He concluded by throwing himself into an attitude, and flourishing his sombrero round his head with a theatrical air. Ronald smiled; but he thought that, notwithstanding all this display, and Lazaro’s frequent assertions that he was happier than Pedro, a little envy continued to lurk in a corner of his merry and honest heart.
"But has Pedro never done aught for you, Lazaro, in all his good fortune?" asked Ronald.
"Oh, señor! his lady wife, disliking that her brother-in-law should be treading a-foot over sierra and plain at a mule’s tail, gave me the post of _Escrivano del Numero_ at Truxillo, which I kept for somewhere about eight weeks. But I always grew sad when I heard the merry jangle of mules’ bells; and one morning, unable to restrain myself longer, I tossed my Escrivano’s cope and rod to _Satanas_, seized my whip and sombrero, and once more took to the road as a merry-hearted muleteer of Merida, and neither Pedro nor the condessa have been able to catch me since."
"I am happy to find you are such a philosopher," said Ronald, with a sigh, which was not unnoticed by the muleteer.
"I could say that, _Señor Caballero_, which would make you far happier," said he, with a glance of deep meaning. "But," he added, pointing to the armed bandit, who kept a look-out on the bartizan near them, "but there are unfriendly ears near us."
"Speak fearlessly, Lazaro!" said Ronald eagerly, while his heart bounded with expectation. "I know that rascal to be a Guipuscoan, who understands as little of pure Castilian as of Greek. In heaven’s name, Lazaro, what have you to tell me? I implore you to speak!"
"Señor," said the muleteer, lowering his voice to a whisper, "you have thrice asked me about Don Alvaro, and I have thrice delayed to tell you what I know: good news should be divulged cautiously. Well, señor, the famous cavalier of Estremadura has encamped three hundred horse and foot among the mountains near Elizondo. He comes armed with a commission from the king, and his minister Don Diego de Avallo, to root out and utterly destroy this nest of wasps, or _cientipedoros_. The place is to be assailed about midnight; so look well to yourself, señor, that the villains do not poniard you in the fray; and, if you have any opportunity to aid us, I need not ask you to do so. I am to be Don Alvaro’s guide, as I know every foot of ground hereabout as well as I do at Merida, having paid toll here twenty times. But this will be my last visit of the kind; and I came hither only to reconnoitre and learn their pass-word, in case it should be needed. Keep a brave spirit in your breast for a few hours longer, señor, and perhaps, when the morning sun shines down the long valley yonder, Alosegui and his comrades will be hanging round the battlement, like beads on a chaplet. I pray to the Santa Gadea of Burgos that the night be dark, that we may the more easily take the rogues by surprise."