At midnight our calesero arrived, punctual to his time, and we clambered up, in a state of unmistakable somnambulism, on to the meagre cushions of our vehicle. The horrible jolting caused by the abominable pavement of Toledo soon woke us sufficiently to enable us to enjoy the fantastic appearance of our caravan. The carriage, with its scarlet wheels and extravagant body, seemed--so close together were the walls--to divide the houses, which closed again like waves after it had passed! A bare-legged _sereno_, with the flowing drawers and variegated handkerchief of the Valencians, walked before us, bearing at the end of his lance a lantern, whose flickering light produced all kinds of singular effects of light and shade, such as Rembrandt would not have disdained to introduce into some of his fine etchings of night-watches and patroles. The only noise we heard was the silver tinkling of the bells on the neck of our mule and the creaking of the axletrees. The inhabitants were buried in as deep a sleep as the statues in the chapel of _los Reyes Nuevos_. From time to time, our _sereno_ poked his lantern under the nose of some vagabond who lay slumbering across the street, and pushed him on one side with the handle of his lance; for whenever any one feels sleepy in Spain, he stretches out his cloak upon the ground and lies down with the most perfect and philosophical calmness. Before the gate, which was not yet open, and where we were kept waiting two hours, the ground was strewed with sleepers, who were snoring away in every possible variety of tone; for the street is the only bedroom which is not infected with insects; to enter an alcove, you must possess all the resignation of an Indian Fakir. At last the confounded gate swung back upon its hinges, and we returned by the same road we had come. CHAPTER X. MADRID TO GRANADA. Procession of the Corpus Christi at Madrid--Aranjuez--A Patio--Ocaña and its Environs--Tembleque and its Garters--A Night at Manzanares--Santa Cruz Knives--The Puerto de los Perros--Colony of Carolina--Baylen--Jaen, its Cathedral and its Majos--Granada--The Alameda--The Alhambra--The Generalife--The Albaycin--Life at Granada--The Gitanos--The Carthusian Convent--Santo Domingo--Ascent of the Mulhacen. We were obliged to pass through Madrid again, in order to take the diligence to Granada: we could, it is true, have gone and waited for it at Aranjuez, but we should have then run the risk of finding it full; we therefore determined to return to Madrid.