nish, and thereafter
applied herself with childlike and unfeigned zest to the edibles. The
younger, Mercedes by name, was a very sprightly damsel indeed. She too
had shining black hair, over which she had flung the most coquettish
sort of lace shawl they call a _rebosa_. Her eyes were large, dark,
and expressive; and she constantly used them most provocatively, though
with every appearance of shyness and modesty. Her figure, too, was lithe
and rounded; and so swathed, rather than clothed, that every curve was
emphasized. I suppose this effect was the result of the Spanish mode
rather than of individual sophistication; just as the succession of lazy
poses and bendings were the result of a racial feminine instinct rather
than of conscious personal coquetry. Certainly we four red-shirted
tramps were poor enough game. Nevertheless, whatever the motive, the
effect was certainly real enough. She was alluring rather than charming,
with her fan and her _rebosa_, her veiled glances, her languorous,
bold poses, and the single red flower in her hair. And a great deal of
this allurement resided in the very fact that no one could tell how much
was simple, innocent, and unconscious instinct, and how much was
intended. An unpleasing note in both women was furnished by the powder.
This so liberally covered their faces as to conceal the skin beneath a
dead mat white.

Yank and I were kept out of it, or thought we were, by our ignorance of
the language. This did not seem to hinder Johnny in the least. In five
minutes he was oblivious to everything but his attempts to make himself
agreeable by signs and laughing gestures, and to his trials--with
help--at the unknown language. The girl played up to him well. Talbot
was gravely and courteously polite. At the close of the meal the women
rose suddenly, bowed, and swept from the room. Johnny turned back to us
a good deal flushed and excited, a little bewildered, and considerably
disappointed. The _alcalde_ looked as though nothing unusual were
under way. The rest of us were considerably amused.

"You'll see her later," soothed Talbot mockingly.

Johnny gulped down his coffee without reply.

After the meal we went outside. Fires had been built on opposite sides
of the hard beaten earth in front of the house. Four men with guitars
sat chair tilted, backed against the veranda. Thirty or forty people
wandered to and fro. They were of the usual native class; our host's
family, and one other, co