ether of our friends," said Zuroaga. "In my
case, if not in yours, it might be followed quickly by an order for a
file of soldiers and a volley of musketry. I should not look for mercy
from a tiger."

"On the other hand," responded the colonel, "it would be well for him to
be careful just now. He will need all the strength he can obtain."

"Humph!" exclaimed Zuroaga. "He will try to leave no living, or, at
least, no unimprisoned enemies behind him when he marches for the
border."

It was plain that they were not to be numbered among their President's
friends, whether or not they were altogether just to him. Bloody
severity in putting down sedition was the long-established custom in
Mexico, and one man might not be more to blame for it than another. It
had been handed down from the old days of Spanish rule, and the record
which had been made is not by any means pleasant reading.

When the luncheon was over, the senorita left Ned to himself, appearing
to feel somewhat more friendly than at first, but still considering him
as a gringo and a foreigner. She said she had some things to pack up,
and he went to look after his own. These did not require much packing,
and before long he had again found his way out to the courtyard and the
stables. These were indeed the most interesting spots about the place,
for they contained all the men, the horses, and the mules. Ned shortly
concluded that here were also gathered most of the firearms and at least
a dozen of the wildest kind of Mexican Indians, all ragged and all
barefooted. Preparations for a journey were going forward under Senora
Tassara's direction, and Ned pretty quickly understood that the men
were a great deal more afraid of her than they were of her husband. He
felt so himself, and he instantly got out of her way, as she told him to
do, when he unwisely undertook to help her with her packing.

The horses were of several sorts and sizes, and more like them were
shortly brought in. One large spring wagon and a covered carryall
carriage were in good order. Both were of American manufacture, and so
was the harness of the teams which were to draw them. Ned was feeling a
certain degree of curiosity as to what kind of carriage was to carry
him, when Senor Zuroaga beckoned him to one side and said:

"We shall be with Colonel Tassara's party only the first day. But I have
been thinking. When we were on the _Goshhawk_, you told me that you had
never ridden a horse in your l