me to his death not because of my urging,
but in pursuance of his own strong desire. There was a little comfort in
the thought that even one of these four lost lives could not be charged
to my account; and yet this reflection seemed only to make my sorrow
heavier as I thought of the woful weight of my responsibility for the
other three.

For nearly two hours we lay there in the bay while the embarkation of
the prisoners and the troops went on--our boat moving farther out from
the pier from time to time as the double line of boats behind it
lengthened. In that sheltered place there was little wind blowing, and
the blazing heat of the sun beating down upon my wounded head gave me so
sharp a pain that I gladly would have died to be rid of it; and I could
see, from the drawn look of their faces, that Young and Rayburn were
suffering not less keenly. We were thankful enough, therefore, when at
last the embarkation was completed--more than half of the army remaining
in Huitzilan to restore order there--and we pulled out from the bay into
the open waters of the lake and were comforted by the light breeze,
which yet brought with it a delicious refreshment, that was blowing
there.

All the bright beauty of that lovely lake was around us, having for its
background the green meadows and the darker green of the forests
hanging above them on the upward slopes, and beyond all the towering
height of the cliffs, which shaded in their colorings from delicate gray
to dark brown, and were touched here and there by patches of black
shadow where some great cleft opened; and yet all that we then thought
of was that across those blue waters, which gleamed golden in the
sunlight, we were going swiftly to a cruel death, and that the cliffs,
whereof the beauty was hateful to us, irrevocably shut us in. Which
gloomy feelings pressed upon us throughout that dismal passage, while
all our oarsmen pulled stoutly together, and we went gliding onward over
the sunlit waters towards the evil fate that we knew was waiting for us
within the dark walls whereby was encircled the city of Culhuacan.

XXXII.

EL SABIO'S DEFIANCE.

While yet we were a long way off from the city, we heard faintly the
yells of triumph with which the watchers above the water-gate gave
notice to those within the walls of the return of the victorious army;
and from all the boats of our flotilla there went up a shrill chorus of
answering yells. Our barge was the first to