The following morning I assisted Pike in the preparation of a of our trip, which had been most requested by Salcedo. Walker offered his services, and would take no refusal. But we found more than one opportunity for a word apart, and Pike told me that he was already in touch with the woolly-headed old Cæsar, who had at once offered to help us to obtain information as to the country's mines, , and Government. He had begun by pointing out to my friend the closet in which were the Government maps that had hung on the walls before our arrival.
After dinner and the , we received calls from a number of the most prominent gentlemen of Chihuahua, including Malgares's father-in-law, Colonel Mayron, and Don Manuel Zuloaga, one of the under secretaries. Almost in the first breath the latter insisted upon our visiting him that evening, and as he chanced to be the first in the field, we .
Other invitations showered upon us thick and fast, so that it soon became apparent we should not lack for social entertainment, despite our equivocal position in the eyes of the Governor-General. More than once we were urged to move to the homes of these generous gentlemen, but declined because Salcedo had intimated his wish that we should stay in Walker's quarters. Otherwise there seemed to be no check upon our liberty. We were free to come and go in the city as we chose. To save us the of arrest by the night patrols, we were even given the especial of "Americanos."
During the afternoon Malgares and Señor Vallois pressed Pike and myself to receive loans from them of sufficient money to our wardrobes. We declined, but later accepted a loan from Señor Zuloaga, on his representations that Salcedo would soon comply with my friend's application for an official loan, and that we owed it to the dignity of our country to present a favorable appearance. Accordingly, we went out with him to his tailor and to the stores, and made provisions for complete costumes in the mode of Europe and our own country.
This occupied us until vespers, or la oracion, after which, having donned such articles of our new as were ready for wear, we accompanied Señor Zuloaga to his house. As the señor was a bachelor, we spent a most interesting hour alone with him on the azotea, or flat earthen roof of his house, discussing the great questions of politics and religion.
Our host talked with freedom, telling us, among other things, there was reason to that Emperor Napoleon had designs to seize Spain and dethrone King Ferdinand. In such event, he added, many of the loyal subjects in New Spain would consider it the highest to declare for independence. As Americans, Pike and I commended this revolutionary sentiment.
Before we could further sound the position of our host, other callers arrived, and he shifted the conversation to less topics. We to the sala, where there soon gathered a number of our new acquaintances and other persons of wealth and station who expressed themselves as eager for an introduction to the Anglo-Americano caballeros.
My friend Medina came in early with Walker, to whom he seemed to have much to say on the side. He greeted Pike , myself with marked reserve. After this he avoided us both, and soon sat down to gamble at cards with other officers. The rest of the company stood around or lolled on the , their cigarros, and cigarritos, the younger men chatting about women and horses, the older ones adding to these stock topics the third one of fortune.
As politics was a subject unmentioned, Pike attached himself to the group which seemed most disposed to discuss silver and gold mining and the other important industry of stock-raising. I kept more among the younger men, in the of their sensual for grains of information on military affairs. My harvest was so that I gave over the attempt at the serving of the dulces and wine, an hour or two before midnight.
This light proved to be the signal for a general change. The gamblers gave over their cards, the others their barren . A guitar was brought in, and Lieutenant Medina sang a rollicking wine song, nearly all present joining in the refrain. The aide was gifted with a rather fine voice—and knew it. At the end of the song, he tendered the guitar, with a flourish, to the Americano lieutenant. Pike declined the honor; upon which Medina turned to me, with a yet deeper bow, his lip curled in a smile of .
There was a general flash of surprise when I gravely accepted the instrument and set about readjusting the to my own key. I did not look at Medina, for I had need to keep a cool head. After so many months my fingers stiffly to the strings. But I had not forgotten my lady's lessons, and as the refrain of the first song had enabled me to test my voice, I was able to render a Spanish love ditty with some little success.
"Bravo!" exclaimed our host as I handed him the guitar. "I did not know that you Americanos were singers."
"We are not, as a rule," said Pike. "For the most part, our people have been too intent upon their way through the and fighting for life and freedom to find time for skilled voice-training. Yet we have our singing-schools even on the outer frontiers."
"It is quite evident that Señor Robinson has found time to cultivate his fine voice," remarked one of the crowd.
"There will soon be a baritone beneath the balconies," added Medina. "Beware, all you who have wives and daughters!"
Señor Zuloaga handed the guitar back to me. "Pray accept this little gift from a friend, Don Juan," he said. "The señoritas of Chihuahua will be deprived of a great pleasure if you lack the means to serenade them."
"Señor," I replied, accepting the guitar, "it would be most ungallant to refuse a gift presented in such terms. Though I lack the skill and voice of Lieutenant Medina, I will do my best. May I ask if His Excellency, the Governor-General, is the father of one of your charming señoritas?"
A sudden fell upon the company at the mention of their master. The silence was broken by Pike.
"Better sheer off from that shore, John. Should your ditties fail to please His Excellency, you are apt to land in the calabozo."
"And the other fathers are apt to drop tiles upon my head," I sighed.
"Not they," Zuloaga. "Keep in the shadow, and it will not be known but that you are the suitor favored by the parents."
"Yet what if I am discovered to be a stranger?" I inquired, with concern.
A dozen voices hastened to me that a serenade from one of the Americanos would be taken in good part by the most hard-hearted of parents.
"But how do you find the window of the fair one?" I asked.
"That is to be seen, señor doctor," put in Medina. "My way is to station myself across the street and sing the first verse. That never fails to the coyest of coquettes from her ."
"But, then, you have the voice," I mocked.
"It is true," he replied, taking me seriously.
"But what if the señorita's is located in a remote part of the house?" I questioned.
"You are in truth a stranger to the women," he . "Count upon it that every señorita in Chihuahua, however ugly, has a balconied chamber, either upon the front or the side street."
"Muchas gracias, Don Lieutenant," I said, and turned to Pike. "Hola, Don Montgomery! Would you keep the ladies waiting for their serenade?"
This raised a polite laugh, in the midst of which Pike, Walker, and I essayed the prolonged ceremony of leave-taking. At the door of the sala an attendant relieved me of the guitar, and for a little I thought Zuloaga's presentation had been a mere formality. But as we passed the gate into the street the attendant returned the instrument, in a handsome case.
"You are in fortune, doctor," remarked Walker. "That is as fine a guitar as is to be found in Chihuahua."
"So?" I said. "Then I really believe I will try it to-night."
"You may lose yourself, or be struck down by the knife of some murderous ladrone," he objected.
"Not he," reassured Pike. "I'd back him to out-wrestle a panther."
"What is more, I carry one of my pistols," I added. "So if, between you, my guitar case will not prove too much of a burden—"
"Sacre!" muttered Walker. "You may fall into trouble."
"That's my risk," I replied with unaffected cheerfulness, and handing the guitar case to my friend, I swung away up a side street before our dueño could interpose further objections.
As I sped along in the shadow of the houses, I could have leaped up and cracked my heels together for joy. I was alone and free for the first time since joining company with the two Yutahs in the valley north of Agua Caliente. But my impulse was short-lived. I had not questioned and planned for the last hour, to about in darkness now.
The street up which I had bolted did not lead in the direction in which I wished to go. This was soon mended by turning at the first corner. The towers of the Parroq............