"May I ask what countryman you are?" continued the old gentleman.
"What countryman? An American, of course!"
"An American?"
"_Un Americano_," repeated I, for we were conversing in Spanish.
"_Y son esos Americanos_?" (And are these Americans?) quickly demanded
my new acquaintance.
"_Si, Senor_," replied I.
"_Carrambo_!" shouted the Spaniard, with a sudden leap, his eyes almost
starting from their sockets.
"I should say, not exactly Americans," I added. "Many of them are
Irish, and French, and Germans, and Swedes, and Swiss; yet they are all
Americans now."
But the Mexican did not stay to hear my explanation. After recovering
from the first shock of surprise, he had bounded through the grove; and
with a wave of his hand, and the ejaculation "_Esperate_!" (wait!)
disappeared among the plantains. The men, who had gathered around the
lower end of the basin, burst out into a roar of laughter, which I did
not attempt to repress. The look of terrified astonishment of the old
Don had been too much for my own gravity, and I could not help being
amused at the conversation that ensued among the soldiers. They were at
some distance, yet I could overhear their remarks.
"That Mexikin's an unhospitable cuss!" muttered Lincoln, with an
expression of contempt.
"He might av axed the captain to dhrink, after savin' such a pair of
illigant craythers," said Chane.
"Sorra dhrap's in the house, Murt; the place looks dry," remarked
another son of the Green Isle.
"Och! an' it's a beautiful cage, anyhow," returned Chane; "and beautiful
birds in it, too. It puts me in mind of ould Dimmerary; but there we
had the liquor, the raal rum--oshins of it, alanna!"
"That 'ere chap's a greelye, I strongly 'spect," whispered one, a
regular down-east Yankee.
"A what?" asked his companion.
"Why, a greelye--one o' them 'ere Mexikin robbers."
"Arrah, now! did yez see the rid sash?" inquired an Irishman.
"Thim's captin's," suggested the Yankee. "He's a captin or a kurnel;
I'll bet high on that."
"What did he say, Nath, as he was running off?"
"I don't know 'zactly--somethin' that sounded mighty like 'spearin' on
us."
"He's a lanzeer then, by jingo!"
"He had better try on his spearin'," said another; "there's shootin'
before spearin'--mighty good ground, too, behind this hyur painted
wall."
"The old fellow was mighty frindly at first; what got into him, anyhow?"
"Raoul says he offered to give the captain his house and all the
furnishin's."
"Och, mother o' Moses! and thim illigant girls, too!"
"Ov coorse."
"By my sowl! an' if I was the captain, I'd take him at his word, and
lave off fightin' intirely."
"It _is_ delf," said a soldier, referring to the material of which the
parapet was constructed.
"No, it ain't."
"It's chaney, then."
"No, nor chaney either."
"Well, what is it?"
"It's only a stone wall painted, you greenhorn!"
"Stone-thunder! it's solid delf, I say."
"Try it with your bayonet, Jim."
_Crick_--_crick_--_crick_--_crinell_! reached my ears. Turning round, I
saw that one of the men had commenced breaking off the japanned work of
the parapet with his bayonet.
"Stop that!" I shouted to the man.
The remark of Chane that followed, although uttered _sotto voce_, I
could distinctly hear. It was sufficiently amusing.
"The captain don't want yez to destroy what'll be his own some day, when
he marries one of thim young Dons. Here comes the owld one, and, by the
powers! he's got a big paper; he's goin' to make over the property!"
Laughing, I looked round, and saw that the Don was returning, sure
enough. He hurried up, holding out a large sheet of parchment.
"Well, Senor, what's this?" I inquired.
"_No soy Mexicano--soy Espanol_!" (I am no Mexican--I am a Spaniard),
said he, with the expression of a true hidalgo.
Casting my eye carelessly over the document, I perceived that it was a
_safeguard_ from the Spanish consul at Vera Cruz, certifying that the
bearer, Don Cosme Rosales, was a native of Spain.
"Senor Rosales," said I, returning the paper, "this was not necessary.
The interesting circumstances under which we have met should have
secured you good treatment, even were you a Mexican and we the
barbarians we have been represented. We have come to make war, not with
peaceful citizens, but with a rabble soldiery."
"_Es verdad_ (Indeed). You are wet, Senor? you are hungry?"