of his
town than he, he was in no wise abashed, but joined himself to us for
the remainder of the day. He accompanied us to see the blessing of the
animals in the great churchyard. He displayed an interesting knowledge
of English, answering "yes" quite perfectly to every sort of question,
and repeating the two words, which are well known the whole world over
as American-English, on all conceivable occasions. When at evening he
saw us safely on the street-car he left us with the same smile with
which he had received us. On our next visit to Cholula much the same
thing happened, but learning that we planned to stop at Cuauhtlantzinco
on our way to Puebla, he stole a ride upon the car, for the sake of
accompanying us. He was a rather handy boy, good-natured and anxious to
please, so that, later in our journey, we hired him for several days and
let him do what he could to help us.

Much later, when at home planning the details of our next extensive
journey, the thought struck us that it might be well to make the boy
with the smile a member of our party. It seemed as if, in going into
districts rarely visited by strangers, it would be well to have the
party as largely Mexican as possible. If, however, the boy were to
accompany us, it was necessary that he should first learn something of
our work and needs, and perhaps of English. Accordingly, I decided to go
to Cholula and bring the boy up to the States.

The resolution was so hastily taken that there was no time to send word
to the boy himself. Going straight to Cholula, I had some difficulty in
finding his abode. I knew that the boy had no father, that his widowed
mother had but one other child, a girl younger than the boy himself. I
had once seen the mother and the little sister; I also knew the street
on which they lived. Arriving at the street, however, no one apparently
had ever heard of the boy. One and another through the whole length of
the street was questioned, but none knew his name or recognized his
description. Excepting that I knew that trait of Mexican character which
assists acquaintances to seclusion, when they are sought by strangers, I
should have despaired. As it was, I kept on asking, and finally, from a
child who could hardly speak on account of youth, I discovered the house
which I sought. It was a little hut set back behind a yard of growing
corn. I had inquired at the houses on either side and at the house
across the road, as also of a man working