tassels of bright-coloured worsted depended from points where
fringes and tassels were distinctly out of place. Where the various
straps should have been strong they looked weak, and scarce a buckle
could boast an innocence of knotted string. The saddles were of
wood, and calculated to inflict serious internal injuries to the
rider in case of a fall. They stood at least a foot above the
horse's backbone, raised on a thick cushion upon the ribs of the
animal, and leaving a space in the middle for the secretion of
tobacco and other contraband merchandise.

'I'll take the smallest cut-throat of the crew,' Conyngham had said
on the occasion of an informal parade of guides the previous
evening. And the host of the Fonda, in whose kitchen the function
had taken place, explained to Concepcion Vara that the English
Excellency had selected him on his--the host's--assurance that
Algeciras contained no other so honest.

'Tell him,' answered Concepcion with a cigarette between his lips
and a pardonable pride in his eyes, 'that my grandfather was a
smuggler and my father was shot by the Guardia Civil near
Algatocin.'

Concepcion, having repaired one girth and shaken his head dubiously
over another, lighted a fresh cigarette and gave a little shiver,
for the morning air was keen. He discreetly coughed. He had seen
Conyngham breakfasting by the light of a dim oil lamp of a shape and
make unaltered since the days of Nebuchadnezzar, and, without
appearing impatient, wished to convey to one gentleman the fact that
another awaited him.