From four o'clock, from day-dawn, the battalion of Las Peñas de San
Pedro guarded the front of the fortifications, from Santa Engracia to
the Convent of Trinitarios, a line which seemed the least exposed in
all the circuit of the city. Behind Santa Engracia was established the
battery of Los Martires; from there ran the battlements of the wall
as far as the Huerva bridge, defended by a barricade; it deflected
afterwards towards the west, making an obtuse angle, and joining
another redoubt built in the Torre del Pino; it continued in a straight
line as far as the Convent of Trinitarios, and enclosed the Puerta del
Carmen.
Whoever has seen Saragossa can well understand my imperfect
description, for the ruins of Santa Engracia still remain, and in the
Puerta del Carmen may still be seen, not far from the Glorieta, its
ruined architrave and worm-eaten stones.
We were, as I have said, occupying the position described, and part of
the soldiers had a bivouac in a neighboring orchard, next to the Carmen
college.
Augustine Montoria and I were inseparable. His serene character, the
affection he showed me from the moment we met, and the inexplicable
concord in our thoughts, made his company very agreeable. He was a
young man of beautiful figure, with large brilliant eyes and open brow,
and an expression marked by a melancholy gravity. His heart, like that
of his father, was filled by generosity which overflowed at the least
impulse; but he was not likely to wound the feelings of a friend,
because education had taken from him a great deal of the national
brusqueness. Augustine entered manhood's estate with the security of a
kind heart, firm and uncorrupted judgment, with a vigorous and healthy
soul; the wide world only was the limit of his boundless goodness.
These qualities were enriched by a brilliant imagination of sure and
direct action, not like that of our modern geniuses, who most of the
time do not know what they are about. Augustine's imagination was lofty
and serene, worthy of his education in the great classics. Although
with a lively inclination to poetry,--for Augustine was a poet,--he
had learned theology, showing ability in this as in everything. The
fathers at the Seminary, who were fond of the youth, looked upon him
as a prodigy in the sciences, human and divine, and they congratulated
themselves on seeing him with one foot at least over the threshold of
the Church.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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