t his dark eye flashed back upon his foes with an expression
of triumphant daring, which seemed as it were to say, 'I am avenged
already!' A cry of impatience burst from the crowd of soldiers, and the
crash of their firelocks threatened that they would not wait longer for
his blood. But the guerilla's manner changed at once, and holding up a
small ebony crucifix before him, he seemed to ask a moment's respite for
a short prayer.

The stillness showed his request was complied with; he turned his back
towards the crowd, and placing the crucifix on the low parapet, he bent
down on both his knees, and seemed lost in his devotions. As he rose
I thought I could perceive that he threw a glance, rapid as lightning,
over the wall towards the river that flowed beneath. He now turned fully
round; and unfastening the girdle of many a gay colour that he wore
round his waist, he threw it carelessly on his left arm; and then,
baring his breast to the full, knelt slowly down, and with his arms wide
apart called out in Spanish, 'Here is my life! come, take it!' The words
were scarcely uttered, when the carbines clanked as they brought them
to the shoulder; the sergeant of the company called out the words,
'_Donnez!_' a pause--'_Feu!_' The fusilade rang out, and as my eyes
pierced the smoke I could see that the guerilla had fallen to the earth,
his arms crossed upon his bosom.

A shriek wild and terrific burst from the crowd. The blue smoke slowly
rose, and I perceived the French sergeant standing over the body of
the guerilla, which lay covered with blood upon the turf. A kind of
convulsive spasm seemed to twitch the limbs, upon which the Frenchman
drew his sabre. The rattle of the steel scabbard rang through my heart;
the bright weapon glanced as he raised it above his head. At the same
instant the guerilla chief sprang to his legs; he tottered as he did so,
for I could see that his left arm hung powerless at his side, but his
right held a long poniard. He threw himself upon the Frenchman's bosom;
a yell followed, and the same moment the guerilla sprang over the
battlements, and with a loud splash dropped into the river beneath. The
water had scarce covered his body, as the Frenchman fell a corpse upon
the ground.

A perfect roar of madness and rage burst from the French soldiers, as,
rushing to the parapet, a hundred balls swept the surface of the river;
but the tall reeds of the bank had already concealed the bold guerilla,
whose