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202 him: 'Seek!' It would have been better for him had he done so.

"But while matters were in this condition, along comes the war, the last war, and sets the land on fire,—there is no other way of expressing it than that,—and the things that I have been telling you of happened before Bilbao. So, then, to resume my story, this tall young adventurer comes and posts himself before General Garrido, who is in a despairing mood, and briefly relates his history, and while the old veteran of Morocco, now beaten by the Carlists, looks at him with frowning eyes, Juan Araquil adds:

If the life of Zucarraga is worth a fortune, as you say, general, I will win that fortune!'

The life of Zucarraga is worth more than a fortune,' Garrido replied. 'It counterbalances the lives of thousands of my poor boys. The name Zucarraga means resistance, it means the key that will unlock Bilbao for us, it means a continuation of slaughter, that is all. You are not a soldier. I have no orders to give you, but if you do what you say you will do, remind me of what I have said!'

Very well!' said Juan. 'We shall meet soon again, general!'

"Old Garrido shrugged his shoulders and wondered for a moment if the man was not a spy.

"Araquil, for his part, allowed his mind to dwell on only one thing: Zucarraga's life was worth a fortune! And that fortune, for which he cared as much as he cared for a raw onion, he longed for it only because it would give him his Pepa. He left Hernani, he disappeared from sight. Nothing was heard of him for several days. The general said: 'I have been dealing