The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1889-01-12
A FINE HAUL OF FISH.

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in the war Of the succession and with
out penny in his purse, as in those
days was the case with most warriors
and heroes, the noble scion Of Mequi-
nenza returned one day to his dis
mantled castle, to rest from the harsh
fatigues of the camp and eat in peace
the lentils that came with his title.
Two words let us give to the soldier
and other two to his birthplace Don
Jaime de Mequinenza, baron of that
name, who had fought as acaptain for
the interests of Louis the Fourteenth,
was at that day a man of five-and-
thirty years, tall, handsome, rough,
brave and energetic; little lettered, but
jovial and gallant to the last degree
with particularly fond, in
deed, of pretty peasants. Add to this
that he was an orphan, an only child,
a bachelor, and you have the picture
of the Aragonese hidalgo. AS to his
castle, it was the same as its master,
barring in strength But as to soil
tariness, pride and poverty, it was not
behind him. 1t was not, for it has
crumblcd to decay generations since
Figure it, half built, half cut from a
solid rock, Tapped on one side by the
waves of the Ebro, and on the other
leaning against mountain that
lowered skyward.
At the foot of this rock was dozen
cots and novels, tenanted by the vas
sails Of the baron, or it might rather be
said by the husbandmen who titled the
few fields left to his possession. From
1T ~
climbed by fourteen or fifteen steep
terraces, above which was noat,
with its drawbridge; the moat filled
by canal or wide ditch that tapped
the E'Daa q league to the northward,
and t.lan fell, below the fortress, in
noisy torrent back into the swelling
river.
Perched on an almost inaccessible
flank of the mountain, separated by
this channel from the castle, and, like
it, hanging above the Ebro, there was
another rocky spur, crowned by a
cabin and L little garden, which in
that spot suggested the hanging gar
dens of Babylon. A heavy beam OF
walnut wood spanned the foaming
current between the castle and the.
cabin, connecting these, as the draw
bridge afforded communication be-
tween the castle and the hamlet.
On the lordly crag, then, dwelt Don
Jaime de Mequinenza, and on the feu-
dal rock an eel fisher, who had won a
rich revcnu2 from the daring thought
Of building his hut in that lonely and
menacing spot. 1t had occurred to
Damian, for such was the name of the
fisherman, to swing from the little
bridge two vast nets, through whose
meshes swept the current, so that the
teeming cells that rushed through the
cutting toward the mother waters of
the Ebro were caught here on their
course back to their birthplace and
held for the hand of the fisherman,
who, although he sold them at low
enough price, yet derived from this
slippery source vety respectable in
come.
Yet for all this labor and enterprise
the poor fellow could never save
cuarto. He was not drinker, for all
the cold and wet character of his busi-
ness; he was not a player-indeed, he
knew not the terms of brisca, coz
quien or malilla; his cigarros were of
the commonest sort and cost him the
merest triflc. and for womankind he
had not SO much as a passing glance,
save only for Carmen.
Save onlyl But then, caray, hom-
bre that was sufficient exception. For
oh, Carmen, Carmela, Carmelita!
Here was enough to squander the rev.
enues of an alcalde, a regidor, a prince
let alone a fisherman. For Carmen
was a beauty-a Spanish blonde, think
of that, We connoisseurs who would
have tempted Saint Anthony himself,
if the grace of God should have been
Withdrawn from him for moment.
Such a waist such a neck such
ankles And Carmen knew her own
good points-none better; and women
Of such merit as hers fall in love with
themselves when they have not lovers
or when they have, for that matter
and so Carmen spent the price of all
the cells in the Ebro on aprons; ker-
chiefs, earrings, ribbons and fal-lals in
general, though there was not soul
to see them but her own dear self.
Damian, her husband9 oh, but he
counted for nothing, less than nothing,
for if husbands in general are ciphers,
what was this wretched fisher of eelsa
"a lout, a clown, clod Oil that is
quite appaI ent; convinced, no doubt,
Of her high mission in this poor world
of sorrows, Carmen every day dressed
herself as if she were going TO a ball or
a funcion, and sat herself down at the
door of the cabin, where she was seen
Of the birds, the rock thyme and the
skies, and of naught else. Still, she
awaited TRANQUILITY the moment of her
destiny.
In the days when Carmelita first
took up her station at the door thus
dressed with parsley the castle of
Mequinenza was still without Don
Jaime, its master, and no human eye
beheld her from closer range than that
of the sands below, whence she looked
like some great blossom set on the
edge of the precipice. Her husband
had forbidden her to go down to the
village in his absence, and she obeyed
him implicitly, because it is the will
of God that wives obey their husbands,
and because well, because there was
nothing pleasing to her in the rustic
youths of the village. How should
they please her any more than her
husband? they. like him. rough.
badly clad and dirty, with thorny, cal
loused hands, burned by the sun,
tanned by wind end rain, and SMELL
ing of fish from a rod away7 And
she so soft, so smooth, SO dainty,
dressed and perfumed like a Madrilena.
It is true that if the poor fisherman
was i'll dressed this was to give finer.
better raiment to Carmen; that if the
husband should labor less, to the end
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