le to the insults of his rider's speech
as he had been to the strokes of his spur, and moved not a whit the
faster.

Wearied with these idle efforts to increase the speed of the animal, the
young traveller turned in his saddle and looked back. His object was to
compare the route he had come with that which lay before him--in order
to form some calculation as to the distance yet to be travelled before
he could reach the other side of the desert plain.

The observation did not appear to gratify him. On the contrary, his
countenance became clouded with a still deeper shade of chagrin; and,
abandoning himself to a complete despair, he made no further attempt to
urge forward his unwilling roadster, but left the sorry brute to his
creeping pace.

For several hours the traveller kept on his slow course--his spirit
alternately exasperated and depressed.

Mid-day had arrived, and the tropic sun, glaring down vertically from a
cloudless sky, was causing a degree of heat almost intolerable. The
breeze had ceased to cool the atmosphere; and even the dry leaves of the
trees hung motionless from the boughs. At every moment the horse,
crawling painfully forward, threatened to become motionless as they.

Suffering from thirst, and wearied with the journey he had already made,
the young traveller at length dismounted, and threw his bridle-rein over
the neck of his horse. He had no fear that the animal would take
advantage of the freedom thus given him. There was not the slightest
danger of its running away.

Leaving the steed to himself, therefore, the rider walked towards a
clump of _nopals_--in hopes of finding some fruit upon them, by which he
might relieve his thirst.

As good luck would have it, he was not deceived in his expectation. The
_nopals_ were in fruit; and having plucked a number of these "Indian
figs," and stripped them of their spinous skins, he was enabled, by
swallowing a quantity of the sweetish pulp, to allay in some measure the
excessive thirst that had been hitherto torturing him. Thus satisfied,
he once more mounted into his saddle, and continued his interrupted
journey.

CHAPTER THREE.

AN ENIGMA.

After riding several miles farther, he arrived at a small village,
situated in the same plain through which he had been journeying. There,
as all along the route, he found the houses deserted and abandoned by
their owners! Not a soul was to be seen--no one to offer him
hospitality; and as n