rt, but that, upon reaching his home, he would fit us
out magnificently. He promised to start at four that afternoon, and we
were ready; of course, he was not, nor was he at five; so we went back
to the hotel for a last good supper, and finally at 5:50 started. There
were four teams and carts in the company, loaded with freight for
Hidalgo. The night was clear, with a fine moon. The road was over heavy
sand. Sometimes we walked in the moonlight, passing Ixtaltepec at 8:30,
and reaching Espinal at ten, where we lost three-quarters of an hour in
loading freight. From there all went well, until a-quarter-of-two in
the morning, when we were passing through a country covered with scrub
timber. Here we constantly met many carts heavily loaded; the road was
narrow, and several times collisions, due to the falling asleep of one
or other of the _carreteros_, were narrowly escaped. Finally, one really
did take place, between our second cart and a heavily loaded one going
in the other direction. The axle of our cart was broken, and the vehicle
totally disabled. Two hours and a quarter were consumed in making
repairs and in reloading. Here, for the first time, we were impressed
with two characteristics in our driver: first, his ability to swear,
surpassing anything that we had ever heard; second, his astonishing
skill and ingenuity in repairing any accident or break, which happened
on the road. Before our journey was over, we learned that both these
qualities are common to his profession. It was four o'clock in the
morning before we were again upon our way. All hope of reaching Union
Hidalgo at the promised hour disappeared. Before sunrise, we had turned
into the hot, dusty, broad, straight high-road, which, after my journey
of 1896, I had devoutly hoped never to see again. Just as the sun
rose, we took quite a walk, killing some parrots, _calandrias_, and
_chacalaccas_ as we walked. They said that _javali_--peccaries,--were
common there. The day was blisteringly hot, long before we reached Union
Hidalgo; hot, hungry and sleepy, we reached our carter's home, a little
before ten in the morning. The _carreta_ in which we were travelling was
here far ahead, and after we had rested half-an-hour or more, Manuel,
hot and perspiring, appeared, and reported that the disabled cart had
broken down again, and that the other two were delayed by a sick animal.
All came straggling in later. We had planned to leave here toward
evening, travelling a