The Buchanan County guardian. (Independence, Buchanan County, Iowa) 1858-1864, 1860-01-19

dark eye kindled, and with a bitter ex.
preston Of fury and hatred, he exclaim-
ed:
He is Frenchman he is French.
man ! He then turned to the aid-de.
camp and said
"Some weeks ago l went to Madrid
with load of hay for the barracks. This
man is the one to whom l delivered the
forage; he gave me receipt for it. I
stood behind him for long time, by the
broken gate under the trees. When !
saw him brought in to-day, said to An
tonic, yonder, Antonio. my brother-in-
law, there is the Frenchman to whom l
delivered the forage
Let him be shot let him be shot L
exclaimed dozen voices.
Shoot him shoot him p echoed
from the crowd assembled to look in at
the windows at the French Spy
But, said the officer, is it prudent to
expose ourselves to the risk of difficult
ties with Russia thus hastily p
Certainly not. replied another officer,
but let it be proved that the man is re-
ally Russian
Leckinski heard all this, for he under
stood Spanish very well. He was led out
and locked up in dungeon.
AT the time of his arrest he had not
tasted food since the afternoon of the pre-
ceding day, and when the prison door
was locked upon him, eighteen hours
had elapsed since he had partaken of any
nourishment. Add to this the fatigue and
anxiety he had suffered, and it will not
be matter of surprise that he threw
himself in state Of utter exhaustion on
mattress which lay on the ground, and
was soon asleep.
This being ascertained through the
loop-hole in the wall, one of the officers
returned to his own house.
His young and handsome wife was sit
ting on yellow cushion, playing the
gnitar.
Bonita, said he, I'VE have, we think,
taken French spy, but he pretends to
be in the Russian service that may be
but pretext; nevertheless we have not
been able to make him betray himself.
Woman's art will sometimes avail where
mans sagacity has failed come with me
to the guard house,
In that country of faithless wives, du-
ennas and intrigues, Bonita loved her
husband. Her guitar was quickly laid
aside. her yellow cushion laid away, her
mantila thrown over her black hair.
Arrived there, the Spanish officer bade
her look through the loop hole at the
sleeping youth.
/ will wait here said he, do you go
in with lamp, and throwing the light
suddenly on his face. awake him. When
thus thrown off his guard, listen to what
he says. and watch his gestures.
Bonita bowed her head in token of ODE
dience. The jailor opened the door noise
lessly. and she entered.
Leckinski had been sleeping about an
hour, when some one softly approached
his head. 1t was Benita. A hand was
held before the lamp to shade the glare
from his eyes; when the hand was with
drawn he felt gentle tap on his shoul-
der, and sweet-toned voice uttered the
words, in French,
will you have some supper
Bonita had true woman's heart. She
even dreaded the idea of being accessory
to the evil planned for this young man.
His unprotected situation and his early
years filled her heart with pity. Still
she dared not disobey. AS she spoke,
she grasped his wrist with firmness, which
recalled his scattered senses as he awoke.
The young Pole, thus suddenly arous-
ed from his slumbers by the glaze OF
light and the words Of the young wo-
man, accompanied by a tap on his shoul-
der. was about to forget himself, when
the pressure of his wrist, by exciting his
wonder, bronght the circumstances of
his situation clearly before him.
He raised himself quickly. and with
out opening his eyes, asked in German !:
What do you say p
Send him some supper said Casta-
nos. upon hearing the result of his trial,
saddle his horse and let him continue
his journey. He is no Frenchman. How
could he have kept on the mask when
thus taken by surprise ? This thing is
impossible
But Castanos did not exercise undivid-
IL