ound and rode off, after having fired his gun at us.

We hurried on our horses, making sure of soon coming upon a _hacienda_,
when we heard another gunshot, and a bullet whistled by our ears. The
Indian rode swiftly towards the would-be murderer, but he went off at
full gallop. In spite of my cries, the Indian fired at him, and horse
and man rolled upon the ground.

[Illustration]

The fool had mistaken us for horse-stealers; and the Indian, after
soundly thrashing him, at my entreaty let him off.

When night came, we were at the foot of the mountains; so all we had to
do was to join the main road from Vera Cruz to Mexico. Our horses were
now set at liberty, after having been overwhelmed with compliments and
polite speeches by l'Encuerado. The brave animals at first appeared
undecided which way to go, and remained without moving, keeping their
noses to the wind. At last one of them neighed and darted off, when the
rest followed at the top of their speed.

We were now scarcely twelve leagues from Orizava, and almost painfully
impatient to reach it. Woods, mountains, valleys were crossed with a
kind of feverish haste, and the approach of night alone forced us to
bivouac.

At about three o'clock in the morning, Lucien began to reproach us for
our laziness.

Wood-cutters now passed, who saluted me by name, and one guided us for
more than a league, astonished at l'Encuerado's tales. He left us at the
foot of a mountain, the last we had to cross, the steep acclivity of
which somewhat damped our ardor.

Lucien was the first to arrive on the plateau. A few steps farther, and
the town of Orizava lay stretched in peaceful repose at our feet.

As the young traveller contemplated the town in which was his home,
involuntary tears moistened his cheeks; he stretched out his arms
towards it and sobbed.

All of us, however, shared his emotion to some extent. Now that we were
safe, we rejoiced that I had undertaken this expedition. I thanked God
for His manifest protection, and, for the last time, gave the word to
start.

As we descended the mountain, the town became more distinctly visible.
L'Encuerado could name the churches and streets; at last Lucien
discovered his home, which was easily recognizable by the magnificent
orange-tree. In order to satisfy the boy's impatience, we made our way
through a steep ravine. Our little party reached the valley just as the
bells were ringing for vesper prayers.

The sun was setting