directions concerning the execution of a service of the greatest
importance, and which was to be intrusted to him.

This order had its origin in circumstances of which the Empecinado was
totally ignorant. The jeweller Barbot, finding that neither large offers
nor threats of punishment had any effect upon the Empecinado, who
persisted in keeping his wife prisoner, made interest with the Duke of
Infantado, then general of one of the Spanish armies, and besought him
to exert his influence in favour of the captive lady, and to have her
restored to her friends. The duke, who was a very important personage at
the court of Charles the Fourth, and the favourite of Ferdinand the
Seventh at the beginning of his reign, entertained a particular
friendship for Barbot; and, if the _chronique scandaleuse_ of Madrid
might be believed, a still more particular one for his wife. He
immediately wrote to General Cuesta, desiring that the lady might be
sent back to her husband without delay, as well as all the jewels and
other spoil that had been seized by the Empecinado.

With much difficulty did the guerilla make up his mind to abandon the
inglorious position, and to go where duty called him. Strongly
recommending his captive to his brother and sister-in-law, he set out
for Ciudad Rodrigo, escorted by a sergeant and ten men of his partida.
They had not proceeded half a mile from Castrillo, when, from behind a
hedge bordering the road, a shot was fired, and the bullet slightly
wounded the Empecinado's charger. Two of the escort pushed their horses
through the hedge, and immediately returned, dragging between them a
grey-haired old man, seventy years of age, who clutched in his wrinkled
fingers a rusty carbine that had just been discharged.

"He is surely mad!" exclaimed the Empecinado, gazing in astonishment at