:::::::::«x TWO BiRD-LOVERS IN MEXICO >*::::::::: 



nine delicacy. " Wliat ! " they exclaimed. " La Seiior- 

 ita is lioino- on into the Avild barrancas ? Dtos 

 7nio ! Impossible ! Think of the hard trail, the fierce 

 tlgres, the bandits ! Only yesterday a traveller and his 

 mozo were held up and robbed of six hundred pesos ! " 

 And so on, but to no purpose. La Senorita was more 

 resolved than ever, having come thus far, to yield to 

 the fascination of the volcano, which drew like a lode- 

 stone ; and indeed we knew the dangers were exagger- 

 ated by these good people — these Avomen who live but 

 the hundredth part of the life of an American girl. 



The hotel was clean and neat, the j^atio shaded by 

 masses of oranges and lemons, while tame deer, parrots, 

 burros, dogs, cats, and doves occasionally wandered 

 jjast our door, or stojiped to regard us with wondering 

 eyes. 



We sent for a vaquero guide and arranged for horses 

 and a pack-train. ^' Estd viuij hlen, Sefiorita," was 

 his commendation when he learned that she desired 

 a man's saddle. The Mexican women always use a 

 most cumbrous kind of side-saddle, carrying two sad- 

 dles — one facing left and one right, that they may, 

 when cramped, change their positions ; — most uncom- 

 fortable for the occupant and dangerous and painful for 

 the animal on these steep and rocky trails. Seilorita 

 gained the guide's devotion and complete admiration 

 when he, idly suggesting a comparison of revolvers, 

 saw that her weapon, far from being a toy, was better 



c^ 124 -^ 



