The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1896-03-25

| turned agalnet us ana part OF my untOr-
tuuate company was, with myself, cut
off from the main body and forced to
surrender. was taken prisoner TO the
| little village of -, which the Carlists
! then occupied, and as the war was with
out quarter on their side | expected to
be Immediately put to death.
While, confined, disheartened and
weary, in the village jail, | heard the
hour of one ring, the time for my
meeting with Ramon. | asked for my
friend and was told, =" He is a hero
killed Northumberland with his own
hand--but he mutt undoubtedly have
persisted in the last hours Of the battle"
" Why do you think SOP" l asked.
4" Because he has not yet come back
to camp and those he commanded can
give no account of him."
Oh, what l suffered that night But
one hope remained to comfort me-that
Ramon was still awaiting me at the
hermitage and for this reason had not
returned. How troubled he will be
when he finds do not comel" said
to myself. " He will believe me dead,
and, indeed, am l very far from being
SOP NY last hour cannot now be far
defiant" Az daybreak a chaplain en-
tered the prison. My companions in
misery were sleeping.
Death?" exclaimed upon seeing
the priest.
" Yes" he replied softly.
"Now?" | asked.
"No; within three hours"
A few minutes later my fellow prs
oners had awakened. Sobs, cries and
| blasphemies filed the prison.
Every man about to die usually has
one idea that is ever present IN his
thoughts and 10 which he clings. So it
was with me, and weakness, fever, or
madness, know not which, filed my
mind with thoughts of aiy frend-of
Ramon living, Of Ramon dead, OF RAJ
mon waiting for me in the hermitage,
of Ramon waiting for me in heaven
and so powerfully had these ideas taken
possession of my mind that | thought
of nothing else during those hours of
agony.
They took off my captains uniform
and wrapped me in an old soldiers
cloak, placing upon my head the Caflist
cap. Thus | marched to my dealt,
with my nineteen companions in misery.
One only had been pardoned, and this
lists at that time spared the lives of all
musicians on account of there being u
great scarcity of them in their battal-
ions.
"And were you a musician, Don
! Basilio? Did you save yourself by
that?" exclaimed his hearers with one
! breath.
"No, my Children" responded the
! Inn nntbiro Of
music"
Well, the execution squad drew up in
line and we were placed facing it. |
was No. IL in the row-that is to say,
should be the eleventh to die. Then
thought of my wife and my child
of you and your poor mother, my
daughter!
The firing began. Those awful death
volleys maddened me. AS my eyes
were bandaged could not see my COM
panions fall one by one. l wished to
count the discharges 80 as to be able TO
prepare myself for the last moment,
but at the third or fourth volley lost
count Oh, the echo of those shots
will reverberate in my heart and brain
forever as they rang out at that fatal
dayl At one moment they were a
thousand leagues away; the next, their
thunder seemed to peal within my ear.
And the volley continued.
"Nowl" 1 thought. The sharp re-
port followed, and l was still alive.
"This will be it'll! " l said, and then
l felt myself seized by the shoulder and
dragged out of the ranks, while voices
sounded in my ears. fell unconscious
to the ground, the last thought that
passed through my mind being that l
had been shot and was dying.
Afterward it seemed to me that l was
lying stretched on my prison cot. |
half raised myself and looked around
me, trying to pierce the darkness with
my eyes. A shadow more obscure
than the others appeared to detach il
self and bend over me. 1t had the out
line of a man. My lips murmured
mechanically the name of him who had
been 80 much in my thoughts.
Ramonl"
What is it?" replied the shadow.
| shuddered. "My Godl" / ex-
claimed. 'Can l be in the other
world?"
"No," replied the same voice.
Ramon, you still live?"
yes"
" And ID
"Also."
Where am II This is not the her
mitage of st. Nicholas and l still {
prisoner, or has it all been a dream?'
: "No, Basilio, you have not beer
dreaming. Listen:
"As you know, it was yesterday tina
| killed the lieutenant-colonel in fai
fight. Afterward, mad with the Elk
-, element of the battle, l went on fight
, ing desperately until the close of tn,
action. Then, as the moou rose,
thought Of you and of our appointment
and directed my steps to the old her
mitage, with the intention of Awaiting
= you there. 1t was about ten o'cloc
when l arrived; so, as the hour agree
upon was one, lay down to sleep. A
i the stroke of one, l awoke with star
to find myself alone. Two, three, foul
the houra RANG ont and It'll Won di