is high, picturesque cart, drawn by a tandem team of
mules. I accepted his invitation, and was driven up through the olive
groves to his house, followed by crowds of people. That night there
was a sort of entertainment given in my honor and having no clothing
with me except the heavy suit of underwear; I had to borrow a suit from
the Alcalde in order to be presentable. The women of that place were
most gracious and the girls as pretty as pictures. The Alcalde's
little daughter took an interest in me. She talked to me a great deal,
and in fact I could understand her Spanish much better than I could the
adults. What a pretty little thing she was--a perfect type of Spanish
beauty. She tried her best to deter me from continuing my voyage;
but next morning she went to the river to see me start. In fact the
entire village was there. When I was about to step into the water and
was bidding her adieu, she pressed a small religious medal into my band,
saying:

"Oh, I am so afraid you will never get to Lisbon. Take this, it will
help you through, The Blessed Madonna will protect you from danger."

"I kissed the little one good bye and slipped into the water amid the
vivas of the crowd. I was much grieved to hear, on reaching Lisbon, that
the little girl died a few days after my departure.

"Nothing of interest occurred during the day except that it was very
cold and rough and a snow storm was raging. On Sunday morning I arrived
at Talavera, where the kindness of the people was so great I was
compelled to leave the water and rest for awhile. From there the
river ran through a lower country; but wound about so that I could
never see more than a quarter of a mile ahead anywhere. There was a
continual change of current, now very rapid and again sluggish and
smooth. Just below the town is a water fall of considerable proportions
and a great crowd had gone down there to see me shoot over. In a spirit
of bravado, I stood up when near the brink and was hurled over head
first. Had I hit a rock, it would have killed me. The people cheered,
thinking that was the way I always went over them, but I tell you I made
up my mind never to try the experiment again.

"It was not long until the land began to rise higher and higher, or
rather, as it appeared to me, the river seemed to sink lower and lower
and settle down among the great hills. I could not tell from the maps
how I was working and I was anxious to see any