recherché. The president ordered the act of accusation to be read, the result of which was, that Rosas, after having confessed himself guilty of the murder committed on the person of Don José, retracted this first confession, and declared Don Juan to be the only and real murderer ; that the latter opposed but feeble denials to the accusations of his accomplice; lastly, that, though it appeared that Don Juan did not actually strike the blow; it was, nevertheless, proved that he paid the assassin, and was, moreover, personally present at the execution of the crime.

The reading being finished, the president rapped the table with his cane. The line of soldiers surrounding the council, immediately broke, and four men entered, bearing an open coffin, which they deposited at the feet of the prisoners. In it lay the body of the victim, naked to the waist. His head was bent back; long locks of black hair in disorder concealed his features; and his bosom was encrusted with blood. Over his legs were placed a cloak, a cutlass, black with blood, and a broken lantern. The president, without giving the prisoners time to recover from the emotion which this unexpected sight could scarcely fail to produce, thus addressed them:

"Accused, here is the body of your victim before him and God, who hears you, it is for you to disprove-you, Rosas, the charge of having murdered Don José; you, Don Juan, that of having hired the

assassin!"

Rosas, without hesitation, turning towards Don Juan, in a grave and solemn tone, thus apostrophised him :

"Villain! behold the victim at your feet! Do you recognise him? Alas! if he could but speak, it would be seen which of us two is the real murderer."

"Would to God," exclaimed the agitated Don Juan, "that he could speak!"—.

Rosas interrupting him, resumed

"Wretch! you would not be able to bear the mere sound of Don José's voice; you who, after assassinating him, are bent on the destruction of the generous man who sacrificed himself to save you. Dare you deny that, on Sunday evening you came to fetch me to accompany you while waiting for Don José's departure from the house which you had seen him enter? Dare you deny that, as soon as you had stabbed him, you gave me the knife, that I might prevent the sereno from prsuing you? Dare you deny your long and useless efforts to persuade or to force me to take upon myself the assassination of Don José? Reduced to the utmost distress, want wrung from me a promise to perform the deed which you required of me; but, having received the money, I was gone, and you heard no more of me till hunger again drove me to you.'

"Wretch!-wretch!-what a tissue of lies!" interposed Don Juan. "Hearken, villain !" continued Rosas, "for I have not done. You must recollect the day when you sent me a message by the maid of Don José's wife, whom you were courting, to call upon you at your office. There I found you, seated beside your mistress, with your hands clasped in hers, and planning a horrible marriage. She said to me, Rosas, I am four months advanced in pregnancy, and I shall be undone if you do not rid me of my husband, who is on the point of returning from

Madrid. You must absolutely make away with him: we are very rich; we will give you twenty thousand reals, and you shall be made comfortable for the rest of your life.' And you added, Rosas, my family is very powerful at Malaga, and I expect myself to be soon elected alcalde of the city. You shall have a good appointment; and, happen what may, I will contrive by my influence to get you out of the scrape.' Deny this, infamous wretch! Mr. President, I request that the wife of Don José may be examined by medical men, and it will then be seen whether I speak truth."

The sinister physiognomy and incredible arrogance of the assassin, the gradually increasing confusion of his cowardly accomplice, the open coffin containing the body of their victim, the solemn hour of the night, the imposing gravity of the council, all contributed to the effect of this dramatic scene. To no purpose did the president several times call upon Don Juan to rebut the charges of his accomplice. Borne down by so many overwhelming proofs, he did once attempt to speak, but vague protestations of innocence were all that he could stammer forth. His counsel wished to speak for him, but the president cut him short with this impressive rebuke:

"Mr. Advocate, you shall be heard by and bye; here counsel do not answer instead of the accused, unless the latter have lost their tongue." After the pleading of the advocates and the reply of the captain-accuser, the president desired the council to deliberate upon the verdict, intimating that each of them was expected to give his vote in writing. Nobody could entertain the least doubt of the guilt of the two prisoners. It was evident that Don Juan was the accomplice of Rosas; that the latter, aware how impossible it was for him to escape, was determined at least, in dying, to revenge himself on the man, who, after promising him impunity and fortune, now consigned him to perdition. Accordingly, after a short deliberation, the council unanimously pronounced sentence of death upon both prisoners, and then broke up. As the law of Spain allows capital convicts forty-eight hours to prepare themselves for execution, the prisoners were immediately shut up in the church of the convent, and confessors were assigned to them.

