ABSTRACT
A dreary pause of silent horror succeeded. – I gazed wildly on the bleeding corse I supported, and, as if it were yet possible to afford Villanova assistance, called loudly on his servants to come to their master. The sullen echo ran round the ruined buildings and hollow vaults, and again all was silent. The two men, seized with consternation and amazement, dared not immediately approach the spot. These sort of ruins have ever among the common people the reputation of being the haunts of evil spirits, or the lurking-places of banditti; and my two Portuguese were neither philosophers nor heroes; my concern and distress redoubled; the yet palpitating body of my friend seemed to demand of me that assistance I could not give it; Villanova appeared to be dead, yet I had not then perceived that a bullet had passed through his heart, and therefore did not know his wounds were mortal. Such however was the confusion of my thoughts, that I cannot now very distinctly relate them. Again I called aloud, and after another pause, I heard footsteps not far from me; and recollecting myself enough to call the servants by their names, they at length answered. The confidential servant of Villanova, who first ventured to approach, no sooner saw his master lifeless, than he seemed deprived of his senses. It was in vain I represented to him that the cries and exclamations with which he rent the air were useless, and could serve only to prevent any remedy to the evil he deplored, if a remedy still was possible. He was incapable of hearing reason, but continued to call on his master, his dear master! and to use gestures so extravagant, that I am persuaded he was for the time in a state of phrensy. When I found I could not prevail upon him to be calm, I endeavoured to call to my assistance the other man, an inferior servant, who had appeared for a moment, but he was gone and I was thus left alone in this desert place, with my friend lifeless, and a madman, who, instead of being able to assist me, or to consult with me what was to be done, seemed likely to increase the horrors of my situation! and I confess that my sensations were for some moments such, as I think nothing on earth could induce me to undergo the same again, even for an instant. As no assistance could be obtained from Joachin, who was now become absolutely stupefied with grief and fear, I began to consider how it would be possible to remove the dead body of the unfortunate Villanova, and to perform the last offices 84of friendship towards him; but before I could determine what I ought to do, my doubts were finished very abruptly, by the appearance of a set of formidable, though wretched-looking beings, who very roughly declared themselves officers of justice. The servant who had fled, and who was one whom Villanova had hired for the journey, had, either through fear of being involved in the consequences, or from some worse motives, given notice at the village that his master was murdered among the ruins! What representation he gave of it, I know not; but I found myself considered as a party concerned, if not as the actually guilty party. I was a stranger, a heretic, and an Englishman, towards whom the enmity of Spain was at this time particularly awakened; and what was worse for me than all these circumstances, I only was between the men who now thought themselves concerned, and the possession of all the effects of Villanova, which were really considerable, and appeared more so than they were in the eyes of these worthy gentlemen.
