rs; those of two other
precincts, Agueeria and Villabona, gave allegiance to Don Martin, and it
was in these, after all, that the key of the election finally lay.

General Rios had been put up for this district without opposition, and
from that moment the partisans of the Casona had rivalled Don Servando's
in zeal and efficacy in serving him. This was the usual tactics among
them. When they found it impossible to struggle they humiliated their
proud heads, and did all that they could to win the deputy's friendship,
or at least his good will, to beg a few of the crumbs of favor, so that
they might not be wholly at the mercy of their implacable enemies. They
well knew by experience that if this happened, they were liable to all
kinds of annoyances, and sometimes to the guard-house, since each party
excelled in letting the star of the morning witness their
_dissipations_.

Owing to this state of affairs, though the general inclined toward the
Casina party, he had not consented to the others being maltreated, and
he had even gone so far as to leave in their hands certain offices which
were in the gift of the state, and this stirred up the wrath of Don
Servando's friends, and made them so indignant that they secretly
murmured against the count, and even proposed to "pay him off" when the
suitable occasion came.

Thus it was that as the horizon was now darkened by a second deputy, who
they hoped would be absolutely in their interests, and tear up by the
roots Don Martin's influence in the _concejo_,[52] at least for a long
season.

It was for this reason that Don Servando had the keen foresight to lodge
him in his house, in order that neither Don Martin nor any of Don
Martin's friends could call upon him.

On the next morning after his arrival Miguel wrote Maximina, and sallied
forth to drop the letter in the post-office, thinking that it was a good
time to explore the town. In the first street, which ran into the
Muelle, he discerned a letter-box, and made for it; but, as he came near
to it, he found that it had a board nailed over the aperture. He walked
along a little farther and soon saw another; but here this same state of
things was repeated, and likewise in three or four others which he
happened upon in various parts of the village.

"Will you please tell me where I can mail this letter?... All the boxes
that I have found are nailed up," he said to a domestic who was passing.

"It's because Don Matias is postma