About noon
The scenes in the piazza , the rangers and their steeds , the `` greasers '' in their striped blankets , the _ Indias _ squatted on their _ petates _ , the pretty poblanas , were all unnoticed by me . At intervals my eyes rested upon the walls of the distant dwelling ; it was not so distant but that a human form could have been distinguished upon its roof , had one been there . There was none , and twenty , ay , fifty times , did I turn away my disappointed gaze . About noon the Serjeant of the guard reported that a Mexican wished to speak with me . Mechanically , I gave orders for the man to be sent up ; but it was not until he appeared before me that I thought of what I was doing . The presence of the Mexican at once aroused me from my unpleasant reverie . I recognised him as one of the vaqueros of Don Ramon de Vargas -- the same I had seen on the plain during my first interview with Isolina .