The honour of discovering this fair spot did not belong to me.  A man was resting there already—­sleeping, no doubt—­before I reached it.  Roused by the neighing of the horses, he had risen to his feet and had moved over to his mount, which had been taking advantage of its master’s slumbers to make a hearty feed on the grass that grew around.  He was an active young fellow, of middle height, but powerful in build, and proud and sullen-looking in expression.  His complexion, which may once have been fine, had been tanned by the sun till it was darker than his hair.  One of his hands grasped his horse’s halter.  In the other he held a brass blunderbuss.

At the first blush, I confess, the blunderbuss, and the savage looks of the man who bore it, somewhat took me aback.  But I had heard so much about robbers, that, never seeing any, I had ceased to believe in their existence.  And further, I had seen so many honest farmers arm themselves to the teeth before they went out to market, that the sight of firearms gave me no warrant for doubting the character of any stranger.  “And then,” quoth I to myself, “what could he do with my shirts and my Elzevir edition of Caesar’s Commentaries?” So I bestowed a friendly nod on the man with the blunderbuss, and inquired, with a smile, whether I had disturbed his nap.  Without any answer, he looked me over from head to foot.  Then, as if the scrutiny had satisfied him, he looked as closely at my guide, who was just coming up.  I saw the guide turn pale, and pull up with an air of evident alarm.  “An unlucky meeting!” thought I to myself.  But prudence instantly counselled me not to let any symptom of anxiety escape me.  So I dismounted.  I told the guide to take off the horses’ bridles, and kneeling down beside the spring, I laved my head and hands and then drank a long draught, lying flat on my belly, like Gideon’s soldiers.

Meanwhile, I watched the stranger, and my own guide.  This last seemed to come forward unwillingly.  But the other did not appear to have any evil designs upon us.  For he had turned his horse loose, and the blunderbuss, which he had been holding horizontally, was now dropped earthward.

Not thinking it necessary to take offence at the scant attention paid me, I stretched myself full length upon the grass, and calmly asked the owner of the blunderbuss whether he had a light about him.  At the same time I pulled out my cigar-case.  The stranger, still without opening his lips, took out his flint, and lost no time in getting me a light.  He was evidently growing tamer, for he sat down opposite to me, though he still grasped his weapon.  When I had lighted my cigar, I chose out the best I had left, and asked him whether he smoked.

“Yes, senor,” he replied.  These were the first words I had heard him speak, and I noticed that he did not pronounce the letter s* in the Andalusian fashion, whence I concluded he was a traveller, like myself, though, maybe, somewhat less of an archaeologist.