CHAPTER XXI.
A SAFE HARBOR.
“We are in Malaga now; and we have to decidewhat to do next,” said Raymond, when theywere shown to their room in the hotel.
“I supposed you would wait till the squadron arrived,”replied Bark.
“I do not intend to wait. We have talked so muchabout your affairs that we have said nothing aboutmine,” added Raymond. “My circumstances are verydifferent from yours. I feel that I have been right allthe time; and I expect that I shall be fully justified inthe end for what I have done in violation of the disciplineof the vessel to which I belong.”
“I know that my case is very different from yours;but I do not want to part company with you,” saidBark, with an anxious look on his face.
“I don’t know that it is necessary for us to part.Though I think it is your duty to join your ship as soonas convenient, I shall keep out of the way till she isready to sail from Spain. The fleet will certainly visitCadiz, whether it goes to sea from there or not. Forthis reason, I must work my way to Cadiz.”
“And must I stay here till the squadron arrives?”
“Let us look it over.”
“I cannot speak Spanish; and I shall be like a catin a strange garret, unless I employ a guide.”
“The right thing for you to do is to return to yourship.”
“Go back to Barcelona?”
“I should advise you to do that if I were not afraidthe fleet would leave before you could get there. ThePrince will arrive within three days; and, if the Josephinesand Tritonias have returned, the vessels maysail at once. It is a long, tedious, and expensive journeyby rail; and you could not get there in this time byany steamer, for they all stop at the ports on the way.I don’t know where the fleet will put in on its waysouth; and you might miss it. On the whole, I thinkyou had better stay with me.”
“I think so myself,” replied Bark, pleased with thedecision.
“Because you want to think so, perhaps,” laughedRaymond. “We must be careful that our wishes don’toverride our judgment.”
“But you decided it for me.”
“I think we have settled it right,” added Raymond.“I want to see something of my native land; and Ishall go to the Alhambra and Seville on the way toCadiz. In your case it will make only a difference oftwo or three days, whether you join the Tritonia hereor in Cadiz.”
This course was decided upon in the end; and, aftera day in Malaga, they started for Granada. At theexpiration of ten days, they had completed the tourmarked out by Raymond, and were in Cadiz, waitingfor the arrival of the squadron. At the end of a weekit had not come. Another week, and still it did notappear. Raymond looked over the ship–news in allthe papers he could find in the club–house; but thelast news he could obtain was that the Prince and herconsorts had arrived at Carthagena. In vain he lookedfor any thing more. The next port would certainly beMalaga, unless the fleet put into Almeria, which wasnot probable. It was now the middle of January.
“I don’t understand it,” said Raymond. “Thevessels ought to have been here before this time.”
“Perhaps they have gone over into Africa to lookafter us,” suggested Bark.
“That is not possible: Mr. Lowington never goesto hunt up or hunt down runaways; but he may havegone over there to let the students see something ofAfrica,” replied Raymond. “I don’t think he hasgone over to Africa at all.”
“Where is he, then?”
“That’s a conundrum, and I can’t guess it.”
Raymond continued to watch the papers till the firstof February; but still there were no tidings of thefleet. He had a list of the vessels that had passedTarifa, and of those which had arrived at Algiers,Oran, and Nemours; but they did not contain thename of the Prince. Then he looked for ships at Alexandria,thinking the principal might have concluded totake the students to Egypt; but he found nothing tosupport such a possibility.
“I don’t think I shall stay here any longer,” saidRaymond. “We have been here a month.”
“Where will you go?” asked Bark.
“I believe we had better take a steamer, and followthe coast up to Carthagena, where we had the last newsof the fleet,” replied Raymond. “When we get therewe can ascertain for what port she sailed.”
“Why not go on board of one of the steamers thatcome down the coast from Barcelona, and inquire ofthe officers if they have seen the squadron?” suggestedBark, who was always full of suggestions.
“That’s a capital idea!” exclaimed Raymond. “Iwonder we did not think of that idea before.”
Then they had to wait a week for a steamer that hadcome down the coast; but one of the line from Oranhad been in port, and they ascertained that the fleetwas not in the port of Malaga. Raymond went to thecaptain of the steamer from Barcelona, and was informedthat the squadron was at Carthagena, and hadbeen there for over a month.
“That accounts for it all,” said Raymond, as theyreturned to the boat in which they had boarded thesteamer. “But I can’t imagine why the fleet is stayingall this time in the harbor of Carthagena.”
