I

--Herido va el ciervo, herido va; no hay duda. Se ve el rastro de la
sangre entre las zarzas del monte, y al saltar uno de esos lentiscos
han flaqueado sus piernas.... Nuestro joven señor comienza por donde
otros acaban ... en cuarenta años de montero no he visto mejor
golpe.... ¡Pero por San Saturio,[1] patrón de Soria![2] cortadle el
paso por esas carrascas, azuzad los perros, soplad en esas trompas
hasta echar los hígados, y hundidle á los corceles una cuarta de
hierro en los ijares: ¿no véis que se dirige hacia la fuente de los
Álamos,[3] y si la salva antes de morir podemos darle por perdido?

[Footnote 1: San Saturio. Saint Saturius was born, according to
Tamayo, in 493. In 532 he withdrew from the world into a cave at the
foot of a mountain bathed by the river Duero, near where now stands
the town of Soria. There he lived about thirty-six years, or until
568, when he died and was buried by his faithful disciple St.
Prudentius, later bishop of Tarazona, who had been a companion of
the hermit during the last seven years of his life. His cave is
still an object of pilgrimage, and a church has been built on the
spot to the memory of the saint. See Florez, _España_ Sagrada,
Madrid, 1766, tomo vii, pp. 293-294.]

[Footnote 2: Soria. A mediaeval-looking town of 7296 inhabitants
situated on a bleak plateau on the right bank of the Duero. It is
the capital of a province of the same name. The old town of Numantia
(captured by the Romans under P. Cornelius Scipio AEmilianus, 133
B.C.) lay about three miles to the north of the present site of