Page:Pictures of life in Mexico Vol 1.djvu/108

82 mules ever and anon with a large stick. On one of the mules sat a well-attired female—the matron of the party; two young children were perched upon another, while the remaining two were loaded with sundry articles of domestic furniture, of good quality and condition.

These persons composed the family escort of honest Kuys de Bogota; a harmless individual, who was in the habit of tracing his descent—and not without reason—to a nearly pure Spanish stock. For some cause or other (I believe he had been an unsuccessful partner in an earthenware manufactory), he had removed from the city of Puebla, where he had long resided; and had determined to take up his future abode, with his family, in the small town of Perote—there to live in as retired a manner as possible.

Kuys de Bogota was a quiet and worthy man: his disposition was easy and unassuming to a fault; for it had permitted him to be so grossly imposed upon in his late business affairs, that his quondam partner—a bustling, unscrupulous little fellow—had monopolized to himself nearly the whole of the profits; and had finally sent him adrift into the world,