By the moon's faint light, we indistinctly perceived in the obscurity a sort of embattled antique edifice, where, by the whiteness of the plaster, we recognised the defences made during the last civil war, and which time had not yet succeeded in harmonizing with the main building. As a conscientious traveller, this is all we can say of Manzanares. We got into our conveyance again; sleep crept over us, and when we again opened our eyes we were in the environs of Val-de-Peñas, a town celebrated for its wine: the ground and hills, studded with constellated stones, were of a red hue and singularly crude, and we began to distinguish on the horizon ranges of mountains serrated like saws, and whose outline was very plainly marked, in spite of their great distance. Val-de-Peñas possesses nothing above the common, and owes all its reputation to its vineyards. Its name--the Valley of Stones--is perfectly justified. We stopped here to breakfast, and, by an inspiration from Heaven, I first of all took my own chocolate, and then that intended for my companion, who had not yet risen; and, foreseeing future famines, I crammed into my cup as many _bunuelos_ (a kind of small fritter) as it would hold, so as to make a sort of pretty substantial porridge; for I had not yet learned the abstemiousness of the camel, which, I did some time afterwards by dint of practising abstinence worthy of an anchorite of the primitive times. I was not then used to the climate, and I had brought from France a most unnatural appetite, which inspired the natives of the country with respectful astonishment. In a few minutes we set off all in a hurry, for we were obliged to keep close to the _correo real_, in order not to lose the advantage of its protection. On leaning out of the vehicle to take a last survey of Val-de-Peñas, I let my cap fall into the road: a _muchacho_ of twelve or fifteen years of age perceived this, and, in order to get a few _cuartos_, picked it up, and began running after the diligence, which was now at some distance from him; he overtook it, however, though he was barefooted and running on a road paved with sharp-pointed stones. I threw him a handful of sous, which certainly made him the most opulent urchin in the whole place. I mention this insignificant circumstance merely because it is characteristic of the swiftness of the Spaniards, who are the best walkers in the world, and the most active runners to be met with. We have already had occasion to speak of those foot-postilions called _zagales_, who follow carriages, going at full speed, for leagues together, without appearing to be in the least fatigued, or without even perspiring.