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: 
 
 MR. AND MRS. PENFIELD 
 SEND 
 
 ALL GOOD WISHES FOR A MERRY 
 
 CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY 
 
 AND PROSPEROUS 
 
 NEW YEAR 
 
 787 Fifth Avenue 
 New York 
 
THE MOTOR THAT 
 WENT TO COURT 
 
" 
 
 -**&m 
 
 \ W 
 
 I 
 
 / 
 
 QUEEN VICTORIA OF SPAIN 
 
THE MOTOR THAT 
 WENT TO COURT 
 
 A PACT-STORY, WITH 
 RANDOM ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 BY 
 
 FREDERIC COURTLAND PENFIELD, A.M. 
 
 AUTHOR OF "PRESENT-DAY EGYPT," 
 " EAST OF SUEZ," ETC. 
 
 PRIVATELY PRINTED 
 
 CHRISTMAS 
 
 1909 
 
■4* 
 
 Copyright, 1909, by 
 The Century Co. 
 
 Copyright, 1909, by 
 Frederic C. Penfield 
 
 Reprinted by permission from 
 The Century Magazine 
 
 &CU2533: 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Queen Victoria of Spain Frontispiece ' 
 
 From the painting by Joaquin Sorolla y Bastida. 
 
 Blue Peter and Tender, at Spanish Frontier .... 4 
 
 Fountain of Fame, La Granja 5 
 
 From a drawing by Ernest C. Peixotto. 
 
 Where Spain and France Meet 7 
 
 The Devil's Bridge, near Barcelona II 
 
 Monument to Columbus, Barcelona 15 
 
 Interior of Mosque in the Alhambra, Granada .... 19 
 
 At Poblet 23 
 
 Alicante's Farewell to the Blue Peter 27 
 
 In the Tropical Gardens at Elche ........ 31* 
 
 Toledo 35" 
 
 Seville Cathedral 39 
 
 The Royal Palace, Madrid 43 
 
 The Puerta del Sol, Madrid 47 
 
 The Escorial, near Madrid 51 
 
 Interior of a Spanish Bull-ring 55 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 His Excellency Senor Maura, Spain's Leading Statesman 59 
 From a photograph by Franzen, Madrid. 
 
 King Alfonso XIII of Spain, and the Prince of the Asturias 63 ' 
 
 From a photograph by Franzen, Madrid. 
 
 1/ 
 An Approach to the Palace, La Granja 67 
 
 From a drawing by Ernest C. Peixotto. 
 
 The Long Vista, La Granja . . 69 
 
 From a drawing by Ernest C. Peixotto. 
 
 The Segovia Gate, La Granja ......... 73 
 
 From a drawing by Ernest C. Peixotto. 
 
 Roman Viaduct, Segovia 77 
 
 A Tower of Burgos Cathedral . . „ Q\ v 
 
 A Halt by the Roadside 85 " 
 
 From a drawing by Ernest C. Peixotto. 
 
 Farewell to Spain 89 
 
 The Collegiate Chapel, La Granja 92 
 
 From a drawing by Ernest C. Peixotto. 
 
THE MOTOR THAT 
 WENT TO COURT 
 
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THE MOTOR THAT 
 WENT TO COURT 
 
 \ lt l 'HpHE story of an automobile that went 
 ' 1 to court! 1 Pardon me for being* dis- 
 agreeable, Judge/' drawled the youngest 
 man at the club table; "but I 'm sure I 
 have heard it several times. It 
 is 'ten dollars and costs/ with 
 a sermon thrown in about be- 
 ing a menace to public safety." 
 |f Young T ravers belonged to 
 that plutocratic and irrespon- 
 sible class wh ich feels pressing 
 need for traveling faster than 
 anybody else, law or no law. 
 "It is no police-court romance or incident of 
 Jersey injustice/' ventured the Judge, "but the 
 unvarnished tale of how a certain car caused the 
 mixing up of a sure-enough king, a prime min- 
 ister, a chauffeur, and a group of sovereign 
 American tourists. I imagine you fellows never 
 thought of the automobile as a good mixer or 
 5 
 
THE MOTOR THAT WENT TO COURT 
 
 medium for strengthening strained international 
 relations, did you?" 
 
 " Spin the yarn, Judge, and remember that there 
 is no time allowance. We hear too much of free- 
 board and backstay preventers, M pleaded a grizzled, 
 deep-water mariner who had sailed cup-defenders. 
 " And never mind the banter of these boys. We r re 
 all glad to see you home again, M 
 
 "Well, this motor was almost amphibious, for 
 down in Catalonia, where the roads were so bad 
 that only mules and peons could navigate them, 
 we actually ran five or six miles along the half- 
 dried bed of a river; and near the Mediterranean, 
 where there were no bridges, we frequently forded 
 streams so deep that the floor of the Blue Peter 
 was washed by the water. This is gospel truth. 
 My host, Max Randolph — he belongs to our club, 
 you know, — seriously considered hoisting the 
 burgee of the New York Yacht Club over the car, 
 and putting the chauffeur into sailing-master's 
 
 "We all know Lucky Max Randolph, and love 
 him," came from another of the circle. "So give 
 it to us without preamble and whereases, ship- 
 mate. You have the floor, and interruptions are 
 out of order." 
 
 6 
 
».v^ «*% 
 
 
 WHERE SPAIN AND 
 FRANCE MEET 
 
THE MOTOR THAT WENT TO COURT 
 
 " Yes, Max is a fine fellow, and he is now get- 
 ting heaps of the poetry of life. When that Wall 
 Street trust wanted his business, he fixed a price 
 for it, got it, and then dedicated the remainder of 
 his years to the lighter side of things than the 
 smelting of refractory ores. Max has not only 
 money to burn, but knowledge as well. Did you 
 know that he never went to business without a 
 French grammar tucked away in a side pocket? " 
 
 u That's right enough, old chap; but we thought 
 you were going to yarn about an automobile. 
 Culture 's one thing, and motoring another," in- 
 terrupted the youth suffering from speed mania. 
 " We want you to come right down to the gasolene 
 go-cart; for the hour is late, and soon we '11 be 
 shutting up shop." 
 
 " As I was saying, Randolph gets out of life 
 about all the fun that is to be had. When he 
 cashed in after the smelter deal, he said, ' Now 
 for sunny Spain — my wife, my daughter, and my 
 time-tried friend and his good wife/ That 's how 
 I was in the expedition," explained the Judge. 
 " For the trip Max had constructed a car that 
 was the last word for completeness and comfort, 
 and it even carried a library, a medicine-chest, 
 and an outfit of charts. It was probably the best 
 
THE MOTOR THAT WENT TO COURT 
 
 seventy ever put together. Oh, no ; Max did n't 
 hesitate when advised that Spain was anti-motor 
 in sympathy, had no roads worthy of the name, 
 and might be down on Uncle Sam for relieving 
 her of her rebellious colonies that never paid their 
 way. A man who had so improved a half-million- 
 dollar plant that it had to be taken as the key- 
 stone of a gigantic combination was n't to be dis- 
 couraged by unfathered rumor from seeing dear 
 old Spain. 
 
 u So we went to the country having the original 
 copyright on the hemisphere discovered by 
 Columbus. From Marseilles Max had brought 
 under charter an extra car to serve as convoy and 
 carry the servants and supplies. We made the 
 dash from Carcassonne in France over the Eastern 
 Pyrenees by way of Mont Louis, deposited with 
 the customs officials at the frontier — who would 
 take any other country's money but their own — 
 the equivalent of eight hundred gold dollars on 
 the two automobiles, and in a day's travel we 
 seemed to set back the hands of time fully four 
 centuries. My word, what a change it was! 
 After the frontier bridge was crossed, the splen- 
 did Blue Peter found itself vaulting from one 
 combing billow of solidified mud to another, in 
 10 
 
Wt\ 
 
THE MOTOR THAT WENT TO COURT 
 
 painful contrast with the ideal roads of France. 
 Then came mountain ranges of petrified mud, the 
 crags and peaks of which made the sturdy ma- 
 chine quiver with rage, as they made our hearts 
 heavy with apprehension. At times the prospect 
 was discouraging; but nothing fazed our glorious 
 host. 
 
