W^v'm riHE CRUISE lAND Y^CHT OF TUB UNIVEaBITY ^&47F0K^ ^ I ~^^ M 1 C-)V"!H-^'''"'- V'^"%» THE Cruise of a Land-Yacht BY SYLVESTER BAXTER Illustvatrt lui L. J. BRIDGMAN 3 BOSTON LITILE, BROWN, AND COMPANY 1891 Copyright, 1890, SvLVliSll£R BaXTBK. :5 58 CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. TALKING IT OVER. 1 CHAPTER II. THE ARIADNE. ........ 8 CHAPTER HI. UNDER WAY. 25 CHAPTER IV. THE FIRST OF THE CRUISE BY DAYLIGHT. ..... 34 CHAPTER V. IN THE HEART OF THE CONTINENT. 43 CHAPTER VI. OVER PRAIRIES AND PLAINS 52 CHAPTER VII. WITH PROW TURNED SOUTHWARD. ....... 67 CHAPTER VIII. ON THE FRONTIER, TO AND FRO. ...... 82 CHAPTER IX. IN A FOREIGN LAND 96 M6GV8JJG CHAPTER X. ACROSS THE TROPIC OF CANCER. . ..... 105 CHAPTER XI. A SUMMER AFTERNOON IN JANUARY 119 CHAPTER XII. IN THE CITY OF THE AZTECS 137 CHAPTER XIII. RIIIING HORSEBACK IN THE SUBURBS OF MEXICO 156 CHAPTER XIV. FROM HARRY MARSDEN IN MEXICO TO DAN MATTHEWS IN BOSTON. 177 CHAPTER X\'. EXTRACTS FROM THE LOC OF THE ARIADNK 194 CHAPTER XVI. TREASURE-YIELDING GUANAJUATO AND SAINT LOUIS OF THE TREASURE. ...... 210 CHAPTER XVII. DOWN AMONG TROPICAL MARVELS 2-22 CHAPTER XVIII. A VISIT TO ANCIENT RUINS. — -AT TAMPUO 242 CHAPTER XIX. THE BRIDGE OF GOD 257 The Cruisp] of a Land -Yacht. CHAPTER I. T A L K I N C; IT OVER. ARRY, how would you like to go off ou a good yafhting-tri]) ? " It was Hany's father who asked tlie question. They had just sat down to dinner in their eosy dining-room on Newl)ury street, Boston : Mr. and Mrs. Marsden and their son Harry. Harry's eyes sparkled and his face flushed eagerly. " Like to go a-yachting? There's only one way I'd answer a question like that, you know ! But how — " " A yachting trip at this time of year ! " Interposed his mother. " Why, what can you mean ? " Mr. Marsden leaned hack and smiled, enjoying the puzzled ex- pressions of his wife and son. In Harry's eyes was to lie seen a mingling of hoi)e and incredulity. Harry had a passion for the water, and he owned with liis friend Dan Matthews, a fine cat-l»oat which they kept at City Point and cruised ahout the harhor in 2 THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. nearly all summer. But uoav it was January, and the Brynhilda was lying- in Lawley's yard all covered over with boards and canvas. " Your brother Lemuel was in town to see me at the office this mornincr," said Mr. Marsden, addressing his wife. " He is going Soutli on a long yachting-trip, and he would like to take Harry along. I told liun I would see what you thought about it." " Well, if the weather keeps on like this, there will be little need of going South. Yachting Avill be quite in order along the New England coast and I wonder Harry and Dan haven't put the Bryn- hilda into commission before this," said Mrs. Marsden laughingly, and she looked toward the open window at the end of the room. The air was soft and warm outside, and since the beginning of what ought to be winter there had been scarcely any snow or ice. " Uncle Lem is a white man ! " exclaimed Harry, enthusiastically. " I shoidd hope so," remarked Mrs. Marsden, seriously. " He is your mother's own brother ! " Mr. Marsden laughed. "Harry picked that up from Eliot. 'A white man ' is his pet designation for any person whom he ad- mii'es." •• Yes, and the other day when I told him what Mrs. Nelson had (lone for the manual training school at the North End he said xlic was a regular wliitc man ! " said Harry. " Well, Harry is a good sailor, and Lemuel will find him very useful about the yacht," remarked his mother. "■ I only wish Dan were going, too," said Harry. " Dan will have to be content with your letters this time." re- plied his father. " By the way, Eliot is going along, tiuiugli." " Good cnoiiL-h ! ■■ .M-icd Ilarrv. •• Hut Iic'll lu' awfully seasick," THK CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. 6 he reflected, remembering- his ecmsin's dismal ('.\])(Micii(e whei! he and Dan took liim down to Marhlehcad one day in the Brvnliikla. " Oh ! I'm sure lie won't i)e tliis trip," said Mi. .Mars(h"n, and he smiled again, mysteriously. "Why, if Uncle Lem is going to the West Tn.lies — or is it Bermuda, perhaps? — Ehot would get turned inside out before we got there ! " excdainied Harry. "The West Indies?" eried Mrs. Marsden in alarm. " Mereiful heavens, I forgot all about Cape Hatteras ! You'd have to weather it in midwinter and the chances are you'd all get wrecked. It's bad enough for steamers, but in a yacht — or is it a steam-yacht that Lemuel has now? I never heard anything about it before." "Yes, I suppose it might be called a steam-yacht," replied her husband. " Steam is the motive power. It's a brand new craft, just built specially to his order." " Well, I'm sorry, but if he's going to the West Indies he must pass Hatteras, and for all I'm accustomed to have Harry on the water all summer, it would worry me nearly to death to think of him exposed to the danger of the perpetual winter storms that rage in that region. No, I can never consent to Harry's going, ami we may as well give up thinkhig of it Hrst as last. For mv part I don't see what ever could have jiut the idea into Lemuel's lu^ul. He is always so sensible. But to run a risk like that ! No, Harrv, you can't go ! " Harry's face grew long. " But, he is not going to the West Indies, nor Bermuda, nor past Hatteras," said his father. "He is going to Mexico." Harry brightened up instantly on perceiving ids fatiier's reassui- 4. THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. ing- Umt, l)nt did not yet recover by a point or two, to speak nauti- cally, the full confidence of his expectation, as he asked doubtfully : " But how could he get to Mexico without going first to the West Indies, or even past Hatteras ? " " Why, simply because he is not going by sea at all ; he is going by land ! " "By land? But you said it was a yachting trip ! "' said Harry, more puzzled than ever. " And you just spoke of the yacht, too," added Mrs. Marsden. " I'm sure I don't understand what you can mean ! " " To be sure I did ! But it is a land-yacht." And Mr. Marsden leaned back and laughed heartily. " A land-yacht? Who ever heard of such a tiling '.' " exclaimed his wife, still mystified. Harry had now fully recovered the joyful mood that his father had at first roused in bun and his bright young eyes were dancing with excitement and the keenest curiosity. " But what kind of a thing is a land-yacht, father ? I thought I was well posted in yacht- ing, but this is the first time I ever heard of that sort of a craft ! " "You never did? Why, the woods are full of Via! The woods, and plains, and mountams, and railroad yards ! The fieet of land-yachts in this country is something enormous." " Oh I you mean a railroad car ! " said the boy. " Yes, a private car." " But what do you mean by calling such a thing a yacht ? " asked Mrs. Marsden. " I thought a yacht was sonu>thing tliat be- longed only in the wnUn; like a fish. A laiid-lisli would lie a (pieer sort of thing in natural history ! ' THE CRUISE OF A I.AND-YAOHT. I) "1 don't know iil)out that," replied her Imshand. "Haven't you ever heard al)oiit that strange kind of fish in Brazilian rivers that, at certain seasons comes out of the water, climbs trees, and builds its nest in them? Just as there are sea-molluscs and land- molluscs, sea-crustaceans and land-crustaceans, so the genus Yavld has its water-species and land-species There's an ice-yacht for instance ! " •' But an ice-yacht has a inast and sails, " remarked Harry. " Neither a mast nor sails are essentials for a yacht, as you well know," explained his father. " There are steam-yachts that have neither. A yacht is a craft designed for pleasiu'e, that cruises about wherever its owner or navigator chooses, stopping or gf)ing from place to jjlace to suit his will. A private car on a railroad answers to that description, and is, to all intents and purposes, a yacht. It makes no difference whether a yacht is on wheels, and runs on a track, or has a keel and floats in the water Some time in the next century, or perhaps before the present one expires, if Mr. De Bausset succeeds in getting anybody to take hold of his wonderful inven- tion, probably the favorite form of pleasure-navigation vnW. be yacht- ing in the air." "I understand tiow," said his wife, "and for my part 1 would prefer a land-yacht to a sea one. Now tell luf about L'-muel's plans." " As I was saying, he has just had a land-yacht, or private car, built. It was designed to suit his ideas, and according to what he tells me aboat it, it must be a l)e:iuty. He is going to Mexico on his first trip and inteads to s]);'nd tiie winter there. ^'ou know he dislikes our nortiiern winter exceedin<>lv. Madelaine is <)-oin<>' with THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. liim and the rest of the party will be made up of young- folks ; Florence, of course — and Mabel Sampson has been invited, so that Florence will Ikuc a companion near her own age ; Eliot Sampson goes along, as you have already heard, and finally there comes Harry, if we decide that he can g'<>- ' Harry turned towards his mother with a look so imjjloring that she laughed as she said, " Well, now that Hatteras is out of the way — " Glancmg at her son's pale face she remembered what a picture of youthful health he had been at the end of the j)revious summer, when he began his studies again, brown as an Indian, lithe and strong as a colt. — " Yon know the Doctor has been saying that it would not do for him to study any more this year — that is, n(jt until the fall term begins — and that a change of climate wouhl be the best thing for him. And we were talking of sending him to Florida. So tliis is really just the opportunity." Harry Marsden was seventeen years old. He Avas in what was to have been liis last year in the English High School and the next aiitmun he was to enter the Institute of Technology. But this ill- ness had disarranged these plans. Harry's attack of the " Grippe," although it had not seemed severe at the thne, had left him in such a condition that he could not apply himself to study \\'ithout serious exhaustion. He had been chafing inider this restraint and worrying Ijecause the other boys would pass him by, a year ahead. There was one consolation though, enough of ins coiiipanions were " in the same boat " to assure him against lonesonieuess, and some of tiie best lioys in the class ahead had also been set ])ack by the e|)i(leinic. so that the next year they wouhl, at least, not be any farther aliead of him. Dan, however, had escaped ami would enter the Instinte THE CRUISE OK A LAND-YACHT. I ahead of him. That was hard, when they had so long been phm- ning- what they woukl do together there, but then he knew that Dan would not phmie hmiself on that account, and Ilariv consoh'd him- self that he could look to his friend to " show him the ropes " wlicn he got there hmiself. And now this chance for travel in a far and strange country had come and Harry began to be glad that he had had the '' Grippe " after all ; what he would learn would l)e worth giving a year of school for, he thought. " Why Harry, you look so well at this moment that I don't be- Keve there is any need of going away for your health at all," re- marked his father, tempted to tease hun a bit. " You may as wiJl go back to school to-morrow." He smiled at the shade of dismay that came over the boy's face and continued, " But I think that if we decided that way the disappointment miglit set you back so that we would have to let you go after all." " But are n't you a bit disappointed, Harry, that it is to be a cruise in a land-yacht, instead of by sea ? " asked his mother. " Not at all," he responded. " It 's about time I saw something more of the land. You know I have never been beyond New York yet. The West Indies will keep a while." So it was settled that Harry should go. " When does Lemuel's yacht saU? — or roll — I suppose I ought to say," asked JNIrs. Marsden. " Let's see. To-day is Saturday. A week from next Tuesday, which will make it January 4 ; from the New York & New Eng- land station \\'ith the Washington Express. CHAPTER II. THE ARIADNE, H fARRY MARSDEN'S uncle, Mr. Lemuel Brinkley, was a very wealthy gentleman. He had Avithdi-awn from active business pursuits on reaching middle life, and very sensibly had determmed to make the most of his remain- ing years in following the lines of study and observation that most interested him, besides making the best use of his money in behalf of his fellow men that his kmdlv heart might prompt and his sagacious mind suggest. He was very fond of travel and a favorite project of his was to see all the inter- esting portions of North America that he could ivacli convcniciitlv by railway. To this end he had had his new car built. " In that way T can travel under tlic most favorable couditidiis." he saiineiit. But at my age, however, I Had that thi- more comfortable the conditions under which 1 see things, and the less I am distracted by such annoyances as moscjuitoes, flies, fleas, etc., uucomfV)rtable beds and badly-cooked, indigestible food, the more I enjoy what I see and the more I learn from it." Mr. Brinkley had been to Mexico once before with a party of railway directors but the most of them had been in so gi-eat a hurry to get back to their business that he had l)een able to get but tan- taUzing glimpses of the country, and so he determined to go again at the first good opportunity and enjoy it more thoroughly- In his various journeys to different parts of the country, Mr. Brinkley had often made use of private cars. He had been intending to buy one, but his experience had shown huu that certain improvements might be made in design and construction that would materially increase comfort while traveling. He therefore decided to have a car budt for himself according to his own ideas. The party which he made up for the first voyage was very pleas- antly composed. Mrs. Brinkley was as fond of travel as he was. His daughter Florence, recently through school, was going along for her first taste of extended travel. His nephew, Ehot Sampson, was a young civil engineer, about 27 years old, a graduate of the Institute of Technology, and had spent somethmg Hke three years m Mexico engaged in railroad work. He was familiar with the coimtry and the Spanish language. His knowledge of the points of interest, of the things most worth seeing and of the best means of seeing them, would make him an invalual)le member of the party. EHot's sister, Mabel, was only a year or two older than Florence, and had traveled extensively, both in Europe and in our own coun- 10 THE CRUISE OF A LAXD-YACHT. try. Harry and Florence would thus each have sympathetic coni- pani(jns. Mr. Brinkley was deUghted with the idea that the young l)eo])le were all going. He enjoyed their enjoyment of things, as much as he did the seeing of the same things himself. Their youthful enthusiasm, their hearty appreciation of novelties, and their lun-eserved expressions of interest and enthusiasm, gave him the feeling that he himself was also looking at the world with young eyes. Harry had a strong liking for his cousin Eliot, and the two -were together a large portion of the time during the days before the date of their departure, helping each other m theii- preparations. Most of the help, to be sure, was rendered by Ehot, who advised Harry what he had better take or not take. " You won 't need any umbrella, for one thing, " said he, " foi- we shan 't be trouliled by any rain in that country. We may as well take our heavy over- coats to wear the first three or four days if it happens to be cold weather when we want to get off the train and take a constitutional. l)ut at the boundary we had better send them back by express. You will want both thick clothing and thin clothing, for in Mexico it is possible to change climate three or four times in the course of a day's journey by rail, according to tlu' changes in our height above the sea-level. Sometiuu's we may start olV in the nionnng shivering in our thick clothes, with zarapcs aliout nur sluiuldiTs. and inside of a couple o! hours we may be wisliiug we liad uotliiug on but gossamer undershirts! Take along a coujilc of suits of old clothes, and don 't wear any starched shirts on the train. Vou wdi find soft flannel shirts most comfortable under ordinary conou," replied her husband, but we want to give this other young sailor here, Harry's friend, a good idea of our yacht first." The dining-room was somewhat larger than the parlor and was furnished in a correspondingly simple but artistic style. At one end was a sideboard, and at the other was an upright piano. Over the table there was a cluster of low-hanging electric lights, with a large shade of fringed silk. " I have finished this part in cherry, which gives the room a darker, subdued effect, which is appropriate for a dining-room, where it seems to increase the sociabihty of a meal by concentrating the light on the table. But with that cen- tral cluster raised to the ceiling, and vnth other various brackets, we can make the room light enough when we gather here for a musical evening, or any other purpose. Now we will keep on to the 'bows' and take a look at the ' galley ' and ' forecastle,' as you nautical young fellows would say." As they passed forward an appetizing whiff stnu'k their nostrils. On the left, next to the dining-room, was the pantry and china-clos- et, and beyond that the kitchen, where they caught a glimi)se of a round-faced colored man, almost as black as the kettles Ix'lorc him, busy before a range, assisted by a spry boy of the same \n\v. "Well Sam," remarked Mr. Brinkley, "it smells as if there were no danger of your starving us ! " "I'm "oin' to do tli' best I kin, sail!" replied the cook, his THE CUUISE OF A LAXD-YACHT. 21 good-natured face illuminated with a doulile row of oloainino- large and regular teeth. -rveno (h)ul)t of that, Sam. Oidy of your good fare." " I '11 try not to, sah ! " respoi fully. "■ So this is your boy Peter," ; ley, patting the little fellow's woo seems to be taking hold well. Peter?" " Foh'teen sab ! " replied the hid. looKuig n[i with merry eyes and duplicating his father's grin. "You'll find that boy good 's a monkey-show sometimes; be jess' know's how to cut up shines ! " said Sam. "Well, I expect Harry and Eliot will give him a chance to let himself out once in a while," laughed Mr. Brinkley. " It seems a wonder, boys," he continued, turning to the young men, " how much can be done in a little place like this kitchen. But everytbing is handy, and the cook can lay his bands on almost anything he wants without stirring. Well, we are almost at the entl of the ship ! Here, next the kitchen, is the heater for the car. We shall hardly need that five or six days hence. Here on the otlier side are the berths for our ' crew ' arranged like those in a regular Pullman, upper and lower. Then we have room for several trunks, vou see, and here in the corner is one of the most important things on l)oard." Fenced off behind a railing some machinery was running in a very lively manner, and Harry recognized the familiar smooth hum ol an electric dynamo. 22 THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. " Where do you get yoi"' motive power for the dynamo, Uncle Lemuel ? " he asked. " From that little enoine that seems to be a part of it. It is a powerful little fellow ! It runs by ])etroleam, which is converted into gas and explodes by an electric spark. From the dynamo the electricity goes into a storage-battery, or accumulator. This gives an extra supply sufficient to last some little tune when the engine is not running. Here is still another contrivance. You see that little machine beside the dynamo? That is an air compressor, and the compressed air is forced into a tank underneath the floor. The pressure from that air is what makes the water run -with such force without pumping, as we have just seen. Oh ! I must tell you that this electricity serves another very useful jnirpose for us, besides liohtiu"-. By means of a motor, it runs a revolving fan-blower that brings in a plentiful supply of fresh air when needed. This air supply is conducted in pipes to any part of the car, when needed. I have found that one of the greatest discomforts of railway travel comes from the stagnation of the aii- in a car when it is not in mo- tion ; particularly at night when it is stopping over at any jilacc. or both day and night in making a stay anywhere. Sometmies I have felt almost stifled. That is the reason Avhy most people want to leave their car at once when they get anywlicic But with tliis simple convenience, if we feel the need of niorc an- at iiiglit. all we have to do is just to open the tube at our bedside ; that makes an elec- tric connection, sets the fan in motion, and \vc breathe fresh an- at once." Mr. Brinkley looked at his wat.h. - Wc start in about iive minutes," he said. " Well, wc have seen about everything now. THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. 23 There is considerable that we cannot see ; we have to make use of all available space on a car like this. So we have boxes underneath for storing provisions ; water-tanks, oil-tanks, etc., in between the flooring. And lockers everywhere." " All that weight low down is so much l)allast in the hold, I sup- pose," remarked Harrv. " Yes, it gives increased stability, and makes the car run smoothly. Now boys, we will go back 'aft.' " Tile others were still in the dining-room. " Just a sip of choco- late for us, and then ' All ashore who are going ashore ! ' " said Mr. Brinkley. A moment of embraces, kisses, and farewell words ; then all hastened to the rear door. "All aboard for Philadelphia, Balti- more, Washington!" called the conductor; — "and Mexico!" he added, with a friendly smile at the group on the rear platform. The stay-at-homes stepped off the car. George the porter turned down the hinged extensions that enlarged the jjlatform on either side over the steps, and then closed the gates, converting the place into a sort of balcony for a safe and pleasant outlook ; the locomotive bell started its dejiarting clangor, slow and regular, and the train began to move. A waving of handkerchiefs from both sides, and Dan, sud- denly thrusting his hand down into his f)vercoat pocket, shouted in dismay : " Oh ! I forgot ! " Pulling out a flat jiackage he rushed forward and handed it to his friend on the car: "Here Harry, take this along; and bring it back full ! " "Harry seized it and then watciied the scene behind him. Tears came into his eyes as he saw his parents standing there, wav- ing their farewells, and diminishing as the train receded. Then, as 24 THE CRUISE OF A LAND- YACHT. lie lost them from sight he stepped inside and opened the package. It was a large blank-book, nicely bound. On the fly-leaf was inscribed, " Harry Marsden, from his friend and shij^mate, Dan Matthews. " Next came a title-page of comical design from Dan's own hand. Dan was exceptionally good at caricature, and he had depictured Harry in the course of his journey in a series of adven- tures and ridiculous mishaps. Eliot, who was standing by, laughed heartily at sight of it. The title read : " Log of the Ariadne." CHAPTER III. UNDER WAY. "/^FF at last!" cried Florence, and jnnipin<>' up gleefully, she ^"^^ seized Mabel and began to twirl, Avith a " tra-la-hi-la-la- la-la ! " until a lurch ot' the now rapidly-rushing- train, as if roiiiidcd a curve, threw them off their balance and against a sofa, where they lay l)ack laughing as girls can laugh. George ai)peared at the door with the words, '• Su])per is leady, sir ! " Seated at the tal)le with his friends, under the cheery light, and enjoying a nice, home-like meal, Harry could hardly realize that he was on a train, speeding along s^nftly. Tliere was but a sul)- dued noise and a slight nu)tiou — a gentle tremor and no johing — the heavy car glided along so smoothly. '• We are going to liavi' suppers and old-fashioned iiiid-ilav dinners, and light breakfasts, while traveling," said Mr. I?iiidvley. "We niu.st take care not to make our meals too clalioratc; too many travelers commit the error of eating nu)re than they can digest, with then- limited opportunities for exercise. With meals served the way Sam knows how to serve them, we shall enjoy sim- plicity, and get variety from day to day." They were all tired after their linal jucparations, and after supper Mr. Brinkley said to his nephews : "Now boys, vou can settle yourselves for the journey. I think 26 THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. you will like to take up your quarters here in the dining-room. These sofas at this end will be your beds at night. This part is as o-ood as a separate room when these curtains are drawn. The sofas in the parlor can l)e made into beds also, but I think you will like this l)etter, for you have the bathroom adjoining, winch will answer all the purposes of a private toilet-room for you two." " Even better," said Eliot. "Yes, indeed! How jolly that will l)e ! " eried Harry, with joyous enthusiasm. "Here are lockers and drawers for your clothing. You can keep a good part of your things here, and it will be mucli liandier than going to trunks and bags. This car is going to l)e our liome for more than three nu)nths the greater part of the time, and we Avant to have everything as home-like as possible." Shortly after nine o'clock, a yawn from Harry brought a symjia- thetic rcsjionsc in kind from Eliot, followed by a laugh and a sug- oestion of l>cd-time. They found everything made ready for the night by the deft hands of George : nice wide l)eds, with blankets turned down at an angle inviting repose, in tin- jjlacc of the sofas of half the brcadtli they had seen in their place. "Please put your shoes just outside the curtains, and you wdl iind them in tlic nioiiiing all shining like Sam's face." said George, bidding them gooil night. Eliot, being a veteran traveler, was drawing the long, regular breaths of sleep in less than a minute after his head touched the l)illow, while Hurry was ke|)t awake by the novelty of the situation. But the monotonous noise of the train, and the in.'cssant tremor, had the elfect of a lullahv. to wl.o.e ...oil. in- intluen.es he soon 'KXIISE OF A LAND-YACHT. 27 yielded. When the train stojjped. however, lie awoUe at once, as he also did at any marked (diani;e in the chaiaeter oF the noise, as when passino- over a lont;- hridge with a hollow, rninl)lin<>- sound. A sleeper almost always thus awakes at the cessation of accustomed sounds, or the occurrence of new ones, until his unconscious sense of hearing- heconies used to it, as when a clock in the room st()])s ticking, or when it strikes the hours. When Harry awoke at such times, at first he could not remember where he was, and fancied himself in bed at home, until he gradually recalled the events of the day before. Then he would lift the curtain of the window dose to his head, and peer curiously out through the clear plate glass for a nu)ment. One time he would note the shadowy trees and bushes flitting swiftly, dmily by, and dark streams under the stars slip- ping away for a brief space through the bare, winter landscape, snowless and iceless. Again he woidd see the bright whiteness of the electric lights of some large town, and while the train was stand- ing motionless at a station the cessation of the constant, uniform .sounds would make tiie noises made by the luinging of baggage, the rattling of trucks over the station ])latform, the hurry of feet out- side, the cries and signals of train men, all the more striking in relief against the silence. All trifles like these had the fascination of a new experience for the young traveler, and therefore stamped themselves vividly upon his keen senses ; but in two or three days more he would cease to note them, and would slee}» as souiullv through them all as his cousin was sleeping that night. It Avas far into the nigiit when he was arou.sed l)y an unusual clanking and uncou})ling of cars, a puffing of locomotives, a switch- ing to and fro, a brief interval of rumbling somehow different from 28 THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. the sound of j^'oiny over a l)ndoe, and then sik'nee perhaps for a minute, foUowed by a sh)wlY recurrent thnuip swish, thiunp swish, thump swish of heavy niaehinery. He eouhl see nothing through the A\indow, for tlie ear lay ehjse to some wall, or other opaque object. So he could not forl)ear turning on the light at his side, slipping on his trousers and coat over his night-shirt, wrapping him- self in his ulster, and thus, half-dressed, gohig out onto the rear platform to look. He saw an expanse of water behind, with a foaming, undulating track of vague whiteness dividing the darlc surface. He knew that they must be crossing the Hudson, on the great railway ferryboat, from Fishkill to Newberg, for he had been closely studying the maps of the route for several days. He stepped down to the deck and looked around. The train was divided into two sections, occupying the double track on the boat. Harry looked up at the tall smokestack, with a trail of black streaming- out from the toji and sinking slowly down towards the water in tin- (juiet air. Then he looked off and saw the huge, dark bulks of the grand highlands of the Hudson looming up from the river, in- distinguishable from their reflections below. At last, after peer- ing into tlie engine-room for a moment, and watrhing the great machinery do its powerful work, he went softly back into the car and was soon asleep again. It was some hours before dayiight wlien tlie train came to a sto]> which lasted so long tliat It was (■vi(hMit tliat tlicy were at the end of the first stage of their journey, whereupon Ibuiy fell into a sleep that was not InoUen until he was suddenly aroused liy tinding bis face covered i.y some large, soft object that had .lescended violently upon Ids head. lie pushed it away with liis hands, and THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. 29 heard a hoartv lau<;li. Eliot was in his bed opposite, leanin<>' on his elhow, and mischievously enjoying- the effeet of his shot, ha\in<>- flung his pillow at his cousin. Harry proniiitly lluni; it l)ack. and Eliot remarkin<;- "• Thank you," restored it to its proper jjlace and lay back again. " Half-pa.st seven, Harry ; breakfast in half an hour!" and, as he spoke, the familiar sound of the softly rattling ])re))arations for the morning meal were heard from beyond the eurtains. " Let's toss up to see who lias the l)athroom first," Eliot })ro- ])osed. " No, von go first ; you woke up first ! " replied Harry. " All right ; here goes ! " and, leaping from bed, he disappeared through the door close at hand. Harry had relapsed into the semi- conscious doze of morning when his cousin appeared, breathing vigorously, and sitting on his bedside to dress, called : " Say Harry my boy, isn't it jolly that we can have a cool ])lunge to begin the day with every morning, just the same as ever." " Why, so we can ; I wasn't thinking of that ? " " I filled the bath as full as possible, and left it for yon. so you needn't lose any time." Harry jumped up, and entering the bathroom was confiontcd liy the inviting spectacle of the clear water filling the bath of clean, white tiles to within a few inches of the brim. With eyes lighting up like those of a water-spaniel at sight of tlie element he loves, he pulled off his nightshirt and in a moment was under water and out again, a ruddy glow spreading over every inch of his liody. clearing away as in a flash every vestige of sleepiness, making him feel (piick and strong, with every facidty attuned to the |)itch of health. After a good rubbing, he joined his cousin. 30 THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. " How stunninof a morning dij) like that makes yoii feel," he said. " Doesn't it thoiio'h? ' said Eliot. "Why, the momentary shock of the cool water is like a smart ])low from a friendly hand, instan- taneously smiting- every part of tlie hody. It acts on every nerve and hlood-vessel like a bugle call that arouses a sleeping army into acti^^ty. ' It brings the blood to the surface and starts it into lively circulation. It literally makes you feel like a new man. Many's the time when I've got out (d' bed in the morning vnth a duU, used-up feeling, as if I were going to have a siege of indi- gestion for two or three days, I've had every trace of it cleared away the moment I dipped into a bath of cold water. For me there's no medicine like it." " Yes, and how tame a sponge-bath seems after you are used to a plunge ! " said Harry. " It is kind of piece-meal work, while a plunge does the whole business in a moment, — takes the whole garrison at once, instead of by detachments." " But I know some fellows who say they have tried it, and it uses them up," said Harry ; " I don't see why it should." " Probably because they haven't blood enough, and s(i the shock doesn't bring reaction enough to counteract it. Oidy those of a vio-orous constitution can stand it. But some old grannies say tliat daily bathing is harmful and washes away the strength, — as if strength were sonic snl)stance tliat could be dissolved in water, like sugar or salt! It depends on the kind of bathing. Cold baths for a strong person are invigorating, bnt tVccpicnt hot iiaths arc ddidi- ta'ting. Tlu' old Creeks, who understood the means of hcaltlilul bodily (lcyelo|>nicnt probably better than any other people, knew THK CRUISE OK A LAND-YACHT. '61 the virtues of cold water l)atlii]i<>'. Did you ever hear of A|»]toI- onius of Tyana ? " " Do you mean tlio one Apollinaris water was named after ? " queried Harry. "' I mean, you know, that fha])el on tin; Rhine, where the spring- is." EHot laiio-lied. " No, that was some old saint, I heHeve. Appo!- onius was a woiuUTful Greek who lived a little I)eF()re the time of the Saviour, and did a i^reat deal to improve the morals of the pag'an worhl. It is thoui>ht hy sonu' tiiat his mission was to prepare the people for the reception of Christianity, and probably the influenee of his teaching's, which was deeply felt through the greater part of the .Roman empire, made people ready for the Christian doctrine. But what I set out to say was that he was one who held that 'clean- liness is next to godliness,' and he believed in the virtue of cold- water bathing. One time he went to preach to the people of Ephesus. Finding them lamenting that something had hajipened to the hot baths, so that they could not use them, he told them that the gods did not regard them as fit to die yet, and so had cut oif their supply of hot water, that they might be compelled to use cold and keep in good health ! " By this time they were both dressed. Thev found the rest of the company in the parlor. "Well boys, iiow did you pass tlie first night out?" was Mr. Brinkley's greeting. " This is the kind of • yaciiting " I like " re|)hed Eliot ; •' it agrees with me better than Harry's sort." '' To even up things, Harry ought to lie ' rail-sick ' on board the Ariadne, I snppo.se," laughed Mr. Brinkley. 