Pinto

“ There were many questions, much unbarring and drawing of bolts, before the people inside the house would open the door to Captain Pinto’s summons; for the Portuguese will allow a person to run the chance of being murdered, or to stand shivering in a shower of rain, till they can assure themselves of his name and quality, as we have found to our cost. ”

“ The manoeuvre caused the rover to miss his aim, and as he threw his grapnels, they fell into the water. “Steady, again,” the Captain cried; but the rover was not to be deceived a second time; for, with determined daring, putting his helm also to starboard, he ranged alongside, and locked his yard-arms in a deadly embrace with those of the Portuguese. A loud shriek of horror arose from many, even of the brave, on board. “Silence, men, silence!” cried Captain Pinto: “aloft, and cut away: be prepared to repel boarders.” ”

“ Pinto; "but you were right. That— that person was not very well pleased when he saw me. There was no love lost between us, as you say: and the world never knew a more worthless miscreant. I hate him, voyez-vous? I hated him alife; I hate him dead. I hate him man; I hate him ghost: and he know it, and tremble before me. If I see him twenty tausend years hence— and why not?—I shall hate him still. You remarked how he was dressed?"
"In black satin breeches and striped stockings; a white pique waistcoat, a gray coat, with large metal buttons, and his hair in powder. ”

“ His success in this cure gave him immense repute, and he was initiated into all the gayeties and sports of the prince's court. In particular he amused and interested them all by firing the matchlock which he had brought with him. A son of the prince of about sixteen or seventeen years of age was infatuated with this sport, and one day, unknown to Pinto, he undertook to load and fire the matchlock, as he had seen the foreigner do. An explosion occurred, by which the young prince was much injured, and owing to this Pinto came near being put to death for having wrought this disaster. ”

“ The Duke hastened to gratify his royal kinsman, and sending for Pinto, (who was the confidential person appointed to carry his final answer to the confederates) he led him up to Sebastian.
Some faint resemblance to his father, (a likeness rather of lineament than of countenance) powerfully affected the venerable monarch: Pinto was nearly the age that Gaspar was when he left his master for the last time at Villa Rosolia, and this circumstance heightened the effect of the resemblance. ”

“ Whole osshus structure exposed!' And Pinto shore was a dream if bones was needful in the game."
Curly paused for another chew of tobacco, then went on again.
"Well, it's like this, you see; the backbone of a man or a horse is full of little humps—you can see that easy in the springtime. Now old Pinto's back, it looked like a topygraphical survey of the whole Rocky Mountain range. ”

“ Pinto us'd to complain of this Hardship as of a kind of Banishment, from which they would scarce find it possible to return; that the Pride of the Spaniards, who would command them, was insufferable, and the Expence they should be at intolerable; that this was only a plausible Pretence to drain Portugal of its bravest Men, that in all their Expeditions they might be assur'd of being expos'd where the greatest Danger was, but that they must never hope to share the least part of the Glory. ”

“ Going to cruise against these Mussulman enemies, after various adventures and a visit to Abyssinia,—with which secluded Christian or semi-Christian kingdom the Portuguese had opened a communication,—Pinto was captured at the entrance of the Red Sea, carried to Mocha, and there sold to a Greek renegado, and by him to a Jew, from whom he was redeemed by the Portuguese governor of Ormus, who furnished him with the means of reaching Goa. At this centre of Portuguese enterprise and adventure Pinto entered [Pg 17] into the service of Dom Pedro de Faria, captain-general of Malacca. ”

“ Suddenly, from far down that trail, sounded a faint, but regular, clicking noise. As it became louder and louder, rising and falling in a regular cadence, Pinto slipped like a snake deeper into the long jungle-grass.
"Lie still for your life," he whispered in Will's ear, so faintly that the boy could scarcely make out the words. Then, in an instant, from out of the jungle not twenty feet away there strode along the dim path a figure of nightmare horror—that of a tall naked man, with gaunt and fleshless arms and legs, great knobs of bone marking his knee and elbow-joints. ”

