, were gazing and tittering at him
from all sides--treatment this, at which Donald thought fit to take
mortal offence. Having arrived, however, at the gate of Alcala, Donald
thought it full time to make some inquiries as to where his relative
resided. Feeling impressed with the propriety of this step, he made
up to a group of idle, equivocal-looking fellows, who, wrapped up in
long buttoned dilapidated cloaks, were lounging about the gate; and,
plunging boldly into the middle of them, he delivered himself thus, in
his best English:--

"I say, freens, did you'll know, any of you, where my broder stops?"

The men, as might be expected, first stared at the speaker, and then
burst out a-laughing in his face. They, of course, could not comprehend
a word of what he said; a circumstance on the possibility of which
it had never struck Donald to calculate, and to which he did not
now advert. Great, therefore, was his wrath, at this, apparently,
contemptuous treatment by the Spaniards. His highland blood mounted to
his face, and with the same rapidity rose his highland choler. Donald,
in truth, already contemplated doing battle in defence of his insulted
consequence, and at once hung out his flag of defiance.

"You tam scarecrow-lookin rascals!" he sputtered out, in great fury,
at the same time shaking his huge clenched brown fist in the faces
of the whole group, their numbers not in the least checking his
impetuosity--"You cowartly, starvation-like togs! I've a goot mind to
make smashed potatoes o' the whole boilin o' ye. Tam your Spanish noses
and whiskers!"

The fierce and determined air of Donald had the effect of instantly
restoring the gravity of the Spaniards, who, totally at a loss to
comprehend what class of the human species he represented, looked at him
with a mingled expression of astonishment and respect. At length, one of
their number discharged a volley of his native language at Donald; but
it was, apparently, of civil and good-natured import, for it was
delivered in a mild tone, and accompanied by a conciliatory smile. On
Donald, the language was, of course, utterly lost--he did not comprehend
a word of it; but not so the indications of a friendly disposition to
which we have alluded; these he at once appreciated, and they had the
effect of allaying his wrath a little, and inducing him to make another
attempt at a little civil colloquy.

"Well," said Donald, now somewhat more calmly, "I was shust ask you a
c