Page:Face to Face With the Mexicans.djvu/73

 me to put the plancha caliente (hot iron) in the cook, or in the kitchen?" Then with the forefinger of his right hand moving hastily before his nose, and a waggish smile on his face, the pantomime closed with, "No usamos asi" ("We don't use them this way").

Another ridiculous mistake I made when I wanted Pancho to buy me some cake, and told him to get four gáteaux, forgetting that biscocho and not gateau was the Spanish for cake. Folding his arms, he quietly answered without a smile, if he might presume to ask the Señora what she wanted with cuatro gatos—(four cats!) As the house was already overrun with these animals that had flocked in from all quarters, Pancho naturally wondered why I wanted to add to my feline tenants.

Itinerant venders of every imaginable commodity were constantly passing, and nothing pleased me better than to hold conversations with them, which they too evidently enjoyed.

Soon after the episode of the flat-iron, I heard the long drawn intonation of a vender and paid little heed to him, supposing he was running off a list of his stock in trade, such as pins, needles, tape, thread and other things too numerous to mention. Wanting none of these, I replied:

"Tenemos bastante adentro" ("We have plenty in the house").

A roar of laughter near by, and a familiar voice interpreted the man's question humorously enough: he was only asking if I wanted a chichi (wet nurse).

The common people of all ages were always bringing me regalitos (tokens of good will), and these were of every conceivable variety. A little girl whom I had often fed through the window, came into the house with her rebozo drawn closely about her, saying she had a regalito for me. I supposed it to be fruit or flowers, and so motioned to her to put it on the table in the dining-room.

In a moment she was at my side, saying:

"No quedarse alli" ("It will not stay there"), and going out I found a young chicken running around.

To pay fifty cents for every donkey load of wood, as I had done,