e passengers, myself included, were robbed; but, mark you,
while the natives were permitted to go away in safety, these
English--ladies, mind you, as well as gentlemen--were detained by the
Carlists. Now, of course, these so-called Carlists are merely brigands,
or else they would not have captured and robbed a party of
inoffensive travellers, and still less would they have detained them
as prisoners. They are brigands, then, and of course they intend to
exact a ransom from their prisoners, and of course if the ransom is
not paid they will shoot every one of them.

"Well, after I had escaped from their clutches I communicated at once
with the military authorities, and reported the capture of these
travellers. They immediately ordered me to take a detachment of men
and set off in pursuit. This is our present errand. You now know all;
and if you are a true man, you will at once not only sympathize with
our present undertaking, but you will lend us all the aid in your
power; you will tell us all you know; you will be as frank with me as
I have been with you, and help us to save these unfortunate ladies
from a fate worse than death."

"Senor Captain," said Brooke, without hesitating for one instant, "I
thank you for your frankness, but it is of no possible value to me. I
have come from a different direction, and cannot be of the slightest
assistance in this matter."

"Oh, very well," said Lopez, coldly. "As I said before, I am
merciful, and hate shooting prisoners in cold blood. But mark this:
if it is necessary I will not hesitate. I will allow you this day to
think over what I have said. And now, what about this priest?"

"He is an English priest," said Brooke, calmly, "and cannot
understand Spanish."

"Very well, you shall act as interpreter. In the first place, his
name and residence?"

"Sydney Talbot," said Brooke, "of London."

"What are you doing in this country?" asked Lopez directly of Talbot.

"I came on a visit to Barcelona," said Talbot in reply, as Brooke
translated the question.

"For what purpose?"

"On a visit to friends?"

"What friends?"

"English people."

"Name?"

"Rivers," said Talbot, calmly, and without a moment's hesitation. All
this was news to Brooke, who had never learned her private history or
the secret of her journey to Spain.

"You do not know the language? You cannot have been long in Spain?"

"No--only a week."

"A very short visit," said Lopez. "Did you come so far on