I will not detail the events of the next week; suffice it to say that arranging my forces in the most advantageous way, I succeeded, by God’s assistance, in disposing of from five to six hundred Testaments amongst the villages from one to seven leagues’ distance from Abades.  At the expiration of that period I received information that my proceedings were known in Segovia, in which province Abades is situated, and that an order was about to be sent to the alcalde to seize all books in my possession.  Whereupon, notwithstanding that it was late in the evening, I decamped with all my people, and upwards of three hundred Testaments, having a few hours previously received a fresh supply from Madrid.  That night we passed in the fields, and next morning proceeded to Labajos, a village on the high road from Madrid to Valladolid.  In this place we offered no books for sale, but contented ourselves with supplying the neighbouring villages with the word of God:  we likewise sold it in the highways.

We had not been at Labajos a week, during which time we were remarkably successful, when the Carlist chieftain, Balmaseda, at the head of his cavalry, made his desperate inroad into the southern part of Old Castile, dashing down like an avalanche from the pine-woods of Soria.  I was present at all the horrors which ensued,—­the sack of Arrevalo, and the forcible entry into Martin Munoz.  Amidst these terrible scenes we continued our labours.  Suddenly I lost Lopez for three days, and suffered dreadful anxiety on his account, imagining that he had been shot by the Carlists; at last I heard that he was in prison at Villallos, three leagues distant.  The steps which I took to rescue him will be found detailed in a communication, which I deemed it my duty to transmit to Lord William Hervey, who, in the absence of Sir George Villiers, now became Earl of Clarendon, fulfilled the duties of minister at Madrid:-

    Labajos, province of Segovia,
    August 23, 1838.

My Lord,—­I beg leave to call your attention to the following facts.  On the 21st inst.  I received information that a person in my employ, of the name of Juan Lopez, had been thrown into the prison of Villallos, in the province of Avila, by order of the cura of that place.  The crime with which he was charged was selling the New Testament.  I was at that time at Labajos, in the province of Segovia, and the division of the factious chieftain Balmaseda was in the immediate neighbourhood.  On the 22nd, I mounted my horse and rode to Villallos, a distance of three leagues.  On my arrival there, I found that Lopez had been removed from the prison to a private house.  An order had arrived from the corregidor of Avila, commanding that the person of Lopez should be set at liberty, and that the books which had been found in his possession should be alone detained.  Nevertheless, in direct opposition to this order, (a copy of which I herewith transmit,)