198 LIFE IN THE FAR WEST. 



During a lull, guages ^ filled with wliisky go the rounds — offer- 

 ed to and seldom refused by the ladies — sturdily quaffed by the 

 mountaineers, and freely swallowed by the Pelddos, who drown 

 their jealousy and envious hate of their entertainers in potent 

 aguardiente. Now, as the guages are oft refilled and as often 

 drained, and as night advances, so do the spirits of the mount- 

 aineers become more boisterous, while their attentions to their 

 partners become warmer — the jealousy of the natives waxes hot- 

 ter thereat — and they begin to show symptoms of resenting the 

 endearments which the mountaineers bestow upon their wives and 

 sweethearts. And now, when the room is filled to crowding — 

 with two hundred people, swearing, drinking, dancing, and shout- 

 ing — the half-dozen Americans monopolizing the fair, to the evident 

 disadvantage of at least threescore scowling Pelados, it happens 

 that one of these, maddened by whisky and the green-eyed monster, 

 suddenly seizes a fair one from the waist-encircling arm of a mount- 

 aineer, and pulls her from her partner. Wagh I — La Bonte — it 

 is he — stands erect as a pillar for a moment, then raises his hand to 

 his mouth, and gives a ringing war-whoop — jumps upon the rash 

 Pelado, seizes him by the body as if he were a child, lifts him 

 over his head, and dashes him with the force of a giant against 

 the wall. 



The war, long threatened, has commenced ; twenty Mexicans 

 draw their knives and rush upon La Bonte, who stands his ground, 

 and sweeps them down with his ponderous fist, one after another 

 as they throng around him. " Howgh-owgh-owgh-owgh-h I" the 

 well known war-whoop, bursts from the throats of his companions, 

 and on they rush to the rescue. The women scream, and block 

 the door in their eagerness to escape ; and thus the Mexicans are 

 compelled to stand their ground and fight. Knives glitter in the 

 light, and quick thrusts are given and parried. In the center of the 



* Cask-shaped gourds. 



