iece of oiled
canvas used for covering luggage on the road. I passed the morning in
selecting another monument, clearing away the trees, and preparing it
for him to copy. At one o'clock Augustin came to call us to dinner. Don
Miguel had a patch of beans, from which Augustin gathered as many as he
pleased, and, with the fruits of a standing order for all the eggs in
the village, being three or four a day, strings of beef, and bread and
milk from the hacienda, we did very well. In the afternoon we were again
called off by Augustin, with the message that the alcalde had come to
pay us a visit. As it was growing late, we broke up for the day, and
went back to the hut. We shook hands with the alcalde, and gave him
and his attendants cigars, and were disposed to be sociable; but the
dignitary was so tipsy he could hardly speak. His attendants sat
crouching on the ground, swinging themselves on their knee-joints, and,
though the positions were different, reminding us of the Arabs. In a few
minutes the alcalde started up suddenly, made a staggering bow, and left
us.

[Yet trouble was brewing for them. They had made an enemy of
the great man of the district, and he stirred up the people to
hostility. The annoyance grew so great that Stephens found it
necessary to take some steps to restore amity.]

Mr. Catherwood went to the ruins to continue his drawings, and I to the
village, taking Augustin with me to fire the Balize guns, and buy up
eatables for a little more than they were worth. My first visit was to
Don Jose Maria. After clearing up our character, I broached the subject
of a purchase of the ruins; told him that, on account of my public
business, I could not remain as long as I desired, but wished to return
with spades, pickaxes, ladders, crowbars, and men, build a hut to live
in, and make a thorough exploration; that I could not incur the expense
at the risk of being refused permission to do so; and, in short, in
plain English, asked him, "What will you take for the ruins?" I think
he was not more surprised than if I had asked him to buy his poor old
wife, our rheumatic patient, to practise medicine upon. He seemed to
doubt which of us was out of his senses. The property was so utterly
worthless that my wanting to buy it seemed very suspicious. On examining
the paper, I found that he did not own the fee, but held under a lease
from Don Bernardo de Aguila, of which three years were unexpired. The
trac