32 THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. " No dauger of that, tliaiik yoii," responded Harry. " We arrived safe in our first })ort on time this niorniii<>- yon see," said their nncle. " It's one of the greatest land-harbors on the — no, I can't say on the coast, can I ? Well, on the rail, then. Lot's of craft here, and some fine yaclits, l)nt nothing like the Ariadne, eh ? " They were in the yard of the Pennsylvania Railway at Jersey City. Althongh they had left Boston on the Washington express, they were not going by way of the national capital, but had come with that train that they might make convenient connection Anth the Pennsylvania. Mr. Brinkley had some business in New York, and they were to stop over for the day, leaving in the evening, and going by way of Chicago and New Mexico. Mrs. Brinkley and the young ladies came in, evidently dressed for a day of shopping and calls, and they all went in to breakfast. " Somehow this seems perfectly outlandish," remarked Florence, " breakfasting here in this pleasant style, with all tliis backing and filling of trains, and ringing of l)ells, and tooting of whistles going oh about us ! " '' M'ait till we get to Mexico, if yon call this outlandish." com- mented Eliot. " This seems a (pieer way to come to New York fro B'.'ing here in Jersey City gives me the feeling of h ariived h-om EniDjie on one of the North German Lb ships," .said Mrs. Briidvley. After breakfa.st the ])arty se|)arate(l for the day. the la^ the ferry-])oat for New York with Mr. IJriiikley. while Ilarrv were to look around by tlieiiiselves. -.■oiii''- first to 11 1 ?ost on. iviii '■A .i just nl ste: [im- ies tak ing Eli ot ; Uld of THK CRUISK or A LAXH-YACHT. 33 the splendid great new Gennan steamers at the ]iiei' in Iloixjken, not far away. At seven o'eloik in the eveniiii;' tiiey were all together again at supiter, well tire:l after a day spent husily in rnn- ning to and fro troiii one end of the great city almost to the other. Then at eight o'eloik the " Pacific Express," -w-itli the Ariadne in tow, rolled slowly out of the station and Avas soon speedhig smoothly westward. " I am sorry for one thing," said Harry, '' and that is tliat Ave are going throngh Philadelphia at night, and I shall see nothing of it." " Well, my ])ov, we'll have another chance at that," said his uncle. "■ Perhaps some day we will take in the great cities of our country on a special cruise." Harry was thinking of sitting up until they reached Philadel- phia so that he might see something of it ; hut, as Eliot was nod- ding and he was yawnmg liimself, he gave np the project and went to hed. That night he was only half-conscious of the train stop- ping at some station here and there, until the prolonged reduced pace, to which the motion at last subsided, aroused him and made him surmise that they were drawing in to the great Quaker city. He raised his curtain, and saw the gleam of the Ughts on the bridges reflected in the dark water as they crossed the Schuylkill, the twinkle of gas-lamps adowii straiglit and level Londdu-like streets, running oiV at right-angles from the elevated track, until they finally came to a stop in a great cavernous station which, by the part of it visible l)efore liim, he could see must lie very liroad. While the noise of scurrying passengers and rattbng and lianging of baggage filleil tlie air. and he was pondering wliether he had better get up and take a look about, lie fell asleep. CHAPTER IV. THE FIRST OF THE CRUISE BY DAYLIGHT. ^^'T^IME!" sounded in Harry's ears. He opened his eyes ■^ drowsily and saw Eliot standing over him, just returned from the hath. " Ahead of you again ! "' laughed his eousin. " I hated to de- prive you of your turn first, hut then you looked so peaceful Ipng there sound asleep it seemed a pity to disturh you. But you don 't want to lose any more of this day than you can help. Just look outside ! " Harry lifted his curtain and the sunshine came streaming in. " Oh ! what a morning ! "' and he was out of l)ed hefore one could say "Jack Rohinson." It was not long before all were out on the rear platform, enjoying a breath of the pure morning air. " Why this is almost Mexican weather! " Eliot exclainu'd. " That is the superlative of praise from Eliot," laughed his sis- ter ; " when anything pleases him particularly he says it is almost as good as Mexico ! " "Hurrah for Mexico, if it is going to be like tiiis ! " cried Florence. Mr. Briiddey smiled approvingly sample of the Mexican tabh-land clii its way northward, Iml it is only a eiHlless roll of climate that Mother > 34 •• V es. this w-cather is a good ite. c ooleil down soincwhat on impli ,-, clipped olV of a great ture keeps spreading out over THE ( KUISK OF A LAND-YACHT. 35 that part of the c-ontinent from year's cikI to year's end, abiiost. Now and then she sends a l)it of it ii|) Nortli for iis, to let us know what she has down there ! " "The trouble is, that we never know liere in the Nortli wiiat the weather is ^'oini;- to (h) next! " said Mrs. Brinklev. " Oh, yes we (h)," repHed her husband. "We ean be sure of one thini;-. and that is, that it is going to change ! Now, instead of en- joying a day Hke this while it lasts, a kit of people get melancholy over it and call it a 'weather-breeder' and lose all the comfort of it in thinking how uncomfortable they are going to be on the unpleas- ant to-morrow ! " '• For my part," said Mabel, " I am going to get all the ])leasure out of this glorious weather I can, and if it is bad to-morrow, then I am going to take comfort in thinking of the (diniate we are going to enjoy for weeks to come ! " " Spoken like a philosopher, my girl ! " said Mr. Brinkley. They were climbing the Alleghenies. The great undulating slopes, with somber green mantles of pine, hendork, and other ever- gi-eens covering their bare shoulders and mingling with their sober winter garb of russet and gray, stretched away in the distance, and even the farthest summits, though dimly blue, were shar])ly outlined in the clear, still atmosphere. The air was bracing, but the sun- shine was warm, and the wh(de broad landscajie seemed to be laugh- ing in the flood of genial light. The track bel.,w, with its evenly distributed an' guide-posts," ohserved J]H()t. "But Pennsylvania!" cried Florence; "1 liad no idea there was anything so l)e]iind the times here, when it is in the East! " •' If being behind in fashion were the only tiling to find fault with in Pennsylvania I wouldn 't have a word to say," said Eliot, his face darkening and eyes kindling. " But when it conies to being behind in civilization ! It is bad enough abnost any- where, but wliat do yon think of a State tliat allows little children to be sent to work in the coal-breakers instead of to school, as soon as they get old enough to be sent to school, — to work all day in the choldiig black dust, to be wrecked for bfe, body and soul, if by chance any of them live long enough to grow up ! " •' () horril)le ! horriI)le ! " cried the others. '"But is that really true ? " " As true as gospel ! " replied Eliot. •■But why don't tiiey stop if.'" asked Harry. '• Because tiie ])aients are so poor they can 't live without put- ting their little ones to work almost as soon as they can to(hile. and the companies that cm])loy them want to make all tiie monev possible." "But that ought not to be," said Florence. "Certainly not," responded Eliot. " But what will be the future 38 THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. of a State where the Hves of the ehikheii, who are the material for the coming- men and women, are allowed to be wasted in that way? Why, every farmer knows what would become of his live- stock if his colts and calves and lambs were imfed and sickly." " But I thought Pennsylvania was an intelligent State ! " said Harry. " Does that look like inteUig-ence ? " asked Eliot. " How can we expect a State to be intelligently governed when so many of its people are growing up in ignorance ? But in Pennsylvania they are human, as elsewhere ; a State with such a grand history ought to have a grand future. Some day they will get aroused and wipe out the disgrace of an evil as wicked as negro slavery was ! "' On and on they went through the mountains, down the narrow valley of the Conemaugh, where they saw the traces of the great Johnstown flood. In places the landscape was so scarred that it seemed as if Nature's hand would never heal it. But the city, where a few months before thousands had been swept out of life in an instant, appeared to have recovered itself w()n(knfully, and re- built on every hand, it looked remarkably prosperous. Before one o'clock they had descended to Pittsburg — busy, grow- ing, and covered with grime. " I should think the ])lace had been named on acconnt of this black pit ol' a valley, instead of for the British statesman," Harry observed. Altliougli the use of natural g'as had cleared the air remarkal)ly in the past few years, it still .seemed very smoky to his Eastern eyes. Then, on through the afternoon sunshine, skirting for a while the yellow Ohio river, where for a rarity tli;' oild-looking. lilunt- nosed ;ind stern-wheeled steand)oats were now and then to be seen THE CUUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. 39 with long lines of ooal barges behind in tow, for there had yet been 111) if this remarkable winter, and navigation was still open. " Those steamboats look like wlieel-barrows turned upside {]owi> and going- backwards ! " said Ilarrv. Steadily on they sped through the great state of Ohio, amid prosperous farms, winding among rolling hills al)ounding witli woods, and stopping at large towns where the immv tall steeples were rivalled in height and surpassed in number by tlie factory chimneys that seemed like pillars supporting a dark canopy of smoke hanging o\er each place. " I had no idea there were so many large places out here," said Harry ; " it seems as thickly set- tled and solidly built as New England." " I think tliat nearly everyboily who come.s West for the first time expects to Hud things half wild and in the rough," remarked Eliot. " But we must rememlier that Ohio is a pretty old State, and the people here never think of themselves as being ' Out West.' " " The country, too, seems like New England, only more mellow and expansive," said Mabel. " I should think it would be l)cautiful in the spring and sum- mer," said Florence. " Only I don 't like the looks of that muddy water standing and running everywhere. But they don 't appear to have anything else. How can people ever drink it! " As dusk came on it seemed as if some holiday celebration were going on, so frequent were the illuminations from the Hame-belcliin«- chimneys of iron-fiunaces and from the exposed interiors of rolling- mills, where, as they passed, tlicy .oidd see the dazzling dots of the white-heated masses of molten metal revealed through the oijcn doors of furnaces. The gangs of u\vi\ who pulled it about into 40 THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. smoke-i'louds to give universal fuel, and ever While the voiuii;- something- startling ore all except Eliot, wlio, was coining and was ji comimnions. As the i in its approach to .•, tall, tliick pipe st:in.lii grcMt mass ..r llamc. w steam hoilers hicwin-. . long, wriggling streaks looked like dancing imps, black against the fierce light, and the gleaming bars that they were handling seemed hissing serpents, as they changed slowly from luminous Avhite to orange, and in a sullen red glow faded out into darkness. >ne region through which the\ passed, instead of electric lights ordinary street-lamps, the towns 1 what looked like torches stuck nito the ground with ragged pen- nants of Hame lazily waving in the still night air. Here theie were no lurid reflections, for natural gas was the y thing was bright and clean. ]ieople were looking out at these sights lured that made them all jump with fright ; having been that way before, knew what )repared to enjoy the consternation of his r-ain was mox ing slowly tlni)ngh the fields large town, suddenly there shot t'nmi a ig not far Irom the traek. a tremendous ith a roar like that of a hundred tiiousand )iV at once, as ilarrv afterwards exi)ressed 41 it. The young ladies shrieked, and h>v a momciit Ilanv felt as if iiis lieart were coining up into liis nioiitii. Tlic roaring grew vvvn louder as the flames shot up still higher. The fire-mass was dancing upon the top of a grayish stream of vapor that rushed out of the ])ipe witli tremendous force for about twenty feet Itefore turning into a blaze. It was like a gigantic l)ou([uet of flame- flowers, of the most vivid tints, constantly chajiging, — orange, yellow, crimson, purple, green, violet, and blue, — with huge tongues licking the darkness and sheets of five, flapping downward, as if savagely .seeking to devour some one below. For a long dis- tance around everything was illuminated as brightly as in the light o£ a conflagration. It is only a natural gas well ! " explained Eliot, still laughing at their fright. " They ' shoot it ' every time a through train passes by in the evening, so as to advertise their town." " It is the most awful thing I have ever seen ! " cried Mabel, stiU holding her ears. " That's the most magnificent fireworks in the world ! "' shouted Harry. " Absolutely gorgeous! " Florence exclaimed. " That well is one of the biggest around," said Eliot. " It can send out ten million fei't an hour, and the ])ressure is .so great that it condenses tlic gas and makes it visilde in that gray stream you see, like water from a fire-hose." " Why, if they only had it in Boston, at a dollar a thousand it Avould be worth a thousand dollars an hour ! " calculated Harry. '' If thev could only keep up the price with sncli a supply at haml!" he added. 42 THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. " They wasted the gas out here terribly at first," Eliot went on. " They once believed that the supply was inexhaustible, but now scientists generally agi-ee that it will not last a great many years, and so they have grown more careful not to waste it. It's use in these places out here has made a wonderful change. It has so increased general convenience and comfort, besides being so economical that even if the supply of natural gas should be exhausted they would never return to the use of coal, but would manufacture gas for fuel. Gas, I believe, will undoubtedly be the fuel of the future. It can be made for a few cents a thousand." " What a grand thing it would be, if everywhere tliey could only get rid of coal-dust, ashes, and smoke, as they have out here ! " said Harry. " In this city, for instance, you will not find a coal-wagon or wood-cart in town," said Eliot. " And in lots of houses you Avill see the shovel from the coal-bin hung on the j^arlor wall, gilded and decorated and tied with ribbons, with the inscription, ' Laid to rest on January 9, 1888,' or whatever the date of the introduction of natural gas into the house may have been." " How })erfectly delicious ! " cried Florence. CHAPTER V. IN THE HEART OF THE CONTINENT. '^ QO that is Chicag-o off there ! " ^ It was the next morning, and they were looking out over what seemed an endless expanse of land, as flat as the ocean level. The horizon line was broken by climips of buildings here and there, \\itli factory chimneys thrusting themselves up into the gray sky and increasing its sombreness with their black fumes. " Yes, where all that smoke is," responded Eliot to Harry's remark, and referring to a thick, black cloud in the distance towards the northwest that hung down on the land and covered it like a pall, obscuring the view in that direction. They had been standing still for some time. It was early day- light. Mr. Brinkley came out of his stateroom and asked : " What is the matter ? Here it is nearly eight o'clock, and we should have been in Chicago at 7.05. Have we ' run aground,' Harry ? " Harry laughed to hear the nautical term and replied in kind : " Oh, no ; I've just been out to ' take an observation.' Nothing has happened to us, but there's the wreck of a freighter ahead, blocking our channel ; that is, there's a freight tram smashed up on the crossing just out there, and we've been waiting here for orders. The conductor just told me that we Avere going to run back a piece and switch over onto the Grand Trunk, going in over their track for some ways and then getting back onto the Fort Wayne." 44 THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. Just then they started, and they were soon withm the limits o£ the great city that is spreading- its huge bulk out over the prairie, the rows o£ little wooden houses huddling closer and closer as they proceeded. At last they saw a lot of masts rising over the houses, and came close to a narrow strip of water full of steamers and tugs hauled up for the winter. " This Chicago river has a greater commerce than any other body of Avater of its size in the world," said Mr. Brinkley. " Chicago is the first port in the country in resjaect to tonnage, and second only to New York in number of vessels arriving and departing. Harry looked at the craft with critical eyes : " All those steamers, with the smokestack way astern, and built so straight up and down behind, have a clumsy sawed-o£E look. One of the freight boats between Boston and Gloucester came from the lakes and is built just like that, and they call her the ' Junk of Pork ' all along the coast ! " As they passed through the station, on tlieir way to drive to a hotel, Florence gave a shudder at the sight of the gaudy decorations and declared it " atrociously Western." "But Chicago ideas have changed in the past ten years; I'm a great believer in Chicago," replied her father. " Tliey tliouglit this station splendid when it was buiU ; but now (lu>v liave some of the finest modern architoctuiv on the continent hvw in tliis city. A pity they coat it all over with soot, tliougli ! "" lie added, as they drove away through the streets darkened witli the licaxy cldiuls of bituminous smoke that came dropping down upon them. They were going to spend the day looking over the city, and Mr. JJrinkley had arranged to have the Ariadne taken around to the Dearborn ^1I# >; ■^ THK CHUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. 45 Street station, where tliey were going out at six o'clock l)y the " Sante Fe." Eliot and Harry went hy themselves to roam over the city tog-ether and see what interested them. " Yesterday was a weather-hreeder, true enough," grumbled the former, huttoning his ulster close around his neck and turning up his collar. " This clammy air, filled with soot, makes me sneeze and cough and shiver, all at once." " It seems like a Boston east wind with the salt taken out of it! " said Harry. '' The cold air from the lake acts on these shores like a refrig- erator ! There's old Michigan now ! " and Eliot pointed to a leaden expanse at the end of the street. " It seems strange to see it in January without any ice ! I've seen it towards the end of May, white with ice-cakes as far as the eye can reach, and making the air of the city like that of March, while ten miles out, going west, I found it as balmv as June, with vegetation several weeks in advance." But, when they came together at the train that evening, and discussed the events of the day at the supper-tahle while they rolled westward through the darkness, Mr. Brinkley found all the young people enthusiastic over Chicago, in s])ite of its climate and its smoke. " Harry and I made a break for the hathroom, though, as soon as we got aboard. We felt like chimney-sweeps," said Eliot. They had the genuine American admiration for the energy, enthusiasm, and ceaseless activity whose results were manifest in the gigantic growth and achievements of the great city. Eliot, as an actual 46 THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. engineer, and Harry, as a 2ii'f>spective electrician, were particularly interested in the public works. " They go at things in a practical, common-sense way," said the former. " They are going to spend I don't know how many millions on a great system of sewerage and water-supply." " And I noticed that they have a fine system of electric Hghting, and run all the wires underground, although the companies in Boston say they can't do it ; it is too dangerous ! " said Harry. But the chief engineer, whom we had a talk with at the city wovks, says it is perfectly safe and they never had an accident. The thing of it is, the city runs the lights itself, and does it for a quarter of what Boston pays the companies. He laughed when we said Ave Avere from Boston, and said, ' We don't celebrate our Thanksgiving out here by burning down a large part of our business section, in conse- quence of overhead electric-light Avires ! ' " "When do we cross the Mississippi, father?" asked Florence. " At about one o'clock in the morning. We cross to Fort Madison in Iowa and make almost a bee-line for Kansas City, cut- ting across the southeastern corner of loAva." " Oh, dear ! " Harry sighed ; " the trouble Avith me is I want to see everything. Here I haven't seen a speck of Indiana, and only just this patch of Illinois around Chicago, and noAv we are going to cross the Mississip])i in the middle of the night, and I shall not see a bit of Iowa, either ! " " Never mind," said Eliot consolingly, " you can say you've been there all the same, and that is the main thing ; all the country out this way looks alike in the winter, so it is just as well to pass through it fast asleep ! And although you miss the Mississii)pi, THK CRUISE OF A LANP-YACHT. 47 you'll see the Missouri in the morning, which amounts to the same thing you know, for the geography tells us that is the main stream, and it is always reckoned so in malcing out the Mississippi the longest river in the world." " And hesides, we shall see the Mississippi wliere it is largest, when we cross it at New Orleans on our way hat^k," Mr. Brinkley added. Harry resolved, however, to look out at the Mississijjpi when they came to it ; hut luifortunately for his determination he was now completely accustomed to sleeping on the train ; nothing in the usual line of occurrences disturbed him, and being healthily tired after his day in Chicago, the slow crawling of the train over the long bridge across the " Father of Waters " did not awaken him. In the inky darkness of that night, he would not have seen any more than an uncertain gleam of the dark current flowing below, had he lifted the curtam of the window beside him. Shortly after daylight the next morning they crossed the Mis- souri, and while they were at breakfast the train ran along the southern shore for something like half an hour, and they watched the swift and turbid current of the great stream from tlH> windows as they ate. " The ' Big Muddy ' they call it out here," said Mr. Brinkley. "And a most appropriate name it is!" exclaimed Florence. " It looks like a river of pea soup. I don't see how water can be any muddier." '' It can, though," said Mabel. " You ought to see the Colo- rado ! It is absolutely red, and when I crossed it at the Needles, on the way to California, it looked like liquid Vermillion." 48 THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YAOHT. " They tell a story about a man who fell off a steamboat here on the Missouri in the night," said Eliot. " He swam and swam, carried by the current, and at last gave up, exhausted ; but when he Avent to sink, he found hunself standing with the water below his waist. He had been struggling in less than three feet of water ever since he fell overboard, and he was so angry at his Avaste of exertion that he forgot to be thankful for his escape ! " " What a splendid train this is ! " said Florence, who, with Harry, had been forward exploring, according to a custom which they had adopted of making a daily tour of the cars. " It seems like our car enlarged into a whole train." " Yes, it made me think of being f)n an ocean steamer," said Harry. " The vestibules make the Avhole train like one contmuous car, and the different cars seem like tlie various saloons of a steam- ship ; so we are now like a yacht in the tow of a great steamer." " Yes," said Mr. Brinkley, " they have got the luxui-y of travel by rail reduced to a science, and we, in our car, are not so very much more comfortably fixed than those in the Pullmans of this train, except that we are by ourselves and can stop and go on as we may please, — beside the various little improvements I have introduced in construction and arrangement, which will probably be generally adopted before h)ng. But here we arc with Kansas City in sight." They had left the river and were skirting the city around to tlie southward, by the " Beit-Line llailway." " Kansas City is almost a second Chicago in its wonderful growtli," observed Eliot. " The real name of the place is the ' City of Kansas,' and it was named before Kansas, the State. It seems remarkabh- lliat tbc i^i-cat centre uC ((.iniucrcc for that State, l.eai- THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. 49 ing- the same iiaiiic, should be just over the Hue outside its limits, iu Missouri. But a cousiderable portion of the city is in Kansas. The name of that i)ait is ' Kansas City, Kansas,' and it joins the main city, so that a stranger could not tell where one ends and the other begins." They drew slowly into the Union Depot, wending their way through such a maze of tracks that it seemed ahnost wonderful how they could be kept froni going astray. At the station there were numerous trains drawn up, placarded to depart in every direction. Mr. Brinkley proposed that they all get out for a morning constitu- tional along the platform of the station. The air was soft and summer-like. The young men declared that overcoats were super- fluous in weather like that, and refused to put them on. "• What a day for January ! " cried Mabel. " This seems really Southern ! " " That must be because Missouri is a Southern State ! " re- marked Harry. " Yes, and to-morrow," said his uncle, " as likely as not the mercury might drop below zero ! The climate runs to extremes out this way." A line of high, clay bluffs capped with a dense mass of l)uild- ino-s, towered above the level where they were .standing. Ticading- thither, with inclines, trestles, etc., were various lines of cable-cars. " The main portion of the city lies up there," said Eliot. " Down here on the river-bottom, as they call it, are the factories, packino--establishments, stoek-yards, and the like." " It is very much like Quebec, then, with its ITpper Town and Lower Town," said Mabel. 50 THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. " How I should like to run up there through that plane and see how it looks on the other side ! " Florence cried, pointino- to a tunnel opening in the face of the bluff. " We can do it if we like," said Eliot. " The cars are running- all the time ; we have nearly half an hour before the train starts, and we can get up there and back in a few minutes." " Let's go, then ! Do you hear what Eliot says, father ? Can't we ? " Mrs. Brinkley gave a sign of alarm at the idya of their going so far from the train ; but her husband said he would trust thom with Eliot, and off the young people scampered in great glee to the elevated railroad station close by. A minute more and they were on board a cable-car and going up the incline towards the tunnel. " They have hardly anything but cable-ears all over the city now," said Eliot. " Perhaps tliey are the best system for a place where they have such steep inclines as this, but electricity is far more practical, and in Lynn the electric-cars run up a grade of twelve per cent, or six hundred and twenty-four feet to the mile. There is a most extravagant waste of energy in the cable-system, for it takes something like eighty-five per cent of the power to move the heavy cables, with their length of several miles of steel rope. With electricity the economy is alniost in reverse ratio. Electricity acts on a ])rhiciple similar to that of a belt or cable, in the moving of cars, but it is so subtile in its action that the mysterious force slips along through the conducting wires with comparatively little fric- tion. The waste of ])()wcr in tlic cable-system is in somt'thing hke tlie same proportion as the waste of human energy in doing the work of the world, where it is estimated that something like ninety per THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. 51 cent, of the exertion is wasted in overcoming the friction caused by so many persons Avorking at cross purposes. The electric-system is like the smoother way the work of the world will be done some time when we learn how to plan tlungs in greater harmony. There is nothing like thorough organization for doing tilings ])r()m]itly and Avell." They liad passed through the tunnel and shortly after their car came to a fiiU stop at the end of its route. They stepped out, and looked up and down the streets that crossed at right angles. " What sjjlendid great high buildings ! " Florence exclaimed. " Yes, they give the distinctive character to Kansas City more than the smiilar great structures do to our Eastern cities. It is a most stately and substantial looking place. The ordinary kind of Western building, put up in the ' vernacular' style , as the architects say, is a cheap and ramshackle affair, merely thrown together. So when the wonderful growth of a place like this demands iirst-class buildings, it is an easy thing to clear the ground of the old rub- bish. That is the reason why Chicago and Kansas City can change theii- architectural character and take on a more uniform appearance of rich massiveness with greater promptness than New York or Boston, where the old buildings are costly and elaborate in com- parison. But we must be starting back for our train ! " said Eliot, looking at his watch. In a few minutes more they were standing in tlie pleasant sun- shine on the " quarter-deck " of the Ariadne, as they had called the rear platform, watching the busy scenes around them as tliey again besian to move westward. CHAPTER VI. OVER PRAIRIES AND PLAINS. ^^ IT ERE we are in Kansas ! " cried Eliot, a few seconds after they liad started. " That street there is the boundary." " The land of John Brown and the border war ! " said Mr. Brinkley. " This State has had a notable history and a wonderfiU growth. It seems to have compressed the experience of centuries into the period of a generation ! " " That is the advantage that a new community has now-a-days, starting on a fresh soil," said his wife. " In these days of quick communication, and interchange of ideas as well as materials, it has the benefit of what all the rest of the world has been learning for ages." "There — there is the Kaw ! " called Eliot, pointuig out a large stream on the right. We shall follow that all the way to To- peka." " Why, it is a good large river ! " exclaimed Harry. " But how is it I never heard of it before? I thought I knew my geography particularly well. I stand 100 per cent, in that, I 'd have you know, old man ! " " Its real name is the Kansas, but they all call it the Kaw out here," Eliot explained. " O yes, of course ! And it flows into the Missouii at Kansas City. But why do they call it the Kaw ? " THK CKriSK OK A LAND-YACIIT. 53 " It is simply a conuption of tlie name Kansas, which was origi- nally pronounced Kansaw, just as Arkansas today is pronounced ' Arkansaw,' by the solemidy-enacted law of the State which o()t disgusted with our Eastern insistence on rhyming- it witli Kansas. Both names came to us from the Indians by way of the French, who formerly, you know, owned all this country in the Mississippi valley, and that is why, like Illinois, they end in a silent ,s. The Americans who came out this way didn't have very (piick ears, ap- parently, for they at once corrupted Kansair into Kair, and have gone on mispronouncing every Indian and Spanish word they could get hold of, ever since. As both the city and the State of Kansas were named from the river, it is a wonder they didn 't call them Kaw too ! If chey would only call Kansas (Jity, at any rate, Kaw City, they might save a good many misdirected letters from persons who think it is in Kansas instead of Missouri. They might make one word of it and call the place Kawcity, which would make it formed after the style of 'capacity.' That would be quite in ac- cordance with their expansive ideas, since they hold that the capac- ity of their place is unlimited, which it practically is so far as popu- lation is concerned, judging by the s(piare miles of new ' additions ' the specidators laid out during the recent boom ! They are quick to take a hint for an original name here in the West and I 've a great mind to suggest it. They have a good many more strangely compounded names out hen Texarkana, for JMshiiicc, made up out of Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana i " " But," objected his sister, " Kawcity would rhyme with ■ Pau- city,' and that would not please a place that is the very centre of abundance, as well as the ' Hul) of the United States'." 04 THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. " And then the wicked Chicago papers would be sure to catch on to the chance to work up a racket on the hands of the Kansas City Avonien after the style of the girls'-f eet dispute Avith St. Louis, and woidd call it ' Paw City,' " rejoined Eliot. " But you said the real name of the place was the City of Kan- sas, and so they would have to call it the City of Kaw," put in Harry. " That would he supposed to have something- to do with the crows, and for such a get-up-and-get kind of people to be taken for croakers would give them cause to complam ! " " You horrid boy ! " cried Florence ; " I'm sure you are gettmg under the influence of Kansas humor already and have been reading some of it. Say, Mr. HoweUs told father the other day about a new hiunorist they've got out here, and he's brought the book along ! " " Tliat man who says he'll ' wear Arcturus for a bosom-pin ' ? His poems are immense. It's the real Kansas style of saying things. Think of that ' Kansas zephyr ' that turned the barking pup wrong- side up and inside out and then Calmly journeyed thence With a barn and string of fence ! " I see he writes under the name of ' IroiKiuill.' wliicli, perliaps, is meant for ironical," said Florence. Mr. Brinkley joined the group. " The Missouri river, that we have just left," he said, " was the frontier of the ' Wild West ' xuitil after the war, and now there is hardly any more ' Wild West ' to be seen anywhere. The old Sante Fe trail started from the Missouri at Kansas City, and that was what made the beginning of that place. The steamboats woidd come from St. Louis and leave their cargoes at the little landing to l)e taken in ' prairie schooners.' You see, THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. 