Our Dreams 



"Simply to take his portrait in water-colours," replied 

 Harry. "You see, by our passports, we are travelling 

 artists : we met casually on the road last night. Is there 

 anything against him ? " 



"Why, not exactly against him, for there is nothing 

 proved ; but he is shrewdly suspected of having a hand in 

 two or three murders, and a dozen robberies or so. But he 

 is sly— indeed, he may be said to know some few points 

 more than the devil,— and we have never yet been able to 

 lay our hands upon him." 



With this the carabineros made their bows, and departed. 

 Over our breakfast we compared notes on our dreams. 

 Harry had been taken up before the alcalde, and received 

 sentence of death. I had dreamed that Harry was shot, 

 and that I sat by his body watching the blood come bubbling 

 out of a round wound in his breast so fast, that the whole 

 dehesa was flooded, and turned to a great sea of blood ; and 

 then the body turned into an island, and I was the corpse 

 lying upon it. Though I was dead, and in a very ghastly 

 state, lying stark and stiff, I could see perfectly well that a 

 shallop, with a gleaming sail, came towards me over the 



vermilion sea, and I lay still, knowing that was m that 



shallop. It neared, and touched the rocks,-she recognised 

 the corpse, shrieked, and fell into the sea. I, entirely irre- 

 spective of my social position as an inanimate body, started 

 up, and dived to the rescue, in which inappropriate act I 



awoke. r • j» 



We went, after breakfast, to our respectable friends 



dwelling. Harry drew him, and I persuaded the mournful 



Rosita to let me take her. She was more beautiful than we 



had any idea of in the dark the night before-large, deep, 



black, flashing eyes, and the richest mass of glossy raven 



tresses. The fault of her face was in the size of her nostrils, 



130 



