They Then Stationed Themselves On Each
Side Of Me:
There were at least twenty people in the apartment
beside ourselves, evidently from their appearance officials of the
establishment.
They were all well dressed, for the most part in
the French fashion, in round hats, coats, and pantaloons, and yet
they looked what in reality they were, Spanish alguazils, spies,
and informers, and Gil Blas, could he have waked from his sleep of
two centuries, would, notwithstanding the change of fashion, have
had no difficulty in recognizing them. They glanced at me as they
stood lounging about the room; they gathered themselves together in
a circle and began conversing in whispers. I heard one of them
say, "he understands the seven Gypsy jargons." Then presently
another, evidently from his language an Andalusian, said, "Es muy
diestro (he is very skilful), and can ride a horse and dart a knife
full as well as if he came from my own country." Thereupon they
all turned round and regarded me with a species of interest,
evidently mingled with respect, which most assuredly they would not
have exhibited had they conceived that I was merely an honest man
bearing witness in a righteous cause.
I waited patiently on the bench at least one hour, expecting every
moment to be summoned before my lord the corregidor. I suppose,
however, that I was not deemed worthy of being permitted to see so
exalted a personage, for at the end of that time, an elderly man,
one however evidently of the alguazil genus, came into the room and
advanced directly towards me.
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