doubt, called Brown, but now answering to the mellifluous appellation of
_Bruno_; A---- with her French cap, and loaded with sundry mysterious
looking baskets; I with cloak and bonnet; C---n with Greek cap, cloak, and
cigar; the captain of the Jason also with cloak and cigar, and very cold;
the lieutenant in his navy uniform, taking it coolly; Don Miguel, with his
great sarape and silver hat--(six people belonging to five different
countries); the Mexican captain, with his pale impassive face and
moustaches, enveloped in a very handsome sarape, and surrounded by the
sleepy escort of the preceding night; dirty-looking soldiers lounging on
the ground, wrapped in their blankets; the Indian women and the host of the
inn, and a bright moon and starry sky lighting up the whole--the figures in
the foreground, and the lofty snow-clad mountains, and the dismal old town
of Perote itself, that looked gray and sulky at being disturbed so early,
with its old castle of San Carlos, and cold, sterile plains.

Meanwhile, two soldiers with cloaks and arms had climbed up outside of the
coach. The captain remarked that they could not sit there. Bruno made some
reply, upon which the captain very coolly drew his sword, and was about to
put a very decided impediment to our journey by stabbing the coachman, when
Don Miguel, his eyes and cigar all shining angrily, rushed in between them.

High words ensued between him and the captain, and the extreme coolness and
precision with which the latter spoke, was very amusing. It was as if he
were rehearsing a speech from a play. "I always speak frankly," said Don
Miguel, in an angry tone. "And I," said the captain, in a polite, measured
voice, "am also accustomed to speak my mind with extreme frankness. I
regret, however, that I did not at the moment perceive the Senora at the
door, otherwise," etc.

At length the two little men, who with their arms and sarapes looked like