Oliver Optic

“ I have said all I need say about the geography of the peninsula. Some of you have been through Spain and Portugal, and have seen that the natural features of the two countries are about the same. The lack of industry and enterprise has had the same result in both. The people are alike in one respect, at least: each hates the other intensely. ‘Strip a Spaniard of his virtues, and you have a Portuguese,’ says the Spanish proverb; but I fancy one is as good as the other. There are plenty of minerals in the ground, plenty of excellent soil, and plenty of fish in the waters of Portugal ”

“ I think falsehood is mean and ungentlemanly; but I believe there is a wide difference between a lie told to a sick man, or to prevent a boatman from being tempted to cut your throat, and a lie told to save you from the consequences of your own misconduct.”
“Well, you needn’t preach: we are not chaplain’s lambs,” growled Bill.
“Neither am I,” added Raimundo. “I am what they call a Christian in Spain, and that is a Roman Catholic. But here is the felucca. ”

“ I won’t make believe that I enjoy looking at ruins and pictures when it is a bore to me. I will not be a hypocrite, whatever else I am.”
Bill Stout evidently believed that he had some virtue left; and, as he delivered himself of his sentiments, he looked like a much abused and wronged young man.
“Here we are; and in six or eight hours we shall be in Barcelona,” continued Ben Pardee.
“And it is no such one-horse place as you seem to think it is,” added Lon Gibbs. “It is a large city; in fact, the second in size in Spain, and with about the same population as Boston. ”

“ To be missed was to proclaim who the incendiary was when the fire was investigated.
“We may as well give it up for the present, and wait for a better time,” suggested Bark, who was as unable as his companion to solve the problem.
“No, I won’t,” replied Bill, taking a newspaper from his breast-pocket. “We may never have another chance; and I believe in striking while the iron is hot [35] .”
“Don’t get us into a scrape for nothing. We can’t do any thing now,” protested Bark.
“Now’s the day, and now’s the hour!” exclaimed Bill, scowling like the villain of a melodrama. ”

“ The fellows in the Tritonia are a lot of spoonies, and are afraid to say their souls are their own.”
“They are good little boys, lambs of the chaplain’s fold,” sneered Lon Gibbs. “There is nothing like fun in them.”
“We are almost at the end of the cruise, at any rate,” said Bark Lingall, who seemed to derive great comfort from the fact. “This slavery is almost at an end.”
“I don’t know about that,” added Bill Stout.
“Spain and Portugal are the last countries in Europe we are to visit; and we shall finish them up in three or four weeks more.” ”

“ Bill Stout indulged in some very severe reflections upon the conduct of his fellow-conspirator when he found that he was alone in the compartment where he had spent the night. The porter who woke him told him very respectfully (he was a first-class passenger) , in good Spanish for a man in his position, that the train was to be run out of the station. Bill couldn’t understand him, but he left the car.
“Where are the fellows that came with me?” he asked, turning to the porter; but the man shook his head, and smiled as blandly as though the runaway had given him a peseta. ”

“ A singular painting by another artist attracted the attention of some of the students as a sensation in art. It represents a dead prelate in full robes, lying in the tomb. The body has begun to decay; and the worms are feasting upon it, crawling in and out at the eyes, nose, and mouth. It is a most disgusting picture, though it may have its moral.
A day was given to the museum which contains many of Murillo’s pictures, and next to that at Madrid is the finest in Spain. ”

“ Barcelona is not so thoroughly Spanish as some other cities of Spain—Madrid and Seville, for instance. The people are quite different from the traditional Spaniard, who is too dignified and proud to engage in commerce or to work at any honest business; while the Catalans are an industrious and thriving people, first-rate sailors, quick, impulsive, and revolutionary in their character. They are more like Frenchmen than Spaniards.”
“There is a square up that narrow street,” said Sheridan. ”

“ The students hastened out to see the city; and the surgeon took the captain and the first lieutenant under his wing, as usual. They went into the Puerta del Sol,—the Gate of the Sun. Most of the city in early days lay west of this point, so that its eastern gate was where the centre now is. As the sun first shone on this gate, it was called the gate of the sun. Though the gate is gone, the place where it was located still retains the name. It is nearly in the shape of an ellipse; and most of the principal streets radiate from it. It usually presents a very lively scene, by day or by night. ”

