64 A NOCTURNAL JOURNEY. 



dour the romantic scenery through which 

 our course lay. The Colonel rode on before 

 me, being intimately familiar with all the 

 tangled woods, rocky passes, and other in- 

 tricacies of our nocturnal route : in which the 

 track was so imperceptible to me, that I was 

 several times at a loss which way to tiirn ; 

 and, when the sound of his horse's hoofs 

 almost ceased to reach my ear, I was forced, 

 by vociferating most loudly, to stop his pro- 

 gress, begging to remind him that my horse, 

 like most hired ones, was not in condition 

 to keep up with his fine charger, and that 

 it was not improbable that I should lose my- 

 self if he went so far ahead, — when it would 

 be as likely that I should take a path lead- 

 ing to the mountains as to Cienega, and then 

 it was possible I should become a prisoner 

 to his friends the Indians, who were still 

 in the neighbourhood. This a little restrain- 

 ed his speed ; but it was not the only time 

 that I had, by hailing him loudly, to remind 