55 Harry, they've had the idea of land navigation out here for a good many years and we are now yachting it over an old line of commerce laid out by Nature, something like the track of the trade-winds for ships commg from the Old World. Well, as I was saying, the prairie schooners took their cargoes over the famous old ' Santa Fe trad ' for nearly a thousand miles into New Mexico through the wilderness, across the prairies and plains, to supply that country with goods from the East — which cost pretty high by the tune they got there. Those were the days of romance and adventure in the wild West, — Indians, wolves, buffalo, wild horses, antelopes, hardships, starvation, and all the rest of the material you find in the books of Mayne Reid, Ballantyne, and other books of the kind." •'Isn't it remarkable that this main line of the Atchison, Toj)eka & Sante Fe Railroad follows close to the Sante Fe trail nearly all the way ? " said Eliot. " It shows how men, in striking out the easiest way to get across country, and going ha2)hazard, wdl instinct- ively follow the lines that an engineer would take in his delilicrate survey." " I see aU the , locomotives and freight-cars on this railroad are marked ' Santa Fe Route,' " Harry observed. " Yes," replied Eliot, " that is what you might call the ' trade- mark ' of the line, the nickname, that has been adopted by the man- agement, and is often something quite different from the name of the company. There is the ' Sunset Route,' for instance, the ' Monon,' the ' Nickel Plate,' the ' Big Four,' the ' Panhandle,' the ' Bee Line,' the ' Burlington Route,' the ' Frisco,' etc." " But everybody calls it the ' Atchison ' in the East." " Yes, and on the street they call it ' tiie Atch.' Out here 56 THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. everybody calls it the ' Santa Fe.' A railway often quite outgrows its name. Atchison, its original starting point, is a city of not much importance, and Santa Fe, its original objective point, is now at the terminus of a little branch off the main line. The use of Santa Fe' in the name of the little coal railroad of fifteen years ago gave it an absurdly ambitious sound in the ears of people out here, and, except to a few sanguine ' dreamers,' as they were called, the idea of ever building the line to the almost mythical capital of New Mexico was as visionary, as impracticable, as ' Utopian,' even to the big-notioned people of Kansas, as Bellamy's ideal in ' Looking Backward ' seems to our good friend General Francis A. Walker, for instance. After all, the ' dreamers ' are sometimes the most practical people in the world." When they reached Lawrence it was pointed out as the historic place that was the centre of the colonization movement from Massa- chusetts started by the Emigrant Aid Society that made Kansas a free State, and raised the excitement which was one of the direct causes of the great civil war. " Why, these hills around here are almost as high as those around Boston," exclaimed Florence. " And this is a prairie state too ! I declare it's a downright imposition ! A country that is com- posed of prairies has no right to put on such airs and liavc hills too ! " They all laughed and Eliot said: "They are rolling ])rairies, and when you stand on one of these long land-swells and look off over the country, you see that it is of a general level ; it almost seems as if you were at sea, ^vith its long waves rising and falhng about you, except that the undulations are motionless. In mid- THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. 57 summer you can fancy it is in motion, though, witli (he liroad i-eat-hes of <>-rain and <>iass waving in tlie steady ^vind, and the shadows of the clouds moving across the surface, sometinaes singly, sometimes in batalhons, and visible for miles and miles away. From down here by the river those prairie swells, as tlie stream cuts its way through, look like ranges of hills. Lawrence here is a beautiful, quiet place, thoroughly New England in character, and seems like one of our Eastern college towns. There is a charming view off over the valley from the high ground where the State University stands." It was noon when they reached Topeka, the State capital, and they went out to walk up and down the station platform while the jjassengers were at dinner. " Why, there is my old friend Colonel Johnson," exclaimed Mr. Brinkley, hastening forward and cordiallv seizing the hand of a gentleman who was getting out of a carriage. " And if there isn't Charlie Gleed ! " cried Eliot, at sight of a younger man coming from a street-car that had just stopped at the station. " 0, Gleed ! " he sluiuted, and liis Topeka friend stopped in astonishment at the sound of his voice. " If you didn't accent the ' O ' so strongly, I should tliink everybody here in the West was Irish, and the descendant of Irish kings at that ! " said Harry, with a laugh. " I notice men when they call out to each other, e\er siiue we left Chicago, sing out: ' Smith ! O Jones ! Brown ! ' " " Yes, that is the universal style of accosting out here," Eliot replied. " Well, Sampson, old fellow, where did you drop from ?" said his friend, coming up. 58 THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. " Off oil ;i yacliting-CTuise to Mexico witli my uncle, Mr. Brinkley."' " Yachting? Well, this is a good season for it! No ice in the Kaw yet ! But voull have to dig a canal from here on, or take to dryland! But what do yon mean by yachting? — is that one of your new Boston notions ? " " On the contrary, it is one of your Western ideas that we benighted Easterners have taken to ! Land-yachting, I mean. Do you see our craft there ? " " What, that snowy ' special ? ' Well, she does look different enough from a Pullman to be called a yacht, t)r anything else you choose. No wonder there's a crowd of train-hands about her, look- ing as if she had dropped from the moon." " But where are you going, Charlie ? " "Just running up to Wichita with the Colonel on some busi- ness." " Good enough ! Then of course you'll keep us company as far as Newton. I see my uncle has taken the Colonel inside." When Mr. Brinkley introduced Colonel Johnson to the young j)eople, he said : " We have a rare historical specimen in the Colonel, vou mnst know — an »y//ro, as the Spanish say — the oidy one of the kind. In other words, Colonel Johnson was the iirst white chilli liorn in Kansas." '• IJorn in Kansas?" exclaimed Mrs. Urinklcy. scnii-seriously. " I didn't ]eace for a long- time, and the country was fairlv well settled. That yellow cat was probably the i)et pussy of some family that was taking it from the old home to the new. Everybody was killed. The jioucb was taken from the Indians Avhen they were captured, and was given to Father Swemberg by the officer who had it. Father Swemberg gave it to my friend Baxter, who last year sent it by me, when I was in Boston, to the Historical Society. Only eleven years aguntains that loomed about tliem as theii- train toiled slowly up long grades or sjied down into lower levels. 76 THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. " I suppose New Mexico will soon be ii State," said Mr. Biiiikley- " But it is ridiculous to give it the name of ' Montezuma,' as recently proposed. That name, as well as that of ' Aztec,' has been worn threadbare in connection with this region. The Indians here were not Aztecs, and Montezuma had no more to do with New INIexico than he did with New England. The present name is good enough for the State, for it is historic and was early given to it by the Spaniards." " Yes," said Eliot ; " one of the old and principal streets in the City of Mexico is the Calle de Nuevo Mexico, or New Mexico street." " One of the early names given to this region was EI nuevo rein(j de San Francisco, (the New Kingdom of San Francisco), and it was also known as the Province of Santa Fe, after the Spanish custom of usually naming the provinces of Mexico after theii* chief cities," continued Mr. Brinkley. " But, if the name be changed, the most appropriate thing would l)e to call the new State ' Cibola." which would be not only a beautiful name, l)ut ai)i)r()priate, for it was the land of Cibola that Coroaado set out in search of on his famous march." " Do you know we are at the southern end of the Rocky Moun- tain chain ? " asked Eliot. " This is the Santa Fe Range to the right, and southward of liere there are no more |ierpetually snowy peaks until we reach the City of Mexico. Santa Fc — la \'illa real de Santa Fe, the Royal Village of the Holy Faith, as tlie Spaniards (•all it — nestles beautifnlly on the table-land at tlie foot of Old Baldy. It is a (|uaint old place, and 1 wish you might see it. But we might have a pretty cold day up there this time of year, althougii THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. / / the air is glorious. It is almost as liloli as the City of Mexico, though it is much warmer in suiuincr, in spite of being ahuost fifteen hundred miles farther north. Or ratlier. hecanse it is so mucli farther north, since tlie snninier sun stays ahove the horizon longer, anil so the earth gets heated np more and cooled oil' less than in the tropics. And then in ^lexico the almost daily rains in tiie summer cool the air. " But, as T was saying, the Rocky Mountains end here. The general mountain system continues southward, hut its character changes ; the ranges are not continuous. The summits are lower, and the mountains are hroken up into separate grou])s, rising from the plains like islands from the ocean." The next morning they were far down the valley of the Rio Grande, hut had left the river hefore daybreak, and when Harry got up they were passing over the l)are, high plain to the eastward of the stream. " This," said Eliot " is the Jonimhi (h- }fn('rte, the Journey of Death, as the Spaniards named it. for in tiie old days, the route between the South and Santa Fe lay over tiiis waterless plain and often men and animals would perish of thirst." The yellowish brown grassy surface was thickly sprinkled with dark lumps of lava rocU. and the sharp contours of mountain groups rose all around, near and far, the higher ones glistening with their mantles of winter snow. It was still cold, but not severely so, and it seemed like a pleasant morning in late October. As the sun mounted in the sky it grew agreeably warm, and it was a pleasure to jump down and run about every time the train sto|)ped at the stations, where usually there was nothing but water-tanivs and the houses for the section-hands. 78 THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. " It seems almost pathetic to see these Httle gardens about those houses here m the desert," said Mabel, as they noticed the enclosures ^N-ith the remains of what had been summer flowers, cherished evidently ^v-ith tender care, and now witliered and rustling in the winter wind. " But they are a charming sight in sunnner," said Eliot. " And look at those trees ; how they have shot up ! And those great yuccas, so uuu'h bigger and sturdier than those we see on the plains. It is water in abimdance that does that, under this sunsliiiK-. The rail- way water-tanks, where modern skill has sunk wells in tlie dry desert, have made l)right little oases in the Jourm-y of Death. You see they keep some cattle along the railway line now; tliere is good grass everywhere, but off there a few miles cattle cannot live, for it is too far from water." At Rincon they descended again into the bottom lands of the Rio Grande — broad and level, richly cxdtivated, ^\^th irrigating ditches running in every direction and bordered by long lines of great bare trees that made Harry think of processions marcliing across the country in single file. Soon they plunged into a range of mountains through which the river dashed rapidly in a narrow, wild gorge, the track running close beside the stream, at some height above the water. On the other side of these mountains they stopped for a few minutes at the old military post of Fort Selden, with thick-walled buildings oi' adol)c. and Eliot pointed out across the river, just op- posite the Toit, the lieiglits of ISIount Roble, where Prof. Davidson observed the transit of Venus in 1SS2. tbis clear air ..IVcring the best op]i()rtunity ior astroiioniicnl obseivation. ■• l!,>l,lr is Sjianisii lor oak. and (nruia lor live-oak. llie evei- o-ii-en six'cies tliat grows in warmer counlries." said EHot. THE CKUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. 79 "What (loos Riiicon mean — tlie iiainc of the junction station jnst l)i'roic this?" asked Fhn-enee. "Yon jirononnee it as if it rhymed with Lincohi," replied Eliot, with a laugh. " It is the rule in Spanish to accent the last syllable of Avords endino- in consonants. And each vowel has but one soimd. This is the way : Rin-ro//( . It means inside corner. Spanish has two words for corner, that on the outside of the angle being called the esquina (jironouneed cx-kce-na).'' They came out into another broad ajid cultivated 2)lain, bordered on the eastward by a range of . sharply serrated mountains, — Los Organos, so called from their resemblance to organ pipes. " This is the Mesilla valley, purchased from Mexico subsequent to the an- nexation of New Mexico, under the Gadsden treaty. It is very fer- tile, as you can see by the way it is cultivated. Before the purchase the boundary line ran just the other side of the town of Las Cruces, this station where we are stopping now. There were many patriotic Mexicans here who objected to living under the American flag and so they went across the Ime and settled the pretty town of Mesilla, on the opposite side of the Rio Grande. But fate was against them ; when this Gadsden strip was annexed they were brought into the United States again. A few years ago the course of the river changed during a season of high water, so that one morning the people woke up and found their town on this side of the stream ! " " So if they hadn't been annexed by treaty, Nature would have annexed them ! " remarked Mabel. " by no means ! " replied her brother. " The original river- bed would stiU have been the boundary. But that is one of the inconveniences of making a river a political division line. It is 80 THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. £L not ;i natural boundary ; for a river, instead of separating the people living on opposite sides, unites their interests by giving them a common channel of transportation. Then, as we have seen, a stream by changing its course is apt to produce a confusion in the distinction of boundaries. The Mississippi, for instance, has shifted its bed so much that many portions of the east b.uik are in Arkansas. Vicksburg has been changed over to the west shore ■ iiiinii k < 'A^if^s9f"»— ^iiu c the war. But by looking at the / '^}. ^"""'"Si'^ ordinary maps you would never think /-/ [%~" " ' the river had made such a confusion in State lines." A little later they were traversing a \\\\(\ plain where the light sandy soil was blown into bunchy hUlocks, with a shrubby groAvth protruding from the top of each. " That bush is "It usually grows like any other tree, but oots, on account of the sand covering it uj). So the people around here dig their fuel very nuich as they would potatoes. There's one of them now ! "' and lie jxjinted to a Mexican driving a donkey along near tlic track : tlu' little beast toiling along with a load of mesquite-roots tied onto his liack almost as big as himself. " He's been working his wood-mine, you see." " That sort of firewood would i)leasc the old woman wiio said she liked the crooked sticks because they curled around the i)ot so beautifully," said Mal.cl. " Ah, here we are in Texas ! " cxclainu-d Kliot. ])ointing to a l)oundary post. mesquite," said Eliot, here it chiefly runs to THE fUUISK OF A LAND-YACHT. 81 " It seems (jueer that we should strike the first ideally Southern State in our journey way out here at this extreme corner of it, close to Mexico ! " said Harry. •' How ahout Missouri ? " asked Mahel. " 0, that doesn't count. Although it was a slave State, we always think of it as Western, rather than Southern. And Kansas City is decidedly CHAPTER VIII. ON THE FRONTIER, TO AND FRO. ^^ TV TOW for your first look at Mexico ! " and Eliot pointed towards a dark line of highlands to the southward, with mountains ranging off bluely beyond. " Do you see that monument ? That marks the boundary, and beyond that the right bank of the Rio Grande is Mexican all the way to the Gvdf , — excejjt in a few spots where the river has changed its course." The valley narrowed and the mountains on either side drew nearer together, with the river flowing between, the banks rising into high cliffs on either side. On the other bank they saw the line of a railway winding along on a shelf on the face of the bluff, like their own track on this shore. Just below the obelisk that was standing high above, the line made a leap across the river on a sub- stantial iron bridge to their own side, and kept along parallel ^-ith then- track and several feet below their level. " That is the Southern Pacific," said Eliot. " It keeps along that side of the river up to within a few yards of the boundary, and then crosses to this bank to avoid entering Mexican territory." A few miles more and they dreAv into the station at El Paso. "Just on time to a dot 1 " cried Harry, looking at his watch and finding it ten minutes of one. as flicy caiiic to a standstill. "We are in luck," said Kliot. " Two or three lioiiis behind is iiotliiu"- luu'ommon on tliese long-distance routes. We wait here THE CHUISK OF A LANr»-YA("HT. 83 some little time before we cross the river, I believe, aiul our train doesn't pull out for jNIexico until quarter past five. What do you say to o-ettiuij;- out and takiii<>- that street-car, and going- ' By Horse- car to Mexico,' as ' II. H.' calls that interesting sketch of this jjlace." " That would be fun — but O no ! It would never do for us not to enter Mexico in our own yacht ! " cried his sister. " Yes, we must stick to the Ariadne on a solemn occasion like this ! " said Harry. " To cross over in a horse-car that isn't even a horse-car, for it is drawn by mules, would be like going in a common punt." " Besides, it's dinner time," said Mabel. " I'll tell you what," suggested Eliot, " we shall have plenty of time, so when we have got over there we can come back to ' the States ' by street-car and return again to Mexico. In that way we can see something of the two cities." While they were at dinner they were taken across the river by a switching-engine, together with the Pullman and baggage-car of the train, so that a transfer could be conveniently made by the passen- gers. They looked down into the swift and shallow stream rolling turbidly beneath them as they crossed the bridge, in the centre of which Eliot called : " Now we are in Mexico ! " " Hurrah ! " shouted Harry. " Just think, we are really abroad, in a foreign countrv, without crossing the ocean ! " said Florence. " And you a yachtsman at that, and never sailed as far as Nova Scotia, or even New Brunswick, making your first cruise abroac', overland in a land-craft! " said Eliot to Harry, teasingly. 84 THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. " Well children, how does it make you feel to l)e in a foreign land? " asked Mr. Biinkley. " Pretty well excited, evidently ! " said his wife, enjoying- the exjDressions of their glowhig- faces and sparkling eyes. " At any rate, you must spare time to eat some of this in lionor of the event," Mr. Brinkley said, as George set before them a dish of ice-cream (niiamentally arranged, while Sam's dark face appeared in the doorway to observe the effect of his device, his mouth ex- panded into a delighted grin at sight of their evident approval. " An arrangement in green, white and red — the Mexican colors ! Good for you Sam ; you're an artist ! They drew up at the station, and saw that the crowd on the platform was truly foreign in character. There was a multitude of Mexicans looking impassively on at the train ; men with gay-hued blankets about their shoulders and women with thin black shawls enfolding their heads and hiding- their mouths — all swarthy, with dark eyes, while now and then there was a flash of gleaming teeth. Sprinkled among them were the stalwart figures of young- Americans, mostly brown-haired and Avith clear blue eyes ; their faces tanned to a hue almost rivalling that of the Mexicans. They were mostly railroad men, and they moved actively to and fro in the crowd, giving and taking orders. Here and there was a slouching, slinking figure, with unkempt hair and i)eanl tiie color of dusty hay — the typical tramp and bunimei' from across the border. There were also some nattv looking men in unit'ornis, with a decidedly foreign air. " Now for the custom-house ordeal ! '" said Mr. Brinkley. "Let me look out For that," said Kliot. and he greeted one of THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACH'J 85 the imifonned officials who appeared at the (h)or with a cordial " Buenos (lias, Senor ! " (Good day to you, sir !) " Buenos dias ! "' he replied ; " Dispensenme Ustedes, pero yo soy un oficial del aduana, y — " (Pardon me, your excellencies, but I am a customs officer and — ) " Usted tiene el deber de examinar nuestro equipaje, no es verdad? Pues es una honra enseiiarselo. Nunca molesta una visita de un caballero como Usted. Al contrario, siempre es oeasion muy grato ! " (You have the duty of examining our baggage, have you not ? It is an honor to show it. The visit of a gentleman like yourself is never a molestation. On the contrary, it is always a very pleasant occasion.) The official beamed in reply : -" Usted es muy amable." (You are very amiable. ) " Um puro habanero, senor?" and Eliot tendered a cigar, which the officer accepted with a " Muchas gracias ! " (many thanks.) " Pero que trastornada esta la poblacion esta — y mejorada tambien ! " Eliot went on. " Toda esa corre por cuenta de la presencia de Usted y los demas oficiales, ereo ! " (But how transformed is this place — and improved also ! All that is on account of the presence of you officials, 1 believe. | " No tanto. no tanto. senor ! Viene de la prosperidad introducido por el ferrocarrill lo cual debemos a los paisanos suyos, los Ameri- canos." (Not so much as that, not so much as that, sir ! It comes from the prosperity introduced by the railway, for which we are in- debted to your countrymen, the Americans.) " Y con la prosperidad v4eneu los officiales caballerosos — es verdad ! Pero le estoy deteniendo a Usted. Vamos a ver las bb THE CRUISE OP A LAND-YACHT. cosas ! " (And with the prosperity the gentlemanly officials — it is true ! But I am detaining you. Let us look at the things !) " No hay caso, senor ! Ustedes son excui-sionistas y — " (There is no occasion, sir ! You are excursionists, and — ) " Es cierto que no tenemos mercancias. Es Usted muy cabellero" (It is true we have no merchandise. You are very much of a gentleman, sir.) " Es nada, seiior ! Pero que carro tan hermoso es este ! Es im verdadero palacio ! " (It is nothing, sir ! But what a beautiful car is this! It is a genuine palace!) said the official, looking around admiringly. " Si tenga Usted tiempo, liagame el favor de acompaiiarme para que se lo enseiia a Usted. Seria »para mi una placer indecible." (If you have time, do me the favor of accompanying me to look it over ; it would be a great pleasure for me. ) When Eliot had finished his tour of inspection with the official he sat down Avith him to a dish of the ice-cream, whose Mexican tri-coloring touclied his patriotii- soul. Then taking a very formal farewell on the platform, with repeated assurances of regard from both sides, Eliot returned to his friends and was greeted by his uncle with an admiring " Bravo my boy ! You carried us over that finely ! "' " 0, there is nothing like courtesy with these people ! Rude- ness is almost a cardinal sin in Mexico. And it is charming to see the gentleness of conduct, the respect for another's i)ei- sonalitv, which marks the intercourse of all classes in tiiis country. Here at the custom-house, although they pile on the duties unmercifully in the case of freight, they are very considerate THK CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. 87 ill till' tii'atiueiit of pas.son<>ers, and, as you have just seen, they appreciate a eourteoiis heaiintj;' on tlie part oF Anierii-ans. " But speaking of the custoin-house, reminds nie of a story that Mackenzie, recently general superintendent of the Mexican Central, told nie of the time when his headquarters were here. This place is in the Zona libra, the Free Zone, now, but then the belt had not been extended up the river to this point. The free zone is a strip of territory along the border within which, under a law of Mexico, there is free trade with foreign countries. European goods are now sold in this ])Iace. lirought . ,-::s^ii.;;s^- tlirougli our country in l)()ii(l, at ' ,_^ .."-—-■' almost European j)rices, and ■cyi:^- ^ there is naturally a good deal j^-; , ' )-, '"'f'T'i' of smuggling back to the American side. But as to Mack's story. An Irish loc-o- motivc engineer, in charge of a switching-engine like the one that ])i()ught us across the river, was compelled l)y his duties to live on this side of the river. He wanted a cook-stove, and came to Mackenzie asking jn-i- __ mission to import it with tiie railway material, which comes in duty free. But the company has to be very strict in such matters, being under Mexican laws, and so Mackenzie felt obliged to refuse. So the man undertook the responsibility of smuggling it over him- 0<5 THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. self. The duty on sucli ;i tiling- is so much a kih)ora]n, wliich would make its cost enormous on this side, although stoves were cheap enough in Eh Paso. But they are almost unknown in Mexico, and hardly one Mexican in a hundred thousand would know the diflfer- ence between a cook-stove and a dynamo. The engineer bought his stove and had it brought down to the yard on the American side, where he set it up in front of his engine, with a section of smoke-pipe attached. He then kindled a fire in it and started for Mexico. At the station here the custom-house man came around as usual, peered into the cab on the lookout for conti-aband packages, and meanwhile the engineer was going the usual rounds of his locomotive, oiling up. In front the cook-stove was pouring a lively stream of black smoke from its pipe. The engineer solemnly looked it over, took off a cover and gave the fire a jtoke, took off another and repeated the operation, and then, in a most professional manner, carefully oiled the hinges of the oven door ! His ruse was successful, and the custom-house man had no suspicion that the stove was not some kind of an attachment to the engine. Machinery comes into Mexico duty free, and there was a certain mining company up in the Sierra Madre that wanted a cooking-range for its camp headquarters. The duties on it would have amounted to a thousand dollars, or more, and so it was impoitcd under the head of ' mining-machinery,' and at tlic custom-house they were none the wiser." " Well, as we have plenty of time, let us take a tri|( l)ack to the United States," said Mr. Briiiklt'y. " It does indeed seem foreign here," Mabel remarked, as they were on their way in the street-car. One wouldn't think there would THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACIIT. 89 be sucli a (lift'eiencc just across the river. There is that massive- looking railway station, l)ni]t al)()ut an open court ; all these adobe buildings, those signs in Spanish over the doors, and nearly all the people we meet ! " '■ Yes. but it is a sort of frontier foreigniu'ss," said Kliot. witli a shade of contempt in his voice. " Just wait till we get well down into Mexico ! " " It seems really Southern, at any rate," said Florence. •' It is so warm in this air that my clothing feels altogether too heavy." " Nothing particularly tropical about the vegetation, however ! " replied Eliot. The trees were all bare, and the garden plants about the houses had a dry and frost-stricken loolc. But there were a few hardy flowers blooming, and there were some Southern-looking shrubs with green leaves. " Now and then, in whiter, there are sev- eral inches of snow here, but it doesn 't stay on the ground long," Eliot went on. " We are in about the latitude of Montgomery and Savannah, but we are still two thousand seven hundred and seventeen feet above the sea." " What a long way from home we are ! And yet we have spent but five nights on the car." Mrs. Brinkley remarked. "Is that all?" cried Harry. '• Why I feel as if I had been liv- ing on the Ariadne a month or two already ! " "Just how far have we come?" asked Florence. "Let's see," responded Eliot, "we are just one thousand six hundred and thirty miles from Chicago, and so we have coine nearly three thousand miles altogether, from Boston to the boundary." " I 'm sure I don 't see anything very ' grandy " about the river," exclaimed Harry, looking down from the bridge as they crossed, 90 THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. upon the turbid waters iiinning swiftly over wide, flat expanses of sand. " Why, see that cart down there in the middle of the stream crossing- over with the water only just over the hubs ! " Eliot answered : "' And yet I saw it over twenty feet deep at this point when I tame north in July. It kept that way nearly three months, there had been so much snow in the Rockies the ^vinter be- fore. It washed away the railroad bridge here, and we had to cross in a skitf. It washed away miles and miles of the Santa Fe tracks in New Mexico and Texas. It was a river not to be sneezed at, then ! " " And in length it is certainly worthy of its name," said Mr. Brinkley. " Just think, its source is way up in the Rockies of Southern Colorado, and it is a clear mountain stream the first hun- dred miles, or so." " The Mexicans call it the Rio Bravo from here down to the Gulf. That would make it mean swift river, but I have heard it said that the name was given in honor of General Bravo, one of the heroes of theii- struggle for independence. But," continued Eliot, " Rio Grande does not mean grand river, but great river. In Sjian- ish tlie meanhig of the adjective is modified, according as it comes before, or after the noun. When tlie adjective comes first, its meaning is figurative, and wlicn it foUows its noun, it is literal. If it were the Grand River, its Spanish name wonld be A7 (,'r(ni A'/n."' On the bridge an American customs-officer had boarded tlic lai'. and poked al)out among the parcels of the passengers, looking with much suspicion on some, asking minute questions, and notifying others that they nuist go to the custom-bovise with him to have tlie packages that they carried passed up.m. " Tliat business has to be THE CHUISK OF A LAND-YACHT. J)l none tliroiioli with, day in and day out, on every street-car tliat l)a.sses from the Mexican side across to EI Paso," said Eliot. "They are fearfully strict here, for there Ls a dealer in Mexican curios in El Paso who complains if anybody brings in duty free so much as a ten-cent ornament from the other side. He wants everybody com- pelled by law to patronize his shop." " This jjlace seems as American as the other does Mexican," Mrs. Brinkley remarked, as the street-car rolled at a leisurely pace through the modern, wide-awake looking city, Avith large and suli- stantial business structures, and many handsome dwellings with pleasant grounds. " What a contrast from that time you brought me downi here with you in July, '81, Uncle Lemuel, just after the Santa Fe had built its track into the place, and the Mexican Central was just beginning work from this end southward," said Eliot. " The place was mean, slouchy and tough. Only a few weeks be- fore, the • rustlers' had full sway and sometinu>s there were several murders in one day. The only hotel was the nastiest den I ever saw, and we nearly starved the one day we spent here. Now look at those fine large hotels, supplied with every convenience, and see how the town has spread far out into the desert." " Even though I knew that five railroads meeting here could not help making it an important point, I felt in all that heat and dirt and dust that I wouldn 't give ten dollars for the whole i)lace," Mr. Brinkley added. " But they were preparing for the future then, and although it made me laugh to see the plans posted around showing all that gravelly cactus desert laid out into fine streets and house-lots, they have been pretty well realized now. It gives one an idea of the way our country is developing, and of the tremendous 92 THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. energy and power of the American people, to travel anywhere now- a-days, north, sonth, east or west, and see the changes of even two or three years." " These little coops of wooden houses where the great mass of people live seem to be of the same pattern everywhere in the West, don 't they ? " Mabel remarked. " In their size they seem to be so at variance with the Western standards of bigness concerning about everything else. In the East they would be considered hardly fit for anything more than hen-houses ! I don 't see how they stand it in the summers of a climate like this." " Such houses are hot as blazes, almost ! " Eliot answered. " The people stew, fry, roast, and fricasee themselves by living in them. Nothing coidd be more unfit for this climate. The thick earthen walls of an adobe house give as much coolness as possible, but there is such a prejudice against anything that is Mexican that wood is considered the respectable thing for building, and so the average American here sticks to it ! " On their return to the Mexican side, Mr. Brinkley told them how the two towns used to have the same name, '• El Past) del Norte," meaning the northerly pass, or crossing of the Rio Grande. The Mexican town was the principal })lace, and on the Texan side there was a wretched little hamlet only. But as the latter grew, it took on the name of EI Paso, Avhile the original place became known as Paso del Norte. But lately, to avoid con- fusion, the Mexicans had renamed their place, and it was now called Ciudad Juarez, or Juarez City. It was an appropriatt' name, tor it was here that the great statesman, the famous jjresident of Mexico from the time of the civil war of Reform down through the rule of THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. 