ived, subsisting in the meanwhile by
brigandage and other lawless means. Owing to the negligence, either
accidental or intentional, of the French authorities, these adventurers
usually found little difficulty in reaching the line of demarcation
between the two frontiers; but it was there their troubles began, and
they had to take the greatest precaution to avoid falling into the hands
of the Spanish _carabineros_ and light troops posted along the frontier.

Among those who intended to take a share in the rebellion, Don Ignacio
Guerra occupied a prominent place. Being well known to the Spanish
Government as a devoted adherent of Christina, it would have been in
vain for him to have attempted entering Spain by one of the ordinary
roads. Repairing to Oleron, therefore, he procured himself a guide, and
one of the small but sure-footed horses of the Pyrenees, and, after a
wearisome march among the mountains, arrived about dusk at a cottage, or
rather hovel, built on a ledge of rock within half-an-hour's walk of the
Spanish frontier. Beyond this spot the road was impracticable for a
horse, and dangerous even for a pedestrian, and Don Ignacio had arranged
to send back his guide and horse and proceed on foot; in which manner,
also, it was easier to avoid falling in with the Spanish troops. The
night was fine, and having had the road minutely explained to him by his
peasant guide, Ignacio had no doubt of finding himself, in a few hours,
at a village where shelter and concealment were prepared for him.
Leaving the horse in a sort of shed that afforded shelter to two or
three pigs, the Christino officer entered the hut, followed by his guide
and by a splendid wolf-dog, an old and faithful companion of his
wanderings. It was some seconds, however, before their eyes got
sufficiently accustomed to the dark and smoky atmosphere of the place,
to distinguish the objects it contained. The smoke came from a fire of
green wood, that was smouldering under an enormous chimney, and over
which a decrepit old woman was frying _talloua_ or maize-meal cake, in
grease of a most suspicious odour. The old lady was so intent on the
preparation of this delicacy, a favourite food of the Pyrenean
mountaineers, that it was with difficulty she could be prevailed upon to
prepare something more substantial for the hungry travellers. Some
smoked goats' flesh and acid wine were at length obtained, and, after a
hasty meal, Ignacio paid his guide and resumed his