"Can I not flee to the land
of the Moors," replied Balseiro, "or to the English in the camp
Of
Gibraltar; or, if I prefer it, cannot I return to this foro (city),
and live as I have hitherto done, choring the gachos (robbing the
natives); what is to hinder me? Madrid is large, and Balseiro has
plenty of friends, especially among the lumias (women)," he added
with a smile. I spoke to him of his ill-fated accomplice Candelas;
whereupon his face assumed a horrible expression. "I hope he is in
torment," exclaimed the robber. The friendship of the unrighteous
is never of long duration; the two worthies had it seems quarrelled
in prison; Candelas having accused the other of bad faith and an
undue appropriation to his own use of the corpus delicti in various
robberies which they had committed in company.
I cannot refrain from relating the subsequent history of this
Balseiro. Shortly after my own liberation, too impatient to wait
until the presidio should afford him a chance of regaining his
liberty, he in company with some other convicts broke through the
roof of the prison and escaped. He instantly resumed his former
habits, committing several daring robberies, both within and
without the walls of Madrid. I now come to his last, I may call it
his master crime, a singular piece of atrocious villainy.
Dissatisfied with the proceeds of street robbery and house-
breaking, he determined upon a bold stroke, by which he hoped to
acquire money sufficient to support him in some foreign land in
luxury and splendour.
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