) Many digged in front of
the fountain, but lost their labor and found no money. At last one
knowing fellow construed the motto a different way. It is in the
forehead (frente) of the bull that the treasure is to be found, said
he to himself, and I am the man to find it. Accordingly he came late
at night, with a mallet, and knocked the head to pieces; and what do
you think he found?
"Plenty of gold and diamonds!" cried Sancho eagerly.
"He found nothing," rejoined mine host dryly; "and he ruined the
fountain."
Here a great laugh was set up by the landlord's hangers-on; who
considered Sancho completely taken in by what I presume was one of
mine host's standing jokes.
Leaving Antiquera at eight O'clock, we had a delightful ride along
the little river, and by gardens and orchards, fragrant with the odors
of spring and vocal with the nightingale. Our road passed round the
Rock of the Lovers (el Penon de los Enamorados), which rose in a
precipice above us. In the course of the morning we passed through
Archidona, situated in the breast of a high hill, with a three-pointed
mountain towering above it, and the ruins of a Moorish fortress. It
was a great toil to ascend a steep stony street leading up into the
city, although it bore the encouraging name of Calle Real del Llano
(the Royal Street of the Plain), but it was still a greater toil to
descend from this mountain city on the other side.
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