w to cheat and steal.
They are fond of talking about their thefts and how they effected them.
A gipsy, for instance, related one day in my presence how he had
swindled a countryman as you shall hear:

The gipsy had an ass with a docked tail, and he fitted a false tail to
the stump so well that it seemed quite natural. Then he took the ass to
market and sold it to a countryman for ten ducats. Having pocketed the
money, he told the countryman that if he wanted another ass, own brother
to the one he had bought, and every bit as good, he might have it a
bargain. The countryman told him to go and fetch it, and meanwhile he
would drive that one home. Away went the purchaser; the gipsy followed
him, and some how or other, it was not long before he had stolen the
ass, from which he immediately whipped off the false tail, leaving only
a bare stump. He then changed the halter and saddle, and had the
audacity to go and offer the animal for sale to the countryman, before
the latter had discovered his loss. The bargain was soon made; the
purchaser went into his house to fetch the money to pay for the second
ass, and there he discovered the loss of the first. Stupid as he was, he
suspected that the gipsy had stolen the animal, and he refused to pay
him. The gipsy brought forward as witness the man who had received the
alcabala[63] on the first transaction, and who swore that he had sold
the countryman an ass with a very bushy tail, quite different from the
second one; and an alguazil, who was present, took the gipsy's part so
strongly that the countryman was forced to pay for the ass twice over.
Many other stories they told, all about stealing beasts of burden, in
which art they are consummate masters. In short, they are a thoroughly
bad race, and though many able magistrates have taken them in hand, they
have always remained incorrigible.

[63] A tax on sales and transfers.

After I had remained with them twenty days, they set out for Murcia,
taking me with them. We passed through Granada, where the company was
quartered to which my master the drummer belonged. As the gipsies were
aware of this, they shut me up in the place where they were lodged. I
overheard them talking about their journey, and thinking that no good
would come of it, I contrived to give them the slip, quitted Granada,
and entered the garden of a Morisco,[64] who gladly received me. I was
quite willing to remain with him and watch his garden,--a much less
fatigu