, of secondary importance,
which, however, was the first to be accomplished. To the honour of the
cause which Morelos upheld, it was of urgent necessity to put an end to
the depredations of the two notorious guerilleros, Arroyo and Bocardo;
whose deeds of cruel atrocity were rapidly producing the effect of
rendering the insurrection as odious to its partisans as to its enemies.
The force which these two leaders had under their command was as little
known as the whereabouts in which they might be found; but their bloody
deeds had rendered them as much dreaded as if a numerous army had been
under their orders. The rapidity of their movements gave them the
opportunity of multiplying, to an indefinite extent, their acts of
ferocity, though at the same time a pursuer in search of them might
easily have found them by the ensanguined track which marked their
passage.

Arroyo, ever ready to imbrue his hands in blood--no matter whose--seemed
to find a savage pleasure in destroying life; and one of his favourite
habits was to be himself the executioner of his victims. He was endowed
with some brute courage, a quality altogether wanting to his associate,
Antonio Bocardo; for the latter was both cowardly and cruel, though in
general more inclined to robbery than murder.

Morelos had been apprised of the outrages committed by these two
bandits; and a message to them was one of the commissions with which
Captain Lantejas had been charged. The message was in the form of a
simple threat--it was to say to them, on the part of the insurgent
general, that, unless they discontinued those outrages which had so long
dishonoured the insurgent cause, they should both be drawn and
quartered.

From the reputation which these two brigands had acquired, of being
little mindful of military authority--as well as on account of the rigid
guard which the Spaniards had established in Oajaca--it will be seen
that we have spoken only the simple truth in saying that the mission of
Captain Lantejas was anything but a safe one. With melancholy mien,
therefore, he traversed the road leading from Huajapam to the Ostuta
river--upon the banks of which it was reported that Arroyo and his band
were at that time encamped.

Before proceeding farther, it will be necessary to give, at a bird's-eye
view--if we may use the expression--the topography of the country lying
in the triangle between Huajapam, Oajaca, and the Lake Ostuta: for this
is now to become th