g
licked the little one. Neither wants to acknowledge he got licked; and
each would rather pay a fine and have it entered on the records that he
won the fight. So much for sheer vanity!"

Each had his desire. The _alcalde_, with beautiful impartiality,
fined them both; and nonchalantly pocketed the proceeds.

At dusk millions of fireflies came out, the earth grew velvet black, and
the soft, tepid air breathed up from the river. Lights of the town
flickered like larger yellower fireflies through the thin screen of
palms and jungle; and the various noises, subdued by distance, mingled
with the voices of thousands of insects, and a strange booming from the
river. I thought it very pleasant; and wanted to stay out; but for some
reason we were haled within. There the lamps made the low broad room
very hot. We sat on real chairs and the stilted exchange resumed. I have
often wondered whether our host enjoyed it, or whether he did it merely
from duty, and was as heartily bored as the rest of us.

A half-naked servant glided in to tell us that we were wanted in the
next room. We found there our good _padrone_ and another, a fine
tall man, dressed very elaborately in short jacket and slit loose
trousers, all sewn with many silver buttons and ornaments.

"He my fren'," explained the _padrone_. "He have dose
_mulas_."

With the gorgeous individual Talbot concluded a bargain. He was to
furnish us riding animals at ten dollars each per day; and agreed to
transport our baggage at six dollars a hundredweight. The _padrone_
stood aside, smiling cheerfully.

"I ver' good fren'? Eh?" he demanded.

"My son," said Talbot with feeling, "you're a gentleman and a scholar;
indeed, I would go farther and designate you as a genuine
lallapaloozer!"

The _padrone_ seemed much gratified; but immediately demanded five
dollars. This Talbot gave him. Johnny thought the demand went far toward
destroying the value of the _padrone's_ kindness: but the rest of
us differed. I believe this people, lazy and dishonest as they are, are
nevertheless peculiarly susceptible to kindness. The man had started by
trying to cheat us of our bargain; he ended by going out of his way to
help us along.

At supper, which was served very shortly, we had our first glimpse of
the ladies of the establishment. The older was a very dignified, placid,
rather fat individual, whose chief feature was her shining dark hair.
She bowed to us gravely, said a few words in Spa