ſaid, he rang a bell, and ordered Nicolas to be forthwith liberated, bidding the meſſenger return his clothes inſtantly to him with all that belonged to him, and having flipt a purſe into his hand well filled with doubloons, he bade him be gone about his buſineſs, and not ſee his face again till he had executed his commands
Nicolas boulted out of the porch without taking leave of the altar, and never checked his ſpeed till he found himſelf fairly houſed under ſhelter of his own beloved braſs baſin.———"Aha!" quoth Nicolas, "my lord inquiſidor, I ſee the king is not likely to gain a ſubject more by your intrigues: A pretty job you have ſet me about; and ſo, when I have put the poor lady to reſt with your damnable ſedative, my tongue muſt be ſtopt next to prevent its babbling; But I'll ſhew you I was not born in Andaluſia for nothing." Nicolas now opened a ſecret drawer, and took out a few pieces of money, which in fact was his whole ſtock of caſh in the world; he loaded and primed his piſtols, and carefully lodged them in the houſers of his ſaddle, he buckled to his ſide his truſty ſpada, and haſtened to capariſon his mule. "Ah, thou imp of the old one," quoth he as he entered the ſtable, "art not aſhamed to look me in the face? But come, huſſey, thou oweſt me a good turn methinks, ſtand by me this once, and be friends for ever! thou art in good caſe, and if thou wilt put thy beſt foot foremoſt, like a faithful beaſt, thou ſhalt not want for barley by the way.” The bargain was ſoon ſtruck between Nicolas and his mule, he mounted her in the happy moment and pointing his courſe towards the bridge of Toledo, which proudly ſtrides with half a dozen lofty arches over a ſtream ſcarce three feet wide, he found himſelf as compleatly in a deſart in half a mile's riding,
