ds on this raw, damp morning, at the risk of
colds, catarrhs, and rheumatism, all to murder a poor young fellow who
never injured one of them!"

Not a thought had I for the muchacha,--the cause of all my trouble; my
faculties were limited to a little routine of which I myself was the
centre, and I puzzled my brain in thinking over the human anatomy, and
trying to remember all I had ever heard of the most fatal localities,
and where one could be carved and sliced with the fullest impunity.

"Come along!" said Seth; "we 've no time to lose. We must look out for
a cheap mustang to wait for you on the Guajuaqualla road, and I have to
fetch my sword; for this thing of yours is full eight inches too short."
Seth now took my arm, and I felt myself involuntarily throwing a glance
at the little objects I owned about the room,--as it were a farewell
look.

"What are you searching for?" said he, as I inserted my hand into my
breast-pocket.

"It's all right," said I; "I wanted to see that I had the Senhora's
letter safe. If--if--anything--you understand me--eh?"

"Yes, yes; I'll look to it. They sha' n't bury you with it," said he,
with a diabolical grin which made me positively detest him, for the
moment.

If Mr. Chiseller was deficient in the finer sympathies of our nature, he
was endowed with a rare spirit of practical readiness. The "mustang"
was found in the very first stable we entered, and hired for a day's
pleasure,--so he called it,--for the sum of two crowns. A mountain lad
was despatched to hold him for my coming, at a certain spot on the road.
The sabre was fetched from his chamber, and in less than five minutes we
were on our way to the Molino, fully equipped and "ready for the fray."

"Don't forget what I told you about the face-guard: always keep the hilt
of your weapon straight between your eyes, and hold the elbow low."
This he kept repeating continually as we went along, till I found myself
muttering the words after him mechanically,--without attaching the
slightest meaning to them. "The villain is a strong muscular chap,
and perhaps he 'll be for breaking down your guard by mere force, and
cleaving you down with a stroke. If he tries it, you 've only to spring
actively to one side and give him your point, anywhere about the chest."
From this he proceeded to discuss a hundred little subtleties and
stratagems the Mexicans are familiar with, so that at last I regretted,
from the very bottom of my soul, that