:::::::::m NEAR THE TWIN VOLCANOS ;*::::::::: 



from our path ; girths broke and weary mules insisted 

 on lying down and rolling upon their loads. 



At last, exhausted and disappointed at not finding 

 a good water camp, we called a halt and dismounted. 

 The packs were slipped and the Mexican cowboy and 

 his animals left us. We appeased our hunger with 

 jKui dulce and sardines, and, placing our trunks and 

 bags in a circle, we threw the tent over them and lay 

 down on the ground to sleep soundly until the sun- 

 lio'ht woke us and brought to consciousness the strano-e 

 denouement of our day's journey. 



We found ourselves in a beautiful and unnamed 

 harranca, and, lucky indeed ! with an ample stream but 

 a few yards away, while the changed character of the 

 vegetation showed that a more tropical climate reigned 

 here than in Atenquiqui. Our first undertaking after 

 breakfast was to find a good camping-place, and this 

 offered itself near at hand. We knew nothing of the 

 character of our nearest neighbours, so a little shelf of 

 earth, against a steep cliff, fronted by an impenetrable 

 tangle of thorn-bush and cactus, seemed an ideal loca- 

 tion. On this ledge we pitched our tents, utilizing two 

 open spaces below the ledge for kitchen and dining- 

 room. Crusoe on his desert island was hardly more 

 isolated than we in our snuo- retreat. After we had 

 closed the only doorway with mesquite and cactus, no 

 one could penetrate to our camp, save by enduring 

 a terrible punishment from the frightful array of 



- «4 171 #» 



