Gradually, however, the _Cafilas_[110] became wider and wider apart; and on arriving within a few miles of the town of El Burgo, an open and comparatively level space presenting itself, unobstructed by man or beast, we began to indulge the hope that our perseverance had earned its reward, and that thenceforth a clear road lay before us. Our impatient steeds gladly availed themselves of the permission to quicken their pace; but five minutes' canter carried us across the verdant glade, when we again found ourselves immured within a rocky ravine, shadowed by the dark forest, and--to our disappointment--in contact with yet another string of mules and _boricos_.
The pass was more rugged than any we had hitherto met with, and the sure-footed animals, with noses almost touching the stony path, were scrambling down the rough descent with caprinine agility; though sometimes--thrown off their equilibrium by the size rather than the weight of their burthens,--they would stagger from side to side, so as to make their destruction appear inevitable. Righting themselves, however, in the most scientific manner, and making a short pause, as if to recover their self-possession, they would resume their perilous undertaking, without further incitement than an "_arre!_"[111] glad enough not to _feel_ the usual accompaniment on their houghs or ribs.
Considering it advisable to follow the muleteers' example, we too allowed our beasts to use their own discretion in the selection of their stepping-places by giving them their heads; and, folding our cloaks about us, so as to afford the utmost possible protection against the pelting storm, we resigned ourselves to fate; there being nothing for it, as the philosophic Sancho says, but patience and a shrug of the shoulders.
Whilst proceeding with our necks thus in chancery--sliding, stumbling, and dripping along, in rear of the closely formed column--we came most unexpectedly upon a peasant, mounted on a sleek mule, who, taking advantage of a favourable spot, had drawn up on the road side to allow the train to pass. The circumstance of his being the only person we had met journeying towards Ronda, would of itself have caused us to notice him, but there was something in the man's deportment that peculiarly attracted observation. In the first place, he suffered all his fellow-countrymen to pass without deigning to return their usual courteous salutation; in the next, he was smoking a _tabaco_[112] instead of a _papelito_; and, lastly, he was muffled up so completely in his _manta_ that every part of his dress was concealed, and of his face little more than the eyes could be seen. These were dark, piercing, and inquisitive, and their sidelong glances, evidently following their owner's thoughts, were directed with searching scrutiny on the tempting bales that passed successively before him.