A Buffalo Hunt in Northern Mexico. 



109 



" UNDER THE COLONNADE 



victim fled, hissing and cackling, on wings of fear. When at length 

 the loop hitched around his neck, the exhibition was at an end, and, 

 paying our contribution, we went our way. Next day, we found the 

 polite gentry were travelers like ourselves, only they were going to 

 Parras from Parral, their place of residence. 



On into the heart of the castle, another passage and another 

 court, — this latter marked by lingering remains of magnificence, — 

 in the center a ruined fountain, and on all sides a continuous colon- 

 nade with fluted pillars and chiseled capitals. There were reminders 

 also of a garden, such as sunken beds thinly garnished with flower- 

 less shrubs, and old rose-trees sickly and untended, and other trees, 

 amongst which I recognized a languishing orange and some stunted 

 figs. Half a dozen bananas, their leaves unfurled broad and bright 

 as new banners, arose out of the basin of the fountain in undiminished 

 vigor, relieving the desolation of the place, and filling it with the 

 glory of flame. Here, bef6re the fatal heart-break struck him, Zulo- 

 aga and his guests tasted their much pleasance. Under the colon- 

 nade yonder it was easy to imagine the hammocks yet swinging, 



