reh But he had the means to remove it; that file, already known to the reader, which he had contrived to get possession of, and for days kept secret in his cell First, however, heall the ti there he had never been allowed an opportunity to approach theand look out
Leaning forward into the recess, he thrust his head between the bar and jaround below This was solid rock, the crest of a steep slope, from which the wall rose as above a buttress But there was a ledge, soh to afford footing, which led off to round Hoas he to reach it?
He knew, or he would not have acted as he now did For without spending another second in the survey, he drew back froed his hand under his bedaway at the bar Not noisily or in any excited haste Even if the obstacle were removed, the time had not come for his atteht, when all had gone to their beds
Eaten with rust, the iron was easily sawed through, a clean cut being rasping the bar, he wrenched it out of the solderings If di as those of a coal-heaver
This task acco up the old blanket allowed hian to tear it into strips He meant toit quite rotten, and doubting whether it would bear his weight, he desisted and sat for a tiht hi more suitable for his purpose--the chain
”Bah!” he exclaiether, ”why didn't I think of that? Well, it's not too late yet
Good three yards--long enough And the stupid has left the key behind, which fits both ends So, Mr Chain, considering the world of worry and trouble you've been to ood turn by way of recoive you”
Whileabout over the floor--not for the chain, but the key, which he knew Gregorio had left, after releasing his leg frootten, or did not think it orth while taking it away
Having found it, he felt his way to the ring bolt, and unlocking the clasp at that end, returned to the , taking the chain with hi made one end fast around the stump of the bar, he lowered the other down outside, cautiously, without a tinkle of its links And now again looking out and below, he was delighted to see that it reached within a foot or two of the ledge All this done, he once more sat down on the side of the bed, to await the hour of ht occurring caused him to resuated ”They're all in the Refectory, having a fine tirand occasion, I heard one of the _htn't be a better chance for ood
_Carralided back to the , clih the aperture, let hi descent of a _lliana_ in the forests of the _tierra caliente_
Soon as he found hio the chain, and after a e, co that early hour, for the way he round, in front of the building, where at a later one a watch would have been stationed There was none there now, and without stop or challenge he passed on and down
Though they had never allowed hi, he perfectly remembered the path by which he and the others had reached it, on thatHe recalled the two steep slopes, one above the other, with a narrow shelf between, on which they encountered the sentinel, who had hailed, ”_Quien viva_?”
Sure to be one there now, and to such hail what answer could hethe upper slope The darkness due to the overshadowing treeshi to the path With his long arms like the tentacles of an octopus he was able to direct his course, now and then using the branches, or the parasites dependent therefrom Withal he went cautiously, and so silently, that the sentinel--for sure enough one was there--heard no noise to warn hi on the outer edge of the shelf rock, his face turned to the valley, which was just beginning to show silvery white under the rays of a risingon some spot, a house endeared to him as the home of his childhood; but from which, as the leader of the Free Lances, he had been bereft by the last confiscation Possibly he was indulging in the hope of its being soon restored to hier behind