“Well, at all events,” said the captain of the soldiers contemptuously, “the wisdom of you clodhoppers will not help us much. I have never seen a pair of stupider gabies outside the madhouse at Zaragoza.” “O excellency,” said the Count of Nullepart, counterfeiting the accent of tears very skilfully, “I pray you not to say that! Our virtuous mother was mightily proud of us in our infancy. We were bred together, and right nobly did we suck. But was it a foray, do you suppose, from the duke’s castle that killed the King’s majesty?” “Likely enough, you zany,” said the captain. “Although for that matter some there are who say it was the devil. For myself I can hardly credit it.” “Who is there else to compass such a deed?” said the Count of Nullepart in a hushed voice. “Yes, who else, brother Juan?” said I, solemnly removing my hat. Divers of the King’s soldiers, witnessing our grave concern, appeared to come to the same mind. Several of them followed our example. “Well, talking of the Devil,” said the captain uneasily, “he was certainly seen last night by many in this neighbourhood.” “Good Virgin Mary!” exclaimed the Count of Nullepart, “how poor Juan would have screamed had he seen his horns!” “Yes, brother Juan, and poor Pedro also,” said I; and in the depth of our feigning I felt myself to be turning pale. “Some say he was without horns,” said the captain. “Then it can’t have been the Devil, excellency,” said the Count of Nullepart. “All the world knows the Devil by his horns and his tail.” “It is said he came into our camp in the guise of a water-seller,” said the captain. “And they say his voice was so dreadful that it could be heard at a distance of two leagues. In stature he was near to three yards; his face was so red that you could warm your hands at it, and he himself was seen to boil a kettle by holding it next to his nose.” “O Jesu!” said the Count of Nullepart. “Had Juan met him he must have perished.” “It is easy to understand the redness of the setting sun,” said I. “That’s true enough,” said the captain of the soldiers, sighing heavily. “The sun was certainly red now you come to mention it. How sad it is that the King’s courtiers did not heed such an omen! The right virtuous Duke of Manares is a wise and venerable minister; he at least should have known what was toward. By my soul, we of Castile ought never to forgive him! But come, boobies.” The captain, who owing to the heat of his own imagination was now perspiring freely, turned to his men, the majority of whom were standing bareheaded. “All the talking in the world will not recover the corpse of our noble sovereign. Let us help them to drag the stream. But I for one do not think we shall find anything there, because any child will tell you that the Devil will have nothing to do with cold water if he can possibly avoid it.”