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PORTLAND
Hvited by Charles P. Lislev.
ONE DOLLARA YE
AR.
Votume VIII.
PORTLAND, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 26,
TRANSCRIPT.
Pubdlishey by Short & Pennell.
PAYABLE IN ADVANCE. .
1844,
———————— SES
Number 29,
\WhYL ay
POPYLAR TALES...
ene AL At ae
AN ODD DOG,
BY GEURGE S50ANE, B. A.
He was an. odd dog—a very odd dog!
He had four legs, and a handsme tail
to boot. Still, common as are these ap-
pendages, he was an odd dog, and but)
for his extreme fidelity, might almost
have passed for a human being. Cap-
tain was in every sense of the word an
odd dog ; he was a character,—not,
perhaps, a very amiable one, but still a
character of so marked a kind that it
was impossible not to take an interest in
him. ,
Such was the companion with whom
{ set out on a short excursion through
the Peninsula, about two ménths after
the time when the allies had for the
second time entered Paris for the pur-
pose of binding over the French people
to keep the JXing’s peace, or rather, the
peace of all the Kings and Kaisers of|
Europe. :
Scarcely had we set ourselves down
in the Spanish capital than adventurers,
as usual, began to throng upon us, the
requisite form, and dark flashing eyes
of the Madrileurs leading me into divers
scapes, [take no delight inrecollecting.
Let them pass, therefore, and come we
at once to an affair in which no wrong
could by any possibility be imputed to
me, and which notwithstanding, threat-
ened a fatal termination.
Madrid, as every traveller knows, has
not, or, atall events, had not at the
time of which I am writing, the benefit
of gas-lights; it is true a,.moon, al-
most as bright as our northern sun,
rendered lamps of any kind a superfiuity
when she happened to be shining; but
the moon does not always shine even in
those southern: skies. ‘On such occa-
sions, therefore, a stranger might very
easily lose himselfin the dark; narrow
strects of Madrid. Even so it chanced
to me in the very first week of my so-
journ there, While I was yet endeav-
oring to find my-way out of this maze
of buildings, my car was caught by the
clash of swords from a street close by,
and, prudence being at no time onc of
my distinguished qualities, jl started off
in the direction whence the sound came,
to see what was the matter, On turn-
ing the corner, I could dimly make out
aman with his back tothe wall, defend-
ing himself desperately against no less
than three opponents, who were pressing
on him. with equal vigor. Naturally
enough, my first impulse was to fly to
the assistance of the weaker party, and,
though I had nothing with me but a
cane sword, yet my attack was so sud-
den and unexpected that one of the three
rolled lifeless. at my feet almost: before! had been in a sullen mood throughout
he was aware of his new adyersary,—
The combat was now continued upon
pore equal terms, man to man, and, hot, and our way had Jain over ground
iif my opponent had the advantage in!
the quality of his weapon, a long, |
edged toledo, the odds were again’
‘equalized by my superior skill in fenc-|
‘ing, as was sufliciently proved by the
‘sequel, for in a very few minutes’ my
| sword passed through him, and he dropt,
| severely, if not mortally, wounded. At
_ this sight the third of the assassins fled,
and I was about to pursue, when I was
‘called back by the cavalier, who in a
faint voice besought me to remain, and
help him home before he bled to death.
Thus conjured, I of course abandoned
my first intention, and holding up the
wounded man as well as I could, con-
trived under his direction to thread the
streets, and lead him to the house of his
father, Don Antonio di S It is un-
necessary to dwell upon the manner of:
our reception, the grief of the old man
at his son’s bloody plight, the hasty
calling in of a surgeon, the agony of
suspense while they were examining
their patient, and finally, the warm ex-
pressions of gratitude that were poured
out upon myself when my part in the
drama had been made fully known, and
the wounds of Carlos, though sufticient-
ly numerous, were pronounced to be
neither deep nor dangerous. Scarcely
would the happy father allow me to
leave him, and it was only aftera solemn
promise to call again in. the morning,
and make his house my home for the
next few months, that I was at last,
with great reluctance, perinitted to de-
part.
For brevity’s sake, I will now at one
bound o’erleap the three ensuing months
during which I had become domesticated
at Antonio’s house; his son had recov-!
ered, and our first intimacy had ripened
into a friendship. To this result the
similarity of our years and habits not a
little contributed.
It was nearly the fourth month of my
stay in Madrid, when the old man propos-
ed to his son an excursion to Andalusia,
where, it seems, they had a large family
estate, which, by some mismanagement |
or treachery on the part of the steward, |
required the inymediate presence of one
or the other of them. To this proposal
Carlos readily assented, only stipulat-
ing that I should join him in his tour;
and, as my object was to sce as much,
of Spain as possible, and I had been,
more than long enough in the capital, 1)
of course, was glad of the opportunity,
The affair, therefore, was settled at!
once, and a few days saw Carlos, Cap-'
tain, and myself on the road to Andalu-|
5
a.
Nothing could exceed the harmony of,
our trio during the first half of our jour-,
ney, which we presccuted so as to have:
the full benefit of the fine season and the;
{
beautiful country through which we had |
i .
