172 LIFE IN THE FAR WEST. 



one of 1621 ; and in the late magnanimous struggle for the legiti* 

 mate rights of his majesty Charles V., king of Spain (doffing his 

 hat), whom God preserve. With that right arm," cried the spirited 

 Don, extending his shriveled member, " I have supported the 

 throne of my kings — have fought for my country, mowing down 

 its enemies before me ; and with it," vehemently exclaimed the 

 Gachupin, working himself into a perfect frenzy, " I will slay 

 these Norte Americanos, should they dare to show their faces 

 in my front. Adios, Don Augustin Ignacio Sabanal-Morales-y 

 Fuentes," he cried, doffing his hat with an earth-sweeping bow; 

 " I go to grind my sword. Till then, adieu I" 



" A countryman of mine I" said the frayle, admiringly, to the 

 administrador. " With him by our side we need not to fear ; 

 neither Norte Americanos, nor the devil himself, can harm us 

 when he is by." 



While the Trueba sharpens his Tizona, and the priest puffs 

 volumes of smoke from his nose and mouth, let us introduce to 

 the reader one of the muchachitas, who knelt grinding corn on 

 the metate, to make tortillas for the evening meal. Juanita was 

 a stout wench from Sonora, of Mexican blood, hardly as dark as 

 the other women who surrounded her, and with a drop or two of 

 the old Spanish blood struggling with the darker Indian tint to 

 color her plump cheeks. An enagua (a short petticoat) of red 

 serge was confined round her waist by a gay band ornamented 

 with beads, and a chemisette covered the upper part of the body, 

 permitting, however, a prodigal display of her charms. While 

 pounding sturdily at the corn, she laughed and joked with her 

 fellow-laborers upon the anticipated American attack, which ap- 

 peared to have but few terrors for her. " Que vengan," she ex- 

 claimed, "let them come; they are only men, and will not molest 

 us women. Besides, I have seen these white men before — in my 

 own country, and they are fine fellows, very tall, and as white as 

 the snow on the sierras. Let them come, say 1 1" 



