Page:Pictures of life in Mexico Vol 2.djvu/104

82 courageously hastened to my rescue in time to save me. Snatching up the children, we rushed out as the flames began to gather round us: but we were seized by a party of our enemies in waiting below; our hands were tied, and we were dragged to the spot where the majority of our friends and neighbours were lying, in the same condition as ourselves.

"The flames behind us had by this time spread far and wide. The houses had taken fire from the out-buildings, from thence it had communicated with a group of noble trees at no great distance; and as these stood at the entrance of a deep wood, it seemed impossible to conjecture where the conflagration would end. The sight of the flames mounting and crackling, lighting up the pitchy darkness for miles around, was awful in the extreme: yet we were too much absorbed in the contemplation of our approaching fate, to pay it much attention. We were not, however, kept long in suspense.

Oh! the cruel ruin of that night! Oh! that it should have been so predestined! Alas! my poor wife and children! how could I survive you, murdered in cold blood before