oat was finished. In
the town was a man who owned a launch--a home-made affair, with planks
two and a half inches thick. For oars he had rough, heavy poles with
pieces of boards fastened on the ends for blades. Nothing but a
boat-race would settle the point as to which was the faster. Our padre
was quite a sport. At any cock-fighting, gambling, horse- or boat-racing
he was always the umpire and prime mover. Eight sheep and one barrel of
cider were the stakes to be raced for. One Sunday morning, just after
mass, the race took place. The padre's boat came in about a half mile
ahead--the whole course was not two miles. Tom's reputation as a
boat-builder was away up in consequence, and he got the "big-head"
badly. That night he gave a select party at his house in honour of the
event. Aguardiente was the only refreshment served; and towards
midnight all were drunk, Tom especially so. A thin partition separated
the bedroom from the main apartment. Our host, in staggering around,
fell against the door, and tumbled on to his own bed, only to find it
already occupied. Then there was a row; the guest jumped out of the
window, with the other occupant a close second.

My new employer, the blacksmith, was a fine-looking man of six feet two
inches in height, and built in proportion. He had a fair complexion and
light hair hanging in ringlets down his shoulders. He was from
Baltimore, Md. Swearing, drinking aguardiente, and talk--that was all he
was good for. His wife was a widow seventeen years of age when he
married her. They had three little boys, the most vicious little
wretches that I ever came in contact with. As for their home, it was
squalid and filthy. No floor, and the fire was in the centre of the only
room. On each side was a board resting on stone: that was the only place
we had to sit down. A most cheerful family circle we made. The children
were continually raising Cain, and Bill swearing at them in Spanish. As
yet none of the bosses had ever said anything about wages. However, I
never had any work to do, so that equalized affairs.

One day Bill--or Guillermo, as he was called--was wanted at a saw-mill
on the mainland. A freshet had made a wreck of the mill and dam. None of
the natives was willing to work, so Bill induced Amos and me to go with
him. At last I was working for fifty cents a day. After a while we got
the dam repaired, and then fixed up the mill. It then dawned upon Don
Fernando's mind that he had no one t