":-:m TWO BIRD-LOVERS IN MEXICO m::;:;:::: 



sequences, as the gate-keeper should have been on duty 

 all nio-ht. 



The weirdness of our ride throuo-h the lonp', long- 

 night fascinates us both. We are wide-awake, every 

 sense on the alert. Scattered clouds pass across the 

 moon, shadowing the trail and changing the spreading' 

 yellow-barked trees into dim ghosts. Now and then 

 some creature scuttles from our path ; twice the omin- 

 ous whirr of a rattlesnake sets our horses a-quiver. 

 Deer splash away from the shallow fords, where we 

 cross the streams. Bats fan our cheeks, while ever the 

 scarlet-capped volcan watches over us. 



We rode a little out of our Avay to pass our arroyo 

 camping-place. Its shrivelled harrier of thorns, and 

 the scattered bits of paper, were just as we left them 

 a month ago. A feeling of sadness came over us as 

 we passed, for the last time, the well-known ^ilaces ; 

 the trees and rocks which we knew so well, each fixed 

 in our memory by some association. All was silent and 

 white in the moonlight. The wildness and desolation 

 of this untamed country seemed more pronounced 

 here, where once our home tent had been pitched. 



Although rain had not yet fallen at these high alti- 

 tudes, yet tlie stream in the Barranca Atenquiqui had 

 risen greatly, flooding our first camping-place. This 

 was the last deep gorge on the trail, and, as we came 

 out upon the high land, we broke into a gallop. Only 

 eight miles now sej^arated us from Tuxpan, and the 



4 360 •>* 



