Had been resorted
to; they were, however, speedily arrested and identified by the
boys as their ravishers. Balseiro perceiving that Madrid was
becoming too hot to hold him, attempted to escape, but whether to
the camp of Gibraltar or to the land of the Moor, I know not; he
was recognized, however, at a village in the neighbourhood of
Madrid, and being apprehended, was forthwith conducted to the
capital, where he shortly after terminated his existence on the
scaffold, with his two associates; Gabiria and his children being
present at the ghastly scene, which they surveyed from a chariot at
their ease.
Such was the end of Balseiro, of whom I should certainly not have
said so much, but for the affair of the crabbed Gitano. Poor
wretch! he acquired that species of immortality which is the object
of the aspirations of many a Spanish thief, whilst vapouring about
in the patio, dressed in the snowy linen; the rape of the children
of Gabiria made him at once the pet of the fraternity. A
celebrated robber, with whom I was subsequently imprisoned at
Seville, spoke his eulogy in the following manner. -
"Balseiro was a very good subject, and an honest man. He was the
head of our family, Don Jorge; we shall never see his like again;
pity that he did not sack the parne (money), and escape to the camp
of the Moor, Don Jorge."
CHAPTER XLI
Maria Diaz - Priestly Vituperation - Antonio's Visit - Antonio at
Service - A Scene - Benedict Mol - Wandering in Spain - The Four
Evangiles.
