Letters [41]
fellow of great strength and ferocity, particularly famous for the skill he possessed in darting a long knife and transfixing his opponents. Sabocha's connection with the gang at last became known, and he fled with the greatest part of his associates across the Tagus, to the northern provinces. He and his brother eventually lost their lives on the road to Coimbra, in an engagement with the military. His house was razed by order of the Government.
The ruins of this house are still frequently visited by banditti, who eat and drink amongst the stones and look out for prey, as the place commands a view of the road. The old man assured me that about two months previous, on returning from Aldea Gallega with his mules from accompanying some travellers, he had been knocked down, stript naked, and had all his money taken from him, by a fellow who, he believed, came from this murderers' nest. He said that he was an exceedingly powerful young man with immense moustaches and whiskers, and was armed with an ESPINGARDA or musket. About ten days subsequently he saw the robber at Vendas Novas, where we were to pass the night. The fellow on recognising him took him aside and threatened, with horrid imprecations, that he should never be permitted to return home if he attempted to discover him; he therefore held his peace, as he said there was little to be gained and everything to be lost by apprehending him, as he would have been speedily set at liberty for want of evidence to criminate him, and then he would not have failed to have his revenge, or would have been anticipated therein by his comrades.
I dismounted and went up to the place, and saw the vestiges of a fire and a broken bottle. The sons of plunder had been there very lately. I left a New Testament and some tracts amongst the ruins, and hastened away.
The sun had dispelled the mists and was beaming very hot; we rode on for about an hour, when I heard the neighing of a horse in our rear, and our guide said that there was a party of horsemen behind. Our mules were good, and they did not overtake us for at least twenty minutes. The foremost rider was a gentleman in a fashionable travelling dress; a little way behind were an officer, two soldiers, and a servant in livery. I heard the principal horseman, on overtaking Anthonio, enquiring who I was, and whether I was French or English. He was told I was an English gentleman, travelling. He then asked whether I understood Portuguese; the man said I understood it, but that he believed I spoke French and Italian better. The gentleman then spurred on his horse and accosted me, not in Portuguese, or in French, or Italian, but in the purest English that I have ever heard spoken by a foreigner. It had indeed nothing of foreign accent or pronunciation in it, and had I not known by the countenance of the speaker that he was no Englishman (for there is a peculiarity in the English countenance which, though it cannot be described, is sure to betray the Englishman), I should have concluded that I was conversing with a countryman. He continued in company and discourse until we arrived at Pegoens.
Pegoens consists of about two or three houses and an inn; there is likewise a species of barrack, where half a dozen soldiers are stationed. In the whole of Portugal there is no place of worse reputation, and the inn is nicknamed ESTALAGEM DE LADROENS, or the hostelry of thieves; for it is there that the banditti of the wilderness, which extends around it on every side for leagues, are in the habit of coming and spending the fruits of their criminal daring; there they dance and sing, feast on fricasseed rabbits and olives, and drink the muddy but strong wine of the Alemtejo. An enormous fire, fed by the trunk of a cork-tree, was blazing in a niche on the left hand on entering the spacious kitchen; by it, seething, were several large jars, which emitted no disagreeable odour, and reminded me that I had not yet broken my fast, although it was now nearly one o'clock and
The ruins of this house are still frequently visited by banditti, who eat and drink amongst the stones and look out for prey, as the place commands a view of the road. The old man assured me that about two months previous, on returning from Aldea Gallega with his mules from accompanying some travellers, he had been knocked down, stript naked, and had all his money taken from him, by a fellow who, he believed, came from this murderers' nest. He said that he was an exceedingly powerful young man with immense moustaches and whiskers, and was armed with an ESPINGARDA or musket. About ten days subsequently he saw the robber at Vendas Novas, where we were to pass the night. The fellow on recognising him took him aside and threatened, with horrid imprecations, that he should never be permitted to return home if he attempted to discover him; he therefore held his peace, as he said there was little to be gained and everything to be lost by apprehending him, as he would have been speedily set at liberty for want of evidence to criminate him, and then he would not have failed to have his revenge, or would have been anticipated therein by his comrades.
I dismounted and went up to the place, and saw the vestiges of a fire and a broken bottle. The sons of plunder had been there very lately. I left a New Testament and some tracts amongst the ruins, and hastened away.
The sun had dispelled the mists and was beaming very hot; we rode on for about an hour, when I heard the neighing of a horse in our rear, and our guide said that there was a party of horsemen behind. Our mules were good, and they did not overtake us for at least twenty minutes. The foremost rider was a gentleman in a fashionable travelling dress; a little way behind were an officer, two soldiers, and a servant in livery. I heard the principal horseman, on overtaking Anthonio, enquiring who I was, and whether I was French or English. He was told I was an English gentleman, travelling. He then asked whether I understood Portuguese; the man said I understood it, but that he believed I spoke French and Italian better. The gentleman then spurred on his horse and accosted me, not in Portuguese, or in French, or Italian, but in the purest English that I have ever heard spoken by a foreigner. It had indeed nothing of foreign accent or pronunciation in it, and had I not known by the countenance of the speaker that he was no Englishman (for there is a peculiarity in the English countenance which, though it cannot be described, is sure to betray the Englishman), I should have concluded that I was conversing with a countryman. He continued in company and discourse until we arrived at Pegoens.
Pegoens consists of about two or three houses and an inn; there is likewise a species of barrack, where half a dozen soldiers are stationed. In the whole of Portugal there is no place of worse reputation, and the inn is nicknamed ESTALAGEM DE LADROENS, or the hostelry of thieves; for it is there that the banditti of the wilderness, which extends around it on every side for leagues, are in the habit of coming and spending the fruits of their criminal daring; there they dance and sing, feast on fricasseed rabbits and olives, and drink the muddy but strong wine of the Alemtejo. An enormous fire, fed by the trunk of a cork-tree, was blazing in a niche on the left hand on entering the spacious kitchen; by it, seething, were several large jars, which emitted no disagreeable odour, and reminded me that I had not yet broken my fast, although it was now nearly one o'clock and