The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 145: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

122 REYNOLDS’ WORKS in the picturesque Catalan costume, and carried a rifle in his hand. His belt was furnished with pistols and daggers, and by his side hung a straight sword of immense length. He might either have been a guerilla or a bandit chief, I knew not which at the moment, but I strongly suspected the latter. ‘““T must here observe that this was the middle of Sep- tember, 1839, and the Carlist war was just concluded. Don Carlos had passed with the bulk of his army into France, but Cabrera, one of his most famous generals, still continued in Spain at the head of a large body of troops. He was not, however, at that time in Catalonia, but I believe in the Basque Provinces, while Catalonia itself had become almost completely pacified. .The Catalan whom I have described, and whom I thus encountered at sunrise in the midst of his own native wilds, stood gazing upon me for upwards of a minute in speechless astonishment. And no wonder that such should have been his feeling, for I doubtless appeared to him like a person dropped from the clouds in that lonely region. But blended with his look of surprise was an ex- pression of admiration, and suspecting that I was not a Spanish woman, he at length addressed me in the French tongue. He spoke with mildness and courtesy, asking me whether I had not lost my way, and whether he could be of any assistance to me. I replied frankly that I had wandered the whole night, that I was exhausted with fatigue and famished with hunger, and that I required both repose and refreshment. Without asking another question, he cour- teously invited me to accompany him, assuring me of kind treatment. ‘“ T showed by my looks and manner that I put confidence in him, and he led the way up the eminence, until we reached a winding path which descended somewhat precipitately between two walls of rock, which grew higher and higher in proportion as we went lower and lower. The path con- tinued its tortuous way almost completely around the hill, until it reached a valley on the opposite side; and there I beheld a little encampment, consisting of half a dozen tents pitched upon the bank of a streamlet. A fire was burning in the open air, and over it a caldron was sus- pended in the true gipsy fashion. A dozen men, dressed and armed in a manner similar to the individual who was guiding EORNIELDOO KS, (EC)