i8o Unexplored Spain 



vibrant whistle of ritle-balls. Pernales managed to empty the 

 magazine of his repeater, killing one guard outright and wounding 

 two more. Though himself hit, he yet stood erect, and was busy 

 recharging his weapon when further shots brought him to earth. 

 On seeing his chief go down the Nino de Arahal sprang to the 

 saddle, but the opposing rifles were this time too many and too 

 near. The bandit, fatally wounded, was pitched to earth in 

 death-throes, while the poor beast stumbled and fell in its stride 

 a few paces beyond. An examination of the bodies showed that 

 Pernales had been pierced by twenty-two balls, his companion by 

 ten. 



Caciquismo 



Doubtless the thought may have occurred to readers that 



some interpretation is necessary to explain how such events as 



these (extending over a series of years) are still possible in Spain — 



in a country fully equipped not only with elaborate legal codes 



l)ristling with stringent penalties both for crime and its abettors, 



but also with magistrates, judges, telegraphs, and an ample 



armed force, competent, loyal, and keen to enforce those laws. 



Without assistants and accomplices (call their aiders and abettors 



what you will) the Pernales and Vivillos of to-day could not 



survive for a week. The explanation lies in the existence of that 



inexplicable and apparently ineradicable power called Caciquismo 



— fortunately, we believe, on the decline, but still a force sufficient 



to paralyse the arm of the law and arrest the exercise of justice. 



Ranging from the lowest rungs of society, Caciquismo penetrates 



to the main-springs of political power. A secret understanding 



with combined action amongst the affiliated, it secures protection 



even to criminals with their hidden accomplices, provided that 



each and all yield blind obedience to their ruling Cacique, social 



and political. The Cacique stands above law ; he is a law unto 



himself ; he does or leaves undone, pays or leaves unpaid as may 



suit his convenience — conscience he has none. At his own sweet 



will he will charge personal expenses — say his gamekeepers' 



wages or the cost of ^ a private roadway — to the neighbouring 



municipality. None dare object. Caciquismo is no fault of the 



Spanish people ; it is the disgrace of the Caciques, who, as men of 



education, should be ashamed of mean and underhand practices 



that recall, on a petty scale, those of the Tyrants of Syracuse. 



