at welcoming the Carlists when they occupied the City a short time
before. It was at this inn that Borrow explained to the elderly
Genoese, who had indiscreetly resented his host's disrespectful
remarks about the young Queen Isabel, how he invariably managed to
preserve good relations with all sorts of factions. "My good man,"
he said, "I am invariably of the politics of the people at whose
table I sit, or beneath whose roof I sleep; at least I never say
anything which can lead them to suspect the contrary; by pursuing
which system I have more than once escaped a bloody pillow, and
having the wine I drank spiced with sublimate." {190a}

Borrow remained at Cordoba much longer than he had intended, because
of the reports that reached him of the unsafe condition of the roads.
He sent back the old Genoese with the horses, and spent the time in
thoroughly examining the town and making acquaintances among its
inhabitants. At length, after a stay of ten or eleven days,
despairing of any improvement in the state of the country, he
continued his journey in the company of a contrabandista, temporarily
retired from the smuggling trade, from whom he hired two horses for
the sum of forty-two dollars. Borrow allowed no compunction to
assail him as to the means he employed when he was thoroughly
convinced as to the worthiness of the end he had in view. To further
his projects he would cheerfully have travelled with the Pope
himself.

The journey to Madrid proved dismal in the extreme. The
contrabandista was sullen and gloomy, despite the fact that his
horses had been insured against loss and the handsome fee he was to
receive for his services. The Despenaperros in the Sierra Morena
through which Borrow had to pass, had, even in times of peace, a most