“Perhaps the Prince has broken some of her machinery,and they have stopped to repair damages,”suggested Bark.
“That may be; but they could hardly be a monthmending a break. They could build a new engine inthat time almost.”
“Well, we know where the fleet is; and the nextquestion is, What are we to do about it?” added Bark,as they landed on the quay.
They returned to the Hotel de Cadiz, where theyboarded, and went to their room to consider the situationwith the new light just obtained.
“Your course is plain enough, Bark,” said Raymond.“Mine is not so plain.”
“You think I ought to return to the Tritonia; don’tyou?” added Bark.
“That is my view.”
“But suppose the fleet should sail before I get toCarthagena?”
“You must take your chance of that.”
“But you will not go back with me?”
“No: it would not be safe for me to do that. Itwill be better for my uncle in Barcelona not to knowwhere I am.”
“But what shall I say to Mr. Lowington, or Mr.Pelham, when I am asked where you are?” inquiredBark. “I suppose it is still to be part of my programmenot to lie.”
“Undoubtedly; and I hope you will stick to it aslong as you live.”
“I intend to do so; and you might as well go withme as to have me tell them where you are.”
“That is true, Bark; and, when you get on board ofthe Tritonia, tell all you know about me, and say thatyou left me in Cadiz.”
“You might as well go with me.”
“I think not.”
“Then that _alguacil_ will be after you in less than aweek,” said Bark.
“But he will not find me; for I shall not be in Cadizwhen he arrives,” laughed the Spaniard.
“Where are you going?” asked Bark curiously.
“If I don’t tell you, you will not know.”
“I see,” added Bark. “You do not intend to stayin Cadiz.”
“Of course not.”
“But you may miss the squadron when it goes tosea.”
“If I do, I cannot help it; and in that case I maygo to New York, or I may go to the West Indies in theLopez steamers. I have not made up my mind what Ishall do.”
Raymond wrote a long letter to Scott, and gave it tohis companion to deliver to him. In a few days asteamer came along that was going to stop at Carthagena.Bark went on board of her; and, after a hardparting, he sailed away in her to join the Tritonia,after an absence of two months.
On the following day Raymond went to Gibraltar inthe Spanish steamer, and remained there a full month,watching the papers for news of the fleet. At the endof this time he found the arrival of the squadron atMalaga. A few days later he saw that the Prince hadpassed Tarifa, and then that she had arrived at Cadiz.But, while he is watching the movements of the steamer,we will follow her to Barcelona, where she went nearlythree months before.
/> When the Prince reached her destination, the overlandparty had not returned, and were not expected fortwo or three days. An excursion to Monserrat wasorganized by Dr. Winstock, who declared that it wouldbe ridiculous to leave Barcelona, when they had timeon their hands, without visiting one of the most remarkablesights in Spain. The party had to take atrain at seven o’clock in the morning; and then it wasten before they reached their destination.
Monserrat is a lofty mountain, and takes its namefrom a Spanish word that means a “saw,” becausethe sharp peaks which cover the elevation resemblethe teeth of that implement. At the _posada_ in thevillage Dr. Winstock related the legend of the place.
“This is one of the most celebrated shrines inSpain,” he began. “Sixty thousand pilgrims used tovisit it every year; but now the various chapels andmonastery buildings are mostly in ruins. In 880 mysteriouslights were seen over a part of the mountain.The bishop came up to see what they were, and discovereda small image of the Virgin in one of the numerousgrottos that are found in the mountain. This littlestatue was the work of St. Luke, of course, and wasbrought to Spain by St. Peter himself. The Bishop ofBarcelona hid it in this cave when the Moors invadedCatalonia. Bishop Gondemar, who found it, attemptedto carry it to Manresa; but it became so heavy that hedid not succeed. This was a miraculous intimationfrom the image that it did not wish to go any farther.The obliging bishop built a chapel on the spot, and theimage was shrined at its altar. He also appointed ahermit to watch over it.
