“As a reward for the service I have done you, Don Jose, promise me you’ll suspect nobody—­nor seek for vengeance.  Here are some cigars for your journey.  Good luck to you.”  And I held out my hand to him.

He squeezed it, without a word, took up his wallet and blunderbuss, and after saying a few words to the old woman in a lingo that I could not understand, he ran out to the shed.  A few minutes later, I heard him galloping out into the country.

As for me, I lay down again on my bench, but I did not go to sleep again.  I queried in my own mind whether I had done right to save a robber, and possibly a murderer, from the gallows, simply and solely because I had eaten ham and rice in his company.  Had I not betrayed my guide, who was supporting the cause of law and order?  Had I not exposed him to a ruffian’s vengeance?  But then, what about the laws of hospitality?

“A mere savage prejudice,” said I to myself.  “I shall have to answer for all the crimes this brigand may commit in future.”  Yet is that instinct of the conscience which resists every argument really a prejudice?  It may be I could not have escaped from the delicate position in which I found myself without remorse of some kind.  I was still tossed to and fro, in the greatest uncertainty as to the morality of my behaviour, when I saw half a dozen horsemen ride up, with Antonio prudently lagging behind them.  I went to meet them, and told them the brigand had fled over two hours previously.  The old woman, when she was questioned by the sergeant, admitted that she knew Navarro, but said that living alone, as she did, she would never have dared to risk her life by informing against him.  She added that when he came to her house, he habitually went away in the middle of the night.  I, for my part, was made to ride to a place some leagues away, where I showed my passport, and signed a declaration before the Alcalde.  This done, I was allowed to recommence my archaeological investigations.  Antonio was sulky with me; suspecting it was I who had prevented his earning those two hundred ducats.  Nevertheless, we parted good friends at Cordova, where I gave him as large a gratuity as the state of my finances would permit.

CHAPTER II

I spent several days at Cordova.  I had been told of a certain manuscript in the library of the Dominican convent which was likely to furnish me with very interesting details about the ancient Munda.  The good fathers gave me the most kindly welcome.  I spent the daylight hours within their convent, and at night I walked about the town.  At Cordova a great many idlers collect, toward sunset, in the quay that runs along the right bank of the Guadalquivir.  Promenaders on the spot have to breathe the odour of a tan yard which still keeps up the ancient fame of the country in connection with the curing of leather.  But to atone for this, they enjoy a sight which has a