led to fall upon their knees while mass was said;
but they were not obliged to go through all the little forms and
ceremonies which the Catholic Church in Mexico exacts of its
votaries, such as crossing themselves, smiting their breasts, and
other outward observances. Well drilled, however, were they in all
the minutiae of these demonstrations; and in addition, one of the
jokers, who had acted as the prosecuting attorney at San
Cristobal, and who was a great mimic, taught them a few original
'extras' and 'fancy touches,' which he had ingrafted upon the
regular Catholic ceremonials. So well had he disciplined his
brother prisoners, that they could go through all his ritual with
as much promptness and precision as could the best military
company in existence go through its simplest manoeuvres.

'On arriving at the church, and after kneeling in front of the
altar, the well-drilled Texans awaited the usual signal from the
officiating priest to commence. There probably was not a Catholic
among them; yet the assumed air of grave devotion to be seen in
their faces would have done credit to the most rigid of that
creed. At the given signal, and at the proper time, the chained
prisoners would cross themselves with all seeming humility,
closely imitating every motion of the priest and of the Mexicans
around them; but instead of stopping with their Catholic
neighbors, they wound up by placing the right thumb to the tip of
their noses, and then, with a mock gravity which might have drawn
a smile from an Egyptian mummy, circled the fingers about, and all
this directly in the face of the officiating priest, and without a
smile upon their countenances. When the proper time came for again
crossing themselves, the mischievous leader of the Texans would
pass the word for his men to 'come the double compound action,' as
he called it. This resembled the first movement, with the
exception that it was more complicated and more mysterious to the
surrounding Mexicans. After the right hand had gone its usual
round, from forehead to breast and from shoulder to shoulder, the
thumb again settled on the tip of the nose; but this time the left
thumb was joined to the little finger of the right hand, and then
commenced a series of fancy gyrations with all the fingers, the
like of which was probably never befo