93 Maximilian as emperor, was driven when his fortunes were at their lowest. Two great achievements therefore gave him high rank as a patriot, the reconstruction of the Mexican form of government on liberal principles, and the ridding of his country of foreign in- vaders. Juarez maintained the seat of republican government here at this place for some time, and never was driven to take refuge on American soil, although prepared to in case of necessity. All through Maxunilian's reign he never ceased to act as president of the republic in some jiortion of the country. " It should never be forgotten," said Eliot, " that Juarez, whom William II. Seward declared was one of the greatest of modern statesmen, was a full-blooded Indian, as you may see by any of the portraits so common in Mexico. It is well to remember that, as well as the fact that Mexico is really an Indian republic, with something like nine-tenths of Indian blood in its population, when we hear any one discussing the Indian question and saying the Indians are in- capable of civilization." " Why, our own ancestors fifteen hundred years ago were the savages of Northern Europe, as wild as any North American Indians today," Mr. Brmkley asserted. " And the Aztecs and ancient Peruvians were Indians, developmg what might have been a high order of civilization of their own when the Spanish concpierors came and extinguished it. The Aztec calendar was more accurate than that of their Spanish conquerors, and must have been founded on a more extensive astronomical knoAvledge." " B-r-r-r ! It is getting chiUy ! " exclauued Florence, as they came within sight of the train made up at their station, with the white Ariadne in the rear, contrasting with the dark ridbnan just ahead. " I didn't look for this from INIcxico ! " 94 THE CKUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. The sky had been gradually becoiuing- overcast. It was now quite gray, and a raw wind had begun to blow from the nortli. '' A hint, not exactly gentle, for us to withdraw from the frontier ! " Mr. Brinkley remarked, with a laugh. Harry went with Eliot to look at tlie train, witli its Spanish words on the cars and the locomotive ; " Ferrocarril Central Mexi- cano " (Mexican Central Railway), and " Carro Dormitorio Pullman" on the Pullman Sleeping car, while the three passenger-coaches were rano-ed from front to rear in the order of third, second, and first- class, respectively, after the manner of European railways, though American in style of construction. The bell rang, the conductor shouted the equivalent for " All aboard !" " Ya vamonos," (Now we go !) and the train began to move southward in the gathering dusk. The cosy, brilHantly lighted interior of the Ariadne never seemed more home-like. " We are running on City of Mexico tune now," said Eliot. " This makes the third time to change our watches since we started. An hour slower at Pittsburg, another hour slower at Dodge City in Kansas for Mountain tune, and now twenty-four miiuites forward ao'uin — a net difference of one hour and twenty-three minutes slower than our Eastern time." " Tliat's because Ave have to go eastward again, I suppose ! " said Harry. " Yes," Eliot re])lied, " we have come westward t(> the backl)one of the continent and are now following it southeastward down to the capital. You know the standard time in our country is that of the respective meridians, or very near the meridians, of Pliilad(>l|)liia. St. Louis, Denver, and that of the line between California and Nevada, CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. 95 which ;ii(' each hfteeii degTees apart, making- a diiference of an honr in tht" time of caili. Our List standard was that of Mountain Time, reckoned l)y the one hiin(hcd and liith meridian, Avhich is that of Denver. The meridian of the Mexican capital, whose thne standard is for all the railways of this country, is the ninety-nintli. which makes just twenty-four minutes difference, there being a chang'c of four minutes to a degree." " That is a good thing to remember, that four minutes to a degree business," said Harry. " IIow far is it to the ('ity of Mexico?" Florence asked. " Nineteen hundred and seventy-three kilometers, or twelve himdred and twenty-three and one-half miles." CHAPTER IX. N A FOREIGX LAND. TTARRY was up by daylight the next luorning, looking- out over the country. Tlie air Avas sharp when he stepped out onto the " quarter-deck," but he wrapped himself in his thick coat and watched the track slip away behind the train, mostly in long Unes of arrow- like straightness for miles and miles, sometmies rising gradually up an even incluie, and again descending into the distance, while the slower motion and rapid puffing of the locomotive indicated that they were running up a grade. A broad plain on either side ex- tended away to the feet of long chains of serrated mountains that drew nearer and nearer together as the train advanced, until they almost met, leaving a narrow valley for the passage of the railway, and then they gradually fell away again. The plain was well covered with crisp, brown grass, and there were few trees to be seen, except a leafless clump about some white-walled, fortress-like enclosure visible in the distance at rare intervals. The mountains were bare in their sharp outlines. There was a certain general rcseiublance to the New Mexican landscape of the day before, but Harry's keen and observing young eyes noted many marked differences that gave it a distinct character. " Those yuccas are much larger than those we saw yesterday ; I suppose that comes from our being so much farther south, doesn't it?" he said to Eliot, who had joined him. He pointed to the great plants dotted here and tluTc all over the 96 THE (BRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. i)7 plains, witli their sharp leaves i^rowiiii;- in Ijiistlini-- clusters at the end of their thick stalks, several feet from the uroiiiid. " Yos," replied Eliot, " hut tomorrow you will see them jiTowiug ill refrular forests, and large trees in size ; thirty and forty feet high. I wish you might see them in blossom — but perhaps you will be- fore we get back. Do you notice those great dry spikes on some of the plants, like little sticks tied on ? They are the remains of last year's flowers and seeds. They call the yucca the Pahnilla (pro- nounced pal-mU-yu) here. The roots make a perfect natural soap. The women pound them and bruise them with stones, and then stu- them around in water, making a thick lather, .which washes cloth wonderfully clean. Amole {ah-rno-hiy) they call the roots. It is the finest thing for washing the hair, leaving it soft and silkv ; not in the least harsh and dry, as does soap." " Here we are stopping at this water-tank ; let 's jump off and get a root to use in the bath tomorrow," suggested Harry, alert to try everything new. They rushed for the nearest yucca ami tugged frantically, with little avail until a handsome, brown-faced youth, who had been looking smilingly on from the station platform, came to their assist- ance, and easily extricated it from the earth. " Mil gracias, ami"-o ! listed tiene la liabilidad de un dentista ! " (A thousand thanks, friend ! You have the skill of a dentist ! ) said Eliot, takino- out a quarter and handing it to him. But the young fellow courteously refused the money : " De nada, seiior ; no acejito diiiero por eso ! Basfci el placer de recibir las ajireciaciones amistosas de Ustedes ! " (It is nothing, sii- ; I do not take money for that ! Sufficient is the pleasure of receiving your friendly appreciation.) 98 THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. At tliis chiuniint;- reply Eliot gave a frank laugh and said, in English, " Well, my boy, you are a regular white man ! " while Harry extendmg his hand and saying nothing, hut speaking thanks with his eyes, rushed into the ear and in a moment reappeared on the " quarter-deck " as the train began to move away. He had snatched from the table a couple of lieautiful great red New Eng- land apples, and tossed them toward the young Mexican one after the other, the latter catching them witli sparkling eyes and a pleased laugh. "Mercy, what have you there ? " exclaimed Mabel, who mean- while had appeared with Florence, as Eliot entered wth the yucca. " A sample of native soap, with scrubbing-brush attached ! " re- plied her brother. " Why, those leaves are like daggers, their points are so sharp ! " cried Florence, shrinking from the touch of one of them. "They call it the Spanish bayonet on our side of the line," said Eliot. " When my friend Fletcher of Santa Fe was s])ecial agent for the Interior Dej^artment he once made a tn|) across country in Southern New Mexico. (Jue of tlie two mules hitclieil to his buck-board was so inchn.'.l tn loaC that the otli.T ..iw .lid nearly all the pulling. So the next day he liit on the expedient of lashing one of these yucca heads to the whifHe-tree just liack of the lazy beast. As soon as she began to loaf siie felt a gentle n-minder from behind that made lier spring forward with remark- able energy. All the rest ol' that day she was the smartest :„ule in the Territory, and her mate had an easy time of it." '•T see that it says kiloniet.Ts. instead of miles. ..n all thes,. dis- tance jMists along the track," said Harry. THK CKUISE OF A I.AND-YACHT. 99 ■■Yes: tlic metiic system is tlu- staiidanl in ^r^xico, as in iirai'lv all civilized countiies except our own and tile other Eii<>-lisli-speak- in<;- nations oF the world. It ought to he evervwliere, it is so simple and convenient. Really I can 't for the liFe of me rememher the various tahles of weij^hts and measures — Apothecaries' wei<>ht, Troy weii^ht, etc., — that T learned hy rote at scho(d, except the few simple thinos I have constantly had to aiiply in practice. But the metric system, with its uniform decimals, once learned cannot easily be forgotten." " I haven 't the slightest idea of a kilometer," said ^Faliel. '• But it is the easiest thing to get an idea of," her hrother re- plied. " American civil engineers coming here take to the standard at once ; it Avoukl save ns lots of time and bother if we could onlv use it at home entirely. A kilometer is, in round nuud)ers, pist about five-eighths of a mile. It is about the distance one would walk in fifteen minutes, going at the ordinary gait of most people. A kilometer a minute is also about the average s[)eed of an express train." •• Three hundred and iifty-six kilometeis," Harry read from a post as they sped by. P^liot ium[)ed up. "Well!" he exclaimed. " we had lietter be on the lookout! Yes. there it is — that's Chihuahua !" and he pointed across the plain, where at the feet of mountains rising abruptly, with outlines resendiling cunuilus clouds, there s|)read a considerable mass of l)uildings, witii domes and towers here and there, and, above the rest, two stately twin church-towers, gilded by the rays of the early sun. They all looked with eager interest at their first larjre Mexican citv. 100 THE CRUISE OF A LAXD-YACKT. " It is oGl.8 kilometers, or just two hundred and twenty-four miles, from Ciudad Juarez ; a few miles more than Ijetween New York and Boston," said Eliot, looking at the distance on a railway " folder " that he had supjjlied himself with. " Why, it looks really European — it doesn't seem as if it could be on this continent ! " Mabel said. " Just examine those towers through this field-glass," said Eliot. " It wiU bring them very near. Suppose you take the first peep, Florence ! " " how beautiful ! What rich stone-carving ! " " I wish you might see it close at hand. It is a beautiful struct- ure. Strangers call it the cathedral, usually, but it really is the parochial church, for there is no bishop in Chihuahua. It is large enough for a cathedral, though." " What a pity we are not going to stop over here ! " " It almost seems so, but there are so many things to see, and your father thought that we had better make right for the heart of Mexico, where we would find the richest and most interesting part of the country — more than we could exhaust in one season's trip — besides enjoying at once a climate of either perfect spring or perfect simimer, just as we wished. But it would be worth while to sec this place just as I did the first tinic. The railway had been opened here but a few weeks. It was the last of November, and 1 came down with a party of friends from Santa Fe, where snow tlu-n covered the ground. At Paso del Norte it was like early October at home, but here it was like early September, with a soft, summerish air, the trees full green. Although nearly a thousand feet higher than the elevation at the boinidary, it is so nuu-h farther south that CRUISE OF A LAND-YACH'l 101 it makes a inaikcd (litlViciicc in the cliinatf. But now, you see, it looks aliout as wiuterisli as it does there, and they have eonsiderahle snow liere at times. We arrived here by moonlight, and it was a full moon, too. It seemed like an enchanted spectacle as we wandered throni^h the streets tliat evening, with the white light pouring in a flood over the strange architecture. All these State capitals in Mexico are interesting places, and you can see that they are little ce^ntres m themselves. " Chihuahua has a place of some importance in Mexican history. It was founded through the discovery of rich silver mines around here ; those of Santa Eulalia, which are now exhausted. But with the railway the city has become a trade-centre for mining-districts all through northern Mexico. It was here that Hidalgo, the patriot priest who started the Mexican struggle for independence, was finally captured and shot by the Spaniards, with several other lead- ers in the revolution. Under the Maximilian empire, the French troops were m possession for a time, and the jjlace was besieged by the Republican forces and bond>arded ; some of the marks may still be seen on those towers, and one of the bells lias a hole shot through it." All the rest of the day they sped southward through a thinly populated country, treeless, sunny and dry. " O'dy for a few weeks in the summer, when the rains come, the grass is green all over these desolate plains, and flowers spring up on every hand. But rains are uncertain here in northern Mexico, and some years there are ahnost none at all," said Mr. Brinkley. " It does seem to be a thorough desert, for the most part, but if we look at it rightly, we will find it full of interest and even beauty/' 102 THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. said his wife. " I love to watch these tawny plains, Hooiled with pnre, clear sunshine, shelving away, inclining gradually upward here and downward there, S2)read with a soft blue veil of haze in the far distance. And then the mountains ever in sight, changing in form almost imperceptibly as we pass, rugged and sharp in this transpar- ent air, with shadows shifting as the day advances, and clothed in wonderful violet and purple lights that make one think the atmos- phere here has prismatic properties. A book like this ' Bits of Travel at Home ' by 'H.H.,' teaches us to find beauty even in the common- place and in what most people find wholly dreary. Here is that delicate passage of hers about the sage-brush of the desert, seen from the car-window. And the exquisiteness of this description of the sand with its ripples, blown about the street in San Francisco ! " At about ten o'clock they entered the valley of the Rio Conchas and followed its richly cultivated bottom-lands until they left Jimenez, where their train stopped for dinner, shortly after midday. Outside it was now so hot in the blazing sunlight as to be almost oven-like. Harry reported the Pidlman passengers as faii-ly swelter- ing Avith the heat. " Touch first this car, and then the Ariadne," said his nu'/le, going outside with hmi at a station. Harry found that the dark side of the Pullman, exposed to the sun, was almost burning hot, while the white surface of their own was cool. " What a ditt'erence ! " Harry exclaimed. " Yes, this white paint and the double roof maUc all the dilVcr- ence between comfort and misery. We have had the windows closed to keep out both dust and heat, and you sec how agreeable the temperature has been. The ventilathig fans have given us good air, and the only trouble has been from the dust that would get in, THK ClUIISK OF A I,AN1)-VACHT. 103 ill spite of our anaii<;ciiiciit of tine wire screens to keep it out." '• What clouds of dust the train raises at some of these stretches ! " " Yes, tliat is tlie greatest discomfort attending travel in a country like this, with long months of rainless weather. Even a climate of perpetual sunshine has its drawbacks. As for dust, there is a fine field for some invention that will keep it entirely out of cars Avhile ventilating them thoroughly. If all railways could be thoroughly ballasted with rock, there would be little bother from dust." It was gro-wing dark when Eliot told them that they had passed out of the great State of Chihuahua — in territory the largest of the twenty-six forming the federal republic of IMexico — into the State of Durango. During the night they would cut at-ross tlie north- eastern corner of Durango and the southeastern corner of Coahuila, and in the morning they would find themselves more than half-way across Zacatecas. " We are entering the rich Laguna region now," said he. " Fifteen years ago, or so, this was an almost uninhabited wilderness, an arifl waste. But some considerable streams flow down from the momitains here, and from great shallow lakes, or lagoons, and it was found that the land, irrigated from these streams, was re- markably fertile and jjarticularly fitted for raising cotton and grapes. Vast areas have been brought under cidtivation, the use of the water from the streams for irrigation has ahnost dried up the lagoons by witliolding their supply, and their beds are now cotton fields. The trade-centre of the region. Villa Lerdo, where the train stops for supper, did not exist fifteen years ago, and is now a busy city of fifteen or twenty thousand inhabitants. Large fortunes have 104 THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. been made in cotton-raising here in the past few years, and tlie country has grown as if it were in our own West." " How much warmer it is than it was hist night at this tune ! " said Floi-ence. " That is because we are not only nearly five hundred miles further south, but only a few feet above the same altitude as El Paso," explained Eliot. " This region is the lowest part of the line between the frontier and the cajiital, after leaving the Rio Grande." CHAPTER X. ACROSS THE TROPICJ OF CANCER. fli w 'HEN Harry iiwoke the next iiioriiino- Eliot told him that they were again over a mile above the sea-level. " We are just in the tropics," he said. " If you had been up a little earlier you might have seen the point where we cross the Tropic of Cancer." At the breakfast-table they were talking about being inside theTorridZone,an(l Florence remarked that the country did not look a bit more tropical than that of the day before. 3Ir. Brinkley said that of course all the territory within tlie tropics was tropical, strictly speaking, but in the common use of the term only the warm country, where the luxuriant vegetation flourished, was called tropical. " Here on the table-lands within the tropics is the true ' Temperate Zone,' for the climate is always mild and even at all seasons. What is called the Temperate Zone is really the Intem- perate Zone, with its sudden and violent changes of temjieratuie and weather, not only from season to season, but from dav to dav." 105 10(5 THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. •' What a fine idea it would be," said Eliot, " for the railway company to mark the exact spot where its line crosses the Tropic of Cancer, and run a line of prominent stones out into the plain on either side, with some inscription and the zodiacal sign of Cancer, the Crab, close at hand. Tourists would get interested to see the place, and things pay that interest the tourist." " That reminds me," Mr. Brinkley observed, " that my friend Mr. Frederic E. Church, the famous painter, told me the last time I was in Mexico how he took breakfast on the Equator. He was -with Mr. Cyrus W. Field, making a tour in South America. One morning, while out in the neighborhood of Quito, they asked a gentleman and lady whom they met strolling along the road if there was any place in the neighborhood where they could get breakfast. The gentleman pointed to a handsome house near by and said he thought they might get a fair meal there. He then added that he was the owner of the place and would be charmed to have the honor of their company. They had a delightful breakfast, and ^Nlr. Church, knowing that the Equator must be near by, asked his host if he could tell him just where it was. ' I think you must be on it now,' he answered, pointing to a straight and deeply graven mark running across the floor. Mr. Church looked and saw that the line ran beneath his own chair, so tliat lie had l)een eating lireakfast astride the Equator, with one foot in the Northern Hemisphere and one in the Southern ! It seemed that a party of French scientists had been there, and located the exact line of the Ecpiator. Thcv had made their headquarters at that house for sonic days, and had marked the line of the Equator through their host's dining'-room in appreciation of his hospitality, so that at that jjoint, at least, it was THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. 107 soinetliiiii;- inori' than wliat the <>tM)gniplii('S call ' an imaginary line.' " " It is interi'sting that the place where I saw them lay the last rail of the Mexican Central Railroad near Fresnillo, a little back of here, in March, 1884," said Eliot, " is very near the line of the Tropic of Cancer. It was a smiple, but very significant ceremony, with the two engines, one coming down from the frontier and the other up from the City of Mexico, ' touching noses ' over the last rail. The American consul at Zacateeas stood on the pilot of the locomotive from the South and his brother, who was ]\Icxican-born and a Mexi- can citizen, on that of the locomotive from the North. The Ameri- can brother waved the Mexican flag and the Mexican brother the American flag. The American shouted ' Viva la republica de Mexico ! ' and the Mexican, ' Viva los Estados uiiidos del Norte ! ' (Live the republic of Mexico, and live the United States of the North) . Then they crossed the two flags, and the American consul called, in Spanish, ' As we two brothers embrace, so may the two sister republics embrace ! ' It was all spontaneous, and most sym- bolic of the event. The laying of that last rail, a little to the south of the Tropic of Cancer, completed the first railway in the world that had been built from the Temperate Zone down into the tropics. It was one of the most important events in the history of Mexico, for it made her practically a part of the world at large, and it brought the capitals of the two largest republics in North America into close and speedy communication." While they were at breakfast they had left the station of Calera. " In less than thirty kilometers," said Eliot, " between here and Zacateeas we climb nearly a thousand feet — only seven feet lacking." 108 THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. In their tortuous course to attain that height they wound steadily along an unbroken series of curves, and they all stood out on the " quarter-deck " to watch the landscape widen g-lorioiisly out as they steadily ascended, into great expanses of sun-bathed plains and rugged mountains. It looked as if they were entering a region of great military importance, for on the hill-tops and along their slojjcs were huge structures of stone resembling- strongly fortified castles. Smooth and well-built roads wound their way up the hills like great white ribbons looped along over the brown mountain. " What are all those castles ? " asked Florence. " They are not castles, but mines," answered Eliot, " or rather the buildings of mines. They build to last in this country, you see. And they had to build strongly, too. Those mining headcpiarters are fortified like castles, for in the old days, up to Avithin fifteen years, even, the owners of the mines had to depend upon themselves, for the most part, for the defence of their property against robbers, who scoured the country in organized bands, and against ' pronuncia- dos,' men who ' pronounced,' as they say in Spanish for getting up an insurrection, or revolution. That was in most instances done, not on account of any wrongs to be righted, but as a pretext for sys- tematic robbery of rich mines and haciendas, or great plantations. These great mines often had many hundreds of thousands of dollars, either in bullion or coin stored within their walls and awaiting a favorable opportunity for transportation across the country in Sonductus ' or treasure-trains of bullion-laden wagons escorted by strong military guards. So they were })repared for attacks, and at times had to withstand regular sieges." Meanwhile they began to pass through clusters of buildings, out- FOUNTAIN AT ZACATIXAS. See page 1 1 2. THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. 109 skirts of the city, disposed at haphazard over the hills, and here and there a ravine was spanned hy a series of slender arches, carrying acqueducts for the water raised from mines. Water is an article carefully cherished in a region like Zacatecas, where rain is scarce. " Here is the next to the highest point on our route to Mexico — eight thousand and sixty-five feet above the sea," said Eliot. " It is also a divide between the Atlantic and Pacific, and we are now on the Pacific slope for the first time. We shall keep along on this slope all through the day, and tonight, just beyond Queretaro, we shall return to the Atlantic slope again. That shows we are follow- ing along the backbone of the continent pretty closely. The City of Mexico is on neither slope, for its valley has no outlet. But when the drainage tunnel is completed it Avill be brought onto the Atlantic; slope, for the waters of its lakes and streams will How down into the Gulf of Mexico." The motion of their train showed that they were now running along at a level, and in a moment they stopped at the station, where there was a bustling crowd in waiting. Below, to the left, there reached away a narrow valley, entirely filled with the great mass of buildings of a large city. It was an important-looking place. They looked (lo\yu upon the flat roofs and traced lines of crooked streets following the irregular surface. Handsome towers and domes lifted their heads on all sides, and the solid buildings spread irregularly up the mountain slopes and extended up side-valleys and ravines, dis- appearing around projecting headlands. On the crest of a steep clitf rising over the centre of the city there stood a romantic-looking ehiuch. "That cliif," said Eliot, "is called La Bufa. Tiu're is a 110 THE CllUISE OF A LAND- YACHT. iiiiiie up there, as there are mines all around, ahove, beside, and even dii-ectly beneath the city. That church is the chapel for the men working- in the mine. Every one of the great mines had its chapel in former days, and it was the pride of the mine-owners to make their chajiels as magnificent as possible, so they often lavished treasures on them. This is one of the great mining cities of the world, and one of the three largest in Mexico — Guanajuato and Pachuca being the other two. They say that over a billion dollars in silver has been taken from the mines here in the past three centuries and more since the city was founded, and they are still producing richly." The young ladies exhausted their stock of superlatives on the picturesque spectacle before them and Mr. Brinkley laughed and told them that their supply of enthusiastic adjectives would be worn threadbare before they got through with Mexico. " Why, I had no idea there was anything like it on the Ameri- can continent ! It looks as old as — as Jerusalem ! " said ^Mabel. " When a city gets to the age of three hundred ye>n-s, or so, two or three thousand years in addition doesn't make an appreciable difference in its looks," said Mr. Brinkley. Eliot pointed to the street-cars standing at the station. " They run down into the city without any mules, for it is down-grade all the way, and from the central plaza other cars run in the same way all the Avay down the valley to the city of Guadalupe, on account of (he milder climate. The mules for bringing the cars back are dri\cn down ni droves." As they started, the young people all declared they wished they might stop over and see the place, but Mr. Brinkley said he probably THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. Ill would on the way back, if they wanted to after seeing Guanajuato, which was finer yet. The air was of a delightful temperature, with an invigorating quality in its thinness which made Harry, as he breathed (luickly, say that he could not get enough of it. They wound along the side of the valley, as on a shelf above the city, and in one place they coidd see, in three successive places below them, the track over which they were to go. They looked down into the busy court-yards of mines, and in one they saw a gTeat herd of mules driven rapidly about. " That is to extract the silver l)y tlie old Mexican method, called the ' Patio process,'" said Eliot. ^^ Patio means court. The ore is crushed and mixed mto a sort of paste, and after it has been exposed to the sun and kneaded over by the feet of those mules for several weeks it is ready for the extraction of the silver. Those round towers about fifteen feet high, with light smoke rising out of tlicni, are kilns for roasting the ore. Here is a mining-shaft close to the track. Do you see that man sitting there and cracking stones with a hammer? He is sorting the ore according to its rich- ness, and he gets three reales, or thirty-seven and one-half cents a carga, or three hundred pounds. The quantity is called a rnrt/d be- cause it is the regulation load, or ' cargo ' for a ' burro ' or donkey. You know there is a saying that a burro never dies, but there is an evidence of it," and he pointed to another shaft beside the track out of Avhich a great bucket rose as they passed, hoisted by a mule at a windlass ; it held over a hogshead of water, which was tijiped out into a trough that conducted it into an acqueduct. " That l)ucket is made of burro-hides, and the hair is on the outside. It is the primitive way of draining the mines, but since the railway was built coal is brought in pretty cheaply, so that it is used in running 112 THE CRUISE OF A LAXD-YACHT. pimiping-engines for the great mines, like those you see where the tall chimneys are on the mountain-side over there. " Do you know that this railway actually runs over a bed of silver along here ? All this rock-ballast is silver-ore from the Zacatecas mines, of such a low grade that it would not pay to work it, but there are probably many thousands of dollars' worth passed over by these trains." They lost the city from sight and passed along on their tortuous and rapidly descending way on the slope of the narrow vaUey, ^vith the dry bed of a stream below. " That is the Zacatecas river," said Eliot. " River ! Where is the water ? " asked Florence. " 0, a Mexican river, at least here on the table-land, usually con- sists more of rocks than water, for the greater part of the year," Eliot responded. " I believe there is a better water-supply in Zacat- ecas now, but the last time I was there it was so scanty that tlie water was dipped out of the fountain in the main plaza by the women who come there for it with great jars, faster than it ran in. There is so little room in the centre of the city that they have arched over the river continuously in many places, to give space for ad- ditional buikUngs." Harry said : " I see a little damp place here and there down in the gravel just about big enough to give an English sparrow a bath." " Oh how glorious ! There is water enough out there ! " called Mabel, pointing oft' into the distance, towards the southwest. They were now just above the city of Guadalu])e, nestling snugly at the mouth of the valley, which opened out into a vast ocean-like ^jlain, THE CRUISE OF A LANU-YACHT. 113 out of which isolated mountain groups rose in the bhie distance. Several miles away a large lake spread out on the level, glistening in the sunlight like a sheet of burnished Zacatecas silver. " That lake is a jjresa, or reservoir, where water is stored, or ' impounded,' as we engineers say, for irrigating purposes. It also gives a considerable water-power at its dam for a good-sized factory, — a woolen-mill, I believe. Just along here is where I first saw the end of the track when they were building northward. I came up here with Major Harrington wlien lie was su])crintfiid('iit of the track-department, toward the end of N(jvembcr, and wc celebrated Thanksgiving with a turkey-dinner on his car. It is an interesting sight to see track-laying in Mexico. There are not lots of temporary board-shanties, and the ground isn't covered with tin cans when tlie camp moves on, as with us. The Avorkmen were all Mexicans and they lived verv simply. At night all that the most of them would do would be to spread their jjctafes, or pieces of straw matting, out on the ground, and roU themselves up in their blankets and go to sleep. Favored ones would sleep under the boarding-cars where the officials lived, making their berths between the sleepers. Others woidd sleep in the cidverts and would burrow in the sides of the ditches beside the track, excavating little dens in the earth — which, you see, is very hard nearly everywhere all through Mexico — a sort of gravel consolidated into a substance that is the next thing to stone. That is the reason why all these cuttings for the track have perpendicular sides, or nearly so. There is no frost to crund)le the banks away, and so much money is saved hi the work, for the slop- ing requires a large amount of additional excavation. " But I was telling al)()Ut tlie track-layers. Tiie families of 114 THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. many of the laborers were with tlieni, and they lived like nomads. Those laborers who had been with the force the longest were the most fortunate as to their quarters. They had been privileged to build little cubby-like domiciles in the shape of platforms suspended beneath the cars and occupying the space between the trucks. These were walled about with matting. These nests were hardly high enough to sit upright in, but the men lived there with their families ; that is, they slept there. Some of them had been with the force ever since construction began at the city of Mexico. I saw children play- ing around, three years old, who had been born in those kennels underneath the cars a few miles north of the capital." They shortly began to duiib another range, where they saw forests of the enormous great tree-like yuccas that Eliot had spoken of, and dense thickets of the nopal, or prickly-pear cactus, covering a large portion of the mountains with their deep green. " They look like a lot of plates stuck together edgewise, one after the other," said Harry. " That is the most characteristic feature of Mexican vegetation," said Eliot ; " and it is one of the national emblems of this country. Do you see this Mexican dollar, with its fine design — an eagle Avith a snake in its beak and a nopal IjcIow ? It might be taken to symbol- ize the slaying of the serpent Tyranny by the eagle Freedom, but it is the Mexican coat of arms handed down tVom the Aztecs. When that ])eople migrated southward they were told l)y their sooth-sayers, according to tradition, that when they came to a place where they saw an eagle sitting on a nopal with a snake in its beak there would be their abiding place. After long wanderings they canic to tlie valley of Mexico, and there they saw. on a rock out in the lake, that THE CKUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. 