e three months ago, and they wrote to me to go over to perform the
ceremony.

"I went; the wedding day arrived, and all was ready. It was a holiday in
the village, for both were favorites. The bride was dressed; the village
maidens and men were all in their best; the procession was about to set
out, when a troop of dragoons rode suddenly in from Saragossa. A shot
or two had been fired at them as they rode through a wood. When they
arrived they dismounted, and the commander ordered the principal men
of the village to be brought to him. My brother and the father of the
bridegroom were among them.

"'My troops have been fired at,' the Frenchman said, 'and I hold you
responsible.'

"'It was no one from this village,' my brother said; 'we have a wedding
here, and not a soul is absent.'

"'I care not,' the officer said; 'we have been fired at, and we shall
give the people of this district a lesson.'

"So without another word he turned to his soldiers and ordered them to
fire the village from end to end.

"'It is outrageous,' my brother said, and the others joined him in the
cry. I, too, implored him to pause before having such an order carried
into execution. His only reply was to give the order to his men.

"The six principal men were seized at once, were set with their backs
against the wall of a house, and shot."

"You cannot mean it!" Jack exclaimed indignantly. "Surely such an
outrage could never be perpetrated by civilized soldiers?"

"I saw it done," the priest said bitterly. "I tried to throw myself
between the victims and their murderers, but I was held back by force
by the soldiers. Imagine the scene if you can--the screaming women, the
outburst of vain fury among the men, The bridegroom, in his despair
at seeing his father murdered, seized a stick and rushed at the French
officer; but he, drawing a pistol, shot him dead, and the soldiers
poured a volley into his companions, killing some eight or ten others.
Resistance was hopeless. Those who were unwounded fled; those who fell
were bayoneted on the spot. I took my niece's arm and led her quietly
away. Even the French soldiers drew back before us. You should have seen
her face. Madre de Dios! I see it now--I see it always. She died that
night. Not one word passed her lips from the moment when her father and
her affianced husband fell dead before her eyes. An hour later the troop
rode off, and the people stole back to bury their dead among the ashes
of wha