the
Virgin of Guadalupe. A second portrait of that venerated patroness was
hung round his neck by a blue and white riband. His cloak, of fine cloth,
and laced with gold, had been much worn and ill-treated, as had also his
hose and his red velvet jerkin; on his feet he wore shoes, through which
his toes had forced themselves a passage, and instead of the usual
gamashes, his legs were bound round with sheepskin. Spurs, full six inches
long, and with rowels of the same diameter, were affixed to his heels. His
arms consisted of a carbine, a machete, and a rusty dragoon sabre.

The young Creole measured this personage with an indifferent glance, and a
smile of disdain for a moment played round his mouth; but then, as if he
did not deem the object worthy of further notice, he let his pistol fall
carelessly by his side, and turned his back negligently upon the new
comer.

"_Todos diabolos!_" exclaimed the captain after a moment's pause, and
apparently indignant at the contempt with which he was treated. "Whence
come you, and whither are you going? What is the object of your journey?
Answer me, young sir, and that quickly. _Soy un gran capitan! Llevo las
manos y tiembla la tierra!_"

"Probably one of the leaders of the self-styled patriot army," said the
young Creole, in a tone of scorn, in reply to this pompous announcement.

"Even so, senor," returned the other, suddenly changing his own manner of
speaking to a sort of humorous sneer--"commander of a division of the
patriot army, presently in headquarters at Puebla."

"Headquarters!" repeated Manuel with infinite disdain. "Your authority
extends far and wide, it would appear," added he, with a glance at his
interlocutor's dilapidated shoes.

"It does so," answered the other, in the same humorous but somewhat
malicious tone. "Nevertheless, my wardrobe, as your excellency doubtless
perceives, has somewhat suffered in the service of the rebel cause, and as
your senoria will probably have an earlier opportunity than I shall of
providing yourself with another pair of shoes and gamashes, I would crave
of you to condescend so far as to seat yourself upon that stone and divest
yourself of those you now wear, for the behoof and advantage of the
unworthy capitan before you, who will otherwise be compelled to dispossess
your worship of them in a less amicable manner."

The _gran capitan_ waited a few moments after making this demand, but then
observing that the young Creole took