(1/3) Go Saddle the Sea (12 page)

The older woman began to cry and wring her hands. She was a thin, doleful-looking person with scanty graying hair and a sallow, wasted face.

"
Ay
—
ay
—they are bound to discover that we played a part in his escape, and we, too, shall be thrown into jail!" she cried. "Is it not bad enough that my own father must die in prison?"

"Mother, hush!" said the girl. "Let the young gentleman come in and warm himself."

But I thanked her and said I would not come in, for I could see that the mother wished me at the other end of the world.

"Nor do I want that evil parrot!" she lamented. "For if the
alguacils
come here inquiring about the boy, and they see it—"

"But why
should
they come here?" argued Frasquita. "What is to connect the young gentleman with
Grandfather? It will be thought that I brought the parrot home myself."

However, the mother was quite unreasonable and kept repeating, "I do not
want
it, I tell you, it reminds me of our shame. Besides, who knows what wicked blasphemies he may have taught it?"

I did not at all wish to be encumbered with it myself, but as the mother seemed clean distracted by her terror, I feared the poor bird might have its neck wrung if it were left with her, and so finally I said that I would take it with me. At this Frasquita looked greatly relieved.

She offered me food—greatly to her mothers indignation—but again I declined, thanking her and saying that I had best be on my way, to put as great a distance as possible between myself and the town before day came.

As I took my leave, I said to Frasquita in a low tone, "If—if you should see your grandfather again—"

"No, I shall not see him again," she said sadly but positively. "He was very certain that he would die tonight. And I have never known him wrong about anything."

I could restrain my curiosity no longer.

"He seemed such a good, kind man. Why should
he
be in prison?"

"Oh, he is the best man in the world! But he wrote a pamphlet which they said was seditious blasphemy—about the liberty of the individual and the
properties of minerals and the laws of gravity—and many other things that I do not understand. So he was thrown into jail."

I bade her good-bye and rode off, thinking how unjust it was that good men should be punished for using the wits God gave them in trying to puzzle out the secrets of the universe, while wicked men, who use their wits only for their own profit, seem to prosper in freedom.

Perhaps, I thought, it is some joke of God's, which He will explain to us later. But He had better have a good explanation!

As I had told Frasquita, I proposed to press on as fast as I could, and since the bad-tempered mule had been given a day's rest in the stable of the
posada,
I thought it would be no hardship for her to travel through the night.

Judging from the map that Don José had made me, I did not think that it could be more than eight or nine leagues from Oviedo to the port of Villa Viciosa, which, on a good road as this seemed, should not take the mule more than six or seven hours. As for myself, I was so happy to be out of the stink and misery of that prison that I would gladly have ridden thirty hours through a blizzard to put distance between it and myself.

However, the night was fresh, mild, and damp, and I rode along in it most happily, sniffing at the aromatic scent of the gum trees, which grow plentifully in the
valleys and
rías
of that region. The road, though well surfaced, twisted about very much, and climbed endlessly up and down, crossing or doubling along the side of innumerable creeks and inlets, all of which, I supposed, were making their way toward the sea.

For the first part of the night the moon, though veiled by cloud, showed me the road; and by the time the moon had set my eyes were accustomed to the darkness, and the mule, surefooted as old Gato, proceeded confidently on her way. Meanwhile I was much entertained by my other companion, the parrot, who, seated sometimes on my head, sometimes on my shoulder, announced the hour with deep gravity, in loud measured tones, every sixty minutes. And in between these announcements she diverted me with other scraps of information, as that it takes two days to sail from La Coruña to Santander with a following wind, five to six days if winds are contrary; that the resin of the eucalyptus and myrtle trees may be used to cure a cough; that the element mercury is obtained from cinnabar and the planet Mercury is nearest the sun; and many other useful pieces of knowledge. I resolved to increase her education myself, and began by reciting a list of the prepositions which in Latin govern the dative case; for, I thought, if I am lucky enough to find my English family, they will be glad to know that I have not forgotten all the Latin that Father Tomás took pains to beat into me.

