it."

"_Mil gracias, Senor_! The grace and honour are all given to us. Two
such _valientes_, as I know you to be, will be no slight acquisition to
our strength. And now, may I ask you to assume the garb which, as you
see, is our present uniform? That by way of precaution for the time.
You'll find suitable raiment inside. I've given Gregorio orders to get
it ready. So you see, _Camarades_, I've been counting upon you."

"Gehosofat!" exclaimed the Texan, when told of the dress he was expected
to put on. "What wi' New Orleens store close, an' prison duds, an' the
like, this chile hev had a goodish wheen o' changes since he stripped
off his ole huntin' shirt. An' now a-goin' in for a monk! Wal; tho' I
mayn't be the most sanctified, I reck'n I'll be the tallest in thar
mon'stery."

CHAPTER FORTY SIX.

SAINT AUGUSTINE OF THE CAVES.

One of the pleasantest villages in the valley of Mexico is San Augustin
de las Cuevas--_Tlalpam_ by Aztec designation--both names due to some
remarkable caverns in the immediate neighbourhood. It is some ten or
twelve miles from the capital, on the southern or Acapulco road, just
where this, forsaking the valley level, begins to ascend the Sierra,
passing over which by Cruz del Marques, it continues on through the
_tierras calentes_ of Cuernavaca and Guerrero to the famed port of the
Pacific.

San Augustin is a _pueblo_, endowed with certain municipal privileges.
It boasts of an _alcalde-mayor_ with other corporate officers, and a
staff of alguezils, or policemen.

The heads of departments are mostly men of pure Spanish race--"gente de
razon," as they proudly proclaim themselves--though many are in reality
of mixed blood, Mestizos. Of this are the better class of shopkeepers,
few in number, the _gente de razon_ at best forming a scarce discernible
element in the population, which is mainly made up of the brown
aborigines.

At a certain season of the year, however, paler complexions show in the
ascendant. This during carnival time--"_Las Pascuas_." Then the
streets of San Augustin are crowded with gay promenaders; while
carriages and men on horseback may be seen in continuous stream passing
to and fro between it and the capital. In Las Pascuas week, one day
with another, half Mexico is there engaged in a gambling orgie, as
Londoners at Epsom during the Derby. More like Homburg and Monaco,
though; since the betting at Tlalpam is not upon the swiftness of
horses, but do