But my troubles were not ended. One of those irresistible attacks of sleepiness which used to come upon me treacherously in the long night-marches among the soldiers seized me all at once, and tormented me as far as the railway-station without my being able to get a moment of sleep. I believe that a cannon-ball suspended by a cord from the roof of the diligence would have given less annoyance to my unfortunate companions than my poor nodding head gave as it bobbed on all sides as if it was attached to my neck by a single tendon. On one side of me sat a nun, on the other a boy, and opposite a peasant-woman, and throughout the entire journey I did nothing but strike my head against these three victims with the monotonous motion of a bell-clapper. The nun, poor creature! endured the strokes in silence, perhaps in expiation for her sins of thought; but the boy and peasant-woman muttered from time to time, "He is a barbarian!"—"This must stop!"—"His head is like lead!" Finally, a witticism from one of the passengers released all four of us from this suffering. The peasant-woman was lamenting a little louder than usual, and a voice from the end of the diligence exclaimed, "Be consoled; if your head is not yet broken, you may be sure it will not be, for it must certainly be proof against the hammer." They all laughed; I awakened, excused myself, and the three victims were so happy to find themselves released from that cruel thumping that, instead of taking revenge with bitter words, they said, "Poor fellow! you have slept badly. How you must have hurt your head!"
We finally arrived at the railway, and behold what a perverse fate! Although I was alone in the railway-carriage, where I might have slept like a nabob, I could not close my eyes. A pang went through my heart at the thought of having made the journey by night when I could not see anything nor enjoy the distant view of Granada. And I remembered the lovely verses of Martinez de la Rosa:
"O my dear fatherland! At last I see thee again! I see thy fair soil, thy joyful teeming fields, thy glorious sun, thy serene sky!
"Yes! I see the fabled Granada stretching along the plain from hill to hill, her towers rising among her gardens of eternal green, the crystal streams kissing her walls, the noble mountains enclosing her valleys, and the Sierra Nevada crowning the distant horizon.
"Oh, thy memory haunted me wherever I went, Granada! It destroyed my pleasures, my peace, and my glory, and oppressed my heart and soul! By the icy banks of the Seine and the Thames I remembered with a sigh the happy waters of the Darro and the Genil, and many times, as I carolled a gay ballad, my bitter grief overcame me, and weeping, not to be repressed, choked my voice.
"In vain the delightful Arno displayed her flower-strewn banks, sweet seats of love and peace! 'The plain watered by the gentle Genil,' said I, 'is more flowery, the life of the lovely Granada is more dear.' And I murmured these words as one disconsolate, and, remembering the house of my fathers, I raised my sad eyes to heaven.
"What is thy magic, what thy unspeakable spell, O fatherland! O sweet name! that thou art so dear? The swarthy African, far from his native desert, looks with sad disdain on fields of green; the rude Laplander, stolen from his mother-earth, sighs for perpetual night and snow; and I—I, to whom a kindly fate granted birth and nurture in thy bosom blest by so many gifts of God—though far from thee, could I forget thee, Granada?"
When I reached Granada it was quite dark, and I could not see so much as the outlines of a house. A diligence drawn by two horses,
"... anzi due cavallette
Di quella de Mosé lá dell' Egitto,"