Arriero

“ The dangers of the road produce also a mode of travelling resembling, on a diminutive scale, the caravans of the East. The arrieros, or carriers, congregate in convoys, and set off in large and well-armed trains on appointed days; while additional travellers swell their number, and contribute to their strength. ”

“ Colonel Y—— and his men; mules, arrieros, spare mules and led horses—and all the mozos armed; forming altogether a formidable gang. We took leave of the Hechavarria family when it was already growing dusk, and when the moon had risen, found we had taken a great round, so that it was late at night when we arrived at El Pilar, a small hacienda, situated in a wild-looking, solitary part of the country. ”

“ Inside the estaminet, the brisk, tidy woman who cooked and served our coffee and omelette, kept talking of the weather and France and the tricycle, and what a wise manner of travelling was ours. My faith! from the railway one sees nothing.
But, indeed, for hours afterwards we saw as little as if we had been in a railroad train. We were conscious only of the great hills to be climbed, and of our incessant trouble with the luggage-carrier. ”

“ As our carriage draws up we catch a glimpse of half-a-dozen men, in that peculiar green dress which railway servants affect, hastening to conceal themselves behind the pillars which decorate the front of the building, while two or three excited ticket-porters seize our baggage, and offer to carry it up-stairs. But our friend with Scotch foresight and economy, has told us to make the servants of the Company do thein work. ”

“ He would furnish a horse to ride, and a mule to transport my baggage, each for $20 all other expenses to be defrayed personally along the way which makes the three hundred miles come a good deal higher than so much railway travel. I had thus dallied with ` the idea, and my decision was precipitated by the sudden coming down of the rain. I hurried to Parque del Conde Street, and closed with Vincente Lopez. I was glad to learn from him that he had also another patron who was going, in the person of a colonel of the army. ”

“ A loud rapping at my door awoke me in time to look up my baggage and drink some hot coffee, before a start was made. Dawn was fast breaking in the East as five horses and three mules were being harnessed up, four abreast, to the old wooden diligence, which carried the mails and baggage piled on its top, the passengers sitting facing each other on hard wooden seats inside. ”

“ The great liner, which had seemed a part of the land itself while the stream of passengers passed up the gangways, and their baggage after them, begins to throb with life and movement—to tremble, as it were, with expectation of departure. ”

“ A carrier who has a long road to go must make up his mind to wear his waggon and his gear during the journey. If he carry his merchandise to the appointed spot, that is enough for him. We are the waggon and the gear of God. ”

“ For with it are no wagons, nor wheeled vehicles of any kind; no mule train nor cattle drove. Neither are they encumbered with women and children, least of all a litera and ladies. All men, and every one of them on horseback, each bearer of his own baggage, as well he may be, so little and light it is. ”

“ As your equipage draws up to the station your footman alights and swings open the carriage door, your guide descends from the driver's seat and summons low-caste vassals who load your impedimenta on their heads. ”

“ Even royalty goes in simpler guise, when it condescends to mingle in the amusements of its subjects. In the first carriage appear the great man himself and his consort, rather withdrawing from the plebeian gaze. There is here much crimson and gold, much glass and well-stuffed cushions, much comfort and magnificence combined. Two handsome northern steeds, white and prancing, draw this commodious equipage. The next is a splendid coach containing the children and servants, while in the third, equally magnificent, are the babies and nurses. ”

“ Long before the time for leaving, carriages pull up to the stations and blooming senoras, fair senoritas, handsome senors and delicate, lovely children, dressed in the height of wealth and fashion, enter the railway coach and proceed to make themselves comfortable for the half-hour or hour's ride which is to bring them to their destination. ”

“ The travelling carriages, that convey families to their estates, hundreds of miles distant, are heavy cumbersome machines, in the old Spanish style. A family going to the country is no ordinary sight; the mules and waggons following with the baggage, and the quantity of out-riders, slaves, and servants, in ponchos and little dirty hats, surrounding the carriages containing the ladies and female slaves, appear like a banditti escorting their plunder. ”

“ The exchange of the Earl’s ‘own carriage’ is the significant entry: it seems very unlikely that a noble of his rank would have travelled so lightly that a single cart would contain his own luggage and that of his personal retinue ”

“ I had taken every precaution, however, to have things made up into proper sizes for carriage by mules, before we left England; and by this means, as we had no large chests to cut up, and their contents to distribute into two or three others, (which was the case, in more than one instance, on our first voyage,) we were enabled to get into marching order in less time than could have been expected from the largeness of the party, and the quantity of baggage which the prospect of a long residence had rendered necessary. Mrs. ”

“ On the back steps and driver’s seats were hosts of footmen, swinging with the motion of the carriages, and through the carriage windows, which gleamed with the lights held by the attendants, were seen those for whom the Almighty did not make the stern law that in this world man shall earn bread with his own hands and wet it with his tears. ”

“ An unusual equipage was turning in from the Trinidad road—an equipage [Pg 139] on which leather and varnish shone, and harness brasses flashed, while the dust rolled pompously after it in a freakish fantasy of postilions and outriders. The driver made a great business of his long whip. The horses were sleek and brown. ”

“ So when they were left to themselves they carried their recently acquired belongings down to the railway station, and persuaded the agent to allow them to sleep in that corner of the baggage-room devoted to their employer's collection of chattels. ”

“ A merry peal of ill-suppressed laughter came from the road-side as he rolled into view. It came from a carriage. In the carriage were the Spaniards--there, too, was Buttons.
[Illustration: Senator And Donkey.]
CHAPTER IX
.
A DRIVE INTO THE COUNTRY.--A FIGHT WITH A VETTURINO.--THE EFFECT OF EATING "HARD BOILED EGGS."--WHAT THEY SAW AT PAESTUM.--FIVE TEMPLES AND ONE "MILL."
To hire a carriage in Naples for any length of time is by no means an easy thing. ”

