Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1890-01-10
A FINE HAUL OF FISH.

WltnOub penny, III MS purse, as IN
those days was the case with most
warriors and herors, the noble ccio2
of Mequinenza returned one day to
his dsmantled castle, to rest from
the harsh fatigues of the camp and
eat in peace the lentls 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 q
captain for the interests of Louis the
Fourteenth, was at that day n man
of five-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,
it was. the same as its master, barring
in strength. But as to-solitari-
ness, pride, and poverty, it was not
behind him. 1t was not, for it has
crumbled to decay generations since.
Figure it, halfbuilt, half-cut from a
solid rock, Tapped on one side by the
waves of the Ebro, and the other
leaning against q mountain that
lowered skyward
At the foot of this rock was n dozen
cots and novels, tepanted by the
vassals OF the baron, or it might
rather be said by the husbardmen
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 n moat, with it's drawbridge; the
moat filed by a canal or wide ditch
tapped the Ebro u 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 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-fisher who had won q
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 oil
the fisherman, to swing from the lit.
tie bridge two vast nets, through
whose meshes swept the torrent, sc
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 tn,
hand OF the fisherman, who, although
he sold them at q low enough price
yet derived from this slippery sourc,
very respectable income.
Yet for all his labor and enterprise
the poor fellow could never save c
cuarto. He was not u drinker, fol
all the cold and wet character of hi
business; he was not n player-in
deed, he knew not the terms ofbrisca
con quien, or MALTA; his cigarro
were of the commonest sort, and cos
him the merest triAe; and for woman
kind, he had not so much as q pass
ing glance, save only for Carmen.
Save only! But then, caray, HON
brel that was sufficient exception
For-oh, Carmen. Carmela, Carme
lita! Here was enough to squande
the revenues of an alcalde, Il regidor
prince-let alone Il fisherman. Fo
Carmen was beauty-a Spanisl
blonde, think of that, we connois
seursl-who would have temple,
Saint Anthony himself, if the grac
of God should have been withdraw
from him for a moment. Such
waist! such II neck such ankles
And Carmen knew her own goo,
points-none beforehand women o
such merit as hers fall in love wit
themselves when they have not low
ers-or when they have for tina
matter-and so Carmen spent tn
price of all the cells in the Ebro OF
aprons, kerchief, earrings, ribbons
fallals in general, though there wa
not soul SO see them but her owI
dear self. Damian, her husband
oh, but he counted for nothing, les
than nothingl for if husbands i
in general are ciphers, what was thi
wretched fisher of cels?-a lout,
clown, clod. OH that is quite az
parent; convinced no doubt of he
high mission in this poor world {
sorrows. Carmen every day dresse
herself as il she were going to q ba
or function, and sat herself down a
the door of the cabin, where she wa
seen of the birds, the rockthyme, an
the skies-and of naught else. Still
she awaited TRANQUILITY the momen
of her destiny.
In the days when Carmelita frs
took up her station at the door thu
dressed with parsley" the castle c
Mequinenza was still without Do
Jaime, its master, and no human ey
beheld her from closer range tha
that of the sands below, whence sh
looked like some great blossom sc
on the edge cf the precipice. He
husband had forbidden her to g
down to the village in his absence