La
Granja!" Which words were sure to be succeeded by the shout of
"Viva la constitucion!" Opposite the Casa
De Postas were drawn up
in a line about a dozen mounted dragoons, some of whom were
continually waving their caps in the air and joining the common
cry, in which they were encouraged by their commander, a handsome
young officer, who flourished his sword, and more than once cried
out with great glee, "Long live the constitutional queen! Long
live the constitution!"
The crowd was rapidly increasing, and several nationals made their
appearance in their uniforms, but without their arms, of which they
had been deprived, as I have already stated. "What has become of
the moderado government?" said I to Baltasar, whom I suddenly
observed amongst the crowd, dressed as when I had first seen him,
in his old regimental great coat and foraging cap; "have the
ministers been deposed and others put in their place?"
"Not yet, Don Jorge," said the little soldier-tailor; "not yet; the
scoundrels still hold out, relying on the brute bull Quesada and a
few infantry, who still continue true to them; but there is no
fear, Don Jorge; the queen is ours, thanks to the courage of my
friend Garcia, and if the brute bull should make his appearance -
ho! ho! Don Jorge, you shall see something - I am prepared for him,
ho! ho!" and thereupon he half opened his great coat, and showed me
a small gun, which he bore beneath it in a sling, and then moving
away with a wink and a nod, disappeared amongst the crowd.
Presently I perceived a small body of soldiers advancing up the
Calle Mayor, or principal street which runs from the Puerta del Sol
in the direction of the palace; they might be about twenty in
number, and an officer marched at their head with a drawn sword;
the men appeared to have been collected in a hurry, many of them
being in fatigue dress, with foraging caps on their heads. On they
came, slowly marching; neither their officer nor themselves paying
the slightest attention to the cries of the crowd which thronged
about them, shouting "Long live the constitution!" save and except
by an occasional surly side glance: on they marched with
contracted brows and set teeth, till they came in front of the
cavalry, where they halted and drew up in a rank.
"Those men mean mischief," said I to my friend D-, of the Morning
Chronicle, who at this moment joined me; "and depend upon it, that
if they are ordered they will commence firing, caring nothing whom
they hit, - but what can those cavalry fellows behind them mean, who
are evidently of the other opinion by their shouting, why don't
they charge at once this handful of foot people and overturn them?
Once down, the crowd would wrest from them their muskets in a
moment. You are a liberal, which I am not; why do you not go to
that silly young man who commands the horse and give him a word of
counsel in time?"
D - turned upon me his broad red good-humoured English countenance,
with a peculiarly arch look, as much as to say - (whatever you think
most applicable, gentle reader), then taking me by the arm, "Let us
get," said he, "out of this crowd and mount to some window, where I
can write down what is about to take place, for I agree with you
that mischief is meant." Just opposite the post office was a large
house, in the topmost story of which we beheld a paper displayed,
importing that apartments were to let; whereupon we instantly
ascended the common stair, and having agreed with the mistress of
the etage for the use of the front room for the day, we bolted the
door, and the reporter, producing his pocket-book and pencil,
prepared to take notes of the coming events, which were already
casting their shadow before.
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