ven to
attain the summit of so small a mountain as Larhune, and then, desiring
for once to set foot in Spain, took train to Hendaye. This is the last
town in France. Across the Bidassoa rose the quaint roofs and towers of
old Fuentarabia, the Fontarabie of the French. I hired an eager Basque
to row me across the river, then running seaward at the last of the ebb.

The day was splendid and mild. There was no cloud in the sky, not a
wreath of mist upon the mountains. The river was a blue that verged on
green; its broad sand glowed golden in the sun; to seaward the
amethystine waters of the Atlantic heaved and glittered. On the far
cliffs they burst in lifting spray. The hills wore the fine faint blue
of atmosphere; the wind was very quiet. This seemed at last like peace.
I let my hands feel the cool waters of the river and soaked my soul in
the waters of peace.

And yet my bold Basque chattered as he stood at the bows and poled me
with a blunted oar across the river shallows. He told me proudly that he
had the three languages, that he was all at home with French and Spanish
and Basque. He was intelligent within due limits; he at anyrate knew how
to extract francs from an Englishman. That generosity which consists in
buying interested civility as well as help or transport with an extra
fifty centimes is indeed but a wise and calculated waste. It occurred to
me that he might solve a question that puzzled me. Were the Basques
united as a race, or were their sympathies French or Spanish? After
considering how I should put it, I said,--

"Mon ami, est-ce que vous etes plus Basque que Francais, ou plus
Francais que Basque?"

He taught me a lesson in simple psychology, for he stopped poling and
stared at me for a long minute. Then he scratched his head and a light
came into his eyes.

"Mais, monsieur, je suis un Basque Francais!"

My fine distinction was beyond him, and it took me not a little
indirect questioning to discover that he was certainly more French than
Basque. He presently denounced the Spanish Basques in good round terms,
and incidentally showed me that there must be a very considerable
difference in their respective dialects. For he complained that the
Spanish Basques spoke so fast that it was hard to understand them.

He put me ashore at last on a mud flat and accompanied me to the Fonda
Miramar, where a bright and pretty waitress hurried, after the fashion
of Spaniards, to such an extent that she got me a