15. XV.
Pelayo started to his feet and awakened his brother.
“I must go forth and do battle for my follower,”
said he, gayly.
“Thou wilt not fight with him, Pelayo?” said Egiza.
“And wherefore not, if it needs it?” was the reply;
“such good limbs in a soldier are worth fighting for,
and we are too slack of men in our service to stint the
price we pay for them. I will but stand a blow with
the burly Bascone, and I will not shrink from a bruise
or two: he will not do me much evil, for I have a trick
of the hand which shall blind him, and of which he cannot
know. But I think not to bide the buffet. Speak
lower, for still he sleeps, as thou mayst hear by the
heavy breathing from without. Let him but sleep on
till I stand above him, and I make him my follower
without strife.”
“Thou wilt not strike him as he sleeps, Pelayo?”
said Egiza.
“What dost thou take me for, Egiza?” responded
the other, as he turned upon and sternly surveyed his
brother—“hast thou known me so long, from youth, to
think me grown base in my manhood? By Hercules
the Pilot, thy own course must have undergone dreadful
alteration when thou doubtest so of mine!”
Thus speaking, Pelayo grasped his sword in the
middle, and cautiously moved to the door of the hovel,
which, with like caution, he unfastened. The savage
Bascone still slept, with the whole bulk of his frame
stretched at length before the entrance. Pelayo placed
one of his feet over his body, and, thus bestriding him,
with a light hand he struck the hilt of his sword once
more between the eyes of the sleeper, just where he
had stricken him the night before. The Bascone awakened
and gazed round him with astonishment.
“Get up and follow me,” cried Pelayo—“I claim
thy promise.”
“Thou must fight me first,” said the Bascone.
“No!” responded Pelayo, with a laugh, “I have
already won thee. I pledged myself to strike thee
again between thine eyes where before I struck thee:
was not my sword upon the spot when thou awakened?”
“Yes, but I slept then,” said the Bascone.
“And the warrior is bound who sleeps. I have won
thee, for I awakened before thee, and this gives me the
game. Arise, then, my follower, and give to me thy
name.”
“Thou art wise not less than strong,” said the Bascone,
“and hast fairly outwitted me. Thou art worthy
to be a great leader, for thy head and hand agree. Still
would I like to try thee a buffet, if it were only to repay
thee for that which I suffered at thy hands last night.”
“Thou canst not if thou wouldst, good Bascone,”
said Pelayo—“thine eyes are swollen too greatly with
the blow, and well I know thou couldst not see the
double ends of thy enemy's staff at the same moment.
They would twinkle on both sides of thy crown at once,
and when thou struck'st most heavily at thy foeman's
neck, his legs would be around thine own. Thou art
fairly my follower, good Bascone, and let it content
thee to strike my enemies as thou wouldst have stricken
me. Be satisfied, such desire will more greatly pleasure
me. Tell me thy name.”
“They call me Britarmin among my brethren the
Basques; and name me besides, when I am hungry, the
`Seven Teeth;' and when I am satisfied, the `Nine
Sleepers;' for when I have not eaten long, and find
wherewithal to requite myself at last, they affirm that I
am equal to any seven of my brethren in the business
of the feast—when it is over, I call for the repose of
nine.”
“I shall know how to provide for thy seven teeth,
Britarmin—but this shall be only when the fight with
my foe is over.”
“If I am to follow thee—as I confess it somehow
pleases me to think so, for I like thy valour, and thy
wit, and thy frank spirit—give me thy name also.”
“Surely—like thyself, I too have my by-names; and
while I have an enemy men call me `The Sleepless;'
and while I have a friend they call me `The Watchful.”'
“Good names, my lord,” said Britarmin; “but what
did they name thee at thy birth?”
Pelayo put his hand upon the shoulder of the Bascone,
and looked him sternly in his face as he replied—
“I tell thee the name of one who is an enemy to all
tyrants, and a doubly sworn foe to that tyrant who is
now upon the throne of Iberia—I tell thee this, Britarmin,
as I am willing henceforward to intrust thee with
my life—I am Pelayo.”
“Brother, thou shouldst not,” whispered Egiza, hurriedly,
as he came forward.
The Bascone seemed to understand the motive of
interference and the sense of the expostulation; for,
turning a severe look upon Egiza, he cried enthusiastically
to Pelayo, while he put the hand of the prince
upon his head—
“Britarmin is no traitor. Thou hast done well to
trust me with thy secret, Prince Pelayo—henceforward
I am thine. Lead on—I follow thee.”
