d dismounted. We were left in our saddles.
Our mules were picketed upon long lazos, and commenced browsing. They
carried us under the thorny branches of the wild locust. The maguey,
with its bill-shaped claws, had torn our uniform overalls to shreds.
Our limbs were lacerated, and the cactus had lodged its poisoned
prickles in our knees. But these were nothing to the pain of being
compelled to keep our saddles, or rather saddle-trees--for we were upon
the naked wood. Our hips ached intensely, and our limbs smarted under
the chafing thong.

There was a crackling of fires around us. Our captors were cooking
their breakfasts, and chattering gaily over their chocolate. Neither
food nor drink was offered to us, although we were both thirsty and
hungry. We were kept in this place for about an hour.

"They have joined another party here," said Raoul, "with pack-mules."

"How know you?" I inquired.

"I can tell by the shouts of the arrieros. Listen!--they are making
ready to start."

There was a mingling of voices--exclamations addressed to their animals
by the arrieros, such as:

"_Mula! anda! vaya! levantate! carrai! mula--mulita!--anda!--st!--st_!"

In the midst of this din I fancied that I heard the voice of a woman.

"Can it be--?"

The thought was too painful.

A bugle at length sounded, and we felt ourselves again moving onward.

Our road appeared to run along the naked ridge. There were no trees,
and the heat became intense. Our serapes, that had served us during the
night, should have been dispensed with now, had we been consulted in
relation to the matter. I did not know, until some time after, why
these blankets had been given to us, as they had been hitherto very
useful in the cold. It was not from any anxiety in regard to our
comfort, as I learned afterwards.

We began to suffer from thirst, and Raoul asked one of the guerilleros
for water.

"_Carajo_!" answered the man, "it's no use: you'll be choked by and by
with something else than thirst."

The brutal jest called forth a peal of laughter from his comrades.

About noon we commenced descending a long hill. I could hear the sound
of water ahead.

"Where are we, Raoul?" I inquired faintly.

"Going down to a stream--a branch of the Antigua."

"We are coming to another precipice?" I asked, with some uneasiness, as
the roar of the torrent began to be heard more under our feet, and I
snuffed the cold air from below.

"There is