“ It was necessary therefore that travellers should be accompanied by a full complement of servants, that they should carry with them an ample supply of bedding and table furniture, that their long and numerous train should be fully armed and equipped to fight its way if necessary, and that they should be content to halt frequently, journey slowly, and linger on the road. ”

“ An ordinary foot-passenger, meeting perhaps a coolie with two buckets of water suspended one at each end of a bamboo pole, or carrying a bag of rice, weighing one, two, or even three hundredweight, is bound to move out of the burden-carrier's path, leaving to him whatever advantages the road may offer. ”

“ There are four things I can do for you, and no more. In the first place, I can receive here the Signorita's luggage in small parcels and put it together for her. In the second, I can guarantee that the Ariadne shall not put into La Guya until dusk, and shall leave the same night. In the third, I will have every bale of cargo already loaded into her before the passenger train comes alongside from San Paulo. And in the fourth, I will arrange that the Ariadne shall put to sea the moment the last of her passengers has crossed the gangway. The rest you must do for yourself. ”

“ It is customary to have a horse in the mule-trains of the traders of North Mexico, as a sort of magnet to keep together the separate atoms of the train, for, whatever the temptation, they will never stray from him. ”

“ It is as if one were riding in the rear of a railway train and watching the rails over which it has just passed. As we recede from any point, the rails at that point seem to come nearer and nearer together. ”

“ The following day at dawn, after a miserable night in rooms like icy death, a true pilgrim night of endurance, we took the train for the west. As we entered the railway carriage Reservado para Señoras a sleepy railway-guard stumbled out of the further door; all through the journey in the north, we roused these cozily-ensconced railway-officials, for so rare are ladies alone on this route, that the conductors have fallen into the habit of sleeping in the carriage reserved for them. When our tickets were collected we were given many a severe look for daring to upset a cosa de España. ”

“ Every man in that country has a small cot called a catre, made to double with a hinge, which may be taken down and wrapped up, with pillows and bedclothes, in an oxhide, to carry on a journey. Our great object was to travel lightly. Every additional mule and servant gave additional trouble, but we could not do with less than a cargo-mule apiece. ”

“ At the proper time he will put you in a cab or an omnibus, and drive you to the train or the boat; he has packed your luggage and transferred it, he has paid all the bills. Other people have preceded you half an hour to scramble for impossible places and lose their tempers, but you can take your time; the courier has secured your seats for you, and you can occupy them at your leisure. ”

“ Only sometimes, in the morning on the hilltops, a courier comes from the season that tarries. With feet that trip on the nodding weeds, and a voice singing in the fluttering trees, and a smile that speaks in a bluer sky, the unseen courier of autumn comes and goes. ”

“ To get out of town I determined to do at the first opportunity, and by railroad too. I looked up the best hotel I could find on short notice and consulted a time-table. A train was due eastward in forty minutes. It would be a bold move to get out of town thus, but I vowed I’d attempt it. I was certain that one man, or indeed two travelling together, would be objects of suspicion, so I went to the reading-room and waited an opportunity to strike an acquaintance with at least three men who would leave the hotel and walk to the depot together. ”

“ Forty-two feet in length, with- accommodation for three classes of passengers, and a compartment for their luggage, provided with a lavatory for the first-class passengers, mounted upon the easiest of springs, well lighted by gas, and warmed during the winter, adorned with ornamental woods and the handsomest upholsterer's work, and replete with every convenience and comfort throughout, it embodies in fact in a high degree, the latest development of modern civilization as exemplified in railway travelling. ”

“ Our baggage trains, consisting of four mules, two belonging to the camarada, and two of the government stock, which are very poor and weak, requires to move slowly, and can take more time by going forward while we stop, either for repose, or the examination of places of interest during the afternoon. ”

“ I have several visits to pay in this neighborhood; my people may not arrive for a day or two; and I cannot afford the delay of waiting for them. Can you tell if there be anything suitable in the way of equipage for a man of rank to be had here? Something simple, of course, as befitting the place,—a plain carriage, with four mules,—if Andalusian, all the better; two lazadores, or outriders, will be sufficient, as I wish to avoid display; the liveries and equipment may be plain also. ”

“ If the gentleman is tired, we can take a carriage; yes, it’s a long way.... Yes, the air is cooler this evening; it’s been raining; a little walk after a long railway journey does one good.... No, the portmanteau is not too heavy; I can easily carry it so far.... The gentleman’s first visit to Rome? He comes from Toulouse, perhaps?... No; from Pau. ”

“ The Senhora Pondillo and her family will accompany her husband to my quinta at Las Flores. A special train will take all of us to the nearest railway station this afternoon. Thence my estate is but a day's march. You and my other friends from both ships will be quite safe and happy there until order is restored. You must come. The men's lives, at any rate, would not be worth an hour's purchase if my opponent's forces found them here, and I feel certain that one or more cruisers will arrive off Maceio to-night. ”

“ This point, therefore, I must leave you to arrange in accordance with your desire."
"I thank you, sir."
"In the same way it rests with you what arrangements you make for the journey itself; the providing of a suitable carriage and of an adequate escort I leave entirely in your hands." ”

“ AGUADILLA. After a night spent in Arecibo we wish to hasten on to Aguadilla, but the railroad, we find, will not carry us so far. It ends at Camuy, a few miles west of Arecibo. Here we take a carriage for the remainder of the journey.
[Illustration: DRYING AND HULLING COFFEE.]
The old-fashioned coaches are drawn by small ponies, and these brave little animals carry us up hill and down hill, through deep mud holes, over rocks, into and out of ruts, at a terrific pace.
We wonder that the carriage does not break and spill us out. ”