In the morning, Don Juan's advocate attempted in vain to invalidate the sentence, on the ground that, the council having proceeded to trial without having previously heard the mass of the Holy Ghost, as the military law requires, the sentence was consequently illegal. On the part of the captain-general, it was replied that this objection ought to have been made before the breaking up of the council, not afterwards. The family of Don Juan then authorised the sum of 10,000 douros to be offered towards the equipment of the army of reserve, at that time organising in Andalusia, provided the sentence pronounced upon their relative were commuted. The captain-general ordered the bearer of this proposition to be turned out of the palace, telling him that it was an insult both to the queen's army and to himself.

The execution took place at four in the afternoon, on a spacious esplanade situated outside the Granada gate, before an immense concourse of people. A few moments before the appointed time a long procession of brothers of Peace and Charity brought Don José's coffin to the spot, and deposited it upon the ground, in the space between the two stools destined for the assassins. The coffin was uncovered, as on the night of the trial,

and the corpse exposed to public view. Soon afterwards the convicts arrived, escorted by the executioner, proclaiming to the people their horrible crime and the death by which they were about to atone for it. They were required to seat themselves on the two stools, and there, with the corpse of their victim before their eyes, they were shot.

Rosas was not forsaken for a moment by that imperturbable composure which he manifested from the first moment, and fell, saying to his accomplice, "What grieves me most is to die by the side of a coward like you!"

As for Don Juan, he was completely unmanned, and incessantly interrupted his confessor, who exhorted him to repentance, saying in a stifled voice : "That is enough, father, that is enough; let me be shot, and have done with it!"

I had a strong curiosity to learn what was the prevailing sentiment among the populace present at the execution; and I should say that in some it was compassion for the fate of Don Juan, whose recent atrocious crime was overlooked, while his attachment to his family, and certain acts of charity towards the poor, were highly extolled; the minds of others were especially occupied by the disastrous effects which the discharge of musketry must necessarily produce, not in Don Juan's body, but in the superb cloak which he had on his back. This sentiment was so undisguised that I heard a muleteer say to one of his comrades: "Mira, Mañolito, que capa tan buena lleva Don Juan! Que lástima! —(Look, Manuel, what a magnificent cloak Don Juan has on! What a pity!)"

I must not omit mentioning a very singular incident, which shows to what lengths esprit de corps can be carried. The brothers of Peace and Charity had already deposited the bodies of Rosas and Don Juan in their respective coffins, together with two small plates, on which they had taken care to collect the mould steeped with the blood that flowed from them when they had dropped from their seats, when a man, bringing a third coffin on his shoulders, inquired for the adjutant of the place, and informed him that he came to claim the corpse of Don Juan on behalf of his family. He likewise intimated that a deputation of the advocates of the city would presently be there, for the purpose of following their unhappy colleague to the grave. Accordingly, they soon arrived, and the body being delivered to them, they accompanied it with great solemnity to the cemetery, where it was interred.

Ferdinand VII. had a strong antipathy to the lawyers of Malaga. When a gentleman was one day presented to him, and he learned that he was a native of that city, he exclaimed, "Man, you belong to a capital place! Kill the king, run to Malaga, and you are safe!"

C. D.

THE REFUGEE.

BY THE AUTHOR OF "PETER PRIGGINS," &c.

Where shall I bury my shame ?
Where, in what desolate place,
Hide the last wreck of a name,

Broken and stain'd by disgrace?

CHAP. I.

NATIONAL AIR.

"You must see some queer sights, and hear some strange stories, sometimes, in this out-of-the-way spot," said I to Jabez Buntline, landlord of the Fish, in Deadman's Ness, throwing a tone interrogative rather than assertive into my voice.

"Which observation, or insinuation, seems to imply that you are not ready to turn in just yet, and wish to hear another story," said my host. 66 If you are not overtired," I replied, "for the wind and rain keep up such a clatter about the weather-boarding of your very-much-exposed hotel, that I fear I shall not be able to get much sleep if I am not thoroughly fatigued before I retire for the night."

"That's complimentary, however! So I am to talk you to sleepwaste one of my best tales, to render you impervious to wind and rain, like a haystack with a tarpaulin over it," said Jabez.

