e knew instinctively was Xochimilco. The wind was
still blowing, and one of the boys steered the bergantin. Benito, Juana
and the other boy sat up, with their faces turned toward the rosy
morning light, as if they were sun-worshipers. Ned also felt the
inspiration. The world was purer and clearer here than in the city. In
the early morning the grayish, lonely tint which is the prevailing note
of Mexico, did not show. The vegetation was green, or it was tinted with
the glow of the sun. Near the lower shores he saw the Chiampas or
floating gardens.

Benito turned the bergantin into a cove, and they went ashore. His
house, flat roofed and built of adobe, was near, standing in a field,
filled with spiky and thorny plants. They gave Ned a breakfast, the
ordinary peasant fare of the country, but in abundance, and then the
woman, who seemed to be in a sense the spokesman of the family, said
very gravely:

"You are a good boy, Weel-le-am, and you rowed well. What more do you
wish of us?"

Benito also bent his dark eyes upon him in serious inquiry. Ned was not
prepared for any reply. He did not know just what to do and on impulse
he answered:

"I would stay with you a while and work. You will not find me lazy."

He waved his hand toward the spiky and thorny field. Benito consulted
briefly with his wife and they agreed. For three or four days Ned toiled
in the hot field with Benito and the boys and at night he slept on the
floor of earth. The work was hard and it made his body sore. The food
was of the roughest, but these things were trifles compared with the
gift of freedom which he had received. How glorious it was to breathe
the fresh air and to have only the sky for a roof and the horizon for
walls!

Benito and the older boy again took the bergantin loaded with vegetables
up La Viga to the city. They did not suggest that Ned go with them. He
remained working in the field, and trying to think of some way in which
he could obtain money for a journey. The wind was good, the bergantin
traveled fast, and Benito and his boy returned speedily. Benito greeted
Ned with a grave salute, but said nothing until an hour later, when they
sat by a fire outside the hut, eating the tortillas and frijoles which
Juana had cooked for them.

"What is the news in the capital?" asked Ned.

Benito pondered his reply.

"The President, the protector of us all, the great General Santa Anna,
grows more angry at the Texans, the wild Americans