comrade, who went towards the dead man and quietly covered his face
with the folds of his own faja or waistcloth. This he weighted at
the corners with stones, carrying out this simple office to the dead
with a suggestive indifference. To this day the Guardias Civiles
have plenary power to shoot whomsoever they think fit--flight and
resistance being equally fatal.

No more heeding the dead body of the man whom he had shot than he
would have heeded the carcase of a rat, the elder of the two
soldiers now gave the order to march, commanding Concepcion to lead
the way.

'It will not be worth your while to risk a bullet by running away,'
he said. 'This time it is probably a matter of a few pounds of
tobacco only.'

The evening had fallen ere the silent party caught sight of the town
of Ronda, perched, as the Moorish strongholds usually are, on a
height. Ronda, as history tells, was the last possession of the
brave and gifted Moslems in Spain. The people are half Moorish
still, and from the barred windows look out deep almond eyes and
patient faces that have no European feature. The narrow streets
were empty as the travellers entered the town, and the clatter of
the mules slipping and stumbling on the cobble stones brought but
few to the doors of the low-built houses. To enter Ronda from the
south the traveller must traverse the Moorish town, which is divided
from the Spanish quarter by a cleft in the great rock that renders
the town impregnable to all attack. Having crossed the bridge
spanning the great gorge into which the sun never penetrates even at
midday, the party emerged into the broader streets of the more