“Now, the Devil came to live in one of the cavernsfor the purpose of leading this anchorite astray. TheCount of Barcelona had a beautiful daughter whosename was Riquilda; and the Devil ‘possessed’ her.She told her father that the evil spirit would not leaveher till ordered to do so by Guarin, the pious custodianof the image. The count left her in his care. Thehermit was wickedly inclined by the influence of theDevil, and finally killed the maiden, cutting off herhead, and burying the body. Guarin was immediatelysorry for what he had done, and, fleeing from his evilneighbor, went to Rome. The pope absolved him withthe penance that he should return to Monserrat on hishands and knees, and continue to walk like a beast, ashe was morally, and never to look up to heaven whichhe had insulted, and never to speak a word. He becamea wild beast in the forest; and Count Wildredcaptured the strange animal, and conveyed him to hispalace, where he doubtless became a lion. One daythe creature was brought in to be exhibited to thecount’s guests at a banquet. A child cried out to him,‘Arise, Juan Guarin! thy sins are forgiven!’ Then hearose in the form of the hermit; and the count pardonedhim, having the grace to follow the example sethim.
“But the end was not yet; for, when the count andGuarin went to search for the body, Riquilda appearedto them alive and well, though she had been buriedeight years, but with a red ring around her neck, like asilk thread, rather ornamental than otherwise. Thecount founded a nunnery at once; and his daughterwas made the lady superior, while Guarin became the_mayor–domo_ of the establishment. In time the nunswere removed, and monks took their places; and themiracles performed by the image attracted thousandsto its shrines. The treasury of this Virgin was immenseat one time, being valued at two hundredthousand ducats; but most of it was carried away bythe French. The scenery, you see, is wild and grand,and I think is more enjoyable than the relics and thegrottos.”
For hours the students wandered about the wildlocality. They saw the wonderful image; and thosewho had any taste for art thought that St. Luke, if hemade the little statue, had not done himself any greatcredit. They visited the thirteen hermitages, and exploredthe grottos till they had had enough of this sortof thing. An hour after dark they were on board ofthe Prince. In two days more the Josephines andTritonias arrived; and on Wednesday the squadronsailed for the South.
During his stay in port, the principal had seen DonFrancisco, and told him all he knew in regard to thefugitive. The lawyer was satisfied that Mr. Lowingtonhad done nothing to keep the young Don out of theway of his guardian; and neither of them could suggestany means to recover possession of him. As yet noletter from Don Manuel in New York had been received.
Favored by a good wind, the squadron arrived atValencia in thirty hours. After a night’s sleep, allhands were landed at the port of the city, which thereader knows is Grao. The professor of geography andhistory, while the party were waiting for the vehiclesthat were to convey them to the city, gave the studentsa description of Valencia. It is an ancient city, foundedby the Phœnicians, inhabited by the Romans for fivecenturies, captured by the Moors and held by themabout the same time, though the Cid took the town, andheld it for five years. At his death, in 1099, the Moorscame down upon the city; and the body of the Cid wasplaced on his horse, and marched out of the city. TheMoslems opened for it; and the Castilians passedthrough their army in safety, the enemy not daring toattack them. It was not such a victory for theSpaniards as some of the chronicles describe; for theChristians had to abandon the place. It was takenfrom the Moors in 1238, and became a part of Aragon,to be united with the other provinces of Spain by theunion of Ferdinand and Isabella. The Moriscoes—theMoors who had been allowed to remain in Spainafter the capture of Granada—made a great city of it,building its palaces and bridges; but they were drivenout of the peninsula by Philip II. They had cultivatedits vicinity, and made a paradise of the province; andtheir departure was almost a death–blow to the prosperityof the city.
Though the modern kings of Spain have not sparedits memorials of the past, it is still an interesting city.It has a population of nearly one hundred and fiftythousand, making it the fourth city of Spain. It is oneof the most industrious cities of the peninsula; and itsmanufactures of silk and velvet are quite extensive.The city contains nothing very different from otherSpanish towns. The students wandered over themost of it, looking into a few of the churches, nearlyevery one of which has a wonder–working image of theVirgin, or of St. Vincent, who is the patron saint ofValencia.
The next day the squadron sailed, and put into Alicanteafter a twenty–four hours’ run; the wind being solight that the steamer had to tow her consorts nearlythe whole distance. The students went on shore; butthe old legend, “Nothing to see,” was passed aroundamong them. Alicante is an old Spanish town, composedof white houses, standing at the foot of a highhill crowned with an old fortress. The lines, walls,covered ways, and batteries, seem to cover one side ofthe elevation. Those who cared to do it climbed tothe top of the hill, and were rewarded with a fine viewof the sea and the country.
