"My father wishes me to devote myself to the civil service. At present I think I shall be of use there. And you, will you do nothing?" "I have already done something; I have bought an estancia." "You! you will never be an estanciero!" "I never intend to be. But on my estancia I have peons, and my peons will be soldiers the day I want them. I have not lost the month I spent outside with your uncle, I have persuaded him also to do something. That mob of horsemen he had with him at the Ensenada were just of no use whatever, he is going to select about 200 of the best of them and form them into a regiment of dragoons. I have a letter from him to Liniers on the subject; if Liniers will send him arms, and three or four sergeants to drill the men for him, he will do the rest." "Bravo! before the English come again we shall have some decent cavalry. Don Martin Rodriguez is also raising a regiment of hussars at his own expense among the peons and quinteros in the suburbs. With some drilled cavalry among them to steady them, our partidarios may be of great service in the open." "Your gauchos, if properly drilled and officered, would make excellent cavalry," said Gordon. "It is chiefly the want of officers makes them of so little use," said Evaña. "But tell me, Carlos," said Marcelino, "where is your estancia?" "It adjoins the land of Don Fausto Velasquez. I have put Venceslao Viana in charge of the place. He will have command of a troop of forty men in Don Gregorio's regiment." "Then if there be another invasion you will join us, Carlos?" "If the English come as they did before, to conquer us, then I will be a dragoon, and will lead my men myself against them. Watch and wait, that is all we can do at present; when time lifts the veil from before the unknown future then we shall know against what enemy to turn our arms." CHAPTER IV THE RAISING OF THE VEIL "Nearly a year, mamita, nearly a year," said Dolores to her mother, as they sat together under the wide verandah at the Quinta de Ponce. "And it seems a long time to you, Lola?" replied Doña Constancia. "The time has passed quickly, but it seems ages ago. Last year there was always something happening. Marcelino was busy training his negroes, and in town every one was talking of the new regiments, and about what the English were doing in Monte Video, and when they were coming. Now they say the English are coming again, but no one knows when. Marcelino is secretary at the Consulado, grandpapa hardly ever leaves his house, and Uncle Gregorio is always at his estancia outside." "But we are not left quite alone, Lola; we have one visitor who comes very often."