ks, constantly deluging
the floors with salt water, they migrated in a body, and we were never
again molested. Workmen came, re-plastered and washed the walls,
repaired windows and doors, restored cook-house and stable, so that in
the end we found ourselves more pleasantly quartered than in any other
position in town, and had no wish to leave. At the same time large
working parties were detailed daily from the main barracks, who were
employed digging a deep, wide ditch, throwing up an embankment, and
raising a heavy stone wall immediately around what the peasantry
designated our _casa blanca_--white house.

During this period the military force outside committed robberies
unceasingly. A few miles beyond our lines the roads were strongly
guarded during the day, but at night were left open--the lancers and
cavalry retiring beyond our reach. Our force was too small to occupy the
roads permanently, without imprudently weakening the garrison of the
town; consequently, those thieving gentry, under the name of _alcobala_,
levied tribute in the most impartial manner, upon all their poor
countrymen alike. We had frequently gone out in small ambuscading
parties in hopes of picking off a few of the ladrons, but without any
success. Scarcely a single individual out of hundreds who passed the
Garita but had some bitter curses to lavish upon the _lanceros_; even
the poor women occasionally were muleted in their petticoats, until at
last they all became exasperated, and many volunteered to conduct us to
the retreats of their tormentors. The services of one brave paisano were
called into requisition, who had been robbed of his hogs, which being
valuable property among the peasantry, and his revenge being warm, we
thought he could be trusted, and indeed a staunch and valuable ally he
ever afterwards proved. The expedition was under command of Captain
Luigi, and with fifty-five men we left the Cuartel, without beat of
drum, at nine in the evening. Leaving the main road at the Marisma, we
entered a pathway, closely sheltered by trees and foliage, and after two
hours rapid marching, halted at a cluster of ranchos by the roadside.
Here we could only learn that the Mexican cavalry had passed by at
sunset; but during an examination of one of the huts, we laid violent
hands upon a rude squint-eyed youth, who though half naked, and
apparently stupid, had a bag of dollars tied up in the tail of his
shirt; him we interrogated with a bayonet at hi