p things stirred up. Perhaps some
time Tonio here can think out what ought to be done. He may even be a
great general some day."

"Heaven forbid!" cried Dona Teresa. She almost upset Pancho's dish, she
was so emphatic. "There has been enough of going to war in this family!"

"Well," said Pancho, "war isn't very pleasant. I've seen enough of it to
know that: but peace isn't very pleasant either, when your life is
without hope and you must live like the animals--if you live at all."

"Now that I have you at home again, I, for one, am quite content," said
Dona Teresa; and then she went to unroll the mats and put the children
to bed.

They were so tired that they went to sleep in their corner in no time at
all, and when she had snuffed the candles before the Virgin, Dona Teresa
came back to Pancho and sat with him beside the embers still glowing in
the brasero.

She told him everything that had happened on the hacienda while he was
away, and Pancho told her all the strange sights he had seen, and the
new things he had learned, and at last he said:--

"Anyway, I've made up my mind that Tonio shall have more learning than
he can get on this hacienda, though I don't know yet how it can be
brought about. Somehow children must know more than their parents if
things are ever to be better for the poor people of Mexico."

And Dona Teresa answered, "Well, anyway, we have each other and the
Twins, so let's take comfort in that, right now, even if there are many
things in the world that can't be set right yet awhile."

Just then the first streak of dawn showed red over the eastern hills.
Out in the fig tree the red rooster shook himself and crowed, and to
Pancho, as he stretched himself on his own hard bed in his own poor
little home once more, it sounded exactly as if he said,

"Cock-a-doodle-do-oo.
We're glad to see you-oo-oo."

[25] Pah-sah'dah.

[26] Pin-yah'tah.

[Illustration]

+--------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| Transcriber's note: |
| |
| Inconsistent hyphenation (beehives/bee-hives, gatekeeper/ |
| gate-keeper) has been retained. The marker for footnote [9] |
| is not present in the original and its location has been |
| inferred.