I am eager to visit the Alhambra and
Escurial, and other show-places, and take a long ramble in the Sierra
Morena. I would wish to engage the most skillful _arriero_ in all
Spain, and, mounted on his best mule, roam all over the country,
through every mountain-pass, and across every desolate plain, and make
a pilgrimage to every spot hallowed by poetic or historic fame. I
would search out, as a shrine of chivalry, each field on which the Cid
displayed the gleaming blade of _Tizona_, and on which the hoofs of
his _Babieca_ trampled on the Moor. I wonder if my guide could not
show me, too, the foundation-stones of the manor-house of the good
knight of La Mancha, the site at least of the bower of Dulcinea del
Toboso, and Gil Blas' robbers' cave?"
"Just at this time," said L'Isle, "the cave of Captain Rolando and his
comrades, being in the north of Leon, is particularly inaccessible,
for there are some ninety thousand similar gentry wintering between us
and it."
"Those fellows have been very quiet of late, and it will probably be
some time before they are stirring again," said Lord Strathern.
"We will give them reason to bestir themselves as soon as the corn is
grown enough to fodder our horses," answered L'Isle.
Pages:
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93