Gave me other
clothes, and I looked like a Corahani, and away we marched for many
days amidst deserts and small villages, and more than once it
seemed to me that I was amongst the Errate, for their ways were the
same: the men would hokkawar (cheat) with mules and asses, and the
women told baji, and after many days we came before a large town,
and the black man said, 'Go in there, little sister, and there you
will find your ro;' and I went to the gate, and an armed Corahano
stood within the gate, and I looked in his face, and lo! it was my
ro.
"O what a strange town it was that I found myself in, full of
people who had once been Candore (Christians) but had renegaded and
become Corahai. There were Sese and Lalore (Portuguese), and men
of other nations, and amongst them were some of the Errate from my
own country; all were now soldiers of the Crallis of the Corahai
and followed him to his wars; and in that town I remained with my
ro a long time, occasionally going out with him to the wars, and I
often asked him about the black men who had brought me thither, and
he told me that he had had dealings with them, and that he believed
them to be of the Errate. Well, brother, to be short, my ro was
killed in the wars, before a town to which the king of the Corahai
laid siege, and I became a piuli (widow), and I returned to the
village of the renegades, as it was called, and supported myself as
well as I could; and one day as I was sitting weeping, the black
man, whom I had never seen since the day he brought me to my ro,
again stood before me, and he said, 'Come with me, little sister,
come with me, the ro is at hand'; and I went with him, and beyond
the gate in the desert was the same party of black men and women
which I had seen before. 'Where is my ro?' said I. 'Here he is,
little sister,' said the black man, 'here he is; from this day I am
the ro and you the romi; come, let us go, for there is business to
be done.'
"And I went with him, and he was my ro, and we lived amongst the
deserts, and hokkawar'd and choried and told baji; and I said to
myself, this is good, sure I am amongst the Errate in a better chim
than my own; and I often said that they were of the Errate, and
then they would laugh and say that it might be so, and that they
were not Corahai, but they could give no account of themselves.
"Well, things went on in this way for years, and I had three chai
by the black man, two of them died, but the youngest, who is the
Calli who sits by the brasero, was spared; so we roamed about and
choried and told baji; and it came to pass that once in the winter
time our company attempted to pass a wide and deep river, of which
there are many in the Chim del Corahai, and the boat overset with
the rapidity of the current and all our people were drowned, all
but myself and my chabi, whom I bore in my bosom. I had now no
friends amongst the Corahai, and I wandered about the despoblados
howling and lamenting till I became half lili (mad), and in this
manner I found my way to the coast, where I made friends with the
captain of a ship and returned to this land of Spain. And now I am
here, I often wish myself back again amongst the Corahai."
Here she commenced laughing loud and long, and when she had ceased,
her daughter and grandchild took up the laugh, which they continued
so long that I concluded they were all lunatics.
Hour succeeded hour, and still we sat crouching over the brasero,
from which, by this time, all warmth had departed; the glow had
long since disappeared, and only a few dying sparks were to be
distinguished. The room or hall was now involved in utter
darkness; the women were motionless and still; I shivered and began
to feel uneasy. "Will Antonio be here to-night?" at length I
demanded.
"No tenga usted cuidao, my London Caloro," said the Gypsy mother,
in an unearthly tone; "Pepindorio {2} has been here some time."
I was about to rise from my seat and attempt to escape from the
house, when I felt a hand laid upon my shoulder, and in a moment I
heard the voice of Antonio.
"Be not afraid, 'tis I, brother; we will have a light anon, and
then supper."
The supper was rude enough, consisting of bread, cheese, and
olives. Antonio, however, produced a leathern bottle of excellent
wine; we despatched these viands by the light of an earthen lamp
which was placed upon the floor.
"Now," said Antonio to the youngest female, "bring me the pajandi,
and I will sing a gachapla."
The girl brought the guitar, which, with some difficulty, the Gypsy
tuned, and then strumming it vigorously, he sang:
"I stole a plump and bonny fowl,
But ere I well had dined,
The master came with scowl and growl,
And me would captive bind.
"My hat and mantle off I threw,
And scour'd across the lea,
Then cried the beng {3} with loud halloo,
Where does the Gypsy flee?"
He continued playing and singing for a considerable time, the two
younger females dancing in the meanwhile with unwearied diligence,
whilst the aged mother occasionally snapped her fingers or beat
time on the ground with her stick.