 "I T m not going to detail the journey south- 
 ward to Barcelona. That 1 s the blooming city 
 where the nuts are supposed to come from, but 
 of which we hear oftener as the place doing a land- 
 office business in infernal machines and bombs to 
 be used on kings and queens. Like a nursemaid 
 and children at a zoo, we zigzagged about the 
 province of Catalonia, where the people are con- 
 stantly agitating for annexation to republican 
 France. We worked our way across the plains 
 of Aragon to enterprising Saragossa, climbed the 
 precipitous rocks of Montserrat, and frightened 
 the trusting monks with our machines in return 
 for their hospitality; finally going south again to 
 the Mediterranean to visit Tarragona. Travers 
 may be glad to know that the Chartreuse liqueur 
 is now made there, and that the business is carried 
 on by a rich corporation that seems to employ a 
 solitary monk to tend door and keep tourists from 
 
 13 
 
THE MOTOR THAT WENT TO COURT 
 
 entering, and who, when the evening whistle 
 blows, doubtless dons street attire and goes home 
 to his family. 
 
 " Then we visited Valencia and Alicante, and 
 plucked dates and fragrant flowers in the renowned 
 Oriental gardens of Elche. Big with interests does 
 Valencia bulk; the redoubtable Cid ruled and died 
 there; and one of the finest chambers in the world 
 is its Lonja, — the produce exchange, — the spiral 
 columns and groined roof of which are intoxicat- 
 ing to artistic temperaments. Valencia's beggars, 
 many of them sickeningly deformed or crippled, 
 are amusing specimens of humanity. With a smile 
 that does not come off, and a manner Chester- 
 fieldian in the extreme, they puff their cigarettes 
 when asking a copper, and one's refusal to sub- 
 scribe may even be met with the offer of a che- 
 root. 
 
 " One day we left the main road and went to 
 the ruined monastery of Poblet, where, with the 
 tombs of six or eight kings of ancient Aragon 
 frowning disapproval upon our merriment, we man- 
 aged to lunch sumptuously on the air-tights from 
 the Blue Peter's hamper. Now and again we had 
 to strike into the hinterland, when we might tra- 
 verse entire counties of arid plains so barren of 
 
 14 
 
MONUMENT TO COLUMBUS, 
 BARCELONA 
 
THE MOTOR THAT WENT TO COURT 
 
 trees and other forms of vegetation that birds ven- 
 turing there must of necessity carry their food with 
 them. 
 
 "It T s true as gospel/' continued the Judge; 
 " and while the roads gradually improved, it was 
 the expensive fact that we used up tires like ci- 
 gars on a windy day at sea. But Max did n't 
 mind. That smelter combine was good for any- 
 thing when he was seeking recreation. My, how 
 he jeered at a mob that chased us through a vil- 
 lage with stones and sticks, down Valencia way! 
 We all know how good he used to be to his crew 
 when he raced the Kedge Anchor. Well, over in 
 Spain, he was as tender-hearted and sympathetic 
 as a girl with her first beau. The machines as- 
 sessed a pretty heavy toll upon roadside dogs and 
 chickens, but in every instance it was a case of 
 suicide or the penalty for crass stupidity. A hun- 
 dred times Max made his chauffeur slow down to 
 get past herds of sheep and goats. Hens, we all 
 know, are born without the instinct of self-pres- 
 ervation; and it is going to take a long time for 
 Spanish dogs to sense the deadly speed of the 
 motor-car. While Max was ever scary of getting 
 the authorities after him with their proces-verbal, 
 many a handful of coins did he throw to peasants 
 17 
 
THE MOTOR THAT WENT TO COURT 
 
 whose mangy dogs or idiotic fowls had been 
 shoved into the next world by our car of Jugger- 
 naut. And I want to state with emphasis that 
 Max's abandonment of yacht-racing has n't hurt 
 to any alarming extent his chances for the here- 
 after, 
 
 " At a village called Santa Fe we saw the spot 
 where it is claimed Queen Isabella's courier over- 
 took Columbus, who, having received scant en- 
 couragement at the Alhambra, was already on the 
 way to France to solicit financial aid for his voy- 
 age of discovery. Legend has it that the relent- 
 ing Isabella watched from the parapets of the 
 palace the pursuit by her messenger, and asserted 
 her delight when she saw that the courageous 
 Italian was retracing his steps. When we heard 
 the story, we wondered what our nationality might 
 first have been if that courier had gone about his 
 mission in the snail-like manner of American mes- 
 senger-boys. We probably should have been 
 French or Portuguese. 
 
 " I '11 wager that not one of you ever heard of 
 Lerida. There we were quartered in a fonda on 
 the banks of the Segre, where tradition claims that 
 Salome was decapitated by the ice, in retribution 
 for her share in causing John the Baptist to lose 
 18 
 
w < 
 
 cx< 
 « Z 
 o < 
 
 2 K 
 
THE MOTOR THAT WENT TO COURT 
 
 his head. Personally I thought the river's cur- 
 rent too swift ever to allow ice to form ; but when 
 you warn people that a story is legendary, a tale 
 may be as fantastic as you like. 
 
 " We took in Murcia, and viewed there the most 
 wonderful wood-carvings in southern Europe, and 
 in time rolled into picturesque Granada, where we 
 got into touch again with what passes in the Pen- 
 insula for civilization. Not caring to spend an 
 evening in a slimy cave, Max had the Gipsies 
 come to the hotel and give their dances in the 
 dining-room. And what do you think ? There was 
 no garage near the hotel, so autocratic Max bribed 
 somebody to let the automobiles be quartered in 
 the Alhambra; and there they stood for a week 
 — actually in the place where Boabdil surrendered 
 to Ferdinand and Isabella what remained of Moor- 
 ish rule in Spain after eight hundred years of con- 
 flict! Gentlemen, that 's exactly what our dear 
 old clubmate did; and he dealt with situations 
 over there in Spain just as he used to sail matches 
 for the Astor Cup off Brenton's Reef. 
 
 "From Granada we pushed on by the most 
 abominable roads to Cordova, crossing the wind- 
 swept plains made immortal by the antics of ©on 
 Quixote, and entered the wonderful city by the 
 21 
 
THE MOTOR THAT WENT TO COURT 
 
 bridge over the Guadalquivir originally built by 
 Octavius Caesar. I 'm positive that some of the 
 roads in La Mancha had never known the tread 
 of a rubber tire, and maybe had n't been used by 
 anybody since the time of ©o/z Quixote and his 
 doughty squire. 
 
