ound, and still more difficult perhaps to have believed that
he was the _ci-devant_ "cura" of Caracuaro, Don Jose Maria Morelos y
Pavon. And yet it was he.

Yes, the humble curate had raised the standard of independence in the
southern provinces; had long been carrying it with success; and at this
moment he was commander-in-chief of the insurgent forces besieging
Acapulco--that very town he had been ironically empowered to take.

But notwithstanding the eccentric changes which civil war produces in
the situations of men, the reader cannot be otherwise than greatly
astonished when told, that the gentleman who stood in front of Morelos,
encased in the somewhat elegant uniform of a lieutenant of cavalry, was
the _ci-devant_ student of theology--Don Cornelio Lantejas.

By what magical interference had the timid student of theology been
transformed into an officer of dragoons--in the army of the insurgents,
too, towards whose cause he had shown himself but indifferently
affected?

To explain this unexpected metamorphosis, it will be necessary to enter
into some details, continuing the history of the student from the time
when we left him on a fevered couch in the hacienda of Las Palmas, till
that hour when we find him in the marquee of the insurgent general.

It may be stated, in advance, however, that the extraordinary
transformation which we have noticed, was entirely owing to a new act of
parsimonious economy upon the part of Don Cornelio's father, conducting
him into a series of perilous mishaps and desperate dangers, to which
his adventure with the jaguars and rattlesnakes, while suspended between
the two tamarinds, was nothing more, according to the simile of Sancho
Panza, than "_tortus y pan pintado_" (couleur de rose). To proceed,
then, with the promised details.

On recovering from his temporary illness, the student travelled on to
the dwelling of his uncle. He had been mounted in a more becoming
manner, on a fine young horse, which Don Mariano--who owned some
thousands of the like--had presented to him.

Having sounded the dispositions of the uncle, according to instructions,
he made all haste in returning to his father's house; which he reached
in less than half the time he had employed upon his previous journey.
Too soon, perhaps; for, had he been delayed, as before, two months upon
the route, he might have escaped the series of frightful perils through
which he was afterwards compelled to pass.

Befo