115 whifh liacl been predicted. So there they settled and fonnded the Aztec reahn, out of the ruins of which Mexico of to-day has grown. For Mexico of today is composed chiefly <>f the Aztec and kindred Indian races that, to a greater or less extent, have adopted the civiliza- tion of their conquerors. So when Mexico became independent it took for its national emblem the sacred token of the Aztecs." " And the Mexicans, as a race, sympathize with their Aztec progenitors today, and the memory of Cortez is still so unpopular that no monimient has ever been erected to him," said Mr. Brinkley. All through the day their route lay through a country that, for the greater part, was richly cultivated, with intervals of rough and rocky upland. Their altitude frequently changed as they wound across the flanks of mountains from one great sunny valley down into another. With the varying height the cli- mate varied, but the change in this respect was not sharp during the daylight hours ; on the lower levels the air had a softer feeling, and on the higher they felt its thinner quality, and found that it was cool and bracing out i of the sinilight. Eliot also pointed out how tlic character of the vegetation ('hanged witii v^ the changes in height. Ilarrv had brought along one of tlic new 116 THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. instantaneous cameras that operate with a roll of sensitive film, and he found abundant occupation at the various stations, catching the strange-looking scenes ; interesting features of building, and the varied groups of people assembled at such places — men Avatli their broad sombreros and gay-hued zarapas, the peasants usually in loose cotton garments that once had been white ; women in cheap calico prints and with the inevitable rebozo about their heads ; children with but a scanty shirt that was often a lace-work of tatters, while, at the minor stations, little brown tots were to be seen frisking about in a cherub- like state. Then there were beggars in over-plentiful quantity, in all stages of dilapidation and want of repair, mth hands extended and whining in pitiful tones words like " Por amor de Dios, senor, una corta caridad ; un centavito, nada mas, senor ! " (For the love of God, seiior, a short charity ; one little cent, and nothing more, senor ! ) " Oh, the poor things ! " cried Florence, svmpathetically, the first time she saw them assembled in force, and in all their professional regalia. " Don't give them a cent ! " Eliot said. " They are humbugs, everv onv of them. These beggars are the worst things about Mexico, I believe. They always make a better livelihood than these jjoor jieasants who work hard from daylight to dark for a few cents a (lav. Why, at Amecameca, one old fraud was pointed out to me as till' owner of three houses, and many of the people who neverthe- le.ss gave hun alms and looked on liim as sort of sanctified by his occupation, knew it, too ! The reason why l)eggars are so plenty in THE CRUISK OF A LAND-YACHT. J I" countries like this is that the people have long been taught to regard beggary as a desirable institution, enco\iraging the virtue of charity. But to nourish an evil in order that to ameliorate it people may give themselves the pleasure of doing what they regard as a virtuous act is one of the worst forms of selfishness." •' That is well put, Eliot," Mrs. Briiddey said. •' The best way to deal with any evil is to seek its cause and try to remove that. And seeing all these poor people everywhere in Mexico, working so hard and patiently, I cannot make that fact agree with what is so often quoted from Lempriere, the French writer, and which 1 came across in this guide-book : • The merciful hand of Providence has bestowed on the Mexicans a magnificant land abounding in resources of all kinds — a land where none ought to be poor, and where mis- ery ought to be unknown. A land whose products and riches of every kind are abundant and as varied as they are rich. It is a country endowed to ])rofusion vnth every gift that man can desiie or envy ; all the metals from gold to lead ; everv sort of climate from perpetual snow to tropical heat, and of inconceivable fertilitv.' " " That is all strictly true," said Mr. Brinkley, " and it seems piti- ful that where there is such an abundance the wants of all should not be met, and that these jioor ])eople should have to toil so to keep soul and body together." " One reason is, that there is really an aristocnicv here in tliis republic ; that the land is nearly all licld by a few persons, in enormous areas like this great stretch of graln-Helds tliat we see now spreading away as far as the eye can reach. Land-owners here are not taxed on what they own, but onlv on their income from it. So tliey only cari* to imjjrovc it just enough to give them princelv in- comes, and these poor peasants are still practically slaves." 118 THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. " How they must suffer ! " said Florence. " No, they do not suffer so mucli as we might suppose," Eliot answered. " They are so ignorant that they have no idea of any other condition than their present one, which they suppose to be in the unchangeable order of things. So they are really happier than our working-classes at home who are so much lietter off, but who, by their intelligence, know how much l)etter situated still are those who do not work so hard. Our workers know about the good things that others enjoy ; they read and hear about them every day, and so they want those things themselves. If Mexico ever has a good sys- tem of public schools the people for a while Avill not be so happy, for it aWU make them discontented with their lot, but that will make them progressive." ;*^'« CHAPTER XL A SUMMER AFTERNOON IN JANUARY. I T -n IS shortly after noon when the train stopped * ■ ')iisy-looking station. "AguascaUentes," (1 Eliot ; " The City of Hot Waters, is ih it it means." " And hot weather too, I should say, by the looks of things," Florence remarked. " This is real summer, is n't it '? Look at those delightful green trees ! " and she pointed to an avenue of beautiful great alamos, or cottonwoods, as they call the poplar family in the West, crossing the railway track and running olf into the distance. " Yes, we have said good-bye to winter for good, tliis season, although we shall return to spring-time again by to-morrow. But it is not a city of hot weather here, just as the water is really not hot — only agreeably warm. AguascaUentes has an almost perfect cli- niate^ and it is so healthy that they say people never die here ; when they get old they smiply dry up and blow away ! There is very little difference between summer and Avinter here." As the train stopped half an hour for dinner, they all went out for 120 THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. a promenade on the station platform, and Eliot and Harry ran out to see the ditch of warm water that runs down into the city on one side of the avenue. It was a broad ditch, with smoothly cemented sides. The water was soapy- looking-, for people of the laboring and peasant classes were continually bathing in it, singly and in groups. Ehot pointed out a family party, sitting comfortably with the water up to their necks, while their clothing, which they had washed, was drying on the bushes over their heads. " The people here keep pretty clean, for the climate permits them to bathe in the open aii- the year through, and there are few who do not do it," said Eliot. " The water in that ditch comes from the springs at the end of this avenue, two miles or so from the city. You can see what a volume must come out of the ground by the amount running here, while beside that ditch there runs a covered aqueduct to bring the water to the baths in the city, fresh from the springs. There are baths out there too, and many go out by preference, for the water there is warmer, of course. It cools off considerably before it reaches the city. Now let us run over for a look at the city baths ; they are close by the station." A few steps brought them to a beautiful garden filled with brilliant flowers, beside a' long, low building with arcaded front. This arcade bounded the garden on two sides, and along the edge of the open corridor there ran a stream of clear water in a channel of masonry, lined smoothly with cement, and highly polished. " Why, this seems to be a swell place ! " Harry exclaimed. " Well, pcrh;ii)s it might be called so, for only the more respect- able classes come here. The peones all bathe out in that ditch, where it doesn't I'ost anvtliing." THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. 121 Eliot explained to the man at the door that they just wanted to look inside ; they hadn't time to take a bath, and were strangers who had nni over from the train. With a courteous wave of the hand, and a " Pasen Ustedes ! " (Pass in, sirs !) that official gave them permission in a way that ahuost seemed as if it were they who were conferring the favor. Two well-dressed Mexican youths had laid down tickets just ahead of them, and they followed them along the corridor. They entered a place where there was a large oval swunming-basin, or alberca, as it is called ui Spanish. It was sur- rounded by a series of cell-like dressing-rooms and a broad tiled space between them and the basin, which was brimming with lunpid water that reflected a cloudless sky. Through the gratings of a handsome archway were seen the green and bloom of a garden be- yond. An attendant brought the young Mexicans some things on a tray and over his arm, and they disappeared in one of the rooms. " There is a large towel, a bath-sheet, a cake of soap, a clean comb and brush, and a little bottle of oil for each, and the whole thing, bath and all, costs only a few cents — not over a real, I be- lieve, or twelve and one-half cents Mexican." " That is cheap enough ! " said Harry. " This place is run by the city, and there are dozens of Mexican towns with fine public baths such as you could not find in the largest cities in the United States." " By the city ? Why, this beats the Athletic Club swunming- bath ! I should say our cities might learn something from Mexico ! " When they entered there was no one in the bath, but while they were talking a swiaimer suddenly shot up out of the water, followed by a companion. 122 THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. " Where in the world did they come from ? " demanded Harry, with wide-ojwn eyes. EHot laughed and showed him inside one of the dressing-rooms, a large apartment, Avith steps descending into a tank of water, fom- or five feet deep, out of which a tunnel-like arch, several feet long, ran under the tiled walk out into the tank. " They dove out through that place," he said. In the dressing-room there was a separate tank for use with soap, which a notice said was forbidden in the alberca and the connecting water. Returning to the train, they found the young ladies looking at some remarkably Ufe-like representations of poultry — hens, chick- ens, roosters, and other familiar fowl — little images covered with feathers very skilfully and naturally applied, and the positions of picking up grain, scratching, crowong, etc., imitated -n-ith exactness. And all through the day at every principal station they found some pretty specialty of the locality offered for sale. At one place it might be some peculiar toys or ornaments, like nests of nicely woven little baskets fitted snugly into each other, at another some odd kind of pottery ; again it would be something in the way of apparel, like embroidery, lace, or leather-work ; and still again there would be sweetmeats of such a kind as could be only found at that place. At one station there were brought around some things that looked like pieces of some coarse-grained firewood, sawed into sections three or four inches long, and soaked in some dark licpiid. " What can those things be ? " asked Florence. " Surely not something to cat ? " " They look like sections of cross-ties," said Harry. " Well, 1 shouldn't wonder if these peojilc lould even manage to THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. V2'3 fix lip a cross-tie so as to mako it taste pretty nice ! " laui;'lu'(l Mr. Brinkley. " In the pursuit of knowledge k!t us try some of it ! " said Mabel. So a considerable quantity was bought for three cents. " I told you so!" shouted Harry, in mock triumph. " Cross-ties boiled in molasses, as sure as fate ! " It was some soft vegetable substance, with a coarse fibre ; it was easily cut, and when chewed yielded an abundance of watery juice that tasted like a very thin syrup of brown sugar. " What a strange thing for confectionery ! " said Mabel. " What can it be ? " " Well, it Avould probably not be exactly the thing for Huyler's ! " said Eliot. " It is the root of the mescal maguey which we have seen growing all over the country to-day, on the uplands ; the kind of aloe, or century-plant, whose roots they distil mescal from. The roots are very juicy and sweet, and boiling them a little makes them like this. The common people are very fond of it. Like sugai-- cane, they can chew on it for a long time ; it ' stands by ' like the chewing-gimi of the North ! " It was along past four o'clock when they saw, from the summit of a divide, a pleasant landscape stretched below them ; a wide valley with its inevitable rim of mountains ; there were spread out upon the brown plain of the levels two or three gleaming lakes set amid what looked like other lakes of soft spring-like green, in the shajie of great fields of young barley. Out of the valley there rose two large towers close together. " Tliat is the great church of Lagos, the ' City of Fools,' " said Eliot. " But Lagos doesn't mean fools ; it is hi C'mdad dc Lagos, the City of Lakes, but its nickname is 'La Ciudad 124 THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. de los Tontos.' Ton fos means iooh. That is the reputation that Lagos has all through Mexico, and all the stories of absurd say- ings and doings, and of what we would call Irish bulls, are located there. Some of them a])pear to have a foundation in fact, too. For instance, there is a bridge upon which there is an in- scription to this effect : ' This is a /f\ ~''¥^j'/ ^ \ bridge, which, in the year so-and- ^ ^ 1 ^ so, was built here ! ' " One of the best stories is that of how a Lagos man moved a hole. Near his house there was a large hole in the ground, and he did not like the looks of it. So he decided to remove it. He there- fore filled it up with earth dug from m . He\ But tliis made a second hole, earth dug from a third hole, in the kept on, and step by step the hole farther and farther oft", until finally he it to tlie river, where he got rid of it " At one time a considerable crop oB on the roof of their great church. After deliberation as to the best way to get rid of the grass, the Board of' AldernuMi voted to buy a cow, hoist her up onto the roof, and let her eat away the grass ! " One of their principal buildings, — the City Hall, I believe — was not in ex- THE CRUISE OF A LANll-YACHT. 125 actly the jiositioii tliey wuuted it ; it was somewhat too near tlie street. So the ahlermeii i-allcd all the citizens to assemhle and unite in giving- it one grand push ; that would move it back. But how would they know when they had pushed it far enough ? A bright idea struck the alcalde ; they could push better without their great broad sombreros on their heads and their zarapes about their shoulders, and so, obedient to his (•ommand, they went around to the rear of the building and carefully laid down theii' sombreros and zarapes in a long line. When they got the building moved to that point, it would be just right. Then they aU went back to the front side and prepared to join in a mighty push. While they were aU pushing, grunting, and puffing in concert, some thieves came along, and ran off with all the sombreros and zarapes, making a rich haul. When the citizens repaired to the rear again to see what result their efforts had met with they were astonished to find theu- things all gone. Alas ! they had pushed too hard, they said ; their powerful efforts had indeed moved the great stone building, but had moved it so far as to pass the line, and their things were now all hopelessly crushed beneath the massive walls ! " " I learned a curious fact in photography from a picture of that church in Lagos," said Mr. Brinkley. " It is a grand ( luircli. When Jackson, the Denver photographer, took his magnificent series of Mexican views several years ago, that church was one of the sub- jects. I happened in at Ticknor's one day, when my friend Ware, the editor of the American Architect, showed me a copy from that photograph which he had just had made for reproduction in his journal, together Avith Jackson's original. Looking at the facade in the photograph by Jackson, one could see only a uniform mass of 126 THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. dark shadow in the deep recess of the great doorway. But Mr. Ware held it iij) so that the Hght shone through it as through a transparency, and then coukl be seen all the detail of the rich wood- carving of the doors. Then holding np the photograph of the pho- tograph, he pointed out the same effect when the light shone through that. This proved that the lens of the camera is sensitive to things which the eye cannot perceive, and that although it may be impos- sible for the eye to see certam things in a photograph, nevertheless they are still there." At the station in Lagos there were tramway cars in waiting, as they found at nearly every considerable jjlace along the line ; familiar-looking American-built cars such as may be seen nearly the whole world over, now-a-days. In Mexico, the street-railways are called tranvias ; the second part of the word is literally translated into Spanish, whilst the English tram is translated by the resemblance in sound into " tran," which is appropriate in this connection, for it is used in the sense of motion, as forming the root of words like transit, trans- port, transfer. The English word trcijn, how- ever, has a quite different origin, since it means coal-wagon, and tramway is supposed to have originally been a road for coal-wagons. It is also supposed to have come from the name of Mr. Outram, who was connected with the collieries at Newcastle, so tliat the tram-roads were at lirst called Outram roads. '^ What beautiful-looking fiuit ! " cried Florence, at sight of the THK CRUISE Ol' A LAND-YACHT. various /'nifiros, or fruit-venders, who gathered about the tram witli oreat basket-t'uls poised on their heads. " It makes my mouth water ! " " Yes, indeed," agreed Harry. " I mean to try every kind of fruit I come across in Mexico ! " " And if you are the kind of boy I've always taken you for," said Eliot, " you will like nearly every kind, too ; — particularly these chirimoi/as" he added, as they took on board the greater part of the large and varied stock of a slender, brown-skinned and gentle- voiced youth with large dark eyes, whom Eliot succeeded in beating down in his prices about one-third. " Just out of principle," he said, " for these people would not know what to make of it if you did not do it ; they might suspect you of some sinister motive, and it does not pay to get yourself disliked ! But this youth surprises me in selling out nearly his whole stock at reduced prices ! T think he must have been under American influence ! The eonnuon peoi)le have no idea of tlie principles of wholesale trade. If you want to buy things in quantity, not only will they make no reduction, but they often insist on charging a higher rate, because it puts them to so much more trouble ! " "Really, such unworldliness is delicious ! — But truly, are these chii-imoyas? You know I have been hearing of chirimoyas from Eliot for the past six years," said Mabel, " and I have despaired of ever seeing one." " Let us try these other things first, and save the chirimoyas till the last," Eliot suggested. " This mamej/ is a good thing to begin with." Thev all gathered around the big basket and watched Eliot 128 THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. vnth curiosity as he took a large brown fruit %Wth a rough, shell-like covering, and oval-shaped, and cut it lengthwise into several slices, as is usually done with a melon. It disclosed a large, chestnut- colored pit enclosed by a melon-like flesh of a deep salmon color. Each took a slice and tasted it. " How odd ! " said Mabel, critically. " It has a sort of cooked taste." " I think it's real nice ! " Florence declared. " But what does it taste like ? Something familiar, and I can't think of it ! " " Iveady-niade pumpkin pie ; that's just what it is ! " shouted Harry. " Harry has it ! It does have a strong resemblance, with the addition of a peculiarly juicy, fruity sweetness," said Mal)el. " Now next ! A chico zapote apiece will be in ordei-," and Eliot handed around a kind of round fruit with a rough brown earth- colored skin, and about the size of an ordinary peach. " They look like jjotatoes," Harry remarked. " These are especially esteemed in INIexico," Eliot explained. Chico zapote means small zapote. There are numerous kinds of zapote, and we have two more on our list. The mamey is a zapote, I meant to tell you." Mabel and Florence both declared the chico zapote delicious, with its delicate flavor and almost sugary sweet- ness, but Harry accepted it with some reserve. " I like it," he said, " all except its coarse grain, like a cat's tongue, as if its rough skin had struck in. tSonu^thing like some of our coarse jtcars, you know." " Now for a zapote jir'n /n. or daik zapote ! " ajid Eliot took up a soft, rather flabby-looking fiuit with a thin, ibdl-green skin. He tore it open and the interior was shown to be a dark, soft and pasty- THE CRUISE OF A LAND-VACHT. 129 looking- substance. " Why, it's rotten ! " vv'uhI Ilarrv ; '■ you'll have to select another one, altliough they all look ahoiit tlie same," and Florence declared that it Avas a most horrihlt-looking thing. " that's all right ! " said Eliot ; " that's the way it naturally looks when it is ripe ; you must try everything, you know ! " Harry was the first to venture it, and the dark streaks that it made about his mouth made the others laugh merrily. " You re- mind me of a small child that has been trying the quality of his nuid pies," Eliot told him. " A spoon Avould be better to eat this Avith," Eliot suggested, " and, indeed, it will come in very handily for some of the things further on." Some teaspoons were brought, and they all declared that the zapote prieto was very nice after all. •• We had "better call it the Singed-Cat fruit," said Harry, " for it is better than it looks." " It is really a very refreshing fruit," said Eliot. "And it is a very nice dessert dish, fixed up with vanilla and sugar, and jjerhaps some spice or other. It also makes a very nice water-ice." " I should think it would really make a very nice-looking dish on the table, and resembles chocolate ice-cream in appearance," Mabel said. Next ill order came a fruit closely resembling the mainey. '• This is our last zapote for the present ; it is a zapote borracho," and a slightly mischievous look might have been seen coming into Eliot's eyes as he said the words. Its interior was a bright yellow, instead of the deep salmon of the mamey. No one took kindly to this fruit, although Harry said that he liked it when he first tasted it, but then he changed his mind, saying it was too mealy. " Zapote horracho means ' drunken zapitte ; ' it is so called be- 130 THE CRUISE OF A I.AKD-YACHT. cause eating- it makes a person intoxicated. But don't be fright- ened," Eliot said to the young larlies, laughing, as a look of consterna- tion came into theii- faces. " It takes two or three to produce any effect, and you have only eaten a mouthful. Of course the fruit does not contain alcohol, hut some kind of narcotic ; probably opium, just as lettuce does. These things here are (jranaditas ; you can't helj) liking them," and he handed around some fruit about the size and shape of eggs. They were hard and shell-like, something like gourds, and they had a beautiful smooth surface of rich yellow, with crunson cheeks. Cutting off the end, like that of a boiled egg, the interior was found to consist of a mass of seeds enveloped in soft pulp, something after the manner of a gooseberry. This they ate with a sjjoon. It liad an extpiisite Havor. as was unanimously agreed, and Eliot told them they might eat a dozen apiece, if they liked, without any harm. " It is the fruit of the passion-flower," he said, " and it is worth remembering, if any of us should happen to be troubled witli a cough while we are in Mexico, that this egg-shaped shell (if tlic gianadita makes one of the best of pectorals if steeped in a tujiFul of hot water. Now we must be ready for the chiri- utoi/ds ! " and Eliot picked out a large fruit, irregular in shape, " about the size of a base-ball," as Harry said, dull green in color, unil coxcrcd with large scale-marks, something like an alligator skin. " It is in various sizes, you see," said Eliot, taking up one no larger than a peacli, and jiointing ouf a big one in the basket, nearly as large as a <-«M()aniit. He cut the fruit into (juarters and handed it round; it was wliite. soft, and very juicy, niucli like tlie tlesli of a Bartlett pear, l)ut wit li just the trace of a lilin.us texture from the core outwards, as in a pineajiple. Endied.led in the fruit at intei- THK f'KUISl'; OF A 131 vals were lai;<;e tlailc seeds uhout the size of l)eeeh-inits. Eliot reeoiiniieii(le(l the use of spoons in eating' this. '• Heavenly ! " caHed Floienee. " But what is it like ! Peach iee-ereani with the coldness taken out of it, I shouhl say ; and 1 can detect stra wherry flavor, too ! " " It is perfectly delicious," Mal)el agreeih " But it seems to nie there is just a suggestion of hanana al)out it, also ! " " And pineapple, too ! " added Harry. " Yes, you can find in it a trace of any fruit you like," said Eliot. " I agree with the definition of the chirimoya to be found in the Spanish dictionary. ' The most delicious of Anaerican fruits,' is all it says. A Peruvian friend told me they had this saying in Lima : ' Hay dos cosas en la vida que nunca se olvida : la felicidad y la chirimoya.' Which means : ' There are two things in life that are ne\er to be forgotten : happiness, and the chirimoya.' We boys used to say that there is only one fruit that is finer than the chirimoya, and that is the mango ; and there is only one that is finer than the mango, and that is the chirimoya ! Perhaps it is well that tlie chirimoya only comes just as tlie mango goes, for it would l)e difficult to make a choice between them, and to have them Ixtth at the same time would be an embarrassment of riet into your fingers and you will have an all-day contract <;-ettin<;- them out ! " " Here is one more native American fruit of the tropics. Init we will wait luitil supper for that. It is the K'-'' i) "t It-' • - <>-iven him a shake. He M-»> i/;':'.. ' ; ■-" iJ If ,-■■•' opened his eyes drowsily ^^lyUllM and said "Where?" " Why, in the City of !,^c"?3,4.'?^;^' ' ' ~ Mexico!" Harry jumped up, alert with excitement. When he stepped out onto the " quartei-deek " with his cousin he exclaimed, with a shiver, " Why, it's cold ! " " Yes, we're back in springtime again, as I told you. Summer or winter, the mornings are cool here." The train was whirling up a cloud of thick, fine dust, and they speedily went back inside, where the rest of the party soon joined them. It was just growing light. They were traversing a wide, level i)lain, bordered by high mountains. Long lines of trees, bordering fields and highways, and fresh with the light green leaf- age of early spring, stretched off into the distance. The ground was dry and brown, except where there were patches of green here and there. " Spring is under way, now, as you can see by the trees, 138 THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. the most of which lose their leaves in December and strike them out again towards the end of January, at this altitude. But you see, contrary to our springtime procedure, the trees turn green before the grass does ; months before, in fact. For the grass will not spring up green until the rainy season sets in ; towards the end of May, or early in June." '•' This does look as if we were getting near a big city," said Harry. The buildings began to grow thicker on either side ; there were factories, and new streets witJi straggling rows of houses lately built, or just going up. These houses were mostly of one story, with plain fronts, and windows guarded with ii-on gratings. " Yes, Mexico is one of the great cities of this continent. It is nearly as large as Boston ; Frank Jersey wrote me lately that it had almost four hundred thousand inhabitants now. But I had no idea it had spread way out here. All this was open fields six years ago. Mexico is growing like one of the young giant cities of the West." The train began to move at the slow pace which is always talcen in the approach of an unportant terminal, as if in sedate respectful- ness to a large population. They passed by railway machine-shops and storehouses, with long lines of freight and passenger cars, loco- motives under steam, and finally came to a stop under a great iron roof supported by rows of handsome stone piers, leaving the structure open to the air at the sides. They all went to the door to watch the usual sight that attends the arrival of a train at its destination, and it did not differ materially here from similar scenes in the United States. " I wonder if anybody will be here to meet us at this early hour," said Eliot, scanning the faces in the crowd of people waiting on the platform and looking cx])ectantly towards the cars. " Yes — THE CllUlSE OF A LAND-YACHT. 139 here come Frank Jersey and his wife — and who's that yonng- Mexi- can with them? His fact- h)()ks familiar, Imt I can't phice him." Eliot jumped off to meet his friends, who hastened towards them. There was a hearty greeting, with a clasping- of hands ; then Harry perceived a look of recognition come over Eliot's face as his eyes met those of the young Mexican, and witii astonishmemt he saw the two fall across each others shoulders in an embrace, giving mutually and sinniltaneously three or four affectionate pats on the back with the right hand. " That is the way friends meet in Mexico, after an absence," said Mr. Brinklev. " Eliot couldn't do it better were he to the manner born ! " " Pero Nacho ! Que nino tan crecido ! Quien pudiera recono- certe !" (But Nacho ! What a grown-up boy ! Who could have recognized thee !) exclaimed Eliot. Mr. and Mrs. Jersey advanced to greet the others. They were old friends of Eliot's and had become intimate with Mr. and Mrs. Brinkley ■ on their previous visit to Mexico, where Mi: Jersey was in business. Mrs. Jersey and Mrs. Brinkley kissed each other first on one cheek and then on the other. " Costmnbre del pais ! " said the former, with a laugh, and then, with her husband she was made acquainted with the young ladies and Harry. " You see we are out for our nu)rning run on horse- back," said Mrs. Jersey. " Frank and I make it a point to ride out regularly every morning, and it keeps us in s])lcn(lid health, even in this unhealthy city." They were both in riding-suits ; she with the usual ladies' habit and a simple jockey cap, while her husband wore a short, snug jacket, dose-titting trousers spreading out over th.e feet, and a broad- 140 THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. brimmed, high-crowned sombrero. " I see you still ride Mexican style ! " said Mr. Brinkley. " When you are in Rome, you know ! " said Mr. Jersey. " Be- sides, it is the most comfortable way. But for charro, just look at our friend young- Andrade, (pronounced An-drah- thay) who came along with us this morn- ing ! " The young Mexican, a tall, stal- wart, and handsome young fellow with large, velvety eyes, was dressed in a suit cut like that of Mr. Jersey's, but with a double row of silver buttons set close to- gether down the trousers-seams, and his sombrero was adorned with a heavy silver ^^ band and a deep border of richly em- broidered silver work around the brun. " What a gorgeous creature ! " whis- pered Florence to Mabel, as he approached with Eliot. " My friend, Seiiorito Don Ignacio Andrade," said the latter, intro- ducing hun. The young fellow answered in perfect English, with hardly the trace of an accent. Remarking upon it, Mrs. Brinkley asked hhn where he had attended school in the United States, and he replied that he had never yet been north, but hoped to soon. "These young Mexicans are marvels at learning Englisli." said Eliot. " My friend Nacho here was only Harry's age when I saw him last, and now he has grown into the young giant you see before you." THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. 141 " You must join us at breakfast," said Mr. Brinkley to his friends, as that meal was announced while they were talkins^. The invitation was accepted and, as they seated themselves at the table, Mr. Jersey said to Mr. Brinkley : " I received your telegram, and have engaged good rooms for you all at the Hotel del Jardin. The hotels are so crowded now it was a mere chance that I got them." " We are in luck, then. Although it might lie more comfortable living on the car, I decided to go to a hotel in order to give tlie young jJeople a chance to see what it is like. And then they would be nearer the centre of the city." " You must let us do all we can to make your stay pleasant," said Mrs. Jersey. " The young people must join us in some horse- back excursions out into the country. How would tomorrow morn- ing do for the first one ? Frank will see that good horses are engaged." This was agreed u])on. The young jNIexican placed his own services at their disposition in the most charming manner, and said he had a younger brother of about Harry's age, and the two, he was sure, would make good friends. Harry was delighted at the idea of a Mexican boy companion, and Mr. Brinkley begged Don Ignacio to bring his brother around at the earliest opportunity. By ten o'clock they were ready to go to the hotel. Their friends, who had left them shortly after breakfast, had ordered carriages for them. How fascinatingly novel did everything appear to the eyes of the young people, wlio were now passing for the first time through the streets of a Mexican city. At such a time everv detail that diil'ers from those of the scenes one has lieen 142 THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. accustomed to makes a vivid impression, and even to the three who renewed their acquaintance with familiar sights, it had the effect of novelty. " There seems to he a magical influence in the air of this place," said Mrs. Brinkley, " and it always gives me the sensation of taking- part in a stage-spectacle." And indeed, one's first impressions of the historic city, the oldest capital in the New World, are apt to be of a theatrical order. It all looks so strange, so different from what has been experienced. " For all I've read about it, and for all the photographs I've seen, I had no idea it was anything like this," said Mabel. " Now with London it was quite different. At the start, it seemed as if I had always known it, and was returning to a place where I had once lived. I seemed to recognize nearly everything I saw there." The sun, pouring down its dazzling light from a cloudless sky of deep blue, seemed as high up from the southern horizon, even though so early in the year, as it was in midsunnner in the home-latitude. The streets Avere straight, and broad at first, but narrower as they approached the centre. The buildings were mostly two and three stories in height, some were plain and the stone fronts of others were elaborately I'arved, and others still were covered with stucco, moidded or stamped into intricate aral)es(jue ])atterns. All the Avindows Avere very large, and ojjcned like doors upon iron-railed balconies where women leaned by the hour looking out over the busv life of the street. On all sides were stately cliurcli-towers and bcautifid glittering domes covered with glazed tili'. In tlie streets were motley crowds. There were many stylishly (hcssed jieople passing to and fro, mostly with dark foreign faces. Ladies were DOORWAY IN MEXICO. THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. 