“Are you sure?” “Certainly!” “Then if alive his name would surely be on the roster of his regiment?” “As sure as there is paymaster in the army. Guido Amati is not a gentleman to let his pay lapse by any negligence of his; but he is surely dead. There are men, I think, in the garrison who saw him fall.” “Ah! in the battle on the ice?” “Yes. Young De Busaco, a lieutenant here on sick leave, and Sergeant Gomez.” “Send for them at once,” says Alva, quite astounded and shaken at these curious words. And De Busaco, coming into the apartment, salutes. “Lieutenant De Busaco, I believe?” remarks Don Fernando. “Yes, Your Highness, just promoted.” “You were at the battle on the ice?” “Yes, Your Highness.” “Who commanded there?” “Colonel Guido Amati.” “Was he killed there?” “I think so, Your Highness; I saw him fall.” “That’s very curious, when my daughter says he lives!” mutters the Viceroy in an amazed tone. At this Mondragon and De Busaco open their eyes, and the latter knows the catastrophe that he has sometimes guessed might take place, will come. “You saw him fall?” queries Don Fernando, as if he can’t believe his ears. “Yes, Your Highness.” “And you think he is dead?” “Yes, Your Highness, the Dutch butchered all our wounded.” “As they always do,” answers Alva. “I’m afraid I taught them that trick. They’re ready students. Is Gomez in waiting?” “Yes, Your Highness.” And the bluff Sergeant stepping in, salutes with military precision my lord of Alva and gives him information thus: “Yes, I saw Guido Amati fall. I tried to save him, but slipped and broke my head on the ice in doing it, but by the blessing of God, escaped.” “You know this man is dead.” “Yes—ten saints could not have saved him.” “Speak respectfully of the church! How do you know it?” “Because I saw three pikes driven through his body.” “That is sufficient,” mutters Alva in a dazed manner. “You can go, Gomez.” “And three pikes through the body would kill even as tough a fighter as Guido Amati,” remarks Mondragon; but as the sergeant turns his back the commandant suddenly says: “What is the matter, Your Highness. You have had bad news from Haarlem?” “Oh no, the best. They are eating grass in the streets now. We’ve beaten Orange on the lake and dominate it. It is not Haarlem.” Then Alva suddenly commands: “Order my escort at once. Is Gomez able to take horse?” “Yes, your Excellency.” “Let him accompany them.” And followed by thirty men armed with lance and arquebus, my lord of Alva clatters back to the dwelling of his daughter. On the way he calls to his side the bluff Gomez and questions him: “What kind of a looking man was this Guido Amati?” “Tall, well built, short crisp dark hair, eyes very black and reckless, and a skin as swarthy as a washed-out Morisco.” “He had the manners of a gentleman, of course,” remarks the Viceroy.