Page:Pictures of life in Mexico Vol 1.djvu/86

60 gambling-and begging by turns all day, and when it is too late in the evening to beg, he will begin to steal. But half an hour ago you might have seen him standing in an imploring attitude in the street, bitterly complaining of a diseased body and an empty stomach—now see how jauntily and impudently he enters yonder apartment, and what a cunning leer is on his face, as he stakes his ill-gotten gains on the table, among a score or two of wretches as vile as himself.

Soon, most likely, the place will resound with sounds and cries, knives will flash and thrusts be exchanged; for the léperos are generally fierce and quarrelsome among themselves, and disturbances, arising from their ferocious outbreaks and desperate fights, are of frequent occurrence. It appears surprising that they should be thus tolerated; but as society is at present constituted in the Mexican capital, no one carries himself with a more defiant air, or wears a more impudent look (when not soliciting alms), than the vagrant lépero.

Mark yonder wretch with cringing figure and malignant aspect, whose bandaged limb seems to shrink beneath his weight, as,