So the night passed; and morning found us on a high, cultivated hillside, having crossed over the last
and lowest ridge of the mountains that had lain in our way and cut us off from the ocean.

As the light increased I saw, with wonder, that same ocean, lying before me at a distance of some three or four leagues: like a long, shining steel knife blade that stretched all the way across the horizon from right to left, as far as the eye could see. My heart filled with triumph and joy, for now all I had to do was pass over that water (though it would grieve me to part from the bad-tempered mule)—and then I would be in my father's country.

Below me, at no great distance, I saw what I took to be the port of Villa Viciosa, which lay at the head of a wooded creek, about a league inland from the open sea. I made haste to descend toward it, and found it, on closer inspection, to be a small dirty town, scattered along its inland channel, which smelled abominably of salt mud and dead fish.

What was my dismay, on reaching the quayside and inquiring for boats to England, when I was told that they had all sailed the previous week!

"It is the season for the
avellanas,
the hazelnuts, you see, boy," explained an old man whom I discovered sitting on a pile of nets. "They have all loaded up with their cargoes and gone, since winds and tides were favorable. What a pity you were not here a week ago! For, after they return, it is not likely they will cross again this winter."

"But what are all those boats I see anchored here?"

"Oh, they are just the small fishing craft; they go
out and return the same day; or, at most, sail along thé coast to Santander or La Coruna."

"Then," I said despondently, "if I wish to cross to England, where should I look for a boat?"

"At Santander, my boy, or at Bilbao; there the craft are bigger and sail all winter long; there you will find something without much trouble."

For a moment I considered inquiring whether any ships were sailing in the direction of Santander from Villa Viciosa during the next few hours. But it struck me that (as I had lost the three thousand reales from the sale of the robber's horse) I certainly had not enough money to pay for two sea voyages; indeed it was highly probable that I had not enough for one; therefore I had better continue riding along the coast to Santander, which at least I could do for nothing on my faithful if bad-tempered mount. The distance might be about twenty leagues: less than I had come already, and a much easier road; it should not take more than three or four days' riding.

I delayed no longer at Villa Viciosa—which I found a most dismal and disappointing spot—but set out straightway eastward on the road to Santander.

Now what beauties opened before me! The road continued for a short time along the verge of the inlet, but then climbed onto a great shoulder of cliff, and from this height, which was all open, cultivated land, I was able to see for many miles along the coast.

Truth to tell, my first sight of the water, close at hand, in Villa Viciosa, had greatly disappointed me.
But now I realized that was not true sea, merely an inland water; now the true sea, in all its majesty, lay before me, green and luminous like some great moving jewel catching the sun's light; here and there flecked with cloud shadows; hurling itself in smoking white plumes against the ribs of cliffs. I shouted with joy, and sang as we made our way along; the mule snorted as she filled her lungs with salt air; and the parrot gravely remarked, "Six o'clock!"

However, the weather is very changeable in those parts, and all of a sudden the clear day clouded to mist, and then to a violent rain, so I wrapped the blanket-cloak over myself and as much of the mule as I could cover (tucking the parrot underneath my jacket, where she settled with her head under her wing) and so we traveled on. The road continually climbed and descended, passing over headlands and crossing estuaries; and still the rain fell in torrents.

At last, descending to one of these
rías,
I was dismayed to find it quite impassable. The river which formed it, swollen probably from rains higher up in the mountains, had flooded over the bridge and swept past in a furious, tossing torrent, carrying great hanks of hay and trunks of trees. The mule rolled white eyes^ tossing her head, and backed away from the brink, so I knew it was useless to think of trying to swim that water. The only solution would be to go upstream, along the bank, until, perhaps, we reached a point where a bridge remained above water, or the river was narrow enough to ford.

