It Was
Said They Were Spies And Emissaries Of I Don't Know What Nation,
And That They Had Been In All Parts Of The Asturias, Holding
Conferences With Some Of The Disaffected.
They escaped, however,
and were never heard of more, though the animals which they rode
were found without their riders, wandering amongst the hills; they
were common ponies, and were of no value.
As for the brujos, it is
believed that they embarked in some small vessel which was lying
concealed in one of the rias of the coast."
Myself. - What was the word which you continually heard proceeding
from the lips of the big servant, and which you think you can
remember?
Host. - Senor, it is now three years since I heard it, and at times
I can remember it and at others not; sometimes I have started up in
my sleep repeating it. Stay, Senor, I have it now at the point of
my tongue: it was Patusca.
Myself. - Batuschca, you mean; the men were Russians.
CHAPTER XXXIII
Oviedo - The Ten Gentlemen - The Swiss again - Modest Request - The
Robbers - Episcopal Benevolence - The Cathedral - Portrait of Feijoo.
I must now take a considerable stride in my journey, no less than
from Muros to Oviedo, contenting myself with observing, that we
proceeded from Muros to Velez, and from thence to Giyon, where our
guide Martin bade us farewell, and returned with his mare to
Rivadeo. The honest fellow did not part without many expressions
of regret, indeed he even expressed a desire that I should take him
and his mare into my service; "for," said he, "I have a great
desire to run through all Spain, and even the world; and I am sure
I shall never have a better opportunity than by attaching myself to
your worship's skirts." On my reminding him, however, of his wife
and family, for he had both, he said, "True, true, I had forgotten
them: happy the guide whose only wife and family are a mare and
foal."
Oviedo is about three leagues from Giyon. Antonio rode the horse,
whilst I proceeded thither in a kind of diligence which runs daily
between the two towns. The road is good, but mountainous. I
arrived safely at the capital of the Asturias, although at a rather
unpropitious season, for the din of war was at the gate, and there
was the cry of the captains and the shouting. Castile, at the time
of which I am writing, was in the hands of the Carlists, who had
captured and plundered Valladolid in much the same manner as they
had Segovia some time before. They were every day expected to
march on Oviedo, in which case they might perhaps have experienced
some resistance, a considerable body of troops being stationed
there, who had erected some redoubts, and strongly fortified
several of the convents, especially that of Santa Clara de la Vega.
All minds were in a state of feverish anxiety and suspense, more
especially as no intelligence arrived from Madrid, which by the
last accounts was said to be occupied by the bands of Cabrera and
Palillos.
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