Page:Caroline Lockhart--The full of the Moon.djvu/146

 Immediately the news that the baile was assured spread throughout the village and reached the most remote family within a radius of one hundred and fifty miles.

It was the one topic of conversation in dobes which nestled in lonely bosques, and tumble-down huts huddling in sun-baked arroyos, while it is no exaggeration to say that the whole of Las Rubertas was aquiver.

They chortled at the thought that a gringo was paying for their pleasure; for, like other inferior races, the low-caste Mexicans invariably mistake generosity for weakness, and Nan, in thinking to buy immunity from their thieving, was reckoning upon persons who as a class are devoid of gratitude.

Nan watched the preparations with interest, though she had no thought of going, nor did she believe she was expected. There was now the washing of heads, lathered with soap-root in the front yards, the scurrying to and fro between houses and across the street, while dreadful sounds issued from the schoolmaster's dobe where the orchestra practised each night.

Also, Nan observed that the hostile attitude