, and in an instant,
from an object of suspicion, he became one of worship to the whole
family, to whom on taking leave he made a handsome present, and departed
with their united blessings.

"I was, as the phrase goes, dying with curiosity, and as soon as we
mounted our horses, exclaimed: 'Where, in the name of goodness, did you
pick up your acquaintance with the language of these extraordinary
people?' 'Some years ago, in Moultan,' he replied. 'And by what means
do you possess such apparent influence over them?' But the 'Unknown' had
already said more than he perhaps wished on the subject. He dryly
replied that he had more than once owed his life to Gypsies and had
reason to know them well; but this was said in a tone which precluded all
further queries on my part."

This report is a wonderful testimony to Borrow's power, for he seems to
have made the Colonel write almost like himself and produce a picture
exactly like those which he so often draws of himself.

From Seville Borrow took a journey of a few weeks to Tangier and Barbary.
There he met the strongest man in Tangier, one of the old Moors of
Granada, who waved a barrel of water over his head as if it had been a
quart pot. There he and his Jewish servant, Hayim Ben Attar, sold
Testaments, and, says he, "with humble gratitude to the Lord," the
blessed Book was soon in the hands of most of the Christians in Tangier.
But with an account of his first day in the city he concluded "The Bible
in Spain."

When he was back again in Seville he had the society of Mrs. Clarke and
her daughter; Henrietta, who had come to Spain to avoid some legal
difficulties and presumably to see Borrow. Before the end of 1839 the
engagement of Borrow and Mrs. Clarke was announced without surprising old
Mrs. Borrow at Norwich. In November Borrow wrote almost his last long
letter to the Bible Society. He had the advantage of a singular address,
being for the moment in the prison of Seville, where he had been
illegally thrown, after a quarrel with the Alcalde over the matter of a
passport. He told them how this "ruffian" quailed before his gaze of
defiance. He told them how well he was treated by his fellow prisoners:

{picture: The Summer House, Oulton Cottage. Photo: C. Wilson, Lowestoft:
page145.jpg}

"The black-haired man who is now looking over my shoulder is the
celebrated thief Palacio, the most expert housebreaker and dexterous
swindler in Spain--in a word, the moder