Neither oil nor olives, bread nor barley.
You have been at Cordova. Vaya; oblige me, cavalier, by taking
this cigar."
In this manner we proceeded for several hours, up hill and down
dale, but generally at a very slow pace. The soldiers who escorted
us from time to time sang patriotic songs, breathing love and
attachment to the young Queen Isabel, and detestation of the grim
tyrant Carlos. One of the stanzas which reached my ears, ran
something in the following style:-
"Don Carlos is a hoary churl,
Of cruel heart and cold;
But Isabel's a harmless girl,
Of only six years old."
At last the day began to break, and I found myself amidst a train
of two or three hundred people, some on foot, but the greater part
mounted, either on mules or the pony mares: I could not
distinguish a single horse except my own and Antonio's. A few
soldiers were thinly scattered along the road. The country was
hilly, but less mountainous and picturesque than the one which we
had traversed the preceding day; it was for the most part
partitioned into small fields, which were planted with maize. At
the distance of every two or three leagues we changed our escort,
at some village where was stationed a detachment. The villages
were mostly an assemblage of wretched cabins; the roofs were
thatched, dank, and moist, and not unfrequently covered with rank
vegetation. There were dunghills before the doors, and no lack of
pools and puddles. Immense swine were stalking about, intermingled
with naked children. The interior of the cabins corresponded with
their external appearance: they were filled with filth and misery.
We reached Lugo about two hours past noon: during the last two or
three leagues, I became so overpowered with weariness, the result
of want of sleep and my late illness, that I was continually dozing
in my saddle, so that I took but little notice of what was passing.
We put up at a large posada without the wall of the town, built
upon a steep bank, and commanding an extensive view of the country
towards the east. Shortly after our arrival, the rain began to
descend in torrents, and continued without intermission during the
next two days, which was, however, to me but a slight source of
regret, as I passed the entire time in bed, and I may almost say in
slumber. On the evening of the third day I arose.
There was much bustle in the house, caused by the arrival of a
family from Coruna; they came in a large jaunting car, escorted by
four carabineers. The family was rather numerous, consisting of a
father, son, and eleven daughters, the eldest of whom might be
about eighteen. A shabby-looking fellow, dressed in a jerkin and
wearing a high-crowned hat, attended as domestic. They arrived
very wet and shivering, and all seemed very disconsolate,
especially the father, who was a well-looking middle-aged man.
"Can we be accommodated?" he demanded in a gentle voice of the man
of the house; "can we be accommodated in this fonda?"
"Certainly, your worship," replied the other; "our house is large.
How many apartments does your worship require for your family?"
"One will be sufficient," replied the stranger.
