ely concerned.

Perhaps the little Princess, deposited thus suddenly upon the ground,
caught instinctively at one of the long tails of the horses which (in
common with those of almost all Spanish horses) almost swept the ground.
Perhaps the animals themselves grew suddenly panic-stricken. At all
events one of the three lashed out suddenly. The Sergeant bent sideways
to snatch Isabel from among their hoofs. In so doing he dropped a rein,
and in another moment one of the steeds went clattering up the dry
_arroyo_, scattering the gravel every way with a wild flourishing of
heels, and making, as the Sergeant growled, "enough noise to arouse
twenty camps."

For a hundred heart-beats all the party held their breath. Then Rollo
whispered to Senor Munoz to mount and take the little Princess before
him.

"As for you, you must run for it, Ramon!" he said to El Sarria. "The fat
is in the fire now, and all we can do is to hold them back as long as we
can. Make straight for the gorge towards Vera. You know the way. May God
help you to reach it before they can turn our flank!"

Then it was that the Sergeant received a definite shock of surprise.
That queens would be foolish, arbitrary, even absolutely idiotic, was no
marvel to him. That they should choose their favourites from
_estanco_-keepers and guardsmen, and elevate them at a day's notice to
grandeeships, dukedoms of Spain, and privileges even higher, did not in
the least astonish him. But that the person so elevated should after
all, in his less corporeal attributes, prove to be a man, was a
first-rate surprise to Jose Maria.

Munoz was now to furnish the Sergeant with an absolutely new sensation.

"_Senor_," he said, quietly addressing El Sarria, "be good enough to
mount and conduct the Queen to a place of safety. I intend to remain
here with these gentlemen!"

Then he went up to Maria Cristina and spoke a few sentences to her in a
tone so low that only the last words were audible.

"If not, by the Immaculate Virgin, I swear that you shall never see my
face again!"

"Fernando! Fernando! Fernando! You are cruel!" was the answer uttered
through choking sobs.

But El Sarria was by this time in the saddle. The little Princess was
set in her place in front of him.

"Off with you!" whispered Rollo.

And in this manner the cavalcade began its momentous march.

The Sergeant stood gazing at Munoz, who rubbed the backs of his hands
alternately as if there had been a chi