Some time before the commencement of the
combat, three men, mounted on wild-looking horses, came dashing
down the road in the direction of the meadow, in the midst of which
they presently showed themselves, their horses clearing the deep
ditches with wonderful alacrity. 'That's Gypsy Will and his gang,'
lisped a Hebrew pickpocket; 'we shall have another fight.' The
word Gypsy was always sufficient to excite my curiosity, and I
looked attentively at the newcomers.
I have seen Gypsies of various lands, Russian, Hungarian, and
Turkish; and I have also seen the legitimate children of most
countries of the world; but I never saw, upon the whole, three more
remarkable individuals, as far as personal appearance was
concerned, than the three English Gypsies who now presented
themselves to my eyes on that spot. Two of them had dismounted,
and were holding their horses by the reins. The tallest, and, at
the first glance, the most interesting of the two, was almost a
giant, for his height could not have been less than six feet three.
It is impossible for the imagination to conceive anything more
perfectly beautiful than were the features of this man, and the
most skilful sculptor of Greece might have taken them as his model
for a hero and a god.
Pages:
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55