Into The
Woods We Plunged Deeper And Deeper Still; Night-Birds Soon Began To
Hoot And Cry, And Millions Of Crickets Commenced Their Shrill
Chirping Above, Below, And Around Us.
Occasionally, amidst the
trees at a distance, we could see blazes, as if from immense fires.
"They are those of the charcoal-burners, mon maitre!" said Antonio;
"we will not go near them, however, for they are savage people, and
half bandits.
Many is the traveller whom they have robbed and
murdered in these horrid wildernesses."
It was blackest night when we arrived at the foot of the mountains;
we were still, however, amidst woods and pine forests, which
extended for leagues in every direction. "We shall scarcely reach
Segovia to-night, mon maitre," said Antonio. And so indeed it
proved, for we became bewildered, and at last arrived where two
roads branched off in different directions, we took not the left
hand road, which would have conducted us to Segovia, but turned to
the right, in the direction of La Granja, where we arrived at
midnight.
We found the desolation of La Granja far greater than that of
Aranjuez; both had suffered from the absence of royalty, but the
former to a degree which was truly appalling. Nine-tenths of the
inhabitants had left this place, which, until the late military
revolution, had been the favourite residence of Christina. So
great is the solitude of La Granja, that wild boars from the
neighbouring forests, and especially from the beautiful pine-
covered mountain which rises like a cone directly behind the
palace, frequently find their way into the streets and squares, and
whet their tusks against the pillars of the porticos.
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