"Next day, the sun-burnt plains of La Mancha lay before us; but ere the intense heat of noon, we reached Fernancaballero, in the partida of Piedrabueno; and there (so exhausted were my soldiers, and so terrible the complaints of the wounded), though my route permitted me to tarry but one night, I was compelled to halt for two additional days, an indulgence which nearly cost me my life. In the early morning, when visiting the quarters of the sick and wounded, to render them any assistance in my power before marching, I became aware that a person was following me through the dark, muddy, and unpaved streets of the mountain Puebla. "As a soldier, habitually cautious, and, as a campaigner, aware of the Spanish character, I grasped the hilt of my Highland sword, and walked watchfully on. "This man, by whom I had certainly been dogged and followed for some time, was now joined by two others, and the three accompanied my steps, remaining close behind. Crogan was looking after our horses, and I had no other orderly or attendant; but resolving that if their intentions were bad to anticipate them, I halted, and confronting the trio, said, as if without suspicion.-- "'Señores, que hora es?' "'Son los quatro, Caballero,' replied one, gaping at me with surprise on being so suddenly accosted; but I saw the ominous gleam of two knives, as they were secretly drawn from the broad worsted sashes of his companions, who skilfully endeavoured to conceal the act. Quick as lightning, drawing a pistol from my belt, I fired a bullet right at the head of one, whose enormous red beard the flash revealed to me. The hall tore open his cheek, and carried away his left ear. His comrade rushed upon me, but I received him by thrusting the muzzle into his mouth, and hurling him furiously back. On this they all took to flight; but not before I perceived that the wounded man had his left hand swathed in a bandage. "'O ho, Señor Sancho, la Barba Roxa!' said I, recognising the robber whom I had maimed at La Guardia; 'I thought your voice was not unfamiliar to me.' "I hurried to the muster-place, in a frame of mind that struggled between wrath at my narrow escape, and triumph at the victory I had won; but, in ten minutes after, the drum beat, and, replacing the sick in the waggons, we moved off. "Our march of fifteen miles from Fernancaballero we got rapidly over; for Crogan and I having found no less than twenty-five mules grazing near the Alzuer, which there flows through a fertile, plain, many of them bridled, as if just abandoned by their riders, we yoked them to the waggons, and entering Ciudad Real, the capital of La Mancha, passed at a rapid pace through its broad, straight, and well-paved streets, to the great Plaza, or principal square.