n. When the time had expired, I was aroused by my
faithful guide. One of the girls was seated on the ground, near the
fire, with a stone trough and roller before her, busily employed with a
batch of unleavened dough, of which, when consistently kneaded, she
would catch up a dab, press it between the palms, and as the mass
enlarged she began patting and tossing it from hand to hand until it
spread into round, thin cakes; they were then laid upon a flat piece of
sheet-iron, and browned over the fire; these were _tortillas_: they have
a taste like the oaten-cakes in Scotland, and are not particularly
palatable to a young practitioner. A chicken had also been grilled on
sticks, which, with a mixture they called coffee, served me for
breakfast.

Horses were ready in the corral, and saying adios to the fat family, we
galloped, away. A bathe in a roadside brook, and two changes of beasts,
and at three in the afternoon we toiled slowly over some dry, chalky
hills, and looked down upon Los Pueblos del Rincon. It was a very
pretty, verdant spot, almost hidden in foliage, and reposing in an angle
of wide and extended plateau. Having a note to the Commandante, I went
straight to his quarters: but being a merchant as well as soldier, I was
told he could be found at his shop, in the plaza. On going thither he
was indulging in siesta, and notwithstanding the urgency of my
requests, no one could be found foolhardy enough to disturb his
slumbers; nor was I permitted to do so myself. I then trotted across the
square, and presented my passports to the Alcalde, who having already
been mollified by repose, consented to find some brave individual to
awaken the sleeping rajah opposite. "_Senor_," said I, hat in hand,
"very sorry to incommode you, but necessity of the case," and so forth.
He continued scowling quite ferociously while buttoning his trowsers,
and as he pulled over his suspenders, and arranged them to his
satisfaction, demanded what was wanted. "Oh, nothing!" said I, "merely
an order from General Yanes in Guadalajara," throwing the missive
towards him. It acted as a charm: "_Jesu, Senor_, excuse me--those
rascals never told me you were waiting!"

Good animals were soon provided; and amid all Don Manuel Garcia's
generosity, he was pleased to sell me a bottle of sour wine from the
_tienda_; for which we ran his beasts, with a heavy thunder-storm of
wind and rain close upon our heels for a long six leagues. The road had
led throug