1828. ] A Tale of the Pyrenees. 465 
low above the house-tops, and followed by little sparks and rays of 
light shot up from no distant object. He aroused many of the neigh- 
bours, and without loss of time proceeded to the source of this illumina- 
tion, which proved to be a burning cottage, the property of Eguiapal. 
The fire had seized too surely the rafters and frame-work of the wooden 
building, and all their efforts were ineffectual to prevent the deathly 
erash which was heard not an hour afterwards. The owner himself of 
this ruined place took no share in the attempt to extinguish the confla- 
gration. Where he was detained was not inquired until all remedy was 
past. Then some one, curious beyond the rest, betook himself to the 
house of Etchehon, where, as was not uncommon, he might possibly 
have retired with his false paramour. The door fronting the village 
highway was closed against intrusion, the windows barred from without, 
and the wicket-door at the back of the house was held firmly by a 
stranger, who stood like a spectre, heedless of the cries and entreaties 
from voices within, and from the rustics who now came up. 
« Who keeps this watch ?” cried the latter. 
Silence was the only answer. 
« Is Eguiapal in the cottage?” 
Still no answer. 
« Speak! pray, speak! If Eguiapal be within, let him know at least 
that his dwelling has been set on fire, and. x 
« Consumed °” uttered a low, concealed voice. 
“<'To ashes !” was the reply. 
« Then tell him so!” cried Etchehon, in his natural tone ; and, with 
the word, thrust open the door, which he had held tightly grasped, and 
in spite of all the efforts of the party under the roof. 
«* Tell him of his ruin, and let me see his agony !” 
The tale was a short one; for the expiring flames were a sufficient 
voucher, and the cracking of timber was heard distinctly, though at some 
distance. Eguiapal rushed from the house, beseeching the villagers to 
seize and detain Etchehon, the author, as he supposed, of his misfortune. 
The order was willingly obeyed ; for those who cared little for the dis- 
covery of the perpetrator of this last act had still that vague notion of 
_ Etchehon’s romantic character which rendered his capture a matter of 
‘moment. He made little or no resistance, was delivered over to the 
police, and finally committed for trial, not on this charge of arson, which 
_ could have been supported by no evidence whatever, but as the person 
guilty of that assault upon Dominic Etchegogen which was related at the 
commencement of this narrative. 
___ The grounds of accusation were numerous, and apparently substantial. 
His former character, as an ill-doer and infringer of law, went through 
the entire charge, as a prior argument in its behalf. Then it was 
eclared by one of Eguiapal’s labourers that he had concerted with him 
kill not only his master, but some half-dozen others, who were 
' obnoxious to him. On the morning of the fair, he had been seen casting 
_ slugs, similar in shape and size to that one which was extracted from the 
_ wound of Dominic ; and, moreover, he had been heard to inquire earnestly 
whether Eguiapal meant to attend the fair that day, and had himself 
_ been seen walking in the direction of Oleron. ‘To the questions of the 
president of the court, he answered. with great precision and confidence. 
Te gave a rapid history of his life, coloured with all the enthusiasm 
natural to him, and enriched by the poetical phraseology of the Basque 
M.M. New Series —Vou. V1. No. 35. 30 
