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Page 57
Beholding several other robbers on foot coming up, Pelayo returned to
his station between the rocks, where he was assailed by them all at
once. He received two of their darts on his buckler, a javelin razed his
cuirass, and glancing down, wounded his horse. Pelayo then rushed forth,
and struck one of the robbers dead: the others, beholding several
huntsmen advancing, took to flight, but were pursued, and several of
them taken.
The good merchant of Bordeaux and his family beheld this scene with
trembling and amazement, for never had they looked upon such feats of
arms. They considered Don Pelayo as a leader of some rival band of
robbers; and when the bonds were loosed by which they were tied to
the trees, they fell at his feet and implored mercy. The females were
soonest undeceived, especially the daughter; for the damsel was struck
with the noble countenance and gentle demeanor of Pelayo, and said to
herself: "Surely nothing evil can dwell in so goodly and gracious a
form."
Pelayo now sounded his horn, which echoed from rock to rock, and was
answered by shouts and horns from various parts of the mountains. The
merchant's heart misgave him at these signals, and especially when he
beheld more than forty men gathering from glen and thicket. They were
clad in hunters' dresses, and armed with boar-spears, darts, and
hunting-swords, and many of them led hounds in long leashes. All this
was a new and wild scene to the astonished merchant; nor were his fears
abated, when he saw his servant approaching with the hackney, laden with
money-bags; "for of a certainty," said he to himself, "this will be too
tempting a spoil for these wild hunters of the mountains."
Pelayo, however, took no more notice of the gold than if it had been
so much dross; at which the honest burgher marvelled exceedingly. He
ordered that the wounds of the merchant should be dressed, and his own
examined. On taking off his cuirass, his wound was found to be but
slight; but his men were so exasperated at seeing his blood, that
they would have put the captive robbers to instant death, had he not
forbidden them to do them any harm.
The huntsmen now made a great fire at the foot of a tree, and bringing
a boar which they had killed, cut off portions and roasted them, or
broiled them on the coals. Then drawing forth loaves of bread from their
wallets, they devoured their food half raw, with the hungry relish of
huntsmen and mountaineers. The merchant, his wife, and daughter, looked
at all this, and wondered, for they had never beheld so savage a repast.
Pelayo then inquired of them if they did not desire to eat; they were
too much in awe of him to decline, though they felt a loathing at the
thought of partaking of this hunter's fare; but he ordered a linen cloth
to be spread under the shade of a great oak, on the grassy margin of a
clear running stream; and to their astonishment, they were served, not
with the flesh of the boar, but with dainty cheer, such as the merchant
had scarcely hoped to find out of the walls of his native city of
Bordeaux.
The good burgher was of a community renowned for gastronomic prowess:
his fears having subsided, his appetite was now awakened, and he
addressed himself manfully to the viands that were set before him. His
daughter, however, could not eat: her eyes were ever and anon stealing
to gaze on Pelayo, whom she regarded with gratitude for his protection,
and admiration for his valor; and now that he had laid aside his helmet,
and she beheld his lofty countenance, glowing with manly beauty,
she thought him something more than mortal. The heart of the gentle
donzella, says the ancient chronicler, was kind and yielding; and had
Pelayo thought fit to ask the greatest boon that love and beauty could
bestow--doubtless meaning her fair hand--she could not have had the
cruelty to say him nay. Pelayo, however, had no such thoughts: the love
of woman had never yet entered his heart; and though he regarded the
damsel as the fairest maiden he had ever beheld, her beauty caused no
perturbation in his breast.
When the repast was over, Pelayo offered to conduct the merchant and
his family through the defiles of the mountains, lest they should be
molested by any of the scattered band of robbers. The bodies of the
slain marauders were buried, and the corpse of the servant was laid upon
one of the horses captured in the battle. Having formed their cavalcade,
they pursued their way slowly up one of the steep and winding passes of
the Pyrenees.
Toward sunset, they arrived at the dwelling of a holy hermit. It was
hewn out of the living rock; there was a cross over the door, and before
it was a great spreading oak, with a sweet spring of water at its foot.
The body of the faithful servant who had fallen in the defence of his
lord, was buried close by the wall of this sacred retreat, and the
hermit promised to perform masses for the repose of his soul. Then
Pelayo obtained from the holy father consent that the merchant's wife
and daughter should pass the night within his cell; and the hermit made
beds of moss for them, and gave them his benediction; but the damsel
found little rest, so much were her thoughts occupied by the youthful
champion who had rescued her from death or dishonor.
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