e they were going I can't tell you anything about it. I only
know they were seen not long after in front of a pulque shop (pulque[16]
is a kind of wine) talking in low tones with a Tall Man on horseback,
and that after that nobody saw them for a long time. It may be they went
to a cock-fight, for there was a cock-fight behind the pulque shop and
most of the other men went if they did not.

V

The Twins and Pablo with their precious Judases went to a bench near the
fountain, and sat down to watch the fun. There were water-carriers
filling their long earthen jars at the fountain; there were young girls
in bright dresses who laughed a great deal; and there were young men in
big hats and gay serapes who stood about and watched them.

[Illustration]

There were more small boys than you could count. Twelve o'clock was the
time that every one was supposed to set off his fire-crackers, and the
children waited patiently until the shadows were very short indeed under
the trees in the square and there had been one or two explosions to
start the noise, then they tied their Judases up in a row to the back of
the bench. They hung Tonio's Maestro in the middle, with Tita's
donkey-boy on one side and the policeman on the other. Pablo's Judas was
a policeman too, and they put him on the other side of the donkey-boy.

Then Pablo borrowed a match from a boy and set fire to the first cracker
on his policeman. Fizz-fizz-bang! off went the first fire-cracker.
Fizz-fizz-bang! off went the second one. When the third one exploded,
the policeman whirled around on his string, one of his hands caught
fire, and up he went in a puff of smoke.

They lighted the fuses on the donkey-boy and the other policeman, both
at once, and last of all Tonio set fire to the Maestro Judas. He was the
biggest one of all. While the fire-crackers went off in a series of
bangs, Tonio jumped up and down and sang, "Pop goes the Maestro! Pop
goes the Maestro!" and Tita and Pablo thought that was so very funny
that they hopped about and sang it too.

Just as the last fire-cracker went off and Tonio's Judas caught fire,
and all three of them were dancing and singing at the top of their
lungs, Tonio saw the Senor Maestro himself standing in front of the
bench with his hands in his pockets, looking right at them!

[Illustration]

Tonio shut his mouth so quickly that he bit his tongue, and then Pablo
and Tita saw the Maestro and stopped singing too, and they all th