g them what _tontos_ they were. They conducted me
round the spur of the hill close at hand. The sky was dark and
frowning, and an eerie feeling took possession--at least of the two
_peones_!

"There!" they exclaimed, and following the direction indicated I
observed a pale fluctuating flame or light a few hundred feet distant.
I began to advance towards it, but the fearful _peones_ strove to
detain me. "No, senor," they urged; "it is a spirit; do not approach."
But disregarding this admonition, I began to walk towards the spot,
telling them to follow, which, however, they would not do. In unknown
situations in wild countries a revolver gives a certain sense of
security, and drawing mine I approached the mysterious light, which
went and came intermittently. I knew it must be an _ignis fatuus_. As I
reached the place it disappeared; my feet suddenly sank in marshy
ground, and a heavy mist-cloud enveloped the place, so that I could see
absolutely nothing. I confess I felt a species of "gooseflesh" creeping
over me. But my feet were sinking deeper in the bog, and more by good
luck than anything else I floundered out and regained the rock, and,
directed by the shouts of the _peones_, made my way through the dense
mist to the tent. I heard some time afterwards that excavations had
been made at the spot in the hope of finding treasure, but could not
learn the result.

Ancient caves in different parts of Mexico often contain the skulls and
bones of former inhabitants, whether prehistoric or of later times,
sometimes containing finely fashioned flint implements. The natives, as
a rule, fear to go into these places. "Do not enter, senor," they will
say, as, with Anglo-Saxon lack of superstition, you determine to
explore them; "some evil befalls those who meddle with the remains of
the dead." And if they are prevailed upon to assist they cross
themselves devoutly before descending or entering. Weird tales they
unfold afterwards of men who have gone into such places and found their
exit barred by some evil spirit, they themselves having been
encountered dead and cold upon the cavern floor when discovered by
their relatives, who had searched for the missing one! According to the
_peones_, the scenes of murder or wickedness which may have taken place
in such situations are enacted again to the terrified vision of the
unhappy witness who had the temerity to venture into these places
possessed of the devil, for the King of Darkness is