"Mon
maitre," said Antonio, "this new scoundrel is asking the old one
what he thinks we have got in our portmanteaus." Then, without
awaiting my answer, he shouted, "Pistols, ye barbarians! Pistols,
as ye shall learn to your cost, if you do not cease speaking in
that gibberish and converse in Castilian." The Gallegans were
silent, and presently the first guide dropped behind, whilst the
other with the lantern moved before. "Keep in the rear," said
Antonio to the former, "and at a distance: know one thing
moreover, that I can see behind as well as before. Mon maitre,"
said he to me, "I don't suppose these fellows will attempt to do us
any harm, more especially as they do not know each other; it is
well, however, to separate them, for this is a time and place which
might tempt any one to commit robbery and murder too."
The rain still continued to fall uninterruptedly, the path was
rugged and precipitous, and the night was so dark that we could
only see indistinctly the hills which surrounded us. Once or twice
our guide seemed to have lost his way: he stopped, muttered to
himself, raised his lantern on high, and would then walk slowly and
hesitatingly forward. In this manner we proceeded for three or
four hours, when I asked the guide how far we were from Viveiro.
"I do not know exactly where we are, your worship," he replied,
"though I believe we are in the route.
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