was
seized, as night drew on, with a sudden nervousness, at _Ma Belle_'s
taking a night ride across the borders of two such unsettled
countries, infested with patriotic guerilleros, who sometimes mistook
friends for foes. He entertained--in fact, cultivated--an unfavorable
opinion of his neighbors, the Spanish garrison of Badajoz. He laid at
their door every outrage perpetrated in the country around.--The party
from Elvas would afford a rich booty in purses, watches, and jewelry;
and he thought it quite possible that after some of their allies had
entertained them in Badajoz, with ostentatious hospitality, others
might waylay, rob and murder them before, or soon after they crossed
the frontier. So, he hastily ordered Major Conway to send out a patrol
of dragoons to meet them; and the Major sent off Lieut. Goring in a
hurry on this service.

Now, Goring had passed the day chafing with indignation at hearing of
the pleasant party, which he had not been asked to join; and his anger
was not soothed by being despatched to meet it, at a late hour, when
all the pleasure was over. Galloping on in this mood, with a dozen and
more dragoons, behind him, he came to the Cayo, and after taking a
look at the dark current, was about to cross, when he heard the sound
of horses' feet, and the clattering of tongues drawing near on the
other side. In the spirit of mischief, he followed the impulse of the
moment. He ordered his men to form on the edge of the water, fronting
the ford, to unbuckle their cloaks, and throw them over their helmets,
and not to move or speak a word. The men took the joke instantly. The
crescent moon, already distanced by the sun, was sinking below the
horizon; the bank of the river threw its shade over them, and they
stood below, a dark, undistinguishable mass.

Presently the party came straggling up, Dona Carlotta and her cavalier
leading them, and feeling their way down to the water.

"This cannot be the ford," said he; "the bank looks too steep on the
other side."

"What is that black object across the water?" asked Cranfield, from
behind. "Can the river have risen and the bank caved in?"

"It has too regular an outline for that," said L'Isle, who had now
come up, and was trying to peer through the darkness. "Do you not hear
the stamping of a horse across the water?"

"And a clattering sound?" said Cranfield, as a dragoon's sword struck
against a neighboring stirrup.

"Lady Mabel," said L'Isle, eagerly