ll arose from the crowd that made all the other
shouts which had preceded it sound like the cheers of children at
recess.

"It reminds me of a football match," whispered young Langham,
excitedly, "when the teams run on the field. Look at Alvarez and Rojas
watching Mendoza."

Mendoza advanced at the front of his three troops of cavalry, looking
neither to the left nor right, and by no sign acknowledging the fierce
uproarious greeting of the people. Close behind him came his chosen
band of cowboys and ruffians. They were the best equipped and least
disciplined soldiers in the army, and were, to the great relief of the
people, seldom seen in the city, but were kept moving in the mountain
passes and along the coast line, on the lookout for smugglers with whom
they were on the most friendly terms. They were a picturesque body of
blackguards, in their hightopped boots and silver-tipped sombreros and
heavy, gaudy saddles, but the shout that had gone up at their advance
was due as much to the fear they inspired as to any great love for them
or their chief.

"Now all the chessmen are on the board, and the game can begin," said
Clay. "It's like the scene in the play, where each man has his sword
at another man's throat and no one dares make the first move." He
smiled as he noted, with the eye of one who had seen Continental troops
in action, the shuffling steps and slovenly carriage of the half-grown
soldiers that followed Mendoza's cavalry at a quick step. Stuart's
picked men, over whom he had spent many hot and weary hours, looked
like a troop of Life Guardsmen in comparison. Clay noted their
superiority, but he also saw that in numbers they were most woefully at
a disadvantage.

It was a brilliant scene for so modest a capital. The sun flashed on
the trappings of the soldiers, on the lacquer and polished metal work
of the carriages; and the Parisian gowns of their occupants and the
fluttering flags and banners filled the air with color and movement,
while back of all, framing the parade ground with a band of black, was
the restless mob of people applauding the evolutions, and cheering for
their favorites, Alvarez, Mendoza, and Rojas, moved by an excitement
that was in disturbing contrast to the easy good-nature of their usual
manner.

The marching and countermarching of the troops had continued with
spirit for some time, and there was a halt in the evolutions which left
the field vacant, except for the presence o