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ON THE TRACES OF THE MURDERER.

hand over his body; "but that's nothing. I recognized the fellow; it is Campos! I am not hurt a bit; but it is a wonder that the rascal did not pin me to the ground with his dagger. I am curious to know, however, where the deuce the scoundrel got that horse."

"Did you say that the miscreant's name was Campos?" cried Calros; "Tereso Campos?"

"Yes, Tereso Campos."

"That's the man I am seeking," returned the Jarocho, grasping my hand.

"Are you in search of him?" asked the pilot; "and why?"

"To kill him," answered Calros, quite naively.

"Well, I warrant you we shall find him to-morrow; and if the proprietor of the horse he stole join us, as he ought to do, the scoundrel will be very fortunate if he escape."

"You hear, Señor Cavalier," said Calros to me; "you have a like interest with us in avenging your self upon Campos."

"Why?"

"Because, if I am not mistaken, it is your horse he has carried off."

I replied with perfect disinterestedness that, with the exception of the saddle, which was a costly one, I did not attach the slightest value to the sorry hack of which he had deprived me. But my objection was overruled, and I was obliged to yield. The reader may perhaps remember that I had sent my horse to the village in the charge of one of the inhabitants, but the man had tied up the beast to a tree near the beach, intending to return for it in a short time; and Campos, meanwhile, had stepped in and appropriated the animal.