"Do you acknowledge that you went over to the enemy, taking your command with you?"
He made no answer, but his whole body was agitated by a convulsive tremor.
"The court is certain of this man's treachery," Cobos continued; "what punishment has he deserved?"
"That of traitors!" the officers unanimously replied.
"Let it be carried into effect," said Cobos.
The condemned was forced on his knees. Ten corporals formed a firing party, and placed themselves six paces behind him.
General Cobos then approached the condemned man. "Coward and traitor," he said to him, "you are unworthy of the rank to which you were raised. In the name of all our companions I declare you to be degraded and rejected from our midst."
A soldier then removed the symbols of don Melchior's rank, and gave him a blow in the face. The young man uttered a tiger's yell at this insult, looked around him in horror, and made a movement to rise.
"Fire!" General Cobos shouted.
A detonation was heard; the criminal uttered a fearful cry of agony, and fell with his face on the ground, writhing in awful convulsions.