A Story of Chances [pp. 225-231]

THE
OVERLAND MONTHLY.
VOL. XI. (SECOND SERIES.)-MARCH, I888.-No. 63.
A STORY OF CHANCES.
"CARAMNIBA! "exclaimed Mateo Fernandez
the aguador, "Que burro madilo / Am I
to run my soul into sin a dozen times a day,
and every day in the week for thee? " and
with no gentle hands he caught by mane and
tail the stumbling donkey, laden with great
jars of pure water, and set it -staggering
with the shock of the stumble, and force of
its recovery- again on its feet; releasing it
with a sounding thwack, and as it followed,
somewhat dazed, the jog trot of its mate,
apostrophizing in no choice terms the faults
and vices of the whole asinine race, at last
continuing:
"Was there ever such luck as mine?
There is a burro that I bought for three dol lars- a ruinous price, but he was extolled
to the skies, and warranted to bring me a
fortune-and what happens? Valgame Dios,
in all the time I have had him he has done
nothing but dance for the Devil, who made
him. The Seiior Contador himself could not
sum up how many cantarros of pure water
he has spilt for me, and it is not for every one that they can be refilled at the public
fountain in the square of the city, but I must
needs trudge back to the spring on the moun tain. There is Dofia Luyita, for example,
turning the jars over before my eyes, and
declaring it mud that lay at the bottom,
though I swore it was only the honey and
balm that makes the spring of the Bufa the
sweetest in all Mexico.' Honey and balm!'
cried she in a rage.' Ay! and this too, then,
may be medios and cuartillos, for you will get
no other from me'; and she threw me a
handful of rubbish instead of the money I
should have had. Then coming up from
the town today what should the clumsy brute
do but tumble headlong and smash my largest ollas upon the very spot where he would
have come to grief but for my quickness
just now. I am beginning to feel as light as
a pelota thrown from hand to hand, with constant bounding and springing. At this rate
when am I to get the money to buy Catarina
the string of corals I promised her, much less
to pay the priest and the Alcade, who must
both have a hand in the marriage. My faith!
girls it seems were not so particular when my
mother spoke a word in the church, and followed my father to the choya on the hillside,
and they were a peaceful couple- many a
fandango was danced when the duros were
plenty, and he never beat her on a feast day,
except he should chance to have found the
mescal strong enough to mislead him. Ali
madre!/ ay she was a treasure of gold, and
took the bad with the good as contentedly
as though the Pope himself and the Sefior
Presidente and all his ministers had tied her
and her viejo together."
VOL. XI.-I5. (Copyright, I888, by OVERLAND MONTHLY Co. All rights reserved.)
Bacon & Company, Printers.