"What matter? The villain cannot be reached now."
"You are mistaken, General, for I have brought him to you. I went to fetch him in the midst of his new comrades: and would have gone to the infernal regions to seize him."
At these words a quiver of joy ran along the ranks.
"By Heaven!" Cobos exclaimed; "the villain deserves quartering."
"Bring the man here," Miramón said, sadly; for his heart was painfully affected at being forced to act severely; "he shall be tried."
"That will not take long," said General Negrete; "he will meet with the death of traitors—shot from behind."
"We have only to prove his identity, and have him executed," Cobos added.
Don Jaime gave a signal, and don Melchior was brought up by two soldiers. He was pale and haggard; his torn clothes were stained with blood and mud: his hands were fastened behind his back. The officers formed a court martial under the presidency of General Cobos.
"Your name?" the latter asked.
"Don Melchior de la Cruz," he replied in a hollow voice.