The Dehesa 



fording the Guadaira below the dam of a picturesque mill, 

 we reached, after a mile or two, the edge of the dehesa, or 

 wilderness. Here we picketed our ponies, — that is to say, 

 we drove an iron spike into the ground ; and to that spike 

 there is a ring, and through that ring there is a cord ; 

 which cord, being tied at about seven yards' length round 

 the pony's neck, allows him to graze with much more fresh 

 air and liberty to sweeten his vegetable diet than ever the 

 prisoner of Chillon had. 



Not satisfied with this, however, my little black beast 

 must needs break away, and pulling up his spike, scamper 

 back towards Seville, whose spires and towers still appeared 

 in the distance. The other pony followed his example, and 

 we ran after them. 



I will leave the whole party running while I tell you 

 why we stopped on the margin of the dehesa. If you ever 

 were a bad little boy run away from school, you will know 

 that the first thing one does on emerging from one's 

 immediate troubles, upon the world at large, is to stop and 

 think. We had broken loose from the trammels of society, 

 disguised in a strange garb, with ponies to carry us where- 

 ever we chose, and were about to realise the romance of 

 many dreams. 



We had besides to load our pistols (for we were full of 

 ideas of the dangers of the road), to arrange our saddles, 

 and cloaks, and manias, which, in the hurry of setting off, 

 had been badly organised; we also intended to take a sketch 

 of the last appearance of Seville. In Spain, the preface to 

 everything is a cigarillo, a little squib of tobacco rolled in 

 thin paper, which it takes a man of average talent six months 

 to learn to make. We had just accomplished this delicate 

 operation, and were about to light, when the ponies ran 

 away, and we after them. 



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