tten straw which exhaled a thin
steam into the cool air of evening. He followed this up by emptying a
huge leather-covered sieve full of bad barley several times upon the
same vaporous mound. Then with the greatest composure and with a
complete understanding of the premises, the Gallegan walked across to a
smaller stable, where the landlord's own cattle were kept. He kicked the
door open with two applications of his foot, and presently was lost to
sight within.

"Shoot him--shoot him, uncle!" cried the half-tearful bully; "he hath
smitten me upon the nose to the outpouring of my blood! Shall a Perico
abide this? Shoot--for the honour of our name!"

But the valiant man of the receipt of customs was also a cautious one.

"Not so, dear Esteban," he said; "this man is the servant of three noble
cavaliers of a foreign nation. If he has done wrong, their purses will
make reparation. They are all rich, these foreigners! For all the spilt
fodder they will also doubtless pay. Is it not so, _caballeros_?"

But Rollo, the readily furious, gripped his sword and said, "Not one
groat or stiver, not a single maravedi, will I pay till I have spoken
with our man-servant and know the cause of this disorder from himself."

And he laid his hand so determinedly on the hilt of Killiecrankie, whose
basket had been endued with a new silk lining of red and tassels of the
same colour, that the valiant men of Sarria thought better of any
designs of attack they might have entertained, and preferred to await
the event.

The Gallegan by this time had emerged from the smaller private stable
with a good bushel measure of straw and barley, which he carried on his
head towards the larger premises where his masters' three steeds and his
own round-barrelled Aragonese pony had been settled for the night.

He waved his hand to the three at the venta door.

"There is now no fault! It is of good quality this time!" he cried.

And no one said a word more concerning the matter. Nor did Senor Esteban
Perico again advert to the stout buffet his nose had received at the
beginning of the affair. On the contrary, he was laboriously polite to
the Gallegan, and put an extra piece of fresh-cut garlic in his soup
when it came to supper-time. For after this fashion was the younger
Perico made.

And while the three waited, they talked to all and sundry. For Etienne
had questions to ask which bore no small relation to the present
preoccupation of his mind.

Co