hy poulterer on suspicion
of his being a better man than he looked. There has been an escape, and
a sharp watch is held to keep the runaway in the town. It would have
been cruel, indeed, to stop the man who brings me my supper. Ha, ha! a
capital joke! Stopping my own supplies!"

"A capital joke, indeed," said Lopez, laughing heartily. "Well, good
bye, Don Rafael. We shall expect you to-night."

And the cloth-merchant walked away, his usual pleasant smile upon his
placid face, whilst the peasants passed through the gate; and the
officer, completely restored to good-humour by the prospect of a dainty
supper and pleasant flirtation with Don Basilio's pretty daughters,
proceeded to the discussion of his dinner, which just then made its
appearance.

Crossing the river, the party of peasants who had met with this brief
delay, rode along for a mile or more without a word being spoken amongst
them. Presently they came to a place where three roads branched off, and
here the lame peasant, who had continued to ride in rear of the others,
separated from them, with an abrupt "adios!" Old Samaniego looked round,
and his shrivelled features puckered themselves into a comical smile.

"Is that your road to Berriozar, neighbour?" said he. "It is a new one,
if it be."

The person addressed cast a glance over his shoulder, and muttered an
inaudible reply, at the same time that he thrust his hand under the
vegetables that half filled his panniers.

"If you live in Berriozar, I live in heaven," said Samaniego. "But fear
nothing from us. _Viva el Rey Carlos!_"

He burst into a shrill laugh, echoed by his companions, and, quickening
their pace, the party was presently out of sight. The lame peasant, who,
as the reader will already have conjectured, was no other than Baltasar
de Villabuena, rode on for some distance further, till he came to an
extensive copse fringing the base of a mountain. Riding in amongst the
trees, he threw away his pannier, previously taking from it a large
horse pistol which had been concealed at the bottom. He then stripped
the bandage from his leg, bestrode his mule, and vigorously belabouring
the beast with a stick torn from a tree, galloped away in the direction
of the Carlist territory.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 3: The blockade system, as it was called, much extolled at the
time, did not prevent the occurrence of various Carlist expeditions into
Castile and Arragon, any more than it hindered large bodies of