Very nearly all the men wore the ordinary gaucho costume, and those
who were exercising carried lances, to which were attached little
white, fluttering bannerets. Passing through the encampment, we
clattered into the town, composed of about seventy or eighty houses
of stone or mud, some thatched, others with tiled roofs, and every
house with a large garden attached to it. At the official building
facing the plaza a guard of ten men, armed with carbines, was stationed.
We dismounted and went into the building, only to hear that the General
had just left the town, and was not expected back till the following
day.
Alday spoke to an officer sitting at a table in the room we were shown
into, addressing him as Major. He was a thin, elderly man, with calm
grey eyes and a colourless face, and looked like a gentleman. After
hearing a few words from Alday, he turned to me and said courteously
that he was sorry to tell me I should have to remain in El Molino till
the General's return, when I could give an account of myself to him.
"We do not," he said in conclusion, "wish to compel any foreigner, or
any Oriental even, to join our forces; but we are naturally suspicious
of strangers, having already caught two or three spies in the
neighbourhood. Unfortunately you are not provided with a passport, and
it is best that the General should see you.
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