s
objects of bric-a-brac that had obtruded themselves and confused the
fugitive in his blind flight were still trembling and then falling and
breaking on the floor with a crash.

Feeling on his forehead the sensation of the free air, the dangers to
which Freya had referred now surged up in his mind. He surveyed the
street with a hostile glance.... Nobody! He longed to meet the enemy of
whom that woman had been speaking, to find vent for that wrath which he
was feeling even against himself. He was ashamed and furious at his
passing weakness which had almost made him renew their former
existence.

In the days following, he repeatedly recalled the band of refugees
under the doctor's control. When meeting German-looking people on the
street, he would glare at them menacingly. Was he perhaps one of those
charged with killing him?... Then he would pass on, regretting his
irritation, sure that they were tradesmen from South America,
apothecaries or bank employees undecided whether to return to their
home on the other side of the ocean, or to await in Barcelona the
always-near triumph of their Emperor.

Finally the captain began to ridicule Freya's recommendations.

"Just her lies!... Inventions in order to engage my interest again and
make me take her with me! Ah, the old fraud!"

One morning, as he was stepping out on the deck of his steamer, Toni
approached him with a mysterious air, his face assuming an ashy pallor.

When they reached the saloon at the stern, the mate spoke in a low
voice, looking around him.

The night before he had gone ashore in order to visit the theater. All
of Toni's literary tastes and his emotions were concentrated in
vaudeville. Men of talent had never invented anything better. From it
he used to bring back the humming songs with which he beguiled his long
watches on the bridge. Besides, it had a feminine chorus brilliantly
clad and bare-legged, a prima donna rich in flesh and poor in clothes,
a row of rosy and voluptuous ninepins that delighted the seamen's
imagination without making him forget the obligations of fidelity.

At one o'clock in the morning, when returning to the boat along the
solitary entrance pier, some one had tried to assassinate him. Hearing
footsteps, he fancied that he had seen forms hiding behind a mountain
of merchandise. Then there had sounded three reports, three revolver
shots. A ball had whistled by one of his ears.

"And as I was not carrying any arms, I ran.