A tour through the Pyrenees . eyes upon him and sawthe strings of the bag; the sight fired his veinsand made his blood boil ; he seized the youth,undid his pourpoint, cut the strings of the bag,and strewed some of the powder over a slice ofbread, while the poor youth turned pale with fear,and began to tremble exceedingly. Then hecalled one of his dogs to him, and gave it him toeat. The instant the dog had eaten a morselhis eyes rolled round in his head, and he died. The count said nothing, but rose suddenly, andseizing his knife, threw himself upon his son. Butthe knights rushed in between the
A tour through the Pyrenees . eyes upon him and sawthe strings of the bag; the sight fired his veinsand made his blood boil ; he seized the youth,undid his pourpoint, cut the strings of the bag,and strewed some of the powder over a slice ofbread, while the poor youth turned pale with fear,and began to tremble exceedingly. Then hecalled one of his dogs to him, and gave it him toeat. The instant the dog had eaten a morselhis eyes rolled round in his head, and he died. The count said nothing, but rose suddenly, andseizing his knife, threw himself upon his son. Butthe knights rushed in between them : For Godssake, my lord, do not be too hasty, but make fur-ther inquiries before you do any ill to your son. 74 THE VALLEY OF OSSAU. Book II. The count heaped malediction and insult upon theyouth, then suddenly leaped over the table, knifein hand, and fell upon him like a wild beast. Butthe knights and the squires fell upon their kneesbefore him weeping, and saying: Ah, ah! mylord, for Heavens sake do not kill Gaston ; you. have no other child. With great difficulty herestrained himself, doubtless thinking that it wasprudent to see if no one else had a part in thematter, and put the youth into the tower at investigated then, but in a singular fashion,as if he were a famished wolf, wedded to a singleidea, bruising himself against it mechanically andbrutally, through murder and outcry, killing blindlyand without reflecting that his killing is of no useto him. He had manv of those who served liis Chap. I. DAX.—ORTHEZ. 75 son arrested, and put to death not less than fif-teen after they had suffered the torture ; and thereason he gave was, that it was impossible butthey must have been acquainted with the secretsof his son, and they ought to have informed himby saying, My lord, Gaston wears constantly onhis breast a bag of such and such a form. Thisthey did not do and suffered a terrible death for it;which was a pity, for there were not in all Gasconysuch handsome or we
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