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The capture of Algiers by Count Pedro Navarro was a crowning misfortune for the exiles, and when this commander seized upon the place he extracted from the inhabitants an oath of fidelity to the Spanish crown; he further erected a strong tower to overawe the town, and to keep its turbulent inhabitants in order.
"I will go to Captain Navarro of the guard and tell him I come as a messenger from General Yozarro, who is waiting with the gunboat to take the Señoritas to Atlamalco, and he must not delay in obeying the command." The American looked at him in amazement. "Have you the nerve for that, Martella?" "I await only your permission."
The blood flowing from the wounds on the priest's head appeared to infuriate and blind the heart of Delfin who, rising from his victim's body, sped away to the armory in the court house, seized a rifle, and came back furious to brain him with the butt and finish killing the priest; but God willed to free his servant from death at the hands of those cannibals, so that generous Lieutenant Navarro interfered, took the rifle away from him and caught Delfin by the arm, threatening him with some words spoken in Tagalog.
These were his own people, and Ridge longed to rush forward and join them, but was faced by two obstacles. One was a strong Spanish force concealed in a ravine between him and the Americans as though to dispute their advance at that point, and the other was the memory that he had promised to await at this place the coming of Navarro, whom he expected to see with each minute.
Then he added, aloud, "Yes, I know, for I recognize you as Lieutenant Navarro, the officer who brought in the deserter, disposed of him according to General Pando's order, and then conducted me to prison." "For which reason I should think you would now want to kill me," said the other, with a smile. "We Americans are not in the habit of killing persons merely for obedience to orders."
He now called himself the King of Algiers, but still that lean, sun-dried garrison held with desperate tenacity to the tower of the redoubtable Navarro, and any moment a fresh Spanish relieving force might be upon him and chase him forth even as Uruj had been chased from Tlemcen.
It is true that the fortress of Pedro Navarro still remained in the hands of its splendid and undaunted garrison, and was destined so to remain for some years to come; but they were impotent for harm, and the conqueror of Don Diego now turned his arms in another direction.
"I will pause to hear what he speaks," he said in a low voice to the wondering young woman; "your horse knows the trail; keep on; you have not far to go to meet your brother and his friend." She had checked the pony, but twitched the rein and he walked steadily toward the darkness, leaving the grim Atlamalcan to have it out with Captain Navarro.
The Gran Capitan taught the world the art of modern warfare; Pedro Navarro was a wonderful engineer; the Spanish troops were the first to use firearms, and they created also the infantry, making war democratic, as it gave the people the superiority over the noble horsemen clad in armour; finally, it was Spain who discovered America."
"I cannot permit you to run such risk; better that I should go myself and make the demand upon Captain Navarro." "The captain has been warned not to permit any such thing, on his life. You know that though General Yozarro may be aware I have left his service, it is not likely to be known to Captain Navarro." "It is a fearful risk, Martella.
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