153 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF FRANCIS ARAGO. 



ami of tlio god of victory; of enemies with whom tbey ouglit to figiit — 

 did not contain the name of France. Tiiey availed themselves of this 

 omission (will it be believed?) to maintain that it was directed against 

 Portugal. 



Napoleon pretended to believe in this absurd interpretation ; but from 

 this moment it became evident tliat Spain would sooner or later be 

 obliged to render a strict account of the warlike intentions which she 

 had suddenly evinced in ISOo; tliis, without justifying the events of 

 Bayonne, explains them in a very natural way. 



I was expecting M. Biot at Valencia, he having undertaken to bring 

 some new instruments with which we were to measure the latitude of 

 Formentera. I shall take advantage of these short intervals of repose 

 to insert here some details of manners, which may, perhaps, be read 

 with interest. 



1 will recount, in the first instance, an adventure which nearly cost me 

 my life under somewhat singular circumstances : 



One day, as a recreation, I thought I could go, with a fellow-country- 

 man, to the fair at Murviedro, the ancient Saguntum, which they told 

 me was very curious. I met in the town the daughter of a Frenchman 



resident at Valencia, j\Idlle. B . All the hotels were crowded; 



Mdlle. B invited us to take some refreshments at her grand- 

 mother's; we accepted; but on leaving the house she informed us that 

 our visit luid not been to the taste of her betrothed, and that we must 

 be prepared for some sort of attack on his part ; we went directly to an 

 armorer's, bought some pistols, and commenced our return to Valencia. 



On our way I said to the calezero, (driver,) a man whom I had em- 

 ployed for a long time, and who was much devoted to me: 



"Isidro, I have some reason to believe that we shall be stopped; I 

 warn you of it, so that you may not be surprised at the shots which 

 wull be lired from the caleza," (vehicle.) 



Isidro, seated on the shaft, according to the custom of the country, 

 answered: 



"Your pistols are completely useless, gentlemen; leave me to act; 

 one cry will be enough ; my mule will rid us of two, three, or even four 

 men." 



Scarcely one minute had elapsed after the calezero had uttered these 

 words, when two men presented themselves before the mule and seized 

 her by the nostrils. At the same instant a formidable cry, which will 

 never be efiaced from my remembrance — the cry of Capiiana! — was 

 uttered by Isidro. The nude reared up almost vertically, raising up 

 one of the men, came down again, and set off at a rapid gallop. The 

 jolt which the carriage made led us to understand too well what had 

 just occurred. A long silence succeeded this incident; it was only 

 interrupted by these words of the calezero, "Do you not think, gentle- 

 men, that iny mule is worth more than any pistols?" 



The next day the Captain General, Don Domingo Izquierdo, related 