“ The boatman, for such a villain as he was, seemed to have a strange affection for his son; and Raimundo was almost willing to believe he had not intended till some time after they left the port to rob his passengers. Perhaps, with the aid of the wine, he had expected an easy victory; for, though the students were all stout fellows, they were but boys.
“I will not harm you if you do not injure my boy,” pleaded Filipe.
“It is not in your power to harm us now; for we have all the power,” replied the second master.
“But you are deserters from your ship. ”

“ There are fifty fountains in the city, the principal of which is in the palace square. It is an allegorical representation of the four provinces of Catalonia.
“There is not much to see in Barcelona,” said Dr. Winstock, as they walked along the sea-wall, in the resort called the Muralla del Mar. “This is a commercial city, and you do not see much that is distinctively Spanish. Commerce with other nations is very apt to wear away the peculiarities of any people.”
“But where are the Spaniards? I don’t think I have seen any of them,” added Sheridan. ”

“ He did not expect to be found out when he planned the job: villains never expect to be. But he was alarmed now; and the deed he had attempted seemed to be a hundred times more wicked and dangerous than at any time before.
“I can’t stop here: Salter will miss me if I do,” added Bill, moving up the ladder.
“Wait a minute,” interposed Raimundo, who was willing to save himself from exposure if he could.
“I’ll come down again, after a while,” answered Bill, as he opened the scuttle, and got into the brig.
“Why did you stay down so long?” demanded Bark Lingall nervously. ”

“ The skies were as blue and as clear as skies can ever be; and nothing could be more delicious than the climate.
In the saloon of the steamer and the steerage of the schooners, which were the schoolrooms of the academy squadron, one-half of the students of the fleet were engaged in their studies and recitations. A quarter watch was on duty in each vessel, and the same portion were off duty. But the latter were not idle: they were, for the most part, occupied in reading about the new land they were to visit; and the more ambitious were preparing for the next recitation. ”

“ A parador is a hotel where the diligences stop for meals, and may also be a fonda.”
“A fonda is a hotel,” said Sheridan; “and we may not be able to remember any more than that.”
“When you see the names I have given you on the signs, you will understand what they mean. But our [120] business now is to see this city. Like Barcelona, it has one principal wide street extending through the middle of it: all the other avenues are nothing more than lanes, very narrow and very dirty. It is on the Ebro, and has a population of some eighty thousand people.” ”

“ Recent events have called an unusual amount of attention to the Spanish peninsula; and this unhappy country has long been in so uneasy a state that a revolution surprises very few. Spain has had its full share, both of the smiles and the frowns of fortune. It was as widely known in early ages for its wealth, as it has been in modern times for its beggars.
“Nearly three thousand years ago, the Phœnicians began to plant colonies in the South of Spain. They found the country abounding with silver. ”

“ Salter and one of the stewards,” replied the fugitive.
“Why don’t you use your chance while Marline and Rimmer are ashore, and leave the vessel? You can get away without being seen.”
“I can’t get out of the vessel without going through the cabin where Mr. Salter is,” answered Raimundo; but the suggestion gave him a lively hope.
“Yes, you can: you can get out by the fore-scuttle, go over the bow, and roost on the bobstay till a shore boat comes along,” added Bill. “Only you musn’t let the steward see you. Salter is in the cabin, and he won’t know any thing about it.” ”

“ The beggars appeared to be having a jolly good time in the cavern, for they were singing and joking; and Lobo said they were drinking the health of the prisoner while he was listening at the aperture. The lieutenant thought that one of their number had been to a town, a league from the place, to procure wine and provisions with the money they had taken from Raymond; for they could smell the garlic in the stew that was doubtless cooking on the fire. ”

