have to remain hidden from strangers. A man stood by his decisions.
The miller opened the door cautiously, but when Juan explained what he wanted and said that he would pay cash for their lodgings and a pot of warm soup, he became more hospitable. He showed Juan the stable, where the donkey and cart would be safe.
JoaquÃn unloaded the sleeping mats and blankets, the chest and the little wooden box with Isabelâs jewellery from the cart. The miller indicated a place where they could sleep in the grain loft. JoaquÃn and Ana had to carry the bedding and the jewellery box up, and Juan lifted the chest onto his back and, before the eyes of the curious miller family, he climbed carefully up the steep ladder with his burden.
Theyâll think I keep gold and silver in it , Juan thought, setting the chest down beside the millstone. In the meantime, Isabel had made a sleeping place with the mats and blankets.
âYouâll stay in the chest till weâre all up,â Juan warned Bartolomé, without opening the lid. Then he went downstairs to eat the soup that the millerâs wife had hurriedly stretched with water and bulked out with eggs and tomatoes.
BeatrÃz was too tired to spoon up the hot liquid. Isabel ladled a little of it into her and then carried her up the narrow ladder.
Before her head had touched the pillow, Bartolomé could hear her soft, even breathing. He waited patiently. A little later, Ana and JoaquÃn came. JoaquÃn knocked on the chest.
âIt was a thick vegetable soup with eggs,â he announced through the lid. âPity you wonât get any. But you canât be hungry anyway. You didnât have to bestir yourself today.â
JoaquÃnâs feet hurt. Having pulled off his patched boots, he could see that they were swollen and fiery red. Why should Bartolomé get soup, when heâd ridden on the cart all day?
Ana rebuked him: âHe canât help it. Heâs a cripple and he canât walk like us.â
But she was too exhausted to make JoaquÃn apologise to Bartolomé. Tears sprang to her eyes when she took off her shoes and found big blisters on her heels and toes. She couldnât imagine how sheâd be able to walk the next day. She crept under her blanket without saying anything more.
âIâm sorry,â muttered JoaquÃn, lying down beside her.
Bartolomé wasnât allowed out of his prison until his parents came up to the loft, carrying the peacefully sleeping Manuel. Then he found himself a place between his sleeping brothers and sisters.
âAre you still hungry?â asked Isabel in a tired whisper. Bartolomé shook his head.
In the morning, they were awoken by the grinding and grating sounds of beams, wheels and millstones. The miller had opened the millrace outside and the great millwheel was starting to creak and turn. Heâd be up the ladder any minute now to grind the corn and fill it into sacks.
Isabel shook the tired children awake and started to roll up the bedding. Juan gave Bartolomé a silent look and nodded towards the chest. Bartolomé knew what that meant. He crept over quickly and climbed into the chest. Juan shut the lid tightly.
Torre de la Parada
THE second day of the journey was much the same as the first, only that every step was more difficult. JoaquÃn and Ana didnât want to go ahead and lead the donkey. Instead, they walked behind the cart, and when Juan wasnât looking, they hung on to it so that they could get a bit of a pull.
After the first hour of marching, BeatrÃz moaned so much that Juan finally gave in and let her ride on the cart. Bartolomé spent most of the time in the chest, because the road went through one village and hamlet after another, and they were so close together that Juan decided it was a waste of time to keep stopping the cart for the short times in between villages.
âWhen we reach the forest, he can come out,â Juan said