I was likewise averse to the books being offered
to the peasantry at an advanced price, being aware that they could
not afford it, and the books, by such an attempt, would lose a
considerable part of that influence which they then enjoyed; for
their cheapness struck the minds of the people, and they considered
it almost as much in the light of a miracle as the Jews the manna
which dropped from heaven at the time they were famishing, or the
spring which suddenly gushed from the flinty rocks to assuage their
thirst in the wilderness.
At this time a peasant was continually passing and repassing
between Villa Seca and Madrid, bringing us cargoes of Testaments on
a burrico. We continued our labours until the greater part of the
villages of the Sagra were well supplied with books, more
especially those of Vargas, Coveja, Mocejon, Villaluenga, Villa
Seca, and Yungler. Hearing at last that our proceedings were known
at Toledo, and were causing considerable alarm, we returned to
Madrid.
CHAPTER XLIV
Aranjuez - A Warning - A Night Adventure - A Fresh Expedition -
Segovia - Abades - Factions Curas - Lopez in Prison - Rescue of Lopez.
The success which had attended our efforts in the Sagra of Toledo
speedily urged me on to a new enterprise. I now determined to
direct my course to La Mancha, and to distribute the word amongst
the villages of that province. Lopez, who had already performed
such important services in the Sagra, had accompanied us to Madrid,
and was eager to take part in this new expedition. We determined
in the first place to proceed to Aranjuez, where we hoped to obtain
some information which might prove of utility in the further
regulation of our movements; Aranjuez being but a slight distance
from the frontier of La Mancha and the high road into that province
passing directly through it. We accordingly sallied forth from
Madrid, selling from twenty to forty Testaments in every village
which lay in our way, until we arrived at Aranjuez, to which place
we had forwarded a large supply of books.
A lovely spot is Aranjuez, though in desolation: here the Tagus
flows through a delicious valley, perhaps the most fertile in
Spain; and here upsprang, in Spain's better days, a little city,
with a small but beautiful palace shaded by enormous trees, where
royalty delighted to forget its cares. Here Ferdinand the Seventh
spent his latter days, surrounded by lovely senoras and Andalusian
bull-fighters: but as the German Schiller has it in one of his
tragedies:
"The happy days in fair Aranjuez,
Are past and gone."
When the sensual king went to his dread account, royalty deserted
it, and it soon fell into decay. Intriguing counters no longer
crowd its halls; its spacious circus, where Manchegan bulls once
roared in rage and agony, is now closed, and the light tinkling of
guitars is no longer heard amidst its groves and gardens.
At Aranjuez I made a sojourn of three days, during which time
Antonio, Lopez, and myself visited every house in the town. We
found a vast deal of poverty and ignorance amongst the inhabitants,
and experienced some opposition: nevertheless it pleased the
Almighty to permit us to dispose of about eighty Testaments, which
were purchased entirely by the very poor people; those in easier
circumstances paying no attention to the word of God, but rather
turning it to scoff and ridicule.
One circumstance was very gratifying and cheering to me, namely,
the ocular proof which I possessed that the books which I had
disposed of were read, and with attention, by those to whom I sold
them; and that many others participated in their benefit. In the
streets of Aranjuez, and beneath the mighty cedars and gigantic
elms and plantains which compose its noble woods, I have frequently
seen groups assembled listening to individuals who, with the New
Testament in their hands, were reading aloud the comfortable words
of salvation.
It is probable that, had I remained a longer period at Aranjuez, I
might have sold many more of these divine books, but I was eager to
gain La Mancha and its sandy plains, and to conceal myself for a
season amongst its solitary villages, for I was apprehensive that a
storm was gathering around me; but when once through Ocana, the
frontier town, I knew well that I should have nothing to fear from
the Spanish authorities, as their power ceased there, the rest of
La Mancha being almost entirely in the hands of the Carlists, and
overrun by small parties of banditti, from whom, however, I trusted
that the Lord would preserve me. I therefore departed for Ocana,
distant three leagues from Aranjuez.
I started with Antonio at six in the evening, having early in the
morning sent forward Lopez with between two and three hundred
Testaments. We left the high road, and proceeded by a shorter way
through wild hills and over very broken and precipitous ground:
being well mounted we found ourselves just after sunset opposite
Ocana, which stands on a steep hill. A deep valley lay between us
and the town: we descended, and came to a small bridge, which
traverses a rivulet at the bottom of the valley, at a very small
distance from a kind of suburb. We crossed the bridge, and were
passing by a deserted house on our left hand, when a man appeared
from under the porch.
What I am about to state will seem incomprehensible, but a singular
history and a singular people are connected with it: the man
placed himself before my horse so as to bar the way, and said
"Schophon," which, in the Hebrew tongue, signifies a rabbit.
