Yet I Was Much Gratified By
My Visit, And I Shall Wander Far Indeed Before I Forget The Voice
In The Dilapidated Convent, The Ruined Walls Amongst Which I
Strayed, And The Rampart Where, Sunk In Dreamy Rapture, I Sat
During A Bright Sunny Hour At Monte Moro.
I returned to the inn, where I refreshed myself with tea and very
sweet and delicious cheesecakes, the handiwork of the nuns in the
convent above.
Observing gloom and unhappiness on the countenances
of the people of the house, I inquired the reason of the hostess,
who sat almost motionless, on the hearth by the fire; whereupon she
informed me that her husband was deadly sick with a disorder which,
from her description, I supposed to be a species of cholera; she
added, that the surgeon who attended him entertained no hopes of
his recovery. I replied that it was quite in the power of God to
restore her husband in a few hours from the verge of the grave to
health and vigour, and that it was her duty to pray to that
Omnipotent Being with all fervency. I added, that if she did not
know how to pray upon such an occasion, I was ready to pray for
her, provided she would join in the spirit of the supplication. I
then offered up a short prayer in Portuguese, in which I entreated
the Lord to remove, if he thought proper, the burden of affliction
under which the family was labouring.
The woman listened attentively, with her hands devoutly clasped,
until the prayer was finished, and then gazed at me seemingly with
astonishment, but uttered no word by which I could gather that she
was pleased or displeased with what I had said. I now bade the
family farewell, and having mounted my mule, set forward to
Arroyolos.
CHAPTER VII
The Druids' Stone - The Young Spaniard - Ruffianly Soldiers - Evils of
War - Estremoz - The Brawl - Ruined Watch Tower - Glimpse of Spain - Old
Times and New.
After proceeding about a league and a half, a blast came booming
from the north, rolling before it immense clouds of dust; happily
it did not blow in our faces, or it would have been difficult to
proceed, so great was its violence. We had left the road in order
to take advantage of one of those short cuts, which, though
possible for a horse or a mule, are far too rough to permit any
species of carriage to travel along them. We were in the midst of
sands, brushwood, and huge pieces of rock, which thickly studded
the ground. These are the stones which form the sierras of Spain
and Portugal; those singular mountains which rise in naked
horridness, like the ribs of some mighty carcass from which the
flesh has been torn. Many of these stones, or rocks, grew out of
the earth, and many lay on its surface unattached, perhaps wrested
from their bed by the waters of the deluge. Whilst toiling along
these wild wastes, I observed, a little way to my left, a pile of
stones of rather a singular appearance, and rode up to it.
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