"We are not, as a rule," said Pike. "For the most part, our people have been too intent upon hewing their way through the wilderness 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 Senor 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!" Senor Zuloaga handed the guitar back to me. "Pray accept this little gift from a friend, Don Juan," he said. "The senoritas of Chihuahua will be deprived of a great pleasure if you lack the means to serenade them." "Senor," 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 senoritas?" A sudden hush fell upon the company at the mere 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," reassured 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 feigned concern. A dozen voices hastened to reassure me that a serenade from one of the gallant _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, senor doctor," put in Medina. "My way is to station myself across the street and sing the first verse. That never fails to lure the coyest of coquettes from her secrecy." "But, then, you have the voice," I mocked. "It is true," he replied, taking me seriously. "But what if the senorita's chamber is located in a remote part of the house?" I questioned. "You are in truth a stranger to the women," he jeered. "Count upon it that every senorita 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."