I am a stranger in Spain, and may want a friend;
fortune has been kind to me in procuring me one who is a member of
so powerful a body."
Baltasar. - Yes, I have a great deal to say with the other
nationals; there is none in Madrid better known than Baltasar, or
more dreaded by the Carlists. You say you may stand in need of a
friend; there is no fear of my failing you in any emergency. Both
myself and any of the other nationals will be proud to go out with
you as padrinos, should you have any affair of honour on your
hands. But why do you not become one of us? We would gladly
receive you into our body.
Myself. - Is the duty of a national particularly hard?
Baltasar. - By no means; we have to do duty about once every fifteen
days, and then there is occasionally a review, which does not last
long. No! the duties of a national are by no means onerous, and
the privileges are great. I have seen three of my brother
nationals walk up and down the Prado of a Sunday, with sticks in
their hands, cudgelling all the suspicious characters, and it is
our common practice to scour the streets at night, and then if we
meet any person who is obnoxious to us, we fall upon him, and with
a knife or a bayonet generally leave him wallowing in his blood on
the pavement:
