Such was the end of Balseiro, of whom I should certainly not have said so much, but for the affair of the crabbed Gitano.  Poor wretch! he acquired that species of immortality which is the object of the aspirations of many a Spanish thief, whilst vapouring about in the patio, dressed in the snowy linen; the rape of the children of Gabiria made him at once the pet of the fraternity.  A celebrated robber, with whom I was subsequently imprisoned at Seville, spoke his eulogy in the following manner. —

“Balseiro was a very good subject, and an honest man.  He was the head of our family, Don Jorge; we shall never see his like again; pity that he did not sack the parne (money), and escape to the camp of the Moor, Don Jorge.”

CHAPTER XLI

Maria Diaz—­Priestly Vituperation—­Antonio’s Visit—­Antonio at Service—­A Scene—­Benedict Mol—­Wandering in Spain—­The Four Evangiles.

“Well,” said I to Maria Diaz on the third morning after my imprisonment, “what do the people of Madrid say to this affair of mine?”

“I do not know what the people of Madrid in general say about it, probably they do not take much interest in it; indeed, imprisonments at the present time are such common matters that people seem to be quite indifferent to them; the priests, however, are in no slight commotion, and confess that they have committed an imprudent thing in causing you to be arrested by their friend the corregidor of Madrid.”

“How is that?” I inquired.  “Are they afraid that their friend will be punished?”

“Not so, Senor,” replied Maria; “slight grief indeed would it cause them, however great the trouble in which he had involved himself on their account; for this description of people have no affection, and would not care if all their friends were hanged, provided they themselves escaped.  But they say that they have acted imprudently in sending you to prison, inasmuch as by so doing they have given you an opportunity of carrying a plan of yours into execution.  ‘This fellow is a bribon,’ say they, ’and has commenced tampering with the prisoners; they have taught him their language, which he already speaks as well as if he were a son of the prison.  As soon as he comes out he will publish a thieves’ gospel, which will still be a more dangerous affair than the Gypsy one, for the Gypsies are few, but the thieves! woe is us; we shall all be Lutheranized.  What infamy, what rascality!  It was a trick of his own.  He was always eager to get into prison, and now in evil hour we have sent him there, el bribonazo; there will be no safety for Spain until he is hanged; he ought to be sent to the four hells, where at his leisure he might translate his fatal gospels into the language of the demons.’ "

“I but said three words to the alcayde of the prison,” said I, “relative to the jargon used by the children of the prison.”