. For the man so rudely commanded went down willingly;
indeed, with alacrity, to satisfy his impulse of friendship for the
_Irlandes_.

Had Carlos Santander been there likely the position would have been
reversed, and Kearney compelled to "take the ditch." But the Governor
of the Acordada had control of details, and to his hostility and spleen,
late stirred by that wordy encounter with Rivas, the latter was no doubt
indebted for the partiality shown him by Don Pedro's head turnkey.

In time, all were disposed of: one of each couple down in the sewer,
pitching out its sweet contents; the other pressing them back upon the
pavement to prevent their oozing in again. Either way the work was now
nasty enough; but for those below, it was a task too repulsive to set
even the lowest pariah at.

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE.

THE PROCESSION.

Disagreeable as was their job, some of the _forzados_ made light of it,
bandying jests with the street passengers, who did not find it safe to
go too near them. A scoopful of the inky liquid could be flung so as to
spoil the polish on boots, or sent its splashes over apparel still
higher. Even the vigilance of the sentries could not prevent this, or
rather they cared not to exercise it. The victims of such practical
jokes were usually either of the class _felado_, or the yet more humble
aboriginals, accustomed to be put upon by the soldiers themselves, who
rather relished the fun.

But only the more abandoned of the gaol-birds behaved in this way, many
of them seeming to feel the degradation more than aught else. For among
them, as we know, were men who should not have been there. Some may
have seen friends passing by, who gave them looks of sympathy or pity,
and possibly more than one knew himself under eyes whose expression told
of a feeling stronger than either of these--love itself. Indeed this
last, or something akin to it, seemed the rule rather than the
exception. In Mexico, he must be a deeply disgraced criminal whose
sweetheart would be ashamed of him; and every now and then, a
brown-skinned "muchacha" might be seen crossing to where the scavengers
were at work, and, with a muttered word or two, passing something into a
hand eagerly outstretched to receive it. The sentries permitted this,
after examining the commodity so tendered, and seeing it a safe thing to
be entrusted to the receiver. These gifts of friendship, or _gages
d'amour_, were usually eatables from the n