Spanish Justice 2 1 5 



Alcaldes, — and in Spain justice goes either by interest or 

 the length of the purse. One of the Alcaldes was brother- 

 in-law of a gentleman I was riding for, so he was sure to 

 be all right. Another was a great friend of his, and 

 would vote with him. The third was uncertain. But the 

 son of the fourth was courting the daughter of the shop- 

 keeper, so the issue appeared very doubtful. However, it 

 began to be rumoured that it was " Plenipo's " jockey who 

 had lost the pin, and that it was " Plenipo's Pin " that 

 had been lost. That turned the scale in my favour at 

 once, as Alcalde No. 3 voted with our friendly ones, and 

 so I gained my case. In my innocence I thought I should 

 regain possession of the pin at once, but I little knew the 

 tortuous methods of Spain. Weeks elapsed before I had 

 the pleasure of receiving a little parcel from the English 

 Consul, in which lay the long-lost pin. 



That pin has had an adventurous career since, and 

 must have a charmed life. On one occasion it was lost, 

 but was duly recovered the next day in the kitchen 

 garden. Then when worn by my wife, while we were 

 out walking one Sunday on the moors, it was suddenly 

 discovered to be missing. We had had a long tramp, and 

 it seemed hopeless to go to look for it, and yet about a 

 mile back there it lay on a fortunately bare piece of 

 road. 



It was only found to be lost again, and this time in 

 the busy streets of York ; and yet my wife found it about 

 two hours after it was lost, lying in the track of the 

 tramway in the very busiest and most frequented part of 

 the city. There it had lain, while many tramcars had 

 passed over it, and numbers of foot-people, yet no one had 

 noticed it. It was partially crushed, but this was able to 



