It Was Probable That, When
The Number Was Made Up, The Price Of Horses Would Be Treble What It
Then Was, Which Consideration Induced Me To Purchase This Animal
Before I Exactly Wanted Him.
He was a black Andalusian stallion of
great power and strength, and capable of performing a journey of a
hundred leagues in a week's time, but he was unbroke, savage, and
furious.
A cargo of Bibles, however, which I hoped occasionally to
put on his back, would, I had no doubt, thoroughly tame him,
especially when labouring up the flinty hills of the north of
Spain. I wished to have purchased a mule, but, though I offered
thirty pounds for a sorry one, I could not obtain her; whereas the
cost of both the horses, tall powerful stately animals, scarcely
amounted to that sum.
The state of the surrounding country at this time was not very
favourable for venturing forth: Cabrera was within nine leagues of
Madrid, with an army nearly ten thousand strong; he had beaten
several small detachments of the queen's troops, and had ravaged La
Mancha with fire and sword, burning several towns; bands of
affrighted fugitives were arriving every hour, bringing tidings of
woe and disaster, and I was only surprised that the enemy did not
appear, and by taking Madrid, which was almost at his mercy, put an
end to the war at once. But the truth is, that the Carlist
generals did not wish the war to cease, for as long as the country
was involved in bloodshed and anarchy, they could plunder and
exercise that lawless authority so dear to men of fierce and brutal
passions.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 269 of 809
Words from 75143 to 75419
of 222596
