e, you see, that she was
with the advance-guard!

"Das am mug-nifercent!" exclaimed Quashy, as his horse put his foot into
a biscacho-hole, and only escaped a fall by making a splendid bound,
where by its haunch, striking the negro's back, sent him plunging on to
its neck.

"Oh! I _does_ like to be shook like dat, massa."

"If you get shook much worse than that," cried Lawrence, "I'll have to
stop to pick you up."

"No fear, massa. Howebber much I wobbles I nebber comes off."

An islet of bushes at this point necessitated a slight detour. On the
other side of it they found that the main body of the troop had halted
for rest and food.

Right glad was Lawrence to find that Colonel Marchbanks's humour was
entirely changed, that the asperity of the previous night had passed
away, and that the natural urbanity of his nature had returned.

"A pleasant gallop, was it not, Senhor Armstrong?" he said, as our hero
joined the group of officers around him.

"Delightful, and quite new to me," said Lawrence. "I have often read of
but never seen the Pampas till now."

He looked furtively about as he spoke. The colonel marked the look, and
with a somewhat grim smile observed that they should see more than
enough of the Pampas for some days to come.

"The sea of long yellow-brown grass and thistles," he added, "gets to be
rather monotonous at last; but I never weary of the feeling of immensity
and freedom which it inspires. Come, dine with us, senhor."

Lawrence gladly accepted the invitation.

"We make but a brief halt," said the colonel, "for time presses and
distances are great. Our next shall be at the Estancia Algaroba, where
we shall spend the night. Your friend Pedro will make arrangements for
us. He is with the advance-guard."

"Oh, indeed," said Lawrence; then, feeling that he ought to say
something more, "I suppose his newly-found daughter is with him?"

"Yes," replied the colonel, curtly, as he shot a suspicious glance at
the youth from under his shaggy brows.

After dining, Lawrence returned to the baggage-mules with an
unaccountable depression of spirits upon him, and deeply absorbed with
the question whether rear-guards ever overtook advance-guards, and what,
if they did, usually became of intervening main bodies. With such
puzzling military questions on his mind, the remainder of that day's
journey was not equal to the first part, and even Quashy, the
sympathetic, failed to interest him!

Th