adds, turning to the caballero, "well that your skin is white. Had it
been copper-coloured, I'm not certain I could have saved you from
getting it torn. My pets are not partial to the American aboriginal."

During these somewhat bizarre speeches and the actions that accompany
them, Frank Hamersley--for it is he--stands staring in silent wonder.
What sees he before him? Two huge, fierce-looking dogs, a horse oddly
caparisoned, a young girl, scarce a woman, strangely and picturesquely
garbed. What has he heard? First, the loud baying of two bloodhounds,
threatening to tear him to pieces; then a voice, sweet and musical as
the warbling of a bird!

Is it all a dream?

Dreaming he had been, when aroused by the growling of the dogs. But
that was a horrid vision. What he now sees is the very reverse. Demons
had been assaulting him in his sleep. Now there is an angel before his
eyes.

The young girl has ceased speaking; and as the vertigo, caused by his
sudden uprising, has cleared away from his brain, he begins to believe
in the reality of the objects around him.

The shock of surprise has imparted a momentary strength that soon
passes; and his feebleness once more returning, he would fall back to
the earth did he not clutch hold of the yucca, whose stiff blades
sustain him.

"_Valga me Dios_!" exclaims the girl, now more clearly perceiving his
condition. "_Ay de mi_!" she repeats in a compassionate tone, "you are
suffering, sir? Is it hunger? Is it thirst? You have been lost upon
the Llano Estacado?"

"Hunger, thirst--both, senorita," he answers, speaking for the first
time. "For days I have not tasted either food or drink."

"_Virgen santissima_! is that so?"

As she says this she returns to her horse; and, jerking a little wallet
from the saddle, along, with a suspended gourd, again advances towards
him.

"Here, senor!" she says, plunging her hand into the bag and bringing
forth some cold _tortillas_, "this is all I have; I've been the whole
day from home, and the rest I've eaten. Take the water first; no doubt
you need that most. I remember how I suffered myself. Mix some of this
with it. Trust me, it will restore your strength."

While speaking she hands him the gourd, which, by its weight, contains
over a pint; and then from another and smaller one she pours some liquid
first into the water and then over the tortillas. It is vinegar, in
which there is an infusion of _chile Colorado_.