when we shall see the red rooster again."

"I shouldn't want to eat the red rooster, anyway," said Tita. "He seems
just like a member of the family."

And so the Christmas dinner was settled that way.

The turkey wasn't the only thing they had. There was rice soup first,
then turkey, and they had frijoles, and tortillas, of course, and
bananas beside, and all the sweet potatoes cooked in syrup that they
could possibly hold. It took Dona Teresa so long to cook it all on her
little brasero that she didn't go back to bed at all, though the Twins
had another nap before morning.

They had their dinner early, and when they had finished eating, Tita
said, "We must give a Christmas dinner to the animals too."

So Tonio brought alfalfa in from the field on purpose for Tonto, and the
red rooster appeared in time to share with the hens twice as much corn
as was usually given them. The cat had a saucer of goat's milk, and
Tonio even found some bones for Jasmin, so every single one of them had
a happy Christmas Day.

At dusk when candles began to glimmer about the village and all the
people were getting ready for the Christmas Pasada, Dona Teresa said to
the Twins, "You take your candles and run along with Pablo. I am going
to the chapel." And while all the other people marched round among the
cabins, singing, she stayed on her knees before the image of the
Virgin, praying once more for Pancho's safe return.

When they reached the priest's house, the priest himself joined the
procession and marched at the head of it, bearing in his hands large wax
images of the Holy Family. Behind him came Lupito, the young vaquero who
had taken Pancho's place on the hacienda, with his new wife, and
following them, if you had been there, you might have seen Pedro's wife
and baby, and Rafael and Jose and Dona Josefa, and Pablo and the Twins
with Juan and Ignacio and a crowd of other children and grown people
whose names I cannot tell you because I do not know them all.

As they passed the chapel, Dona Teresa came out and slipped into line
behind the Twins. If she had been looking in the right direction just at
that minute she might have seen two dark figures come out from behind
some bushes near the priest's house, and though they had no candles,
fall in at the end of the procession and march with them to the
entrance of the Big House. But she kept her eyes on her candle, which
she was afraid might be blown out by the wind.

[Illustration]