Page:Life in Mexico vol 2.djvu/351

Rh saddles, guns, sarapes, &c. The captain had with him his wife and daughter, and a baby of about two years old, which, during all the time they were with us, was constantly carried by one of the soldiers, with the utmost care, in front of his horse.

Meanwhile, the moon rose, and we walked about disconsolate, in front of the baths—fearing greatly that some accident might have overtaken our unescorted mules and servants; that the first might be robbed—and that the drivers might be killed. But it was as well to try to sleep if it were only to get over the interminable night; and at length some clean straw was procured, and spread in a corner of the damp floor. There K and I lay down in our mangas. Cn procured another corner—Colonel Y a third, and then and thus, we addressed ourselves seriously to repose; but in vain. Between cold and mosquitoes and other animals, we could not close our eyes, and were thankful to rise betimes, shake the straw off, and resume our march.

The road was pretty and flowery when the light came in, and we gradually began to open our eyes, after taking leave of our fair hostesses and their father. When I say the road, you do not, I trust, imagine us riding along a dusty highway. I am happy to say that we are generally the discoverers of our own path-ways. Every man his own Columbus. Sometimes we take short cuts, which prove to be long rounds;