 " Surely you r ll laugh when I assert that there 
 are good Gipsies, and I 'm not meaning to ring 
 the changes on the story of the good Indian, 
 either. We were careering along one afternoon 
 through a region seemingly without inhabitants, 
 on the way from Lorca to a town called Baza, on 
 the side of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. So 
 surprisingly good had the road been that Max 
 wanted to do all manner of punitive things to 
 slanderous acquaintances who had given Spanish 
 roads a bad name, when, presto! our highway 
 terminated abruptly, and without rhyme or reason. 
 It sloughed off into a cobblestone mule-path that 
 wound downward tortuously, before dropping into 
 a narrow valley, wholly unsuspected from the 
 plateau. The descent was precipitous, and at the 
 bottom of the gorge flowed a stream. Nowhere 
 did the eye behold habitation or sign of life; and 
 we were surely face to face with what might be 
 called a 'situation/ Descend we had to. And 
 22 
 
THE MOTOR THAT WENT TO COURT 
 
 what do you suppose we discovered ? A troglo- 
 dyte Gipsy town of five or six thousand people — 
 and in two minutes most of them were surround- 
 ing our cars, and as amazed over our advent and 
 appearance as if we had dropped from Mars 1" 
 
 "What language are you speaking — what is a 
 troglodyte ?" 
 
 11 Cave-dweller ; that r s all. In southern Eu- 
 rope hosts of people have no other homes. These 
 Gipsies that I 'm telling you of had tunneled the 
 clay cliffs of that gorge, and their houses were 
 sometimes three-storied and had windows and 
 chimneys. The men and women were as respect- 
 ful as if we had come to pay a ceremonial visit. 
 Extremely chic were the girls, and nearly all of 
 them were tricked out with oleander blossoms in 
 their raven hair. The men wore closely wound 
 handkerchiefs under their sombreros, and with 
 sandals fastened by strings crisscrossed up their 
 legs, looked like singers in a brigand chorus. 
 Well, these people, who are virtually independent 
 of all Spanish law, were respectful to the point of 
 punctiliousness, and the headman of the tribe 
 showed us where to ford the stream and directed 
 us to Baza by a safe and comfortable route. The 
 ladies would have it that they had never seen a 
 
 25 
 
THE MOTOR THAT WENT TO COURT 
 
 cutthroat crew exercise greater restraint; but I 
 thought those Gipsies fine people. 
 
 "At Seville we waxed enthusiastic over the 
 Alcazar, raved about the Giralda Tower, — which 
 suggested to Stanford White the tower over Madi- 
 son Square Garden, — and worked up a heap of 
 disappointment regarding the Murillo pictures. 
 What a gem of patriotic art they have in the Se- 
 ville cathedral, inclosing what Spanish people 
 believe to be the corpse of Christopher Columbus ! 
 You may remember that a condition of the treaty 
 of peace with Spain after the war was the grant- 
 ing of permission to remove Columbus's bones 
 from Havana to the home country. But intelli- 
 gent investigators assure us that the genuine 
 skeleton is entombed in the cathedral of Santo 
 Domingo City. The records prove that the hardy 
 sea-dog died at Valladolid, but since that grim 
 event there is much confusion as to the precise 
 resting-place of his remains. 
 
 " No, none of us had our locks shorn or faces 
 scraped by the barber of Seville. That worthy 
 may have been on the road with an opera com- 
 pany; at least, we did n't see him. We saw 
 thousands of Carmens rolling cigars and cigarettes 
 in the government tobacco factory, however. 
 26 
 
ALICANTE'S FAREWELL TO 
 THE BLUE PETER 
 
THE MOTOR THAT WENT TO COURT 
 
 " From Seville we took the trail to Estrema- 
 dura; got stalled on the Portuguese frontier near 
 Badajoz, through need of gasolene; slept out 
 nearly all of one night, until Max got supplies 
 from a village ten miles away by paying the equiva- 
 lent of sixteen good American dollars for two tins 
 of inferior Yankee oil. He had to get it from the 
 drug-stores, almost upon physician's prescription. 
 I 'm telling you straight. 
 
 " Do you know about the mule teams in Spain ? 
 I '11 educate you, for some of you may make a 
 cruise in that land, and I want to prepare you for 
 what you would encounter. Virtually all the 
 hauling is done by mules, and for that reason rail- 
 roads lose money. A Spanish cart and its ani- 
 mals is as protracted a proposition as a continued 
 story. The cart, on two wheels of enormous 
 height, is very long. The shaft-mule is usually 
 one that has outgrown its frolicsomeness, and 
 hitched ahead of it in single file are four, five, or 
 six lusty animals. And these perhaps are led by 
 a pace-making donkey, picked for his short legs. 
 This should complete the fore-and-aft dimensions 
 of the outfit, but does n't, for sticking out behind 
 the long cart is a pole-brake that impinges on the 
 wheel when close-hauled by the stern tackle. 
 29 
 
THE MOTOR THAT WENT TO COURT 
 
 This postscript adds about eight feet more of 
 length. 
 
 " Spanish carters seem only to sleep when on 
 the road, and slumbering with them is no per- 
 functory habit. Well, you come upon this mean- 
 dering file of mule flesh pounding along the middle 
 of the road, and strive to sneak past. You might 
 as well hope to wake the dead as to rouse the 
 muleteer merely by blowing your horn. So you 
 decide to crawl past the best way you can, and 
 dubiously embark on the project. The fan-like 
 ears of the wheel-mule detect your movement, and 
 biff I he jumps to the side of the road, and your 
 motor goes into the ditch or receives an awful 
 scratching. The whole train of mules then be- 
 come panic-stricken, each seeking to go his own 
 sweet way. Well, you know what happens. I 
 believe the word ' mix-up ' was coined to fit the 
 situation. The arriero is now awake, and comes 
 rushing to the rear, but is too stupid to do any- 
 thing beyond adding to the fright of the mules. 
 From four to ten yelping curs, snapping at the 
 chauffeur, or diving under your wheels, complete 
 the jumble. The literary person venturing south 
 of the Pyrenees with an automobile who writes 
 a book called 'The Awakening of the Arriero/ 
 30 
 
IN THE TROPICAL GARDENS 
 AT ELCHE 
 
THE MOTOR THAT WENT TO COURT 
 
 would make a hit, for the title would describe to 
 a nicety the great feature of the trip. 
 
 14 1 must now get back to my muttons. We got 
 fixed up at Badajoz, and then worked our way 
 through the grain country to Toledo, and thence 
 to Madrid. Once when we broke down we were 
 drawn fifteen miles to a town by three trotting 
 mules, who easily logged six knots an hour. 
 Max's temper that day was not altogether angelic, 
 and he saw no humor in the feeble joke having 
 to do with the descent of his machine from sev- 
 enty horse-power to 'three mule-power. T But 
 motorists in medieval lands must not be choosers, 
 and certainly not in the Iberian Peninsula. 
 
