t was lost in night.

Excepting the twins, Antonio and Antonia, no one that night slept in
the _jacal_. Tobalito sat before his door and smoked incessantly his
corn-husk _cigarritos_. Beside him, smoking not less vigorously, sat
Catalina. A little apart from these was Pancha, holding in her arms
the yellow cat. And each of these three minds was so busy with its
own thoughts that all of the three tongues were still. Only the yellow
cat, having but little mind, and that being soothed into a calm
content by Pancha's gentle strokings of her sleek fur, expressed her
perfect happiness, and so made talk for the whole party, in a rumbling
purr.

From where they sat--although they could not hope to see even the
reflected light of the burning _jacal_ that was to clear the way for
the entry of the _contrabando_--they could see, a hundred yards away,
the stone causeway standing out in the light of the young moon against
the darkness beyond. Pancha's mind was full of sweet remembrance of
the words which Pepe had spoken to her over beyond the causeway,
beside the pool, but five little days before, and of the glad future
that was bound up in the fulfilment of his hopes. Tobalito and
Catalina, being somewhat beyond the age of romance, were thinking not
less gladly of the good fortune that was in store for them through the
rich son-in-law who had come to lighten the burdens of their old age.
No more would the _cargador_ bear heavy ladings of other people's
goods; no more would the _lavandera_ wear her life out in washing
other people's clothes. And so all three waited and watched eagerly,
straining their ears for the rattle of horses' feet upon the
stone-paved streets; straining their eyes to catch the first glimpse
of the _burro_-train stealing in from the Zona Libre with its rich
load. For close beside them, across the causeway, the train that Pepe
himself headed was to pass. Now and again they caught sight of a
little point of flame passing and repassing near the farther end of
the causeway; and they knew that it was the lantern of the _sereno_,
and that Manuel also watched and waited hopefully to see his son,
bearing his rich sheaves with him, come gallantly home. All four of
these fond hearts were brimming full of love and hope and joy.

* * * * *

Slowly the young moon set, when suddenly Pancha was aroused by
a strange confusion: pistol-shots--screams--a rush of horses'
feet--oaths--the clash of