76 INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



spite with which it was given ; the next man repeated 

 it, and the next ; and before we were aware of our po- 

 sition, every lancer that passed, in a tone of voice reg- 

 ulated by the gentleness or the ferocity of his disposi- 

 tion, and sometimes with a most threatening scowl, put 

 to us as a touchstone " Viva Carrera." 



The infantry were worse than the lancers in appear- 

 ance, being mostly Indians, ragged, half naked, with 

 old straw hats and barefooted, armed with muskets and 

 machetes, and many with oldfashioned Spanish blun- 

 derbusses. They vied with each other in sharpness and 

 ferocity, and sometimes actually levelling their pieces, 

 cried at us "Viva Carrera." We were taken com- 

 pletely unawares ; there was no escape, and I believe 

 they would have shot us down on the spot if we had re- 

 fused to echo the cry. I compromised with my dignity 

 by answering no louder than the urgency of the case re- 

 quired, but I never passed through a more trying ordeal. 

 Don Saturnino had had the prudence to keep out of 

 sight ; but the captain, who had intended to campaign 

 against these fellows, never flinched, and when the last 

 man passed added an extra " Viva Carrera." I again 

 felt rejoiced that the soldiers had left the town and that 

 there had been no fight. It would have been a fearful 

 thing to fall into the hands of such men, with their pas- 

 sions roused by resistance and bloodshed. Reaching 

 the plaza, they gave a general shout of " Viva Carrera," 

 and stacked their arms. In a few minutes a party of 

 them came down to our house and asked for breakfast ; 

 and when we could not give them that, they begged a 

 medio or sixpence. By degrees others came in, until 

 the room was full. They were really no great gamers 

 by taking the town. They had had no breakfast, and 

 the town was completely stripped of eatables. We in- 



