252 IN THE OLD WEST 



than the Trueba y Trueba family, no hahia, there 

 was not. 



Thus, in the male and female scions of the 

 house, were plainly visible the ill effects of breed- 

 ing '' in and in." The male Truebas were sadly 

 degenerate Dons, in body as in mind — compared 

 to their ancestors of Boabdil's day; and the 

 sefioritas of the name were all eyes, and eyes alone, 

 and hardly of such stamp as would have tempted 

 that amorous monarch to bestow a kingdom for 

 a kiss, as ancient ballads tell. 



" Duena de la negra toca. 

 For un heso de tu hoca, 



Diera un reyno, Boabdil; 

 Y yo por ello, Crist iana, 

 Te diera de buena gana 



Mil cielos, si fueran mil.'^ 



Come of such poor stock, and reared on to- 

 bacco-smoke and gazpacho, Don Antonio would 

 not have shone, even amongst pigmy Mexicans, 

 for physical beauty. Five feet high, a framework 

 of bones covered with a skin of Andalusian tint, the 

 Trueba stood erect and stiff in all the conscious- 

 ness of his sangre regular. His features were 

 handsome, but entirely devoid of flesh, his upper 

 lip was covered with a jet-black mustache mixed 

 with gray, his chin was bearded " like the pard." 

 Every one around him clad in deer and goat skin, 



