ace but was furnished with grave Celtic
features; for Celts these people were long before they were Spaniards; and
there is no type so persistent, except the Jewish.

One handsome old man on a donkey so lost control of his beast when we
swept into view, that he was dislodged, and would have fallen on his face
had he not enmeshed his knees in some intricate tracery of rope. Round and
round spun the frightened animal in the midst of the road, like a cat
chasing its own tail, the rider toppling over, his well-cut nose all but
scraping the ground.

Our car was stopped and I was out in a moment, though it must have been a
long and giddy moment to that human spinning-jenny. A few tangled seconds,
and I had him unwound and reseated, expecting no gratitude. But to my
surprise, when I got the old fellow right side up, I found him wreathed in
smiles, pouring out thanks and wishes for my good speed. Remembering
experiences in other lands which call themselves enlightened, I glowed
with pride of my country folk, especially when the victim of progress
politely refused five pesetas.

As we came nearer to Old Castile, the ancient land of many castles, I felt
as a man must when at last he comes to a house which is his, though never
until now has he held the key and been free to enter.

The northern provinces, peopled by mysterious Basques alien to us in blood
and language, I could scarcely look upon as Spain. But in Castile I saw
the heart and citadel of my native country. My father was Andaluz; my
mother Castiliana, and she used to say that in my nature were united the
qualities of the two provinces--Castilian pride and stubbornness; the
gaiety and recklessness of the true Andaluz.

I hoped that some change of scenery, some sign given by Nature, might mark
the passage into Castilla la Vieja; therefore I was grateful when the car
ran upon a stately bridge, hung above a broad river that was a flood of
tarnished gold. Thence we looked across to the old buttressed and
balconied town of Miranda del Ebro, strange and even startling in its wild
setting of white mountains; and as we slowed down in admiration, from a
dark secretive tunnel which was the principal street of the place, there
seemed to blow out, like wind-driven petals of flowers, a flock of girls
in golden yellow, tulip red, and iris blue. Then, as we looked, followed a
string of black mules with crimson harness, pressed forward by a dozen
young men in short blue trousers, ca