And He Alone Was Unarmed, A Circumstance
Which Struck Us As Very Strange.
The others were all old veterans,
middle-aged and oldish men with grizzled beards, all in scarlet jacket
and
Scarlet _chiripa_ and a scarlet cap of the quaint form then worn,
shaped like a boat turned upside down, with a horn-like peak in front,
and beneath the peak a brass plate on which was the number of the
regiment.
The men appeared surprised at the refusal of horses, and stated
plainly that they would not accept it; at which my father shook his
head and smiled. One of the men then asked for water to quench his
thirst. Some one in the house then took out a large jug of cold water,
and my father taking it handed it up to the man; he drank, then passed
the jug on to the other thirsty ones, and after going its rounds the
jug was handed back and the demand for fresh horses renewed in
menacing tones. There was some water left in the jug, and my father
began pouring it out in a thin stream, making little circles and
figures on the dry dusty ground, then once more shook his head and
smiled very pleasantly on them. Then one of the men, fixing his eyes
on my father's face, bent forward and suddenly struck his hand
violently on the hilt of his broadsword and, rattling the weapon, half
drew it from its sheath. This nerve-trying experiment was a complete
failure, its only effect being to make my father smile up at the man
even more pleasantly than before, as if the little practical joke had
greatly amused him.
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