"Mon
Maitre," Said He, "I Wish To Show You That Nothing Is Beyond My
Capacity." But He Who Put The Labours Of Us Both To Shame, Was My
Host, Juan Lopez, Whom It Had Pleased The Lord To Render Favourable
To The Cause.
"Don Jorge," said he, "io quiero engancharme con
usted (I wish to enlist with you); I am a liberal,
And a foe to
superstition; I will take the field, and, if necessary, will follow
you to the end of the world; Viva Ingalaterra; viva el Evangelio."
Thus saying, he put a large bundle of Testaments into a satchel,
and springing upon the crupper of his grey donkey, he cried "Arrhe
burra," and hastened away. I sat down to my journal.
Ere I had finished writing, I heard the voice of the burra in the
courtyard, and going out, I found my host returned. He had
disposed of his whole cargo of twenty Testaments at the village of
Vargas, distant from Villa Seca about a league. Eight poor harvest
men, who were refreshing themselves at the door of a wine-house,
purchased each a copy, whilst the village schoolmaster secured the
rest for the little ones beneath his care, lamenting, at the same
time, the great difficulty he had long experienced in obtaining
religious books, owing to their scarcity and extravagant price.
Many other persons were also anxious to purchase Testaments, but
Lopez was unable to supply them: at his departure, they requested
him to return within a few days.
I was aware that I was playing rather a daring game, and that it
was very possible that, when I least expected it, I might be
seized, tied to the tail of a mule, and dragged either to the
prison of Toledo or Madrid. Yet such a prospect did not discourage
me in the least, but rather urged me to persevere; for at this
time, without the slightest wish to gratify myself, I could say
that I was eager to lay down my life for the cause, and whether a
bandit's bullet, or the gaol fever brought my career to a close,
was a matter of indifference to me; I was not then a stricken man:
"Ride on because of the word of righteousness," was my cry.
The news of the arrival of the book of life soon spread like
wildfire through the villages of the Sagra of Toledo, and wherever
my people and myself directed our course we found the inhabitants
disposed to receive our merchandize; it was even called for where
not exhibited. One night as I was bathing myself and horse in the
Tagus, a knot of people gathered on the bank, crying, "Come out of
the water, Englishman, and give us books; we have got our money in
our hands." The poor creatures then held out their hands, filled
with cuartos, a copper coin of the value of the farthing, but
unfortunately I had no Testaments to give them. Antonio, however,
who was at a short distance, having exhibited one, it was instantly
torn from his hands by the people, and a scuffle ensued to obtain
possession of it.
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