Then ensued a scene savouring of the ludicrous and grotesque.
The waggons were emptied of their contents, while the rich freight, transported to a distance, was spread out upon the plain, and its partition entered upon--all crowding around to receive their share.
The distribution was superintended by the Horned Lizard, though he with the beard appeared to act with equal, or even greater, authority.
Backed by the second personage, who wore hair on his cheeks, he dictated the apportionment.
And as he had said in soliloquy, the cotton prints of gaudy patterns satisfied the cupidity of his red-skinned companions, leaving to himself and his confidential friend the costlier fabrics of silken sheen.

Among the traders' stock were knives of common sort--the cheapest cutlery of Sheffield; guns and pistols of the Brummagem brand, with beads, looking glasses, and such-like notions from the New England Boston.

All these, delectable in the eyes of the Horned Lizard and his Tenawas, were left to them; while the bearded man, himself selecting, appropriated the silks and satins, the laces and real jewellery that had been designed to deck the rich _doncellas_ of Santa Fe, El Paso, Chihuahua, and Durango.
The distribution over, the scene assumed a new aspect.

It was now that the ludicrous came prominently into play.

Though not much water had been found in the waggons, there was enough fluid of stronger spirit.