“Trijello,” the girl answered, the same curious expression creeping into her eyes that had puzzled Ralph so much before, and which he found impossible to analyse. “It is about eight miles from here. Don Hervado, the Governor, is a Carlist, and was entertaining some Carlist soldiers there yesterday.”
“Good!” Ralph exclaimed. “I will walk there. Will you come with me, Dick, or will you wait here till I return. I don’t suppose I shall be back much before the evening.”
“Oh, don’t hurry,” O’Flanagan laughed, eyeing the girl rapturously, “I am perfectly happy here, and want a rest badly. Don’t, whatever you do, let on to anyone connected with headquarters where we are. Let them go on imagining, for a while, we are dead.”
“The Señors have been in a battle, yes?” the girl interrupted, shyly.
“A battle,” O’Flanagan laughed, “not half one. Why, we were taken prisoners and only escaped hanging through my unparalleled wits and perseverance. However, I don’t in the least bemoan the perils and hardships we have undergone, for, had events turned out otherwise, we should never have had the joy of seeing you, Señora,” and catching hold of her hand, before she could prevent him, he pressed it fervently to his lips, smothering it with kisses.
Thinking it was high time to be off, Ralph now took his departure. A couple of hours’ walking brought him to Trijello, where, but for a lucky incident, he might have found himself landed in a quandary. As he was entering the outskirts of the town he met an old peasant, staggering under a sack of onions, and no sooner did the latter catch sight of his uniform than he at once called out:
“Señor, if you value your liberty, you won’t enter Trijello in that costume. The Governor is the sworn enemy of all Carlists, and has given strict orders that, anyone with leanings towards that party shall be put under arrest at once.”
“Are you sure?” Ralph exclaimed. “Why, I was told it was just the other way about, and that he was a strong adherent of our cause.”
“Whoever told you that, lied,” the old man responded, “for he had a nephew of mine shot only yesterday morning for saying in public he hoped that wretched weakling of a woman would soon be put off the throne and we should have someone who was fit to govern—meaning Don Carlos—in her place. Take my advice, Señor, and either change those clothes at once or give Trijello as wide a berth as possible.”
Ralph then asked him if there was any place near at hand where he could purchase a civilian suit, and, on being informed that there was a Jew’s shop within a few minutes’ walk, he thanked the old man most cordially for giving him so friendly a warning, and at once proceeded there.