ted his whole time to acquire
those branches of education, rigorously indispensable to the attainment
of his purpose--that is to say, the study of Latin and theology. The
college of Valladolid was the scene of his student life.

Having gone through the required course, orders were conferred upon him;
but Valladolid offering to him no prospect of advancement, he retired to
the little _pueblo_ of Uruapam, where for a time he subsisted upon the
scanty means supplied by giving lessons in Latin.

About this time the curacy of Caracuaro became vacant. Caracuaro is a
village as unhealthy as poor, where no one could be supposed to reside
from choice; and yet Morelos, lacking powerful friends, had great
difficulty in getting appointed to the living.

In this miserable place had he resided in a state of obscure poverty, up
to that hour, when, accidentally introduced to the reader, at the
hacienda Las Palmas. Under the pretence of visiting the Bishop of
Oajaca, but in reality for the purpose of fomenting the insurrection,
Morelos had travelled through the province of that name; and at the time
of his visit to Las Palmas, he was on his way to offer his services to
Hidalgo, as chaplain of the insurgent army. The result of that
application was, that instead of a chaplaincy to his army, Hidalgo
bestowed upon the _cura_ of Caracuaro, a commission to capture the
fortified seaport of Acapulco. It was in reality rather as a jest, and
to disembarrass himself of the importunities of Morelos, that Hidalgo
bestowed this singular and important commission. How much Morelos
merited the honour will appear in the sequel.

CHAPTER TWENTY NINE.

A COURSE OF STUDY INTERRUPTED.

In the early part of January, 1812--about fifteen months after the
scenes detailed as occurring near the hacienda Las Palmas--two men might
have been seen face to face--one seated behind a rude deal table covered
with charts and letters--the other standing in front, hat in hand.

This tableau was within a tent--the least ragged and largest, among a
number of others that formed an encampment on the banks of the river
Sabana, at a short distance from the port of Acapulco.

The person seated wore upon his head a checked cotton kerchief while his
shoulders were covered with a _jaqueta_ of white linen. It would have
been difficult for any one not knowing him, to recognise in this
plainly-dressed individual the commander-in-chief of the insurgent army
encamped ar