 44 Anyway, in time, the capital was reached, 
 and to get to a place having garages and repair- 
 shops, and hotels possessing creature comforts 
 unknown to fondas and posadas, was like placing 
 a cooling draft to fever-parched lips. Mooning 
 about southern Spain on a one-night-stand sched- 
 ule, sleeping now in the coroneted bed of a palace, 
 and again on the tiled floor of a hacienda, is n't 
 all that is implied by the word 4 luxury.' But 
 not one of us would have missed the experiences 
 of the primitive southland for millions in the 
 stock that the other fellows were issuing on 
 
 33 
 
THE MOTOR THAT WENT TO COURT 
 
 Max's smelting-works. If you can live on food 
 cooked in inferior olive-oil, and are not too par- 
 ticular where or when you sleep, touring in ro- 
 mantic Spain is all right. 
 
 "■ Madrid was great, and it was Mrs. Max's 
 judgment that she liked the paintings of Murillo 
 and Velasquez no better than she did the human 
 pictures in the public squares, made up of swag- 
 gering soldiers, well-fed priests, and dashing hi- 
 dalgos. It surely takes a good stomach to witness 
 a Madrid bull-fight. Randolph said that Ameri- 
 cans were too clean-strained to see anything in 
 the sport but a display of human cowardice. We 
 went to a star fight on Sunday, and when one of 
 the loaferish picadors got bumped off his steed, 
 Max gave his Comanche yell with such power 
 that we feared^ there might be another Spanish- 
 American War in consequence. The big fighter 
 of the day was Bombita, who receives $2500 an 
 appearance, and is a man of such agility and so 
 clever at dodging that he has his bull incapaci- 
 tated through rage in a few minutes. When I recog- 
 nized his craftiness I could n't help thinking what 
 a run-maker he would be at base-ball. We had a 
 fine box in the row set apart for dons and donnas, 
 
 34 
 
THE MOTOR THAT WENT TO COURT 
 
 and not far from the royalties, who have to go to 
 the fights whether they approve of them or not. 
 
 " What do you suppose they do with the dead 
 bulls ? Well, an hour after they have been so 
 disgustingly put to death, they are cut up and 
 carried away to second-rate butcher-shops, where 
 poor people buy the meat at two thirds the price 
 of animals slaughtered in the regular way. The 
 bull-fight has one recommendation — it begins 
 at the advertised time with a certainty permitting 
 you to regulate your watch by it. In Spain noth- 
 ing but the bull-fight is on time. Gentlemen, if 
 you want to hate yourselves, and believe that you 
 are polluted, body and soul, go and witness the 
 killing of six splendid bulls, and the piecemeal 
 disemboweling of fifteen or twenty old skates 
 from the car-stables, on any Sunday in any Span- 
 ish city. Cock-fighting is an elevating pastime 
 compared with the game where the bull and 
 never the toreador is killed. 
 
 *' Still, Madrid was just fine. We bought lot- 
 tery-tickets daily, saw the Corpus Christi pro- 
 cession from our windows, and Max and the 
 ladies bought virtually all the art junk in sight. 
 
 " Everything in this world comes in time to an 
 37 
 
THE MOTOR THAT WENT TO COURT 
 
 end, even a sojourn in Madrid, The hired car 
 had been sent back to Marseilles, for Max had 
 found it more of an irritant than a help to the 
 expedition. The Blue Peter had been put in 
 perfect order for roading, and had been tested by 
 a couple of trips out to the Escorial. My, my, 
 my, what a sight that Escorial is! If you ever 
 want to see what art can do for us after we are 
 dead, just have a look in at that royal mausoleum. 
 Well, for his wife and daughter, Max had bought 
 every valuable fan that struck their fancy, and 
 commissions had been placed for copies of half 
 the important paintings in the Prado; so there 
 was nothing to do but set the time for striking 
 the trail by way of Burgos and Vittoria for dear 
 old France, with its excellent roads and the fluffy 
 confections of jhe Rue de la Paix and the un- 
 fluffy luncheons of the Tour d' Argent. 
 
 " *T was a clinking fine morning when the lug- 
 gage was piled on the Blue Peter and we took 
 our accustomed places within. Seven-thirty had 
 been Max's time for sailing, and we were punc- 
 tual to the dot. We hated to say good-by to 
 the Puerto del Sol, for its tangle of humanity 
 had entertained us when other interests failed. 
 As we rolled out of Madrid that glorious morn- 
 38 
 
THE MOTOR THAT WENT TO COURT 
 
 ing how perfectly the machine ran ! It seemed 
 vibrant with life and to represent the poetry of 
 motion. 
 
 "Poor Maria Christina! thought some of us, 
 as we passed the palace, one of the finest in all 
 the world. What saddening news had trickled 
 into that abode of the widowed queen and the 
 kingly lad just ten years before ! The messages 
 from Manila and Santiago must have strained 
 almost to breaking the heartstrings of that unfor- 
 tunate pair; and while millions in America were 
 jubilantly shouting that ' Dewey did n't do a thing 
 to 'em/ there were sinking hearts in that palace, 
 surely/ 1 
 
 " Don't go on like that, Judge. You forget 
 that I was an officer on a supply-ship, and that 
 Travers likewise is a veteran of the Cuban war. 
 Soft pedal the pathetic, say we." 
 
 " Boys, you are going to get this narrative just 
 as you have to take a play or see a picture. So, 
 on with the dance! We tried to make a jest at 
 the expense of the royal stables and coach-houses 
 as we saw the flunkies manipulating and polish- 
 ing automobiles about the entrances. Frederica 
 thought it boded well for laggard Spain when its 
 potentates could discard their golden circus-wagons 
 41 
 
THE MOTOR THAT WENT TO COURT 
 
 for motor-cars, and she hoped that the thirteenth 
 Alfonso's craze for motoring was to give smoother 
 roads and friendly treatment during the remainder 
 of our junket in his Catholic Majesty's land. 
 
 " Did you ever hear of La Granja ? I guess not. 
 Well, La Granja is the country-seat of the King 
 and Queen, where they love to stay as soon as 
 hot weather and too much kinging and queening 
 drive them from Madrid. It is gloriously situ- 
 ated, up in the Guadarrama Mountains, sixty 
 miles or so from the capital. There they remain 
 for months, and without fuss and feathers lead 
 the existence of normal beings. 
 
 " So much had we been told of the wondrous 
 gardens of The Grange — that *s its name in 
 English — that Max had planned to stop at the 
 village for luncheon, trust to luck for finding a way 
 of getting into the royal domain, and then go to 
 Valladolid for the night. People who have read 
 much know that the fountains at La Granja are 
 the most perfect in the world, better even than 
 those at Versailles. One of them, called the 
 Baths of Diana, was constructed for the dyspeptic 
 Philip V when he was away once on a military 
 enterprise. Viewing it for the first time, he re- 
 marked that it had cost three millions, and had 
 42 
 
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THE MOTOR THAT WENT TO COURT 
 
 amused him three minutes. That was his way 
 of being agreeable and encouraging art. 
 
 "It surely was a day when it was a joy to be 
 alive, and one had little need for drinking heavily 
 of Valdepenas for the sake of liking Spain. 
 Through the suburbs of Madrid our chariot rolled, 
 out past the church of San Antonio de la Florida, 
 with its frescos by Goya, past the octroi barrier, 
 and into the open country, dodging the mule teams 
 as best we could. 
 
