THE ROBBER

BAND.

241

others made their escape, leaving us in the middle of the fierce encounter.

So long as there remained any hope of victory, we had continued the fight; but, when we saw the number of the bandits, we deemed it best to surrender, though it was very unwillingly, and not without the most fearful forebodings.

Leaving the dead bodies of our companions on the spot where the struggle had taken place, Frank and I, slightly wounded, and the poor Swiss, more severely injured, were compelled to go with the exasperated banditti to their fastness, which was neither so fearful a place nor so well concealed as we expected. One bandit carried a portmanteau, a second was laden with cloaks and other wearing apparel, and two of them bore a large leathern trunk.

These marauding miscreants, with their coal-black hair and dark eyes, were uncouthly attired and strangely armed, no two being altogether alike either in weapons or dress. Some wore Spanish hats and jackets, some scullcaps and doublets, and most of them had daggers and pistols in their girdles. There was a strange diversity of colours in their clothing; a negligence of manner, a wildness, and an unrestrained freedom, that well suited the

242

DESCRIPTION

OF

THE BANDITS.

lawless life they led, and the rude places they fre quented.

Whether it was that they despised us, having taken away our arms, and considered themselves secure on account of their number, I cannot tell; but they did not even take the trouble to tie our hands.

When we had entered the cave, the chief drew his poignard, the handle of which was highly ornamented, and by certain signs and short sentences it was clear that one or all of us would soon be despatched on our way to another world in the event of their booty turning out to be less than they expected to obtain.

Finding a difficulty in opening the portmanteau, one of the bandits kneeled down on one knee to force it open, while the chief stood looking on, the rest standing round in different attitudes.

While every eye was bent on the portmanteau, Frank dashed forwards through the strangely attired throng, snatched a sword from the belt of the kneeling bandit, and sheathed it in the bosom of the chief, who fell forward over the trunk.

This was the work of a moment,-a deed of desperation, for Frank was all impulse, and seldom calculated the consequences of his own actions.

THE

ROBBERS

OVERCOME.

243

By the time that I had sprung to his side, snatching up the fallen poignard of the chief, the rest of the bandits had turned upon us; but the sudden flash and report of firearms told them of other and more formidable enemies than ourselves. A party of well-armed soldiers had found out their retreat. The bandits fought with frensy, knowing there would be no hope for them if taken; but they were soon overpowered. During the conflict, Frank knocked up the muzzle of a pistol aimed at me, just time enough to secure me from the ball that whizzed above my head; and I buried my poignard in the heart of a bandit at the very moment that his sabre was about to fall on the neck of Frank Berkeley. In ten minutes, every one of the band that were not lifeless, lay wounded, with their hands tied to their ankles, on the floor of the cave; and thus ended this desperate adventure.

CHAPTER XI.

Tho Slave Ship, the Pestilence, and the old Negro.

Visit to the African Shore. Paul and Frank embark for Greece in the Rambler. The Whale. The Shining Waters. The Sergeant's Story. His Adventures in the South Seas. Frank leaves the Ship, and goes to Italy. Paul Preston lands in Greece. Athens. Temples in Ruins. Description of a Greek.

THOUGH we found much in Spain to amuse us and to call forth our admiration, yet both Frank and I could see, plainly enough, that it was a priest-ridden country; and, if we had known the language well, instead of only comprehending the broken scraps that were picked up, the ignorance of the people would have been still more apparent to us than it was.

From the moment we entered Spain, till the time we quitted it, I was continually thinking of the horrors of the holy Inquisition, several accounts of which I had read when at school: all my youthful indignation again revived. Every now and then too the part wltich Portugal

THE SLAVE SHIP.

245

and Spain have for hundreds of years taken in the slave trade rose uppermost in .my mind.

Paul Preston believes that there is such a thing as national, as well as individual retribution. If we sin, we sorrow, whether as a nation, a family, or an individual. Look at Spain, even at the present hour! Sharp and prolonged have been the throes of that unhappy country; yet has she been, and she is still torn by faction, anarchy, and the horrors of civil war. The groan of the agonizing negro, and the cry of myriads of murdered Mexican and Peruvian Indians, have been heard at the throne of the Eternal; and who shall say that Spain is not now drinking of the bitter cup which her own injustice and cruelty have mingled ? This is a dark picture; but let it strengthen in our minds the love of justice and mercy, and increase our hatred and abhorrence of oppression and cruelty.

Never shall I forget an account which I once read of a Spanish ship engaged in the slave trade. Though it had something of fancy in it, too much of truth was mingled with the narration.

There was no breeze on the face of the motionless waters; the billows had sunk to sleep, the sun shone intensely, and the sultry air was hardly breathable. It was