ted in the Cordilleras,
and occupied by a large force of Spanish soldiers. After a variety of
details, he continues:

"Having arrived at the hacienda unperceived, thanks for the obscurity of
a moonless night, we came to a halt under some large trees, at some
distance from the building, and I rode forward from my troop, in order
to reconnoitre the place. The hacienda, so far as I could see in gliding
across, formed a huge, massive parallelogram, strengthened by enormous
buttresses of hewn stone. Along this chasm, the walls of the hacienda
almost formed the continuation of another perpendicular one, chiselled
by nature herself in the rocks, to the bottom of which the eye could not
penetrate, for the mists, which incessantly boiled up from below, did
not allow it to measure their awful depth. This place was known, in the
country, by the name of 'the Voladero.'"

"I had explored all sides of the building except this, when I know not
what scruple of military honor incited me to continue my ride along the
ravine which protected the rear of the hacienda. Between the walls and
the precipice, there was a narrow pathway about six feet wide; by day,
the passage would have been dangerous; but, by night, it was a perilous
enterprize. The walls of the farm took an extensive sweep, the path
crept round their entire basement, and to follow it to the end, in the
darkness, only two paces from the edge of a perpendicular chasm, was no
very easy task, even for as practiced a horseman as myself.
Nevertheless, I did not hesitate, but boldly urged my horse between the
walls of the farm-house and the abyss of the Voladero. I had got over
half the distance without accident, when, all of a sudden, my horse
neighed aloud. This neigh made me shudder. I had just reached a pass
where the ground was but just wide enough for the four legs of a horse,
and it was impossible to retrace my steps."

"'Hallo!' I exclaimed aloud, at the risk of betraying myself, which was
even less dangerous than encountering a horseman in front of me on such
a road. 'There is a Christian passing along the ravine! Keep back,'"

"It was too late. At that moment, a man on horseback passed round one
of the buttresses which here and there obstructed this accursed pathway
He advanced toward me. I trembled in my saddle; my forehead bathed in a
cold sweat."

"'For the love of God! can you not return?' I exclaimed, terrified at
the fearful situation in which we both were placed