One day, wandering in the higher part of the plain of Cachena, near Cordova, hara.s.sed with fatigue, dying of thirst, burned by an overhead sun, I perceived, at some distance from the path I was following, a little green lawn dotted with rushes and reeds. It proclaimed to me the neighbourhood of a spring, and I saw that a brook issued from a narrow gorge between two lofty spurs of the Sierra de Cabra.
At the mouth of the gorge my horse neighed, and another horse that I did not see answered immediately. A hundred steps farther, and the gorge, suddenly widening, revealed a sort of natural circus, shaded by the cliffs which surrounded it. It was impossible to light upon a place which promised a pleasanter halt to the traveller.
But the honour of discovering this beautiful spot did not belong to me.
A man was resting there already, and it my entrance, he had risen and approached his horse. He was a young fellow of medium height, but robust appearance, with a gloomy and haughty air. In one hand he held his horse"s halter, in the other a bra.s.s blunderbuss. The fierce air of the man somewhat surprised me, but not having seen any robbers I no longer believed in them. My guide Antonio, however, who came up behind me, showed evident signs of terror, and drew near very much against his will.
I stretched myself on the gra.s.s, drew out my cigar-case, and asked the man with the blunderbuss if he had a tinder-box on him. The unknown, without speaking, produced his tinder-box, and hastened to strike a light for me. In return I gave him one of my best Havanas, for which he thanked me with an inclination of the head.
In Spain a cigar given and received establishes relations of hospitality, like the sharing of bread and salt in the East. My unknown now proved more talkative than I had expected. He seemed half famished, and devoured some slices of excellent ham, which I had put in my guide"s knapsack, wolfishly. When I mentioned I was going to the Venta del Cuervo for the night he offered to accompany me, and I accepted willingly.
As we rode along Antonio endeavoured to attract my attention by mysterious signs, but I took no notice. Doubtless my companion was a smuggler, or a robber. What did it matter to me? I knew I had nothing to fear from a man who had eaten and smoked with me.
We arrived at the venta, which was one of the most wretched I had yet come across. An old woman opened the door, and on seeing my companion, exclaimed, "Ah, Senor Don Jose!"
Don Jose frowned and raised his hand, and the old woman was silent at once.
The supper was better than I expected, and after supper Don Jose played the mandoline and sang some melancholy songs. My guide decided to pa.s.s the night in the stable, but Don Jose and I stretched ourselves on mule cloths on the floor.
Very disagreeable itchings s.n.a.t.c.hed me from my first nap, and drove me to a wooden bench outside the door. I was about to close my eyes for the second time, when, to my surprise, I saw Antonio leading a horse. He stopped on seeing me, and said anxiously, "Where is he?"
"In the venta; he is sleeping. He is not afraid of the fleas. Why are you taking away my horse?"
I then observed that, in order to prevent any noise, Antonio had carefully wrapped the animal"s feet in the remains of an old sack.
"Hush!" said Antonio. "That man there is Jose Navarro, the most famous bandit of Andalusia. There are two hundred ducats for whoever gives him up. I know a post of lancers a league and a half from here, and before it is day I will bring some of them here."
"What harm has the poor man done you that you denounce him?" said I.
"I am a poor wretch, sir!" was all Antonio could say. "Two hundred ducats are not to be lost, especially when it is a matter of delivering the country from such vermin."
My threats and requests were alike unavailing. Antonio was in the saddle, he set spurs to his horse after freeing its feet from the rags, and was soon lost to sight in the darkness.
I was very much annoyed with my guide, and somewhat uneasy; but quickly making up my mind, returned to the inn, and shook Don Jose to awaken him.
"Would you be very pleased to see half a dozen lancers arrive here?" I said.
He leapt to his feet.
"Ah, your guide has betrayed me! Your guide! I had suspected him. Adieu, sir. G.o.d repay you the service I am in your debt for. I am not quite as bad as you think. Yes, there is still something in me deserving the pity of a gentleman. Adieu!"
He ran to the stable, and some minutes later I heard him galloping into the fields.
As for me, I asked myself if I had been right in saving a robber, perhaps a murderer, from the gallows only because I had eaten ham and rice and smoked with him.
I think Antonio cherished a grudge against me; but, nevertheless, we parted good friends at Cordova.
_II.--My Experience with Carmen_
I pa.s.sed some days at Cordova searching for a certain ma.n.u.script in the Dominican"s library.
One evening I was leaning on the parapet of the quay, smoking, when a woman came up the flight of stairs leading to the river and sat down beside me. She was simply dressed, all in black, and we fell into conversation.
On my taking out my repeater watch she was greatly astonished.
"What inventions they have among you foreigners!"
Then she told me she was a gipsy, and proposed to tell my fortune.
"Have you heard people speak of La Carmencita?" she added. "That is me!"
"Good!" I said to myself. "Last week I supped with a highway robber; now to-day I will eat ices with a gipsy. When travelling one must see everything."
With that I escorted the Senorita Carmen to a cafe, and we had ices.
My gipsy had a strange and wild beauty, a face which astonished at first, but which one could not forget. Her eyes, in particular, had an expression, at once loving and fierce, that I have found in no human face since.
It would have been ridiculous to have had my fortune told in a public cafe and I begged the fair sorceress to allow me to accompany her to her domicile. She at once consented, but insisted on seeing my watch again.
"Is it really of gold?" she said, examining it with great attention.
Night had set in, and most of the shops were closed and the streets almost deserted as we crossed the Guadalquiver bridge, and went on to the outskirts of the town.
The house we entered was by no means a palace. A child opened the door, and disappeared when the gipsy said some words to it in the Romany tongue.
Then the gipsy produced some cards, a magnet, a dried chameleon, and other things necessary for her art. She told me to cross my left hand with a piece of money, and the magic ceremonies began. It was evident to me that she was no half-sorceress.
Unfortunately, we were soon disturbed. Of a sudden the door opened violently, and a man entered, who denounced the gipsy in a manner far from polite.
I at once recognised my friend Don Jose, and greeted him cheerfully.
"The same as ever! This will have an end," he said turning fiercely to the gipsy, who now started talking to him in her own language. She grew animated as she spoke, and her eyes became terrible. It appeared to me she was urging him warmly to do something at which he hesitated. I think I understood what it was only too well from seeing her quickly pa.s.s and repa.s.s her little hand under her chin. There was some question of a throat to cut, and I had a suspicion that the throat was mine.
Don Jose only answered with two or three words in a sharp tone, and the gipsy, casting a look of deep contempt at him, retired to a corner of the room, and taking an orange, peeled it and began to eat it.
Don Jose took my arm, opened the door, and led me into the street. We walked some way together in the profoundest silence. Then, stretching out his hand, "Keep straight on," he Said, "and you will find the bridge."
With that he turned his back on me, and walked rapidly away. I returned to my inn a little crestfallen and depressed. Worst of all was that, as I was undressing, I discovered my watch was missing.
I departed for Seville next day, and after several months of rambling in Andalusia, was once more back in Cordova, on my way to Madrid.
The good fathers at the Dominican convent received me with open arms.
"Your watch has been found again, and will be returned to you," one of them told me. "The rascal is in gaol, and is to be executed the day after to-morrow. He is known in the country under the name of Jose Navarro, and he is a man to be seen."
I went to see the prisoner, and took him some cigars. At first he shrugged his shoulders and received me coldly, but I saw him again on the morrow, and pa.s.sed a part of the day with him. It was from his mouth I learnt the sad adventures of his life.