Chapter 33

THE following winter, my friend, George Cayley, was orderedto the south for his health. He went to Seville. I joinedhim there; and we took lodgings and remained till the spring.

　　As Cayley published an amusing account of our travels, 'LasAforjas, or the Bridle Roads of Spain,' as this is more thanfifty years ago - before the days of railways and tourists -and as I kept no journal of my own, I will make free use ofhis.

　　A few words will show the terms we were on.

　　I had landed at Cadiz, and had gone up the Guadalquivir in asteamer, whose advent at Seville my friend was on the look-out for. He describes his impatience for her arrival. Bysome mistake he is misinformed as to the time; he is aquarter of an hour late.

　　'A remnant of passengers yet bustled around the luggage,arguing, struggling and bargaining with a contentious companyof porters. Alas! H. was not to be seen among them. Therewas still a chance; he might be one of the passengers who hadgot ashore before my coming down, and I was preparing to rushback to the city to ransack the hotels. Just then aninternal convulsion shook the swarm around the luggage pile;out burst a little Gallego staggering under a huge Britishportmanteau, and followed by its much desired, and now almostdespaired of, proprietor.

　　'I saw him come bowling up the slope with his familiar gait,evidently unconscious of my presence, and wearing that sturdyand almost hostile demeanour with which a true Briton marchesinto a strange city through the army of officiousimportunates who never fail to welcome the true Briton'sarrival. As he passed the barrier he came close to me in thecrowd, still without recognising me, for though straightbefore his nose I was dressed in the costume of the people.

　　I touched his elbow and he turned upon me with a look ofimpatient defiance, thinking me one persecutor more.

　　'How quickly the expression changed, etc., etc. We rushedinto each other's arms, as much as the many great coats slungover his shoulders, and the deep folds of cloak in which Iwas enveloped, would mutually permit. Then, saying more thana thousand things in a breath, or rather in no breath at all,we set off in great glee for my lodgings, forgetting in theexcitement the poor little porter who was following at fulltrot, panting and puffing under the heavy portmanteau. Wegot home, but were no calmer. We dined, but could not eat.

　　We talked, but the news could not be persuaded to come outquick enough.'

　　Who has not known what is here described? Who does not envythe freshness, the enthusiasm, of such bubbling of warm younghearts? Oh, the pity of it! if these generous emotionsshould prove as transient as youth itself. And then, whenone of those young hearts is turned to dust, and one is leftto think of it - why then, 'tis not much comfort to reflectthat - nothing in the world is commoner.

　　We got a Spanish master and worked industriously, also pickedup all the Andalusian we could, which is as much like pureCastilian as wold-Yorkshire is to English. I also tooklessons on the guitar. Thus prepared, I imitated my friendand adopted the ordinary costume of the Andalusian peasant:

　　breeches, ornamented with rows of silvered buttons, gaiters,a short jacket with a red flower-pot and blue lily on theback, and elbows with green and scarlet patterns, a red FAJAor sash, and the sombrero which I believe is worn nowhereexcept in the bull-ring. The whole of this picturesque dressis now, I think, given up. I have spent the last two wintersin the south of Spain, but have not once seen it.

　　It must not be supposed that we chose this 'get-up' togratify any aesthetic taste of our own or other people's; itwas long before the days of the 'Too-toos,' whom Mr. Gilbertbrought to a timely end. We had settled to ride throughSpain from Gibraltar to Bayonne, choosing always the bridle-roads so as to avoid anything approaching a beaten track. Wewere to visit the principal cities and keep more or less anortherly course, staying on the way at such places asMalaga, Cordova, Toledo, Madrid, Valladolid, and Burgos. Therest was to be left to chance. We were to take no map; andwhen in doubt as to diverging roads, the toss of a coin wasto settle it. This programme was conscientiously adhered to.

　　The object of the dress then was obscurity. For safety(brigands abounded) and for economy, it was desirable to passunnoticed. We never knew in what dirty POSADA or road-sideVENTA we should spend the night. For the most part it was atthe resting-place of the muleteers, which would be nothingbut a roughly paved dark chamber, one end occupied by mulesand the other by their drivers. We made our own omelets andsalad and chocolate; with the exception of the never failingBACALLAO, or salt fish, we rarely had anything else; androlling ourselves into our cloaks, with saddles for pillows,slept amongst the muleteers on the stone flags. We hadbought a couple of ponies in the Seville market for 7L. and8L. Our ALFORJAS or saddlebags contained all we needed. Ourportmanteaus were sent on from town to town, wherever we hadarranged to stop. Rough as the life was, we saw the peopleof Spain as no ordinary travellers could hope to see them.

