Page:Vagabond life in Mexico.djvu/123

Rh for her! After the first burst of grief I was about to take up your case, when I received a dagger-stab from an invisible hand, the effects of which forced me to keep my bed for a considerable time. However, I am happy to be able to announce to you that your case is now progressing favorably. I succeeded in discovering, not without some trouble, the abode of Dionisio Peralta, and have set upon his traces the three knaves whom you saw the other night. Good-by; take no step without consulting me, and in a short time you will receive more satisfactory news."

Eight days had scarcely elapsed when I received another note from the licentiate. This letter contained a detailed account of the campaign which he had conducted against Dionisio Peralto, and its happy termination. Pepito Rechifla, John Pearce the Yankee, and Navaja the Mexican, went, one after the other, to the house of Dionisio Peralta, claiming, as they said, the recovery of a debt with which they had been intrusted by their friend the licentiate, Don Tadeo. Dionisio Peralta, in spite of his gentlemanly airs, was, to speak the truth, a knave of their own stamp, and received them at first with all the arrogance of a bully; but the significant threats of the three ruffians soon brought him to terms. Peralta knew but too well the character of the men with whom he had to deal, and the influence of the licentiate, who directed these bullies, rendered the odds decidedly against him. He at last ended by proposing a compromise, which the licentiate had been constrained to accept. Peralta had a small villa in the little village of Tacuba, about a league from Mexico, the value of which was almost equal to the amount of the debt. He consented, in lieu of payment, to deliver up this house