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28 June 1873 — Zaragoza | |
Saturday. 28th June [1873]. We rose at 4 having past a bad night & I found my bed actually swarmed with “chinches” so I was not sorry to leave it. At 5 we were en route having a small omnibus wh was hired for £10 for us by Sr Jabat. It was a lovely morning & the view looking back on Pamplona was very pretty. At abt 9 we arrived at a Carlist outpost where our driver paid on the Carlist sentry producing a printed tariff of the toll. A few steps further we found a “posada” where were a small number of Carlists who had rested there—they had a few ponies laden with ammunition. The chief with whom Henry spoke was eating poached eggs & had very civil ways. He came up into the room where we were at breakfast before starting on his journey & put himself at our disposition & we saw them depart across country. The moza at the Posada said that they had paid for all they took. We got 3 trout & some good home made bread for our breakfast & after shopping about an hour we pursued our journey. At the town of Elisondo we found the Govt troops & changed horses again—showed our passports &c & started, but we had not gone on ten minutes before we were stopped by the Carlists who were very civil—we showed them a letter we had for Genl Elio & a nephew of his looked at it & let us pass. He seemed to be a lad of 15. We told them of the Carlist victory near Pamplona wh made us very welcome but we asked them how they dared to remain so near the Govt troops & asked if they knew there was a column at Elisondo. They said that they knew it & were not afraid for the troops did not dare to attack them. “They marched out this morning but did not dare to attack us.” We then went on—& it got hotter as we proceeded as we approached the frontier there was another Carlist toll gatherer & we had to pay a few reals—but at the frontier itself there was a large party of them headed by a young man who seemed to be of good family. He spoke French & told us that he knew that as “Embajadores” we had a priviledge not to have our luggage examined but we might give his “boys” a trifle. They asked for “news” & we told them of the Castañon affair wh was news to them—we then crossed a bridge & found ourselves in France– The French sentinel had been quietly observing our parley with the Carlists. At the village of we stopped to rest the horses & got some food. I was so tired I cd only take café au lait. Indeed there was not very much to be had at all—the people of the inn were very civil but they said that owing to the sudden rush of travellers on that road they were short of provisions. However we went on in abt 1½ hour. As we neared Bayonne we came to another custom house where we had a great dispute with the douanier who insisted upon searching our luggage after some fuss the man gave way & we went on. It was dreadfully hot but as it got dark a storm began to work up but we reached Bayonne abt 10 in the eveng without any further trouble very tired & hungry & dusty so we got some food & went to bed. We were at the St Etienne Hotel wh is always so comfortable. | |
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