the worse to-night because I may chance to be hacked by the knives of these malvados to-morrow.  Cavalier, I am from Barcelona, and have seen there mariners of your nation; this is not so good a country as Barcelona.  Paciencia!  Cavalier, if you will step into our house, I will give you a glass of water; we have some that is cool, for we dug a deep hole in the earth and buried there our pitcher; it is cool, as I told you, but the water of Castile is not like that of Catalonia.”

The moon had arisen when we mounted our horses to return to the village, and the rays of the beauteous luminary danced merrily on the rushing waters of the Tagus, silvered the plain over which we were passing, and bathed in a flood of brightness the bold sides of the calcareous hill of Villaluenga and the antique ruins which crowned its brow.  “Why is that place called the Castle of Villaluenga?” I demanded.

“From a village of that name, which stands on the other side of the hill, Don Jorge,” replied the herrador.  “Vaya! it is a strange place, that castle; some say it was built by the Moors in the old times, and some by the Christians when they first laid siege to Toledo.  It is not inhabited now, save by rabbits, which breed there in abundance amongst the long grass and broken stones, and by eagles and vultures, which build on the tops of the towers; I occasionally go there with my gun to shoot a rabbit.  On a fine day you may descry both Toledo and Madrid from its walls.  I cannot say I like the place, it is so dreary and melancholy.  The hill on which it stands is all of chalk, and is very difficult of ascent.  I heard my grandame say that once, when she was a girl, a cloud of smoke burst from that hill, and that flames of fire were seen, just as if it contained a volcano, as perhaps it does, Don Jorge.”

The grand work of Scripture circulation soon commenced in the Sagra.  Notwithstanding the heat of the weather, I rode about in all directions.  It was well that heat agrees with my constitution, otherwise it would have been impossible to effect anything in this season, when the very arrieros frequently fall dead from their mules, smitten by sun-stroke.  I had an excellent assistant in Antonio, who, disregarding the heat like myself, and afraid of nothing, visited several villages with remarkable success.  “Mon maitre,” said he, “I wish to show you that nothing is beyond my capacity.”  But he who put the labours of us both to shame, was my host, Juan Lopez, whom it had pleased the Lord to render favourable to the cause.  “Don Jorge,” said he, “io quiero engancharme con usted (I wish to enlist with you); I am a liberal, and a foe to superstition; I will take the field, and, if necessary, will follow you to the end of the world; Viva Ingalaterra; viva el Evangelio.”  Thus saying, he put a large bundle of Testaments into a satchel, and springing upon the crupper of his grey donkey, he cried “Arrhe burra,” and hastened away.  I sat down to my journal.