Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1893-11-09
THE CABECILLA.

Il ILL
The good father was finishing his mass
when they brought him the prisoners.
It was wild spot among the Arichule-
gui mountains. A fallen rock in which
q fig tree had plunged its twisted trunk
formed sort of altar, covered in guise
of a cloth with silver fringed Carlst
standard. Two cracked water coolers
took the place of vases, and when the
sacristan Miguel, who was assisting the
priest at the mass, arose in order to
change the position of the holy books,
the cartridges were heard jingling in his
cartridge box. All around the soldiers
of Carlos were silently ranged, their
guns slung across their backs and one
knee on the ground upon the white
beret.
The bright sun was concentrating its
dazzling heat in this burning and sonor-
GUS rocky hollow, where the fight of
blackbird alone, from time to time, dis
turbed the psalmody of the priest and
the servant. Higher up on the Jagged
peak sentinels were standing, forming
motionless silhouettes against the sky.
What singular sight it was-this
priestly commander officiating in the
midst of his soldiersl And how plainly
the double existence of the Cabecilla
showed itself upon his countenance-
the ecstatic air, the hard features,
further accentuated by the bronzed COM
plexion of the soldier in the field, and
ascetism without pallor, in which was
lacking the shadow of the cloister; small
black, very brilliant eyes, the forehead
traversed by enormous veins which
seemed to bind the thought as with
ropes, to fix it in an inextricable obstin-
acy.
Every time he turned toward the spec
tators with open arms to read the
Dominus Vobiscum, one saw the uni
form beneath the stole, and the butt Of
a pistol, the haft of a Catalonian knife up
lifting the rampled surplice. "What is
he going to do with us?' the prisoners
asked themselves in terror, and while
awaiting the end of the mass they re-
called all the acts of ferocity which had
been related of the Cabecilla and which
had won him q special renown in the
royalist army.
By miracle that morning the father
was in clement mood. The mass in the
open air, his success of the previous day
and also the cheerfulness of Easter, YET
felt by this strange priest, cast upon his
, face ray Of joy and kindness. AS soor
. as the service was over, while the sa
cristan cleared off the altar, fastening
up the sacred vases in huge box, which
was borne ON the back Of a mule in the
rear of the expedition, the cure ad
vanced toward the prisoners. They were
a dozen of republican carbineers, ex
hausted by day of battle and night
of anguish in the straw of the sheepfold
where they had been penned up after the
action. Yellow with fear, wan with
hunger, thirst and fatigue, they clus
tered together like flock of sheep in thu
courtyard of an abattoir.
Their uniforms full of hay, their beltl
. in disorder, pushed up in the fight ant
in sleep, the dust which wholly covered
them from the tufts of their caps to tn,
points of their yellow shoes, all con
tributed well to give them that siniste
= look of the vanquished in which mora
discouragement is betrayed by physica
detection.
The Cabecilla glanced at them for al
instant with a little laugh of triumph
He was not sorry to see the soldiers o
the republic humble, wan and ragge,
amid well fed, well equipped Carlists
Navarro and Basque mountaineers a
brown and hard as carob beans.
"Viva Diosl my children" said he t
them with good natured air. "The re
public nourishes her defenders very i'll
Why, you are all as thin as the wolve
of the Pyrenees, when the mountains ar
covered with snow and they come int
the plain to sniff the odor of the tabl
by the lights which shine under the door
of the houses. One is treated otherwis
in the service of the good cause Woul
you like to make a trial of it, hermanoi
Cast off those infamous caps and put O
the white beret. AS truly as this is th
holy day of Easter, to those who wi
shout, Long live the king" l will Civ
their lives and the same campaign foo
give my other soldiersl'
Before the good father had finished a
the caps were in the air, and shouts {
"Long live King Carlos" "Long liv
the CabecillaP resounded ON the mou1
tain. Poor devils! They had been i
o such great fear of death, and SO temp
ing were all those good victuals whic
o they smelled close to them, about to /
n broiled in the shelter of rocks before tt
biyouac fires, pink and faint in the brigl
% sunlight, l believe that never was til
=, pretender acclaimed with such good will
' "Give them something to eat at once
said the cure, laughing. "When wolvt
R yelp with that strength, it's because the
have sharp teeth!"
The carbineers went off. But on
I. among them, the youngest, RENAME
standing in front of the chief in prou
and resolved attitude, which contraste
with his Juvenile features and the fiji
) down, scarcely colored, enveloping b
cheeks with blond powder. His capot
which was too large for him, was wril
kled at the 6acK and on the arms, wa
! turned up at the sleeves over two sligf
wrists, and by its fullness made hil
look still younger and more slende
t. There was excitement in his long, bri
q liant eyes-Arab eyes, intensified b
Spanish fame. And this fixed fan
iir annoyed the Cabecilla.
o. "What do you wantg' he asked Of hin
,aar Nothing. I am waiting for you
y decide on my fate"
,e "Your fate will be that of the other
o. I named no one. The pardon was fl