“ Pinto having thus secured the artificers in his cause, neglected nothing to keep the other conspirators firm to their purpose; exhorting every one separately to hold himself in readiness against the signal of attack; begging them at the same time to engage the assistance of their own particular friends, on pretence of some private quarrel, without letting them into the true state of the business; judging, truly, that there are many people endowed with great courage sword in hand, who, in cold blood, are very unfit to be trusted with a great and important secret. ”

“ Pinto had spar'd no pains in discovering who were, and the Number of the Disaffected, which he daily endeavoured to encrease; he rail'd against the present Government sometimes with Heat, at other times with Caution, always accommodating himself to the Humour of the Company which he was in: tho indeed so great was the Hatred which the Portuguese bore the Spaniards, that there was no need of Reserve in complaining of them. He would often remind the Nobility what honourable Employments their Forefathers had borne, when Portugal was govern'd by its own Kings. ”

“ Say, man, that was a fine start.
"Along with oats and ostypathy, old Pinto he'd come out on the track that day just standin' on the edges of his feet, he was feelin' that fine. We put Jose Santa Maria Trujillo, one of our lightest boys, up on Pinto for to ride him. Now a Greaser ain't got no sense. It was that fool boy Jose that busted up modern science on the Bar T.
"I was tellin' you that there horse was ostypathed, so to speak, plumb to a razor edge, and I was sayin' that he went off on a even start. Then what did he do? Run? No, he didn't run. ”

“ Upon the Advice given by Pinto, the Duke left Villa-viciosa, and came to Almada, a Castle near Lisbon, on pretence of visiting it as he had done the other Fortifications of that Kingdom. His Equipage was so magnificent, and he had with him such a number of the Nobility and Gentry, as well as of Officers, that he looked more like a King going to take possession of a Kingdom, than like the Governour of a Province, who was viewing the Places and Forts under his Jurisdiction: he was so near Lisbon, that he was under an obligation of going to pay his Devoirs to the Vice-Queen. ”

“ He had a sort of odd-lookin' white eye, but a heap of them pintos has got glass eyes, and so no one thought to examine his lookers very close, though it was noticed early in the game that Pinto might be lookin' one way and goin' the other, at the same time. He'd be goin' on a keen lope, and then something or other might get on his mind, and he'd stop and untangle hisself from all kinds of ridin'. Sometimes he'd jump and snort like he was seein' ghosts. A feller on that horse could have roped antelopes as easy as yearlin' calves, if he could just have told which way Mr. ”

“ Says the boss to him at last, 'The right time to do the explainin' is before the hoss race is over, and not after,' says he. 'That's the only kind of science that goes hereafter on the Bar T,' says he.
"I reckon the boss was feelin' a little riled, because he had two hundred on Pinto hisself. A cross-eyed horse shore can make a sight of trouble," Curly sighed in conclusion; "yet I bought Pinto for four dollars, and—sometimes, anyway—he's the best horse in my string down at Carrizosy, ain't he, Mac?" ”

“ Our Greaser, he sees the race is all over, and like any fool cow puncher, he must get frisky. Comin' down the homestretch, only needin' about one more jump—for it ain't above a quarter of a mile—Jose, he stands up in his stirrups and pulls off his hat, and just whangs old Pinto over the head with it, friendly like, to show him there ain't no coldness. ”

“ As soon as he arriv'd at Lisbon, he deliver'd his Letters to Almeida and Mendoza, who instantly sent for Lemos and Coreo, whom Pinto had long since engag'd in the Interest of his Master. These were two rich Citizens, who had gone thro all the Offices of the City, and had the People of it very much at their command; as they still carry'd on their Trade, there were a vast Number of poor People daily employ'd by 'em, and whose Hatred to the Spaniards they had still taken care to encrease, by insinuating that there were new Taxes to be laid upon several things at the beginning of the next Year. ”

“ The tyrant is dead! I cried, let liberty live, and Don Juan King of Portugal! At that cry, all Lisbon echoed a shout of triumph, the{317} Spaniards dropt their useless arms, and the contest was ended.”
“The Duchess of Mantua has been removed to Xabregas, Sire,” said Pinto, who now found voice to speak. “The citadel, the arsenal, the fleet, all is your Majesty’s. Vasconcellos alone has perished, and his crimes called for the vengeance of heaven.” ”

