"I am, as you may see, an easygoing man, well contented with my lot, and envy not the Bishop of Toledo; but you know it is said that even a worm will turn, and so you have seen the peaceful priest enacting the part of the bloodthirsty captain.

But, my son,"-- and his face grew grave now--"you can little imagine the deeds which the ferocious Tesse has enacted here in Arragon.

When warring with you English the French behave like a civilized nation; when warring with us Spanish peasants, who have no means of making our wrongs known to the world, they behave worse than a horde of brutal savages.

But I will tell you the circumstances which have driven me to place myself at the head of my parishioners, to wage a war of extermination with the French, and to deny mercy to every one of that accursed nation who may fall into my hands.

I have a brother--or rather I should say I had one--a well to do farmer who lived at a village some six miles from Saragossa.