of the philosophy you talk of, but I believe neither you nor I shall ever repay to the world the mischiefs we have done it.

Alex. Leave me-take off his chains, and use him well. (Robber goes away.) Are we (Alex alone) then so much alike? Alexander like a robber? Alas! too true.

Let me reflect. I feel the force of his remarks, and am convinced that injustice, tyranny, and oppression, are still the same, whether committed by a private robber or by a king upon the throne.

CHAPTER CIV.

ALMAGRO, GOMEZ, PIZARRO, DAVILLA, AND ELVIRA.
SCENE I.

Almagro. HOW, Gomez ! what bringest thou?

Gomez. On yonder hill among the palm trees we have surprised an old cacique; escape by flight he could not, and we seized him and his attendants unresisting: yet his lips breathe nought but bitterness and scorn.

Pizarro. Drag him before us.

What (enter Orozembo guarded) art thou, stranger? Oro. First tell me which among you is the captain of this band of robbers.

Piz. Ha!

Alm. Madman! tear out his tongue, or else—

Oro. Thou'lt hear some truth.

Dav. (shewing a dagger.) Shall I not plunge this into his heart?

Oro. (To Pizarro.) Does your army boast many such heroes as this?

Piz. Audacious! This insolence has sealed thy doom. Die thou shalt, grey headed ruffian. But first confess what

thou knowest.

Oro. I know that of which thou hast just assured me, that I shall die.

Piz. Less audacity perhaps might have preserved thy life.

Oro. My life is as a withered tree; it is not worth preserving.

Piz. Hear me, old man. Even now we march against the Peruvian army. We know there is a secret path that eads to your strong hold among the rocks; guide us to t, and name thy reward, if wealth be thy wish.

Oro. Ha! ha! ha! ha!

Piz. Dost thou despise my offer!

Oro. Thee and thy offer! Wealth! I have the wealth of two dear gallant sons. I have stored in heaven the riches which repay good actions here; and still my chief treasure do I bear about me.

Piz. What is that? inform me.

Oro. I will, for it can never be thine; the treasure of a pure, unsullied conscience.

Piz. I believe there is no other Peruvian who dares speak as thou dost.

Oro. Would I could believe there is no other Spaniard who dares act as thou dost.

Gom. Obdurate pagan! how numerous is your army? Oro. Count the leaves of yonder forest.

Alm. Which is the weakest part of your camp?

Ore. It has no weak part; on every side it is fortified by justice.

Piz. Where have you concealed your wives and children ?

Oro. In the hearts of their husbands and their fathers.
Piz. Knowest thou Alonzo?

Oro. Know him! Alonzo! know him! our nation's benefactor! the guardian angel of Peru!

Piz. By what has he merited that title ?

Oro. By not resembling thee.

Alm. Who is this Rolla, joined with Alonzo in command?

Oro. I will answer that, for I love to hear and to repeat the hero's name. Rolla, the kinsman of the king, is the idol of our army; in war a tiger, chafed by the hunter's spear; in peace more gentle than the unweaned lamb.

Piz. I shall meet this savage Rolla soon.

Oro. Thou had better not! the terrors of his noble eye would strike thee dead.

Dav. Silence, or tremble.

Oro. Beardless robber! I never yet have trembled before my Creator; why should I tremble before man? why before thee, thou less than man?

Dav. Another word, audacious heathen, and I strike ! Oro Strike, Christian; then boast among thy fellows, I too have murdered a Peruvian !.

Dav. Vengeance seize the villain! (Stabs him.)
Piz. Hold!

Dav. Couldst thou longer have endured his insults?
Piz. And therefore should he die untortured?

Oro. True! Observe, young man, your unthinking rashness has saved me from the rack; and you yourself have lost the opportunity of a useful lesson! You might have seen with what cruelty vengeance would have inflicted torments, and with what patience virtue would have borne them.

Elv (Supporting Orozembo.) Oh! ye monsters all! look up, thou martyr'd innocence ; look up once more, and bless me ere thou diest. O how I pity thee!

Oro. Pity me! Me! so near my happiness! Bless thee, lady! Spaniards, heaven turn your hearts and pardon you as I do. (Orozembo carried off) Piz Away! Davilla! If thus rash a second timeDav. Forgive the hasty indignation which

D:

Fiz, No more, unbind that trembling wretch; let him depart; it is well that he should report the mercy which we show to insolent defiance. Hark! our troops are moving Follow me, friends; each shall have his post assigned, and ere the sun shall sink beneath the main, the Spanish banner, bathed in blood, shall float above the walls of vanquished Quito.

