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THE RED TARTANE. CHAP. I. 



A TALE OF THE SPANISH COAST. 



" BY the shrine of San Proco, I swear to you, my gossip, the 

 Gitano*, is about to disembark at Matagorda. My aunt Isabella, in 

 returning from the isle of Leon, saw the coast-guard on the alert, and 

 two videttes have been posted in the beacon since this vessel of the 

 damned has been seen in the offing." 



" Why, the fisherman, Pablo, assures me he saw the Tartane, with 

 the red sails, off Conil not three hours ago, and all the leather jackets 

 were upon the move." 



" Your credulity has been imposed on, Senor Jose." 



(t Rather on yours, sir knight of the razor," tartly replied Jose. 



This appellation caused Flores a sudden start; for if he did beau- 

 tify the faces of the public, it was in order that he might not abso- 

 lutely belie the signification, alas ! too positive, of the shining pew- 

 ter plate suspended over his door ; where also was pompously dis- 

 played an immense picture, representing a hand armed with a lancet, 

 opening with the utmost delicacy the vein of a most colossal arm. 

 Thus, the observer might see that the barber's pride and glory con- 

 sisted in practising chirurgically ; he descended to the ignoble, 

 though more profitable razor, with much reluctance. Master Flores 

 was also a person of some consideration, his shop being, as barbers' 

 shops in Spain generally are, the rendezvous of all the gossips and 

 newsmongers of Santa Maria. 



"May the devil rock you !" cried the patient, bounding from his 

 seat ; " the place of executioner is vacant at Cordova, and no man has 

 such a right to it as you, with such an aptitude at opening Christian 

 gullets." 



" Calm yourself/' replied Flores, with importance, delighted with 

 the idea of exhibiting his chirurgical knowledge; "calm yourself, my 

 dear son; the epidermis alone having been injured, a plaster of 

 diachylum or salsarina will soon remedy my inadvertence ; and, in- 

 deed, this slight sanguine evacuation may have a very salutary effect, 

 for you appear to me somewhat prone to plethora ; so that, my son, 

 instead of blaspheming, you should rather " 



" Thank you. Well, the first stab I may chance to give, I shall 

 answer the alcade thus : Senor, my enemy is subject to the plethora, 

 and all this is merely a sanguine evacuation purely for his own good." 



Here the customers lounging in the shop broke into a laugh ; while 

 Flores, as he applied the plaster, muttered something between his 

 teeth, by no means complimentary to his patient. 



" Ah, grumble away, padre," replied the seaman ; " I shall forgive 



* Gitano a. gipsy the name by which a celebrated pirate was known on the 

 Spanish coast, in 17GO. 



