My resolution is taken: I shall mount my horses, which are neighing in the stable, and betake myself to the villages and plains of dusty Spain.AL CAMPO, AL CAMPO: `Ride forth because of the word of righteousness, and thy right hand shall show thee terrible things.' I will ride forth, Maria.""Your worship can do no better; and allow me here to tell you, that for every single book you might sell in a despacho in the city, you may dispose of one hundred amongst the villages, always provided you offer them cheap: for in the country money is rather scant.Vaya! should I not know? am I not a villager myself, a villana from the Sagra? Ride forth, therefore; your horses are neighing in the stall, as your worship says, and you might almost have added that the Senor Antonio is neighing in the house.He says he has nothing to do, on which account he is once more dissatisfied and unsettled.He finds fault with everything, but more particularly with myself.This morning Isaluted him, and he made me no reply, but twisted his mouth in a manner very uncommon in this land of Spain.""A thought strikes me," said I; "you have mentioned the Sagra; why should not I commence my labours amongst the villages of that district?""Your worship can do no better," replied Maria; "the harvest is just over there, and you will find the people comparatively unemployed, with leisure to attend and listen to you; and if you follow my advice, you will establish yourself at Villa Seca, in the house of my fathers, where at present lives my lord and husband.Go, therefore, to Villa Seca in the first place, and from thence you can sally forth with the Senor Antonio upon your excursions.Peradventure, my husband will accompany you; and if so, you will find him highly useful.The people of Villa Seca are civil and courteous, your worship;when they address a foreigner they speak to him at the top of their voice and in Gallegan.""In Gallegan!" I exclaimed.
"They all understand a few words of Gallegan, which they have acquired from the mountaineers, who occasionally assist them in cutting the harvest, and as Gallegan is the only foreign language they know, they deem it but polite to address a foreigner in that tongue.Vaya! it is not a bad village, that of Villa Seca, nor are the people; the only ill-conditioned person living there is his reverence the curate."I was not long in making preparations for my enterprise.
A considerable stock of Testaments were sent forward by an arriero, I myself followed the next day.Before my departure, however, I received a Benedict Mol.
"I am come to bid you farewell, lieber herr; I return to Compostella.""On what errand?"
"To dig up the schatz, lieber herr.For what else should I go? For what have I lived until now, but that I may dig up the schatz in the end?""You might have lived for something better," I exclaimed.
"I wish you success, however.But on what grounds do you hope?
Have you obtained permission to dig? Surely you remember your former trials in Galicia?""I have not forgotten them, lieber herr, nor the journey to Oviedo, nor `the seven acorns,' nor the fight with death in the barranco.But I must accomplish my destiny.I go now to Galicia, as is becoming a Swiss, at the expense of the government, with coach and mule, I mean in the galera.I am to have all the help I require, so that I can dig down to the earth's centre if I think fit.I - but I must not tell your worship, for I am sworn on `the four Evangiles' not to tell.""Well, Benedict, I have nothing to say, save that I hope you will succeed in your digging.""Thank you, lieber herr, thank you; and now farewell.
Succeed! I shall succeed!" Here he stopped short, started, and looking upon me with an expression of countenance almost wild, he exclaimed: "Heiliger Gott! I forgot one thing.
