“I was disgusted, and never spoke a word to her all night.  The next morning we had made up our packs, and had already started, when we became aware that we had a dozen horsemen on our heels.  The braggart Andalusians, who had been boasting they would murder every one who came near them, cut a pitiful figure at once.  There was a general rout. El Dancaire, Garcia, a good-looking fellow from Ecija, who was called El Remendado, and Carmen herself, kept their wits about them.  The rest forsook the mules and took to the gorges, where the horses could not follow them.  There was no hope of saving the mules, so we hastily unstrapped the best part of our booty, and taking it on our shoulders, we tried to escape through the rocks down the steepest of the slopes.  We threw our packs down in front of us and followed them as best we could, slipping along on our heels.  Meanwhile the enemy fired at us.  It was the first time I had ever heard bullets whistling around me and I didn’t mind it very much.  When there’s a woman looking on, there’s no particular merit in snapping one’s fingers at death.  We all escaped except the poor Remendado, who received a bullet wound in the loins.  I threw away my pack and tried to lift him up.

“‘Idiot!’ shouted Garcia, ’what do we want with offal!  Finish him off, and don’t lose the cotton stockings!’

“‘Drop him!’ cried Carmen.

“I was so exhausted that I was obliged to lay him down for a moment under a rock.  Garcia came up, and fired his blunderbuss full into his face.  ‘He’d be a clever fellow who recognised him now!’ said he, as he looked at the face, cut to pieces by a dozen slugs.

“There, sir; that’s the delightful sort of life I’ve led!  That night we found ourselves in a thicket, worn out with fatigue, with nothing to eat, and ruined by the loss of our mules.  What do you think that devil Garcia did?  He pulled a pack of cards out of his pocket and began playing games with El Dancaire by the light of a fire they kindled.  Meanwhile I was lying down, staring at the stars, thinking of El Remendado, and telling myself I would just as lief be in his place.  Carmen was squatting down near me, and every now and then she would rattle her castanets and hum a tune.  Then, drawing close to me, as if she would have whispered in my ear, she kissed me two or three times over almost against my will.

“‘You are a devil,’ said I to her.

“‘Yes,’ she replied.

“After a few hours’ rest, she departed to Gaucin, and the next morning a little goatherd brought us some food.  We stayed there all that day, and in the evening we moved close to Gaucin.  We were expecting news from Carmen, but none came.  After daylight broke we saw a muleteer attending a well-dressed woman with a parasol, and a little girl who seemed to be her servant.  Said Garcia, ’There go two mules and two women whom St. Nicholas has sent us.  I would rather have had four mules, but no matter.  I’ll do the best I can with these.’