injustice, at
least take care that he had first shown his contempt of their yoke? For himself
he should certainly never have embraced his present calling, had he not been
stimulated to it by these cogent and irresistible reasons; and he hoped, as
experience had so forcibly brought a conviction of this sort to my mind, that he
should for the future have the happiness to associate me to his pursuits. - It
will presently be seen with what event these hopes were attended.
    Numerous were the precautions exercised by the gang of thieves with whom I
now resided to elude the vigilance of the satellites of justice. It was one of
their rules to commit no depredations but at a considerable distance from the
place of their residence, and Gines had transgressed this regulation in the
attack to which I was indebted for my present asylum. After having possessed
themselves of any booty, they took care in the sight of the persons whom they
had robbed to pursue a route as nearly as possible opposite to that which led to
their true haunts. The appearance of their place of residence together with its
environs was peculiarly desolate and forlorn, and it had the reputation of being
haunted. The old woman I have described had long been its inhabitant, and was
commonly supposed to be its only inhabitant; and her person well accorded with
the rural ideas of a witch. Her lodgers never went out or came in but with the
utmost circumspection and generally by night. The lights which were occasionally
seen from various parts of her habitation were by the country people regarded
with horror as supernatural; and, if the noise of revelry at any time saluted
their ears, it was imagined to proceed from a carnival of devils. With all these
advantages the thieves did not venture to reside here but by intervals: they
frequently absented themselves for months, and removed to a different part of
the country. The old woman sometimes attended them in these transportations, and
sometimes remained; but in all cases her decampment took place either sooner or
later than theirs, so that the nicest observer could scarcely have traced any
connection between her reappearance and the alarms of depredation that were
frequently given; and the festival of demons seemed to the terrified rustics
indifferently to take place whether she were present or absent.
 

                                  Chapter III

One day, while I continued in this situation, a circumstance occurred, which
involuntarily attracted my attention. Two of our people had been sent to a town
at some distance for the purpose of procuring us the things of which we were in
want. After having delivered these to our landlady, they retired to one corner
of the room, and,