They were at the Puerta del Sol, so they went down the Calle Mayor. It was a rather misty night; the mist was bluish, luminous, and tempered the wind; the electric globes of the Royal Palace shone in this floating haze with a livid light.
Manuel and the soldier descended the Cuesta de la Vega and entered a little wood that runs between the Campo del Moro and the Calle de Segovia. Here and there an oil lantern shed its pallid glow among the trees. They reached the Paseo de los Melancólicos. Near the Segovia bridge flames were leaping from the furnaces of a grease factory that had been installed in a hut. From the Paseo de los Melancólicos they descended into the hollow, where they took refuge in a shed and prepared to go to sleep. It was cool; several mysterious couples were moving around in the vicinity; Manuel curled up, thrust his hands into his trousers pockets and was soon sound asleep.
The shrill blare of bugles awoke him.
“That’s the Palace Guard,” said the soldier.
The pale glow of dawn flushed the sky; soft and grey quivered the first light of day.... Suddenly, from very near, came the discharge of firearms; Manuel and the soldier jumped to their feet; they rushed out of the shed ready for flight. But they saw nothing.
“A young chap has just committed suicide,” cried a man in a smock as he ran by Manuel and the soldier.
They approached the place whence the sound of the shot had come and beheld a young man, well dressed, lying on the ground, his face covered with blood, a revolver clutched in his right hand. There was nobody in the vicinity. The soldier drew near to the corpse, lifted the youth’s right hand and removed two rings, one of them with a diamond. Then he opened the dead man’s coat, went through the pockets, found no money and fished out a gold watch.
“Let’s be off before anybody shows up,” said Manuel.
“No,” answered the soldier.
He returned to the shed where they had passed the night, dug a hole into the ground with his fingernails, wrapped the rings and the watch in a sheet of paper, buried them, and stamped down the earth with his foot.