I
Early that evening, when Pancho had rounded up the cows and taken them back again to pasture, and the goat had been milked, the animals fed, and supper eaten and cleared away, the Twins and their father and mother sat down together outside their cabin door.
The moon had risen and was shining so brightly that it made beautiful patterned shadows under the fig tree. There were pleasant evening sounds all about. Sometimes it was the hoot of an owl or the chirp of a cricket, but oftener it was the sound of laughter and of children’s voices from the huts near by.
The red rooster, the turkey, and the hens were all asleep in the fig tree. Tita could see [p 46] their bunchy shadows among the shadows of the leaves. The cat was away hunting for field-mice. Jasmin sat beside Tonio, with his tongue hanging out, and everything was very quiet and peaceful.
Then suddenly, quite far away, they heard a faint tinkling sound. “Ting-a-ling-ling; ting-a-ling-ling,” it went, and then there was a voice singing:
“Crown of the high hill
That with your cool shadow
Gives me life,
Where is my beloved?
Oh, beautiful hill,
Where dwells my love?
If I am sleeping,
I’m dreaming of thee;
If I am waking, thee only I see.”
The voice came nearer and nearer, and children’s voices began to join in the singing, and soon Tonio and Tita could see dark forms moving in the moonlight. There was one tall figure, and swarming around it there were ever so many short ones.
“It’s José with his guitar!” cried the [p 47] Twins, and they flew out to meet him. Doña Teresa and Pancho came too.
“God give you good evening,” they all cried out to each other when they met; and then José said, “Have you plenty of sweet potatoes, Doña Teresa? We have come with our dishes and our pennies.”
“Yes,” laughed Doña Teresa. “I thought you might come to-night and I knew your sweet tooth, José! And all these little ones, have they each got a sweet tooth too?”
“Oh yes, Doña Teresa, please cook us some sweet potatoes, won’t you?” the children begged. They held up their empty dishes.
“Well, then, come in, all of you,” said Doña Teresa, “and I will see what I can do.”
She hurried back to the cabin. Pancho went with her, and José and the Twins and all the other children came trooping after them and swarmed around the cabin door.
Pancho made a little brasero right in the middle of the open space beside the fig tree. He made it of stones, and built a fire in it. [p 48] While he was doing that, Doña Teresa got her sweet potatoes ready to cook, and when she came out with the cooking-dish and a jug of syrup in her hands, the children set up a shout of joy.
“Now sit down, all of you,” commanded Doña Teresa, as she knelt beside the brasero and poured the syrup into the cooking-pan, [p 49] “It will take some time to cook enough for every one, and if you are in too much of a hurry you may burn your fingers and your tongue. José, you tell us a story while we are waiting.”
So they all sat down in a circle around Doña Teresa with José opposite her, and the fire flickered in the brasero, and lighted up all the eager brown faces and all the bright black eyes, as they watched Doña Teresa’s cooking-pan.