Page:Pictures of life in Mexico Vol 2.djvu/139

Rh spirits suffering the extremity of torture! And, oh! the awful groans and howls of anguish that resounded thorough that dreadful place! How the wretched spirits ground their teeth in rage and despair; and shrieked and tore themselves in agony, as they leaped and sprang out of the circling flames, crackling and hissing around! Now a troop of fiends surround him, and he feels the burning heat has seized upon him! They take and thrust him among the fiercest of the fires; and——

Suddenly he awoke, with a start and shudder; his person and clothes bathed in perspiration, which fell from him like huge drops of rain. The stars were shining calmly above him, but the dreadful sounds of which he had been dreaming still seemed to salute his waking ears. Yells and shrieks, howlings and groanings, sounded close beside him, thrilling through every nerve; and still they ceased not. Presently he heard a sound which recalled his scattered senses.

It was his horse in the midst of a pack of wolves!

It was too late to save him. The wolves, pinched with hunger, are unusually daring at