n for any
such insanity.

Here I was at last in the much-longed-for Madrid, but not on time, and I
had nothing to do but to put in execution some new plan. Had I even at
that late date resolved to go to New York, I could have returned to
France by the Eastern route, via Barcelona, and all might have been
well.

I telegraphed to Lopez & Co. to Cadiz inquiring if they would hold the
El Rey Felipe for twenty hours. They replied they were under contract
with the Government and had to sail on time. So I said good-bye to that
plan.

On consulting my memorandum I saw there was a French steamer sailing
from St. Nazaire, on the west coast of France, for Vera Cruz, Mexico,
which would touch at Santander on Saturday for mails and passengers, and
I resolved to go by her; this, of course, meant retracing our way
through the hated Avila to Burgos, and changing there for Santander.

Here we saw the last of the Portuguese family with their sick member.
They said good-bye with every expression of gratitude, and in truth I
was glad to see them off. We were all very tired of them, and they had
been a serious expense. That is, might have been serious, but as I paid
that expense out of the Bank of England's cash I naturally could be
liberal in the extreme, and gave a salve to my conscience by reflecting
what a good-souled, charitable young man I was in looking out for these
strangers and putting my hand freely in my pocket in their behalf.

As soon as breakfast was over I hurried to the English Embassy, and
there securing files of the London papers looked eagerly and nervously
through them. To my intense relief I saw there was nothing in them.
Therefore, I knew all was serene in London and that the Old Lady was
without doubt giving out sovereigns by the tens of thousands for us.

Very much relieved in mind I returned to the hotel, and we set out to
see Madrid.

[Illustration: A DETECTIVE IDENTIFYING OLD OFFENDERS AT NEWGATE.]

CHAPTER XXIX.

I WATCH THE PYRENEES SINK IN THE SEA, THEN SAIL O'ER GREEN NEPTUNE'S
BACK.

It was 11 o'clock when we started. The streets were thronged, and the
throngs moving in one direction. That was to the street lined on both
sides with churches, whose doors were flung wide open to the surging
masses. We went with the current and entered a famous church which was
crowded with the pious, their souls rapt in their devotion. Like all
European churches, there were no seats, but the audience, clos