"Our latest meeting has been to-night." "To-night!" "About an hour ago. Perhaps a little less." "_Carrambo_! You must have been there at the time I left the saloon. You saw me go out?" "Every one saw you. More than one remarked it as strange." "Why strange, senor?" "It is not usual for a player to run away from such luck as you had-- without a very powerful motive. Something of the kind carried you off, I presume?" "_Par Dios_! Not much of that. Only a little errand that required punctuality. I executed it; and was on my way back, when these _picarones_ attacked me. Thanks to you, sir, it may still be in my power to gain another _onza_ or two; which I intend doing, if the luck has not been drawn out of me along with these drops of blood. But come, caballero! are you going back yourself? 'Tis not too late to have another _albur_." "I shall go with you, to see whether you've received any wounds that require looking after." "Thanks, thanks! They're nothing; else I should have thought of them before now. No doubt they're scarce worth dressing. A little soap and water will set them all right. Are we to leave _him_ here?" "If dead, yes. He don't deserve even the scant honour of being carried upon a stretcher." "You are not partial to your red-hatted associates?" "I detest them; and so does every officer in our army who cares for its escutcheon. They were regular professional robbers, these renegades-- were they not?" "Were, are, and will be. _Salteadores del camino grande_!" "Many of us consider it a scandal. So the world will esteem it. A band of brigands taken into the service of a civilised nation, and treated as its own soldiers! Who ever heard of such a thing?" "Ah, senor! I see you are a true soldier of civilisation. I am sorry to say that in my poor country such travesties are but too common. In our army--that is, the army of his most Illustrious Excellency, General Don Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna--you may discover captains, colonels-- nay, even generals, who--. But no. It is not for me to pour these sad revelations into the ears of an enemy. Perhaps in time you may find out for yourself some strange things; which we of the country are accustomed to call--_Cosas de Mexico_!" CHAPTER SIXTEEN. EARLY BIRDS. I supped with Francisco. The goddess Fortuna did not show any grudge against him, for his short flirtation with the sister divinity; but, on his return to the _monte_ table, again smiled upon him--as she did upon myself. By way of a change we paid our addresses to Coena and Bacchus--to the latter more especially--keeping up our devotions to a late hour of the night. It did not hinder me from being early abroad on the morning after. I saw the rose-tints upon the "White Sister," as Phoebus imprinted his first kiss upon her snowy brow. I saw this as I entered the Calle del Obispo--the magnificent mountain appearing like a white wall stretched across at the termination of the street!