“Nothing particular occurred next day: the _jorobado_ came down and said comical things to me in good Spanish; and the big servant came down, but whatever he said, and he did not say much, I understood not, for it was in that disastrous jabber. They stayed with me throughout the day till after supper-time, and then the _jorobado_ gave me a gold ounce, and mounting their horses, they both departed as strangely as they had come, in the dark night, I know not whither.” “Is that all?” I demanded. “No, _Señor_, it is not all; for I was right in supposing them evil _brujos_: the very next day an express arrived, and a great search was made after them, and I was arrested for having harboured them. This occurred just after the present wars had commenced. It was said they were spies and emissaries of I don’t know what nation, and that they had been in all parts of the Asturias, holding conferences with some of the disaffected. They escaped, however, and were never heard of more, though the animals which they rode were found without their riders, wandering amongst the hills; they were common ponies, and were of no value. As for the _brujos_, it is believed that they embarked in some small vessel which was lying concealed in one of the _rias_ of the coast.” _Myself_.—What was the word which you continually heard proceeding from the lips of the big servant, and which you think you can remember? _Host_.—_Señor_, it is now three years since I heard it, and at times I can remember it, and at others not; sometimes I have started up in my sleep repeating it. Stay, _Señor_, I have it now at the point of my tongue: it was _Patusca_. _Myself_.—_Batuschca_, you mean; the men were Russians. CHAPTER XXXIII. Oviedo—The Ten Gentlemen—The Swiss again—Modest Request—The Robbers—Episcopal Benevolence—The Cathedral—Portrait of Feijoo. I must now take a considerable stride in my journey, no less than from Muros to Oviedo, contenting myself with observing, that we proceeded from Muros to Velez, {70} and from thence to Gijon, where our guide Martin bade us farewell, and returned with his mare to Rivadeo. The honest fellow did not part without many expressions of regret; indeed he even expressed a desire that I should take him and his mare into my service. “For,” said he, “I have a great desire to run through all Spain, and even the world: and I am sure I shall never have a better opportunity than by attaching myself to your worship’s skirts.” On my reminding him, however, of his wife and family, for he had both, he said, “True, true, I had forgotten them: happy the guide whose only wife and family are a mare and foal.”