"Arrah, now, girls," said he, in a tone of good-humoured intreaty, "will yez be aizy? Did yez niver see rid hair afore?" The squaws, on hearing the appeal, which of course they understood not, only showed their white teeth in loud laughter. "In trath, an' iv I had yez on the sod, at the owld Cove o' Cark beyant, I cud show yez as much av it as 'ud contint ye for yer lives. Arrah, now, keep aff me! Be the powers, ye're trampin' the toes aff me feet! Ach! don't rug me! Holy Mother! will yez let me alone? Divil resave ye for a set of--" The tone in which the last words were uttered showed that O'Cork had at length lost his temper; but this only increased the assiduity of his tormentors, whose mirth now broke beyond bounds. They plucked him harder than ever, yelling all the while; so that, although he continued to scold, I could only hear him at intervals ejaculating: "Mother av Moses!" "Tare-an-ages!" "Holy vistment!" and a variety of similar exclamations. This scene continued for several minutes; and then, all at once, there was a lull, and a consultation among the women, that told us they were devising some scheme. Several girls were sent off to the houses. These presently returned, bringing a large olla, and another vessel of smaller dimensions. What did they intend to do with these? We soon learned. The olla was filled with water from the adjacent stream, and carried up, and the smaller vessel was set down beside Barney's head. We saw that it contained the yucca soap of the Northern Mexicans. They were going to wash out the red! The Irishman's hand-stays were now loosened, so that he could sit upright; and a copious coat of the "soft-soap" was laid on his head, completely covering his hair. A couple of sinewy squaws then took hold of him by the shoulders, and with bunches of bark fibres applied the water, and scrubbed it in lustily. The application seemed to be anything but pleasant to Barney, who roared out, ducking his head on all sides to avoid it. But this did not serve him. One of the squaws seized the head between her hands, and held it steady, while the other set to it afresh and rubbed harder than ever. The Indians yelled and danced around; but in the midst of all I could hear Barney sneezing, and shouting in a smothered voice-- "Holy Mother!--htch-tch! Yez may rub--tch-itch!--till yez fetch-tch the skin aff--atch-ich-ich! an' it won't--tscztsh!--come out. I tell yez-- itch-ch! it's in the grain--itch-itch! It won't come out--itch-itch!-- be me sowl it won't--atch-itch-hitch!" But the poor fellow's expostulations were in vain. The scrubbing continued, with fresh applications of the yucca, for ten minutes or more; and then the great olla was lifted, and its contents dashed upon his head and shoulders. What was the astonishment of the women to find that instead of modifying the red colour, it only showed forth, if possible, more vivid than ever!