."

"We know they're going to Seville," said Dick.

"It's a long cry to Seville. And Carmona may mean to travel by way of
Madrid, through Vitoria and Burgos, or he may mean to take a road which
Levavasseur in Biarritz told me was better, steering for Seville _via_
Santander and Salamanca. It depends on whether he wants to stop at the
capital, I suppose. Anyhow, as he's unconsciously making our arrangements
as well as his own, there's nothing for it but we must halt until he
passes and gives us our lead."

"It's all the same to me whether we halt or scorch," said Dick. "I've got
more time than anything else. This is your circus; I'm only the
'prisoner's best friend,' as they say in a court-martial. But if we should
go to Burgos, I've got an errand to do, if you don't mind."

"Why should I mind?" I asked.

"It's to call on a young lady."

"You never mentioned having friends there."

"She's Angele de la Mole's friend. All I know is that she's Irish, name
O'Donnel; that she's got a harmless, necessary father, and a brother in
whom my prophetic soul tells me Angele is interested; that Papa and
Daughter are visiting Brother, who's in the Spanish army for some weird
unexplained reason, and stationed in Burgos. I promised to take a package
with a present from Angele to Miss O'Donnel if we stopped long enough at
Burgos, or, if we didn't go there, to post it. I've also a letter
introducing us to Papa. Angele said it was possible he might have known
your father, so probably he's lived a good deal in Spain at one time or
another, or the idea wouldn't have occurred to her. She thought, if we
went to see the O'Donnels, Papa might be useful in case you told him who
you really were; but I wasn't to bother you about going out of your way
for their sakes; which is the reason I didn't mention them until now, when
you spoke of Burgos."

"If Carmona goes in that direction, he's almost certain to spend the night
there," said I, on the strength of such knowledge as much study of Spanish
road-maps had given me. "In that case, we shall spend the night too, and
there'll be time for you to call on your O'Donnels; but as for me, I don't
know that it would be wise to take extraneous people into my confidence.
And, if it won't disappoint you, I hope we won't have to go by Burgos,
although they say the cathedral's one of the finest in the world, for if
the road's as bad as rumour paints it, it must be abominable."

"Well, you've got your sp