Page:Pictures of life in Mexico Vol 1.djvu/310

282 meanwhile through the darkness to discover whether any immediate danger threatened himself.

"Señora di Dios! Amor de la Virgen! What has happened?" was his inquiry on the return of his domestics.

"It is merely some Mestizoes and Indians, father," they replied, "who are rejoicing over the reward received for the apprehension of some murdering cumanches."

The priest ordered his carriage to proceed, in high disdain of such an interruption; and soon it arrived under the trees close to the crowd. At this moment, however, the father's mind underwent an unaccountable change; and, agitated by an irrepressible feeling of curiosity, he once more gave the word for the vehicle to halt, that he might behold the scene in person. Dismounting, therefore, he approached the trees where the fire and torches were, and mixed among the crowd, with his cowl drawn closely round his face that he might not be known.

What was his horror to discover almost immediately before him six dead bodies hanging on six of the trees, in a line with each other! The glare of the lights just then came upon