gallant bearing of a warrior which he had assumed was no longer to be a sinecure, but that there was a possibility of his having actually to fight—all urgent reasons for breaking his chain. And break it he did—no doubt finding his health wonderfully restored, as soon as our diminished train disappeared; and I could almost sympathize with the laugh which he must have indulged in, as he saw the three dons in the distance, reduced to the necessity of turning muleteers—the more so, as our hyper-charity had left him a bonus for his ill conduct.
Abobo and his fellows were all mad that morning—whether from the intoxicating effects of mountain air, or from their feeling that Espindola was absent, and that we were in a dilemma, I know not. However you might be tempted, you cannot follow Juliano's example and go back; but nolens volens must keep us company over one swelling height after another, up and down—but always attaining a greater and greater altitude, till after about three hours' march through an elevated line of country, partly under cultivation, the view suddenly opened to the south, and we saw the main chain of the Sierra Madre, heaped over the horizon in that direction, the wide stretch of varied table land at its feet, and the pretty town of Zacualtipan before us.
It was certainly a pity that Juliano did not keep up his courage so far as to advance to Zacualtipan, for he would have gloried in the eclat with which our party entered it; wheeling round by the great church, and across the Plaza, with ringing spurs and jingling arms, at a hard trot after our intoxicated mules, which, led by old Abobo, as soon as they recollected the locality and the near proximity of their own stable, set off at a canter to the great risk of the various piles of which their lading was composed. Great was the astonishment of the peaceful inhabitants; and even a sleepy corps de garde of half-clad soldiery, lounging under the piazza of the municipal palace in the square, were evidently taken by surprise. However, they had no time to collect their forces; for following hard in the wake of our baggage, we descended a narrow street, on the opposite side of
