"Water—bring water!" cried Lucius. Teresa hurried to obey the command, but her young mistress had forestalled her. In this emergency the energy of Inez had returned. But not a word had she uttered, not a tear had she shed; her anguish had sealed her lips, her terror had dried up her tears. Kneeling beside her brother's low bed, Inez sprinkled with water his corpse-like face; Lucius, gently supporting his head, put a cup to his lips.
"Oh, Heaven be praised!—he drinks! there is life in him still!" exclaimed Inez.
"He's dying—he's dying—last of his race! Oh, woe's me! woe's me!" moaned Teresa.
Lucius dismissed the bearers, satisfying their demands with the coin—it was but little—that he chanced to have on his person. They had scarcely left the place ere the anxiously expected surgeon arrived.
The surgeon removed the bandages from the insensible Alcala, and examined his ghastly wound. There was a deep gash in the left shoulder, from which there had been a great effusion of blood. The full extent of the injury sustained by the unfortunate cavalier could not be ascertained at once.
"He was crushed up against the barrier,—I saw it with my own eyes,—oh that I should have lived to see it!" cried Teresa, with passionate gestures. "The bull charged, and in a moment man and horse were down in the dust. Campeador never rose again, the horns of the savage—"
"Be silent, woman!" said Lucius sternly; "does not your lady already suffer enough?"
Teresa stared in angry surprise at this unexpected rebuke from the stranger, who had assumed a post of command in the house of his friend by the tacit consent of its mistress; for Inez felt as if, in her sorest need, a helper and supporter had been sent to her by Heaven. The old woman dared not reply, but muttering something between her teeth about "insolent heretic," busied herself with the bandages required for the wound.
When the surgeon had finished his work, Lucius accompanied him out of the room, that his question, "Do you think that there is hope?" might not be heard by Inez.
"It is impossible to give any decided opinion as yet, señor," answered the surgeon. "Fever will probably ensue; let some one sit up with the caballero during the night."