We did not return till late in the evening,
and the whole of the following day was spent in monotonous cavalry
exercises. I then went to the General and requested permission to visit
the Casa Blanca to bid adieu to my friends there. He informed me that
he intended going to El Molino the next morning himself and would take
me with him. The first thing he did on our arrival at the village was
to send me to the principal storekeeper in the place, a man who had
faith in the Blanco leader, and was rapidly disposing of a large stock
of goods at a splendid profit, receiving in payment sundry slips of
paper signed by Santa Coloma. This good fellow, who mixed politics
with business, provided me with a complete and much-needed outfit,
which included a broadcloth suit of clothes, soft brown hat rather
broad in the brim, long riding-boots, and _poncho_. Going back
to the official building or headquarters in the plaza, I received my
sword, which did not harmonise very well with the civilian costume I
wore; but I was no worse off in this respect than forty-nine out of
every fifty men in our little army.
In the afternoon we went together to see the ladies, and the General
had a very hearty welcome from both of them, as I also had from Dona
Mercedes, while Dolores received me with the utmost indifference,
expressing no pleasure or surprise at seeing me wearing a sword in the
cause which she had professed to have so much at heart.
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