|Authors |35 |32-1/2| 28 | 5-3/4 | 6 + 6 | Do. | | Do. |34-1/8 | (cast antler) | 5-3/4 | 8 + 0 |Sa. Quintána. | |J. M. Power |32 1/2 |... | ... | 5-1/2 | 8 + 8 |Fontanarejo. | +----------------+-------+------+--------+--------+-------+---------------+ CHAPTER XVI PERNÁLES A country better adapted by nature for the success of the enterprising bandit cannot be conceived. The vast _despoblados_ = uninhabited wastes, with scant villages far isolated and lonely mountain-tracts where a single desperado commands the way and can hold-up a score of passers-by, all lend themselves admirably to this peculiar form of industry. And up to quite recent years these natural advantages were exploited to the full. Riding through the sierras, one notes rude crosses and epitaphs inscribed on rocks recording the death of this or that wayfarer. Now travellers, as a rule, do not die natural deaths by the wayside; and an inspection of these silent memorials indicates that each occupies a site eminently adapted for a quiet murder. Fortunately, during the last year or two, the extension of the telegraph and linking-up of remote hamlets has aided authority practically to extinguish brigandage on the grander scale. Spain to-day can no longer claim a single artist of the Jack Sheppard or Dick Turpin type; not one heroic murderer such as José Maria (whose safe-conduct was more effective than that of his king), Vizco el Borje, Agua-Dulce, and other _ladrones en grande_ whose life-histories will be found outlined in _Wild Spain_. The two first-named represent a type of manhood one cannot but admire--admire despite oneself and despite its inconvenience to civilisation. These were men ignorant of fear, who, though themselves gentle, were yet able, by sheer force of iron will, to command and control cut-throat gangs which set authority at defiance, and who subjected whole districts to their anarchical aims and orders. The outlaw-overlords ever acted on similar lines. Respecting human life as, in itself, valueless, they commandeered real value by an adroit combination of liberally subsidising the peasantry while yet terrorising all by the certainty of swift and merciless retribution should the least shade of treachery befall--or rather what to the brigand-crew represented treachery. Human life was otherwise safe. Two points in this connection demand mention. Besides direct robberies, the brigands battened upon a tribute exacted from landowners and paid as a ransom to shield themselves and their tenants from molestation. Secondly, their safety and continued immunity from capture was largely due to that secret influence--quite undefinable, yet potent to this day--known as "Caciquismo." That influence was exerted on behalf of the outlaws as part of the ransom arrangement aforesaid.