Come With Me, And I Will Conduct You To A Place Where
There Are Forty Chests Of Tea.
It is a sereka (a robbery), and the
thieves are willing to dispose of it for a trifle, for there is
search being made, and they are in much fear.
I can raise one half
of what they demand, do you supply the other, we will then divide
it, each shall go his own way and dispose of his portion.
Myself. - Wherefore, O son of Arbat, do you propose this to me, who
am a stranger? Surely you are mad. Have you not your own people
about you whom you know, and in whom you can confide?
Jew. - It is because I know our people here that I do not confide in
them; we are in the galoot of sin. Were I to confide in my
brethren there would be a dispute, and perhaps they would rob me,
and few of them have any money. Were I to apply to the sabio he
might consent, but when I ask for my portion he would put me in
ndui! You I do not fear; you are good and would do me no harm,
unless I attempted to deceive you, and that I dare not do, for I
know you are powerful. Come with me, master, for I wish to gain
something, that I may return to Arbat, where I have children . . .
Such are Jews in Lisbon.
CHAPTER VI
Cold of Portugal - Extortion prevented - Sensation of Loneliness - The
Dog - The Convent - Enchanting Landscape - Moorish Fortresses - Prayer
for the Sick.
About a fortnight after my return from Evora, having made the
necessary preparations, I set out on my journey for Badajoz, from
which town I intended to take the diligence to Madrid. Badajoz
lies about a hundred miles distant from Lisbon, and is the
principal frontier town of Spain in the direction of the Alemtejo.
To reach this place, it was necessary to retravel the road as far
as Monte More, which I had already passed in my excursion to Evora;
I had therefore very little pleasure to anticipate from novelty of
scenery. Moreover, in this journey I should be a solitary
traveller, with no other companion than the muleteer, as it was my
intention to take my servant no farther than Aldea Gallega, for
which place I started at four in the afternoon. Warned by former
experience, I did not now embark in a small boat, but in one of the
regular passage felouks, in which we reached Aldea Gallega, after a
voyage of six hours; for the boat was heavy, there was no wind to
propel it, and the crew were obliged to ply their huge oars the
whole way. In a word, this passage was the reverse of the first, -
safe in every respect, - but so sluggish and tiresome, that I a
hundred times wished myself again under the guidance of the wild
lad, galloping before the hurricane over the foaming billows.
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