The Two Captains | Page 4

pleasant eventide that they ought to
devote these last few hours on European soil to ease and slumber; they
began to sing military songs, to drink to each other with their flasks
filled to the brim with the rich wine of Xeres, toasting to the long life of
the mighty Emperor Charles V., who was now besieging the pirate-nest
Tunis, and to whose assistance they were about to sail. The merry
soldiers were not all of one race. Only two companies consisted of
Spaniards; the third was formed of pure Germans, and now and then
among the various fellow- combatants the difference of manners and
language had given rise to much bantering. Now, however, the
fellowship of the approaching sea- voyage and of the glorious perils to
be shared, as well as the refreshing feeling which the soft southern
evening poured over soul and sense, united the band of comrades in
perfect and undisturbed harmony. The Germans tried to speak Castilian,
and the Spaniards to speak German, without its occurring to any one to
make a fuss about the mistakes and confusions that happened. They
mutually helped each other, thinking of nothing else but the good-will
of their companions, each drawing near to his fellow by means of his
own language.

Somewhat apart from the merry tumult, a young German captain, Sir
Heimbert of Waldhausen, was reclining under a cork-tree, gazing
earnestly up at the stars, apparently in a very different mood to the
fresh, merry sociability which his comrades knew and loved in him.
Presently the Spanish captain, Don Fadrique Mendez, approached him;
he was a youth like the other, and was equally skilled in martial
exercises, but he was generally as austere and thoughtful as Heimbert
was cheerful and gentle. "Pardon, Senor," began the solemn Spaniard,
"if I disturb you in your meditations. But as I have had the honor of
often seeing you as a courageous warrior and faithful brother in amrs in
many a hot encounter, I would gladly solicit you above all others to do
me a knightly service, if it does not interfere with your own plans and
projects for this night." "Dear sir," returned Heimbert courteously, "I
have certainly an affair of importance to attend to before sunrise, but
till midnight I am perfectly free, and ready to render you any assistance
as a brother in aims." "Enough," said Fadrique, "for at midnight the
tones must long have ceased with which I shall have taken farewell of
the dearest being I have ever known in this my native city. But that you
may be as fully acquainted with the whole affair as behoves a noble
companion, listen to me attentively for a few moments.
"Some time before I left Malaga to join the army of our great emperor
and to aid in spreading the glory of his arms through Italy, I was
devoted, after the fashion of young knights, to the service of a beautiful
girl in this city, named Lucila. She had at that time scarcely reached the
period which separates childhood from ripe maidenhood, and as I--a
boy only just capable of bearing arms-- offered my homage with a
childlike, friendly feeling, it was also received by my young mistress in
a similar childlike manner. I marched at length to Italy, and as you
yourself know, for we have been companions since then, I was in many
a hot fight and in many an enchantingly alluring region in that
luxurious land. Amid all our changes, I held unalterably within me the
image of my gentle mistress, never pausing in the honorable service I
had vowed to her, although I cannot conceal from you that in so doing
it was rather to fulfil the word I had pledged at my departure than from
any impelling and immoderately ardent feeling in my heart. When we
returned to my native city from our foreign wanderings, a few weeks

ago, I found my mistress married to a rich and noble knight residing
here. Fiercer far than love had been was the jealousy--that almost
almighty child of heaven and hell--which now spurred me on to follow
Lucila's steps, from her home to the church, from thence to the house of
a friend, from thence again to her home or to some noble circle of
knights and ladies, and all this as unweariedly and as closely as was
possible. When I had at length assured myself that no other young
knight attended her, and that she devoted herself entirely to the husband
chosen for her by her parents rather than desired by herself, I felt
perfectly satisfied, and I should not have troubled you at this moment
had not Lucila approached me the day before yesterday and whispered
in my ear that I must not provoke her husband, for