ame place which he
had occupied during the whole time of the interview, namely, on the side
of the room furthest from the windows, and with his back against the
wall.

It has already been said that Baltasar de Villabuena had few friends. In
all Pampeluna there was probably not one man, even amongst his former
comrades of the guard, who would have moved a step out of his way to
serve or save him; and certainly, in the whole city, there were scarcely
half a dozen persons who, through attachment to the Carlist cause, would
have incurred any amount of risk to rescue one of its defenders. Most
fortunately for Baltasar, it was in the house of one of those rare but
strenuous adherents of Don Carlos that he now found himself. Scarcely
had the Count and his bearers passed through the doorway between the two
rooms, when a slight noise close to him caused Baltasar to turn. A
pannel of the chamber wall slid back, and the sleek rotund visage of the
man who had exchanged signs with him as he entered the house, appeared
at the aperture. His finger was on his lips, and his small grey eyes
gleamed with an unusual expression of decision and vigilance. One
lynx-like glance he cast into the apartment, and then grasping the arm
of Baltasar, he drew, almost dragged him through the opening. The pannel
closed with as little noise as it had opened.

Ten seconds elapsed, not more, and Herrera, who, in his care for the
Count, had momentarily forgotten the prisoner, hurried back into the
apartment. Astonished to find it empty, but not dreaming of an escape,
he ran to the antechamber. The corporal and two soldiers, who had
escorted Baltasar, rose from the bench whereon they had seated
themselves, and carried arms.

"And the prisoner?" cried Herrera.

They had not seen him. Herrera darted back into the sitting-room.

"Where is the prisoner?" exclaimed Torres, whom he met there.

"Escaped!" cried Herrera. "The window! the window!"

They rushed to the open window. It was at the side of the house, and
looked out upon a narrow street, having a dead wall for some distance
along one side, and little used as a thoroughfare. At that moment not a
living creature was to be seen in it. The height of the window from the
ground did not exceed a dozen feet, offering an easy leap to a bold and
active man, and one which, certainly, no one in Baltasar's circumstances
would for a moment have hesitated to take. Herrera threw himself over
the balcony, and dropp