the winter, the real winter, extended itself by degrees over the basque land, after the few days of frost that had come to annihilate the annual plants, to change the deceptive aspect of the fields, to prepare the following spring.
and ramuntcho acquired slowly his habits of one left alone; in his house, wherein he lived still, without anybody to serve him, he took care of himself, as in the colonies or in the barracks, knowing the thousand little details of housekeeping which careful soldiers practice. he preserved the pride of dress, dressed himself well, wore the ribbon of the brave at his buttonhole and a wide crape around his sleeve.
at first he was not assiduous at the village cider mill, where the men assembled in the cold evenings. in his three years of travel, of reading, of talking with different people, too many new ideas had penetrated his already open mind; among his former companions he felt more outcast than before, more detached from the thousand little things which composed their life.
little by little, however, by dint of being alone, by dint of passing by the halls where the men drank,—on the window-panes of which a lamp always sketches the shadows of basque caps,—he had made it a custom to go in and to sit at a table.
it was the season when the pyrenean villages, freed from the visitors which the summers bring, imprisoned by the clouds, the mist, or the snow, are more intensely as they were in ancient times. in these cider mills—sole, little, illuminated points, living, in the midst of the immense, empty darkness of the fields—something of the spirit of former times is reanimated in winter evenings. in front of the large casks of cider arranged in lines in the background where it is dark, the lamp, hanging from the beams, throws its light on the images of saints that decorate the walls, on the groups of mountaineers who talk and who smoke. at times someone sings a plaintive song which came from the night of centuries; the beating of a tambourine recalls to life old, forgotten rhythms; a guitar reawakens a sadness of the epoch of the moors.—or, in the face of each other, two men, with castanets in their hands, suddenly dance the fandango, swinging themselves with an antique grace.
and, from these innocent, little inns, they retire early—especially in these bad, rainy nights—the darkness of which is so peculiarly propitious to smuggling, every one here having to do some clandestine thing on the spanish side.
in such places, in the company of arrochkoa, ramuntcho talked over and commented upon his cherished, sacrilegious project; or,—during the beautiful moon-light nights which do not permit of undertakings on the frontier—they talked on the roads for a long time.
persistent religions scruples made him hesitate a great deal, although he hardly realized it. they were inexplicable scruples, since he had ceased to be a believer. but all his will, all his audacity, all his life, were concentrated and directed, more and more, toward this unique end.
and the prohibition, ordered by itchoua, from seeing gracieuse before the great attempt, exasperated his impatient dream.
the winter, capricious as it is always in this country, pursued its unequal march, with, from time to time, surprises of sunlight and of heat. there were rains of a deluge, grand, healthy squalls which went up from the bay of biscay, plunged into the valleys, bending the trees furiously. and then, repetitions of the wind of the south, breaths as warm as in summer, breezes smelling of africa, under a sky at once high and sombre, among mountains of an intense brown color. and also, glacial mornings, wherein one saw, at awakening, summits become snowy and white.
the desire often seized him to finish everything.—but he had the frightful idea that he might not succeed and might fall again, alone forever, without a hope in life.
anyway, reasonable pretexts to wait were not lacking. he had to settle with men of affairs, he had to sell the house and realize, for his flight, all the money that he could obtain. he had also to wait for the answer of uncle ignacio, to whom he had announced his emigration and at whose house he expected to find an asylum.
thus the days went by, and soon the hasty spring was to ferment. already the yellow primrose and the blue gentian, in advance here by several weeks, were in bloom in the woods and along the paths, in the last suns of january—
