"De contrabandista e ladron
No haymas que un escalon."
"There is only one short step from smuggler to thief," and Vizco quickly crossed the narrow space and became a notorious criminal. He carried on the war against law and order with constantly increasing recklessness and more and more daring outrages. His strong personal character, his iron will, his unbounded courage and boldness gave him a great ascendancy over the men who collected around him and who served him with the greatest loyalty and unstinting effort. One of his exploits may be quoted at some length as exhibiting his methods and the success that generally attended them.
A certain landowner, Don Pedro de M——, whose estates were in the neighbourhood of the mountain village of Zahrita, was in the habit of providing bulls free of charge for the amusement of the villagers, at the annual festival of their patron saint. Amateur bull fighters are always to be found to take part in the performance of a novillos, or game with young bulls. Don Pedro like many of his class was also an aficionado, an amateur devoted to bull fighting, and he loved to pick out himself the animals he gave from his herds, trying first their temper and their aptitude for the so-called sport of tauromaquia. He was thus engaged, assisted by his steward and a herdsman, and had dismounted with the steward to walk round the herd, when the ominous cry was raised, "Boca abajo!" and they found themselves covered by the rifles of three brigands who had crept upon them unobserved. Resistance was hopeless, though they also were armed, for their guns hung at the saddles of their horses, which they led at the full length of their reins, and to have made any hostile move would have drawn down a murderous fire. The chance soon passed, for one of the robbers quickly took possession of both horses and guns. The seizure was complete and the captors proceeded to carry off their prize.
All remounted by order of the chief of the band, who took the lead, and the party started in single file along the narrow mountain path, an armed escort bringing up the rear. They made straight for the upper sierra, avoiding the frequented track until they reached a dense thicket, where a halt was called and a scout sent on ahead. After an interchange of whistled signals, nine other horsemen rode up, the two prisoners were ordered to dismount, their eyes closely bandaged, and they were warned that their lives depended upon their implicit obedience to the orders they received. Then the march was resumed. The road led constantly upward, becoming more and more rugged and precipitous till from the utter absence of brushwood and the stumbling of their horses they knew that they were climbing through a mountainous region. Another halt was called, all again dismounted, and the prisoners were led on foot along a narrow passage, that from the echoing sounds and the closeness of the air evidently penetrated far into the hill. It opened presently into an extensive cavern, probably the long-abandoned workings of some ancient Roman mine. Here their bandages were removed and Don Pedro saw that he was in the presence of the three bandits who had first made him prisoner. The cave contained nothing but a few empty boxes, on one of which was a light, a flickering wick in a saucerful of oil. Another box was offered Don Pedro as a seat, writing materials were produced and he was desired to write from dictation as follows:—
"Dear Father, I am in the power of the 'Sequestradores,' who make good plans and bind fast. It is madness to put the government on their track—they will escape and you will lose your son. Your secrecy and your money can at once free me. You can send the silver by Diego our steward, who is the bearer of this. Let him appear on the mountain between Grazalema and El Bosque, riding a white donkey and bringing ten thousand dollars."
Here the prisoner stopped short and point blank refused to demand so large a sum, declaring that to pay it his brothers would be robbed of their patrimony and that he had no right to ask even when his life was at stake for more than his individual share as one member of a large family. It was a fair argument and he held out so staunchly that the brigand was pleased to reduce the demand to six thousand dollars. The letter conveying these terms was then completed, signed and delivered to Diego, who was told to make the best of his way to Xeres, and as dawn had now broken he had no difficulty in finding the road.
Don Pedro was hospitably entertained. A wine skin (borracha) was broached and a plentiful supper laid out. The day was spent in sleep, but at nightfall the march was resumed. The prisoner was once more blindfolded, the weary pilgrimage, halting by day, travelling by night for three nights in succession, was resumed. On one occasion he seemed near rescue. A cry of "Civiles! Civiles!" was raised, an alarm of the near approach of the much dreaded guardias civiles. Orders were promptly issued to prepare for action. The brigands closed their ranks, sent their prisoner to the rear and took post to open fire. In the confusion Don Pedro, keenly alert for the deliverance that seemed so near, managed to lift the bandage over his eyes sufficiently to peep around. The party stood on a narrow ledge of the mountain side, straight cliff above, sheer drop below: movement forward or back was alone feasible. Meanwhile the increasing clatter of hoofs betrayed the enemy's approach, nearer and nearer, and the brigands barring the narrow road hoped to take them at a disadvantage and, after shooting them down, make good their retreat. But the sight of the first horse showed that it had been a false alarm. These were not "Civiles" but "Contrabandistas," smugglers not policemen, friends not foes. A long train of animals, heavily laden with goods that had paid no duty, were being guided across the mountains. Don Pedro's hopes were crushed out of him when he heard the interchange of friendly greetings: "Muy buenas noches!" on one side and "Vayan ustedes con Dios," on the other; "Good night!" and "Go in God's keeping," and room was made by the robbers for the safe passage of the smuggling train.
On the third day news came that the authorities were on the alert and it would be unsafe to meet the messenger returning on his white donkey. Another tryst was therefore appointed. Don Pedro's father was desired to send half the whole sum demanded to Grazalema and the other half was carried by a man on the white donkey to a lonely spot among the hills. The father started in person on the long ride from Xeres to Grazalema weighted with three thousand dollars in cash, reached his destination safely but remained there for a couple of days tortured with suspense. On the third morning he was approached by a man leading a pony laden with rolls of the rough brown cloth manufactured in Grazalema, who said under his breath as he passed, "Follow me." The peddler led the way to a small draper's shop where the same cloth was exposed for sale and, dismounting, passed into the back premises, where another man, also a peddler, was seated waiting. This was Vizco el Borje himself, who at once asked for the money, producing Don Pedro's pencil case as his credentials. The dollars had been sewn for security into the pack saddle of the pony which had brought the old man, and they were extracted, counted and handed over. Vizco forthwith climbed on top of the pile of cloth carried by his own mount and rode boldly out of the town.
Meanwhile Diego, the steward on the white donkey, with the remaining three thousand dollars patiently hung about the mountain lair to which he had been directed, and at last encountered a goatherd at the entrance of the village, who told him to ride on till he met a woman dressed in black seated by the side of a well. "She will ask you the time, and you will answer twelve o'clock, at which she will guide you to the spot where you are expected." It was a cavern in the hill and he was met there by his young master Don Pedro safe and sound. The money was handed over, but no release was permitted until news came of the delivery of the other half, when the prisoners were guided to a path familiar to them and they were free to return home. Next evening they rode into Xeres after a captivity of fifteen days.