These repeated and daring outrages had
awakened the attention of government, and the commanders of the
various posts had received instructions to be on the alert, and to
take up all suspicious stragglers. Governor Manco was particularly
zealous in consequence of the various stigmas that had been cast
upon his fortress, and he now doubted not he had entrapped some
formidable desperado of this gang.
In the mean time the story took wind, and became the talk, not
merely of the fortress, but of the whole city of Granada. It was
said that the noted robber Manuel Borasco, the terror of the
Alpuxarras, had fallen into the clutches of old Governor Manco, and
been cooped up by him in a dungeon of the Vermilion Tower; and every
one who had been robbed by him flocked to recognize the marauder.
The Vermilion Tower, as is well known, stands apart from the
Alhambra on a sister hill, separated from the main fortress by the
ravine down which passes the main avenue. There were no outer walls,
but a sentinel patrolled before the tower. The window of the chamber
in which the soldier was confined was strongly grated, and looked upon
a small esplanade. Here the good folks of Granada repaired to gaze
at him, as they would at a laughing hyena, grinning through the cage
of a menagerie. Nobody, however, recognized him for Manuel Borasco,
for that terrible robber was noted for a ferocious physiognomy, and
had by no means the good-humored squint of the prisoner.
Pages:
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384