 " For twenty-five miles our track was over level 
 roads, and then we found ourselves sinuously 
 climbing the hills, with improving scenery. Far 
 away to the left was the Escorial, with towers 
 and domes bathed by the sun not yet many hours 
 old. Up we went continually, with vistas increas- 
 ing in grandeur, and the road becoming a zigzag. 
 Down in the valley we could see a watercourse 
 and a train meandering across the landscape. 
 How curious the Guarda Civile men appeared! 
 As we scurried past them, their attitude had a 
 suspiciously ambiguous significance: their posi- 
 tion by the roadside looked like the attitude of 
 respect, but we noticed that their station was al- 
 ways elevated enough to permit their viewing the 
 interior of the limousine. 
 
 45 
 
THE MOTOR THAT WENT TO COURT 
 
 " ' Artful chaps/ said lynx-eyed Max; ' I '11 bet 
 the King is at La Granja, and these fellows have 
 to be sure that nobody gets up the mountains 
 with a sackful of bombs. They say that Alfonso 
 is a good sort, but I don't imagine we 41 see him. 
 He may disapprove of Americans because we 
 forced those twenty millions upon him for the 
 Philippines/ mused Max. 
 
 Ui No prejudiced political flings, dear/ remon- 
 strated Mrs. Randolph. ' We have adopted those 
 little brown brothers, and assimilate them we 
 must/ 
 
 " ' Right you are/ admitted Max, with an air of 
 resignation. ' But we are touring in Spain, and I 
 suppose that motor talk and gush about scenery 
 must have the call. Is n't it just great to be 
 swinging up these grades, with everything going 
 well and everybody happy ! Why, the car has n't 
 even made a skip or a funny noise to-day. Think 
 of those benighted millionaires over home getting 
 round-shouldered from pulling in the dollars ! I 'm 
 truly sorry for them. A motorist's life for me!' 
 And happy Max Randolph employed his vision 
 and brain in admiring the diversity of God's handi- 
 work in those Guadarrama heights, changing in 
 grandeur with every turning of the highway. 
 46 
 
a. 2 
 u a 
 
THE MOTOR THAT WENT TO COURT 
 
 " What was that ? A pistol-shot ? The heavy 
 machine halted for an instant. The chauffeur 
 muttered, ' sal bete,' and we knew that the road 
 had demanded extra toll. 
 
 " Slowly the car started backward, and gained 
 momentum at a rate meaning disaster if main- 
 tained for one brief minute. Then the tires 
 crunched in broken stone, and the flight of Max's 
 land yacht was arrested by trap-rock piled by the 
 roadside. We had been climbing the hill on the 
 first speed, when the change-speed lever sud- 
 denly slipped from the ratchet. With his foot 
 the chauffeur applied the brake on the differ- 
 ential, and this gave way. He then sought to 
 put on the hand-brake, but this also snapped, 
 and with a report loud enough to suggest a 
 pistol-shot. Knowing that the brakes could not 
 be employed, Leon had deftly guided the ma- 
 chine backward to the nearest point of safety, 
 shunning the side of the road overhanging the 
 precipice. There had been no shadow of danger, 
 but to us in the car it looked as if we were dash- 
 ing backward to kingdom come, and had no stop- 
 over privilege. 
 
 " There we were, pinioned high and dry on the 
 rubble mound. That was all. The chauffeur 
 
 49 
 
THE MOTOR THAT WENT TO COURT 
 
 thought the injury might be repaired in an hour 
 or so. But we believed differently, for it was our 
 opinion of Leon that he held the record as a bad 
 predictor. 
 
 " Max accepted the situation philosophically, 
 thanking his stars that the mishap had occurred 
 at half-past nine in the morning, rather than at 
 nightfall and with a nebulous idea of the distance 
 to the next town, as had been our experience more 
 than once. All hands promptly got to work to free 
 the machine from the stone-heap, and every one 
 seemed determined to make the best of the situ- 
 ation. 
 
 " Pretty soon the chug-chug of an automobile 
 rose from the valley, and in a few minutes we saw 
 a long, low-bodied machine swinging around the 
 curves as if pursued by the evil one. A moment 
 later it halted beside us. The driver and his mate, 
 garbed in leather, had the look of submarine 
 divers. They vaulted like acrobats from their 
 machine, made an instantaneous study of our frac- 
 ture, jabbered in French to Leon, and in half a 
 minute were back in their car. To Max they 
 explained apologetically that, as they were king's 
 messengers, they dare not stop longer, but when 
 they returned from La Granja, if we were still in 
 50 
 
THE MOTOR THAT WENT TO COURT 
 
 trouble, they would do what they could to help 
 us. Then they turned on their power and fairly 
 flew up the mountain and in the twinkling of an 
 eye were lost to view. Max remarked that if he 
 were in the insurance business he would not care 
 to have a risk on those human cannon-balls. 
 
 " Under our car hopeful Leon was as busy as 
 a beaver, but the rest of us were — well, not very 
 cheerful. Max and I may have used language 
 not altogether uplifting; but the ladies, bless them ! 
 pretended not to look on the dark side of things. 
 They found a place up the bank where they said 
 our al fresco luncheon would be served at noon, 
 and then sat on the guard-stones of the precipice 
 side of the highway and gazed out into the blue 
 ether of God's glorious universe. Max told me 
 that he believed they were weighing the chances 
 of passing the night in a peasants house, provided 
 a farmer could n f t be induced to let his cattle 
 draw us to La Granja. 
 
 " Wonderfully keen are some ears. If my wife 
 had been beleaguered at Lucknow, I 'm sure she 
 would have heard the pipes of the Campbells 
 hours before the Scotch lassie perceived the ap- 
 proach of the relieving force. 
 
 " * I hear chug-chugging far down there/ insisted 
 
 53 
 
THE MOTOR THAT WENT TO COURT 
 
 Phyllis, 'and it grows more distinct. It surely is 
 a machine coming this way/ 
 
 u • You are a marvel for noticing things/ said 
 Mrs. Max. ' And your ears tell you true. There 
 it is, there, at the point of the zigzag. And what 
 a splendid auto! I believe its coming is provi- 
 dential, and has a meaning for us stranded mor- 
 tals/ 
 
 " Five minutes later this car of destiny, with 
 bright yellow body and red running-gear, was be- 
 side us. And what an elaborate escutcheon it 
 bore on its panels — the arms of Spain, and no 
 mistake! Off went the power, and a gentleman 
 opened the door and stepped out. What man- 
 ners, what grace, and what dignity! Surely the 
 Spanish grandee is no figment of the brain, for 
 here, stepping .into life from the frame of the lim- 
 ousine door, was a courtier, and one of the old 
 school. It was no apparition, for apparitions 
 never wear solitaire pearls on faultlessly folded 
 neck-scarfs. And what a pearl it was! 
 
 u Here was where Max got into action. You 
 remember those language-books he used to carry 
 about ? Well, after parley-vooing for a round, he 
 took the hidalgo on in Spanish worthy of a Castil- 
 ian, while there was much doffing of hats andbow- 
 
 54 
 
<^- J - ■*•; 
 
THE MOTOR THAT WENT TO COURT 
 
 ing and scraping. The don explained that he could 
 not place his machine at our service, for he was 
 hurrying to La Granja for a conference with his 
 Majesty, and the appointment was only half an 
 hour away, while twenty stiff miles separated his 
 destination from the scene of our mishap. Might 
 he take us on to the royal village? No; Max 
 and I could n't desert the ship. The ladies, then? 
 And could his chauffeur telephone back to the 
 capital for a repair-car that would bring duplicate 
 parts? Too polite was he to look at his watch, 
 but we knew he wanted to do so. Max had to 
 think and answer quickly, and in no time a leather 
 despatch-box was shifted from the limousine, the 
 three ladies were given seats within, the smooth 
 stranger took his place beside the chauffeur, said 
 1 /Idios ' to us, and the canary-colored vehicle 
 scooted up the hills, and in less than a minute 
 had disappeared from the landscape. 
 
