TWO NIGHTS IN SOUTHERN MEXICO. 63 



and plunging, spluttering and swearing, with a vigour 

 and energy that would have been ludicrous under 

 any other circumstances ; but matters were just 

 then too serious for a laugh. "With the torture, 

 for such it was, of the mosquito bites, and the 

 effect of the insidious and poisonous vapours that 

 were each moment thickening around me, I was 

 already in a high state of fever, alternately glowing 

 with heat and shivering with cold, my tongue 

 parched, my eyelids throbbing, my brain seemingly 

 on fire. 



There was a heavy thump upon the ground. It 

 was Rowley jumping out of his hammock. " Where 

 are we?" roared he, "on the earth, or under the 

 earth 1 "We must be we are in their Mexican 

 purgatory. "We are, or there's no snakes in Virginny. 

 Hallo, arrieros ! Pablo ! Matteo ! " 



At that moment a scream but a scream of such 

 terror and anguish as I never heard before or since 

 a scream as of women in their hour of agony and 

 extreme peril, sounded within a few paces of us. I 

 sprang out of my hammock ; and as I did so, two 

 white and graceful female figures darted or rather 

 flew by me, shrieking and oh! in what heartrending 

 tones for " Socorro ! Socorro ! For Dios ! Help ! 

 help ! " Close upon the heels of the fugitives, 

 bounding and leaping along with enormous strides 

 and springs, came three or four dark objects which 

 resembled nothing earthly. The human form they 



