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 *oped in black shawls, welcomed them in Spanish and beckoned to them, and acted eager to show them around.

"'Buenas noches,' is it? 'Good evenin' to ye,'" spoke Freegift. "I expect there'll be no harm in loosenin' up a bit. So fare as you like, boys, an' have a care. I'm off. Who's with me?"

They trooped gaily away, escorted by their new Santa Fean friends. Stub stuck to Freegift, for a time; but every little while the men had to stop, and drink wine offered to them at the shops and even at the houses near by; so, tiring of this, he fell behind, to make the rounds on his own account and see what he chose to see.

He was crossing the bare, hard-baked square, or plaza as they called it, to take another look at the strings of Indian ears festooned on the front of the Governor's Palace, when through the gathering dusk somebody hailed him.

"Hi! Muchacho! Aqui! (Hi! Boy! Here!)"

It was Lieutenant Bartholomew, summoning him toward the barracks. The lieutenant met him.

"Habla Español (You speak Spanish)?"

"Very little," Stub answered.

"Bien (Good)." And the lieutenant continued eagerly. "Como se llama Ud. en Americano (What is your name in American)?"