e a sortie from the hacienda, and
succeeded in capturing ten of the besieging guerilleros, the Lieutenant
received a despatch from the governor of the province, ordering him,
without further delay, to attack the band of Arroyo, and annihilate it,
if possible. Then, with his whole troop, to repair to Oajaca, which was
now in danger of being besieged by Morelos. The despatch also conveyed
to Veraegui the additional intelligence of the raising of the siege of
Huajapam, and the total defeat of the besieging forces.

The news was anything but agreeable to the Catalonian Lieutenant. In
the _alcavala_--which he had for the past two years been accustomed to
levy on all the traffic between Puebla and Oajaca--he had found
excellent pay for his soldiers; and being a man not over scrupulous,
though brave as a lion, he felt greatly disinclined to change his
comfortable quarters. A fierce royalist, moreover, the news from
Huajapam excited his fury against the insurgents to the highest pitch;
and he blamed himself for the clemency he had displayed that very
morning in hanging four of the guerilleros he had taken, up by the neck,
instead of by the heels--as he had done with three of their comrades.

About an hour after Don Cornelio Lantejas and his travelling companions
had passed Del Valle--and only a few minutes from the time, when, thanks
to the darkness of the night, two of Arroyo's followers had found an
opportunity to carry off the heads of their three comrades--two men
presented themselves in front of the fortified hacienda.

They were Gaspar and Juan de Zapote, who had hidden themselves during
the day, and awaited the friendly darkness, to enable them to make their
way through the lines of the besieging force.

"I see no one," muttered Zapote, as they glided into the avenue. "The
place appears to be deserted! It's likely enough that my ex-comrades
have abandoned the siege."

"So much the better--let us keep on then!" rejoined Gaspar.

"Gently, gently, compadre!" counselled Zapote. "You forget that my
costume is of the military kind, and likely to make a sentinel
suspicious of me. A carbine shot might be the only hail we should get
from one of these Royalists."

"Your physiognomy, amigo, is more likely than your costume to beget
suspicions."

"Ah! that comes of the bad company I have been keeping of late."

"Never mind that. I shall go forward alone, and make myself known to
the sentries. I can then introduce