“ Shortly after the Roman republic became an empire, under Augustus,—B.C. 30 to A.D. 14,—war was suspended throughout the Roman empire; and the Spaniards enjoyed a large share of tranquillity from that time till the barbarians poured across the Pyrenees, at the beginning of the fifth century. As a province of the empire, Spain held a high rank. The stupendous Bridge of Alcantara, the well-preserved Theatre of Murviedro, and the celebrated Aqueducts of Segovia and Tarragona, still attest the magnificence of that period. Nor was the peninsula wanting in illustrious men during these times. ”

“ It was just my luck, when I got out of the Young America, after she went to the bottom, to have the American Prince come to take her place, and leave me out in the cold. No, I don’t want to stay in the steamer; but I should like to be in her a few days, just to see how things are done. All the fellows have to keep strained up in her, even more than in the Tritonia; and that is just the thing I don’t like. In fact, it is just the thing I won’t stand much longer.”
“What are you going to do about it? How are you going to help yourself?” inquired Lon Gibbs. “Here we are, and here we must stay. ”

“ Even Professor Badois had some difficulty in comprehending the legal terms used by the abogado; but so much was made clear to the principal.
“I don’t understand this business,” said he. “I received the young man from Manuel Raimundo, his uncle in New York, who has always paid his tuition fees; and I hold myself responsible to him for the safe keeping of my pupil.”
“Ah, but you are in Spain, and the young man is a Spaniard, subject to Spanish law,” added Don Francisco, with a bland smile. “All the evidence will be presented to you, and you will be fully justified in giving up the young man.” ”

“ If you got up early enough to visit the breakfast-stalls of the poorer people, you would have been interested. A cheap chocolate takes the place of coffee, which with bread forms the staple of the diet. But the shops are dirty and always full of tobacco-smoke. The higher classes in Spain are not so much given to feasting and dining out as the English and Americans. They are too poor to do it, and perhaps have no taste for such expensive luxuries. ”

“ He had three sons, and a strong weakness, as our friend O’Hara would express it. I suppose you know something about the grandees of Spain, Scott?”
“Not a thing,” replied the third lieutenant candidly. “I have heard the word, and I know they are the nobles of Spain; and that’s all I know.”
“That’s about all any ordinary outsider would be expected to know about them. There is altogether too much nobility and too little money in Spain. Some of the grandees are still very rich and powerful; but physically and financially the majority of them are played out. ”

“ Mr. Lowington spoke Spanish, having learned it when he was on duty as a naval officer in the Mediterranean; but, as he had been out of practice for many years, he was not as fluent in the language as formerly. But he understood the question, and so did Raimundo, who happened to pass behind the principal, in company with Scott, at this interesting moment. Possibly his heart rose to his throat, as he heard his name mentioned; at any rate, after the history he had narrated to Scott, he could not help being greatly disturbed by the inquiry of the stranger. ”

“ Juan was directed to bring out the hamper of provisions his father had purchased. Certainly there were enough of them; but the quality was any thing but satisfactory. Coarse black bread, sausages that looked like Bolognas, and half a dozen bottles of cheap wine, were the principal articles in the hamper. The whole could not have cost half the money given to the boatman. But Filipe insisted that he had paid a peseta more than the sum handed him.
Raimundo inquired into this matter more because he was anxious to know about the character of the man than because he cared for the sum expended. ”

“ A fellow can’t move without being watched. What they call recreation is as solemn as a prayer-meeting.”
“Well, what do you want to do, Bill?” asked Ben Pardee, as he glanced at the second master, who had halted in his walk in the waist, to overhear, if he could, any word that might be dropped by the party.
“That’s more than I am able to say just at this minute,” replied Bill, pausing till the officer of the watch had moved on. “I want to end this dog’s life, and be my own master once more. I want to get out of this vessel, and out of the fleet.”
“Would you like to get into the steamer?” ”

“ CHAPTER XV. TROUBLE IN THE RUNAWAY CAMP.
“What are you running for?” shouted Bill Stout, as Raimundo and Bark Lingall ran ahead of him after the party landed from the felucca. “We are all right now.”
Bill could not quite get rid of the idea that he was the leader of the expedition, as he intended to be from the time when he began to make his wicked plans for the destruction of the Tritonia. He had the vanity to believe that he was born to command, and not to obey; and such are generally the very worst of leaders. ”