"Accept this ring, and keep it in remembrance of me."
The captain pressed his hand, but could not reply.[1]
The judges retired to deliberate. They returned at the expiration of five minutes. Count Louis de Prébois Crancé, unanimously found guilty, was condemned to be shot. The sworn interpreter of the court was then called on by the president to translate the sentence to the condemned; but then a strange incident occurred. This interpreter rose and addressed the court.
"No, gentlemen," he said resolutely; "I will not translate this unjust sentence, which you will soon regret having pronounced."
This energetic protest abashed the judges for an instant. The interpreter was discharged on the spot. He was a Spaniard.
"Gentlemen," the count then said with the greatest coolness, "I understand your language sufficiently well to know that you have condemned me to death. May Heaven pardon you, as I do!"
He bowed to the judges with a smile, and withdrew as calm as he entered.
The count was immediately placed in capilla. It is the fashion in Spain and all Southern America for men condemned to death to be placed in a room, at one end of which is an altar. Near the bed stands the coffin in which the body of the condemned will be laid after the execution. The walls are hung with black cloth, on which silver tears and mournful inscriptions are sewn. This custom, which is very cruel in our opinion, and is evidently a relic of the barbarous medieval times, is probably intended to imbue the condemned with religious ideas.
The count was in no way influenced by these mournful trappings, but employed himself with the utmost tranquillity in setting his affairs in order. The very day he was put in capilla Valentine entered his cell, followed by Father Seraphin. He was the priest he would most certainly have sent for to console him in his last moments, had he known where to find him; but Valentine thought of everything. By his orders Curumilla went on the search, and the worthy Indian soon discovered the missionary, who, on learning the nature of the case, hastened to follow him.
Still the condemnation of the count had produced an extraordinary emotion. While the cívicos and other bandits of the town indulged in indecent joy, parading the streets with bands of music at their head, the upper classes and sound portion of the population displayed extreme sorrow. They spoke of nothing less than preventing the execution of the sentence, and for some hours General Guerrero trembled lest his victim should escape him.