New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1889-01-09
A FINE HAUL OF FISH.

4 WIunouG penny, IN his purse, as IN
those days was the case with most
warriors and herors, the noble scion
OF Mequinenza returned one day to
his dismantled castle, to rest from
the harsh fatigues Of the camp and
eat in peace the lentils that came
with 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 a
captain for the interests of Louis the
Fourteenth, was at that day man
OF tive-and-thirty years, tall, hand
some, rough, brave, and energetic;
little lettered, but jovial and gallant
to the last degree with women
particularly fond, indeed, 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,
1T Was.the same as it's master, barring
IN strength. Bv5 as to-sols.ari-
ness, pride, and poverty, it was not
behind him. TWAS not, for it has
crumbled ito decay generations since.
Figure it, half-built, half-cut from
solid rock, Tapped on one side by the
waves OF the Ebro, and the other
leaning against a mountain that
lowered skyward
At the foot of this rock was dozen
cots and novels, tenanted by the
vassalsof the baron, or it might
rather be said by the husbandmen
who titled the few fields left to his
possession. From the hamlet to the
castle the road climbed by fourteen
or fifteen steep terraces, above which
was a moat, with it's drawbridge; the
moat filled by canal or wide ditch
tapped the Ebro a league the north
ward, and then fell, below the fortress,
In noisy torrent back into the swell
ing 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 a little garden, which in
that spot suggested the hanging
gardens of Babylon. A heavy beam
of walnut wood spanned the foam
ing current between the castle and
the cabin, connecting these, as the
drawbridge afforded communication
between the castle and the hamlet.
On the lordly crag. then, dwelt Don
Jaime de Mequinenza, and on the feu-
dial rock an eel-fsher, who had won a
rich revenue 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 lit
tie bridge two vast nets, through
whose meshes swept the torrent, 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 a low enough price,
yet derived from this slippery source
a very respectable income.
Yet for all his labor and enterprise
the poor fellow could never save a
cuarto. He was not a drinker, for
all the cold and wet character of his
business; he was not a player-in-
deed, he knew not the terms of brisca,
con quien, Or MALTA; his cigarros
were Of the eommonest sort, and cost
him the merest trife; and for woman
kind, he had not so much as a pass
ing glance, save onl y for Carmen.
Save only! But then, caray, hon.
bre! that was sufficient exception.
For-oh, Carmen, Carmela, Garme-
lita! HereWas enough to squander
the revenues of an alcalde, a regidor,
a prince-let alone a fisherman For
Carmen was a beauty-a Spanish
blonde, think Of that, We connois-
seurs!-who would have tempted
Saint Anthony himself, if the grace
of God should have been withdrawn
from him for a moment. Such a
waist! such "a neckl such ankles!
And Carmen knew her own good
points eibetter!-and women of
such merit as hers fall in love with
Reconsideration they have not low
ers-or when they have for that
matter-and so Carmen spent the
price of;all the cells in the Ebro on
aprons, kerchief, earrings, ribbons,
fallals in,general, though there was
not a soul so see them but her own
dear self. Damian, her husband?
oh, but he counted for nothing, less
than nothing! for if husbands in
in general.ar ciphers, what was this
wretched fisher .of eels?-a lout, a
clown, a clod. Oh! that is quite APP
parent; convinced mo doubt of her
high mission in this poor world of
sorrows, Carmen every day dressed
herself as itshe were going to a ball
or 81 function, and sat herself down ait
the door of the cabin, where she MAS
seem of the birds, the mock hyme, and
Tho oh III,