Page:Madrid shaver's singular adventures, and wonderful escape from the Spanish Inquisition (3).pdf/5

5 sudden spring, she ran roaring into the throng of friars, trampling on some, and shouldering others, at a prophane rate; when Nicolas availing himself of the impetus, and perhaps not able to control it, broke away, and was out of sight in a moment. ‘ All the devils in hell blow fire into thy tail, thou beast of Babylon, muttered Nicolas to himself, as he scampered along, never once looking behind him, or stopping to apologize for the mischief he had done to the bare feet and shirtless ribs of the holy brotherhood.

Whether Nicolas saved his distance, as likewise if he did, whether it was a male or a female Costilian he usherd into the world, we shall not just now enquire, contented to await his return in the first of the morning, next day, when he had no sooner dismounted at his shop, and delivered his mule to a sturdy Arragonese wench, than Don sgnacia de Santor Aparicio, Alguazil-mayor of the supreme and general Inquisition, put an order into his hand, signed and sealed by the Inquisitor-general, for a conveyance of his body to the Casa, whose formidable door presents itself in the street adjoining to the square in which Nicolas’s brazen basin hung from, the emblem of his trade.

The poor little fellow, trembling in every joint, and with a face as yellow as saffron, dropt a knee to the alter which fronts the entrance, and crossed himself most devotely: as soon as he had ascended the first flight of stairs, a porter habited in black opened, the tremendous barricade, and Nicolas, with horror, heard the grating of the heavy bolts that shut him in. He was led