145 frequently seen without hats, their heads gracefully draped with mantillas of black lace. Many horsemen were met, dressed for the greater part in the style of then- friend Andrade, their horses step- ping- lightly and decked with an abundance of stamped leather-work, rich with silver decoration, and bright-hued zarapes rolled across the saddles behind them. Multitudes of humble-looking people were in the streets, mostly with Indian features, and dressed in thin gar- ments of cotton, usually very dirty and often very ragged. Many of these men were running along at a steady dog-trot, bending over with heavy burdens carried on their shoulders, such as great cases of goods and large trunks. In many cases, straps across their fore- heads helped sustain these loads. Others trotted by on their way to market, with loads of vegetables and fruits, and some of these carried great cages of wicker-work crowded with live poultry, while outside there dangled bunches of live fowl with legs tied together and heads down, resignedly bearing what must be torture. Herds of shaggy burros trudged patiently in from the country laden with jnoduce packed upon their backs, and other herds carried charcoal and build- ing-stone. On the corners stood slender and youthful-looking police- men, in neat, military-looking uniforms of dark blue, and amiable faces, (juitc in contrast with the burly guardians of the peace at home. A battalif)n of troops passed rapidly by with a great clatter of drums and shrill music of bugles ; the soldiers short and slouchy- looking, and proceeding at a quickstep. They passed by a grand equestrian statue standing in a broad cii-cidar space whence there radiated wide, straight avenues, one of them lined with tall trees. They rolled from the rumbling, rough cobble-stone pavement onto a smooth expanse of asphalt, and the 146 THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. transition made Hairy think of the sensa- tion of crossing a bar from the tossing- seas of the ocean to the smooth waters of a harbor. They jjassed a long, park-like pnblic pleasure-gronnd, which Eliot said was the Alameda — a name commonly designating a pnblic garden, and coming from tlie word alamo, or poplar, with which tree it was customary, at first, to shade snch places. The alamos and ash- trees here were bright with fresh yonng foliage, and they caught long v-istas along the shady alleys that crossed the place. Nearly every ^71 open space they passed was utilized by a little city garden, with bits of fresh green lawn, fountains, and bright Avith flowers, wliile tall, broad-leaved bananas, young- date-palms, and fantastic cactus growths gave an intensely foreign aspect. The ^^Sc churches and the great buildings that were formerly convents, together with many other old and massive structures that had been standing for one, two, and three centuries, were stained Avith hues and tints that had from time to time been applied in successive coatings, making an indescribable intermingling of colors that, ,ANl>-YAfUT. 147 uiuler the intense .snnliglit, li;i(l the charm of variegated tapestry. Often, as they quickly passed a huikling they woukl catch momentary glimpses of a sunny inner court, surrounded by arcaded galleries , of carved stone-work, with ilowerin<>- plants in pots or great terra- cotta jars, along the balustrades. Everything seemed to be kiugh- ing with blossoms and sunshine. They finally drew uj) at their hotel, a massive structure of two stories built along two sides of a large garden that, on the side where they entered, was separated from the street by a high wall. They passed along a broad stone platform where clusters of guests, evidently Ameri- cans for the greater part, were loung- ing and chatting. In the angle of the two wings they went up a stair- way to a corridor along the outside of the second story, to their rooms, which they found consisting of apartments of two, overlooking the street on one side and the garden on the other. They were com- fortably furnished, and Eliot pointed out that they would have the benefit of the sunshine all day ; a most desirable thing in the City of Mexico, where the thin air made it chilly and unhealthy in rooms where no sunlight entered. " This hotel is one of our great im- provements since you were here, Eliot," said Mr. Jersey, who was on hand at the hotel when thev arrived. " But it is not so larjre 148 THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. as it looks, and they are going to double or treble its size, they say, with new wings and an additional story. And then we shall still need a hotel of several hundred rooms to accommodate the travel coming this way. You must remember this place, Eliot ? How it would make the old Franciscan fathers stare to see the change ! " " yes ; this is the old garden of San Francisco." And he ex- plained to the others how the building was remodeled from a jjortion of the old Franciscan convent, one of the largest in the country, and covering many acres in the heart of the city. When the property was confiscated by the government, streets were cut through it and it was broken up into lots. " If the young ladies would like, we will run up onto the roof XV and I will show you some- thing curious," said Mr. Jersey. tP, "■».;-" ''M!i ||L--^'iili "That is a good idea ; when one comes into a new )lace, get a bird's- ye view of it at the start, if possible, and it • orientating ' one's learning ' bow to steer your course',' as our young yachtsman berc would put it," said Mr. Brinkley. From the Hat, tilo-pavcd roof of tlie hotel they looked off over The level expanse ol I Ihe city. ildi ■lie (1 b THE CKUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. 149 domes and towel's in great variety ; island-like chimps of trees rose from plaza gardens here and there, and all around the valley there towered high mountains. But almost the first to attract their eyes, and enchain them in silent admiration, was the glorious spectacle that presented itself off towards the southeastward, — the two great snowy summits of Popocatepetl and Ixtaccihuatl, " The Smoking Mountain " and the " White Woman," as the names given them by the Aztecs signified. Their forms contrasted strongly ; the fonner stood isolated in a tall, symmetrical cone ; the latter spread out rug- ged and Alpine-like, its irregular contour showing at once whence came its name, for it resembled the shape of a woman lying at fidl length and shrouded in white. The effect of the dazzHng snow mantles was singularly pure and gleaming in the transparent air and against the clear sky. The grand summits seemed as aerial as clouds, and were whiter than any clouds in their crystalline splendor. " You pronounce their names, Mr. Jersey, somewhat differently from what I have heard before," said Mabel. " It is difiicidt, at the best, to adjust the tongue to all those syllables, and any change quite upsets one's ideas." " I was givmg them the original Naiuiatl pronunciation that you •will hear out in the country aU through the valley : Popocatepetl and Ixtaccihuatl ; accented on the second and fourth syllables of the former, and third of the latter. But here in the city the Spanish influence has changed the accents, so that the last syllables are ac- cented instead, and the pronunciation is commonly : Popocatepetl and Ixtaccihuatl." "Domes everywhere," said Harry, looking out over the city. " Even this hotel has one. How (jueer ! " 150 THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. " That is just what I meant when I said that I would show you something- curious," said Mr. Jersey. " When this building was a part of the old Franciscan monastery the corner there was one of the chapels, and when the structure Avas remodeled into a hotel they let the dome stand, probably for architectiu-al effect, which is certainly very good from the street." " It is really a beautifid dome. And the effect of that pattern of large yellow ornamentation on a ground of dark blue is rich. It is a pity they are letting some of the tiles drop out. But there is a common stovepipe thrust out at an angle through the side of the cupola, and smoking black smoke ! What can that be for? " " The kitchen for the hotel restaurant has been established in the dome, and they have in it the uncommon feature of a modern American range that burns coal, in place of the universal charcoal that requires no chimney, as you will see on looking over the roofs around here. And charcoal is really the thing for this place. A few American families here have tried ranges, but they find that they heat up terribly, and it gives the cooks pneumonia when they go out into the thin, cool air. There is a good reason for the most of these Mexican customs that strike us so behind the tunes at first thought." After dinner Eliot took Harry out for a stroll while the ladies took a ciirriage to do some shopping and Mr. Brinkley was occupied with sonic business matters. They dropped in to see Mr. Jersey and he joined them, saying that after so long an absence Eliot would need a pilot as well as Harry. '•' And 1 want to have the i)leasure of seemg how the cliangcs strike you,"" lie added. "How is it 1 Ueei) bumiiing into people as I pass ?" asked Harry, after a wliile. THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. 151 His companions laughed. " I ought to have told you," said Eliot, " that here it is the custom, not only for teams in the street to turn to the left when they meet, as they do in England and Canada, but for people also on the sidewalks." " They have a way of doing some things (juite different from our way," said Mr. Jersey. " One custom is just as reversed as that of the Turks who shake their heads for yes, and nod for no. There! See that man beckon to somebody across the street ? He is simply giving him a passing salutation. If he wanted him to come across to where he is, he would wave his hand away from him, like this, which we at home woidd take to mean, ' Go away ! ' " " There's a man standmg in a window and clapping his hands. What does he mean by that ? " " Oh ! " said Eliot, " he's calling a carriage from the hack-stand over on that corner. It is a ' handy ' custom indeed, for the noise is very penetrating and qiuckly attracts attention. It is curious that here in America there should be a custom ' handed down,' so to speak, from the distant Orient, coming from the Arabs through the Moors to Spain, and brought by the Spaniards to Mexico. They clap the hands for a waiter in a restaui-ant, a servant in a house, or for anything else of the kind. With us we either have to yell, or whistle, or sit still and wait." " These stores seem to be as good as you will s(>e anywhere," said Harry. "■ Great jdate-glass windows, and nic(>-looking goods displayed in them." '• And don't fail to take note of the number of book-stores," said Eliot. '' It seems as if there must be as many as there are in Boston. Charles Dudley Warner said that the book-stores of a city were a 152 THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. gauge of the intelligence of its inhabitants. So Mexico must have a large reading public. Frank, I'm impressed with one thing, and that is how stirring and bustling the city has grown. There are bigger, metropolitan-looking crowds in the streets, and they hurry around as in an American city. And these handsome new buildings going up everywhere ! These sidewalks, too, along here, so smooth and easy to the feet ; such a change from the uneven old stones. And those level wooden pavements." " There are several mUes of those, but wood doesn't do weU for pavement in this climate. We shall soon have one hundred and fifty kilometers of asphalt blocks, though." " Then Mexico will be a cleaner and better paved city than either New York or Boston." " Hello, there are two leaning towers ! " exclaimed Harry. " If you should see any that do not lean it would be more of a curiosity in this city ! " said Mr. Jersey. " Those two towers belong to the church of La Profesa, and are good samples. Now look back to that corner at that handsome, richly carved building. That is the Biblioteca Nacional, the National Library, and the fence in front looks as if it were running down hill. But you will see that the building itself is lurching over like a ship at sea under a strong side wind. And see the line of the Portales, that long block with the arcades, ahead, sagging like a buckboard under the weight of two fat men ! " " What's the reason ? Earthquakes ? " " No, tliough it looks like an arrested earthquake. It is because this city, with tliese enormously heavy-walled bnildings, is built on a marshy foundation, and the settling lias been uneven." THE CKUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. ]53 They walked alono- tlirougli the (iiiaint old arcades, or i)ortals, where the sidewalks ran under the first story of the huildings, a feature common to most Spanish and Spanish-American c-ities. At the central plaza, the Plaza de Armas, Harry recognized at once the great cathedral, from the many pictures he had seen. It is the largest church-building in America, and, with its annex, the Sagrario, or parochial church, fills one entii'e side of the great square, with a beautiful garden surrounding three sides of the edifice. In one part of the garden was a heap of ancient building-fragments ; grotesquely carved stones, including representations of serpents, toads, and fan- tastic idols, — remains of the great teocali, or Aztec pyramid temple, that occupied the site of the cathedral. " All through the valley the ground is full of Aztec relics," said Eliot. In the Zocolo, or central garden of the plaza, a fine military band was playing, as is the custom on every afternoon, and they stopped a while to listen. " Somehow the Zocolo has a changed look — Why, they have cut down the great eucaly])tus trees ! " ex- claimed Eliot. " Yes, they said the trees took all the nutriment out of the soil so that nothing else Avould grow." " It is too bad ! Why, when Mr. Charles A. Dana, who is one of the best students of trees in America, was here in 1884, he would not believe, at first, that they were only sixteen years old. They were nearly as high as the cathedral towers, and enonnously thick ; something over three feet, I should say." " The wood seemed nearly as hard as boxwood," said Mr. Jersey. *' Those in the Plaza de San Fernando are almost as large, now." " Here is a proof, Harry, that the Mexicans are progressive and 154 r THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. are quick to take up new ideas," said Eliot. " When Maximilian became emperor of Mexico this Plaza de Armas was an empty ex- panse of stone pavement, and it was the same with the plazas in every town throughout the country. The Empress Carlota thought it would he a pleasant feature to convert the centre of this plaza into a garden, and so this Zocolo was created. The Mexicans are so fond of flowers, trees, and such things that the idea became very popular, and the example here set found imitation everywhere. So now it is very rarely that a city, large or small, can be found any- where in the country, whose central plaza is not occupied by a beautiful garden, carefully tended and full of flowers. The people take great pride in giving their cities an attractive appearance. But it seems remarkable in a country where until within a very few years the cities have been isolated, with communication difficult and infrequent, that such an idea should have spread so rapidly. You will find very few cities in our own country that take any pains in this respect. Even some of the largest cities, places of over one hundred thousand inhabitants, have not so much as a square foot of green- sward in any public place." They strolled through several of the interior courts of the palace, as the great building on the eastern side of the plaza, occupied by the \;ui<)us departments of the national government, is called, and o-aincd some idea of its enormous expanse, for it is said to cover more ground than any other building in America. They hxdced through the lol'ty interior ol' the eathedral. with its elaliorate altars and costly decorations, and then they went nortlnvani a sliort dis- tance through an aneient-looUing. busy street to the I'laza de Santo Domin<>(), wliere thev saw the old building, now the National School THE CUUISK OF A LAND-YACHT. 155 of Medicine, that formerly was the Inquisition, and before which, during the occupation of Mexico under the Empire, the French used to stand their prisoners and slioot tlicm — condemned to death on the slightest pretexts and usually on no proof whatever. The sole motive of the cruel Marshal Bazaine in ordering these butcheries of many hundreds of innocent Mexicans was that of making the popu- lation orderly through fear. " How the t)ld life and the modern are brought together hero in this city ! " said Mr. Brinkley, as the party stood on the corridor balcony that evening, watching the dusk darken into night under the noble fresnos of the garden, while the incandescent electric lights glittered all around and cast a mellow radiance over the lively coming and going, and the animated groups of the hotel sitting and standing around in the open air. " Here we have an old convent transformed and made comfortable by the magic of nineteenth cent- ury invention. The life of the great toiling mass is that of the mul- titude in feudal times, while that of the upper classes is as advanced, in all externals, as will be found anywhere. It is the jjoverty, the degradation of the common people, that holds Mexico back ; that makes the civilized minority, as in Russia, depend upon a desjiotism for the maintainence of its power and privileges. The thing is, to make the intellectual and material advantages of the few the posses- sion of the many. Universal education will solve the cpiestion here and elsewhere, and free the country from the curse of inequality of opportunity that is as dangerous to the upjjcr classes as it is oppres- sive to the lower." CHAPTER XIII. RIDING HORSEBACK IN THE SUBURBS OF MEXICO. H [ARRY had never Leeii on liorsebaek, and it was with something of a sailor's trepi- dation that he jn'epared for the ^r ^ ride tliat had been arranged ^f -^{jL^tlTs^^^J^f^ for the next morning. He was "^ ' ■" not a stranger to tlie saddle, ^- ^ ho\ve\ei, for he was an enthusiastic wheelman and his bicycle had carried him for hundreds of miles over the smooth ways of the jmrks and the fine suburban roads around Boston. But he found the keen enjoyment of anticipation in look- ing forward to a new and untried pleasure. '• You will find no trouble," Eliot assured him. " A good Mexican saddle is as easy as an ai-mchair." They had both bought the regulation Mexican sombreros the day before, and Eliot had brought his old ISIexican riding-suit back with him. Seeing this, Harry declared tliat he was going to onlcr a charro suit at once ; it would be fun to dress up in it at hoiue. They found the horses in Avaiting for them in front of the hotel, in charge of a man from the stable. Mabel and Florence made their appearance on the balcony, in their riding-habits, and tlicy spied Mr. '56 THE CUUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. 157 and Mrs. Jersey coming- clown the street with Nacho Andrade and another young man with him. " How deHghtfully picturesque these young- Mexicans look on horseback," said Mabel. " They sit like statues, and their stirrups are so placed that there is almost a perpendicular line from their shoulders to their feet." " I wonder who that is with our Mexican friend," said Florence, as thev drew near. " He must be an American boy, I should say, in spite of his Mexican costume." As everything- was all ready, the young ladies went down and found Don Ignacio presenting his brother Pablo to Harry. " Your brother ! " exclaimed Mabel, " how can that be possible, Senor Audrade? Surely he must be an American ! " " Indeed, Miss Sampson, he is really my brother," said the dark- eyed young- fellow with a sincere smile. " But he is a Goth and I am an Iberian, you see, for in our Spanish blood many races are joined." Pablo Andrade was a slender youth of about Harry's height, with frank eyes of clear blue, light brown hair, and a fair face with fresh rosy cheeks. No one of the party, not even the blonde Eliot, was so Northern-looking in feature. In view of this, it seemed odd to hear the broken English, and note the gentle, gracious shyness with which he met Harry's hearty American informality of boyish friendliness. But their mutual glances expressed a genuine liking, and the two boys were evidently destined to become good friends. '' We are so accustomed to think of the Sjjanish as a Latin people that we forget the strong Northern element in theii- composition," said Mabel. 158 THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. " Yes, the Visigoths were as Northern in character as the Saxons or Skandinavians, and you can find then- type, just as distinct as in Pablo here, all through Mexico as well as Spain." " Do you know," said Mr. Jersey, " that the word bigot comes from Spain, and was derived from Visigoth ? For the Visigotliic por- tion of Spain had the rejiutation of having that hard, stern religious temperament that is expressed in the word. The Visigoths left a deep impression on the race, language, and institutions of the land they conquered, but with whose people they became assimilated." " And the Spanish word for moustache, bigofe, also came from Visigoth," said Eliot, " showing that the wearing of the moustache was a Gothic fashion." By this time they were all mounted and they started in a lively cavalcade. " How small these Mexican horses are ! " remarked Florence. " Yes, and when you get back across the border you will say, ' What great lanky things these American horses are,' " said Eliot. " These Mexican horses belong to the most beautifid and intelligent breed in the world, — the Arabian, brought to Spain by the ISIoors, and to Mexico by the Spanish conquerors." " I notice one peculiarity here, already," said Harry, " the horses in Mexico all have tails ! " Pablo, who was riding by Harry's side, looked at him question- ingly, as if doubtful that he had heard aright, and asked if it could be that the horses in the United States of the North Avere of a tail- less kind. " Artificially so ! " said EHot, laughing. '' There is a s|iccii's of American called the Ani-'loiiianiac, and thcv have set tlic tasliioii of THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. 159 docking their horses tails because the English formed the habit in hunting across the country, in order to prevent their horse's tails get- ting caught in the hedges when they leaped them." " There are a few foreign dudes here who do it, but there is no danger of the style becoming popular, for a horse so treated is un- marketable here ; no Mexican would buy such a guy." " Happily it has also become unfashionable with us, now," said Florence. " The leading ladies in the city — those most powerful in setting a social example, — have declared against it on account of the cruelty, and have agreed to own nothing but horses with long tails." " And so the bob-tailed nags are descending the social ladder, and have already reached the hack-horse stage," said Eliot. " Good ! good ! " cried Mrs. Jei-sey. " A horse looks mutilated and ungainly deprived of his tail. They might as well clip his ears." " If it were the fashion in England for horses to go lame in one leg," said her husband, " thousands of people would think it the most graceful gait possible, and spavined beasts would be at a pre- mium ! " All the horses of the party had the characteristic of long full tails and manes. Pablo rode a dashing pony, black as night, and Harry's steed in particular was the object of many admiring glances. Mr. Jersey, who had selected the horses for the party, said that " Bayito," as Harry's pony was called, was one of the best saddle- horses in Mexico. Harry took him to his heart at once, and de- clared that he would ride no other horse while in the city. He quickly felt himself at home in the saddle as if he had been a horse- 160 THE CBUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. man all his life. " Bayito " was a beautifully shaped little horse of the " buckskin " color that denotes a sturdy strength and power of endurance. His soft, expressive eyes were both intelligent and kindly, and every now and then he would give a vivacious Uttle toss to his handsome head. He had a full, long-flowing mane and tail and forelock, of a rich, ruddy brown that in the sunlight was ahve with golden gUntings. They went at a quick walk through the streets out to the Paseo de la Reforma, I«>~^^^^^Cn t'i<^ beautiful broad pleasure-way, leading V{ -x t *, straight out to the castle of Chapultepec, which they had noticed with its bordering line of shade-trees on the way to the hotel the morning before, running out from the great equestrian statue. That statue, which in Mexico is commonly called " El caballito " | [ | m|pi|| i ■ " * (the little horse), represents King Charles IV. of Spain, and bears an inscription which is the Si)anish equivalent of " Pre- served as a work of Art." This is a delicate way of conveying the inference that it was not out of respect to the mon- arch that the statue was permitted to exist after Mexico rid herself of the Spanish yoke. It was the work of the great Spanisli sculp- tor and architect, Tolsa, who came to Mexico in the last century as du-ector of the San Carlos Academy of Fme Arts. This statue, which is cast in one piece, is the first equestrian monument made in the New world, and is still called the best. ^„ / I THK CRUISE OF A LANP-YAf'HT. 161 They stopped at a restaurant on the Paseo and dismounted to take a cup of coffee and a roll, at little tables in front, over- looking the broad sidewalk, while a man looked after their horses. The early morning air was cold, and the coffee warmed them up pleasantly. They set out at a quicker pace towards Chapidtepec. " Bayito " showed a disposition to go still faster, and to keep him along with the others Harry was obliged to hold him reined in pretty tightly. " Corremonos un poquito ? " suggested Pablo, glancing inquiringly at Harry, who correctly inferred that tlie words must mean " Shall we run a bit ? " for, at a slight tap from tlie whip, the Mexican boy's pony shot rapidly forward. " Bayito " needed no urging to follow suit, for in a second he was oft" like a flash, rim- ning at full speed over the level way. It made Harry catch his breath at first, while his heart seemed to leap into his throat. But the swift motion was fascinating ; he began to feel as if he himself were a part of the horse, as the long, quick bounds carried him rapidly ahead. Instinctively, with a feeling of exultation and a sense of mastery, he thought of himself at the helm of the Bryidiilda, ^vith the main sheet in his hand just as he was now holding the reins, ploughmg swiftly over the waves with the wind free on the quarter and all sail set. The two horses kept well abreast, and every now and then Pablo looked across to Harry with sparkling eyes and a friendly smile. They were not far from Chapultepec when Pablo reined in his pony. " Bayito," with evident reluctance, was induced to slacken his pace in tlie same degree. " Como le gusta Usted ? — How you like, Meester Marsden, the fast going in the horse ? " said Pablo. The horses were drawing long, rapid breaths ; their necks were wet with sweat, and the two bovs were also brcatliing (juickly, 162 THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. with flushed, excited faces. " First class ! " cried Harry. " But suppose you call nie Harry ! Then I will call you Pablo. We are going to be good friends, I know ! " and he extended his hand, which Pablo took heartily. " Hah-rree — amiguito Enrique! We must then futear — that ees, speak with ' thou' the one to the other, as say good friends." " Say thee and thou to each other ? How queer that would sound ! Only the Quakers do that with us." " I mean hablando Castelkmo, — in talking Spanish. It seegni- fies friendship that is eentimate." " Just the same as when we call each other by first names in English ! — I tell you what, Pablo, we'll teach each other. You say things to me in Spanish and I'll repeat them and tell you the English of it, and I'll talk English to you and you'll tell me the Spanish of it." The proposition was joyfully ratified and the first Spanish-Eng- lish lesson Avas proceeding with much vivacity, when the rest of the party came galloping up behind. " Bravo muchachos ! " cried Eliot. " Good boys ! You are turning out a ' buen ginete,' — a good rider - — already ; Harry." " That Bayito," said Mr. Jersey, " is a regular goer from Goville! He wiU not only run like the wind, but he wants to keep it u[) all day. Then he is gentle as a lamb besides, and every gait he strikes is wonderfully easy — it is like riding on velvet." They passed through the gate of the castle grounds and weie soon riding beneath the grand old cypresses of tlic famous grove of Chapultepec. Many of the great trees, with trunks of cnoruious cir- cumference, had been standing since the days of .Montcruiua. It THE CRUISE OF A LANI 163 being January, their branches were leafless, but the hmg pendants of gray moss luiug thickly like venerable banners. As they rode along beneath the sylvan arches it seemed as if they were in some solemn temple of nature, and for a while there was in the company an instinctive silence that was only broken by a clatter of hoofs. On one side the precipitous face of the hill rose abruptly, clothed with a tangle of wild shrubbery, and on the other, here and there a straight narrow aisle led off to the westward towards the Molino del Key, making an impressive vista between the warm brown trunks of the aJmahuefes, as they call the taxus, or American cypress, in Mexico. They passed entirely around the hill and paused a moment to admire the greatest tree of all, known as the Montezuma cj^n-ess. In the midst of the garden there rose the simple, tasteful monument to the memory of the bra\e cadets of the military school who fell in defence of the castle against the Americans in the war with our country. Then they ascended the hill by the gradual incline of the winding road. At the gate there stood as sentry one of the cadets of the military school, the West Point of Mexico, that occupies all the summit in the rear of the castle, which is now the official residence of the President of the Republic. Catching sight of a young lieuten- ant inside, Eliot, recognizing an old friend, exclaimed : '' Ah, there is Teniente Brito ! " He called to him, and received a hearty wel- come from the oflicer, who was one of the instructors of the school. He cordially invited them to pass inside. From the parapet before the castle they faced one of the most beautif id and celebrated landscapes in the world. At their feet lay the rich, cultivated plain of the valley, diversified with many trees. In its midst spread the o-reat citv, witli the luoad lake Texcoco gbttering beyond, and all 164 THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. around ran the great girdle of mountains, culminating in the two lofty and snow-mantled volcanoes. The sun had now warmed the morning air, and everything was glorified in the clear, golden light. For a lono- time they stood in speechless admiration, noting detail after detail of a picture that seemed to contain no blemish upon its ■wonderful beauty. " Do you never tire of this scene ? Does it not grow common- place when you have it liefore you day after day ? " said Mabel to the young lieutenant at her side. " Never ! It grows more glorious the more I know it, and it has been ])efore my eyes ever since I entered as cadet, ten years ago. And I am constantly finding new beauty in the scene ; effects of light and shade, and of atmosi)here, that I never before noticed." " Much as I have rambled over this valley, there are many intei'- esting spots I do not yet know," said Eliot. " Charley Holyoke, ■when be canie North, told me about a most romantic place that he discovered and used to ride out to, olf back of Chapultepec some- -where. A paper mill was there. I wonder if it is far from here? Do you know it ? ' "The Molino de Santa Teresa, you mean," said Mr. Jersey. " Charley and I were riding out together when he discovered it. It is several miles out from here, back in the foot-hills. It is a place well worth seeing. Shall we ride out there ? " " By all nu-aus ! " cried liis wife, eiitluisiastically. '• That is. if the others — ? " They were all eager for g.)iiig. "Then we'll inake a forenoon of it," said Mr. Jersey. " Business can wait on a day liUc this." Bidding adieu to Lieutenant Brito, who promised to show tiu'iu THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. 165 over the castle and military school if they would come out some morning, they set out down the hill and off to the westward, through the Bosque, as the grove is called. The ground gradually and evenly rose towards the foot-hills of the high western range, the Sierra de la Cruz, the Mountains of the Cross. They passed by handsome country villas, and along a road which three centuries of use by the feet of myriads of horses, donkeys and mules, and the torrential summer rains, had sunk several feet below the surrounding surface. For a considerable distance they skbted the great cemetery of Dolores, the largest around the city. Fields of the gigantic maguey, with the thick, sharp-pointed leaves sometimes eight or ten feet from the ground, bordered the road. This variety of the agave is cidtivated all through this part of Mexico for the sake of the pop- idar beverage that is fermented from its milky-looking sap. " Wait a moment and I will show you how the peones mend their clothes on the spot, when they happen to tear them," said Ignacio. He took his knife and cut around the thorn-like end of one of these leaves, about an inch from the point. Givmg a dex- terous motion, it was detached, and something like two yards of coarse fibre was pulled out of the leaf in six or eight parallel fila- ments. " Here you have a needle and thread all in one, and ready for instant use," he said. " That fibre is strong and will hold, though it Avouldn't make a very pretty darn ! " said Eliot. Mounting continually higher and higher on the valley slope, the view behind them grew grander and more sweeping, as they turned to afbnire its varied panorama. The ground slojied more irregularly, and a broad ravine-like valley began to furrow it. They rode along 166 THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. beside this, and it grew narrower, with more precipitous sides, as they progressed. At its end stood a cluster of massive buildings amidst a large grove. " There is the mill," said Mr. Jersey. " And do you see those holes in the steep sides of the valley thickly dotted aU around ? That is where the operatives live, in caverns excavated in the soft rock. Perhaps such dwellings are warm and dry, but it seems hardly the thing for human beings to live like annuals in their burrows. And they go to work at six o'clock in the morning, and leave oft' at nine at night, earning but three reales, or thirty-seven and one-half cents, a day. It is the same in the factories all over Mexico." " It is a shame that human l)eings anywhere should live to work, instead of working to live," said Eliot. " For that is what it amounts to ; outside of their work they have no time left exce])t for sleep, and to devour some coarse food. After childhood is over, with its frolics, what is left of life, except toil ? " " And here there is not much left even of childhood, for the little ones go into the mills almost as soon as they can talk plain," said Mr. Jersey. " The industrial conditions of Mexico are such that these things have to be, for the present. Some day they \v\U. impVove, but now the jjoor people are so ignorant that they do not know enough to be unhappy in their lot ! " They rode past the upjier side ol' llic mill, and then down a steep, narrow jtatli, bordered by a thick wall, on the jtrccipitous side of the valley. They dismounted in a garden-like court in front of the mill, and left their horses in care of three bright-eved boys. Tlicpict- ures(pi(! buildings of the mill rose terrace-like against the slo])e. THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. 