The next morning the house was entered by the two factious CURAS;but upon my rising to confront them they retreated,and I heard no more of them,except that they publicly cursed me in the church more than once,an event which as no ill resulted from it gave me little concern.
I will not detail the events of the next week;suffice it to say that arranging my forces in the most advantageous way I succeeded by God's assistance in disposing of in that period from five to six hundred Testaments amongst the villages from one to seven leagues distance from Abades.At the expiration of that period I received information from Segovia,in which province Abades is situated,to the effect that my proceedings were known in Segovia,and that an order was about to be sent to the ALCALDE of Abades to seize all books in my possession.Whereupon,notwithstanding that it was late in the evening,I decamped with all my people and upwards of three hundred Testaments,having a few hours previously received a fresh supply from Madrid.That night we passed in the fields and next morning proceeded to Labajos,a village on the high road from Madrid to Valladolid.In this place we offered no books for sale,but contented ourselves with supplying the neighbouring villages with the Word of God;we likewise sold it in the highways.We had not been at Labajos a week,during which time we were remarkably successful,when the Carlist chieftain Balmaseda at the head of his wild cavalry made his desperate inroad into the southern part of Old Castile,dashing down like an avalanche from the pine woods of Soria.I was present at all the horrors which ensued -the sack of Arrevalo -and the forcible entry into Martin Munoz and San Cyrian.
Amidst these terrible scenes,we continued our labours undaunted,with the exception of my servant,who seized with uncontrollable fear ran away to Madrid.I now lost Lopez for three or four days,and suffered dreadful anxiety on his account,apprehending that he had been shot by the Carlists.At last I heard that he was in prison at Villallos,at the distance of three leagues.The steps which I took to rescue him you will find detailed in the communication which I deemed it my duty to transmit to Lord Wm.
Hervey at Madrid,a copy of which,together with the letter of Lopez which informed me of his situation,I transmit herewith.
After the rescue of Lopez,I thought it advisable to return to Madrid,more especially as my stock of Testaments was exhausted,we having in the course of little more than a fortnight disposed of nearly nine hundred Testaments -not in populous and wealthy towns but in highways and villages,not to the spurious Spaniards of Madrid and the coasts,but to the sun-blackened peasantry of Old Castile,the genuine descendants of those terrible men who subjugated Mexico and Peru.
My men returned by Pena Cerrada,whilst I,encumbered by two horses,crossed the Guadarama.I nearly perished there,having lost my way in the darkness and tumbled down a precipice.But I am now in Madrid and,if not well,trusting in the Lord and defying Satan.I shall probably be in England within three weeks.
I remain,Revd.and dear Sir,truly yours,G.B.
