she
approached.

"I am looking for Don Jose, a soldier, if you know him----"

"Perfectly. He is corporal of the guard which is presently to relieve
us. If you wait here, you are certain to see him." Michaela thanked
him quietly, and went away. The soldiers were strange to her, and she
preferred to wait in another part of the square rather than where
they were idling. She had no sooner disappeared than the music of the
relief guard was heard in the distance. It was the soldiers' chorus: a
regular fife and drum affair. It came nearer, nearer, nearer, till it
arrived in full blast, fresh as a pippin, the herald of all that was
going to happen through four acts of opera. There was to be fighting
and smugglers: factory-girls in a row, and Carmen everywhere and
anywhere, all of the time.

With the new guard comes first the bugler and a fifer with a lot of
little ragged urchins tagging along behind; then comes Zuniga
strutting in, very much pleased with himself, and after him Don Jose,
the corporal, whom Michaela has come to town to see. The street boys
sing while the new guard lines up in front of the old one, and every
one takes up the song. It is the business of every one in opera to
sing about everything at any time. Thus the guard describes itself in
song:

On we tramp, alert and steady,
Like young soldiers, every one!
Head up, and footfall steady,
Left, right! we're marching on!

See how straight our shoulders are,--
Every breast is swelled with pride,
Our arms all regular--
Hanging down on either side.

There is not much poetry in this, but there is lots of vim, and the
new guard, as bright as a new tin whistle, has formed and the old
guard marched off during the singing. Meantime, while things have been
settling down, Morales has had a word with Don Jose.

"A pretty girl is somewhere near here, looking for you, Jose. She
wore a blue gown and her hair is in a braid down her back; she's----"

"I know her; it is Michaela," Jose declares: and, with the sudden
knowledge that she is so near, and that she comes directly from his
old mother, he feels a longing for home, and realizes that he has been
none too thoughtful or kind toward those who love him. As everybody
finds himself in place, Zuniga points across to the cigarette factory.

"Did you ever notice that there are often some tremendously pretty
girls over there?" he asks of Jose.

"Huh?" Jose answers, abs