“When the Cid had captured Valencia,” said Dr.Winstock to his pupils, as they stood on the summit ofthe hill, “he conducted Ximine, his wife, to the top ofa tower, and showed her the country he had conquered.It was called the _Huerta_, which means a large orchard.The land had been irrigated by the industrious andenterprising Moors, and bore fruit in luxurious abundance.The _vega_, or plain, which we see, is scarcelyless fertile; and the region around us is perhaps themost productive in Spain. Twelve miles south isElche, which is filled with palm–plantations. We seean occasional palm and fig tree here.”
Mr. Lowington did not favor excursions into thecountry when it could be avoided; but the doctorinsisted that the students ought to visit Elche, and thepoint was yielded. They made the excursion in fourseparate parties; for comfortable carriages could notbe obtained to take them all at once. The road wasdry and dusty at first, and the soil poor; but the aspectof the country soon changed. Palms began to appearalong the way, and soon the landscape seemed to becovered with them.
“There is something to see here, at any rate,” saidSheridan, as the party approached the town.
“I thought you would enjoy it,” replied the doctor.“This is the East transplanted in Spain.”
“These palms are fifty feet high,” added Murray,measuring them with his eye.
“Some of them are sixty; but fifty is about theaverage. Now we are in the palm–forest, which is saidto contain forty thousand trees. This region is irrigatedby the waters of the Vinalopo River, which areheld back
by a causeway stretched across the valleyabove. These plantations are very profitable.”
“But all palms are not like these,” said Murray.“My uncle has seen palms over a hundred feet high.”
“There are nearly a hundred kinds of palm, bearingdifferent sorts of fruit. These are date–palms; andone of them bears from one to two hundred pounds ofdates.”
“And they sell at from ten to fifteen cents a poundat home,” added Sheridan.
“But for not more than one or two cents a poundhere,” continued the doctor. “I suppose you havelearned about sex in plants, which is a modern discovery;but it is most strikingly illustrated in thesedate–palms. Only the female tree bears fruit. Themale palm bears a flower whose pollen was shaken overthe female trees by the Moors long before any thingwas known about sex in plants; and the practice iscontinued by their successors. But the male palmyields a profit in addition to supplying the orchard withpollen. Its leaves are dried, and made into fans, crowns,and wreaths, and sold for use on Palm Sunday. Thistown gets seventy thousand dollars for its dates, andten thousand for its palm–leaves.”
“When are the dates picked?” asked Sheridan.
“In November. The men climb the trees by theaid of ropes passed around the trunk and the body. Iwill ask one of them to ascend a tree for your benefit.”
The excursionists reached the village, which is in themiddle of the forest of palms. It was very Orientalin its appearance. The people were swarthy, and worea peculiar costume, in which were some remnants ofthe Moorish fashion. The church has its image of theVirgin, who dresses very richly, and owns a date–plantationwhich pays the expenses of her wardrobe.
The students were so delighted with the excursionthat they made a rollicking time of it on the way backto Alicante, and astonished the peasants by their livelydemonstrations. The road was no road at all, butmerely a path across the country, and was very roughin places. The cottages of the vicinity were thatchedwith palm–leaves in some instances. At the door ofmany of them was a hamper of dates, from which anyone could help himself, and leave a _cuarto_ in paymentfor the feast. It is not watched by the owner, for theSpaniard here is an honest man. The students frequentlyavailed themselves of these hampers when thedoctor had explained to them the custom of the country;but he exhorted them to be as honest as thenatives.
The squadron remained at anchor in the port of Alicantefour days; and, when the students of the firstparty had told their story, the trip to Elche was themost popular excursion since they left Italy.
“Which is the best port on the east coast of Spain,doctor?” asked the principal, as they sat on the deckof the Prince while the third party had gone to Elche.
“I shall answer you as the admiral did Philip II.,—Carthagena,”replied the doctor.
“I find that the students are tired of sight–seeing,and the lessons have been much neglected of late,”continued the principal. “I think we all need a rest.I have about made up my mind to lie up for threemonths in some good harbor, recruit the students, andpush along their studies.”
“I think that is an excellent plan. April will be abetter month to see the rest of Spain than the middleof winter.”
The plan was fully discussed and adopted; and onthe following day the squadron sailed for Carthagena,and having a stiff breeze was at anchor in its capaciousharbor at sunset. The students were not sorry to takethe rest; for the constant change of place for the lastsix months had rendered a different programme acceptable.There was nothing in the town to see; and theharbor was enclosed with hills, almost landlocked, andas smooth as a millpond.