It Happened One Day That Victoriano, Being In Need Of A Pillow,
Sent Word To The People Of The Posada To Send Him His Alforjas Or
Saddlebags, Which They Did.
In these bags there chanced to be a
kind of rope, or, as it is called in Spanish, soga, with which he
was in the habit of fastening his satchel to the pony's back.
The
urchins seeing an end of this rope, hanging from the alforjas,
instantly ran to the alcalde to give him information. Late at
evening, the alcalde again visited the prisoner at the head of his
twelve men as usual. "Buenas noches," said the alcalde. "Buenas
noches tenga usted," replied Victoriano. "For what purpose did you
send for the soga this afternoon?" demanded the functionary. "I
sent for no soga," said the prisoner, "I sent for my alforjas to
serve as a pillow, and it was sent in them by chance." "You are a
false malicious knave," retorted the alcalde; "you intend to hang
yourself, and by so doing ruin us all, as your death would be laid
at our door. Give me the soga." No greater insult can be offered
to a Spaniard than to tax him with an intention of committing
suicide. Poor Victoriano flew into a violent rage, and after
calling the alcalde several very uncivil names, he pulled the soga
from his bags, flung it at his head, and told him to take it home
and use it for his own neck.
At length the people of the posada took pity on the prisoner,
perceiving that he was very harshly treated for no crime at all;
they therefore determined to afford him an opportunity of informing
his friends of his situation, and accordingly sent him a pen and
inkhorn, concealed in a loaf of bread, and a piece of writing
paper, pretending that the latter was intended for cigars. So
Victoriano wrote the letter; but now ensued the difficulty of
sending it to its destination, as no person in the village dare
have carried it for any reward. The good people, however,
persuaded a disbanded soldier from another village, who chanced to
be at Fuente la Higuera in quest of work, to charge himself with
it, assuring him that I would pay him well for his trouble. The
man, watching his opportunity, received the letter from Victoriano
at the window: and it was he who, after travelling on foot all
night, delivered it to me in safety at Madrid.
I was now relieved from my anxiety, and had no fears for the
result. I instantly went to a friend who is in possession of large
estates about Guadalajara, in which province Fuente la Higuera is
situated, who furnished me with letters to the civil governor of
Guadalajara and all the principal authorities; these I delivered to
Antonio, whom, at his own request, I despatched on the errand of
the prisoner's liberation. He first directed his course to Fuente
la Higuera, where, entering the alcalde's house, he boldly told him
what he had come about. The alcalde expecting that I was at hand,
with an army of Englishmen, for the purpose of rescuing the
prisoner, became greatly alarmed, and instantly despatched his wife
to summon his twelve men; however, on Antonio's assuring him that
there was no intention of having recourse to violence, he became
more tranquil. In a short time Antonio was summoned before the
conclave and its blind sacerdotal president. They at first
attempted to frighten him by assuming a loud bullying tone, and
talking of the necessity of killing all strangers, and especially
the detested Don Jorge and his dependents. Antonio, however, who
was not a person apt to allow himself to be easily terrified,
scoffed at their threats, and showing them his letters to the
authorities of Guadalajara, said that he should proceed there on
the morrow and denounce their lawless conduct, adding that he was a
Turkish subject, and that should they dare to offer him the
slightest incivility, he would write to the sublime Porte, in
comparison with whom the best kings in the world were but worms,
and who would not fail to avenge the wrongs of any of his children,
however distant, in a manner too terrible to be mentioned. He then
returned to his posada. The conclave now proceeded to deliberate
amongst themselves, and at last determined to send their prisoner
on the morrow to Guadalajara, and deliver him into the hands of the
civil governor.
Nevertheless, in order to keep up a semblance of authority, they
that night placed two men armed at the door of the posada where
Antonio was lodged, as if he himself were a prisoner. These men,
as often as the clock struck the hour, shouted "Ave Maria! Death
to the heretics." Early in the morning the alcalde presented
himself at the posada, but before entering he made an oration at
the door to the people in the street, saying, amongst other things,
"Brethren, these are the fellows who have come to rob us of our
religion." He then went into Antonio's apartment, and after
saluting him with great politeness, said, that as a royal or high
mass was about to be celebrated that morning, he had come to invite
him to go to church with him. Whereupon Antonio, though by no
means a mass-goer, rose and accompanied him, and remained two
hours, as he told me, on his knees on the cold stones, to his great
discomfort; the eyes of the whole congregation being fixed upon him
during the time.
After mass and breakfast, he departed for Guadalajara, Victoriano
having been already despatched under a guard. On his arrival, he
presented his letters to the individuals for whom they were
intended. The civil governor was convulsed with merriment on
hearing Antonio's account of the adventure. Victoriano was set at
liberty, and the books were placed in embargo at Guadalajara; the
governor stating, however, that though it was his duty to detain
them at present, they should be sent to me whenever I chose to
claim them; he moreover said that he would do his best to cause the
authorities of Fuente la Higuera to be severely punished, as in the
whole affair they had acted in the most cruel tyrannical manner,
for which they had no authority.
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