Page:Mexico as it was and as it is.djvu/294

Rh priests, in the different chapels, immediately commenced their masses for the repose of the hero's soul. At dark, his body was left with watchers around the pile on which it reposed, and, in a few days, it was deposited in an oaken sarcophagus and carried lo a favorite hacienda for interment.

11th October. Another fine day. After breakfast we started on our promised expedition to the hill of Tezcosingo which rises in a tall cone at the end of the eastern plain, jutting out for a mile or two from the wall of mountains.

Tio Ignacio accompanied us on this occasion, and proved an excellent guide over the country. By his free, bold, dashing manners, and consummate courage, he has managed to obtain a remarkable control over all the neighboring Indians, and appears to be a person likely lo make himself obeyed. He took an active part in the Revolution, and, as we rode from the town, pointed out to me the spot where, during a sudden night-attack of a guerilla party, he had been chased by a band of troopers from whom he was alone saved by the swiftness of his horse. It seems, however, that one of the cavalry, more daring than the rest, continued the pursuit after his companions had retreated,—but he paid dearly far his rashness in the end.

When Ignacio had cleared the streets and the suburbs of Tezcoco, he suddenly turned on his follower, and striking off at right-angles, dexterously threw his lasso over the trooper. In a moment he had dismounted his pursuer;—and putting his animal into full gallop, dragged the wretch for more than a mile over the plain, and cast his mangled body into a barranca!