"It is the best thing you can do, my sons," responded the good woman.
The soldiers approached, and with kindly attention assisted her to alight.
Pedro found some acquaintances in the tavern who immediately asked him to drink with them. He did not wait to be urged, and having drank said to them:
"It is my turn now, and since I have accepted your treat, you, my friends, and these gentlemen, whom I know only to serve, will do me the favor to drink a small glass of anisete to my health."
"Uncle Pedro," said a young muleteer of Dos-Hermanas, "tell us a story; and I in the mean while will take care to keep your glass filled so that your throat don't get dry."
"Ah me!" exclaimed Aunt Maria, who after having drank her little glass of anisette [Footnote 88] had seated herself upon some bags of wheat, "have mercy on us, for if Pedro lets loose his boneless member, we shall not get back to our place to-night, at least, not without the miracle of Joshua."
[Footnote 88: Liquor distilled from anise-seed.]
"There is no danger, Maria," answered Pedro, "but you will sit on those sacks till the corn sprouts."
"Is it true, Uncle Pedro, what my mother says," asked the muleteer, "that in old times, when you were young, you were a lover of Maria's?"
"It is indeed, and I feel honored in saying it," answered Uncle Pedro.