''General and chief, were I to put my hand upon my heart, and tell you the sacred truth, I should say that I propose for a time to lie quiet and—do nothing.'

''Do nothing—lie quiet! Do you forget that I have paid you already one hundred dollars in advance, and that four hundred more are ready for you when your job is finished?'

''Oh! I know our bargain, General, and I have the greatest confidence in your honor. As for abandoning the enterprise, that I have never dreamed of; but the fact is, my motive in remaining inactive for a season is, that I am certain if I make a move now I shall be undoubtedly checked, perhaps mated.'

''How so?'

''Well—because I find at the monte-table, where I usually try my luck, that there has been for nearly a week a run on odd numbers. Now, I always remark that when there is a run on odds, I always lose in every thing I put my hand to. Stop, then, General, till the tables turn, and when I strike a new vein, you shall hear from your servant, Pedro.'

'Of course I waited, expecting to hear the General burst forth in violent denunciations on his servant, Pedro, or at any rate supposed he would ridicule such an excuse; but I was deceived.

''Well, Pedro, your excuse is not so bad; had you explained yourself at the outset, I should not have been so angry.'

'The Mexicans, it may be remarked, are influenced in the most important and momentous actions of their life, by superstition; this fact is readily explained, when we reflect that the vast majority of them are utterly devoid of the very first rudiments of education, and owe the position they occupy to the fortune of civil war or of the gambling-table. Except in the mere texture and richness of their costume, nothing else in that strange country of the grotesque and picturesque, distinguishes the man of rank from the beggar or the lazzaroni. In every class, in every rank, you meet with the same simplicity, the same vanity, the same prejudices, the same superstition, the same purity of language, the same grace of elocution. The beggar, wrapped in his tatters, displays the self-same exquisite polish of manners, the same courteous bearing, as the senator or the millionaire, in velvet and gold. After all, it must be ever remembered that perhaps the senator was once a beggar, and that ere long the beggar may be a senator. One or two lucky hits at monte, and in a few, short hours, lo! the metamorphosis is complete.'

'You can readily believe that the conversation I had thus overheard interested me greatly; however the promptings of curiosity would have riveted me to my seat, the dictates of prudence warned me to retire as quickly and stealthily as possible.

'With a tread as noiseless as practicable, I therefore turned my footsteps to the main avenue, and keeping an eye always on the spot I had left, I took another seat near the main entrance. Not much more than a quarter of an hour could have elapsed, when along the same path I had myself taken, I saw two men approaching. One of them was a tall and very handsome man; he flourished in his hand a cane with massive gold head, and walked with a military air, in fact, with the air of a hero and a conqueror; perfectly well-dressed, in the latest European fashion; indeed, had it not been for the immense profusion of gold chain, and sparkling rings upon his fingers, instead of gloves, you might have almost mistaken him for a gentleman. His companion presented the most striking contrast. His face, shaded by a torn, slouched hat, was dirty and coffee-colored. Of short stature, slight build, and round-shouldered, he followed his master, with an humble, abject look, and from his tread, you would almost have imagined that he was anxious not to leave any track behind, of his footsteps on the gravel walk. A velvet cloak, so worn and patched that a lazzaroni would only have yielded to the temptation of stealing it, from a love of art and not from any hope of its being of any earthly use to him, was thrown across his shoulders, beneath which appeared pantaloons ornamented on the outer seam of each leg with long-shanked brass buttons, covered with verdigris, and boots of Spanish leather, outrageously dilapidated.