Page:Narrative of an Official Visit to Guatemala.djvu/190

170 waiting for its abatement: the inanimate part of creation was differently affected: the parched ground bubbled and sputtered like a drunken toper; the lanky banana crouched down and riggled like an invalid in a shower bath; and the red tiles were deserting their ranks one by one, like bad soldiers, leaving the way open to the enemy. Whilst the squall was at its height, I saw two horsemen come dashing up the street, at full speed: they stopt at the door of the cock-pit: they were each covered with a large mantle; and, without alighting, had caught up, in their arms, a damsel, a-piece, who adjusted themselves, with wonderful activity, on the pommels of the saddles: it was still raining profusely, but the mantles were thrown round the young ladies with such skill, and so completely enveloped them with their gallant knights, who darted off again, at a gallop, that I concluded they must have reached their homes in an instant, and probably without much inconvenience. The gentlemen when