Is the horse furniture all
right?"
"Quite so," said he; "I delivered it all to your servant."
"It is all here," said Antonio, "with the exception of the leathern
girth."
"I have not got it," said the guide.
"Of course not," said I. "Let us proceed to the stable, we shall
perhaps find it there."
To the stable we went, which we searched through: no girth,
however, was forthcoming. "He has got it buckled round his middle
beneath his pantaloons, mon maitre," said Antonio, whose eyes were
moving about like those of a lynx; "I saw the protuberance as he
stooped down. However, let us take no notice: he is here
surrounded by his countrymen, who, if we were to seize him, might
perhaps take his part. As I said before, he is in our power, as we
have not paid him."
The fellow now began to talk in Gallegan to the by-standers
(several persons having collected), wishing the Denho to take him
if he knew anything of the missing property. Nobody, however,
seemed inclined to take his part; and those who listened, only
shrugged their shoulders. We returned to the portal of the posada,
the fellow following us, clamouring for the horse-hire and propina.
We made him no answer, and at length he went away, threatening to
apply to the justicia; in about ten minutes, however, he came
running back with the girth in his hand: "I have just found it,"
said he, "in the street: your servant dropped it."
I took the leather and proceeded very deliberately to count out the
sum to which the horse-hire amounted, and having delivered it to
him in the presence of witnesses, I said, "During the whole journey
you have been of no service to us whatever; nevertheless, you have
fared like ourselves, and have had all you could desire to eat and
drink. I intended, on your leaving us, to present you, moreover,
with a propina of two dollars; but since, notwithstanding our kind
treatment, you endeavoured to pillage us, I will not give you a
cuarto: go, therefore, about your business."
All the audience expressed their satisfaction at this sentence, and
told him that he had been rightly served, and that he was a
disgrace to Galicia. Two or three women crossed themselves, and
asked him if he was not afraid that the Denho, whom he had invoked,
would take him away. At last, a respectable-looking man said to
him: "Are you not ashamed to have attempted to rob two innocent
strangers?"
"Strangers!" roared the fellow, who was by this time foaming with
rage; "Innocent strangers, carracho! they know more of Spain and
Galicia too than the whole of us. Oh, Denho, that servant is no
man but a wizard, a nuveiro. - Where is Perico?"
He mounted Perico, and proceeded forthwith to another posada. The
tale, however, of his dishonesty had gone before him, and no person
would house him; whereupon he returned on his steps, and seeing me
looking out of the window of the house, he gave a savage shout, and
shaking his fist at me, galloped out of the town, the people
pursuing him with hootings and revilings.
CHAPTER XXXII
Martin of Rivadeo - The Factious Mare - Asturians - Luarca - The Seven
Bellotas - Hermits - The Asturian's Tale - Strange Guests - The Big
Servant - Batuschca
"What may your business be?" said I to a short, thick, merry-faced
fellow in a velveteen jerkin and canvas pantaloons, who made his
way into my apartment, in the dusk of the evening.
"I am Martin of Rivadeo, your worship," replied the man, "an
alquilador by profession; I am told that you want a horse for your
journey into the Asturias to-morrow, and of course a guide: now,
if that be the case, I counsel you to hire myself and mare."
"I am become tired of guides," I replied; "so much so that I was
thinking of purchasing a pony, and proceeding without any guide at
all. The last which we had was an infamous character."
"So I have been told, your worship, and it was well for the bribon
that I was not in Rivadeo when the affair to which you allude
occurred. But he was gone with the pony Perico before I came back,
or I would have bled the fellow to a certainty with my knife. He
is a disgrace to the profession, which is one of the most
honourable and ancient in the world. Perico himself must have been
ashamed of him, for Perico, though a pony, is a gentleman, one of
many capacities, and well known upon the roads. He is only
inferior to my mare."
"Are you well acquainted with the road to Oviedo?" I demanded.
"I am not, your worship; that is, no farther than Luarca, which is
the first day's journey. I do not wish to deceive you, therefore
let me go with you no farther than that place; though perhaps I
might serve for the whole journey, for though I am unacquainted
with the country, I have a tongue in my head, and nimble feet to
run and ask questions. I will, however, answer for myself no
farther than Luarca, where you can please yourselves. Your being
strangers is what makes me wish to accompany you, for I like the
conversation of strangers, from whom I am sure to gain information
both entertaining and profitable. I wish, moreover, to convince
you that we guides of Galicia are not all thieves, which I am sure
you will not suppose if you only permit me to accompany you as far
as Luarca."
I was so much struck with the fellow's good humour and frankness,
and more especially by the originality of character displayed in
almost every sentence which he uttered, that I readily engaged him
to guide us to Luarca; whereupon he left me, promising to be ready
with his mare at eight next morning.
