Just outside the town-house, under a thatched shelter, a group of old women were cooking atole in great ollas until a late hour.  This gruel they ladled out to those men and boys who had been working, and doled out to them drinks from black bottles.  The men and boys, with their red head-cloths or neck-cloths, went forth from time to time in groups upon some public errand.  Towards evening, eight or ten little fellows came from the forest with bundles of firewood upon their heads and great machetes hanging at their sides.  In the morning, the same group of youngsters came in loaded with bunches of green leaves and holly to be used in decorating the church.  At eight o’clock there was a procession in the churchyard; the saint, dressed in flowing garments, was carried about, accompanied by banners and a band of music.  During the festival, everyone drank; even the little boys of eight or nine years, who brought in their loads of wood, received their spirits, which they drank like old topers.  There was no evidence of bad temper as a result of this drinking, but an increasing stupidity.  When, in the morning, we found our breakfast to consist of nothing but coffee, we realized our mistake of the night before, and promptly betook ourselves to the house of the secretario, where we spent the following day.  The demands of the church during the day were so heavy that we did little work.  The day itself was dark and dismal.  In the late morning the boys brought in great loads of poinsettia, from which they fashioned brilliant rosettes and garlands for the church.  At night, a wooden platform was brought in for a bed, upon which Louis, Manuel and I slept, while the others made a bed of broad boards upon the floor.  Being behind with his developing, Louis set to work as soon as the lights were out, and kept at it until half-past-one.  Scarcely had he come to bed and promptly fallen asleep, when there was a pounding at the door, which was almost immediately after broken in.  Rising, I called out to see what was wanted, and four or five indians, all very drunk, came staggering in.  The oldest of the party carried a great machete, and one of them closely hugged a bottle full of spirits.  After begging pardon for disturbing us, they built a smoky fire, near the drying negatives.  Fearing that their drunken movements and the smoke would work disaster, I made them change their place of rest and fire, moving them to the other end of the room.  There they built another fire, and, before morning, they had consumed three bottles of spirits.  What with the firelight and smoke, the noisy laughter, the loud talking and constant movement, it was impossible for me to sleep.  Only for a single hour, when they fell back upon the floor in drunken slumber, and their fire burned down, did I get a bit of rest.  If seems that they were an official guard put to watch the town store of grain which was kept in the building, and which was subject to the depredations of animals.