a
bed."

"_Con mucho gusto._ Shall we go now, Senor Fortescue?"

I went, and spent a very pleasant evening with Captain Guzman, and several
of his brother-officers, whom he invited to join us, for though the
Spaniards of that age were frightfully cruel to their enemies, they were
courteous to their guests, and as a guest I was treated. As, moreover,
most of the men I met had served in the Peninsular war, we had quite
enough to talk about without touching on topics whose discussion might
have been incompatible with good fellowship.

When, at a late hour, I turned into the hammock provided for me by Guzman,
it required an effort to realize that I was a prisoner. Why, I asked
myself, had Griscelli, who was never known to spare a prisoner, whose face
was both cruel and false, and who could bear me no good-will--why had this
man treated me so courteously? Did he really mean to let me go, and if so,
why; or was the promise made to the ear merely to be broken to the hope?

"Perhaps to-morrow will show," I thought, as I fell asleep; and I was not
far out, for the day after did. Guzman, whose room I shared, wakened me
long before daylight.

"The bugle has sounded the reveille, and the troops are mustering on the
plaza," he said. "You had better rise and dress. The general has sent word
that you are to go with us, and our horses are in the _patio_."

I got up at once, and after drinking a hasty cup of coffee, we mounted and
joined Griscelli and his staff.

The troops were already under arms, and a few minutes later we marched,
our departure being so timed, as I heard the general observe to one of his
aides-de-camp, that we might reach the neighborhood of the rebel camp
shortly before sunrise. His plan was well conceived, and, unless Mejia had
been forewarned or was keeping a sharper lookout than he was in the habit
of doing, I feared it would go ill with him.

The camping-ground was much better suited for concealment than defence. It
lay in a hollow in the hills, in shape like a horse-shoe, with a single
opening, looking east, and was commanded in every direction by wooded
heights. Griscelli's plan was to occupy the heights with skirmishers, who,
hidden behind the trees and bushes, could shoot down the rebels with
comparative security. A force of infantry and cavalry would meanwhile take
possession of the opening and cut off their retreat. In this way, thought
Griscelli, the patriots would either be slaughtered to a man,