When the lady had satisfied her curiosity, they returned round the outside of the park, to enter by the opposite gate. On this side there were still a few knots of people. Before reaching the gate, at a corner of the road darkened by the shade of some trees, Clementina stumbled over an object, and nearly fell. She screamed aloud, for on looking down she saw a human creature lying at her feet. Raimundo took out a match, and found that it was a boy of ten or twelve fast asleep. They picked him up, and set him on his feet. The little fellow opened his eyes and stared at them in alarm. Then, as if by a sudden inspiration, he snatched the stick Raimundo was carrying, and began to move it slowly up and down, as though he were fulfilling some very difficult task. Clementina and her lover looked on in amazement, unable to guess what this could mean. A few workmen collected round them, and one with a horse-laugh exclaimed:
"It is one of the boys from the pumps! Go it, my boy, work away! A tough job, isn't it?"
And his companions burst into brutal laughter, crying out to the poor little somnambulist:
"Go at it! Keep it up! Harder, boy, harder, the water is rising!"
And the unhappy boy redoubled his imaginary efforts with more and more energy. He was a weakly creature, with a white face, quite expressionless with sleep, and his ragged rough hair gave him the look of a wraith. The savage glee of the workmen, who looked on at the pitiable scene, made a very painful impression on Raimundo. He took the child in his arms, shook him gently to wake him, kissed him kindly on the forehead, and taking a dollar out of his purse, gave it to the lad, and then went on with Clementina. The working men ceased their laughter, and one of them said in a tone of envy:
"Well, you have not worked hard for your day's pay."
CHAPTER XV.
LIFE UNDERGROUND.
AT one in the morning the party broke up.
They were to reassemble at nine, to set out in a body on a visit of inspection to the mines; and the programme was carried out, not indeed with punctuality, which in Spain is an impossibility, but with no more than an hour's delay. They set out for Riosa, in carriages, at ten; of course a diminished party. They alighted at the outskirts of the town and crossed it on foot, producing, as may be supposed, no small excitement. The women crowded to the doors and windows, staring with eager curiosity at this splendid procession of ladies and gentlemen, arrayed in clothes such as they had never seen in their lives. Like their husbands, brothers, and sons, these women were pale and sickly-looking, their features pinched, their eyes dull, their hands and feet stunted. The visitors also saw a few men suffering from constant trembling.
"What is the matter? Why do those men tremble so?" asked Esperancita anxiously.