Page:Face to Face With the Mexicans.djvu/40

 34 its crystal surface the towering mountains and the deep azure of a faultless sky.

This spring supplies the entire city with water, which is conveyed through antiquated earthen pipes to the fountains, and thence borne by carriers into the houses.

But to the tradition: This inconsiderate old uncle was being led by his nephew, who was endowed with the very same tastes and instincts as all other boys, regardless of caste or complexion, the world over. As they approached the ojo de agua, the whirring sound of a thousand birds in flight over their heads caused the boy to drop his uncle's hand and look upward, with head thrown back, straight hair standing at right angles, and great, wild, black eyes, gazing at the myriad of birds that seemed to mottle the whole sky.

The uncle having no support, began to totter and hold out his arms, calling loudly, but to no purpose, for his forgetful guide. Inch by inch the old man felt his way over the rough stones; a step more, and there was a plunge, a scream, and the unfortunate uncle was floundering in the "eye of water." The young truant was recalled to himself, but, being paralyzed with fright, could only scream and wring his hands wildly, exclaiming:

"Saltillo! Saltillo!" (Get out, uncle!)—an injunction as heartless as it was impossible to obey.

At this critical moment, some passing arriéros (mule-drivers) compassionately rescued the drowning man, and so happily ends the tradition.

Posterity, studying out of cold, unsympathetic lexicons all kinds of puzzling derivations, finds, according to some, that the verb salir signifies "to go out;" sal, the first syllable, means "get out;" and tio (uncle) has, as perhaps in this case, been mispelled or corrupted into tillo, as Saltillo (pronounced Sal-tee'-yo), the liquid ll being more euphonious in the Mexican tongue.

Others yet believe that Saltillo comes from the language of the Chichimecas, and signifies "High land of many waters." In almost any direction may be seen innumerable sparkling cascades of limpid