167 The place was formerly the convent of Santa Teresa, and several of the builtlings were portions of the old convent. Eliot pointed out that they were fortified for a siege against rohl)ers, like the mines they saw at Zacatecas. All around them they heard the refreshing melody of the bab- bling rush of waters. Down beside the mill there poured a clear stream in a series of cascades from a tunnel-like arch in the face of one of the buildings high up the slope, the bright water sUdmg swiftly down from fall to fall, enclosed in smoothly cemented masonry. Steps rose irregidarly beside the stream, and the way, together Avith the water, was bordered with a profusion of flowers and shrubbery. These stairs led them to a broad level space overlooking the court-yard of the mill and the valley below. It was a sort of plaza where car- riages could stand, and was bordered by perpendicular, tree-crowned cliffs, in the face of which was hewn a cliapel for the mill, with a commonplace ugly front. A pleasant woodland path rambled along the stee]) slope of the valley, and around tlirough the gi-ove to the top of the cliff. There were flowers of many kinds beside the patli, and among them an abundance of violets, fillhig the pure air with their ric^hly delicate breath. " Such are the romantic sites and Edcn-likc surroiuidings of our Mexican factories," said Mr. Jersey, as he led the way around through these charming scenes. " What a pity the toilers withui their walls cannot enjoy a life tliat niat<-hes tlio beauty of the world aliout them ! " As they rode cityward, their faces flushed and happy Avith exer- cise, Mabel said : " The pleasure of this ride alone would repay for the trouble of coming on this long journey to Mexico." 168 THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. They returned through the beautiful suburban city of Tacubaya, where crooked, lane-Hke ways passed between the high walls of ex- tensive villa grounds. The walls, often venerable-looking and fort- ress-like, with massive buttresses, were crested with tangles of trailing growth, starry with flowers. When almost back in the City of Mexico, as they neared the end of the Paseo, Harry saw a great circular wooden structure a little to the southward of the circle where stands the imposing Columbus monu- ment. A similar structure stood a little farther away. " La Plaza de toros de Colon," said Pablo ; " the other ees the one of Bucareli." " The bull-rings ; the places where they have the bull-fights," explained Mr. Jersey, who was riding near by. " The sport was forbidden within the Federal District when I was here before," said EHot. " Anil when the authorities permitted it again, shortly after you left, they had a regular bull-fighting boom, and at one time tliore were no less than seven rings in the city. But now liai)i)ily it ap- pears to be on the wane, and there is seldom more than one fight on a Sunday afternoon. The best people are opposed to it, but it is such a long-established amusement among Spanish-speaking peoples that it is difficult to abolish it. How would you like to see a bull- fight, Harry ? " " I couldn't be hired to," rei)li('d the boy, finnly. " I saw one, and never care to see another ! " said Eliot. " It is exciting, but cruel." " Most tourists who come here want to see one. out of curiosity." said Mr. Jersey. " Although they take place on Sunday, many of our Americau visitors who strictly observe the day at lioiuc act on THK CHUISE OF A LAND-YAOHT. 169 tlu' idea of (loins;- in Uuuw as tlie Romans do. Their scruples ' don't count ' in a foreign land. I can tell you a good thing on one of our countrymen. Last year there Avas an excursion party here from Illinois, and it included a number of people from one of the smaller cities. Among them was an Orthodox Deacon wiio slyly went to take in the biill-fight one Sunday afternoon. On his return, he gave to the Sunday-school of his church a lecture about his trip to Mexico, illustrating mth a profusion of stereopticon views. Everything went smoothly until he prefaced a certain lantern-slide on his list with the words : ' Next, my dear children, we shall behold a picture, about the original of which I can of course only tell you by hearsay, since it represents the cruel national amusement of the Mexican people, which, moreover, takes place on the afternoon of the Sabbath day. I could not with my presence sanction an occasion so wicked, but since a view of a bull-fight chances to be included in this collection which I have secured for your delectation, I A\all exhibit it that I may the more strongly impress upon you the wrong-doing of habit. You will see — ' He had proceeded thus far when, to the astonish- ment of the audience as well as to his own unutterable consternation, there appeared upon the screen a view of one of the most exciting- moments of the sport, in the foreground of which there was to be seen an unmistakable [)ortrait of the Deacon himself, the most intense interest in the proceedings manifest in his familiar features. It seems that there was in the party a mischievous young man who did not like the Deacon. Catching Avind of the Deacon's purpose to go to the fight he contrived to secure a seat in his neighborhood, and, taking advantage of a favorable moment, he made a successful snap- shot with the instantaneous camera that he had with him. Making 170 THE CKUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. a good lantern-slide from his negative, he contrived to substitute it, just before the lecture, for the bull-fight scene which it was proposed to exhibit ! " " There is another place that I have always intended going to, but have only seen from a distance," said Eliot, as their friends took leave of them at the hotel. " That is, the Peiion." " Neither have we," said Mr. Jersey. " Suppose we take our next ride out there ? " " All right. How will day after to-morrow do ? Harry here, will be suffering from the effects of his maiden ride tt)-morrow, I suppose, and will not feel like gohig again so soon." The trip was agreed upon, though Harry protested that he felt all right and coidd go the next morning as well as not ; after his long- bicycle experiences he would feel no effects from such a gentle-gaited steed as Bayito. After all, he was, however, pretty stiff in the legs the next day, but he felt in fine condition when the mem- bers of the same party appeared for the Penon ride early the second morning. They started in an easterly direction, going past the Palace and through a quaint old part of the city, where there was a sluggish canal, most picturesque in its surroundings, but most abominable to the nostrils. " It is all on account of the bad drainage of the city, which is built so nearly on a level with the lake that there is hardly any fall in the sewers," said Ignacio. " But now they are spending millions in carrying out the much needed new drainage-system that will convert Mexico from one of the unhealthiest, to one of the healthiest cities in the world. They are making a tunnel that will drain Lake Texcoco out of the valley." THE CKUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. 171 They passed out of the city hmits at the Gate of San Ljizaro, the Garita de San Ljizaro, as it is called. The literal meaning of garita is " sentry-box." There they saw officials carefully inspecting the loaded teams that came in from the country. At every highway leading out of town there is a gate with an office of the city customs-service, and there a tax is collected on nearly all ai-ticles brought into town — including provisions, vegetables, fruit, fuel, etc. It is the same custom that prevails in Paris, Vienna, and many other European cities, and known as the octroi in France. They soon saw a broad plain stretching before them, and cross- ing a canal that smelt still worse than the other, they entered upon the smooth level. Something like two miles away the great rocky mass of the famous Peiion rose out of the plain like an island at sea, with the broad lake shining like a band of silver just beyond. The plain was like a floor, and was covered with brown grass closely cropped by cattle. " We can let our horses out here for a good gallop," said Ignacio, who knew the way. " There are no stones in the o-round, nor any obstructions between here and the Peiion." What a wild, exciting scamper they had ! Bayito was off like a shot, and Harry felt his veins thrill with a keen exultation as the beautiful horse bore hini lightly, swiftly on, seeming almost to fly as his feet skimmed the ground with a quick touch and go. Harry kept him well reined in at first, so as to keep beside Pablo, whose black pony, sturdy and spirited as it was, was no match for Bayito. At last a desire to see how fast he could go impelled him to give his horse free rein, and Bayito dashed ahead like the w4nd. As they neared the Penon Harry slackened his pace to let Pablo catch up. They found themselves far ahead of the rest of the company. 172 THE CRUISK OF A LANU-YAOHT. SO they slowed down to a walk — soinethin<>- that Bayito was still reluctant to do. There was a large building at the foot of the hill, and here the party stopped. " We will take a look at the hot baths for a moment," said Ignat-io. The building was formerly a monastery, and was now being reconstructed into a hotel, with a tramway line from the city to give access to the place as a health-resort. The baths were freshly fitted up in luxurious style. The halls and chambers were richly frescoed in designs based upon Aztec motives of decoration. In each bath-room was a large tank sunken below the floor, and in one of these the water was running, almost boiling- hot, and filling the room with steam. " If any of us have rheuma- tism, this is the place for a course of bathing, they say," remarked Ignacio. " No thank you ! " said Eliot. " That is not the kind of batliing we like, is it, Harry? But what a hot country Mexico must be underground ! Nearly every city I know has hot or warm springs near by." At the foot of the precipitous slope they found a squad of soldiers quartered in a long, low buildhig. Leaving their horses here, they induced one of the soldiers to guide them by the easiest route to the top of the hill. Here there was a view of marvelous beautv. They seemed to be in the centre of the valley, with an un- broken range of vision all around. The city spread away close liy. The lower slopes of the mountains to the southward were veiled witli a delicate dust-haze drifted against them by the breeze, and their heights were clear and luminous in the early sunshine. The great shallow lake spread away from the foot of the hill, and from its shore OF A LAND-YACH'l 173 there eaiue a salty sea-like smell that seemed very familiar and wel- come to Harry's nostrils. " I had no idea I should get a whiil' like that in the heart of Mexieo ! " he exelaimed. The lake was like a mirror, with here and there a " cat's-paw " ruffling its glassy surface. The boats of fishermen, seining for the pescado bianco, or little " white fish " so abundant in the markets of the capital, dotted the water. On its farther shore the dark mountain wall seemed to rise directly from the water, that reflected its long reach. White-walled towns, among them historic Texcoco, nestled apparently at the very edge of the lake. Beyond the dark range the two snowy volcanoes rose through the calm air in serene purity. " It is a scene for a poet," exclaimed Mrs. Jersey. " How glad I am we have found out this place ! We shall ride out here often now." " Probal)ly not one tourist in a thousand knows anytliing about the Penon," said Eliot. " And it is one of the points best worth visiting around here. But 1 could find hardly an3i;hing about it in the guide-books." " Lake Texcoco is really wonderfully beautiful," said Mabel. " And they are going to drain it away, you say ? What a pity ! " " If your home Avere in our capital you would not think so," re- plied Ignacio. " The lake is fair to see, but when green and fertile fields take the place of that glistening water, thousands of oiu- people will live where thousands now die — poisoned by the foul breath of the stagnant sewage." " The lake has been growing shallower and shallower ever since the Coiupu'st," said Eliot. " Don Francisco de Garay, the great 174 THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. Mexican engineer, told me that now it sometimes was dried up entirely when a steady wind drew across it for a inimber of days in succession, the dry, rapidly moving air sucking up the moisture like a sponge that is passed over a wet surface. The lake is but a few feet deep now. In the time of the Aztecs it was very deep, and when the Spaniards launched their ships upon it to attack JNIonte- zuma in his island capital, this Peiion was an island. You remember we were reading in Prescott, the other evening on the car, how the Aztecs showered their arrows upon the fleet of Cortes as it sailed past this place. The lake has shoaled because some of its tributaries now flow into it no longer. The Cuautitlan river is carried out of the valley through the great tajo, or drainage cut, of Nochistongo, made by the Spaniards in the early days. We entered the vafley through the cut before daylight. Enriquez, the great engineer of that day, proposed to drain the lake entirely away on a plan similar to that now being carried out. But the authorities thought it im- practicable, and substituted a tunnel at Nochistongo, which, after a disastrous flood from its cavmg in, was converted into the open cut — one of the greatest examples of excavation known. Other streams are kept out of the lake by the use of their waters for irrigation, and still another cause of the shoaling is the sediment brought down by the streams." Their guide led the partv down the hill on the side towards the lake, but Eliot, Pablo and Harry lingered a few minutes to look around at various points. They thought they would descend by a shorter, tlunigh steeper way. Suddenly there came a sharp cry from Pal>lo, followed by a warning : " Cuidado con las espinas ! " (Look out for tlie tlie thorns!) Almost sinudtancoiisly Ilany yelled "Oav ! .AND-YACHT. 175 Ow ! " Pablo i)(>iiite(l nu'fuUy to a lot of dry little ball-like fra^ meiits of cactus scattered everywhere over the o-iound, bristling vnth. spines. The two boys had iniwittingly stepped on them, and the needle-like points had penetrated the leather of their shoes and fastened themselves in their feet. " I thought a snake had bitten me ! " said Harry. " Carramba ! Como pican ! " (Gracious ! How they hurt !) cried Pablo, limping and half-laughing at the same time. " Those chollas (pronounced choyas) are the porcupines of the vegetable kingdom," said Eliot. " Experience with them is enough to make anybody believe in the total depravity of inanimate things. It is said that they will jump at you of their own acc-ord as you pass bv, and I am almost ready to believe it ! I remember that the first ones I saw I felt a curiosity to examine. I had been warned of their danger, so I gingerly took it i)y one of the spines and lifted it to look at it, when the infernal thing seemed to give a spring and fastened something like a dozen of its sharp claws m the back of my hand ! Now you boys had better take off your shoes and stockings and let me help you pull the things out of your feet. It will hurt, for you will find your shoes almost clinched to your feet. Be care- ful now, before you sit down, or your trousers will be spiked on to your l)odies, and you will not find it very comfortable riding back ! It is a peculiarity of cactus-spines that they are hooked at the end, like porcupine quills, and it is easier for them to go in than to come out." The spines were extricated at last, thanks to Eliot's offices as sui-- o-eon, and by the exercise of extreme caution they avoided further encounter with the chollas. At the foot of tlie hill they found their 176 THE CKUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. companions looking at some old relief-earving on the side of the rock. They were made by the Aztecs shortly after the Conquest, and rejjresented gigantic heads of horses, with the elaborate harness of the olden days. Mr. Jersey suggested that they were possibly made for sacred purposes, since the Aztecs regarded the horses brought by the Conquerors with great veneration, and as supernat- ural beings. " On the other side of the hill there was once a colos- sal relief," he said. " It is sjjoken of by Humboldt, and various Mexican gentlemen have told me that they have seen it themselves. But it has now been destroyed by the quarrying of the rock." CHAPTER XIV. FROM HARRY MAKSDEN IN MEXICO TO DAN MATTHEWS IN BOSTON. IIaciende de San Andres, ESTADO I)E MoKELOS, MEXICO, KkB. 1 5, 1S9O. Dear Dan : — What a fine time we are liaviiii)- ! I meant to write several days ago, but there has been lots to do. We had a " close call" coming- down here. But I won't tell you about it till I get to it. When I wrote last we had taken that second horseback ride. Since then we have had a good many more, all through the suburbs — out to San Angel, out to the old empty convent of San Joaquin near Tacuba, out to Churubusco where the battle with our troops was that the history tells about, out to Coyoacan where there is a beautifid old deserted convent with a ruined tower that I photo- graphed and liere inclose a lilue print of it with some other snaps of mine taken all around where we 've been out to Mixcoac, out to Tlalpam, etc. It was tine everywhere, — only aAvfully dusty on the roads. But that's nothing. z\t San Angel, Don Manuel Andrade, who is fatlier of Pablo and Nacho, has a beautiful great house Avliere he lives in the summer, and in behind it there is a <»-reat garden like a park ; just as fine as it can l)c, with sliady paths nui- ning all around under the trees, and lots of roses and other flowers, and a big stone tank to swim in with water running in out of a lion's head in a high stone walk witli maidcn's-Iiair ferns "i-owin"- 178 THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. in the chinks. The water nnis out in a stream all over the garden, to irrigate it. The Andi-ades have a stunning house in the city, and we've heen there several times. It has two patios — regular outdoor halls with fountains in the cen- tre, and arched galleries o£ carved stone all around, full of flowers. Folks don't put flower-pots in their windows here ; they keep them in the patio summer and winter. The windows open like doors and always have balconies where the girls like to stand and look down into the street. When a fellow gets gone on a girl he " plays the bear " — juega cJ oso — does the bear act, we would call it. He just walks back and forth before the house an hour at a time and keeps looking towards her balcony. If she takes any notice of him he's happy, and if she doesn't he knows it's no use. We went to the Andrade's to dinner and it was just fine. They had a lot of Mexican dishes on purpose for us, and I liked most of them, particularly the soup, called Mole verde (it sounds almost like Molly Verdy) which is made of green chiles with the sting taken out of them, and is thick and green in color. Then they had Mole de Guacolote, made of turkey, sort of stewed, with red chile. TJiey eat lots of chUe in this country, but in the best families they cook Mexi- can things real nice, and not peppery enough to bite hnrd. When we went out to Guadalupe tliey were cooking all sorts of incssfs in the plaza, and I thought I would cat an cnclnlada. lor it loolicd nice THE CKUISK OF A LAND-YACHT. 179 and smelt so, too. But one mouthful nearly took my head off, it was so red-hot with chile, and I gave it to a hungry-eyed dog that asked for it with a most beseeching look. He swallowed it without a wink and asked for some more, although I thought it would make him paw his nose and wail loud wails like a dog in a restaurant one day when Eliot dropped a drop of ammonia under his nose for making himself too much at home around our table. The same dogs go to the same restaurants day after day, like regular boarders. The Andrades had tortillas, which are the bread of the common people, made of corn soaked in lye and ground fine while soft. They have a hulled-corn taste, and are thin as wafers, like griddle- cakes bigger than dinner plates, and sort of flappy. They are fine when spread with mashed aguacate and then rolled up. The regular thing just before desert anywhere in Mexico is /"r/yo/^s, (pronounced free-ho-less) or beans, stewed, and better than baked beans warmed over. Mexico beats even Boston on beans, for here they eat them every day. For desert they had tamalea dulces, made of white corn meal done up in corn husks, sweetened a little, with some chopped almonds and raisins inside, and steamed, making a real nice little pudding in each wrapper, just big enough for one person. We went there to a tertulia one night — a sort of time when friends drop in for the evening without ceremony, and it was just jolly. Pablo and Nacho have two sisters, and they are pretty, too. The whole family is musical and everybody sings and plays piano, violin, flute, guitar, and other instruments, so there's a regular orchestra of them. Florence brought round her banjo, and she and Eliot sang some darkey songs, which the Andrades liked immensely, although they did not catch on to the funny j)arts. And the 180 THE CRUISE OF A LAND— YACHT. Andrades sang some Mexican songs that made us wild, they were so pretty. We had dancing and played games, and just to show us one of their customs they played the oUa game they have during the Christmas holidays, which they call the jjosadas, — for on nine suc- cessive nights before Christmas it is the custom to celebrate — each evening for one of the posadas, or taverns, at which, according to ,m=^ - ^ A feiL^ J-S^ »4^A!I1 ^.J ' "?t^f,of?^ -^•'^ ~[e X. t o c o tlic IcgciKl, .loscph and Marv souglit ivst hcfon' tlic Savioui born in the stable. They hung up an olla, a big carllu'ii ]H>i. thin and brittle, and filled full of candy, in the p;itio conidor. they blindfolded one after the otlicr, and the blindfolded one rounil beating tlic an- with a long stick, trying to hit tlie olla was nade riien went (pro- THE CKUISK OF A I,AND-YACHT. 181 nounoed ol-j/ah). At last it was given a good thwack that broke it and the candy went flying in every direction, so there was a big scramble for it, and the one who hit the olla got a prize. We went sightseeing round everywhere, to the National Museinn and the Art Gallery, and through lots of splendid big churches, and all over the suburbs, and out to Texcoco on the other side of the lake where King Nezahualcoyotl — I'll give you a prize if you'll pronounce that at sight ; the cotjofi part is the same as our coyote — had a great palace that is now only a big heap of dirt, and a summer palace that is only a heap of stones on a hill near the town. At Texcoco there are large glass-works, and a beautiful garden around a mill not far away, the Moluio de Flores, the Mill of Flowers, (it is & flour mill, too), with a lovely crystal stream with cascades in a wild mountain gorge. Another name that is a sticker for you is Atzcap- otzalco, one of the suburbs of Mexico. Eliot said an American friend of his couldn't possibly get his tongue round the word, and always spoke of it as " that name on the street-cars." One of the churches Ave went to see is that of San Pablo, which was confiscated by the government under the Reform laws. Lots of the domes and towers all over the city belong to churches and con- vents that were siezed and are now used for other purposes — stables, theatres, factories, schools, railroad freight-depots, etc. The church of San Pablo is used by Mr. Jersey's firm for a hoder/a, or storehouse. It is a big place, bigger than Trinity, and it looked queer to see it full of American plows, reapers, threshing-machines, steam boilers and eno-ines, with the altars and sacred inscriptions and frescoes all around. On one of the altars there was a pile of soap l)oxes. just underneath some carved and painted cherubs, a c<)inl)iiiati(>ii that 182 THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. made me think of some of the soap advertisements in the back part of the magazines. We also went through an old junk-market, where the girls bought a lot of rubbish and went wild over it. Villa Guadalupe, about three miles out to the north, is the most famous pilgrimage place in America, and there are sacred shrines and sacred weUs, and all sorts of religious things out there, all be- cause in the early days an Indian had a vision of the Virgin Mary there which aU the common j^eople believed really happened. But the Church authorities at Rome take no stock in it and ^\iIl not endorse the legend, so Mr. Bandelier told uncle Lemuel. But the people will have it and so their worship is tolerated, and they flock there jf-. by thousands from all parts of Mexico. There are lots of interesting things to see out there, and there is a queer gar- den with walls and rocks all crusted over with mosaic-work made of broken crockery of various colors. One funny thing here is the " milk wagons," — noth- ing but burros with a big milk-can held hi a kind of sack on either side ! Uncle Lemuel said it wasn't warm enough in the capital for bim, and he decided to go down into the hot country, for a stay. The hotels are all crowded down in the tierra caliente resorts now with people getting away from La Grippe in the capitivl, THE CRUISE OF A I.AND-YACHT. 183 J^H^" 5%^ and we couldii 't bring the Ariadne down licit' tor tlie line is narrow gnage. Don Manuel Andrade told uncle Lemuel of a friend of his who had a sugar haeienda, or plantation, near Cuautla. Pronounce that Kwoutki. His friend was in Europe, and it eould he easily arranged with the ad- mmisirador, or man- ager, to go there and live for a month or so. While the rest oi us were sightseeing, -.. Eliot and Nacho ran down to look the place over, and they reported enthusiastically about it when they came back. So Uncle Lemuel engaged one of the pri- vate cars of the Interoceanic Railway to bring us down. He said that the transfer from the Ariadne to the Delfin was like that from a deep-draught yacht to a light-draught one, for navigation in the shallow waters was represented by a narrow-guage line. We couldn't get a special train, because all the engines were busy in construction work, and so we had to come by the regular, which was a mixed train, and loafed along at the stations to load and unload freight. But it was a mighty interesting trip all the same. Between two places, called Amecameca and Ozumba we went right close to the foot of the big volcanoes, so we could see the cascades running down from the melting snow over the rocks on the rugged slopes of Ixtaccihuatl. It was like the pictures of the Alps. There were pines and cedars all around us, and the houses had roofs just like 184 THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. those in Switzerland, made of shingles held down with heavy stones. Then while we were up in the thin mountain air we came to a plaee Avhere we could see way oft' through the gaps down into the hot country, sloping down and away and melting into the hlue dis- tance towards the Pacific coast. We coidd see the sugar-cane in great stretches of light green, with brown land all around, and it seemed like lakes. They were at levels half a mile and more below where we were, and an island of dark green ti-ees in the midst of one of these lakes of sugar-cane was pointed out as Cuautla, where we should not arrive for two hours yet. It took lots of curves to get down so far. The slope was mostly bare open fields, dry and brown, and from the train we coidd see the track at a good many places far ahead of us, as it went squirm- ing down into the valley, something like a rope that has been thrown down on the ground and left just as it fell. The train continually changed its direction so that we got views on every side from one Avindow, and they were splendid views too, with Popocatepetl grow- ing higher and higher above us as we went lower and lower. In one place the valley was bounded by a line of steep, high cliffs with rug- ged tops that looked like architecture, and one point looked exactly like a big castle with a square tower, that was way below us when we first saw it, and looming way above us at last. The train, going every which way, seemed as if it was waltzing, and the girls said it almost made them dizzy. At a station named Nepantla we waited a long time for the up train to come along and pass us. The station building was real in- teresting and was covered Avith scalloped red tiles and had a nice Hower-garden. The agent was a pleasant old Spaniard — a THE CRUISE OF A LAXP-YACHT. 185 Gathnpin, Pablo called him, which is what the Mexicans call tlie Spaniards — and the conductor was a Gachupin too. Thea<>ent had some of the windows full of canaries and other birds, each window making- a big cage by closing up with wire netting the space made by the thick adobe walls, giving the birds plenty of room to fly round in. The girls admired his garden and he said he would esteem it a favor if we would go in and look about and pick all the flowers we liked. The engineer of our train was an American and Eliot and I were talking with him and he was awfidly glad to get some home news- papers we had with us, when the other train came along. Hitched on behind all the freight-cars, the last thing in the rear, there was a smashed-up engine that had been ditched the day before on the new part of the line, with cab smashed oil', smokestack carried away, and pretty well bunged up where she had rolled over. Our engineer looked at her and said that was no way to carry an engine like that, for she hadn't any tender and so was without a brake, and if the coupling should give way nothing could stop her running back down hUl. We waited a few minutes for orders, after that train had gone along up, and we watched it crawl slowly up the grade that went along the steep side of the gorge, until it disappeared around a point. Our whistle had just blown for us to start and we were all on the train — us fellows standing on the rear platform. All of a sudden we heard a noise up the track, and we saw that smashed engine come tearing down the grade like mad, all by herself, for she had broken loose ! We rushed inside and told everybody to run for their lives, and everybody got out in a hurry, scared half to death, and put for the station. All the rest of the passengers heard us 186 THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. yelling and everybodj^ came piling out. Our train was on the main line and I thought it would be stove all to flinders, but the s\vitch- man who had thrown back the switch after that train had passed off the siding was still near by and saw the engme coming, and he had presence of mind enough to run and throw off the switch so the run- away might pass to one side. But even then there was danger that it might jump the switch, and I would not have given much for our baggage. But before the engine got so far as a high iron bridge just above the station, it was going so fast that it could not keep the track at a curve and it jumped the rails and dove down the em- bankment like a shot, pitching heels over head, kicking up the dust in a big cloud, making the stones rattle down after it in a shower, going crash-rickety-bang ! and at last bringing up with a tremendous whack on the bare rocks at the bottom of the gorge where the stream tears along in the rainy season. I tell you I shook like the Brynhilda's mainsail coming round in the wind, and Pablo Avas white as a ghost and he said I was like an espanto, which is the same thing as a ghost. Florence fainted and everybody was fearfully excited, except uncle Lemuel, who took it as cool as a cucumber. We went and looked over the edge at the engine and there wasn't much left after her second wreck, except the boiler, whidi wasn't broken, although I should think it would have smashed all to bits against that hard rock. Eliot says that a cylinder is one of the strongest possible pieces of construction and very hard to break. But there was nothing to be seen of the eight driving-wheels except some scattered pieces of broken iron. When we started, the air kept growing warmer and heavier, and at last when Ave began to run on a straight trade for the first time THE CKUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. 18Y since the summit there was tall sugar-cane and green grass and lots of clear running water on both sides of us, and it was like July. That was at Cuautla, and we ran up a " Y " to a station that was made out of an old convent, with domes and towers and a carved stone front, and what was once the chapel was piled full of freight. ^z± u^iKA.^Sill'^'f RAILWAY STATION AT Cl'AtTTLA. It is quite a city, but you can hardly see anything of it until you get into it, there are so many big trees, and most of the streets, except in the centre where the buildings are solid, are shady lanes with thatched huts, and brooks of water running round nearly every- 188 THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. ■where. There are lots of flowers on all sides, and pahns, and bananas, and any quantity of fruit-trees of many kinds, with oranges and limes, but no lemons, except sweet lemons that haven't any taste to speak of, but smell fine enough to make up for it. They call limes lemons in Mexico, and lemons limes ; that is, Jiviones and linias. A nice mule-team was waiting from San Andres, with saddle- horses for several of us. I was glad enough to see Bayito among them, for uncle Lemuel had had him engaged and sent on ahead, so as to surprise me. Pablo's and Nacho's horses were there too. It was three o'clock when we left Cuautla, and sunset when we reached San An- dres, which is lower down the valley, and stUl more tropical. It was fine coming horseback, with lots of strange things to see every minute. But for Uncle Lemuel and Aunt Maddie, in the carriage, the road was pretty rough in many places. The scenery is mag- nificent here, with the mountains aU around in all sorts of shapes, and old " Popc) " king of tliem all in plain sight looming up tremendously high and looking only a few miles away. When we arrived he was lit up with the afterglow, with his snowy top all rose-color against a sky of deep violet. ;'reat sugar rooms, very or, though. Everything is mighty interesting here. It i? hacienda, and the house is like a palace in size, with plain, but neat as wax. There is a nice piano in tlu THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. 