gainst a company of
savages, and standing back to back and fighting to the very last,
Anglo-Saxon hearts are found to be the stanchest, and Anglo-Saxon backs
to be the stoutest which can be thus ranged together. But in our own
case I did not at all see whence such an Anglo-Saxon contingent was to
be obtained.

We had been talking over this matter of a fighting force one afternoon
in Fray Antonio's sacristy--where our many colloquies were held, for we
moved with a thoughtful deliberation in setting agoing our
adventure--and we had come almost to the determination of organizing a
little force of Otomi Indians, and calling upon two brave young
gentlemen of Fray Antonio's acquaintance to join us as lieutenants.
Although I was willing to adopt this plan, since no other was open to
us, I was far from fancying it; both for the reason which I have already
named, and also for the reason--and this Fray Antonio admitted was not
without foundation in probability--that our young allies would be more
than likely, by their indiscreet disclosures, to make our purpose fully
known. Therefore, it was in no very pleasant frame of mind, our
conference being ended, that I returned to my hotel.

As I entered the hotel court-yard I heard the sound of Pablo's
mouth-organ, and with this much laughter and some talk in English; and
as I fairly caught sight of the merrymakers, I heard said, in most
execrable Spanish, "Here's a _medio_ for another tune, my boy; and if
you'll make the donkey dance again to it, I'll give you a _real_."

That I might see what was going forward without interrupting it, I
stepped behind one of the stone pillars that upheld the gallery; and for
all that my mind was in no mood for laughter just then, I could not but
fall to laughing at what I saw.

Over on the far side of the court-yard, with Pablo and El Sabio, were
two men whose type was so unmistakable that I should have known them for
Americans had I met them in the moon. One was a tall, wiry fellow, with
a vast reach of arm, and a depth of chest and width of shoulders which
allowed what powerful engines those long arms of his were when he set
them in motion. His face was nearly covered by a heavy black beard, and
his projecting forehead and his resolute black eyes under it gave him a
look of great energy and force. The other was short and thick-set, with
a big round head stockily upheld on a thick neck, and with a
good-humored face, which, being clean-shaven, was