They were all sure that the English soldiers
had nothing to do with it. His lordship professed to detect, not only
in the act itself, but in the _modus operandi_, infallible marks that
fathered it on the Spaniard. The quiet, stealthy manner, the place,
just on the border, yet out of Spain. "Besides," he urged, "you
yourself say, that the few words the marauders were heard to utter
were all Spanish."
"But the same testimony proves them to have been bad Spanish, even to
the ears of a Portuguese borderer, and evidently used by foreigners
for the purpose of disguise, like the dresses they wore. Who ever
heard of a Spaniard breaking a man's head, when he could give him the
blade of his knife? The farmer's bloody crown was a plain piece of
English handicraft. Spaniards would have rummaged the house for _la
plata_, and have snatched the earrings from the women's ears; the
robbers, a more thirsty race, thought chiefly of carrying off the
liquor."
The number and loud voices of those opposed to him only made L'Isle
more stubborn in maintaining his views. He seemed rather to like being
in a minority of one. On the other hand, Lord Strathern construed his
remarks into an undisguised censure of his lax discipline.
Pages:
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301