is same pen. They were the trophies
of "Scalp Hunters"--vouchers for the number of Indians they had killed.

They were there less than a quarter of a century ago, waving in the dry
wind that sweeps over the plains of Chihuahua. For aught the writer
knows, they may be there still; or, if not the same, others of like gory
record replacing or supplementing them.

It is not with the "Scalp Hunters" we have now to do--only with the city
of Chihuahua. And not much with it either. A single scene occurring in
its streets is all of Chihuahuaense life to be depicted in this tale.

It was the spectacle of a religious procession--a thing far from
uncommon in Chihuahua or any other Mexican town; on the contrary, so
common that at least weekly the like may be witnessed. This was one of
the grandest, representing the story of the Crucifixion. Citizens of
all classes assisted at the ceremony, the soldiery also taking part in
it. The clergy, of course, both secular and regular, were its chief
supports and propagators. To them it brought bread, and if not butter--
since there is none in Chihuahua--it added to their incomes and
influence, by the sale of leaden crosses, images of the Virgin Mother,
and the numerous sisterhood of saints. In the _funcion_ figured the
usual Scripture characters:--The Redeemer conducted to the place of
Passion; the crucifix, borne on the shoulders of a brawny, brown-skinned
Simon; Pilate the oppressor; Judas the betrayer--in short, every
prominent personage spoken of as having been present on that occasion
when the Son of Man suffered for our sins.

There is, or was then, an American hotel in Chihuahua, or at least one
conducted in the American fashion, though only a mere _posada_. Among
its guests was a gentleman, stranger to the town, as the country. His
dress and general appearance bespoke him from the States, and by the
same tokens it could be told that he belonged to their southern section.
He was in truth a Kentuckian; but so far from representing the type,
tall, rough, and stalwart, usually ascribed to the people "Kaintuck," he
was a man of medium size, with a build comparable to that of the
Belvidere Apollo. He had a figure tersely set, with limbs well knitted;
a handsome face and features of amiable cast, at the same time
expressing confidence and courage. A costly Guayaquil hat upon his
head, and coat to correspond, bespoke him respectable; his _tout
ensemble_ proclaimed him a man of