"Let them go alone," answered our friend; "I know those boasting gentlemen too well to trust them.  If attacked, they would leave all the fighting to us.  We shall be better off by ourselves."  Our friends provided horses and all necessaries for the journey, and in high spirits we started, mounted on high Spanish saddles, from which it seemed impossible that we could ever tumble off.  I will not attempt to describe the scenery in detail.  It was hilly, and woody, and rocky, with valleys and waterfalls; now and then we came to a plain with a wide extent of open country, and then had to cross rocky ridges, and climb lofty heights among crags and pine-trees; but nothing came amiss to us or our horses.  The young farmers had pressed us to stop a day at their father's house, which was only a little out of the way.  It was built in the fashion of the inn I have described, surrounded by the farm-buildings and pens for cattle.  The father was a fine, hearty old man, dressed in the ancient Spanish costume; and their mother and sisters were kind, fresh-looking people, very unlike the parchment-skinned, withered crones we had seen in the town.  They gave us for supper _tortillas_, which are thin cakes made of corn, and eggs, and fried beans, and some other things, to which we did justice.  The next morning our friends asked us if we would like to see a hunt.