Page:Narrative of an Official Visit to Guatemala.djvu/366

346 hungry, and began to wonder where I should find some accommodation, when Don Francisco Salazar, (this was the stranger's name,) politely offered me a seat on his bed, and also insisted on dividing with me the chocolate which had been prepared for him. A dish of fowl admirably dressed with the green Chile sauce succeeded, and with some wine and brandy, also the produce of his canteen, we made a comfortable meal. About eight o'clock my baggage appeared: the bedstead, although it had been packed in a large leather case made for the purpose, had become wet: the wood had swollen, and would not pass the seams of the leather stretchers, which was a part of a complicated process necessary for its erection.

Having invariably experienced fine weather to Acapulco, I had never wanted this bungling specimen of Mexican upholstery, and now I really did require it, found it perfectly unadapted to the purposes for which it was intended. Don Eugenio kindly insisted