f the sort who cared much for
the quiet life. In those few months of association with the great Villa,
he had met men of various kinds; men who were honestly trying to do
something for Mexico; men who were dishonestly trying to do something for
themselves; and men who were in such a truly desperate frame of mind after
ten years of revolution, banditry, and general upset, that they scarcely
knew what they were doing.

Pachuca, who for all his aristocratic blood, was an exceedingly good
mixer, had enjoyed these various and sundry associations and in the quiet
of private life he yearned for them. Very much as a celebrated actress
feels the lure of the footlights after she has left them for matrimony and
the fireside, very much as the superannuated fire horse is said to react
to the alarm, so Pachuca yearned for the agreeable persons with whom he
had foregathered since leaving the army.

When there were rumors of another revolution, he began to think of looking
up some of these exceedingly live wires, and seeing what could be done for
Freedom, Mexico, and Juan Pachuca. It was with the idea of informing
himself as to these matters that he had taken the journey which had
resulted in his meeting with Polly Street, and the fortnight which she had
spent in Athens had been used to accomplish a number of things.

Himself rather a good judge of which way the political cat might be
expected to jump at this particular crisis, Pachuca had decided to throw
in his lot with the Obregonistas. He knew Obregon, knew his hold on the
people, his popularity with the labor party, and it looked to him very
much as though that general of fascinating Irish ancestry had a good
chance of being Mexico's next president.

At the same time he realized perfectly that his own reputation with the
Obregonistas was not good. Various tales current among Mexicans of
political standing, in regard to his relations with Villa, would be very
much against him, and services rendered the Carranza government would
hardly be likely to stand him in good stead. Pachuca wanted to stand well
with the new party if he stood with them at all. He intended that the next
president of Mexico should confer upon him an office of distinction, and
offices of this sort must be earned, not only in Mexico but anywhere. In
the great republic near by which Pachuca hoped some day to visit,
preferably on a state mission, things were handled in this way also. If he
could bring to the revo