of mint floating on
its surface!--passed her arm very gently beneath my shoulders, raised me
to a semi-sitting posture, and applied the tumbler to my lips.

Oh! how good, how delicious, how refreshing was that long, cool draught;
how grateful to the parched palate its exquisite acidity of flavour!
You talk of nectar; but my belief at that moment was that nectar was
merely lemonade under another name! I smacked my lips audibly as I
gasped for breath after emptying the tumbler, and my sable friend smiled
with satisfaction. Then, still holding me, she poured about a
wine-glassful of very dark-brown--almost black--liquid from the
porcelain jug into the cup and presented it to me. This, too, I drank,
for I was still thirsty; but the "medicine" was by no means so palatable
as the lemonade, being of an exceedingly pungent, bitter taste, and I am
afraid I made a rather wry face as the negress removed the cup from my
lips.

"Ah!" she murmured smilingly, "the Senor does not like that so well as
the lemonade, but it is nevertheless the better drink of the two, for it
will kill the fever in his blood and give him back his strength, while
the lemonade merely refreshes."

Then, as she gently laid me back on my pillow, and adjusted the sheet--
my only covering--about my throat, she continued: "Now the Senor must
sleep; and when he awakes Mama Elisa will have some nice nourishing
broth ready for him--very good, ah! very good indeed, to make him strong
again."

Whether it was the comfort and refreshment that followed the slaking of
my thirst, the effect of the medicine which my kind-hearted nurse had
administered, or the cooling night breeze that swept in through the open
window and played freely over me, I cannot say,--possibly it might have
been a combination of the three,--but, whatever the cause, true it is
that my head was scarcely back on the pillow before I sank into a
profound and most refreshing sleep, refreshing both to mind and body;
for during the hours of unconsciousness that followed my brain remained
absolutely quiescent, and I was no longer disturbed or harassed by the
vague yet terrifying phantasies, dim memories of which had haunted me
during the few minutes of my wakefulness.

When I next opened my eyes the room in which I lay was flooded with
brilliant sunshine, that streamed in through a large open window in the
wall that faced me, and which also freely admitted an indescribably
refreshing breeze, richly la