"Ah, why!" the soldier said; "through love."
"What do you mean?"
"Yes, a child with whom I was so foolish as to fall in love, and who persuaded me to enlist."
"Oh, hang it!"
"Yes, and I had scarce put on my uniform, when she told me she was mistaken about me: that, thus dressed, I was much uglier than she could have supposed; in short, she left me in the lurch to run after an arriero."
The American could not refrain from laughing at this singular story.
"It is sad, is it not?" the soldier continued.
"Very sad," John Davis answered, trying in vain to regain his gravity.
"What would you have?" the soldier added gloomily; "the world is only one huge deception. But," he added with a sudden change of his tone, "I fancy our dinner is ready—I smell something which warns me that it is time to take off the pot."
As John Davis had naturally no objection to offer to this resolution of the soldier, the latter at once carried it into effect; the pot was taken off the fire and placed before the two guests, who began such a vigorous attack, that it was soon empty, in spite of its decent capacity.