led the way on foot. Rube or Garey usually performed this
office; and so rapidly did they move along the trail, that our horses
were seldom in a walk. With bodies half bent, and eyes gliding along
the ground, they pressed forward like hounds running by the scent, but,
unlike these, the trackers made no noise. Not a word was spoken by any
one. I had no list for speech; my agony was too intense for utterance.

With Cyprio I had conversed upon the harrowing theme, and that only at
starting. From him I had gathered further details. No doubt, the
matador had performed his office. Oh, God! without ears!

Cyprio had seen blood; it was streaming adown her neck and over her
bosom: her slight garments were stained red with it. He knew not whence
it came, or why she was bleeding. He was not present when that blood
had been drawn; it was in her chamber, he thought. She was bleeding
when the ruffians dragged her forth!

Belike, too, the herredero had done his work? Cyprio had seen the
blacksmith, but not the _fierro_. He heard they had branded some at the
piazza, among others the daughter of the alcalde--_pobre Conchita_! He
did not see them brand the Dona Isolina.

The ruffian deed might have been accomplished for all that; there was
plenty of time, while the boy lay hid, or before she had been dragged
from her chamber.

How was she placed upon the horse?

Despite my heart's bitterness, as I put these interrogatories, I could
not help thinking of the Cossack legend. The famed classic picture came
vividly before my mind. Wide was the distance between the Ukraine and
the Rio Bravo. Had the monsters who re-enacted this scene on the banks
of the Mexican river--had these ever heard of Mazeppa? Possibly their
leader had; but it was still more probable that the fiendish thought was
original.

The fashion at least was. Cyprio had seen and described it.

She was laid longitudinally upon the back of the steed, her head resting
upon the point of his shoulder. Her face was downward, her cheek
touching the withers. Her arms embraced the neck, and her wrists were
made fast under the animal's throat. Her body was held in this position
by means of a belt around her waist, attached to a surcingle on the
horse--both tightly buckled. In addition to this, her ankles, bound
together by a thong, were fastened to the croup, with her feet
projecting beyond the hips!

I groaned as I listened to the details.

The ligature