BRIGANDS IN SPAIN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20306, 13 July 1929, Page 2 (Supplement)

BRIGANDS IN SPAIN.

SCHOOLBOY'S ADVENTURE

SIX EVIL-LOOKING ROBBERS

MONEY HIDDEN IN STOCKING.

STUDENT'S MALTREATED BOOKS.

A recent report that in one of the remoto regions of Spain bandits recently enjoyed a brief career of robbery and outrage, brings to mind an aclventura of boyhood, says Mr. Anthony Clyno in tlio Newcastle Weekly Chronicle. Even today brigandage is not unknown at intervals in the Peninsula, now soon suppressed by the forces of law and order. Then it was nioro serious, though conditions have vastly improved since the middle of the century. Mr. Clyno tells his story as follows:

My father and I were travelling to a little village called Orqtiillas. A coach ran onco a week, I believe, from somo town of which I have forgotten the name. Near the village lay the estate of a friend of the family, a Spanish hidalgo of the n;d school, but impoverished and a reclu.se, to whom we were paying a visit. There vvro only four passengers in the. coach '■<! ides the driver and conductor, the 0.1..'rs being an old peasant, grimy and morose, and a young student who betrayed much concern over the safety of his box of books.

Wo started at an early hour. I well, remember the conversation which was interrupted by tho appearance of the brigands. Wo were talking of tho old days, long before my time, when tho best way to enter Spain was by diligence fr'-.;n Bcyonno over the Pyrenees. The couch drawn by a team of eight or ten mules, rushed along at fuli gallop, leaving tho pastures to wind through chestnut groves, climbing higher and higher. Tho mules were changed every hour or so, and, as tho ascent became steeper the teams were larger, so that perhaps sixteen dragged tho diligence over the top of tho pass. Stopped on the Koad, By that time night had come, and if the traveller were fortunate, there wail a moon casting a magical glamour over tho romantic scenery. At headlong speed tho diligence dashed along the mountain road, sometimes with a precipice on ono side, and overhanging clitfs on the other. Over the steaming backs of tho mules streamed tho light from the lanterns. Descending, the uiiigence whirled through tiny hamlets, past lonely farms, until at j dawn it entered Pampeluna, as tho streets wero awakening to tho business o£ tlio day. Suddenly, as wc talked, six evil-looking men sprang up, three on each side of tho road, and shouted to tho driver to stop. Ho was compelled to pull up quickly, for the road war, blocked by a number of great boulders which would certainly have upset the coach. Tho driver and the conductor wero dragged from their seat, while 0110 of the brigands held the mules. The other two camo each side and threatened us with pistols. They mado us get out, and two of them searched us rapidly for weapons, leaving tho contents of our pockets untouched for a time. That we were foreigners they knew at once, and when they learnt we were English, wo wero regarded with intense curiosity. " You como from London 1" asked one short, broken-nosed ruffian, grinning at me. Tho sight of his leer, adding insult to injury, mode mo long to iiy at his ugly, dirty face, instead of answering in my lama Cnstilian. Treasure Hidden Inside Stocking. Wo had to resume onr places in tho coach, which was moved on to the fields until it was some 500 yards from tho road. While this was being done, my father quickly took bis banknotes and a letter of credit from his wallet, leaving a, few notes to divert suspicion. On his whispered instruction I placed them inside my stocking, under the garter, just above the edge of my loose short trousers. Then, when we got out again and our pockets wero emptied, these notes escaped. Tho four silver pieces, the knife, and tho other small possessions of tho peasant were given back to him. They took all the student's money, despite his entreaties, but left him his watch and other tilings. They took my father's money, though ho begged bard to bo allowed to keep somo lest they should suspect he had any more, and tho loader—or, at least, the one who generally gave orders—took his gold watch and his tie-pin. My watch they let me retain, for they could see it wps of little value. Meanwhilo. two of the brigands weia opening tho boxes and packages on tlio coach. Tiio student's treasured volumes wers thrown on the ground e.nd kicked about to ,seo if anything was hidden among them Tho other packages wero emptied and a strange diversity of objects scattered around, few that wero worth their taking—a bundle of paper, somo ladies' drosses, a waterproof sheet, a case of coffee, somo curiously-shaped bowls of unknown purpose. An Interesting Puzzle. Boy-like, I had in my pockets a miscellaneous assortment of articles, ranging from half of a broken coin—the other half being in tho possession of a littlo maid in England, then the object of my juvenile and transient affections—to a prayer book, of all things. One thing greatly interested the leader of tho brigands, s small puzzle of two inter laced nails. Ho immediately perceived its nature, and, squatting down, proceeded to attempt to solve the problem of getting them apart After a few minutes he threw it down, with what sounded like an oath. I picked it up again and in a second had tho nails apart and then put them together again. I did tho trick a second and third time slowly, while he watched. Taking the puzzlo from me, ho tried again, and after a few efforts succeeded. Ho did it several times, and with a gratified smilo slipped it in his pocket. By this timo the robbers had finished ransacking tho bagcage. Not, more than twenty minutes, I should think. • had elapsed since the coach was stopped, so. swiftly had they moved. No one had passed along tho' road. The country was sparsely populated. We were ordered, with a string of blood-curdling threats, to remain where we were for an hour by my watch. To delay us, they unharnessed tho mules, and in a few minutes had disappeared between tho trees of a plantation a little way off. Tlio Journey Resumed. Wo did not Wait the hour or a quarter of it. Urged by my father, the driver and tho guard put the packages and boxes in tho best order they could, whilewo repacked our luggage and the student sadly collected his maltreated books. The old peasant looked on with stolid unconcern. The mules were harnessed, the coach led to the road, the boulders laboriously dragged aside, and our journey resumed. At Orquillas we had to wait at the venta, or inn, and the alcalde was summoned to hear our report. National guards wero sent to scour tho country, but^ none of tho robbers was captured. Wo heard later that three of them wero caught months afterwards robbing a coach in another part of tho country and identified by tho driver.