“Great? Great? Very great, as far as my courage is concerned; but have I fortresses, have I cavalry, have I artillery?”
“That is a thing, Ramos,” said Doña Perfecta, smiling, “about which I would not concern myself. Has not the enemy what you lack?”
“Yes.”
“Take it from him, then.”
“We will take it from him, yes, señora. When I say that we will take it from him—”
“My dear Ramos,” exclaimed Don Inocencio, “yours is an enviable position. To distinguish yourself, to raise yourself above the base multitude, to put yourself on an equality with the greatest heroes of the earth, to be able to say that the hand of God guides your hand—oh, what grandeur and honor! My friend, this is not flattery. What dignity, what nobleness, what magnanimity! No; men of such a temper cannot die. The Lord goes with them, and the bullet and the steel of the enemy are arrested in their course; they do not dare—how should they dare—to touch them, coming from the musket and the hand of heretics? Dear Caballuco, seeing you, seeing your bravery and your nobility, there come to my mind involuntarily the verses of that ballad on the conquest of the Empire of Trebizond:
“‘Came the valiant Roland
Armed at every point,
On his war-horse mounted,
The gallant Briador;
His good sword Durlindana
Girded to his side,
Couched for the attack his lance,
On his arm his buckler stout,
Through his helmet’s visor
Flashing fire he came;
Quivering like a slender reed
Shaken by the wind his lance,
And all the host united
Defying haughtily.’”
“Very good,” exclaimed Licurgo, clapping his hands. “And I say like Don Renialdos:
“‘Let none the wrath of Don Renialdos
Dare brave and hope to escape unscathed;
For he who seeks with him a quarrel,
Shall pay so dearly for his rashness
That he, and all his cause who champion,
Shall at my hand or meet destruction
Or chastisement severe shall suffer.’”
“Ramos, you will take some supper, you will eat something; won’t you?” said the mistress of the house.