48 
DOTTINGS ON THE ROADSIDE. [Chap. III.—B. S. 
and all the other requisites for travelling in a semi- 
barbarous country, we were ready for starting; and 
on the 4th of April, just when the morning star had 
announced that dawn of day was nigh, two solitary 
horsemen on muleback might have been seen slowly 
wending their way through the suburbs of Leon, and 
their cactus and pine-apple fences. It was yet too 
dark to distinguish their expression of countenance, 
but judging from their conversation, and the snatches 
of tunes one of them was whistling, they were evidently 
pleased. Whether pleased because they had at last 
escaped the dust and dullness of the city; whether 
because they considered themselves now fairly started 
on their journey, or whether because they had some 
other cause for rejoicing,—all this, and a great deal 
more, will be learnt from the following pages. 
