The
roads were at this time in a highly dangerous state, on which
account I thought to go along with a convoy, which was about to
start for Andalusia.
Two days, however, before its departure,
understanding that the number of people who likewise proposed to
avail themselves of it was likely to be very great, and reflecting
on the slowness of this way of travelling, and moreover the insults
to which civilians were frequently subjected from the soldiers and
petty officers, I determined to risk the journey with the mail.
This resolutions I carried into effect. Antonio, whom I had
resolved to take with me, and my two horses, departed with the
convoy, whilst in a few days I followed with the mail courier. We
travelled all the way without the slightest accident, my usual
wonderful good fortune accompanying us. I might well call it
wonderful, for I was running into the den of the lion; the whole of
La Mancha, with the exception of a few fortified places, being once
more in the hands of Palillos and his banditti, who, whenever it
pleased them, stopped the courier, burnt the vehicle and letters,
murdered the paltry escort, and carried away any chance passenger
to the mountains, where an enormous ransom was demanded, the
alternative being four shots through the head, as the Spaniards
say.
The upper part of Andalusia was becoming rapidly nearly as bad as
La Mancha. The last time the mail had passed, it was attacked at
the defile of La Rumblar by six mounted robbers; it was guarded by
an escort of as many soldiers, but the former suddenly galloped
from behind a solitary venda, and dashed the soldiers to the
ground, who were taken quite by surprise, the hoofs of the robbers'
horses making no noise on account of the sandy nature of the
ground. The soldiers were instantly disarmed and bound to olive
trees, with the exception of two, who escaped amongst the rocks;
they were then mocked and tormented by the robbers, or rather
fiends, for nearly half an hour, when they were shot; the head of
the corporal who commanded being blown to fragments with a
blunderbuss. The robbers then burned the coach, which they
accomplished by igniting the letters by means of the tow with which
they light their cigars. The life of the courier was saved by one
of them, who had formerly been his postillion; he was, however,
robbed and stripped. As we passed by the scene of the butchery,
the poor fellow wept, and, though a Spaniard, cursed Spain and the
Spaniards, saying that he intended shortly to pass over to the
Moreria, to confess Mahomet, and to learn the law of the Moors, for
that any country and religion were better than his own. He pointed
to the tree where the corporal had been tied; though much rain had
fallen since, the ground around was still saturated with blood, and
a dog was gnawing a piece of the unfortunate wretch's skull.
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