* The Andalusians aspirate the s, and pronounce it like the soft c and the z, which Spaniards pronounce like the English th.  An Andalusian may always be recognised by the way in which he says senor.

“You’ll find this a fairly good one,” said I, holding out a real Havana regalia.

He bowed his head slightly, lighted his cigar at mine, thanked me with another nod, and began to smoke with a most lively appearance of enjoyment.

“Ah!” he exclaimed, as he blew his first puff of smoke slowly out of his ears and nostrils.  “What a time it is since I’ve had a smoke!”

In Spain the giving and accepting of a cigar establishes bonds of hospitality similar to those founded in Eastern countries on the partaking of bread and salt.  My friend turned out more talkative than I had hoped.  However, though he claimed to belong to the partido of Montilla, he seemed very ill-informed about the country.  He did not know the name of the delightful valley in which we were sitting, he could not tell me the names of any of the neighbouring villages, and when I inquired whether he had not noticed any broken-down walls, broad-rimmed tiles, or carved stones in the vicinity, he confessed he had never paid any heed to such matters.  On the other hand, he showed himself an expert in horseflesh, found fault with my mount—­not a difficult affair—­and gave me a pedigree of his own, which had come from the famous stud at Cordova.  It was a splendid creature, indeed, so tough, according to its owner’s claim, that it had once covered thirty leagues in one day, either at the gallop or at full trot the whole time.  In the midst of his story the stranger pulled up short, as if startled and sorry he had said so much.  “The fact is I was in a great hurry to get to Cordova,” he went on, somewhat embarrassed.  “I had to petition the judges about a lawsuit.”  As he spoke, he looked at my guide Antonio, who had dropped his eyes.

The spring and the cool shade were so delightful that I bethought me of certain slices of an excellent ham, which my friends at Montilla had packed into my guide’s wallet.  I bade him produce them, and invited the stranger to share our impromptu lunch.  If he had not smoked for a long time, he certainly struck me as having fasted for eight-and-forty hours at the very least.  He ate like a starving wolf, and I thought to myself that my appearance must really have been quite providential for the poor fellow.  Meanwhile my guide ate but little, drank still less, and spoke never a word, although in the earlier part of our journey he had proved himself a most unrivalled chatterer.  He seemed ill at ease in the presence of our guest, and a sort of mutual distrust, the cause of which I could not exactly fathom, seemed to be between them.

The last crumbs of bread and scraps of ham had disappeared.  We had each smoked our second cigar; I told the guide to bridle the horses, and was just about to take leave of my new friend, when he inquired where I was going to spend the night.