nd Costal regarded his behaviour as a good
omen.

Nevertheless he seemed to hesitate about returning to the road; and
instead of doing so, the moment after, he made signs to Don Cornelio and
Costal to advance up the avenue.

Both instantly obeyed the invitation; and when they had arrived near the
walls, Clara, still shaking his sides with laughter, pointed out to them
the object which had given origin to his mirth.

On beholding it, Don Cornelio believed that his eyes were deceiving him.
In truth the spectacle, to which he was thus introduced, had very
little in it to justify the merriment of the black. In place of the
heads of wolves and other noxious animals, which may often be seen
nailed up against the walls of country houses, here there were three
human heads! They were not yet desiccated, but appeared as if freshly
cut off from the bodies to which they belonged.

"Wretched man!" cried Don Cornelio, addressing himself to Clara, "what
is there in such a sight to excite your gaiety?"

"_Carrambo_!" exclaimed the negro, answering to the reproach by a fresh
burst of laughter,--then, in a whisper, he continued, pointing to one of
the heads--

"Senor Captain, don't you see? One of the heads is yours!"

"Mine?" muttered the ex-student, suddenly turning pale, though, as he
felt his head still upon his shoulders, he believed that the negro was
only mocking him.

"So the sentry has just told me," affirmed Clara, "but, Senor Captain,
you who know how to read may satisfy yourself."

As the negro spoke he pointed to an inscription, that appeared over one
of the heads. Don Cornelio, despite the gloomy shadow which the tall
cypresses cast over the wall, was able to read the inscription: "_Esta
es la cabeza del insurgente Lantejas_." (This is the head of the
insurgent Lantejas.)

It was in reality the head of an insurgent of the same name as Don
Cornelio himself--one of Arroyo's followers, who, as already known, by
the report of Gaspacho, had been captured during a sortie of the
besieged.

Don Cornelio turned his eyes away from the hideous spectacle presented
by the head of his namesake; and anathematising once more the
unfortunate name which he had inherited from his father, made all haste
to ride off from the spot.

In proportion as the distance between him and the hacienda increased,
his terror became diminished, and at length ended in a melancholy smile
at the odd coincidence of the encounter with his behe