Last summer our distress was so great that we crossed the frontier
into Portugal: my wife sung, and I played the guitar, for though I
have but one arm, and that a left one, I have never felt the want
of the other. At Estremoz I was cast into prison as a thief and
vagabond, and there I might have remained till I starved with
hunger. My wife, however, soon got me out: she went to the lady
of the corregidor, to whom she told a most wonderful bahi,
promising treasures and titles, and I wot not what; so I was set at
liberty, and returned to Spain as quick as I could.'
MYSELF. - 'Is it not the custom of the Gypsies of Spain to relieve
each other in distress? - it is the rule in other countries.'
FIRST GYPSY. - 'El krallis ha nicobado la liri de los Cales - (The
king has destroyed the law of the Gypsies); we are no longer the
people we were once, when we lived amongst the sierras and deserts,
and kept aloof from the Busne; we have lived amongst the Busne till
we are become almost like them, and we are no longer united, ready
to assist each other at all times and seasons, and very frequently
the Gitano is the worst enemy of his brother.
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