ceed thirty miles, but owing to the difficulties of the road,
and the care that had to be taken in traversing it at night, even
with the assistance of the torches carried by the soldiers of the
caravan, it had taken them twenty hours, including occasional
halts, to perform the journey. An abundance of food was brought in
by the neighboring villagers, and the merchants issued an extra
supply of cocoa to the slaves; and when the march was resumed, late
in the afternoon, the latter had completely recovered from their
fatigue.

After a march of little more than two hours' duration, the caravan
halted for the night, and resumed its journey at daybreak. The
merchants had presented Roger with a mantle, more highly decorated
than that which he had before worn, and with some rich plumes of
feathers for his head; and seeing that they wished him to make as
brave a show as possible, he put on some of the gold necklaces and
bracelets he had received, at Tabasco.

The caravan was formed up in military order, the standards of the
traders being displayed at the head of the column. The porters were
placed four abreast, and the soldiers who marched on either side
were ordered to see that they kept their ranks. The merchants had
put on their handsomest mantles, and everything was done to show
off the procession to the best.

As they approached Tepeaca the road was lined with people, the news
of the approach of the wonderful white man having spread rapidly.
As Roger passed they bowed to the ground, with the same respect
that they paid to their own chiefs. He fully came up to their
expectations, for not only was the whiteness of his skin and the
color of his hair wonderful to them, but he stood many inches
higher than the merchants who walked by his side; for Roger had now
attained his full height--although but a few months past
seventeen--and stood six feet two in the thin sandals that he wore.
He was, as yet, far from the width that he would attain in another
five or six years, but looked broad and massive as compared with
the slight frames of the Mexicans.

When within a quarter of a mile of the gates of the town, a
procession was seen approaching from it. At its head were two
nobles, whose appearance far exceeded anything Roger had hitherto
seen. They wore cuirasses formed of thin plates of gold, and over
these mantles of gorgeous feather work. On the head of one was a
helmet of wood, fashioned to represent the head of the puma, o