ed to my
mother, and he would have been content to lose them every one if thereby
he might have purchased back her life. But after all it was a noble
infirmity, for he thought little of himself and had gone through much to
win her.

Of my voyage to Cadiz, to which port I had learned that de Garcia's ship
was bound, there is little to be told. We met with contrary winds in
the Bay of Biscay and were driven into the harbour of Lisbon, where we
refitted. But at last we came safely to Cadiz, having been forty days at
sea.

CHAPTER VII

ANDRES DE FONSECA

Now I shall dwell but briefly on all the adventures which befell me
during the year or so that I remained in Spain, for were I to set out
everything at length, this history would have no end, or at least mine
would find me before I came to it.

Many travellers have told of the glories of Seville, to which
ancient Moorish city I journeyed with all speed, sailing there up the
Guadalquiver, and I have to tell of lands from which no other wanderer
has returned to England, and must press on to them. To be short then;
foreseeing that it might be necessary for me to stop some time in
Seville, and being desirous to escape notice and to be at the smallest
expense possible, I bethought me that it would be well if I could find
means of continuing my studies of medicine, and to this end I obtained
certain introductions from the firm of merchants to whose care I had
been recommended, addressed to doctors of medicine in Seville. These
letters at my request were made out not in my own name but in that
of 'Diego d'Aila,' for I did not wish it to be known that I was an
Englishman. Nor, indeed, was this likely, except my speech should betray
me, for, as I have said, in appearance I was very Spanish, and the
hindrance of the language was one that lessened every day, since having
already learned it from my mother, and taking every opportunity to read
and speak it, within six months I could talk Castilian except for some
slight accent, like a native of the land. Also I have a gift for the
acquiring of languages.

When I was come to Seville, and had placed my baggage in an inn, not one
of the most frequented, I set out to deliver a letter of recommendation
to a famous physician of the town whose name I have long forgotten. This
physician had a fine house in the street of Las Palmas, a great avenue
planted with graceful trees, that has other little streets running into
it. Down