180 



PASSAGE ACROSS 



spoke to the capataz about starting early in the 

 morning. He hved about two leagues from the 

 town, and by agreement was to provide us with 

 fresh mules for the baggage, and horses for our- 

 selves; but I could see he was not inclined to be 

 off early, so I insisted on his bringing the mules 

 and horses that evening. He said that they would 

 have nothing to eat, so I gave him two dollars to 

 buy grass, and off he went, promising that he 

 would be back in the evening. 



I had just time to bathe, when our dinner was 

 ready ; and as the young woman brought us dish 

 after dish, the party observed, first, that she was 

 the most interesting-looking girl they had ever seen, 

 and secondly, that they had never eaten a dinner 

 so well drest; but the same delirium which, on 

 coming from the snow of the Andes, had made 

 them " babble o** green fields," caused them to err** 

 in their judgments on other parts of creation; and 

 really, when we returned from the plain to Villa 

 Naeva, our dinner was badly cooked, and the poor 

 young woman was only said to be "rather pretty!" 



The evening arrived, but not the capataz or 

 his mules, and we did not know where to send for 



