Page:Pictures of life in Mexico Vol 2.djvu/144

120 upon his mind; he turned and beheld the last group of his assailants retreating in the opposite direction, and folding his hands upon his breast he gave hearty thanks to Heaven for his deliverance.

Bandaging his wounds with some strips of linen torn from his dress he retraced his steps towards the village; where he arrived in the evening, without horse or hides, and almost overpowered by fatigue and hunger. The dealer, Zio, on hearing his story, disbelieved it altogether, and persisted in asserting that he had disposed of his hides and pony to another merchant on his way. While the priest, on the other hand, never failed to impress upon his mind, that his night's misadventures had been caused by his own sinful neglect, in not paying his evening devoirs to the Virgin, before he lay down to sleep beside his horse, on the Red Point of the prairie.