with us," replied the colonel, with a grim smile. "However,
we shall see. Meanwhile, I have appointed you to the charge of some of
the baggage-mules. Your late experience must have made you somewhat
expert in such matters, and your duty will be with the rear-guard. One
of my officers will show you your position in the morning. Good-night."

Lawrence left with a quiet "Good-night, colonel," and with a very
unquiet feeling that somehow things might not turn out precisely as he
had hoped.

Later that night Manuela appeared before her stern father dressed in the
old familiar costume of an Indian girl, and with her fair skin stained
dark brown. Usually the old soldier met his child with a beaming smile,
that lit up his rugged visage with tenderness, as a gleam of sunshine
sometimes illumines the rugged peaks of the Andes, but on this occasion
he received her with a frown compounded of love and annoyance.

"How now, child? This is an unseasonable time for such foolery."

"I want to travel in my old dress, father," she replied, with a winning
smile that almost tore the old man's heart in twain;--and there are such
smiles, reader, let us assure you, though you may not have had the good
fortune to see them yet!

"You certainly shall do nothing of the sort, my dear," returned the
stern old man, as if he were laying down one of the Medo-Persic laws--
for he was very tough, you know, and had great power of control over his
feelings, especially the softer ones.

"Oh, I'm _so_ sorry you don't like it!" said the Inca princess, with a
little look of humble disappointment which was infinitely more
heartrending than the smile; "but do you know, father, I have ridden so
long in this costume, and in the gentleman fashion, that I feel quite
sure--at least, I think--I should be utterly knocked up the first day if
I were to begin a long hard journey in the ladies' position. Then, you
know, I could not dare to ride so in ordinary female dress and with a
white face; the thing would look ridiculous--wouldn't it? And, of
course, everybody knows that Pedro arrived here with an Indian girl in
his band, so the thing will seem quite natural, and nobody will notice
me, especially if I keep near to Pedro; and the soldiers will just
think--if they think at all--that you have left your daughter behind."

"Ah, well, that alters the case, Manuela," said the colonel, with most
un-Medo-Persic hesitancy, and still frowning a little at his
ink