A weary way it proved. Most of that day was spent in doggedly following the bank of the stream, which was more difficult because there was no road, sometimes not even a track; here and there we were obliged to push our way through close bushes, or to plod through marshy brooks; the mule became more and more bad-tempered and I more discouraged.

At last as dusk fell we were lucky enough to find, not a bridge but a deserted barn, raised on four pillars to keep it dry.

"Here we spend the night,
niña,
" I said to the mule.

The barn would provide good shelter for me and the parrot, but what about the mule? She could not go underneath, for it was only three feet above the ground on its stone legs. However, looking inside, I found some boards, long enough to make a bridge from the muddy ground to the entrance.

"Now,
niña,
you will have to be clever: come along—one foot after the other!"

The mule
was
clever (sensing, perhaps, that her cleverness would win her a dry stable); she came up my improvised ramp like a cat, and we spent the night huddled together for warmth on some prickly fodder in the dark barn.

Next day it still rained, and we continued our harassing way up the side of the creek. My spirits were very dejected; I imagined this long and tedious detour taking me halfway back to Villaverde.

But after an hour's scrambling we came to a/man who was in an even greater state of distress and exasperation.

"My pigs, my pigs!" he kept lamenting. "My old mother! My pigs, my pigs!"

I could not help but notice that he placed his pigs first, and seemed to value them somewhat above his old mother.

"Where are your pigs, señor? I see no pigs."

"They are over yonder!" he wailed. "On the island!
Ay de mi!
they will be swept to destruction!"

Walking closer to the flooded river, I saw that here was another bridge, covered six feet deep in a swirl of floodwater; and that the wooded height which I had taken to be the opposite side of the estuary was in fact an island in the middle. I could just see that a second leg of the bridge led on from the island to the farther shore. The island, thickly grown over with young chestnut trees, was half submerged, and it seemed possible that it would soon be completely covered with water.

Wringing his hands and tearing his hair, the man informed me that he had sent his old mother across to the island that morning with his herd of pigs, so that the pigs might eat up the chestnuts before they were all washed away—

"
Ay de mi!
Never did I think the river would come down so fast! And pigs cannot swim! They cut their throats with their sharp hoofs!"

"Have you no boat?" I said.

"Yes, but it would be swept away! I dare not venture with it across that current."

He pointed to a flat-bottomed rowboat which, fortunately for him, had been pulled a good way up the bank. A small thatched house on stone legs stood higher up. The man himself had evidently been off hunting while his mother minded the pigs; he carried a stout-looking bow and a sheaf of arrows, and a hare with several partridges lay where he had dropped them in his agitation.

Visited by a sudden notion, I said, "Have you a long rope, señor? One that would reach across to the island?"

"Yes, in my house."

"And a piece of thin cord the same length?"

"Yes, I daresay, but what will that avail? We cannot get the rope across to the island."

Seeing his mother, a poor black-clad old lady, now appear on the opposite bank, crossing herself and raising her hands to heaven as she looked at the water rolling down, I said, "Well, there is no harm in trying! Let us make the attempt. Do you fetch the rope, señor, while I signal to your mother."

She looked very much astonished when she saw me making gestures with the bow and arrow, but at length I thought that she took a notion as to what I intended to do, for she nodded her head vigorously up and down very many times. The roar of the river was
too loud for any words to be heard, though from time to time I thought I caught a snatch of the pigs' doleful squealing.

Nieves and Anita had equipped me with a reel of stout thread and a needle, besides a hunk of cobbler's wax—items I myself would never have considered necessary for a journey, but only see how wrong I was! For now I unwound a great quantity of the thread (having much ado not to let it become snarled) and tied a waxed end of it to an arrow, which I shot across the foamy river. It fell short, and the old mother threw up her hands in despair, but I gently drew back the thread and tried again. My second shot was more successful, landing in a clump of willow, and I saw the old lady hobble to the spot where the arrow fell and pick it up. I felt the thread—of which I held the other end—give a twitch, and I hoped she would have the sense not to pull on it too hard, or my scheme would come to nothing.