CHAPTER CV.

REVENGE.

PIZARRO, ELVIRA, AND ALONZO.
SCENE-II.

Piz. WHO is there? who dares intrude? why does my guard neglect their duty?

Elv. Your guard did what they could, but they knew their duty better than to enforce authority, when I refused obedience.

Piz. And what is it you desire?

Elv. To see how a hero bears misfortune. Thou, Pizarro, art not now collected, not thyself.

Piz. Wouldst thou I should rejoice that the spears of the enemy, led by Alonzo, have pierced the bravest hearts of my followers?

Elv. No! I would have thee cold and dark as the night that follows the departed storm; still and sullen as the awful pause that precedes nature's convulsion. Yet I would have thee feel assured that a new morning shall arise, when the warrior's spirit shall stalk forth, nor fear the future, nor lament the past.

Piz Woman! Elvira; why had not all my men, hearts like thine?

Elv. Then would thy brows this day have worn the crown of Quito.

Piz. Oh! hope fails me, while that scourge of my life and fame, Alonzo, leads the enemy.

Elv. Pizarro, I am come to probe the hero farther; not now his courage, but his magnanimity. Alonzo is your prisoner.

Piz. How?

Elv. It is certain; Valverde saw him even now dragged in chains within your camp. I chose to bring you the intelligence myself.

Piz. Bless thee, Elvira, for the news! Alonzo in my power! Then I am the conqueror, the victory is mine!

Elv. Pizarro, this is savage and unmanly triumph. Believe me, you raise impatience in my mind to see the man whose valor, and whose genius, awe Pizarro; whose misfortunes are Pizarro's triumph; whose bondage is Pizarro's safety.

Piz. Guard! (Enter Guard.) Drag here the Spanish prisoner, Alonzo! Quick, bring the traitor here. Elv. What shall be his fate? (Exit Guard.) Piz. Death! death! in lingering torments! protracted to the last stretch that burning vengeance can devise, and fainting life sustain.

Elv. Shame on thee! Wilt thou have it said that the Peruvians found Pizarro could not conquer till Alonzo felt that he could murder?

Piz. Be it said, I care not.

His fate is sealed. Elv. Follow then thy will. But mark me; if basely shou dost shed the blood of this brave youth, Elvira's lost to thee forever.

Piz. Why this interest for a stranger? What is Alonzo's fate to thee.

Elv. His fate, nothing! Thy glory, every thing! Think

est thou I could regard thee, stript of fame, of honour, and a just renown? Know me better.

Piz. Thou shouldst have known me better. Thou shouldst have known, that, once provoked to hate, I am forever fixed in vengeance. (Alonzo is brought in in chains.) Welcome, welcome, Don Alonzo de Molina; it is long since we have niet; thy mended looks should speak a life of rural indolence. How is it that amidst the toils and cares of war thou dost preserve the healthful bloom of careless ease? Tell me thy secret.

Al. Thou wilt not profit by it.

Whate'er the toils and cares of war, peace is still here. (Putting his hand to his heart.) Piz. Sarcastic boy!

Elv. Thou art answered rightly. Why sport with the unfortunate?

Piz. And thou art wedded too, I hear; aye, and the father of a lovely boy; the heir, no doubt, of all his father's loyalty; of all his mother's faith.

Al. The heir, I trust, of all his father's scorn of fraud, oppression, and hypocrisy; the heir, I hope, of all his mother's virtue, gentleness, and truth; the heir, I am sure, to all Pizarro's hate.

Piz. Really! Now do I feel for this poor orphan; for to-morrow's sun shall see that child fatherless. Alonzo, thy hours are numbered.

Elv. Pizarro, no!

Piz. Hence, or dread my anger.

Elv. I will not hence; nor do I dread thy anger. Al. Generous loveliness! spare thy unavailing pity. Seek not to thwart the tiger with his prey beneath his fangs. Piz. Audacious rebel! Thou art a renegado from thy monarch and thy God!

Al. It is false.

Piz. Tell me, art thou not a deserter from thy country's legions; and with vile heathens leagued; hast thou not warred against thy native land?

Al. No! Deserter, I am none! I was not born among robbers! pirates! murderers! when those legions, lured by the abhorred lust of gold, and by thy foul ambition. urged, forgot the honor of Castilians, and forsook the duties of humanity, they deserted me. I have not warred against my native land, but against those who have usurp ed its power. The banners of my country, when first I