Costal, Clara, and Captain Lantejas
were standing on the parapet of the fort, observing the manoeuvres of
the strange ship, when the keen eyes of the Indian became fixed on this
officer.

He was a man in the full vigour of youth and strength--as was testified
by his erect and graceful figure, and by the rich masses of dark hair
that clustered under his laced cap; but an air of profound melancholy
seemed resting upon his features, and it was evident that some secret
care was occupying his thoughts far more than the storm or its dangers!

"Do you recognise the officer, yonder?" inquired Costal pointing him out
to Clara and Don Cornelio.

"No," replied Lantejas, "I don't remember ever having seen him before."

"He is the same," rejoined Costal, "whom we three formerly knew as a
captain of the Queen's dragoons--Don Rafael Tres-Villas. He is now
_Colonel_ Tres-Villas."

"_Por Dios_!" interposed a soldier who was standing near, and who had
come from the state of Oajaca. "Colonel Tres-Villas! That is he who
nailed the head of Antonio Valdez to the gate of his hacienda!"

"The same," assented Costal.

"_Carrambo_!" cried another soldier, "that is the officer who, after
capturing the town of Aguas Calientes, caused the hair to be cropped
from the heads of three hundred women who were his prisoners!"

"It is said that he had his reasons for doing so," muttered Costal, in
reply.

"Whether or no," said the soldier, "if he comes this way, he'll get
punished for it."

Just as the soldier spoke, the ship became enveloped in a mass of fog--
at that moment spreading over the water--and was lost to the view of the
people on the isle. When she became visible again, it was seen that she
was standing out to sea. By a favourable turn which the wind had taken,
she was enabled to gain the offing, and was soon receding from view upon
the distant horizon.

Costal was correct in his identification. The officer thus accidentally
seen, and who was a passenger on board the man-of-war, was indeed Don
Rafael Tres-Villas, who from one of the northern ports was now on his
return to Oajaca, bearing with him to the shores of Tehuantepec a
profound and incurable melancholy.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

The capture of the isle of La Roqueta was an important step towards the
taking of Acapulco. The town itself had fallen into the hands of the
insurgents, almost at the same instant; for Mo