I am speaking now of as distant an epoch as the year 1796, when France, having emancipated herself from the thraldom of a tyrannical king, a vicious nobility, and a corrupt priesthood, was basking in the sunshine of liberty;—when each had his rights, and was equal to his neighbour. Need I say, Caballeros, that I longed for the day to arrive when my own country should be relieved from the ravages of similar birds of prey and devouring locusts?
My early hatred of our abominated tyrants and oppressors had been fostered by numerous persecutions; for, since entering on my new vocation—a vocation made necessary for the people, by the infamous monopolies enjoyed by those termed noble—I had been twice imprisoned, and no less than three times afterwards relieved from that punishment solely by dint of bribery. Once, also, I had been subjected to a heavy fine for barking trees in a forest, belonging to a worthy brotherhood of Capuchinos Descalzos;—a swarm of lazy drones, who, gaining an easy livelihood by begging impudently from door to door, could ill brook seeing others turn that to account, which, if not neglected by themselves, would render their alms-seeking unnecessary.
However, I had now an excellent business, and money, I calculated, would bring me out of all further difficulties; for, by this time, I had acquired a knowledge of its value in obtaining immunity for all sorts of crimes. In an unlucky hour, however, I was detected shooting deer in a forest belonging to the Conde de Aguila; and one of the keepers, who owed me a grudge, refused the proffered bribe. The Count himself proved beyond my price, though I made him a handsome offer; and, affecting great indignation at this attempt to corrupt the pure course of justice, he prosecuted me most vindictively. The consequence was, I was found guilty, and sentenced to ten years’ transportation to Ceuta, with chains and hard labour.
Who will deny that these things called for a change in the institutions of my country? Was the luxury of tobacco to be placed beyond the reach of the peasant, whilst the noble con pierna tendida[180] spent his whole life involved in a cloud of smoke? Was the industrious husbandman to be contented with rags and tatters, whilst lazy priests were clothed in silks and brocade? And, surely, even if the neglected bark of the forest trees was sacred, the wild beasts, that sheltered in that forest, were the property of all!
The most severe pang the banishment from my native land caused me, was the separation from my beloved Fernando, at that time a boy of eight years old. During my frequent short absences from home, I had always left him in charge of an old crone, the widow of one of our gang, and receiver of our smuggled cargoes. But I dreaded lest, on the news of my sentence reaching her ears, she should send my poor boy adrift to beg his bread—perhaps, to starve—in this wide, uncharitable world.
For the ten long years that I was doomed to exile, did this dread weigh upon me yet heavier than the chains that bound me to my task. I constantly wrote, and sent repeated messages by convicts returning to our native land, at the expiration of their term of punishment, and who invariably promised to inform me of the result of their inquiries; but never did any tidings of my boy arrive, to cheer me in my tedious captivity!
The day of my release at length arrived; the shackles were struck from my emaciated limbs; and, ere I left the African shore, I registered a vow—which has been most truly kept—that the tyrants should rue the day on which Blas Maldonado had been condemned to labour like a highway robber, or midnight assassin.
I seized the first opportunity of proceeding to Gibraltar. Had the means of quitting the sea-girt prison[181] not quickly presented itself, I verily believe I should have attempted to swim across the wide channel that separated me from my country, so painful had my restraint become. The communication with the English fortress was then open. On landing there, I learnt that our imbecile old king and his hopeful son had both been persuaded to leave their country; which, distracted by parties, and without a government, was at the mercy of an ambitious priesthood, and an ignorant, perfidious nobility.
The opportunity of wreaking vengeance on my oppressors was most favourable. I hastened first, however, to Olbera, to obtain tidings of my son—my long estranged Fernando. Alas! no one could give me any information concerning him. The Tia Dorotea, in whose charge I had left him, had been dead several years; but the boy had, “it was said,” absconded from her, long before her death. It was not a matter to interest the savages who had been my associates. I cursed them all from the bottom of my heart, and proceeded on to M——.
My inquiries there were not more successful. Don Benito had long since left the place, and no one could, or would, give me any information concerning my son. I included the whole population in my sweeping malediction, and, with a heart panting for revenge, proceeded to Seville, where I had ascertained that one of my oppressors, at all events, was within reach of my knife.