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with doubloons, he bade him begone about his business, and not see his face again till he had executed his demands.
Nicolas bolted 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 bason.— Aha! quoth Nicolas, my lord Inquisidor, I see the king is not likely to gain one 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 damned sedative, my tongue must be stopt next to prevent its blabbing: but I’ll shew you I was not born in Andalusia for nothing. Nicolas now opened a secret drawer, and took out of it 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 then 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 thou not ashamed to look me in the face? But come, hussy, thou owest me a good turn, methinks; stand by me this once, and be friend's for ever! thou art in good order, and if thou wilt put thy best foot foremost, like a faithful beast, thou shall not want for barley on the way. The bargain was soon struck between Nicolas and his mule, he mounted her in the happy moment, and pointing his course toward the bridge of Toledo, which proudly strides, with half a dozen lofty arches over a stream little more than three feet wade, he found himself as completely in a desart in half a mile’s riding, as if he
