Send--take his confession; but
do not wait for that. Fly, or it is too late. I see it--the axe is
raised--is flashing in the sun; oh, stop it ere it falls!" And with
the wild effort to loose the grasp of an old soldier, who more
supported than detained him, his exhausted strength gave way, and they
laid him, white, stiff, and speechless, on a settle near.
With his first word, however, Ferdinand had turned to a trusty
soldier, and bade him "fly to stop the work of death;" and the man
needed not a second bidding: he darted from the hall, flew through the
castle-yard, repeated the words to the first individual he met, by
whom it was repeated to another, and by him again on and on till it
reached the crowds around the scaffold; where it spread like wildfire
from mouth to mouth, reaching the ear of Don Felix, even before his
eye caught the rapidly advancing soldier, whom he recognized at once
as one of his Sovereign's private guards; impelling him, with an
almost instinctive movement, to catch the upraised arm of the
executioner at the very instant he was about to strike.
"Wherefore this delay, Don Felix? it is but a cruel mercy," sternly
inquired the Chief Hermano, whose office had led him also to the
scaffold.
"Behold, and listen: praised be the holy saints, he is saved!" was
the rapid reply, as the voice of the soldier close by the foot of
the scaffold, was distinguished bidding them "Hold! hold! the King
commands it.
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