All at once the senator bounded forward like a chamois; he made directly to the General, and seized his arm.
"We are saved!" he cried; "thanks be to God! we are saved!"
"Hilloh! what's the matter now, Don Ramón? What bee has stung you? are you really mad?"
"I have not been stung," the senator replied, as fast as he could speak, "nor am I mad; we are saved; I tell you, we are saved!"
"Well, how? what is it? Is Don Pancho coming at last?"
"Don Pancho, indeed! I wish he were at the devil!" "Well, what is it, then?"
"Why, do you not see, yonder? look, behind the barricade which blocks the entrance of the Calle de la Merced."
"What is there to see?"
"Why, a flag of truce! a white flag!"
"Ah!" said the General, eagerly, "let us look! let us look!"