438 Autobiography of Polinario, the Spanish Bandit. [ APRIL, 



posing that next day he would have his revenge, by feeing the Escri- 

 vano, took my advice, and left me with my conquest. But his projects, 

 whatever they might be, were disappointed ; before day, I had carried 

 the best of our mules to the house of our neighbour, as the dowry of 

 Mnraquita ; and soon after, all our family, mounted on the three mules 

 and the caballero's horse, were toiling up the Sierra Morena ; which, 

 however, my sister Maraquita soon re-crossed. 



All that I have hitherto said, has been but introductory to my life 

 and exploits ; but I have related this last circumstance at some length, 

 because it was the first occasion on which I openly made myself master 

 of the property of another : henceforth my actions will be of a bolder 

 and different character, and will justify the name of Polinario the 

 Bandit. 



I had not yet, as has been seen, made the life of a robber a profession : 

 and for some time after settling at Torre Nueva in La Mancha, I assisted 

 my father in the cultivation of his land ; but never felt any inclination 

 for that life, which, after my experience of that of a muleteer, appeared 

 to me sufficiently monotonous. We began also to fall back in the world. 

 Having occasion for but one mule, we sold the others ; and as the 

 saffron land brought in but a small return, the money we received for 

 them was soon expended. About this time it was, that my mother 

 died; and on the very day of her burial, a muleteer from Andujar, 

 brought us intimation, that my brother Diego lay sick, and was desirous 

 of seeing one or other of us before he died. The very next morning I 

 set out on foot for the neighbourhood of my native town ; and from 

 that hour, I date the commencement of my lawless life. 



As I journeyed onward, I thought of our poverty, and the unequal 

 distribution of wealth ; and recalled to my mind with no small satis- 

 faction, the only two occasions upon which I had attempted to make it 

 more equal : and with these thoughts, and a few pesetas in my pocket, 

 and my gun over my shoulder, I reached the Venta de Garden o at the 

 foot of the Sierra Morena. I was not then acquainted with Bartolomeo, 

 the master of the Venta, who afterwards proved so useful an ally to me, 

 but I at once perceived him to be a shrewd man, and a rogue, like 

 Tobias, whom he greatly resembled in many things ; and he, on his 

 part, doubtless saw something in me, that led him to open the following 

 dialogue. 



" You have never seen Don Jose de Rabaclel ?" said he. 



" I have heard the name," said I, " but the caballero never chanced 

 to come in my way." 



" So much the better for you," returned Bartolomeo ; " but he was 

 before your time you're as like to him, Senor, as two peas are to each 

 other only twenty years or thereabouts his junior." 



" He was a robber, was he not ?" said I. 



" The prince of robbers/' returned Bartolomeo ; " he was the true 

 king of the Sierra Morena, and his throne yet remains vacant for any 

 one who likes to step into it, and has boldness enough to keep it." 



" You were his friend then r" said I ; " his" 



" Speak out," said Bartolomeo, " his accomplice ; ay, and many a rare 

 diversion we've had here, flat times since then, I'll warrant you. A 

 likely gun that of yours for a bit of work. If Don Jose were here, he'd 

 not sit long with the wine-skin in his arms ; and before cock crow, 

 gold pieces would be as common as pebble-stones. I don't know how 



