420 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT. 



well carry away. In the courtyard were collected 

 piles of furniture, pictures of price, and fragments of 

 rich tapestry, rent by those ruthless spoilers from the 

 walls of the apartments. With this costly fuel had 

 the Uzcoques lit fires, at which quarters of oxen and 

 whole sheep were noAv roasting. 



A shout of triumph burst forth when the news of 

 the Proveditore's capture was announced to the pirates 

 who had remained at the castle, and they crowded 

 round the unfortunate prisoners, overwhelming them 

 with threats and curses. Something like silence 

 being at length obtained, Jurissa commanded instant 

 preparations to be made for the banquet appointed 

 to celebrate the success of their expedition. Tables 

 were arranged in a spacious hall of the castle, and 

 upon them soon smoked the huge joints of meat that 

 had been roasting at the fires, placed on the bare 

 boards without dish or plate. Casks of wine that 

 had been rescued from the flames of the town, or 

 extracted from the castle cellars, were broached, or 

 the heads knocked in, and the contents poured into 

 jugs and flagons of every shape and size. Although 

 the light of the conflagration, glaring red through the 

 tall Gothic windows, lit up the hall and rendered any 

 further illumination unnecessary, a number of torches 

 had been fixed round the apartment, the resinous 

 smoke of which floated in clouds over the heads of 

 the revellers. Seating themselves upon benches, 

 chairs, and empty casks, the Uzcoques commenced a 



