degree of darkness.

The "motte" at which the cibolero had arrived was far apart from any of
the others, and commanded a view of the river bottom on both sides for
more than a mile's distance. The grove itself was but a few acres in
size, but the fringe of willows running along the stream at both ends
gave it, when viewed from a distance, the appearance of a wood of larger
dimensions. It stood upon the very bank of the stream, and the selvedge
of willows looked like its prolongation. These, however, reached but a
few feet from the water's edge, while the grove timber ran out several
hundred yards into the plain.

About this grove there was a peculiarity. Its central part was not
timbered, but open, and covered only with a smooth sward of
gramma-grass. It was, in fact, a glade, nearly circular in shape, and
about a hundred yards in diameter. On one side of this glade the river
impinged, its bank being almost a tangent line to it. Here there was a
gap in the timber, so that out of the glade could be obtained a view of
the bottom on the other side of the stream. Diametrically opposite to
this gap another opening, of an avenue-like form, led out into the
adjacent plain, so that the grove was in reality bisected by an open
line, which separated it into two groves, nearly equal in extent. This
separation could only be observed from certain positions in the plain--
one on each side of the river.

The glade, the avenue of a dozen yards loading from it to the outside
plain, and the plain itself, were all perfectly level, and covered with
a smooth turf. Any object upon their surface would be easily
perceptible at a distance. The grove was thickly stocked with
underwood--principally the smaller species of "mezquite." There was
also a network of vines and llianas that, stretching upward, twined
around the limbs of the live-oaks--the latter forming the highest and
largest timber of all. The underwood was impenetrable to the eye,
though a hunter could have crept through it in pursuit of game. At
night, however, even under moonlight, it appeared a dark and impassable
thicket.

On one side of the glade, where the ground was dry and sandy, there
stood a small clump of _pitahaya_ cactus. There were not over a dozen
plants in all, but two or three of them were large specimens, sending up
their soft succulent limbs nearly as high as the live-oaks. Standing by
themselves in massive columns, and so unlike the trees that