In Old Mexico 133 



ther that there was a well-laid plot to get the 

 Yankee in the stooped position, and by dint of 

 treachery on the part of one of the Spanish- 

 speaking players, they soon succeeded in get- 

 ting an opportunity to bang the author. In 

 the excitement of the game, the author forgot 

 that he had a small flask of mescal in his pis- 

 tol-pocket, until this came in sudden contact 

 with the fiercely delivered blow of one of the 

 other players, bent on punishing the unfor- 

 tunate one too strongly — when, from a wring- 

 ing of the hand and expressions of pain due 

 to having smashed the bottle, there was no 

 trouble in choosing the player who had struck 

 the blow. After an explanation accepted by 

 the injured one, the game was again proceeded 

 in and continued for several hours, when the 

 visiting coterie disappeared homeward, after 

 an all-around shaking of hands. In a short 

 interval from the departure of the last of our 

 visitors, we had wrapped ourselves in the bed- 

 clothing, and with nothing between us and the 

 stars overhead we slept the delicious sleep that 

 follows exercise in the open, until the streaks 

 of dawn cast their rays over the eastern hills. 



