companions to the
frogs. A hundred yards ahead was an escort of four horse-soldiers with
carbines on their thighs, their steel accoutrements flashing ruddily
in the level sunlight. Behind Frank came Major Flinders, clean shaved,
and with jack-boots and regimental coat restored to something like
their pristine splendour: by his side rode another lady, the Senorita
Carlota, Juana's aunt, somewhere about thirty years old, plump and
merry, her upper lip fringed at the corners with a line of dark down,
quite decided enough for a cornet of eighteen to be proud of--a
feminine embellishment too common for remark in these southern
regions, and, in the opinion of some connoisseurs, rather enhancing
the beauty of the fair wearers. She talked incessantly, at first,
to my grandfather, who did not understand a word she said, but
whose native politeness prompted him to say, "Si, Senorita," to
everything--sometimes laying at the same moment his hand on his heart,
and bowing with considerable grace. Behind this pair came another
interesting couple--viz. two servants on mules, with great saddle-bags
stuffed to extreme corpulence with provisions.

It was a glorious morning--a gentle breeze sweeping on their faces as
they mounted the hills, but dying into silence in the deep valleys,
fresh, and glistening with dew. Sometimes they rode along a rocky
common, yellowed with a flowering shrub like furze--sometimes through
unfenced fields--sometimes along broad plains, where patches of
blossoming beans made the air rich with scent, and along which they
galloped full speed, the Governor standing high in the stirrups of his
demi-pique, the Senorita's white barb arching his neck till his muzzle
touched his chest under the pressure of the long bit, and my
grandfather prancing somewhat uneasily on his hard-mouthed Spanish
entero, whose nose was, for the most part, projected horizontally in
the air. The Major was not a first-rate seat--he rode with a long
stirrup, his heel well down, his leg straight, and slanting a little
forward, body upright, and elbows back, as may be seen in the plates
to ancient works on equitation--a posture imposing enough, but not
safe across country: galloping deranged it materially, for the steed
was hard-mouthed, and required a long, strong pull, with the body
back, and a good purchase on the stirrups. The animal had a most
voracious appetite, quite overcoming his sense of what was due to his
rider; and, on seeing a tuft