"He means Father to be condemned; what will the sentence be? A big fine?"
"Probably, with a term of imprisonment also," replied Romaña. In his heart of hearts he expected a much more terrible punishment. The Prefect would not be satisfied with a fine, however large; nor with a term of imprisonment, however long. Nor would he even stop at confiscating Mr. O'Hagan's property, and let him go. There is only one safe way in which tyranny can walk, and that is a road stained with blood. But Romaña did not impart his anticipations to Tim; there was no need to wring his young heart before the time.
He durst not go into the town next day, but waited in the wood for Galdos to bring him news of the trial. It confirmed his gloomiest forebodings. Pardo was the principal witness against his master. He repeated authentic fragments of Mr. O'Hagan's talk, which, harmless enough in themselves, might be construed as treasonable by prejudiced minds. He swore, falsely, that he had heard his master declare that he would not pay the taxes, which were mere extortion. He declared that the £250 which Mr. O'Hagan had sent to Mollendo was not a ransom, but a contribution to the brigands' funds. Similar testimony was given by two former servants of the prisoner. Mr. O'Hagan's denials were scouted. He was not allowed to employ counsel, and in two hours the sorry farce was over. He was found guilty, condemned to forfeit his estate and to be shot in the plaza, three days later.
Romaña shrank from conveying this heavy tidings to the boy awaiting his return in the cavern. But there was no help for it. He walked back slowly, and broke the news as gently as he could.
Tim was at first utterly overwhelmed. In his most despondent moments he had never looked for anything so bad as this. When his stupor passed, he cried out that he must go to his mother; that he would himself seek the Prefect, and plead with him to annul the sentence; that he must and would do something, he knew not what.
"It would be useless, señorito," said Romaña sadly. "You would yourself be arrested; you might suffer the same fate; then the gracious lady would be doubly bereaved, left without a protector, and that would embitter your father's last moments."
"But I can't sit still and do nothing," cried Tim, walking up and down in his misery. "Suppose it were your father! Won't your Mollendists do something? There's a lot of them; wouldn't Señor Mollendo lead them to the town if I begged and prayed him?"
"He is not strong enough," answered Romaña. "The town is full of gendarmes. I don't know the caballero's plans, but he cannot alter them for a foreigner."
"He will only send his men to pounce on solitary travellers like the gobernador," said Tim bitterly.
"Remember, señorito, that he is himself outlawed, in hiding. The men you saw in his camp are not numerous enough; they are ill-armed. There are a crowd of gendarmes and several troops of mercenaries already in the town, and another thousand men can be summoned from San Juan, and would arrive within a few hours."