to the Czar of Russia, the bandit chief, or the Argentine commander?
Facundo ordered all the inhabitants of Rioja to emigrate to the Llanos under pain of death, and the order was literally obeyed. It is hard to find a motive for this useless emigration. Quiroga was not apt to fear, yet he might have feared at the moment; for the Unitarios were raising an army in Mendoza to take posession of the government; Tucuman and Salta were on the north; and on the east, Cordova, Tablada, and General Paz; he was, therefore, pretty well surrounded, and a general hunt might very well have brought the Tiger of the Llanos at bay. These terrorists do have their moments of fear: Rosas cried like a child when he heard of the rebellion at Chascomus, and eleven huge trunks were packed with his effects ready to fly an hour before news came of the victory of Alvarez. But woe to the people when such moments have passed! Then follow September massacres, and pyramids of human heads arise in the squares!
Notwithstanding the order of Facundo, two persons remained in Rioja—a young girl and a priest. The story of Severa Villafañe is a pitiful romance; a fairy tale in which the loveliest princess is a wandering fugitive, sometimes disguised as a shepherdess, sometimes begging a morsel of bread, or for protection from a frightful giant,—a cruel Bluebeard. Severa had the misfortune to excite the lust of the tyrant, and made superhuman efforts to escape his persecution. It was not only virtue resisting seduction, but the unconquerable repugnance of a delicate woman who detests those coarse types of brute force. A beautiful woman will
