"How you do go on about Doña Serafina?" he said fretfully. "After all, she is not so very ugly, though she may not have the thirty points of perfection."
"Eh, Peter, I didn't know you were learned in such gallantries; and what are the thirty points of perfection?"
The doctor was about to reply, when Cocom, wrapped in his zarape, passed slowly by, and took off his sombrero to the party.
"A dios, Señores," said Cocom, gravely.
"Our Indian friend," remarked Jack, with a smile. "Ven aca Cocom! Have you come to hear the assurance of peace."
"There will be no peace, Señor Juan. I am old—very old, and I can see into the future. It is war I see—the war of Acauhtzin."
"Ah! Is that your own prophecy or that of the Chalchuih Tlatonac."
"I know nothing of the Chalchuih Tlatonac, Don Juan," replied Cocom, who always assumed the role of a devout Catholic; "but I hear many things. Ah, yes, I hear that the Chalchuih Tlatonac is glowing as a red star."
"And that means war!"
"It means war, Señor, and war there will be. The Chalchuih Tlatonac never deceives. Con dios va usted Señor."