om our sight.

During the whole scene I had great difficulty in controlling my
countenance. I could perceive that the Mexican laboured under a similar
difficulty. There was a laughing devil in the corner of his keen eye
that required restraint; and I thought once or twice either he or I
should lose our equanimity. _I_ certainly should have done so, but that
my heart and eyes were most of the time in other quarters. As for the
Don, he was playing an important part; and a suspicion of his hypocrisy,
on the minds of some of the leather-clad _greasers_ who listened to the
dialogue, might have afterwards brought him to grief. Most of them were
his own domestics and retainers, but not all. There were free
_rancheros_ among them--some who belonged to the pueblita itself--some,
perchance, who had figured in _pronunciamentos_--who voted at elections,
and styled themselves _citizens_. The Don, therefore, had good reasons
for assuming a character; and well did the old gentleman sustain it.

As he drew the curtain, his half-whispered "Adios capitan!" heard only
by myself, sounded full of sweetness and _promise_; and I felt rather
contented as I straightened myself in the saddle, and issued the order
for _rieving_ his cattle.

CHAPTER NINE.

"UN PAPELCITO."

Wheatley now rode after the troop, with which Holingworth had already
entered the corral. A band of drivers was speedily pressed into
service; and with these the two lieutenants proceeded to the great plain
at the foot of the hill, where most of Don Ramon's cattle were at
pasture. By this arrangement I was left alone, if I except the company
of half-a-dozen slippered wenches--the deities of the _cocina_--who,
clustered in the corner of the patio, eyed me with mingled looks of
curiosity and fear.

The verandah curtains remained hermetically closed, and though I glanced
at every aperture that offered a chance to an observing eye, no one
appeared to be stirring behind them.

"Too high-bred--perhaps indifferent?" thought I. The latter supposition
was by no means gratifying to my vanity. "After all, now that the
others are gone out of the way, Don Ramon _might_ ask me to step inside.
Ah! no--these mestizo women would tell tales: I perceive it would never
do. I may as well give it up. I shall ride out, and join the troop."

As I turned my horse to put this design into execution, the fountain
came under my eyes. Its water reminded me that I was thirsty, for i