At last Carmen cried out, “Come, Tonio, see if you have not a better aim than the rest of us.”
Tonio stepped boldly into the middle of the room and Carmen bandaged his eyes, turned him round and gave him the stick. Tonio knew what was in that boat, and he was bound to get it out if he could, so he struck out with a kind of sideways sweep and struck the ship whack on the prow!
[p 179]
It was made of earthenware on purpose so it would break easily, and the moment Tonio struck it there was a crashing sound, and then a perfect rain of cakes and candies, and bananas, and oranges, and peanuts, and other goodies which fell all over the floor, and it wasn’t two minutes before every one in the room had his mouth full and both hands sticky.
Doña Teresa and Pancho watched the fun for a while, and then Doña Teresa whispered to Pancho: “My angel, when did you eat last? You look hungry.”
Pancho at that very moment had his mouth full of banana, but he managed to say: “Last night I had some tortillas. I have had nothing since until now.”
“Bless my soul!” cried Doña Teresa. “Come home with me at once. Thanks be to the Holy Virgin, you’ll share the turkey with us after all! I had to cook him because we couldn’t catch the rooster! Tell the Twins and come right along.”
III
So while the guitars were tinkling and the rest of the people were still singing and dancing and having the merriest kind of a merry Christmas, Pancho and his family said good-night politely to Señor Fernandez and his wife and slipped quietly away to the little adobe hut under the fig tree.