189 and the floors are of red brick tile. Nobody cares for inside show here, in a eliniate Hke this, where yon can sit outdoors in the evening all through the winter. The corridors are the real parlors, and we sit there nearly all the time when we are around the house. There is a big flower-garden, and a great orchard A\4tli all sorts of fruit that grow here, and the trees are full of birds with flocks of little green parrots that chatter like fun, noisier than English sparrows, for they seem to be talking to each otlier. A fine river runs close by and seems just like one of the streams at the White Mountains except for the thicket of bananas along the banks, and there's good fishing in it. Don Alberto Peralta is the admuiistrador of the place, the gen- eral manager, and he's a real Castilian gentleman, — a model of poUteness, and he runs the big plantation in a live business way. His family is away, so he has had the house all to himself, and he is glad enough to have our company. He sits at the head of the table, and the meals are just fine. He doesn't know English, and when there's any joking going on among us he wants to know what it is aU about, and Eliot and Pablo explain it to him. Sometimes he can't see anything funny in it and looks perplexed, for it is diffieidt to explain some jokes in another language, you know, but others he sees the point of quick as lightning and then you bet he laughs! Then he tells some Spanish joke that hys to be translated to us. We are all learning Spanish pretty well, and I mean to keep it up at the Tech, for it is going to be valuable for an electrical engineer where there is such a field as there is in Spanish-America. Everything goes like clock-work about the house and place. The servants are all men and boys, and thev glide around still as 190 THE CRUISE OF A LAND— YACHT. shadows, dressed in nothing but a loose cotton shii-t and drawers, always fresh and white — quite different from in the Citj' of Mexico where they seem to wear the same things untU they drop off. Down here in the hot country it is a necessity, almost, for them to bathe every day, and so they get the habit of keepmg clean. The sugar- mill joins onto the wing of the house, making three sides of a large square aU together. It is nm by power from the river, and is Inisy as a bee-hive, with the laborers coming and going all the tune, bringing in big bun- dles of cane to lie crushed in the imjjic/w, as they call it, where the juice runs out in a steady stream and a glass full of it tastes kind of nice once in a while. They even refine the sugar here into nice white loaves. The laborers live in a village by themselves just be- yond the hifcrfd, or orchard, and they go to church in a chapel onto the other side of the h()us(>. ]omni< beautiful building built over hundred big enough for a city church, and it w; and fifty years ago. Pablo and Nacho came with us by special invitation of Uncle Lemuel, and it makes it real jolly that tbcy arc licrc ; it helps u^ along with our Spanish, and they teach us Mexican songs and wc all sit and sin"- in the corridor in the moonlight, and have music ol THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. 191 guitars and banjos beside. Pablo had an atta* k of the Grippe just before we came down, and his father thought he had l)etter leave school for a while and get the benefit of the change of air. Nacho came down because he thought he might have the Grippe if he staid in the capital. But between us the truth is he has taken a great liking to cousin Mabel, and she seems to like him just as well, for the two are together pretty nearly all the time. Pablo and I arc great friends, and we all three shall be, Dan, for I know you can't help liking him when he comes to Boston to enter the Tech next fall. He will come in August with liis father, and, the very first thing, we will break him in for the salt water by a cruise on the Brynhilda. He has never seen the ocean yet. You couldn't tell him from an American boy by his looks. We take long rides all through the country, and see lots of strange things. The jjcople mostly live; in thatched huts made o£ cane or reeds, and the children usually don't wear so much as a single rag. A good many of their parents don't wear much more, and clothing can't be a very heavy item of expense in this part of the world. A considerable part of the day we fellows have no use for it ourselves, for there is a large swunming-tank in the liiiertd with water running in from the river all the time, and orange-trees shading it at one end, where there is a terrace paved with tiles and a bench of smooth stone for resting. We spend a couple of hours or so there every day. Once in a while we go fishing in the river, but we haven't done any hunting, for none of us like to "go round killing things." We caught an armadillo one evening though, down near tiie river, and I am going to try to bring him home for a pet. It's the funniest 192 THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. looking thing-, with a thick shell, like jjlate-armor, and when we caught him he rolled himself up into a ball, wliich it would be pretty hard for any other animal to bite through. ' The girls were scared of it and shrieked when we offered to put him in their laps, but he is perfectly harmless and gentle, for he hasn't any teeth. They say it's first-class eating, and the people here call it a great delicacy. Don Alberto offered to get up an armadillo dinner, but I for one coiddn't stomach it, it looks too much like a reptile, although it is really a mamnuil. I wonder if they serve it roasted in the shell ! There is a reptUe here that they do eat, and that is an iguana, a great fat kind of lizard. I'd rather eat armadillo than that. Other queer things that they eat around the City of Mexico are mosquitos' eggs, from around the lakes, and maguey worms, great white grub- like things that they find in the leaves of the pulque maguey. Both uncle Lemuel and Eliot have eaten them, fried and raw, and they say they are finer than oysters, but you couldn't hire me to touch them. I thought I'd find Mexico fuU of snakes, and they say there are some, but I haven't seen one yet, so they can't be yery plenty. One thing I'm disappomted in, and that is I hoped to see some wild monkeys, but there are n't any round here and they tell me they are not to be found till much nearer the coast, where there are forests. Tame ones are quite plenty for pets in the City of Mexico, and they are amusing fellows. It is fun to see them on the edge of a balcony where they are chained ; they will give a jump, catching hold with the end of their tails and dangling there. About all the iVmerican species have tails of that kind. There are lots of things I want to tell you aI)out. but 1 haven't time and must wait till I get home. I am keejjing up tlic log-liook THK f'KlTISK OF A LAND-YACHT. 193 vou "ave me pretty well and have taken lots of instantaneous photos, so 1 shall be able to give you a fair idea of the voyage of the Ariadne. We shall stay here till early in March and then return to the capital for a few days, after which we shall travel around through the country. Write me some more about the Tech and how you are getting along there. When did you go over to the Point last to see the Brynhilda ? I'll tell you a good Mexican name for a yacht : " Malinchc," the name oi' the Aztec woman that Cortes loved. But the trouble with lots of these foreign names for yachts is that people don't pronounce them riglit. The " Gitana," you know, for example, is a Spanisli name, but the G is pronounced like H breathed hard, and the word, which means G}^)sey, sounds like this : " He-tah-na." Eememl)cr me to all the fellows. Yours as ever, Harry Marsden. CHAPTER XV. EXTRACTS FROM THE LOG OF THE ARIADNE. City of Mexico, Maicli 9, 1890. TJERE we are back on the Ariadne, and it seems like home, although we hated to come away from San Andres, where it seemed like home, too. In the capital a week, now; more sight- seeing, rides every morning with the Jerseys and young Andrades, Spanish opera one night, dinners wth friends other nights — Jerseys, Andrades, at United States Minister Ryan's to lunch, and two dinners to friends on board the " yacht " — regular round of festivities. To-morrow we " steam out of port" for a trip to Cordova and back, down on the Perrocarril Mexicano, or Mexican Railway, the first line built in the country, from here to Vera Cruz. Or rather, the Ariadne goes without us as far as Puebla, and Uncle Lemuel lias chartered the "light-draught" Delfin again, to take us over on the new narrow- guage line, the Interoceanic, so as to get rid of the dust on the Vera Cruz line, that section of it being the dustiest railroad in the world, they say. The Interoceanit; used to be called the " FerrocarrU Intei- oceanico de Acapulco, Morelos, Mexico, Irolo y Vera Cruz," and tlie initials on the freight-cars were " F. C. I. de A. M. M. I. y V. ('.." which beats the " Big Four ! " They are building it from ocean to ocean now, and it's going to be a great system. rH('hl stone cohiimis, richly decorated. At Acambaro, down in a warm country again, took the branch line for Morelia, passing along shores of beautiful 200 THE CRUISE OF A LAKD-YACHT. Lake Cuitzeo, a great sheet of water with an arehipelag'O of moiin- tahious islands. Morelia is the favorite city of Mexico for Uncle Lemuel, as it is for Mr. Church, who first told him about it. Its climate is perfect, neither too warm nor too cold, and the place is full of beauty of all kinds. The cathedral has the most l)eautiful arcliitceture of any in Mexico. Mabel says she is sure that the Alanteda must be an enchanted g-arden, with a magic palace and a sleeping princess hidden in its midst. Morelia is the THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. 201 capital of the State of Michoacan, and used to be called Valladolid, after the Spanish city, but was {^hanged to Morelia in honor of the patriot priest Morelos, who was born here and who succeeded Hidalgo as the leader of the revolution against Spain. Iturbide, who gained Mexico her independence, and was first dictator and then emperor, was- also from this city, and so Morelia is called "the mother of patriots." OREl.IA MARKET-PLACt Lake Pdtzmaro, March 27, 1890. — We came by special train six days ago and are stopping at a pleasant hotel close beside the lake, made for a pleasure-resort out of the great house of an hacienda. It is one of the healthiest and most beautiful parts of Mexico. The lake is seven thousand feet above the ser, and the bracing air is. 202 THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. sweet with the smell of the pines on the nionntains aU aronncl the lake. It is called the most beautiful of the three large sheets of water that give this part of the country the name of " the lake re<>-ion of Mexico," the other two being Lakes Chapala and Cuitzeo. Chapala is the largest of all, but Patzucaro is by no means small, being as much as twenty miles long by ten wide. It is full of beauti- ful islands ; several of them have fishermen's villages on them, and the queer-shaped nets of fishermen, put up to dry, look something like monstrous butterflies. The water of the lake is clear as crystal ; full of fine fish and covered with wild fowl, some of which have goi- geous plumage. The lake is rising in height, and the captain of the curious little steamer that runs here says that the most troublesome obstacles to navigation near the shore are the submerged stone Avails. There is no stream flowing out of the lake, but there is said to be an underground outlet somewhere, and it is believed that the reason why the lake is rising is that the outlet was stopped up by a severe earthcpiake a few years ago. Others say that there never Avas any outlet, and the reason the lake is rising is that there happens to be just now a period, or cycle, of greater rainfall than the average. But there is one thing that makes it certain that there must have been a subterranean outlet, and that is, that the water oi the lake is fresh ; if there were no outlet it Avould be salt, for tliat is the case everywhere with such lakes. The City of Piitzcuaro is only a little ways south of Iuti'. hack from the lake, among the hills, with queer, narrow streets and very interesting. We are having a fine tiuie here ; riding around tlie country, boating, fishing, swinnning, and making excursions on the lake in the steamer, which Uncle Lemuel chartered for ten dollars a THK CUUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. 203 dav. It is curious that the Indians do not have sails to their craft ; they Iiave hii;' dugouts and use paddles and poles, but never knew anything ahout sails until one of the American railroad men here, who came from the coast of Maine, rigged up a boat which the Indians thought as wonderful as the steamboat. I have been taking- Pablo out in it considerably, and it made me feel like being at home to have sheet and tiller in my hands once more. Yesterday we all went on the steamer down the lake to the ancient Indian town of Tzintzuntzan, which, in tlie early days of the Conquest was one of the chief places in the country. They say the name means " humming-bird," and it is a sort of imitation of the noise made by the bird. There is an old church there, with its yard full of some of the largest and most beautiful old olive trees that Uncle Lemuel ever saw ; not surpassed, he says, even in the Holy Land. In the church there are two old pagan relics near the altar ; two old stone images of moxintain lions, probably used as idols in the ancient days, and they say that the Indians hold them as sacred to-day as any of the Christian emblems in the church, for they are stiU fully half pagans. In the sacristy there is one of the finest paintings in all America, pronounced a genuine Titian, and repre- senting the " Entombment of the Savioiu'." It was given to the church by the King of Spain, and although the Indians have no idea of its artistic value they hold it so sacred that no money could in- duce them to part with it. Mr. Churcli was the first American to discover it here, and make it known. Charles Dudley Warner was the first to describe it and since then considerable has been written about it by tourists. City of Mexico, April 7, 1890. — We have been on the go so 204 THE CRUISK OF A LAND-YACHT. imifh I have only just found time to write up my log. We got back here March 30 and that evening took the night train up the Central in the Ariadne, reaching Irapuato in the morning and from there over the Guada- lajara Division all day till 4:45 in the after- noon, passing close by Lake Chapala at Ocatlan, but seeing nothing of it, for it lay out of sioht beyond the great stone bridge crossing the head of the Rio Grande, or Rio Santiago, as the Lerma is called after it leaves the lake. It is a large river and we ran beside it a considerable distance. Guadala- jara is a fine city, and the second great centre in Mexico — a genu- ine capi- tal. We all liked it immensely, although not so ancient-looking as it really is, they fixed and painted it up so freshly to celebrate the finishing of the railroad something over a year ago. It is the capital of the groat State of Jalisco, and is the best run city in Mexico ; very neat, no beggars allowed anywhere, fine schools and other publii' in- THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. 205 stitutions, one of the finest and largest theatres in the world, and dogs all licensed just like at home. ' Only five thousand feet above the sea, and climate fine. But the most wonderful thing around Avas the great Barranca de Portillo, the deep gorge of the Rio Santiago, only five or six niUes out of town. We all went down into it, for Mr. Blake, the pleasant American civil engineer who lives in Guada- lajara, told us so much about it that Uncle Lemuel and Aunt Maddie said they were bound to make the trip even if it was a rough one. We went on burro-liack, for the road was only a narrow path, steep and wind- ing. It was a sheer descent of at least two thousand feet to the bottom of the barranca, and the cluuate was hot and intensely tropical and scenery wonderful. It seemed skittish enough at some points gomg down, and we were nearly two hours from top to bottom, the way was so winding. At the very wildest places the guide would tell Eliot about people being waylaid and robbed and murdered there, and Avhen Eliot would translate what he said it would fairly make our hair stand on end, although we knew there could be no danger with a party so large as ours. It seemed strange enough to be dowii there in such a different climate, beside the large river, and look up at the steep cliffs on the sides, as if Ave were at the bottom of a big crack in the earth. The narrow strips along the river Avere carefully cultivated Avith sugar-cane and all sorts of trop- ical fruits. One fine fruit in Guadalajara we had Avas tiic " melon zapote," 206 THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. which was not a zapote at all, but a variety of the papaya, the kind of palm-tree that I saw first in Cuautla. I did not like the papaya fruit at all ; it looks like a melon, but it is filled Avith small seeds that resemble caviar and taste like nasturtium ; the fruit had a butternut flavor. But the melon zapote tastes very much like a real muskmelon, only finer, and Avithout the stringyness of a melon. Near Guadalajara is where they make the famous pottery, and natural-lookino- little statuettes. It is mostly done at San Pedro, a large suburl) where the wealthy families go fnmi tlic city for the summer. Pantalon Panduro, tlie best modeller of all, makes a faithful likeness after just looking at a person, and brings it round a day or two after. We also went out to see the great Salto de JuaMacatlau. the THE CKUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. 207 Ji grand waterfall iii the Rio Santiago known as the " Niagara of Mexico." It is really n splendid sight, and being only about fifteen miles from Guadalajara, that city will probably be furnished mth electricity for light and power from there some day, for the falls give at least thirty thousand horse-power now. Aunt Maddie, who knows all about public charities, says she has never seen such a fine asylum for orphans and poor people anywhere else as the Hospicio in Guadalajara. On the Avay back we stopped over at Queretaro, the capital of the State of that name. It is a very interesting place, with a soft, warm climate, and surrounded by a rich and beautiful country. There are lots of fine churches and ancient convents fall- ing to ruin. Everybody was delighted ^\-itli the chapel of Santa Clara that Hopkinson Smith described so beautifully in his '• White Umbrella in Mexico." That and Janvier's guide have helped us immensely in enjoying our trip. Queretaro is the place where Emperor Maximilian was besieged by the Republican troops under President Juarez and is particularly interesting on account of its association vnth. that event. We drove out to see the place just outside of tlie city, at the 208 THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. Ceiio de Ccampanas, the Hill of Bells, where Maxiuiilian was shot with his two leading generals, Miramon and Mexia. A Mexican officer who was there told Eliot that they were shot at the very in- stant of sunrise, so that they did not see the sun itself, hut fell dead just as its first rays struck the top of the hill on whose side they stood. They have different ways of carrying water in different Mexican cities. In Queretaro they carry it in jars on rough-looking Avheel- barrows ; in Acambaro in two jars hung from a wooden yoke across a man's shoidders, and in the City of Mexico men used to carry it in jars nearly as tall as themselves, slung on their backs, but now they have public hydrants all over the city and so there are no watei- carriers. We went out into the Canada de Queretrao, which is a nar- row valley full of tropical gardens and dense vegetation: going by horse-car, or rather mule-car. The railroad runs through the Canada on the way to Mexico, so we got another fine sight of the place as we took the day-train back, and it was well worth seeing a second tune. A magnificent great aqueduct that supplies the city crosses the valley on tall, slender arches of stone, ^^ r | and the railroad runs di- ^ftojlj^^ agonally through one of l^M. I the arches. A little Avays beyond are the Hercules MUls, the largest cotton manufactory in Mexico, THE CRUISE OF A I,AXI)-YACHT. 209 with a factory village of several tliousaiul population. The watei^ power for the mills comes from a tunnel runnint;- into the side of the mountain about a mile, and the Avater coming- out is very warm, so that near the mouth of the tunnel there is a fine bathing-establish- ment, outside of which there is a large basin among the trees and shrubbery, which is used by the operatives and other poor people. Queretaro is the place where the treaty of peace between Mexico and the United States was signed on May 30, 1848. CHAPTER XVI. TREASURE-YIELDING GUANAJUATO AND SAINT LOUIS OF THE TREASURE. ^^ "I X /"ELL, I expect that our last trip will be the best of all," said ' ' Mr. Biinkley. " I had no idea when we left Boston that the Tauipico line would be finished in time for us to go over it, but luck is with us. Mr. Whorf tells me that the scenery is the finest to be found on any railway line in Mexico, and my friend Mr. Jackson, the general manager of the Mexican Central, who has just returned from the grand celebration in honor of the opening of the line has kindly arranged it so that we can see it in the pleasantest manner possible. We are going to have a locomotive to take our car down and back from San Luis Potosi as a special, so that our movements will not be hampered by the schedule requirements of any regular train, and we can stop along at any place we may choose where there .is anything we care to see, and so take as long for our tnji as we may wish. That is the way Mr. Whorf's party did, ami tliat appears to be the only satisfactory way to do where there is so nuicli to see. According to what they tell us, it is a pity we cannot give a month to it ! " Mr. Whorf was the assistant general manager of the railway, and he had lately been over the new line in the first train to go tluough to Tampico, and to pass over the last rail. Mr. Briiddey had been talkiii"'- with him and some of his party, and their accounts had tired him with enthusiasm to go and do likewise. THK CHUISE OK A LAND-YACHT. 211 On the next evening, April 10, they bade farewell to the Mexican capital where they had passed so many pleasant days. As the party clustered upon the quarter-deck o£ the Ariadne while the train glided out of the station, they were given God speed by numerous friends whom they had found and made there, not the least among whom were the Jerseys and the Andrades. " Good-bye ! " and " Buen viage!"(Good voyage) were shouted for the last time, and they watched the fluttermg handkerchiefs snowy in the bright electric- light of the train-house until with heightened speed they vanished in the distance. Igilacio and Pablo Andrade were to make the trip with them to Tampico. The two young Mexicans had been so gen- uinely kind, and had done so much to give pleasure to his l>arty, that Mr. Brinkley desired to give them some special token of his appre- ciation, and so he had invited them to join them on this last trip and occupy the spare beds in the Ariadne's parlor. It was ten minutes past eight o'clock when they left, and they at once sat do-wn to sup- per. It was a particidarly merry party that evening at tabic and afterwards, in the dining-room, where the young people played the liiano and sang English and Spanish songs alternately, while at the forward doorway George and Sam and little Pete looked and listened with delighted eyes and ears. '^ Come boys, we must have a minstrel act as a grand finale ! " cried Eliot, and George and Sam were in- duced to take the banjo and give tlicni a plantation duet, while Pete indulged in a break-down with bone accompaniment, to the huge enjoyment of the Mexican youths, who had never seen anything of the kind before. They had arranged to give a (hiy to (Tuanajuato. tlie great mining city, and capital of the State of the same name, one of the 212 THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. largest and richest in Mexico. Both Mr. Biinkley and EHot had heen there before, and they agreed that by all means it would not do to miss sight of one of the most picturesque cities in the world. Guanajuato, being off the main line of railway, at the end of a short branch, was visited by comparatively few of the tourists who annually came to Mexico and who did not take the trouble to go out of their way very much. At SUao the next morning they were transferred to the Guana- juato branch, and were soon climbing up into the rugged mountains to the eastward ; the famous treasure-range that had yielded some of the greatest fortunes in old Spain, as well as proudest titles of " nobility," titles which are usually founded on money, or base ser- vices to monarchs, or other ignoble things. The railway ended at the suburb of Marfil, five kilometers out of Guanajuato, and they there took the tramway for the city. The route was bordered by odd-looking buildings belonging to the " haciendas de beneficio," or reduction works for converting the ore from the mines into silver. There were high-peaked roofs, groups of towers and turrets, and arches and massive walls. The large city of Guanajuato, with its sixty thousand to eighty thousand inhabitants, lives upon the mming industry — the mining and reduction of ore. When the mines are exhausted, as sometime they must be, the niassive place, built as if to endure for ages, will be deserted by its population and fall into ruins. But there appear to be no signs of it yet, though mining has been going on for something like three centuries and at least a billion of dollars in silver and gold have been taken out of the surrounding moinitains. The city rose before tluMii, ternice-like and billow-Hkc. with its 'HE CRUISE OK A LAND-YACHT. 213 3 of buildings losing themselves in the various side valleys extend- ing up into the mountains. They wound through a tortuous, busy- lookino- street -nath high buildings, and from the end of the tramway ■were conducted to a snug hotel facing a little triangular pla- za with a pretty gar- den and music pa- vilion. Here they ordered 1 u n c h at noon-time, and pro- ceeded to s t ro 1 1 about the city. " How f a s c i n a t - ing!" exclaimed Mabel. " There is a picture at every step ! How every- thing forms itself into a subject for an artist! No wonder Hopkinson Smith was enchanted. The lay of the land ; those steep clifEs towering all around us; the buildings climbing onto the slopes; the architecture ; the color ; — everything ! " " Do you see how you might step from the flat roofs of some of these houses out into the street behind ? " said Eliot. " And some of these streets are so narrow you can stand in the middle and touch the house-walls on each side ! " exclaimed Harry. " What delightful pavements ! " cried Florence. " These peb- bles are nice and smooth to walk over. And to think of street after 214 THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. street being inlaid in these pretty j^atterns with Hnes of Hght-t-olored stones ! How clean, too ! Why, actually, if there isn't a man going around and sweeping up dirt with a dust-pan and l)rusli — a wooden dust-pan ! " " It is a pity they don't extend their ideas of cleanliness to their drainage-system," said Eliot. " Whew ! Let's get awav from the neighborhood of that river — or where there is a river when there is any water ! " "That is the great need of Guanajuato — a good sewerage-svs- tem," said Ignacio. " For the lack of it, their death-rate is the highest in Mexico. And they could easily have it, as Mv. Blake has shown them, and make themselves one of the healthiest cities in the republic." They climbed to the edge of a cliff overlooking the city. A tangle of the thorny growth characteristic of the table-land grew near the edge of the precipice ; maguey and prickly-i)ear, while the tall columns of the organ-cactus formed a sort of frame for the pict- ure before them — the city filling the irregular valley and the mountains risino- hio-h on all sides, with larg-e mininji'-villaa'es on the surrounding hillsides and summits, clustered about the castle-like structures of the works and the stately domes of churches. " How we can trace the narrow crooked streets ramifying- in and out among the buildings like veins," said Mabel. " There are only three or four streets in the wliolc city where you can di-ive a carriage," said her brother. " What is that building like an amphitheatre down th('n>. that we can almost toss a stone into ? " asked Florence. •• That is tlu' tlu'atre." said Ignacio. " It is a magnificent mass- THE CKIIISE OF A LAND-YACHT. 215 ive structure, and is going- to cost very nuicli. They have boon years building it and have not roofed it in yet, l)iit sdinctinies tlicy have performances there. Do you see that large gloomy-looking building down there? That is the Castillo de Granaditos, where the heads of the four patriots, Hidalgo, Allende, Aldama and Jimenez, were exposed for a long time. Their heads were brought here from Chihuahua, where they were shot, because this had been the centre of the revolution. Dolores de Hidalgo, where the revolution started, is in this State, and one of the first things the revolutionists did was to capture Guanajuato for the sake of the means which the wealth of the mines gave them to carry on the cause. There were bloody scenes in this city more than once. When the Spaniards re-captured it, several thousand of the inhabitants, men, women and children, were driven into the market-place until it was crowded, and then, by order of the Spanish commander, they were all shot down by the troops, so that the streets literally ran rivers of blood." - How frightful ! " said Mabel, with a shudder. ''• It was in revenge for the massacre of the Spanish garrison by the revolutionists," said Ignacio. " War is always terrible." After lunch they all set out on a ride to the Valenciana inines, the most famous of the Guanajuata group. Mr. and Mrs. Brinkley, who had c-onfined their strolling to the lower levels of the city, while the young people dandiered along the hillsides, decided to go on burro-back, while horses were ol)tained for the others. As they started, there was considerable merriment over the figures cut by the two heaviest members of the party nu)unted upon the meek little beasts. " Twelve arrobas, — that is, tliree hundred poiuids — is the re'vulatioii load for a burro," said Kliot. " So the heaviest-loaded 216 THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. of these two burros has a margui of at least seventy-five pounds." " Only thmk ! Our last horseback ride in Mexico," said Florence. " We must make the most of it." " What a pity I haven't Bayito ! " said Harry. The Valenciana was high up on the mountain-slope, a league from the city. They enjoyed a succession of glorious views on the way. Below them the city filled its cup-like valley, and the vast plain where ran the main line of the raUway spread out ^v-ider and wider in the distance, growing bluer and more unsubstantial in ap- pearance as its expanse receded in the clear air towards the mountains that notched the horizon in the dim distance. Before them at the mine the great church towering above the village of the miners' dwellings grew larger and more imposing as they approached. They passed enormous heaps of rejected ore on the way, but, as they con- tained many plums of richer stone there were numerous men about them picking them carefully over on their own account, payijig the company a certain rental for the privilege. They Avere shown the main entrance of the mine at a great hexagonal shaft, that seemed, as they peered cautiously down into its indefinite depths, as if it might reach to the centre of the earth. In reality it was five hundred meters, or nearly seventeen hundred feet, deep. It was walled in by thick masonry, and there were four hoists worked by a steam-engine — two for ore, and two for enormous iron buckets for draining the mine ; when swung out above a large vat beside the shaft a trap in the bottom of the bucket would open, letting drop a torrent of water. The water was valuable for use in tlie boilers, and every drop possible Avas saved, for it is a precious connnodity in Guanajuato and its neighborhood. In the vat were condensing pipes to cool the ex- THE CRUISE OF A LAND-YACHT. 217 haust steam from the engine and convert it hack into water to he used again in the hoilers. The superintendent of tlie mine offered to show them how deep the shaft was. The hoist was stopped, and a large hall of rope-yarn wound around a heavy stone was saturated with petroleum and sus- pended by a Avire over the opening. As soon as it was still it was set on fire and let drop. It made a startling sight as it darted down- ward with a hoarse roar and trailing flames like a meteor, lighting up the dark sides of the shaft. It seemed to grow smaller and smaller, until it dwindled to the semblanee of a glowuig bullet. Its noise came up in conthiual reverberations. Then for an instant it was seen to light the inky surface of a pool into which it plunged, and, with the quenching of its light a denser darkness than ever seemed visibly to well up from the depths and fill the shaft, as if the water itself had by some magic spell been made to swell instantly to a mighty volume. The sound of the final shock after the heated ball struck the water, came up like the boom of a distant cannon. The sight was wonderfully impressive. They all stood in silence for a minute or so, as if something solemn had occurred. " That made a piece of fireworks worth putting beside that natural gas well we saw in Ohio," said Harry. " In that case the fire was comuig up out of the earth, and in this it was going down into it." The superintendent offered to take them down into the mine. " Nothing in the world would tempt me to go ! " said Florence, shuddering as she thought of the descent of the fire-ball into the fearful abyss. No one appeared to be enthusiastic to go, and Mr. Brinkley cordially thanked the superintendant and s