The “Police Agent” seems to have boasted that within twenty-four hours Borrow would be in prison; Borrow, on the other hand, determined to prove the “Police Agent” wrong. He therefore spent the rest of the day and the following night at a café. { 234a} In the evening he received a visit from Maria Diaz, { 234b} his landlady and also his strong adherent and friend, whom he had informed of his whereabouts. From her he learned that his lodgings had been searched and that the _alguazils_, who bore a warrant for his arrest, were much disappointed at not finding him.
The next morning, 1st May, at the request of Sir George Villiers, Borrow called at the Embassy and narrated every circumstance of the affair, with the result that he was offered the hospitality of the Embassy, which he declined. Whilst in conversation with Mr Sothern, Sir George Villiers’ private secretary, Borrow’s Basque servant Francisco rushed in with the news that the _alguazils_ were again at his rooms searching among his papers, whereat Borrow at once left the Embassy, determined to return to his lodgings. Immediately afterwards he was arrested, { 234c} within sight of the doors of the Embassy, and conducted to the office of the Civil Governor. Francisco in the meantime, acting on his master’s instructions, conveyed to him in Basque that the _alguazils_ might not understand, proceeded immediately to the British Embassy and informed Sir George Villiers of what had just taken place, with such eloquence and feeling that Mr Sothern afterwards remarked to Borrow, “That Basque of yours is a noble fellow,” and asked to be given the refusal of his services should Borrow ever decide to part with him. With his dependents Borrow was always extremely popular, even in Spain, where, according to Mr Sothern, a man’s servant seemed to be his worst enemy.
Borrow submitted quietly to his arrest and was first taken to the office of the Civil Governor (_Gefatura Politica_), and subsequently to the Carcel de la Corte, by two Salvaguardias, “like a common malefactor.” Here he was assigned a chamber that was “large and lofty, but totally destitute of every species of furniture with the exception of a huge wooden pitcher, intended to hold my daily allowance of water.” { 235} For this special accommodation Borrow was to pay, otherwise he would have been herded with the common criminals, who existed in a state of foulness and misery. Acting on the advice of the _Alcayde_, Borrow despatched a note to Maria Diaz, with the result that when Mr Sothern arrived, he found the prisoner not only surrounded by his friends and furniture, but enjoying a comfortable meal, whereat he laughed heartily.