90 
GUATEMALA. 
found by the roadside, a fine red and yellow orchid, and 
another pure white one, as well as the cardinal-flower. 
All day there had been showers; and when we arrived at 
Santa Cruz, long after dark, we were wet, in spite of our 
'ponchos and the water would run into our boots. 
There was no posada, so our boy declared, and we had 
to try the cabildo for the first time. The Escuela por 
Ninos , or “ school for ninnies/’ as Frank persisted in 
calling it, was placed at our disposal ; but the floor was 
bare, hard concrete, and we had no mats, while there was 
no chance to hang our hammocks. It was not inviting; 
but one of the attendants kindly brought two mahogany 
settees from the court-room, and this was so hard a couch 
that one might be pardoned for going to bed with boots 
on, — and mine were so wet that I feared I should not get 
them on in the morning if they once came off. We 
needed food quite as much as a bed, and at last found 
rolls and coffee at a little shop near at hand. At four 
o’clock in the morning there was an earthquake, which 
did not wake Frank, though it jarred my bed as though 
some one had run against it in the dark. This shock 
was felt, as we afterwards found, at Coban, San Cristobal, 
and for miles around. Slight earthquakes are said to be 
common enough here, but we saw no evidence of severe 
ones. 
In the morning at half-past five, while Roberto was 
saddling the horses, we visited the church and found many 
curiously carved and gilded altar-pieces. After perform¬ 
ing our ablutions in a puddle in the road, left by the last 
night’s rain, we got our coffee and hastened on our w r ay, 
as it was Friday, and we still had twelve miles to ride to 
Coban. 
