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. I
knew this word to be one of the Jewish countersigns, and asked the
man if he had any thing to communicate?
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