of the dancers became necessarily more circumscribed, until at
length the completion of the net brought them together into one panting,
glowing, voluptuous group. For an instant they remained motionless, and
the music ceased; but then again commencing, they retraced their steps
through the complicated mazes of this most singular of dances, until the
network they had so skilfully interwoven, was as skilfully and gracefully
disentwined.

* * * * *

_Y basta!_ as Don Matanzas says; for we cannot allow ourselves to follow
our author any further in his somewhat glowing description of Mexican
dances, the license of which appears to be in accordance with the
unrestrained morals and manners of the people. We return then to Don
Manuel, who cannot get over his remorse at having, under the influence of
a generous but fleeting impulse, assisted the rebels against the troops of
his rightful sovereign; and as his free-agency is in no way restrained by
Guerero, he leaves the patriot army and repairs to Mexico. Whilst
endeavouring to obtain an interview with the viceroy's sister, Dona
Isabella, he is discovered, apprehended, and thrown into one of the
subterranean dungeons which extend under a considerable portion of the
viceregal palace. On discovering the name of the prisoner, the viceroy, in
pursuance of his designs on the immense wealth of the Conde de San Jago,
resolves to make away with this, his nephew and heir. The great power and
influence of the count, his popularity in Mexico, a popularity which is in
some degree shared by his nephew, compel the viceroy to proceed with
extreme caution in carrying out his design. While deliberating as to the
best means to be employed, one of Don Manuel's servants, named Cosmo
Blanco, is brought in a prisoner, and this circumstance suggests a plan to
the plotting viceroy and his secretary and creature, Don Ruy Gomez. The
servant is put out of the way in a dungeon, and his arrest not registered,
while Don Manuel, under the name of Cosmo Blanco, is brought before a
sort of arbitrary tribunal, which sits in the vaults adjoining the prison.
Despairing and half frantic, the unfortunate young nobleman takes no note
of the name under which he is arraigned, confesses all the charges brought
against him, and implores that the punishment, which he acknowledges
himself to have merited, may be immediate. He is condemned to death; but,
before the sentence can be executed, hi