 " 'That was a quick deal/ said I, catching my 
 breath. 1 1 wonder who the man is who has le- 
 vanted with our women-folks, and what arrange- 
 ment did you make for ever seeing them again ? 
 I 'm fond of Phyllis, and have no wish to lose 
 her here in these mountains/ 
 
 11 Sort of nettled, Max replied: 'A name is 
 57 
 
THE MOTOR THAT WENT TO COURT 
 
 nothing in a case like this. Could n't you see 
 that he was patrician, and all wool and a yard 
 wide at that? He f s to deposit the ladies at the 
 inn near the palace gates, and they are to wait 
 there until we come along, to-day, to-morrow, or 
 next year. Between his chauffeur and Margaret 
 a command for assistance is going to be 'phoned 
 to Madrid, take my word for it. Now let r s turn 
 to and help Leon/ 
 
 " The chauffeur thought he could fix things in 
 an hour or two so that we might get under way. 
 We, who had never known Leon to be right, 
 doubted it. A long spanner handle was in time 
 clamped to the broken rod, rove with many yards 
 of wire, and Max and his man crept triumphantly 
 from beneath the machine. While the tools were 
 being gathered up, along came a couple of those 
 Guarda Civile, hoofing it down the hills. They 
 were very sympathetic, and seemed hurt when 
 assured there was nothing they could do for us. 
 
 " Max thanked them for their courteous offer, 
 and they bowed low, with hands upon their 
 hearts. 
 
 u l Oh, yes, amigos ; who went up the hills an 
 hour or so back in a splendid yellow machine with 
 the arms of Spain on the doors?' Max asked. 
 58 
 

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 HIS EXCELLENCY SENOR MAURA, 
 SPAIN'S LEADING STATESMAN 
 
THE MOTOR THAT WENT TO COURT 
 
 11 The way those friendly gendarmes pulled 
 themselves together was a caution. They straight- 
 ened instantly, brought their heels into touch, 
 raised their right hands to the salute, and this is 
 what the corporal said: 
 
 " * It was his Excellency the Prime Minister 
 of Spain/ 
 
 " And this was what dear old Max said, if I 
 must tell the story as it happened: * Well, I r ll 
 be blanked!' 
 
 " I was too flabbergasted to articulate, let me 
 tell you. 
 
 " After a bit, Leon cranked the engine and 
 luckily found that he had made good, so we piled 
 into the car and joyfully struck the pike for our 
 families. We went up the grade for safety at 
 a dog-trot. What scenery! There's nothing 
 grander in all Spain. Up we went over the ridge, 
 and only a very few hundred feet above us were 
 peaks crowned with snow which would remain in 
 their shrouds of white until the July sun swept 
 them away. Then we descended slightly, and 
 for a few miles traveled a winding road guarded 
 by sentinel pines. Now and then we saw gen- 
 darmes, but they pretended not to notice us. 
 Doubtless they had received assurances from 
 61 
 
THE MOTOR THAT WENT TO COURT 
 
 somebody that no peril to their Majesties lurked 
 in our poor, limping chariot, 
 
 " When Max unlimbered, we had a good talk 
 and laugh , and we wondered if our spouses knew 
 by whom they had been carried off, and whose 
 hospitality they were accepting. ' Judge/ said 
 my host after a bit, ' I am such a muff for not 
 knowing the man that I fear my intellect is n't 
 what it should be. For months we 've been read- 
 ing of Spain's big man, Senor Maura, whose 
 genius is molding the country into business shape, 
 and who is the mainstay of the King. Since 
 we 've been in the Peninsula I 've seen his face 
 in newspaper cartoons a hundred times; and yet 
 I did n't know the Premier in the flesh. Some- 
 how I got the idea that he was a kid-gloved 
 court doctor responding to a hurry call from La 
 Granja.' 
 
 "We did a good deal of tooting as we crept 
 into the village and pulled up before the inn, feel- 
 ing maybe just a little elated over our mastery of 
 untoward circumstances. Our families might see 
 somethingheroic in what we had done, we thought. 
 
 Ui Is this a hamlet in reality, or a scene from a 
 comic opera?' Max asked when we got down 
 from the car. 'If a stockinged old man with 
 62 
 
KING ALFONSO XIII OF SPAIN, AND 
 THE PRINCE OF THE ASTURIAS 
 
THE MOTOR THAT WENT TO COURT 
 
 mottled face ambles from one of these doorways 
 and announces, "Here come the villagers/' I 
 shall believe we 're in a Broadway play-house.' 
 And a funny place it surely was. There was only 
 one street, which had in its center a tree-shaded 
 promenade. Traffic came and went by roadways 
 at the sides. Before archaic barracks basked 
 soldiers of every decree, while a drill-master 
 struggled with a very awkward squad of yokel 
 lads, putting them through their paces almost by 
 brute force. Across from the inn was the barracks 
 of a theatrically attired corps of halberdiers in at- 
 tendance upon his Majesty. From the open case- 
 ments of another building surged the noises of a 
 fife and drum corps slaving to add to its repertory 
 a selection meant to delight royalty. 
 
 " Officers in jaunty dress passed up and down 
 the avenue, and were honored with a bugle salute 
 whenever their steps took them to the entrance 
 of their quarters. Aides in the uniforms of the 
 royal service, naval as well as military, came and 
 sat at the shaded tables before the inn, and now 
 and then one was served with a stimulating draft. 
 These military men in the employment of the 
 King were agreeably en rapport with the loitering 
 soldiers of the church; and it was beautiful to 
 
 65 
 
THE MOTOR THAT WENT TO COURT 
 
 witness the camaraderie back and forth. Horses 
 with smart English saddles were led up and down 
 by grooms in spectacular livery, and at the upper 
 end of the avenue rose the palace, with a church 
 at its entrance; for in Spain church and state are 
 almost one, we know. 
 
 "A landau drawn by phlegmatic horses, the 
 driver and footman of which were heavy with 
 braid and gold lace, passed inconspicuously down 
 the roadway. Clarion salutes rose from the bugles 
 at the barracks, and every idler in uniform stood 
 for a moment with hand raised to his cap, while 
 civilians of every caste faced the vehicle with 
 bared heads. It was the Queen going for an air- 
 ing, the maiden who was translated from the Isle 
 of Wight to the Spanish throne, and every soldier 
 and every civilian who acknowledged her presence 
 would willingly fight for her. 
 
