Chap. XI. EPISODES OF MEXICAN LIFE. 385 
A similar transaction, with regard to another debtor of 
Don Guillermo's, took place on our way back to the Villa 
de la Concepcion. Guadalupe Vargas was a sly, satirical, 
but at the same time careless, good tempered fellow. 
Later, in a confidential hour, when we were sitting together 
under the shadow of an oak in the Californian mountains, 
he acknowledged to me that for some time he had been 
one of a robber band. Don Guillermo was probably not 
aware of this circumstance, when he trusted him with some 
hundred dollars' worth of goods to begin business as a 
hawker. The goods were easily sold, and the money as 
easily gambled away, and Guadalupe cared little for his 
debt, till Don Guillermo surprised him as suddenly as he 
had done Natividad. In a few words, Guadalupe was 
just as willing as his fellow-debtor to follow his creditor as 
a peon, though he looked upon his fate rather differently. 
When he heard that he was to accompany his master to 
Texas, he asked permission to see his old mother once 
more, who lived in a neighbouring village. "I wish to 
have my mother s blessing upon this long and dangerous 
journey in a strange country," he said, with a mixture of 
sanctimonious piety and careless banter. Natividad, who, 
with all his vices, possessed a more serious and affectionate 
disposition, sighed deeply. "My mother/' he said, with 
real, repentant sorrow, " will not bless me." " What do you 
sigh for, man ? " exclaimed his companion in misfortune ; 
" repentance is of no use. Begin a new life ! Does not 
Don Guillermo, a distinguished cavalier, open the door of 
the world to you ? What have you known of the world as 
yet ? Nothing ! Now you will get acquainted with it ! 
You will see the United States ! You will be a man ! 
You will pay your debts ! and when, after an absence of 
some years, you go back to your native place, your mother 
2 c 
