face, there
was a blinding flash, a yell, and I fell to the ground released from
the clutch of my opponent. I remember nothing more. Overcome by pain,
fatigue, terror, and the noxious vapors of that vile ravine, my senses
abandoned me, and I swooned away.

When consciousness returned, I found myself lying upon some blankets,
under a sort of arbour of foliage and flowers. It was broad day; the
sun shone brightly, the blossoms smelled sweet, the gay-plumaged
hummingbirds were darting and shooting about in the sunbeams like so
many animated fragments of a prism. A Mexican Indian, standing beside
my couch, and whose face was unknown to me, held out a cocoa-nutshell
containing some liquid, which I eagerly seized, and drank off the
contents. The draught (it was a mixture of citron juice and water)
revived me greatly; and raising myself on my elbow, although with much
pain and difficulty, I looked around, and beheld a scene of bustle and
life which to me was quite unintelligible. Upon the shelving hillside
on which I was lying, a sort of encampment was established. A number
of mules and horses were wandering about at liberty, or fastened to
trees and bushes, and eating the forage that had been collected and
laid before them. Some were provided with handsome and commodious
saddles, while others had pack-saddles, intended apparently for the
conveyance of numerous sacks, cases, and wallets, that were scattered
about on the ground. Several muskets and rifles were leaning here and
there against the trees; and a dozen or fifteen men were occupied in
various ways--some filling up saddle-bags or fastening luggage on the
mules, others lying on the ground smoking, one party surrounding a
fire at which cooking was going on. At a short distance from my bed
was another similarly composed couch, occupied by a man muffled up in
blankets, and having his back turned towards me, so that I was unable
to obtain a view of his features.

"What is all this? Where am I? Where is Rowley--our guide--where are
they all?"

"_Non entiendo_," answered my brown-visaged Ganymede, shaking his
head, and with a good-humoured smile.

"_Adonde estamos?_"

"_In el valle de Chihuatan, in el gran valle de Oaxaca y Guatimala;
diez leguas de Tarifa_. In the valley of Chihuatan; ten leagues from
Tarifa."

The figure lying on the bed near me now made a movement, and turned
round. What could it be? Its face was like a lump of raw flesh
streaked and stained with