 "Such was the village at the gates of the royal 
 home. Every person had business, official or 
 menial, with the proud court of Spain. We have 
 read of similar scenes — in the romances of 
 Anthony Hope, and in books describing life in the 
 capitals of German grand duchies; but they were 
 more interesting to view through the eye than 
 through the mind, I must tell you. 
 66 
 
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 t.vr«\-x oo 
 
 ^ v ' ■ r _■ -• rtrr—^P-*^-*^- 
 
 *t 
 
 AN APPROACH TO THE PALACE, 
 LA GRANJA 
 
THE LONG VISTA, 
 LA GRANJA 
 
THE MOTOR THAT WENT TO COURT 
 
 " Did these chaps evince curiosity ovsr our 
 broken automobile? Did they? Gentlemen, the 
 coming of a pink elephant with three rows of legs 
 could n't have interested them more. Why, the 
 census of the hamlet could have been taken right 
 there where the machine was jacked up that the 
 rear wheels and springs might be taken off. 
 Everybody, from grandee to gamin, came for a 
 Mooksee/ There was such a flow of inquisi- 
 tive people from the palace that we soon surmised 
 that the Premier had not been silent as to what 
 had happened down the road. The proffers of 
 aid and the gratuitous advice kept Leon busy in 
 declining them with thanks. 
 
 " Pretty soon there came down the avenue a 
 husky young man in brass-mounted uniform, whom 
 the secret service chief — he had buttonholed us 
 five minutes after our arrival and told us who and 
 what he was — informed us was his Majesty's 
 head chauffeur. 
 
 " And a fine fellow he proved himself. He said 
 he had been ordered by his august master to do 
 all in his power to help us, adding that his Majesty 
 had placed his repair-shop at our disposal, and 
 that Senor Maura and one of the Yankee ladies had 
 ordered a wrecking-party to come from Madrid. 
 71 
 
THE MOTOR THAT WENT TO COURT 
 
 "Oh, yes; about the ladies. We had not for- 
 gotten them, even if they failed to hear our toot- 
 ing and witness our triumphal entry into the court 
 town. Oh, dear, no! The secret-service fellow 
 had described their having been set down at the 
 inn by the great man, and told us that a chamber- 
 lain from the palace had summoned them a few 
 minutes later to the gardens. It seemed to be his 
 opinion that the freedom of the establishment had 
 been conferred upon them, and that they were 
 being shown about. What a predicament, we 
 thought, for three shrinking Americans to be in, 
 there at a monarchical court! 
 
 "We succeeded in getting everybody together 
 for a late luncheon at the inn, however; and what 
 a torrent of chatter came from our wives and 
 Frederica! You may imagine how they liked La 
 Granja. I feared they might decide to buy build- 
 ing-lots and settle in the neighborhood, or that 
 longing for an international marriage was already 
 budding in a certain youthful heart. There were 
 three women from a republic converted in a jiffy 
 to court customs. And of course there was no 
 royal seat quite equal to La Granja, whose foun- 
 tains made those in the Place Concorde look like 
 penny squirts. Best of all, they had seen the 
 72 
 

THE MOTOR THAT WENT TO COURT 
 
 baby Prince of the Asturias in his perambulator, 
 and playing with a toy, — not a Teddy bear, thank 
 goodness! — and he was of course just too sweet 
 for anything. The chamberlain told them that 
 his Royal Highness already had the Order of the 
 Golden Fleece, that a month before he had been 
 made honorary member of a crack regiment, and 
 that when he reached the mature age of two years 
 it was expected that he would be created an ad- 
 miral in the fleet. 
 
 "The afternoon wore along, and the crowd 
 about the motor seemed to increase. Everybody 
 from the palace grounds — ladies and gentlemen 
 in attendance, equerries and other courtiers, maids 
 and flunkies of every station — managed to get a 
 pretty good line on the progress of repairs before 
 returning to their duties. And in time, Leon and 
 the King's man, swathed in greasy overalls, had 
 things in readiness for the relief party's arrival. 
 
 " Toward nightfall Max and Mrs. Max and I 
 strolled up to the royal chapel to view the tawdry 
 tomb of Philip V, and then found a place on a 
 park bench to be away from the excitement down 
 the avenue. The vesper-bells had rung, and we 
 were watching the priests going to read their 
 offices, when the gates of the palace swung open, 
 75 
 
THE MOTOR THAT WENT TO COURT 
 
 and two men came down the path. Bent with 
 years was one, but the other was a lad in the early 
 twenties, slender and erect, who walked with the 
 springy step unmistakably proving his happiness. 
 He was attired like a well-groomed summer youth 
 anywhere, at Cowes, at Newport, or hurrying to 
 catch the train for Tuxedo. The suit of striped 
 flannel with trousers turned up, the polished russet 
 boots, and the modish cap and plain walking- 
 stick, suggested a London origin as distinctly as a 
 fondness for the open air and for healthy recrea- 
 tions. 
 
 "'Who in the world can that be?' said Mrs. 
 Max. ' Surely he is somebody we have seen, or 
 whose picture we have constantly before us. Do 
 you suppose he is — r 
 
 "'That 's who it is: it 's the King himself.' 
 Max completed the sentence. 
 
 " It was his Most Catholic Majesty Alfonso 
 XIII, high forehead and heavy under jaw, pre- 
 cisely as we had seen his face on the pesetas and 
 postage-stamps all those weeks; we needed no 
 Sherlock Holmes to tell us that. 
 
 "This was the King of twenty-three years, 
 who, when en vacaciones, fishes the streams and 
 reservoirs of La Granja, plays polo nearly every 
 76 
 

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THE MOTOR THAT WENT TO COURT 
 
 day with horsemen chosen from the court circle 
 and the army, who is a fearless motorist, and 
 who in athletic sports permits no favor that 
 might not fall to any competitor. As horseman, 
 motorist, or yachtsman no one in Spain can be 
 more popular than this youth born to wear a 
 crown. 
 
 "With a grace at once natural and simple, the 
 royal youth bowed and raised his cap three or four 
 times, seeming to smile his acknowledgment at be- 
 ing recognized, and making a point of directing the 
 bulk of his courtliness at Mrs. Randolph. Max 
 and I rose to the etiquette of the situation, and 
 gave salute for salute until he was rods beyond 
 us. If I f m any judge of humanity, that young 
 man would have liked to have found a place on 
 our bench and to have discussed the merits of 
 rival makes of automobiles, question us as to the 
 cost of tires in different parts of Europe, and get 
 a statement as to whether we preferred a chain- 
 driven to a shaft-driven car. But this personage, 
 born a king, whose titles and dignities require a 
 page of the 'Almanach de Gotha' to recite, had 
 an errand down the road. Was he out for a con- 
 stitutional, think you ? 
 
 " Hardly. We knew where he was bound; and 
 79 
 
THE MOTOR THAT WENT TO COURT 
 
 we believed he had refrained all the afternoon, like 
 an imprisoned school-boy, from doing what he was 
 longing to do. Of course he wanted to see that 
 crippled Blue Peter for himself, and have a hand 
 or voice in getting it fixed up. In reasoning and 
 desires a juvenile king must be like any normal 
 youth ; and the motor-car is certainly bringing men 
 of every language and degree into kinship through 
 that form of reading and conversation that might 
 be called ' gasolene talk/ 
 
 " Very amusing was it to watch the manceuvers 
 of his Majesty. He turned first from the avenue 
 and passed the halberdiers 1 quarters, getting a 
 bugle salute; then his springy stride took him past 
 the barracks of the infantry battalion, where like- 
 wise he was noisily saluted; but there was his 
 Majesty, escorted by the elderly duke, headed 
 straight for the Blue Peter. And the strange ob- 
 ject entering slowly through the town gates, what 
 could it be ? It had the slate color of a battle- 
 ship, but the body falling rearward from the ma- 
 chinery had the slatted construction of a kindling- 
 wood delivery-cart. And the four chaps in blue 
 blouses, looking like French railway porters, who 
 could they be ? Could it be a float representing 
 80 
 
i 57 1 1 Hi!:*,)! 
 
