1 Arahal 



the broken-down, but not ancient, church, and doing its 

 best to make this unpicturesque place as pretty as possible ; 

 and it succeeded very well, for, after all, everything depends 

 on the light you see it in. The broad valley between us 

 and the mountain range was all filled with golden splendour, 

 which burst in upon us through gaps in the stragglino; street. 



We got to the posada^ and ordered supper. While it 

 was cooking we studied the guide-book. Here we dis- 

 covered that the town we had seen at the foot of the moun- 

 tains was Moron, a celebrated den of thieves ; and that the 

 next town on the way to Ronda was still worse, no other 

 than the notorious Olvera mentioned in the proverb — 

 " Mata al hombre y ve te a Olvera " (kill your man and get 

 you to Olvera) ; being the most safe and congenial refuge 

 for the desperately wicked, which Spain could afford. How- 

 ever, we congratulated ourselves that if we had less safety 

 we should have all the more adventures. At supper, being 

 very hungry, we ate ravenously of fried pork : which, for 

 want of a sufficient peptic pause before going to bed, gave 

 me an indigestion, and made me quite unable to eat any 

 breakfast next morning. I, however, foreseeing that I 

 might be hungry further on in the day, sallied forth, and 

 bought a small loaf, a few oranges, and a bit of Dutch 

 cheese, as a provision for the way. 



We were, to the best of our judgment, over-charged by 

 the host of the posada ; and when we made our indignant 

 protest, he appealed to a most sinister-looking personage 

 with one eye, whom we at once had picked out of the 

 assembly round the chimney corner, as the captain of a 

 band of robbers. This impartial umpire at once took the 

 side of the Senor huesped, and I thought Harry and he 

 would have come to blows. In the end we, of course, had 

 to pay. 



133 



