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Rh seemed suddenly to cool. He stopped his horse, which was before mine, and proceeded to expatiate upon the beauty of the landscape with the cool indifference of a dissatisfied tourist. The sun had dissipated the mist which had till now enwrapped us. The sky was clear and without a cloud, and a pleasant warmth soon made us forget the sharp and piercing cold of the preceding night. A slight perfume of guava, that the wind wafted along at intervals, was now and then mixed with the sharp and pungent odor of the pines. This was like a harbinger of the beautiful azure sky of the hot regions, and the magnificence of their luxuriant vegetation. We were now separated from the first of our party by several miles.

"I should like to know," said Don Blas to me, after a short silence, "how far the audacity of these brigands would go."

"That is very clear, it seems to me," I replied, "and, since yesterday evening, facts show very strongly how much they are capable of doing."

We had not proceeded far till we met with evidence which proved to us that we were now on the trail of the robbers. Don Blas, seeing some pieces of wood lying on the ground, alighted and picked them up. It was the remains of one of the little boxes in which the sacks of piastres had been packed. He then begged me, in spite of my entreaties, to remain where I was; and, wheeling his horse about, set off at full speed. A turn in the road soon hid him from my view, and I remained alone, without being able to explain the reason of his singular conduct. A painful suspicion, which I had been trying to drive from my mind for some time, now recurred to me with redoubled force. Had Don Blas really any connivance with those robbers,