The Life of George Borrow [86]
Scarcely had we left the village when the flambeaus were extinguished, and we were left in almost total darkness. In this manner we proceeded for several hours, up hill and down dale, but generally at a very slow pace. The soldiers who escorted us from time to time sang patriotic songs . . . At last the day began to break, and I found myself amidst a train of two or three hundred people, some on foot, but the greater part mounted, either on mules or the pony mares: I could not distinguish a single horse except my own and Antonio's. A few soldiers were thinly scattered along the road." {201a}
After about a week's stay at Lugo, Borrow again attached himself to the Grand Post; but tiring of its slow and deliberate progress, he decided to push on alone, and came very near to falling a prey to the banditti. He was suddenly confronted by two of the fraternity, who presented their carbines, "which they probably intended to discharge into my body, but they took fright at the noise of Antonio's horse, who was following a little way behind." {202a}
The night was spent at Betanzos, where the black Andalusian was stricken with "a deep, hoarse cough." Remembering a prophetic remark that had been made by a roadside acquaintance to the effect that "the man must be mad who brings a horse to Galicia, and doubly so he who brings an entero," Borrow, determined to have the animal bled, sent for a farrier, meanwhile rubbing down his steed with a quart of anis brandy. The farrier demanded an ounce of gold for the operation, which decided Borrow to perform it himself. With a large fleam that he possessed, he twice bled the Andalusian, to the astonishment of the discomfited farrier, and saved its valuable life, also an ounce of gold. Next day he and Antonio walked to Coruna, leading their horses.
At Coruna were five hundred copies of the New Testament that had been sent on from Madrid. So far Borrow had himself disposed of sixty- five copies, irrespective of those sold at Lugo and other places by means of the advertisement. These books were all sold at prices ranging from 10 to 12 reals each. Borrow made a special point of this, "to give a direct lie to the assertion" that the Bible Society, having no vent for the Bibles and New Testaments it printed, was forced either to give them away or sell them by auction, when they were purchased as waste paper.
The condition of the roads at that period was so bad, on account of robbers and Carlists, that it was forbidden to anyone to travel along the thoroughfare leading to Santiago unless in company with the mail courier and his escort of soldiers. Unfortunately for Borrow his black Andalusian was not of a companionable disposition, and to bring him near other horses was to invite a fierce contest. On the rare occasions that he did travel with the Grand Post, Borrow was frequently involved in difficulties on account of the entero's unsociable nature; but as he was deeply attached to the noble beast, he retained him and suffered dangers rather than give up the companion of many an adventure.
Some idea may be obtained of the state of rural Spain in 1837, when the highways teemed with "patriots" bent upon robbing friend and foe alike and afterwards assassinating or mutilating their victims, from a story that Borrow tells of how a viper-catcher, who was engaged in pursuing his calling in the neighbourhood of Orense, fell into the hands of these miscreants, who robbed and stripped him. They then pinioned his hands behind him and drew over his head the mouth of the bag containing the LIVING vipers, which they fastened round his neck and listened with satisfaction to the poor wretch's cries. The reptiles stung their victim to madness, and after having run raving through several villages he eventually fell dead. {203a}
Making Coruna his headquarters, Borrow proceeded to Santiago, "travelling with the courier or weekly post," and from thence to Padron, Pontevedra, and Vigo. At Vigo he was apprehended as a spy, but immediately released. It was whilst at Santiago that he repeated
After about a week's stay at Lugo, Borrow again attached himself to the Grand Post; but tiring of its slow and deliberate progress, he decided to push on alone, and came very near to falling a prey to the banditti. He was suddenly confronted by two of the fraternity, who presented their carbines, "which they probably intended to discharge into my body, but they took fright at the noise of Antonio's horse, who was following a little way behind." {202a}
The night was spent at Betanzos, where the black Andalusian was stricken with "a deep, hoarse cough." Remembering a prophetic remark that had been made by a roadside acquaintance to the effect that "the man must be mad who brings a horse to Galicia, and doubly so he who brings an entero," Borrow, determined to have the animal bled, sent for a farrier, meanwhile rubbing down his steed with a quart of anis brandy. The farrier demanded an ounce of gold for the operation, which decided Borrow to perform it himself. With a large fleam that he possessed, he twice bled the Andalusian, to the astonishment of the discomfited farrier, and saved its valuable life, also an ounce of gold. Next day he and Antonio walked to Coruna, leading their horses.
At Coruna were five hundred copies of the New Testament that had been sent on from Madrid. So far Borrow had himself disposed of sixty- five copies, irrespective of those sold at Lugo and other places by means of the advertisement. These books were all sold at prices ranging from 10 to 12 reals each. Borrow made a special point of this, "to give a direct lie to the assertion" that the Bible Society, having no vent for the Bibles and New Testaments it printed, was forced either to give them away or sell them by auction, when they were purchased as waste paper.
The condition of the roads at that period was so bad, on account of robbers and Carlists, that it was forbidden to anyone to travel along the thoroughfare leading to Santiago unless in company with the mail courier and his escort of soldiers. Unfortunately for Borrow his black Andalusian was not of a companionable disposition, and to bring him near other horses was to invite a fierce contest. On the rare occasions that he did travel with the Grand Post, Borrow was frequently involved in difficulties on account of the entero's unsociable nature; but as he was deeply attached to the noble beast, he retained him and suffered dangers rather than give up the companion of many an adventure.
Some idea may be obtained of the state of rural Spain in 1837, when the highways teemed with "patriots" bent upon robbing friend and foe alike and afterwards assassinating or mutilating their victims, from a story that Borrow tells of how a viper-catcher, who was engaged in pursuing his calling in the neighbourhood of Orense, fell into the hands of these miscreants, who robbed and stripped him. They then pinioned his hands behind him and drew over his head the mouth of the bag containing the LIVING vipers, which they fastened round his neck and listened with satisfaction to the poor wretch's cries. The reptiles stung their victim to madness, and after having run raving through several villages he eventually fell dead. {203a}
Making Coruna his headquarters, Borrow proceeded to Santiago, "travelling with the courier or weekly post," and from thence to Padron, Pontevedra, and Vigo. At Vigo he was apprehended as a spy, but immediately released. It was whilst at Santiago that he repeated