_rupt this agreeable state of things.
i
than usual, the weather execedingly |
that, from its ruggedness, no doubt tor-
mented his feet not a little. Iam the
more particular in mentioning these
points, however trifling in themselves,
because the ill-humour of my quadru-
ped ally conduced, indirectly indeed,
to very important consequences, or, to
speak according to the letter, was the
means of—But I must not‘anticipate.
The posada, or road-side inn, at which
we took up our abode for the night was
rather Worse than usual; and this is
saying a great deal, considering the
usual run of hotels in the Peninsula.
Captain, who, it must be confessed, was
at no time a very rigorous observer of
the law of meum and tuwn, was, I pre-
sume, on the present occasion, urged
by hunger beyond his usual prudence;
for he’ had made a daring foray upon the
host’s larder, and feloniously abstracted
thence the quarter of a kid, whieh he
now dragged with great glee into the
room where we were sitting in expecta-
tion of our supper. Close at his heels
followed the whole ‘‘posse-comitatus”’
of the inn, armed with whips, pitch-forks,
staves, and other anomalous weapons of
offence, all clamoring for vengeance on
the culprit who had thus impudently
violated the sanctuary of the comesti-
bles, Asa matter of course, I snatched
the meat from him, as much from a wish
to divert the wrath of his enemies, which
might else have proved fatal, as from
any moral conviction of his enormities,
But the ungrateful Captain by no means
appreciated my motives as he ought to
have done, Instead of crouching at my
feet, and wagging his tail, in token of
acquiescence, the rascal bared his fangs,
and grinned formidably at his master,
with every symptom of being quite ready
to do battle for the recovery of his plun-
der. Incensed at such open rebellion,
I gave hima hearty kick on the ribs,
whereupon he uttered a single low growl,
and made his escape through the win-
dow. What great events. may spring
from trifles, which at that. time would
hardly seem to merit a repetition!
The pleasures of supper, the dreams
of night, the morning’s breakfast, I pass
them all over, and resume our journey.
Mounted on two gallant horses of Anda,
lusian breed, wild with life and spirits,
that were every moment ready to burst
off into a full gallop, and who favored us
with a thousand caracoles and plunges,
at the ‘least check from the bridle.—
Carlos, at no time subject to hypochon-
dria, or indced to reflectionin any shape,
seemed All at once to share the excite-
|ment of his horse, being, I should say,
in that state of mind the Scotch emphat-
ically call ‘fey,’ to denote the exultation
that so frequently is the forerunner of
some dreadtul calamity. One moment
he would chaunt a favorite national bal?
to pass. Captain was the first to inter-/ lad, and the next would give the reins,
tain goat. Tfowever reluctant to peril
my neck in so mad a chase, I could not
do otherwise than follow him, till at
length it fell out as I had been some .
time expecting. The animal I rode
came down upon his knees, flinging me
over his head to a considerable distance, .
and then, recovering himself, he set off
again in all the wildness of terror, but
without seeing a precipice close before
him; over this he: went headlong, and |
was instantly dashed to pieces. It was
in vain I shoutcd at the top of my voige
for Carlos. Had I possessed the lungs
and throat of a Swiss mountaineer, he
was by this time too far offto hear me.
For some time I waited, in the full
confidence hg would return when tired
of his frolic; but cither he had lost his
way, or had met with some accident; |
for hour passed after hour, and still I
saw nothing of him, What was to be
done? T'rom the time of day I felt as-
sured that the way back would be longer.
than the way forward, and therefore on
I resolved to go, thinking that, as there
was but one road, I could not possibly
miss my place of destination. Unfor-
tunately for this reasonable inference,
after Thad gone a few miles, the road
branched off to the right and Jeft, with-..
outthe least sign to guide me in my se-
lection. Nota soul was within sight, °
mufch less within reach of my voice; so
that nothing was left.to me but go on at
all hazards, and this just as the last sun-
beams were vanishing behind the moun=
tains. "Lhe darkness that followed nat-
urally made me quicken my steps; but,
after an hour’s walking, the road nar-
rowed into little more than a sheep-
track, so that all my increase of speed
had only been leading me the further
from my journey’s end.
Again I asked myself what was to be
done? Iwas much tco weary to think
of retracing my steps; and yet the way
onward held out no promise of shelter
for the night. Before me lay a desolate:
mountain track, crag piled upon crag,
and.rock upon rock, while on either
side spread thick woods of cork and
ilex, in which there was small chance
of finding any habitation. Still, as the
least of the two evils, I. determined
again to push on; and in another hour
my perseverance was rewarded by see-.
ing the friendly twinkle of a light in a
dellatno great distance. By this, as
my polar star, I was now guided, and
soon, to my infinite ‘satisfaction, found.
myself in front of a large, rambling
building, that in its better days might -
have been the rural_retreat of some no-.
ble, but which, as T now saw it, wag.
litte more than a heap of miins. Ia
spite, however, of these unpromising,
signs, it was habitahle—and more, it
was inhabited, as appeared by the raddy
light that streamed through ‘the lower
windows, giving sufficient tokens of a
goodly fire within, and most probably
He ‘to his swelling horse, and dash up as-|for the purpose of cookery, since the’ 7
j cents that, to allappearance, defied any { weather was too hot to make it otherwhee
the day; for the route had been longer} visitor less sure footed than the moun- needed, or even desirable. *
At the door, therefore, I knocked with - ,
(all. the impatience offa way-worn, hun-.