There were two extraordinary figures on the front seat of the wagon.  The driver was a sturdy, thick-set man whose remarkable personal appearance was fixed instantly and ineradicably in the mind of the beholder by an enormous moustache whose shape, size and color suggested a crow with outstretched wings.  As if to emphasize the ferocious aspect lent him by this hairy canopy which completely concealed his mouth, Nature had duplicated it in miniature by brows meeting above his nose and spreading themselves, plume-like, over a pair of eyes which gleamed so brightly that they could be felt, altho’ they were so deep-set that they could scarcely be seen.

This fierce and buccaneerish person summoned the dozing hostler in a coarse, imperative voice, flung him the reins, sprang from his seat, and assisted his companion to alight.  She gave him her hand with an air of utter indifference, bestowed upon him neither smile nor thanks, and dropped to the ground with a light flutter like a bird.  Turning instantly toward the tavern, she ascended the steps of the porch under a fusillade of glances of astonishment and admiration.  Young and beautiful, dressed in a picturesque and brilliant Spanish costume, she carried herself with the ease and dignity of a princess, and looked straight past, or rather through the staring crowd, fastened like inverted brackets to the tavern wall.  Her great, dreamy eyes did not seem to note them.

When she and her companion had entered the hall and closed the door behind them, every tilted chair came down to the floor with a bang, and many voices exclaimed in concert, “Who the devil is she?” Curiosity was satisfied at eight o’clock in the evening, for at that hour Doctor Paracelsus Aesculapius, as he fantastically called himself, opened the doors of his traveling apothecary shop and exposed his “universal panacea” for sale, while at the same time, “Pepeeta, the Queen of Fortune Tellers,” entered her booth and spread out upon a table the paraphernalia by which she undertook to discover the secrets of the future.

When the evening’s work was ended, Pepeeta at once retired; but the doctor entered the bar-room, followed by a curious and admiring crowd.  He was in a happy and expansive frame of mind, for he had done a “land office” business in this frontier village which he was now for the first time visiting.

“Have a drink, b-b-boys?” he asked, looking over the crowd with an air of superiority and waving his hand with an inclusive gesture.  The motley throng of loafers sidled up to the bar with a deprecatory and automatic movement.  They took their glasses, clinked them, nodded to their entertainer, muttered incoherent toasts and drank his health.  The delighted landlord, feeling it incumbent upon him to break the silence, offered the friendly observation:  “S-s-see you s-s-stutter.  S-s-stutter a little m-m-my own self.”

“Shake!” responded the doctor, who was in too complacent a mood to take offence, and the worthies grasped hands.