ds, which were drowned by the
hoof-strokes of my horse. I deemed it some expression of boyish
_esprit_, and, without heeding it, rode on.

Not until far out of sight and hearing did it occur to me that I knew
the voice and the lad. I recollected a sort of errand-boy attached to
the hacienda, and whom I had seen more than once at the rancheria. I
now remembered the badinage of Wheatley, and would have returned to
question the youth; but I had left him too far in the rear. After a
moment's reflection, I spurred on.

I soon arrived at the base of the hill on which stood the hacienda; and
here leaving the main road, I followed a bridle-path that skirted the
hill.

A few hundred yards brought me to the spot where I had last observed the
object of my pursuit.

The hoof-track of the white horse now guided me, and upon his trail I
entered the woods.

For some distance, it followed a well-trodden path--a cattle-track--but
all at once it diverged from this, and struck off into a heavily
timbered bottom, where not the semblance of path existed.

Keeping the trace in view, I rode after.

As I advanced, the timber grew thicker, and the path more difficult. A
close underwood of arundinaria and sabal palms shut up the way and the
view; trailing roots obstructed progress below; while higher up, the
trelliswork of llianas, bamboo briars, sarsaparilla, and gigantic
grape-vines, rendered it necessary to bend down in the saddle in order
to pass onward.

To my surprise I noticed all this. For what purpose could she have
chosen such a path? Was it indeed Isolina I had seen? A white horse
and a scarlet manga are not uncommon things in Mexico. It might not
be--But the hoof-print--

I dismounted and examined it: I knew it at a glance--it was that of the
noble steed, and the rider could be no other than Isolina de Vargas.

No longer in doubt, though still wondering, I followed the tracks.

For a half-mile or more, the path meandered through thick forest, here
turning around some giant trunk, there diverging to the right or left,
to avoid the impervious network of canes and llianas.

At length it began to slope upwards; and I perceived by the ascent that
I was climbing a hill. The woods became more open as I advanced--here
and there alternating with glades--the trees were of slender growth, and
the foliage lighter and thinner. I was no longer among the heavy trunks
of platanus and liquidambar. The _leguminoseae_ were th