had vainly expended all his dental
energy. The natives had full access to the barracks at this time, and
the native washerwoman made the blanco trousers shine iridescently for
inspection by beating them against the sunny side of a boulder and
afterwards pressing them with a fearfully and wonderfully made flatiron.

Hard by the Cuartel were a number of "tiendas," widely known among the
soldiers as "vino stands." The presiding spirit over one of these
establishments was generally a pretty "mestiza," who, in addition to her
natural charms, was blessed with a high-sounding Castilian name. There
were four shops run on the plan, which held pre-eminence both for the
character of the "vino" which they supplied and the bewitching charms of
their owners. The returned volunteer will remember with keen enjoyment
"Juanita," "Juaquina," "Victoriana," and above all "Isabella," the
saintly and virtuous, who was equally as skillful in obtaining the
nimble sixpence as in raising a brood of mestiza children. There was
also "Madre," withered and antiquated, but a born dictator, and through
her superior management she came to be known as the top-sergeant.
Finally there was Ysabel, with a gentle smile upon her pleasant brunette
face, and Estepania, brown-eyed and plump, most beautiful among all the
mestiza belles. Isabella's casa was the place to which the eyes of the
weary soldier turned after a long and fatiguing drill; afterwards it was
the point to which his footsteps inevitably led when he was able to rush
in for a few days from the firing line. The house was large and
spacious, with polished ebony floors and wide windows through which the
balmy zephyrs blew and kissed the heated brow of the tired fighter.
Beautiful creepers twisted their way up the wall and stole in at the
extensive balcony to catch a taste of the pleasures within; the
broadleafed banana palm surrounded the casa and broke the power of the
blazing tropic sun. It was, indeed, the one spot in all the East which
made the home-loving Utahns feel at home. When away all his secret
longings were centered upon that place and its attractions, and his
mouth yearned for a renewed acquaintance with the delicate omelets
fashioned by the dainty fingers of Pania and the crab brought from the
bay by the ubiquitous Peek-a-boo. His mind reverted with gratitude to
the anxious solicitations of "Madre" when she learned that he was
suffering from a headache and he acutely remembered the heali