 A TOWER OF 
 BURGOS CATHEDRAL 
 
THE MOTOR THAT WENT TO COURT 
 
 a leading industry, with artisans in place, rehears- 
 ing for a fete ? 
 
 " No. It was the relief expedition ordered from 
 Madrid many hours previously. And the John- 
 nies in blue jumpers were the mechanics sent to 
 assist in replacing the broken parts. Because the 
 garage people had despatched enough traps and 
 tools to make a new car, and apparently had sent 
 every available man in the capital, proved nothing, 
 save that the 'system' was at fault — we always 
 say that when chary of criticizing people. Per- 
 haps the message had been a bit vague, and maybe 
 businesslike orders are not habitually received 
 from a royal seat. 
 
 " However, there the perambulating life-raft 
 was, and there also was the King directing the 
 men : his man, our man, everybody. Gentlemen of 
 the royal household assisted in ordering torches 
 from the barracks, in preparation for evening work, 
 and the monarch commanded his chauffeur to have 
 the machine-shop prepared with power for emer- 
 gencies." 
 
 "Over here/' broke in Travers, " we would call 
 that bossing the job." 
 
 " Not so, mate. Alfonso simply directed. But 
 
 83 
 
THE MOTOR THAT WENT TO COURT 
 
 in doing this he repeatedly stooped to see how- 
 matters were under the Blue Peter, and for a 
 quarter of an hour the gulf separating his poten- 
 tial self and the toiling chauffeurs and the Madrid 
 mechanics, was no more than might be be- 
 tween master and men here in Uncle Sam's land. 
 That he enjoyed the situation was plainly evi- 
 dent, for the solicitous duke had repeatedly to 
 warn Spain's leading motorist that the hour for 
 dinner at the palace had arrived. 
 
 "The royal chef may have had a few gastro- 
 nomic creations that evening that went to the 
 table overdone or cold. By torchlight, after the 
 Madrid navvies had had a good tuck-in at the 
 hotel, the six-cylindered Blue Peter was per- 
 suaded and bolted into a condition equal to new. 
 
 " Oh, but what a noise there was in the village 
 that night! It was the firing of an artillery sa- 
 lute of twenty-one guns from a point not ten yards 
 from our automobile, to proclaim to the world, 
 and to the loyal people of Spain in particular, 
 that a child had been born to the illustrious 
 twain dwelling at La Granja. 
 
 " Of course we could not depart the next fore- 
 noon until it had been formally announced at the 
 solemn gathering within the palace of members 
 84 
 
THE MOTOR THAT WENT TO COURT 
 
 of the royal family and the available high officials 
 of the court and church, that the royal infant and 
 the girlish Queen Victoria were both doing as 
 well as could be expected. Perhaps it was the 
 vigor of the booming guns that told us it was a 
 boy, for this was the fact, and it was additionally 
 interesting that the little stranger was the first 
 son to be born to a King of Spain at La Granja 
 in the memory of man. 
 
 " When christened, his Royal Highness had a 
 string of names as long as one of those mule teams 
 down in Andalusia, but the name by which he 
 will be known is Prince Jaime. 
 
 " Max took such an interest in the auspicious 
 event that he wanted to order the finest automo- 
 bile to be had in Europe for that little Jaime. 
 But tourists falling by the wayside mustn't be 
 too forward in celebrating royal birthdays, he de- 
 cided. But from a Paris jeweler's the ladies 
 sent the chivalrous Prime Minister a splendid 
 St. Christopher medal, which we hear is doing 
 heroic service in protecting from mishap that yel- 
 low automobile with the Spanish arms on the 
 panels. 
 
 " Boys, that episode over there in the Guadar- 
 rama Mountains must not be classed as an acci- 
 87 
 
THE MOTOR THAT WENT TO COURT 
 
 dent, but as an incident freighted with historical 
 importance. 
 
 " When once we had the moral courage to put 
 court life behind us, how we did scamper across 
 what remained of Spanish soil! And the Blue 
 Peter behaved as if seeking to live down the past 
 and by faithful performance secure eternal forgive- 
 ness. With each kilometer the roads improved. 
 
 "At Segovia we stopped to view the Roman 
 aqueduct; and at Valladolid we were shown the 
 house bearing the proud announcement, ' Here 
 Lived Cervantes/ and in another street we in- 
 spected the rookery embellished with a tablet 
 proclaiming to all and sundry that ' Here Died 
 Columbus.' Until Philip II moved his court 
 with bag and baggage to Madrid, Valladolid was 
 Spain's capital. In the Peninsular War, a hun- 
 dred years ago, when Napoleon was n't using the 
 town as headquarters, the Duke of Wellington 
 was. The place is now dull and stupid, but the 
 patio of the Colegio de San Gregorie, with its 
 spiral columns and frieze embellished with the 
 arms of the Catholic kings, is artistic enough to 
 make one forget the comfortless hotel. 
 
 " Burgos is great, let me tell you. Think of 
 asphalted streets in Spain ! Well, they are there, 
 88 
 
THE MOTOR THAT WENT TO COURT 
 
 in Burgos, sure enough. But the climate. Ugh ! 
 The plateau winds sweep the city with a polar- 
 like chill that penetrates to one's marrow. It is 
 claimed all over northern Spain that Burgos has 
 ten months of winter and two of Hades. Burgos 
 cathedral is a corker, and if you could know 
 when its tapestries were to be shown at some im- 
 portant festival, it would be worth walking to 
 Spain from Paris just to see them, if one had no 
 other means of getting there. Burgos was the 
 birthplace of El Cid, and a box ironed to a wall in 
 the cathedral is alleged to contain his mortal re- 
 mains. 
 
 " Quitting Burgos for Vittoria, the Blue Peter 
 quickly ran us out of Castile and into the progres- 
 sive and up-to-date Basque Provinces; and soon 
 after leaving Vittoria the descent from the 3000- 
 feet-high plateau began. So perfect were the 
 roads, and the traffic so infrequent, that Leon at 
 times let the automobile speed at a kilometer-a- 
 minute clip. In the valley of the Oro, where we 
 had the highway to ourselves, we actually dis- 
 tanced a passenger-train going in the same direc- 
 tion so badly that we had been in San Sebastian 
 quite an hour before the train put in an appear- 
 ance at the station. 
 
 91 
 
THE MOTOR THAT WENT TO COURT 
 
 " Yes, that San Sebastian is all right, and when 
 making up an itinerary you might do worse than 
 add the royal watering-place to the list of towns 
 to be visited. 
 
 11 When the day came for saying farewell to the 
 'land of romance/ we made a quick jump across 
 the frontier to Biarritz, stopping on the line only 
 long enough for Max to recoup from the customs 
 officials the gold left weeks before in an unprom- 
 ising adobe shack over on the eastern boundary 
 of the country. 
 
 " To be sure they did ! They came near giving 
 us heart-disease by paying back every peseta of 
 the amount, I '11 admit; but as a governmental 
 proposition, I want to tell you, Spain is all right, 
 and is paying a hundred cents on the dollar !" 
 
H 
 
 6Z 90 
 
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 jfik JAN 90 
 
 
 N. MANCHESTER, 
 INDIANA 46962 
 
 
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