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284 —this was too much! The idea filled his soul with the most over whelming rage: it maddened him to the degree that he actually foamed and gurgled at the mouth; and as soon as he could subdue his passion sufficiently to think, his whole reflections were bent upon the accomplishment of a dire revenge.

He first set about ascertaining under whose direction the executions had taken place; and he learned by many inquiries that a certain Captain Barton had been the principal agent in apprehending the delinquents, and that it was under his superintendence the order for their punishment was carried into effect.

His next step was to discover if Captain Barton were at that time stationed in Vera Cruz; and he succeeded in finding that the Captain was quartered, together with a few officers of his mess, at the house of a mercer called Xelin, standing by itself in the north-west district of the town. He then made it his business to sound the mercer as to the likelihood of his participating in the scheme of revenge. Xelin was very timid and meek, for a Mexican, and would apparently be the last person in the world to embark in anything bloody or dangerous; but the father resolved to bully him into