I saw my error at once, and endeavoured to remedy it by assuring him that I relied more upon the effects of the creature comforts before us to insure the attainment of the consummation I so devoutly wished for, than upon his talents for story telling, which had already proved themselves so efficient in keeping me wide awake.

He smiled ambiguously, whispered something about "palaver," and, filling up his pipe and glass, thus begun :

"Well, once upon a time, as the story-books say, I was rather uneasy in my mind about the non-arrival of a vessel in which (I do not mind telling you, for of course it goes no further,) I had ventured a considerable sum, for such as me, in a cargo of dry goods and tobacco. Now, when a man is in a state of he-dont-know-howishness, somehow or other he cannot sit down quietly and enjoy himself-at least I cannot-as he does at other times. I was all in a fidget, very irritable, and disposed to quarrel with my wife, and even with my customers. My pipe would not burn pleasantly, and my grog had a peculiar smatch with it which made it taste more like physic or poison than pure Nantz. I could not sit still in my chair, and instead of listening to the stories and songs of my company in the tap-room, I was straining my ears to catch the sound of a boat's bottom grating on the hard, or the shouts of her crew. At last I could

sit still no longer, so I left the house, and having mounted the sea-wall which protects our little island from the attacks of the broad ocean, I wandered slowly down to the point whence you get a view, round the spit, of the open sea, and a good way up the river.

"I applied my telescope to my eye, and swept the surface of the water, but neither lugger nor cutter was in sight. I strolled up and

down for some time, using the glass at intervals, and, just as it was growing dusk, I fancied I could see on a bright red spot, caused by the last ray of the setting sun, a small boat with her sail set, steering for the Ness. It had been rather a rough day, and had blown half a gale of wind until the tide had ebbed, when the wind sunk and the rain ceased. Now, as the tide was setting in, and the water fast rising, the wind was rising with it, and the dense black clouds just above where the sun was sinking, portended a storm, if not a tempest.

"When the sun went down it grew suddenly too dark for me to see any object distinctly, much less the small boat, which must have been some three miles distant. The wind began to howl, and the rain to dash in my face in large warm drops, a slight flash of lightning gleamed in the west, and the distant roar of thunder made itself heard. Presently the wind howled louder and louder, the rain fell in heavier plashes, the lightning gleamed more vividly, and the thunder proclaimed by its increased distinctness that the storm was approaching nearer. I began to feel nervous and agitated about the fate of that little boat, for somehow or other I felt I could not help feeling-that she was steering for the Ness to announce to me good or evil tidings of the fate of my venture.

"I stood for some time straining my eyes in hopes of catching sight of her during the momentary gleam of the lightning; but all in vain; she was a mere speck upon the ruffled surface of water that lay before me, and, had it been broad daylight, I could only have got a glimpse at her now and then as she pitched over the top of the waves, which were now bristling under the powerful influence of a sou'-wester, and presenting the appearance of what we call white horses.'

"When I was nearly wet to the skin I began to think that it would be as well, if I remained on watch, to put on my Flushing coat, large boots, and oilskin weather-cap, so I hastened in-doors, and when I had vided against the storm and the effects of the cold by waterproof clothing and a dram of spirits, I lighted my ship-lantern, unbeknown to any body, even to Mrs. Buntline, climbed the wall again, and took my station on the hard-the little stone jetty or pier, or whatever you like to call it, where you were put ashore. I held my light as high as I could above my head, so that those in the boat might see where to make for by its rays, and that I might see beneath them any object that approached. How it did rain, blow, and thunder! It would have frightened any landsman to see the lightning flash and play about him, and have driven him in for shelter even if he had known that his whole fortune, ay, life itself, depended upon the little boat about which I was so anxious. I cared nothing, however, for the pelting of the rain or the blowing of the wind. I was too inuch used to rough weather to mind it when I had, as I thought, much at stake; besides, I felt that common humanity demanded of me to do my best to succour those, whoever they were, who were in so perilous a situation as the crew of that little cockle-shell of a boat. I knew that if they missed the Spit, and failed to round it into our creek, they must be driven ashore and probably be dashed to pieces, or, at the best, compelled to spend the night upon such a portion of the lowland as would not be covered by a

high spring tide.

"I watched and watched until I was tired of watching, and my feet and hands were numbed with the cold. I had almost lost all power of seeing or hearing, for the brightness of the continued flashes, the howling