　　The carriers, the shepherds, the publicans, the travellingmerchants, the priests, the barbers, the MOLINERAS ofAntequera, the Maritornes', the Sancho Panzas - all just asthey were seen by the immortal knight.

　　From the MOZOS DE LA CUADRA (ostlers) and ARRIEROS, upwardsand downwards, nowhere have I met, in the same class, withsuch natural politeness. This is much changed for the worsenow; but before the invasion of tourists one never passed aman on the road who did not salute one with a 'Vaya usted conDios.' Nor would the most indigent vagabond touch the filthyBACALLAO which he drew from his wallet till he hadcourteously addressed the stranger with the formula 'Quiereusted comer?' ('Will your Lordship please to eat?') Thecontrast between the people and the nobles in this respectwas very marked. We saw something of the latter in the clubat Seville, where one met men whose high-sounding names andtitles have come down to us from the greatest epochs ofSpanish history. Their ignorance was surprising. Not one ofthem had been farther than Madrid. Not one of them knew aword of any language but his own, nor was he acquainted withthe rudiments even of his country's history. Theirconversation was restricted to the bull-ring and the cockpit,to cards and women. Their chief aim seemed to be to staggerus with the number of quarterings they bore upon theirescutcheons; and they appraised others by a like estimate.

　　Cayley, tickled with the humour of their childish vanity,painted an elaborate coat of arms, which he stuck in thecrown of his hat, and by means of which he explained to themthat he too was by rights a Spanish nobleman. With theutmost gravity he delivered some such medley as this: HisIberian origin dated back to the time of Hannibal, who, afterhis defeat of the Papal forces and capture of Rome, had, asthey well knew, married Princess Peri Banou, youngestdaughter of Ferdinand and Isabella. The issue of themarriage was the famous Cardinal Chicot, from whom he -George Cayley - was of direct male descent. When Chicot wasslain by Oliver Cromwell at the battle of Hastings, hisdescendants, foiled in their attempt to capture England withthe Spanish Armada, settled in the principality of Yorkshire,adopted the noble name of Cayley, and still governed thatprovince as members of the British Parliament.

　　From that day we were treated with every mark of distinction.

　　Here is another of my friend's pranks. I will let Cayleyspeak; for though I kept no journal, we had agreed to write ajoint account of our trip, and our notebooks were commonproperty.

　　After leaving Malaga we met some beggars on the road, to oneof whom, 'an old hag with one eye and a grizzly beard,' Ithrew the immense sum of a couple of 2-cuarto pieces. An oldman riding behind us on an ass with empty panniers, seeingfortunes being scattered about the road with such recklessand unbounded profusion, came up alongside, and entered intoa piteous detail of his poverty. When he wound up with plainbegging, the originality and boldness of the idea of amounted beggar struck us in so humorous a light that we couldnot help laughing. As we rode along talking his case over,Cayley said, 'Suppose we rob him. He has sold his marketproduce in Malaga, and depend upon it, has a pocketful ofmoney.' We waited for him to come up. When he got fairlybetween us, Cayley pulled out his revolver (we both carriedpistols) and thus addressed him:

　　'Impudent old scoundrel! stand still. If thou stirr'st handor foot, or openest thy mouth, I will slay thee like a dog.

　　Thou greedy miscreant, who art evidently a man of propertyand hast an ass to ride upon, art not satisfied withouttrying to rob the truly poor of the alms we give them.

　　Therefore hand over at once the two dollars for which thouhast sold thy cabbages for double what they were worth.'

　　The old culprit fell on his knees, and trembling violently,prayed Cayley for the love of the Virgin to spare him.

　　'One moment, CABALLEROS,' he cried, 'I will give you all Ipossess. But I am poor, very poor, and I have a sick wife atthe disposition of your worships.'

　　'Wherefore art thou fumbling at thy foot? Thou carriest notthy wife in thy shoe?'

　　'I cannot untie the string - my hand trembles; will yourworships permit me to take out my knife?'

　　He did so, and cutting the carefully knotted thong of aleather bag which had been concealed in the leg of hisstocking, poured out a handful of small coin and began toweep piteously.

　　Said Cayley, 'Come, come, none of that, or we shall feel itour duty to shoot thy donkey that thou may'st have somethingto whimper for.'

　　The genuine tears of the poor old fellow at last touched theheart of the jester.

　　'We know now that thou art poor,' said he, 'for we have takenall thou hadst. And as it is the religion of the Ingleses,founded on the practice of their celebrated saint, RobinoHoodo, to levy funds from the rich for the benefit of theneedy, hold out thy sombero, and we will bestow a trifle uponthee.'

　　So saying he poured back the plunder; to which was added, tothe astonishment of the receiver, some supplementary piecesthat nearly equalled the original sum.