to each other. The men who were deployed
along the hill lay hidden behind the hassocks of the palmettos, and from
our position not one of them was to be seen.

I must confess I felt strange emotions at this moment--one of the most
anxious of my life; and although I felt no hate towards the enemy--no
desire to injure one of them, excepting him of whom I have spoken--there
was something so wild, so thrilling, in the excitement of thus
entrapping _man_, the highest of all animals, that I could not have
foregone the inhuman sport. I had no intention that it should be
inhuman. I well knew what would be their treatment as prisoners of war;
and I had given orders that not a shot should be fired nor a blow
struck, in case they threw down their arms and yielded without
resistance. But for _him_--humanity had many a score to settle with
him; and at the time I did not feel a very strong inclination to resist
what would be the Rangers' desire on that question.

"Is not all our fine ambuscade for nothing?" I said to myself, after a
long period of waiting, and no signs of an enemy.

I had begun to fancy as much, and to suspect that the flying Mexicans
had kept along the river, when a sound like the humming of bees came up
the pass. Presently it grew louder, until I could distinguish the
voices of men. _Our_ hearts as yet beat louder than their voices. Now
the stones rattled, as, loosened from their sloping beds, they rolled
back and downwards.

"_Guardaos, hombre_!" (Look out, man!) shouted one.

"_Carrajo_!" cried another; "take care what you're about! I haven't
escaped the Yankee bullets to-day to have my skull cloven in that
fashion. _Arriba! arriba_!"

"I say, Antonio--you're sure this road leads out above?"

"Quite sure, _camarado_."

"And then on to Orizava?"

"On to Orizava--_derecho, derecho_" (straight).

"But how far--_hombre_?"

"Oh! there are halting-places--_pueblitos_."

"_Vaya_! I don't care how soon we reach them. I'm as hungry as a
famished coyote."

"_Carrai_! the coyotes of these parts won't be hungry for some time.
_Vaya_!"

"Who knows whether they've killed `El Cojo'?"

"`Catch a fox, kill a fox.' No. He's found some hole to creep through,
I warrant him.

"`El que mata un ladron
Tiene cien anos de perdon.'"

(He who kills a robber will receive a hundred years of pardon for the
offence.)

This was hailed with a sally by the very men who, only one hour ago,
were shouting