Our Guide Valued
Himself Upon Our Admiration Of It; Without Our Special Admiration He
Valued Himself Upon The Impressive Buildings Of The Railway Station In
The Middle Distance.
I forget whether he followed us out of the
quadrangle into the roadway where we had the advantage of some
picturesque army wagons, and some wagoners in red-faced jackets and red
trousers, and top-boots with heavy fringes of leathern strings.
Yet it
must have been he who made us aware of a high-walled inclosure where
soldiers found worthy of death by court martial could be conveniently
shot; though I think we discovered for ourselves the old woman curled up
out of the wind in a sentry-box, and sweetly asleep there while the boys
were playing marbles on the smooth ground before it. I must not omit the
peanut-boaster in front of the palace; it was in the figure of an ocean
steamer, nearly as large as the _Lusitania,_ and had smoke coming out
of the funnel, with rudder and screw complete and doll sailors climbing
over the rigging.
But it is impossible to speak adequately of the things in that wonderful
armory. If the reader has any pleasure in the harnesses of Spanish kings
and captains, from the great Charles the Fifth down through all the
Philips and the Charleses, he can glut it there. Their suits begin
almost with their steel baby clothes, and adapt themselves almost to
their senile decrepitude. There is the horse-litter in which the great
emperor was borne to battle, and there is the sword which Isabella the
great queen wore; and I liked looking at the lanterns and the flags of
the Turkish galleys from the mighty sea-fight cf Lepanto, and the many
other trophies won from the Turks.
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