for the preservation of the peace between the implacable belligerents, and the sanitary work required could not at once be accomplished, but presently it was visible that something was done every day in the right direction.  There was much gambling with dice, whose rattling could be heard far and near on the sidewalks, but this flagrant form of vice was summarily suppressed, we may say with strict truth, at the point of the bayonet.  The most representative concentration of the ingredients of chaos was at the Hotel Oriental, that overlooked a small park with a dry fountain and a branch of the river flowing under a stone bridge, with a pretty stiff current, presently to become a crowded canal.  It is of three lofty stories and an attic, a great deal of the space occupied with halls, high, wide and long.  The front entrance is broad, and a tiled floor runs straight through the house.  Two stairways, one on either side, lead to the second story, the first steps of stone.  In the distance beyond, a court could be seen, a passable conservatory—­but bottles on a table with a counter in front declared that this was a barroom, as it was.  The next thing further was a place where washing was done, then came empty rooms that might be shops; after this a narrow and untidy street, and then a livery stable—­a sort of monopolistic cab stand, where a few ponies and carriages were to be found—­but no one understood or did anything as long as possible, except to say that all the rigs were engaged now and always.  However, a little violent English language, mixed with Spanish, would arouse emotion and excite commotion eventuating in a pony in harness, and a gig or carriage, and a desperate driver, expert with a villainous whip used without occasion or remorse.

The cool place was at the front door, on the sidewalk, seated on a hard chair, for there was always a breeze.  The Spanish guests knew where the wind blew, and gathered there discussing many questions that must have deeply interested them.  But they had something to eat, no authority or ability to affect any sort of change, and unfailing tobacco, the burning of which was an occupation.  The ground floor of the hotel, except the barroom, the washroom, the hall, the conservatory and the hollow square, had been devoted to shop keeping, but the shop keepers were gone, perhaps for days and perhaps forever!  Stone is not used to any great extent in house interiors, except within a few feet of the surface of the earth.  Of course, there is no elevator in a Spanish hotel.  That which is wanted is room for the circulation of air.  Above the first flight of stairs the steps have a deep dark red tinge, and are square and long, so that each extends solidly across the liberal space allotted to the stairway.  The blocks might be some stone of delightful color, but they are hewn logs, solid and smooth, of a superb mahogany or some tree of harder wood and deeper luxuriance of coloring.  The bedrooms are immensely high, and in every way ample, looking