ches ready. At three o'clock we crawled into
the vehicles, and in the mean time our carriers had taken another
drink. It seemed foolhardy to trust ourselves to such men, particularly
as we had to cross the sierra, the most dangerous road in the country;
but the alcaldes said they were hombres de bien, men of good character
and conduct; that they would be sober before the first league was
passed; and with this encouragement we started. The sun was still
scorching hot, and came in directly upon the back of my head. My
carriers set off on a full run, which they continued for perhaps a
mile, when they moderated their pace, and, talking and laughing all the
time, toward evening they set me down on the ground. I scrambled out of
the coche; the freshness of the evening air was reviving, and we waited
till Doctor Cabot came up. He had had a much worse time than I, his
carriers happening to be more intoxicated.

It was nearly dark when we reached the foot of the sierra, and, as we
ascended, the clouds threatened rain. Before, it had been an object to
leave the coche as open and airy as possible, on account of the heat,
but now it was a greater object to avoid getting wet, and I had
everything fastened down on the sides. On the top of the sierra the
rain came on, and the Indians hurried down as fast as the darkness and
the ruggedness of the road would permit This road required care on
horseback and by daylight; but as the Indians were now sober, and I had
great confidence in their sureness of foot, I had no apprehensions,
when all at once I felt the coche going over, and, pinned in as I was,
unable to help myself, with a frightful crash it came down on its side.
My fear was that it would go over a precipice; but the Indians on the
upper side held on, and I got out with considerable celerity. The rain
was pouring, and it was so dark that I could see nothing. My shoulder
and side were bruised, but, fortunately, none of the Indians were
missing, and they all gathered round, apparently more frightened than I
was hurt. If the accident had been worse, I could not have blamed them;
for in such darkness, and on such a road, it was a wonder how they
could get along at all. We righted the coche, arranged things as well
as we could, and in due season I was set down at the door of the
convent. I stumbled up the steps and knocked at the door, but the good
cura was not there to welcome me. Perhaps we had arrived too late, and
all was over. At