ubtless rest here until the cool of the evening."

"I trust they will extend the same favour to us," said Clayley: "God
knows we stand in need of rest. I'd give them three months' pay for an
hour upon the treadmill, only to stretch my limbs."

"They will take us down, I think--not on our account, but to ease the
mules. Poor brutes! they are no parties to this transaction."

Raoul's conjecture proved correct. We were taken out of our saddles,
and, being carefully bound as before, we were hauled into a damp room,
and flung down upon the floor. Our captors went out. A heavy door
closed after them, and we could hear the regular footfall of a sentry on
the stone pavement without. For the first time since our capture we
were left alone. This my comrades tested by rolling themselves all over
the floor of our prison to see if anyone was present with us. It was
but a scant addition to our liberty; but we could converse freely, and
that was something.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Note. Desayuna is a slight early meal.

CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR.

AN ODD WAY OF OPENING A LETTER.

"Has any of you heard of Dubrosc on the route?" I inquired of my
comrades.

No; nothing had been heard of him since the escape of Lincoln.

"Faix, Captain," said the Irishman, "it's meself that thinks Mister
Dubrosc won't throuble any ov us any more. It was a purty lick that
same, ayquil to ould Donnybrook itself."

"It is not easy to kill a man with a single blow of a clubbed rifle,"
observed Clayley; "unless, indeed, the lock may have struck into his
skull. But _we_ are still living, and I think that is some evidence
that the deserter is dead. By the way, how has the fellow obtained such
influence as he appeared to have among them, and so soon, too?"

"I think, Lieutenant," replied Raoul, "Monsieur Dubrosc has been here
before."

"Ha! say you so?" I inquired, with a feeling of anxiety.

"I remember, Captain, some story current at Vera Cruz, about a Creole
having married or run away with a girl of good family there. I am
almost certain Dubrosc was the name; but it was before my time, and I am
unacquainted with the circumstances, I remember, however, that the
fellow was a gambler, or something of the sort; and the occurrence made
much noise in the country."

I listened with a sickening anxiety to every word of these details.
There was a painful correspondence between them and wha