On beholding his red uniform and plumed bonnet, two charged him with their bayonets, which he had barely time to parry with a hay-fork that he hurriedly snatched up. They called upon him to surrender, and he found himself in imminent peril. Virginia was crying aloud from the interior of the cottage for aid, which it was impossible to yield her, as he was hemmed against the bayonets of a dozen soldiers. From this disagreeable predicament he was relieved by the interference of an officer, who exclaiming, "Redressez vos armes, messieurs!" struck down their bayonets with his sabre, and compelled them to retire. He then asked Louis sternly how he came there? Louis informed him, as briefly and as well as his imperfect knowledge of French would permit, that he was a prisoner of war on his parole of honour, and was only desirous of crossing the Nive with the French forces. He prayed the Frenchman, as an officer and gentilhomme, to rescue the lady, who was now crying aloud for assistance. The officer sheathed his sabre, and rushing into the cottage among the soldiers who thronged it, returned in a minute with Virginia, who was all tears and agitation, leaning on his right arm, while, with true French politeness, he carried his weather-beaten cocked-hat under his left. He relieved poor Lisle from a state of dreadful suspense, by placing her under his protection. She was nearly terrified out of her senses, and that she might not be subjected to farther insult, the officer ordered a caporal bréveté with a file of soldiers, to attend them as a guard.
Under their friendly escort, Louis at once prepared to leave the village, which was now enveloped in flames and smoke, and involved in tumult and uproar, while the bullets of the British riflemen came whistling every second among the crowded streets and blazing rafters. Placing Virginia upon the mule, which the honest curate had left behind him as worthless, Louis led it by the bridle, and pressing into the ranks of the French crossed the bridge, which was no sooner cleared, than the sapeurs sprung the mine and it was reduced to ruins in a moment. The firing now ceased, the rapid and swollen state of the Nive rendering pursuit impossible, and Louis, as he looked back towards Cambo, beheld his own brigade leisurely entering it,—marching along the highway, in close column of subdivisions; but they were soon hidden in the smoke of the village, which was enveloping in a white cloud the whole southern bank of the river. Continuing to lead by the bridle the mule upon which Virginia rode, Louis returned to the château, where all was bustle and warlike preparation. The works were bristling with bayonets, the guns were all shotted, and the lighted matches smoked beside them. The chasseurs and the two companies of the 105th were under arms, and the little major was bustling up and down, ordering, directing, and quarrelling with all and each; while his commandant, the duke, looked sullenly around him, scanning through a telescope the advance of the allies.
The death of the count was as yet unknown, the assassins, on discovering their mistake, having plundered and concealed the body; after which they absconded, and were no more heard of for a time. Such was the posture of affairs when Lisle entered the court of the place, where cannon-shot, bomb-shells, and casks of ammunition lay strewed about in confusion. He had scarcely reached the spot, when he became aware that a scene of high dramatic interest was about to be enacted. He was rudely seized by two soldiers with their swords drawn, while the duke at the same moment violently dragged his daughter from her saddle, ere Lisle could raise a hand to free her from his grasp. So bitterly was he enraged, that the stern reproaches he hurled against the affrighted and sinking Virginia, and the fierce menaces against Louis, were for some time totally incoherent.
"False picaro! I will have your heart thrown to my dogs for this!" he exclaimed, gazing at Louis with an eye of vindictive fury. "And as for you, most gracios senora, you shall join your sister in the monasterio at Galicia."
"Stay, my lord!" interposed Lisle, becoming violently excited; "you somewhat over-rate your authority in this matter. She is no longer under your control, and so unhand her instantly! Come to me, Virginia! You are my wedded wife, and no human power can separate us now." The reply of the fierce Spaniard was a deadly thrust at Louis with his sword. Some fatal work would have ensued, had not the little major struck aside the blade, and desired him to remember that the laws of war must be respected, and that Monsieur Lisle was a prisoner of France. Louis's blood boiled within him, while poor Virginia covered her face with her hands, and shrieked aloud to behold her husband and father glaring at each other with eyes of fire, until by the command of the latter she was borne away to her chamber in the keep.
"Demonios! major, how did you dare to stay my hand?" asked he, turning furiously to the Frenchman.
"Parbleu, monsieur le duc!"
"Do you suppose I will ever permit the honour of my long-descended house to be stained by the pretensions of a base and degenerate fool? a nameless Briton, par Diez!"
"Proud Spaniard!" replied Louis, resentment glowing in his cheek and kindling in his eye; "my ancestry were not less splendid than your own; but mine is the degradation, in allying myself with a traitor like you, who has abandoned his king and country to serve under the banner of a savage invader! But the virtues of such a woman as Virginia might redeem your whole race from perdition."
"Parbleu!" said the major again.