As for the cathedral of Jaen, we took it on
trust. I have no doubt it is all that Malte-Brun
says it is, and very possibly more.
Another jumble-cart to the station, and then a
short ride northward, by a somewhat broken-
winded railway, to the great Northern Line,



152 SEVEN SPANISH CITIES.
where we were to be picked up by an express
train late in the afternoon. The adjective broken-
winded does not apply in any sort to the loco-
motive, which did its work very well, and was,
I dare say, of good English build; but it at-
tempts to convey that quality of uncertainty and
, general indifference to the object possible, which
belongs to any enterprise which succeeds only
partially in its objects, and certainly does not
make frequent dividends. A first-class car is
always the same thing, as far as my experience
in Europe goes; and I always find it easy to
make my travel fast enough, by the simple plan
of imagining the kilometres to be miles. In
point of brute fact, as this reader ought to know,
a kilometre is about 394-S28ths of a mile. But
who cares for the mere fact, when he can fill in
the short mile with the stores of Spanish fancy.
Arrived at the trunk line, we had an hour or
two to spend at the station, as so many other
passengers had. The unfailing sketch-books
appeared, and there was no lack of resources.
There were hens to feed with bits of biscuit, shy
children to tempt with preserved ginger, sugared
water at a half-cent a glass to sip for refresh-
ment, and groups wildly picturesque to be pre-
served for after compositions, if only the flying
pencil could preserve them before they dissolved
themselves away.
