I soon fixed my reflections upon the _cochero_--a tall fellow in velveteens, whom I had seen taking out the sleek carriage horses. There was enough of the "picaro" in his countenance, to inspire me with confidence that he could be _suborned_ for my purpose. I determined on making trial of him. If a doubloon should prove sufficient bribe, my letter would be delivered. In my twilight strolls, often prolonged to a late hour, I had noticed that this domestic sallied forth: as if, having done his day's duty, he had permission to spend his evenings at the _pulqueria_. The plan would be to waylay him, on one of his nocturnal sorties; and this was what I determined on doing. On the night of that same day on which I indited the epistle, the Officer of the Guard chanced to be my particular friend. It was not chance either: since I had chosen the occasion. I had no difficulty, therefore, in giving the countersign; and, wrapped in a cloth cloak-- intended less as a protection against the cold than to conceal my uniform--I proceeded onward upon my errand of intrigue. I was favoured by the _complexion_ of the night. It was dark as coal tar--the sky shrouded with a thick stratum of thunder clouds. It was not yet late enough for the citizens to have forsaken the streets. There were hundreds of them, strolling to and fro, all natives of the place--most of them men of the lower classes--with a large proportion of "leperos." There was not a soldier to be seen--except here and there the solitary sentry, whose presence betokened the entrance to some military cuartel. The troops were all inside--in obedience to the standing order. There were not even the usual squads of drunken stragglers in uniform. The fear of assault and assassination was stronger than the propensity for "raking"--even among regiments whose rank and file was almost entirely composed of the countrymen of Saint Patrick. A stranger passing through the place could scarce have suspected that the city was under American occupation. There was but slight sign of such control. The Poblanos appeared to have the place to themselves. They were gay and noisy--some half intoxicated with _pulque_, and inclined to be quarrelsome. The leperos, no longer in awe of their own national authorities, were demeaning themselves with a degree of licence allowed by the abnormal character of the times. In my progress along the pavement I was several times accosted in a coarse bantering mariner; not on account of my American uniform--for my cloak concealed this--but because _I wore a cloak_! I was taken for a native "aristocrat." Better that it was so: since the insults were only verbal, and offered in a spirit of rude badinage. Had my real character been known, they might have been accompanied by personal violence. I had not gone far before becoming aware of this; and that I had started upon a rash, not to say perilous, enterprise.