Myself. - It is true that they are both hunchbacks. But how can I
be like Don Carlos? I have nothing the appearance of a Spaniard,
and am nearly a foot taller than the pretender.
Alcalde. - That makes no difference; you of course carry many
waistcoats about you, by means of which you disguise yourself, and
appear tall or low according to your pleasure.
This last was so conclusive an argument that I had of course
nothing to reply to it. The alcalde looked around him in triumph,
as if he had made some notable discovery. "Yes, it is Calros; it
is Calros," said the crowd at the door. "It will be as well to
have these men shot instantly," continued the alcalde; "if they are
not the two pretenders, they are at any rate two of the factious."
"I am by no means certain that they are either one or the other,"
said a gruff voice.
The justicia of Finisterra turned their eyes in the direction from
which these words proceeded, and so did I. Our glances rested upon
the figure who held watch at the door. He had planted the barrel
of his musket on the floor, and was now leaning his chin against
the butt.
"I am by no means certain that they are either one or the other,"
repeated he, advancing forward. "I have been examining this man,"
pointing to myself, "and listening whilst he spoke, and it appears
to me that after all he may prove an Englishman; he has their very
look and voice. Who knows the English better than Antonio de la
Trava, and who has a better right? Has he not sailed in their
ships; has he not eaten their biscuit; and did he not stand by
Nelson when he was shot dead?"
Here the alcalde became violently incensed. "He is no more an
Englishman than yourself," he exclaimed; "if he were an Englishman
would he have come in this manner, skulking across the land? Not
so I trow. He would have come in a ship, recommended to some of
us, or to the Catalans. He would have come to trade, to buy; but
nobody knows him in Finisterra, nor does he know anybody: and the
first thing, moreover, that he does when he reaches this place is
to inspect the fort, and to ascend the mountain where, no doubt, he
has been marking out a camp. What brings him to Finisterra if he
is neither Calros nor a bribon of a faccioso?"
I felt that there was a good deal of justice in some of these
remarks, and I was aware, for the first time, that I had, indeed,
committed a great imprudence in coming to this wild place, and
among these barbarous people, without being able to assign any
motive which could appear at all valid in their eyes. I
endeavoured to convince the alcalde that I had come across the
country for the purpose of making myself acquainted with the many
remarkable objects which it contained, and of obtaining information
respecting the character and condition of the inhabitants. He
could understand no such motives. "What did you ascend the
mountain for?" "To see prospects." "Disparate! I have lived at
Finisterra forty years and never ascended that mountain. I would
not do it in a day like this for two ounces of gold. You went to
take altitudes, and to mark out a camp." I had, however, a staunch
friend in old Antonio, who insisted, from his knowledge of the
English, that all I had said might very possibly be true. "The
English," said he, "have more money than they know what to do with,
and on that account they wander all over the world, paying dearly
for what no other people care a groat for." He then proceeded,
notwithstanding the frowns of the alcalde, to examine me in the
English language. His own entire knowledge of this tongue was
confined to two words - knife and fork, which words I rendered into
Spanish by their equivalents, and was forthwith pronounced an
Englishman by the old fellow, who, brandishing his musket,
exclaimed:-
"This man is not Calros; he is what he declares himself to be, an
Englishman, and whosoever seeks to injure him, shall have to do
with Antonio de la Trava el valiente de Finisterra." No person
sought to impugn this verdict, and it was at length determined that
I should be sent to Corcuvion, to be examined by the alcalde mayor
of the district. "But," said the alcalde of Finisterra, "what is
to be done with the other fellow? He at least is no Englishman.
Bring him forward, and let us hear what he has to say for himself.
Now, fellow, who are you, and what is your master?"
Guide. - I am Sebastianillo, a poor broken mariner of Padron, and my
master for the present is the gentleman whom you see, the most
valiant and wealthy of all the English. He has two ships at Vigo
laden with riches. I told you so when you first seized me up there
in our posada.
Alcalde. - Where is your passport?
Guide. - I have no passport. Who would think of bringing a passport
to such a place as this, where I don't suppose there are two
individuals who can read? I have no passport; my master's passport
of course includes me.
Alcalde. - It does not. And since you have no passport, and have
confessed that your name is Sebastian, you shall be shot. Antonio
de la Trava, do you and the musketeers lead this Sebastianillo
forth, and shoot him before the door.
Antonio de la Trava. - With much pleasure, Senor Alcalde, since you
order it. With respect to this fellow, I shall not trouble myself
to interfere.
