CHAPTER XII 



THE TROPICS 



INDING our semi-tropical camping-place 

 so delightful, cool at night, and during 

 the heat of the day tempered by refresh- 

 ing breezes, we were encouraged to push 

 on to the very heart of the tropical Pacific lowlands. 



A day of packing ; a week's return to Guadalajara 

 for fresh provisions and more photographic plates; 

 a return to Tuxpan ; the right of way of a freight 

 train contested by several misguided hurros ; a delay 

 of five hours in an alkali desert, while the track and 

 freight train are restored to their normal relative posi- 

 tions ; a three o'clock breakfast by starlight in the 

 2KLtio of the Hotel Central — and w^e were off on our 

 long ride. 



At this early hour the air was vital with life-giving 

 power. Our horses bucked from sheer exuberant energy 

 and we gave them rein and galloped like the wind, 

 through the long, narrow, earth-paven streets and out 

 upon the plain : world-wide it seemed in the soft glow 

 of the stars. Is there a more delightful sensation in 

 the world than to feel a strong: horse beneath vou, 

 moving with great four-footed leaps, while you, poised, 



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