panish fleet
lying there. These people we found were men of talent and education;
their ships were mostly dismantled, and they had not the means of
equipping them.

Chapter VI

_Par_. You give me most egregious indignity.
_Laf_. Ay, with all my heart; and thou art worthy of it.

"_All's Well that Ends Well_."

Naturally anxious to behold a country from which we had hitherto been
excluded for so many years, we all applied for leave to go on shore,
and obtained it. Even the seamen were allowed the same indulgence, and
went in parties of twenty and thirty at a time. We were followed and
gaped at by the people; but shunned at the same time as "hereticos."
The inns of the town, like all the rest of them in Spain, have not
improved since the days of the immortal Santillana--they were all more
or less filled with the lowest of the rabble, and a set of bravos,
whose calling was robbery, and who cared little if murder were its
accompaniment. The cookery was execrable. Garlic and oil were its
principal ingredients. The olla podrida, and its constant attendant,
the tomato sauce, were intolerable, but the wine was very well for
a midshipman. Whenever we had a repast in any of these houses, the
bravos endeavoured to pick a quarrel with us; and these fellows being
always armed with stilettos, we found it necessary to be equally well
prepared; and whenever we seated ourselves at a table, we never failed
to display the butts of our pistols, which kept them in decent order,
for they are as cowardly as they are thievish. Our seamen, not being
so cautious or so well provided with arms, were frequently robbed and
assassinated by these rascals.

I was, on one occasion, near falling a victim to them. Walking in the
evening with the second master, and having a pretty little Spanish
girl under my arm, for, to my shame be it spoken, I had already formed
an acquaintance with the frail sisterhood, four of these villains
accosted us. We soon perceived, by their manner of holding their
cloaks, that they had their stilettos ready. I desired my companion to
draw his dirk, to keep close to me, and not to let them get between us
and the wall. Seeing that we were prepared, they wished us "_buenos
noches_" (good night); and, endeavouring to put us off our guard by
entering into conversation, asked us to give them a cigar, which my
companion would have done, had I not cautioned him not to quit his
dirk with his right hand, for this wa