She looks and speaks,
O miracle of beauty!
Such power your face possesses
Even in a picture.
Periander, who first read these lines, judged thereby that some love affair had caused his death: they carefully investigated his dress, hoping to find some indication by which to discover who he was, but could find none; and whilst they were making this scrutiny, four men appeared suddenly, armed with cross bows, who were instantly recognised by Antonio the elder, as members of the holy Brotherhood; one of whom cried out, "Stop, thieves! murderers! highwaymen! your work of spoliation, which we are just come in time to punish as it deserves."
"Rogues, there are none here," said the younger Antonio, "nor are we robbers, but enemies of all such persons."
"Truly, so it appears," replied the archer, "with a dead corpse before you; his property in your hands, and his blood upon your clothes; witnesses of your crime, robbers ye are, and murderers, and as such shall be punished; nor shall that pilgrim garb which you have put on to conceal your misdeeds, avail you anything."
To this, the young Antonio replied by fitting an arrow to his bow, and aiming at the arm of the archer; the others seeing this, either alarmed or in order to make the capture more secure, turned round hastily, and called lustily for help. "Help for the holy Brotherhood!" In an instant, as if by miracle, they were joined by more than twenty archers, who, aiming their arrows at the party, took them all prisoners, without respect even for the beauty of Auristella; and carrying the dead body along with them, brought the party to Cáceres, the Corregidor of which was a knight of the order of St. Jago, who, on seeing the dead body, and the wounded archer, and hearing the account given by the others with the additional proof of Periander's bloody appearance, was immediately disposed to put them all to the torture; but Periander declared the true state of the case, showing, in proof of his assertions, the papers and passports that he had brought from Lisbon, by way of security on his journey. He also showed the picture of his adventures, which were well described by the younger Antonio; and all these proofs were sufficient to have shown clearly the innocence of the pilgrims.
Ricla, the treasurer of the party, who knew little or nothing of what lawyers and notaries are, offered one of them a quantity of money secretly, to take their case up for them; but she was in danger of losing all she had, for the gentlemen of the law smelling out that the pilgrims had money, would gladly have shorn them close, according to their usual fashion, even to the very bones; and without a doubt, would have done so, if it had not pleased Heaven to let the might of innocence overthrow the attempts of malice. It happened that a certain innkeeper of the place, having seen the dead corpse that had been brought with the pilgrims, recognized it, and went to the Corregidor, and said to him, "My lord, this man who has been brought in dead by the holy Brotherhood, left my house yesterday morning, in company with another person, who seemed to be a gentleman. A little before he went away, he shut himself up in a room with me, and with great caution he said, 'Mine host, I pray you as a good Christian, if I do not return hither within six days, to open this paper which I give you, before the court of Justice:' so saying, he gave me this paper, which I now deliver to your worship, conceiving that it may probably explain something that will touch upon this strange affair." The Corregidor took the paper, and opening it, he found the following words written therein:—
"I, Don Diego de Parraces, left the palace of his majesty on such a day, (and here the date was given,) in company with my relation, Don Sebastián de Soranzo, who asked me to go a certain journey along with him, which concerned both his honour and his life. I, not wishing to confirm some false suspicions which he harboured respecting me, and trusting in my innocence, consented to accompany him: it is my belief that he means to kill me; if this should happen, and my body is found, let it be known that I am slain by perfidious hands, and that I die guiltless.