He seated
himself by the table, smiled, took a glass of liquor, drank part of
it, smiled again, and handed it to the countryman. The latter
seeing himself treated in this friendly manner by a caballero, was
evidently much flattered, took off his hat to the newcomer, and
drank, as did the woman also. The glass was filled, and refilled,
till they became yet more intoxicated. I did not hear the young
man say a word: he appeared a passive automaton. The Gypsies,
however, spoke for him, and were profuse of compliments. It was
now proposed that the caballero should settle the dispute; a long
and noisy conversation ensued, the young man looking vacantly on:
the strange people had no money, and had already run up another
bill at a wine-house to which they had retired. At last it was
proposed, as if by the young man, that the Gypsy should purchase
his own mule for two dollars, and forgive the strangers the
reckoning of the preceding night. To this they agreed, being
apparently stultified with the liquor, and the money being paid to
them in the presence of witnesses, they thanked the friendly
mediator, and reeled away.
Before they left the town that night, they had contrived to spend
the entire two dollars, and the woman, who first recovered her
senses, was bitterly lamenting that they had permitted themselves
to be despoiled so cheaply of a PRENDA TAN PRECIOSA, as was the
donkey.
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