第19章

Vexatious Delays - Drunken Driver - The Murdered Mule -The Lamentation - Adventure on the Heath - Fear of Darkness -Portuguese Fidalgo - The Escort - Return to Lisbon.

I rose at four, and after having taken some refreshment, I descended and found the strange man and his wife sleeping in the chimney corner by the fire, which was still burning; they soon awoke and began preparing their breakfast, which consisted of salt sardinhas, broiled upon the embers.In the meantime the woman sang snatches of the beautiful hymn, very common in Spain, which commences thus:-"Once of old upon a mountain, shepherds overcome with sleep, Near to Bethlem's holy tower, kept at dead of night their sheep;Round about the trunk they nodded of a huge ignited oak, Whence the crackling flame ascending bright and clear the darkness broke."On hearing that I was about to depart, she said, "You shall have some of my husband's rosemary, which will keep you from danger, and prevent any misfortune occurring." I was foolish enough to permit her to put some of it in my hat; and the man having by this time arrived with his mules, I bade farewell to my friendly hostesses, and entered the chaise with my servant.

I remarked at the time, that the mules which drew us were the finest I had ever seen; the largest could be little short of sixteen hands high; and the fellow told me in his bad French that he loved them better than his wife and children.We turned round the corner of the convent and proceeded down the street which leads to the south-western gate.The driver now stopped before the door of a large house, and having alighted, said that it was yet very early, and that he was afraid to venture forth, as it was very probable we should be robbed, and himself murdered, as the robbers who resided in the town would be apprehensive of his discovering them, but that the family who lived in this house were going to Lisbon, and would depart in about a quarter of an hour, when we might avail ourselves of an escort of soldiers which they would take with them, and in their company we should run no danger.I told him I had no fear, and commanded him to drive on; but he said he would not, and left us in the street.We waited an hour, when two carriages came to the door of the house, but it seems the family were not yet ready, whereupon the coachman likewise got down and went away.At the expiration of about half an hour the family came out, and when their luggage had been arranged they called for the coachman, but he was nowhere to be found.

Search was made for him, but ineffectually, and an hour more was spent before another driver could be procured; but the escort had not yet made its appearance, and it was not before a servant had been twice despatched to the barracks that it arrived.At last everything was ready, and they drove off.

All this time I had seen nothing of our own coachman, and I fully expected that he had abandoned us altogether.In a few minutes I saw him staggering up the street in a state of intoxication, attempting to sing the Marseillois hymn.I said nothing to him, but sat observing him.He stood for some time staring at the mules and talking incoherent nonsense in French.

At last he said, "I am not so drunk but I can ride," and proceeded to lead his mules towards the gate.When out of the town he made several ineffectual attempts to mount the smallest mule which bore the saddle; he at length succeeded, and instantly commenced spurring at a furious rate down the road.

We arrived at a place where a narrow rocky path branched off, by taking which we should avoid a considerable circuit round the city wall, which otherwise it would be necessary to make before we could reach the road to Lisbon, which lay at the north-east; he now said, "I shall take this path, for by so doing we shall overtake the family in a minute"; so into the path we went; it was scarcely wide enough to admit the carriage, and exceedingly steep and broken; we proceeded;ascending and descending, the wheels cracked, and the motion was so violent that we were in danger of being cast out as from a sling.I saw that if we remained in the carriage it must be broken in pieces, as our weight must insure its destruction.Icalled to him in Portuguese to stop, but he flogged and spurred the beasts the more.My man now entreated me for God's sake to speak to him in French, for, if anything would pacify him, that would.I did so, and entreated him to let us dismount and walk, till we had cleared this dangerous way.The result justified Antonio's anticipation.He instantly stopped and said, "Sir, you are master, you have only to command and Ishall obey." We dismounted and walked on till we reached the great road, when we once more seated ourselves.

The family were about a quarter of a mile in advance, and we were no sooner reseated, than he lashed the mules into full gallop for the purpose of overtaking it; his cloak had fallen from his shoulder, and, in endeavouring to readjust it, he dropped the string from his hand by which he guided the large mule, it became entangled in the legs of the poor animal, which fell heavily on its neck, it struggled for a moment, and then lay stretched across the way, the shafts over its body.I was pitched forward into the dirt, and the drunken driver fell upon the murdered mule.

I was in a great rage, and cried, "You drunken renegade, who are ashamed to speak the language of your own country, you have broken the staff of your existence, and may now starve.""Paciencia," said he, and began kicking the head of the mule, in order to make it rise; but I pushed him down, and taking his knife, which had fallen from his pocket, cut the bands by which it was attached to the carriage, but life had fled, and the film of death had begun to cover its eyes.