A Real Robbery 



was too cold. But heat is the better fault of the two. One 

 of our companions was a gay and voluble young Murcian, 

 coming to Madrid to show his lately-married wife the wonders 

 of La Corte. He told us many amusing stories ; among 

 others a history of his being robbed, which, as we have not 

 been robbed ourselves, I will give you as a sample. 



" Pues^ Senores, the casualty was in this manner. We 

 were a party of three. Our journey was towards Caravaca. 

 One of my companions was the old capataz (factor) of a 

 friend of mine. He was bringing up the rents of a small 

 estate in the vicinity of Moratalla. We had one rusty old 

 escopet, which was not loaded. But, to say the truth, we 

 had no idea of being robbed. Sa/ta la liebre de donde menos 

 se aspetaba (the hare starts where she is least expected), 

 and as we had just passed the river Segura, they leapt out 

 of the bushes, and pounced upon us unawares. 



" They were seven, all armed with muskets. We were 

 only three. One an old man, myself a lad of seventeen, and 

 the other a servant. There was no time for flight or resist- 

 ance. ' Jhajo ! ' they cried, and down we went, with our 

 noses on the road. They rifled us of all we had worth 

 taking, even to the marsellh jacket I wore. Indeed it 

 was algo vistoso (rather smart), and had massive silver broches 

 on it. 



" After they had robbed us, they bound us hand and foot, 

 and carried us into the bush. Here they threw us down, 

 and held a consultation whether to kill us or not. I don't 

 know whether it was to frighten us and make us quiet, but 

 one of them seemed very anxious to despatch us at once. 

 En resolucion^* they determined to leave three men to watch 

 us there till night. The other four decamped with our 

 horses and the plunder. They were afraid to leave us, 



* In the end. 



