Page:Pictures of life in Mexico Vol 1.djvu/202

174 particular angle for a considerable distance; returning in a little while to rejoin our comrades who had gone on in another direction.

Arriving at the scene of the last discharge, we fancied we could hear our companions calling to us; and quickened our steps accordingly. As we passed the trees, however, we seemed most unaccountably to leave the outcries behind us also. We returned to the spot in alarm, but nothing could we hear; we were about to proceed once more, chiding ourselves for taking needless trouble, when we perceived something black slightly projecting above the mud between the trees. One of my companions was about to fire upon the seeming excrescence of mud, in sport; but I held his hand, for I observed it move itself at the instant: presently it feebly rose yet more above the surface, and a man's head was distinguishable, while the most appalling cries of distress were heard to issue from it. "Yeogh! Yeogh! Todopoderoso! Yeogh! Misericordioso! Yeogh!" exclaimed the dark, muddy looking projection.

After gazing wistfully for a moment in the direction, we burst into a most uproarious peal of laughter at our discovery.—It was the