nd proceeding without any guide at all.  The last
which we had was an infamous character.”

“So I have been told, your worship, and it was well for the _bribon_ that
I was not in Rivadeo when the affair to which you allude occurred.  But
he was gone with the pony Perico before I came back, or I would have bled
the fellow to a certainty with my knife.  He is a disgrace to the
profession, which is one of the most honourable and ancient in the world.
Perico himself must have been ashamed of him, for Perico, though a pony,
is a gentleman, one of many capacities, and well known upon the roads.
He is only inferior to my mare.”

“Are you well acquainted with the road to Oviedo?” I demanded.

“I am not, your worship; that is, no farther than Luarca, {58a} which is
the first day’s journey.  I do not wish to deceive you, therefore let me
go with you no farther than that place; though perhaps I might serve for
the whole journey, for though I am unacquainted with the country, I have
a tongue in my head, and nimble feet to run and ask questions.  I will,
however, answer for myself no farther than Luarca, where you can please
yourselves.  Your being strangers is what makes me wish to accompany you,
for I like the conversation of strangers, from whom I am sure to gain
information both entertaining and profitable.  I wish, moreover, to
convince you that we guides of Galicia are not all thieves, which I am
sure you will not suppose if you only permit me to accompany you as far
as Luarca.”

I was so much struck with the fellow’s good humour and frankness, and
more especially by the originality of character displayed in almost every
sentence which he uttered, that I readily engaged him to guide us to
Luarca; whereupon he left me, promising to be ready with his mare at
eight next morning.

Rivadeo is one of the principal seaports of Galicia, and is admirably
situated for commerce, on a deep firth, into which the river Mirando
{58b} debouches.  It contains many magnificent buildings, and an
extensive square or _plaz