“ The Italian wine-and-macaroni merchant from round the corner collapsed [203] panting—then rallied his faculties and bolted for the door. Zoe darted in his wake, and returned triumphant, a few seconds afterwards, carrying the second and undamaged flask of Chianti. Meanwhile Pinto had vented his spleen upon the Cavalry officer, the landlord, the round-eyed Belgian, and Richard, on whom each in turn he fastened his saga of “face like an orang-outang—tempaire of a P-P-Patagonian savage!”... ”

“ The dry and purely scientific student of the schools of Italy will find it more than easy to demonstrate Pintoricchio’s shortcomings: it is less simple to analyse the charm that triumphs in spite of them, and which gives keen pleasure to one side of the artistic nature. ”

“ The King justly enrag’d, to see Friendship so newly contracted, and confirm’d by the most sacred of Tyes, in his Opinion, so perfidiously violated by the Portugueses, thinking Religion affronted, immediately order’d all the Ships that were afloat to be brought together, and such as were finish’d in the Docks, to be launch’d; all which being well equipp’d, stor’d with Guns, and full of those furious Barbarians, encompass’d the Portuguese Ship, attacking her on all Sides. Pinto was beginning to weigh his Anchors, having seen the Ships in Motion, and the Men hasting Aboard ”

“ This dreamy face, with its transparent veil half covering the flowing hair, the gold embossed robe, over-sleeves, mantle hanging in very softly accentuated folds, and the beautifully proportioned figures standing by, have a larger share than almost any other of the lunettes of the master’s hand, and here, more than in any, we have the many coloured garments, rich pinks, harmonious greens, that Pintoricchio loved. ”

“ She had the strength of those hills, or rather [Pg 138] mountains—she was made of their very substance. I felt helpless. Besides, it was time to go through the lower orchards, where the Hindus were stripping olives in fear of a possible touch of frost, and somebody had to attend to things. So I rose, much depressed but urged by the duty before me. That was women's salvation during the war—the pressure of work to be done. And Pinto was again in Washington.
But that night Peaches became humanized. I suppose the darkness was too much for her. ”

“ In the panel where San Bernardino raises a youth from the dead, a child playing with a dog recalls Pintoricchio’s putti on the pilasters at Siena. The young man on the right in the same scene, is supple and gracefully draped; a contrast to the wooden movements and stiff draperies of his fellow-pages. Even better is the youth reasoning, in a repetition of the same miracle, with his hand upon his hip and a dark cap perched upon his rippled curls. ”

“ The miners begin to yell. But Baptiste, waving his lines high in one hand, seizes his tuque with the other, whirls it above his head and flings it with a fiercer yell than ever at the bronchos. Like the bursting of a hurricane the pintos leap forward, and with a splendid rush cross the scratch, winners by their own length. ”

“ It is the more remarkable that Pintoricchio is able to give us this charm of landscape, as he adheres to his early training, and finishes the most distant parts in delicate detail.
It is as a decorator that he holds his own most successfully among his contemporaries. It soon became apparent that no one could cover the walls of palace or chapel with an ornamentation so rich and gay, so advantageous to the position, so homogeneous in character. ”

“ Teresa and her brother going out into the world to seek martyrdom. The figure of the Divine Child, with long fair hair falling round the face, and exquisitely drawn baby hands and feet, is one of the sweetest imaginable. Mary’s head is uncovered—a very rare variation with Pintoricchio. The folds of the draperies are unusually large and simple. The composition, the delicate restraint of gesture, combined with natural feeling, are very striking in this delightful little painting. ”

“ There is in the art of Pintoricchio a direct simplicity of expression and gesture that saves him from conventionality and cloying sweetness. His persons are not above criticism as far as technicalities are concerned, but they have in them this, that they are occupied and absorbed in the business in hand. You may fancy at first that they are artificial, but that is merely their environment; they themselves are simple, they do not pose or look upwards or out of the picture with an affected appeal for admiration. This quality gives to Pintoricchio a truthfulness where he lacks depth. ”