CHAPTER XII 



Utrera, February 24. 

 The world keeps whirling round, and remote contin- 

 gencies come to pass almost by waiting for them ! How 

 distant and improbable it seemed two months ago that we 

 should ever make this expedition, which I used to talk 

 about with faithless enthusiasm like any other castle in the 

 air. Then Harry actually came, and we set about our pre- 

 parations. Even then, how far off our start appeared ! 

 How impossible to get suitably mounted at a purchasable 

 figure among the cheateries of Andalusian chalanes^ whom 

 it is impossible to persuade that one is " Yorkshire too ! " 

 Here, as everywhere, the old impression pervades that 

 Englishmen are (very loosely) made of money, and con- 

 tinually dropping to (gold) pieces. However, we got 

 ourselves up in costume, and attended the beast fair in the 

 Plaza de la Paja twice a week, and bargained and turned 

 up our noses at the animals, and stimulated a patient 

 confidence that we should meet with what we wanted at 

 our own price in good time, and, in the end, got a couple 

 of useful ponies for about eight pounds apiece. 



Then they had to be fitted with trappings, and we led 

 them through the streets to a variety of saddlers' shops, 

 where we tried on and bargained for the necessary articles 

 of apparel. Then there was the packing— which to me is 

 always two-thirds of a journey's fatigue— in this case aggra- 



118 



