in jail. This last condition rather
frustrated our plans for their capture, as we expected to kidnap them
out. But now we had red tape authorities to deal with.

"We found the horses, mules, and accoutrements in a corral. They would
be no trouble to get, as the bill for their keep was the only concern
of the corral-keeper. Two of the boys who were in the party could
palaver Spanish, so they concluded to visit the alcalde of the town,
inquiring after horses in general and incidentally finding out when
our deserters would be released. The alcalde received the boys with
great politeness, for Americans were rare visitors in his town, and
after giving them all the information available regarding horses,
the subject innocently changed to the American prisoners in jail. The
alcalde informed them that he was satisfied they were deserters, and
not knowing just what to do with them he had sent a courier that very
morning to the governor for instructions in the matter. He estimated
it would require at least ten days to receive the governor's reply. In
the mean time, much as he regretted it, they would remain prisoners.
Before parting, those two innocents permitted their host to open a
bottle of wine as an evidence of the friendly feeling, and at the
final leave-taking, they wasted enough politeness on each other to win
a woman.

"When the boys returned to us other two, we were at our wits' end. We
were getting disappointed too often. The result was that we made up
our minds that rather than throw up, we would take those deserters out
of jail and run the risk of getting away with them. We had everything
in readiness an hour before nightfall. We explained, to the
satisfaction of the Mexican hostler who had the stock in charge,
that the owners of these animals were liable to be detained in jail
possibly a month, and to avoid the expense of their keeping, we would
settle the bill for our friends and take the stock with us. When
the time came every horse was saddled and the mules packed and in
readiness. We had even moved our own stock into the same corral, which
was only a short distance from the jail.

"As night set in we approached the _carsel_. The turnkey answered our
questions very politely through a grated iron door, and to our request
to speak with the prisoners, he regretted that they were being fed at
that moment, and we would have to wait a few minutes. He unbolted the
door, however, and offered to show us into a side ro