His behaviour was
frequently in the highest degree extraordinary, but he served me
courageously and faithfully: such a valet, take him for all in
all,
"His like I ne'er expect to see again."
Kosko bakh Anton.
CHAPTER XX
Illness - Nocturnal Visit - A Master Mind - The Whisper - Salamanca -
Irish Hospitality - Spanish Soldiers - The Scriptures advertised.
But I am anxious to enter upon the narrative of my journey, and
shall therefore abstain from relating to my readers a great many
circumstances which occurred previously to my leaving Madrid on
this expedition. About the middle of May I had got everything in
readiness, and I bade farewell to my friends. Salamanca was the
first place which I intended to visit.
Some days previous to my departure I was very much indisposed,
owing to the state of the weather, for violent and biting winds had
long prevailed. I had been attacked with a severe cold, which
terminated in a disagreeable cough, which the many remedies I
successively tried seemed unable to subdue. I had made
preparations for departing on a particular day, but, owing to the
state of my health, I was apprehensive that I should be compelled
to defer my journey for a time. The last day of my stay in Madrid,
finding myself scarcely able to stand, I was fain to submit to a
somewhat desperate experiment, and by the advice of the barber-
surgeon who visited me, I determined to be bled.
