AN ADVENTURE. 23 
On reaching the cabin, the alcaid and his alguazil re- 
cognized in the fugitive the chief of all the brigands in 
the country. . 
Some days afterwards, the weather having again be- 
come very bad, I received a second visit from the pre- 
tended custom-house guard, who went soundly to sleep 
in my cabin. I saw that my servant, an old soldier, who 
had heard the recital of the deeds and behaviour of this 
man, was preparing to kill him. I jumped down from my 
camp bed, and, seizing my servant by the throat,—* Are 
you mad?” said I to him; “are we to discharge the du- 
ties of police in this country? Do you not see, more- 
over, that this would expose us to the resentment of all 
those who obey the orders of this redoubted chief? And 
we should thus render it impossible for us to terminate 
our operations.” 
Next morning, when the sun rose, I had a conversation 
with my guest, which I will try to reproduce faithfully. 
“ Your situation is perfectly known to me; I know that 
you are not a custom-house guard; I have learnt from 
certain information that you are the chief of the robbers 
of the country. Tell me whether I have any thing to 
fear from your confederates ? ” 
“The idea of robbing you did occur to us; but we 
concluded that all your funds would be in the neighbour- 
ing towns ; that you would carry no money to the summit 
of mountains, where you would not know what to do 
with it, and that our expedition against you could have 
no fruitful result. Moreover, we cannot pretend to be as 
strong as the King of Spain. The King’s troops leave 
us quietly enough to exercise our industry ; but on the 
day that we molested an envoy from the Emperor of the 
French, they would direct against us several regiments, 
