Guadalquivir 



appearance with impatience, as it were the face of an old 

 friend ; and, at length, we heard the rushing of waters, 

 which we figured to ourselves a clear trout-stream rippling 

 among rocks. 



" Hail ! infant prince of Andalusian rivers, which (since 

 we left thy royal court on Seville's strand, deep-ranged with 

 fairy palaces) hast younger grown, while we wax stale upon 

 our toilsome way. We heard the nursery-babblings of thy 

 youth, and deemed that here, not far remote from thy 

 mountain cradle, we might behold thee clear and unpolluted 

 yet, with that rich wealth of mud which, lower down, thou 

 takest as tribute from thine alluvial dominions. We find 

 thee turbid in thy youth, as in thine after-age ; rolling foul 

 ripples of a livid red, as 'twere pink madder mixed with 

 Vandyk brown ! 



" Flow on, unworthy heir of noble destinies ! for thou 

 shalt pass by glorious Cordova — eloquent Cordova ; the gem 

 of the South ; the flower of science and of valour ; the birth- 

 place of Lucan and the Senecas ; the city of the great captain. 

 Thou shalt wash the Moorish piers of Sevilla la Maravilla^ 

 and shalt mix thy mud at last with the blue Mediterranean ! " 



I shouldn't wonder if my reader was a little tired of 

 rhapsodies. Come, now, we will hatch a little adventure 

 expressly for your amusement. 



Riding down the curious sloping bridge, whose graduated 

 arches connect the high bank of the river with the low one, 

 we saw, about half a mile ahead, a knot of people moving 

 on the road. 



" It is about time for another batch of robbers," I said ; 

 " and if these be thieves, how many are we a match for ? " 



" We may reckon ourselves a match for four Spaniards, 

 or two Englishmen," replied Harry, "and no more ; let us 

 be moderate." 



250 



