ont of the venta
had already two occupants, belonging to classes of men which may rank
amongst the chief supporters of Spanish roadside inns. One of them was
a corporal of dragoons, returning to his garrison at Tudela, whence he
had probably been sent with a despatch, or on some similar mission. He
was a strapping, powerful fellow, well set up, as the phrase goes, and
whose broad shoulders and soldierly figure showed to advantage in his
dark-green uniform. His horse--a high-crested, fine-legged Andalusian,
whose jetty coat looked yet blacker by contrast with the white
sheep-skin that covered the saddle, and the flakes of foam with which
his impatient champings had covered his broad chest--was tied up near
the stable door, the bridle removed, finishing out of a nose-bag a
plentiful feed of maize. The dragoon's sabre and his brass and
leopard-skin helmet were hanging at the saddle-bow, their owner having
temporarily covered his head with a smart foraging-cap of green and
scarlet cloth, which set off to great advantage his bearded and
martial countenance. Having provided for his horse, the trooper was
now attending to the calls of his own appetite, and doing immense
execution on some goat's-milk cheese and excellent white bread, which
he moistened by copious draughts of the thick black wine of Navarre.

Seated opposite to the soldier, and similarly employed, was a
hardy-looking man, who had arrived in company with two mules, which
were also tethered to a ring in the venta wall, but at a respectful
distance from the dragoon's charger. A heap of chopped straw and
Indian corn leaves was lying before them, at which they assiduously
munched--not, however, without occasionally casting wistful glances
at the more luxurious repast of their neighbour. The soldier and the
muleteer had apparently met before; and when the new-comers approached
them, they were discussing with great animation the merits of the
various players in a ball-match which they had recently witnessed near
Tudela. Thence they glided into a discussion concerning ball-players
in general; the muleteer, who was a Navarrese, asserting the
invincibility of his country at the game of pelota, whilst the
corporal, who came from the neighbourhood of Oviedo, was equally
confident of the superiority of the Asturians.

Whilst the younger of the travellers was ascertaining from the
_patrona_ the state of the larder, which, as is usual enough in
Spanish inns, was but meagrely