act of replying in fit
terms of equal courtesy--for all that Tizoc had said was so reasonable
that no exception could be taken to it--when an outburst on Young's part
interrupted me.

"Hold on there, young fellow!" he cried. "I'll be shot if I'm goin' t'
stand bein' made a fool of that way! If you can't make a better likeness
of me than that, you'd better shut up shop an' go out of th' business."

I turned quickly, and saw Young standing beside Tizoc's attendant, and
looking half angrily and half laughingly at the sheet of paper that he
held in his hand. Fearful that some harm might come from Young's
maladroitness, I joined them quickly; and only a strong sense of the
gravity of our situation restrained me from laughing outright as I
behold the cause of his wrath. For the secretary, as I now perceived him
to be, had made sketches in color of each member of our party; and while
they all did violence to our vanity, that of Young--with a bald head
out of all proportion to the size of his body, and with most
aggressively red hair--was so outrageous a caricature that there really
was some justice in his resentment of it.

But this was not a time when resentment could be safely manifested, and
I hurriedly explained to Young that these pictures, no doubt, were to be
transmitted as a part of the report that Tizoc was about to make to the
King concerning us, and that he must find no fault with them.

"He's goin' t' send that thing t' th' King an' say it's me, is he? No,
he's not--not by a jugful! See here, Professor! here's a photograph that
I had taken last spring in Boston. I meant t' give it to a girl before I
came away, but she went back on me an' I didn't. It's not much of a
photograph, but it don't look like a squash trimmed with red clover. If
they want to send anything, let 'em send that." And before I could stop
him, Young had taken the photograph out of his pocket-book and had
handed it to the secretary, with the remark, "Just say t' him,
Professor, that he is t' give that t' th' King, an' tell him t' tell th'
King that Mr. Seth Young, of Boston, sends it with his compliments."

After all, no harm came of this absurd performance, but rather good; for
the secretary exhibited the photograph to Tizoc, and both of them, and
the two warriors also, were lost in wonder at its marvellous likeness to
the original, and evidently held us in increasingly great respect
because we were the possessors of such an extraordinary wor