tatue.

During the two days which elapsed between our capture and our entrance
into the roads of Rosas, Pablo, whose curiosity often brought him into
the room, used to exclaim, "There is one passenger whom I have not yet
managed to get a sight of."

When we arrived at Rosas it was decided that we should be placed in
quarantine in a dismantled windmill, situated on the road leading to
Figueras. I was careful to disembark in a boat to which Pablo did not
belong. The corsair departed for a new cruise, and I was for a moment
freed from the harassing thoughts which my old servant had caused me.

Our ship was richly laden; the Spanish authorities were immediately
desirous to declare it a lawful prize. They pretended to believe that I
was the proprietor of it, and wished, in order to hasten things, to
interrogate me, even without awaiting the completion of the quarantine.
They stretched two cords between the mill and the shore, and a judge
placed himself in front of me. As the interrogatories were made from a
good distance, the numerous audience which encircled us took a direct
part in the questions and answers. I will endeavour to reproduce this
dialogue with all possible fidelity:--

"Who are you?"

"A poor roving merchant."

"Whence do you come?"

"From a country where you certainly never were."

"In a word, what country is it?"

I was afraid to answer, for the passports, steeped in vinegar, were in
the hands of the judge-instructor, and I had forgotten whether I was
from Schwekat or from Leoben. Finally I answered at all hazards:--

"I come from Schwekat."

And this information happily was found to agree with that of the
passport.

"You are as much from Schwekat as I am," answered the judge. "You are
Spanish, and, moreover, a Spaniard from the kingdom of Valencia, as I
perceive by your accent."

"Would you punish me, sir, because nature has endowed me with the gift
of languages? I learn with facility the dialects of those countries
through which I pass in the exercise of my trade; I have learnt, for
example, the dialect of Iviza."

"Very well, you shall be taken at your word. I see here a soldier from
Iviza; you shall hold a conversation with him."

"I consent; I will even sing the goat song."

Each of the verses of this song (if verses they be) terminates by an
imitation of the bleating of the goat.

I commenced at once, with an audacity at which I really feel astonished,
to chant this air, which is