24 WILD SPAIN. 



fresh robber-gang), the then Governor of Gibraltar was 

 freely " hauled over the coals " in the House of Commons 

 at the time. 



Wild tales of similar bearing beguiled the dark hours in 

 the gloom of the forest where our big fire burned cheerily. 

 Despite a fine, warm, winter climate, the Andalucian 

 atmosphere is chilly enough after sundown, and we were 

 glad to draw up close around the blazing logs, where a 

 savoury olla was cooking : and afterwards, while enjoying 

 our cigarettes and that delicious " natural" wine of Spain 

 which the British public, like a spoilt child, first cries for 

 and then abuses. 



Towards nine o'clock the moon rose, and we continued 

 our journey along the dark defiles of the sierra, pushing a 

 way through evergreen thicket, or silent forest, where 

 the startling cries of the eagle-owl outraged the stillness 

 of night. As far as one could see by the dim moon- 

 light, our course alternated for a long distance between a 

 boulder-strewn ravine and a glacis of smooth sloping rock, 

 steep as a roof, and more suited to the nocturnal gambols 

 of cats than for horsemen. But the Andalucian jaca is 

 hardly less sure of foot, and in due course we emerged 

 into a more level valley, where, after riding some miles 

 beneath huge cork-oaks and ilex, we heard at length the 

 distant challenge of our friend Gaspar's big mastiff, and 

 soon the long ride was over, and we entered the portals of 

 the rancho which for the succeeding week was to be our 

 home. 



Here we were confronted by a nuisance in the non- 

 arrival of the commissariat. The pack-mules, despatched 

 two days in advance, had not turned up. It transpired 

 that the men, loitering away the daylight, as is the custom 

 in Andalucia (and elsewhere), had lost the way in the 

 darkness, almost immediately after leaving the last 

 vestiges of a track, and had bivouaced among the scrub 

 awaiting the break of day. Our resources for the night 

 were thus limited to the scanty contents of the alforjas 

 (saddle-bags). We had, however, each provided ourselves 

 with a big sackful of chaff at the last outpost of the corn- 



