It happened one day that Victoriano, being in need of a pillow, sent word to the people of the posada to send him his alforjas or saddlebags, which they did.  In these bags there chanced to be a kind of rope, or, as it is called in Spanish, soga, with which he was in the habit of fastening his satchel to the pony’s back.  The urchins seeing an end of this rope, hanging from the alforjas, instantly ran to the alcalde to give him information.  Late at evening, the alcalde again visited the prisoner at the head of his twelve men as usual.  “Buenas noches,” said the alcalde.  “Buenas noches tenga usted,” replied Victoriano.  “For what purpose did you send for the soga this afternoon?” demanded the functionary.  “I sent for no soga,” said the prisoner, “I sent for my alforjas to serve as a pillow, and it was sent in them by chance.”  “You are a false malicious knave,” retorted the alcalde; “you intend to hang yourself, and by so doing ruin us all, as your death would be laid at our door.  Give me the soga.”  No greater insult can be offered to a Spaniard than to tax him with an intention of committing suicide.  Poor Victoriano flew into a violent rage, and after calling the alcalde several very uncivil names, he pulled the soga from his bags, flung it at his head, and told him to take it home and use it for his own neck.

At length the people of the posada took pity on the prisoner, perceiving that he was very harshly treated for no crime at all; they therefore determined to afford him an opportunity of informing his friends of his situation, and accordingly sent him a pen and inkhorn, concealed in a loaf of bread, and a piece of writing paper, pretending that the latter was intended for cigars.  So Victoriano wrote the letter; but now ensued the difficulty of sending it to its destination, as no person in the village dare have carried it for any reward.  The good people, however, persuaded a disbanded soldier from another village, who chanced to be at Fuente la Higuera in quest of work, to charge himself with it, assuring him that I would pay him well for his trouble.  The man, watching his opportunity, received the letter from Victoriano at the window:  and it was he who, after travelling on foot all night, delivered it to me in safety at Madrid.

I was now relieved from my anxiety, and had no fears for the result.  I instantly went to a friend who is in possession of large estates about Guadalajara, in which province Fuente la Higuera is situated, who furnished me with letters to the civil governor of Guadalajara and all the principal authorities; these I delivered to Antonio, whom, at his own request, I despatched on the errand of the prisoner’s liberation.  He first directed his course to Fuente la Higuera, where, entering the alcalde’s house, he boldly told him what he had come about.  The alcalde expecting that I was at hand, with an army of Englishmen, for the purpose of rescuing the prisoner, became greatly alarmed, and instantly despatched his