then struck out with the stick. But she didn't come anywhere near the
pinata. Instead she nearly cracked Jose's head!
Everybody laughed, and then it was Lupito's turn. Lupito was a great man
at roping bulls, or breaking wild horses, but he couldn't hit the boat
with his eyes covered any better than Carmen had.
Then Jose tried. He struck the pinata--but it was only a love-pat. The
boat swung back and forth a little, but not a thing dropped overboard.
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!
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.
Dona Teresa and Pancho watched the fun for a while, and then Dona 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 Dona 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."
[Illustration]
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 Senor Fernandez and
his wife and slipped quietly away to the little adobe hut under the fig
tree.
When they were inside their little home once more, Dona Teresa made a
fire in the brasero and heated some of the turkey for Pancho, and while
he ate, Tonio and Tita stood on each side of their one chair, in which
he sat, and listened with their eyes and mouths both while their father
told about his adventures as a Soldier of the Revolution. And then they
told him all about the night they were lost, and the secret meeting, and
he was so astonished that he could hardly believe they had not dreamed
it until Tita told him just what the Tall Man had said, and what Pedro
had said, and about the pebble that rolled down.
Then he said, "Have you told any one about this?"
And Dona Teresa answered proudly, "Not a soul. Not even the priest."
"You've done well, then," Pancho said. "The Tall Man punishes those who
spoil his plans by talking of them. He has raised an army of two
thousand men in such ways. We enlisted for only four months, and in that
time we turned the region to the south of us altogether into the hands
of the Revolutionists. I intended to return home at the end of the four
months, but finally stayed a month more to finish the campaign."
"I knew you would come some time, my angel," cried Dona Teresa. "I have
prayed every day before the Virgin for your safe return."
"As God wills it," Pancho answered soberly. "I meant at any rate to
strike my blow for freedom, and to try to make things better for us
all."
"Well, have you?" asked Dona Teresa.
Pancho scratched his head with the old puzzled expression on his face.
"I don't know," he said at last. "Things are not right as they are,--I
know that,--and they never will be right if no one ever complains or
protests or makes any fuss about it. And I know, too, that these
uprisings never will stop until Mexico is better governed, and poor
people have the chance they long for and do not know how to get for
themselves. It is something just to keep things stirred up. Perhaps some
time Tonio here can think out what ought to be done. He may even be a
great general some day."
"Heaven forbid!" cried Dona Teresa. She almost upset Pancho's dish, she
was so emphatic. "There has been enough of going to war in this family!"
"Well," said Pancho, "war isn't very pleasant. I've seen enough of it to
know that: but peace isn't very pleasant either, when your life is
without hope and you must live like the animals--if you live at all."
"Now that I have you at home again, I, for one, am quite content," said
Dona Teresa; and then she went to unroll the mats and put the children
to bed.
They were so tired that they went to sleep in their corner in no time at
all, and when she had snuffed the candles before the Virgin, Dona Teresa
came back to Pancho and sat with him beside the embers still glowing in
the brasero.
She told him everything that had happened on the hacienda while he was
away, and Pancho told her all the strange sights he had seen, and the
new things he had learned, and at last he said:--
"Anyway, I've made up my mind that Tonio shall have more learning than
he can get on this hacienda, though I don't know yet how it can be
brought about. Somehow children must know more than their parents if
things are ever to be better for the poor people of Mexico."
And Dona Teresa answered, "Well, anyway, we have each other and the
Twins, so let's take comfort in that, right now, even if there are many
things in the world that can't be set right yet awhile."
Just then the first streak of dawn showed red over the eastern hills.
Out in the fig tree the red rooster shook himself and crowed, and to
Pancho, as he stretched himself on his own hard bed in his own poor
little home once more, it sounded exactly as if he said,
"Cock-a-doodle-do-oo.
We're glad to see you-oo-oo."
[25] Pah-sah'dah.
[26] Pin-yah'tah.
[Illustration]
+--------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| Transcriber's note: |
| |
| Inconsistent hyphenation (beehives/bee-hives, gatekeeper/ |
| gate-keeper) has been retained. The marker for footnote [9] |
| is not present in the original and its location has been |
| inferred. |
| |
+--------------------------------------------------------------+