g, though I feel quite sure that there
were corners behind his ears that were not even wet!

On the wall above the place where the sleeping mats had been spread,
there was a picture of the Virgin and Child, and Dona Teresa kept a
little taper always burning before the picture.

When they had all washed, Dona Teresa called Pancho and the Twins to her
side, and all four knelt in a row before the picture, crossed
themselves, and murmured a little prayer.

"If you want the day to go right," said Dona Teresa as she rose from her
knees, "always begin with saying your prayers and washing your face. And
now, Tonio, run and catch Pinto for your father while I get his
breakfast, for the cows must be rounded up for milking even if it is
San Ramon's Day; and Tita, you take the little red olla and go for
water!"

[Illustration]

III

While the Twins were gone on these errands, Pancho fed the donkey, and
Dona Teresa made the fire in her queer little stove; only she didn't
call it a stove--she called it a _brasero_.[8] It was a sort of box
built up of clay and stones. The brasero stood in an alcove, and beside
it was a large red olla, which Dona Teresa kept filled with water for
her cooking. Beyond the brasero was a cupboard for the dishes.

Dona Teresa knelt before the brasero and pulled out the ashes of
yesterday's fire. Then she put in some little sticks, lighted them, and
set a flat red dish on top of the brasero over the tiny flames.

In the corner of the room there was a pretty basket covered with a white
drawn-work napkin. Dona Teresa turned back the napkin and counted out
ten flat cakes, made of corn meal. They were yesterday's tortillas.
These she put in the dish to heat.

When they were warm, she brought some of them to Pancho, with a dish of
beans and red chile sauce. Pancho sat down on a flat stone under the fig
tree to eat his breakfast. He had no knife or fork or spoon, but he
really did not need them, for he tore the tortillas into wedge-shaped
pieces and scooped up the beans and chile sauce with them, and ate
scoop, beans, chile sauce, and all in one mouthful. The chile sauce was
so hot with red pepper that you would have thought that Pancho must have
had a tin throat in order to swallow it at all; but he was used to it,
and never even winked his eyes when it went down. Just as he was taking
the last bite of the last tortilla, Tonio came back, leading Pinto by
the rope of his lasso.

Tonio was very proud