The Bible in Spain, Vol. 2 [of 2]: Or, the Journeys, Adventures, and Imprisonments of an Englishman in an Attempt to Circulate the Scriptures in the Peninsula — John Shaqi
The Bible in Spain, Vol. 2 [of 2]: Or, the Journeys, Adventures, and Imprisonments of an Englishman in an Attempt to Circulate the Scriptures in the PeninsulaBorrow, George
Religion
The Bible in Spain, Vol. 2 [of 2]: Or, the Journeys, Adventures, and Imprisonments of an Englishman in an Attempt to Circulate the Scriptures in the Peninsula
Borrow, George
Borrow, George, 1803-1881 -- Travel -- Spain; Spain -- Description and travel; Spain -- History -- 19th century
_Alcalde_.—See, you have betrayed yourself; that is the very person we
suppose him to be.
_Myself_.—It is true that they are both hunchbacks. But how can I be
like Don Carlos? I have nothing the appearance of a Spaniard, and am
nearly a foot taller than the pretender.
_Alcalde_.—That makes no difference; you of course carry many waistcoats
about you, by means of which you disguise yourself, and appear tall or
low according to your pleasure.
This last was so conclusive an argument that I had of course nothing to
reply to it. The _alcalde_ looked around him in triumph, as if he had
made some notable discovery. “Yes, it is Calros; it is Calros,” said the
crowd at the door. “It will be as well to have these men shot
instantly,” continued the _alcalde_; “if they are not the two pretenders,
they are at any rate two of the factious.”
“I am by no means certain that they are either one or the other,” said a
gruff voice.
The _justicia_ of Finisterre turned their eyes in the direction from
which these words proceeded, and so did I. Our glances rested upon the
figure who held watch at the door. He had planted the barrel of his
musket on the floor, and was now leaning his chin against the butt.
“I am by no means certain that they are either one or the other,”
repeated he, advancing forward. “I have been examining this man,”
pointing to myself, “and listening whilst he spoke, and it appears to me
that after all he may prove an Englishman; he has their very look and
voice. Who knows the English better than Antonio de la Trava, and who
has a better right? Has he not sailed in their ships; has he not eaten
their biscuit; and did he not stand by Nelson when he was shot dead?”
Here the _alcalde_ became violently incensed. “He is no more an
Englishman than yourself,” he exclaimed; “if he were an Englishman would
he have come in this manner, skulking across the land? Not so, I trow.
He would have come in a ship, recommended to some of us, or to the
Catalans. He would have come to trade—to buy; but nobody knows him in
Finisterre, nor does he know anybody, and the first thing, moreover, that
he does when he reaches this place is to inspect the fort, and to ascend
the mountain, where, no doubt, he has been marking out a camp. What
brings him to Finisterre, if he is neither Calros nor a _bribon_ of a
_faccioso_?”
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