Page:Incidents of travel in Central America, Chiapas and Yucatan.djvu/230

156 in the plaza, he rushed up the steps of the church, and, amid laughing and screaming, went out. Flying pigeons and other pieces followed; and the whole concluded with the grand national piece of the Castle of San Felippe, which was a representation of the repulse of an English fleet. A tall structure represented the castle, and a little brig, perched on the end of a stick, like a weathercock, the fleet. The brig fired a broadside, and then, by a sudden jerk, turned on a pivot and fired another; and long after, until she had riddled herself to pieces, the castle continued pouring on all sides a magnanimous stream of fire.

When all was over we returned to the posada. A cloth was spread over the long table, and in a few minutes, under the direction of the ladies, covered with the picnic materials brought from Guatimala. The benches were drawn up to the table, and as many as could find seats sat down. Before supper was over there was an irruption of young men from Guatimala, with glazed hats, ponchas, and swords, and presenting a rather disorderly appearance; but they were mostly juveniles, brothers and cousins of the ladies. With their hats on they seated themselves at the vacated tables, and, as soon as they had finished eating, hurried off the plates, piled the tables away in a corner, one on the top of the other, and the candles on the top of all, the violins struck up, and gentlemen and ladies, lighting cigars and cigarillos, commenced dancing. I am sorry to say that generally the ladies of Central America, not excepting Guatimala, smoke,—married ladies, puros, or all tobacco, and unmarried, cigarillos, or tobacco wrapped in paper or straw. Every gentleman carries in his pocket a silver case, with a long string of cotton, steel and flint, taking up nearly as much space as a handkerchief, and one of the offices of gallantry is to strike a light; by doing it well, he may help to kindle a flame in a lady's heart; at all events, to do it bunglingly would be ill-bred. I will not express my sentiments on smoking as a custom for the sex. I have recollections of beauteous lips profaned. Nevertheless, even in this I have seen a lady show her prettiness and refinement, barely touching the straw to her lips, as it were kissing it gently and taking it away. When a gentleman asks a lady for a light, she always removes the cigar from her lips. Happily, the dangerous proximity which some times occurs between gentlemen in the street is not in vogue. The dancing continued till two o'clock, and the breaking up was like the separation of a gay family party. The young men dispersed to sleep or to finish the night with merriment elsewhere, and Don Manuel and I retired to the house he had secured for us.

We were in our hammocks, talking over the affairs of the night, when we heard a noise in the street, a loud tramping past the door