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Show ' ( 44 ) tentwns concerning our c pedition. She expressed the .. tlesir~ !o f'ee us in our camp,'' hile "he dressed herself and her Al~JICO (bttl_e A lex is) for going; out, and soon they s~artc~? accompanied by h!s faithfu I playmate, the barl< i ng anrl bound 11)~ li 1do. . Before they arrived in 1he camp, C:~rrel advanced polJtcly to. ~re ·t the Senora anJ ' ·c followed h.im for the same purpose. Sylv10 wn!i tJrrying Alcjiro on his 'lrms, and presente~ him ~o Ot~f' I:isses, while our two clogs jun.ped joyfully up to SylvtO, their rrll1C1pal patro n, who often caresf:ed and treated them, ac; he wa~ very fond of dogs in general, and of them in particular. But Fido, not less coura.gcot~s than faithful, mistaking their jumps as attacks on Master Alejo, b1t them with such a fury, that they, in self-defenre and reven!!;e u:"ed likewise their teeth, and bit Fido, in one moment, so horribly th at ' lhe poor little dog was ucad before we could interfere to prevent the unequal struggle. . . . . . Dona Tere1'a exclaimed m de~pa1r, "Ay! que desgrac1a! o C1elo ·! que pena !'' (Oh! vhat a mischief! Heavens! what an affliction!)while Alejo wept bitterly, and repeated his plaintive cries, ,., Fidij<J mio! Pcrrico mio !" (lVly little Fido! my little dog!) But poor Fido was gone for ever !-bitten into eternity by two uncouth Indian do~~, and we could not make the mischief undone even if '"'c had bllcd them both in expiation of little Fido's tragiral end. Our well-intentioned proposal of a compensation to Dona Teresa w<1s, :1t fir~t dcclinrd by her; hmil.'ever, throu!!;h Sylvia's intervent ion and persuasion, ~he was at length prevailed upon acceptirl~ one of 01 1r dog as Fido's substitute, rallcJ ".M:1tador,'' (mnrderer,) for havin:r bitten poor Fido to de::1th; and the accomplice with .Matador n-e t;a\'(; in eqn<ll justice, the n~me of "Asasino.'' In order to reconrile the mother an<l son with our/company as well as po~sible, Yonk prcsenteJ them with her se~ond pony, as :m additional cornpPnsation, which Teresa was obli~ed to accept, declarin~ that she :w<l h ·r A ejo were now more than consoled !:tnd satisfierl. Yonka forced Teresa immediately to mobnt, with .'\.lejico, upon her pony, and th u ~ return riding. As Sylvia supposed, his friend V~lerio had lwcome n free tr~pp c r , and was jnst out on a journey to Pueblo, engr~ged in selling skins :)nd pnrchnsing hojJseho1d articles there, whence his wife expected him to return home durin~ the present week. So she tolJ Sylvio ,~~,·hile she roJe with him back to her hahitnt.ioo, followed by t he others. On the short way thither, Y onka d irccted V\Taanntaa's attention to <1 spot ~t some distance, where a body was slowly movinp.; or creep· ing alonp; the eclse of a shrnbbery. L:lbouring nnder the impres!'i n to meet there some p;ame, W aanataa directed his mule to the !"llspic~ ou~ place, and Yonka followed him on her pony, both preparin ~~ th~1rnflesforinstantuse; b11t scnrr r ly had they begun to p1octetl thither, when. they perceived an Indi an spring up and run along tht: sh~·uhbery, With the swiftnrss of an :mtelope, rlisappe:-~rinf!; in tlw thiCI<t~t of the forest only a few seconds after 1hey had seen him risP. "\Vhat's that?" cried Carrel, pointing to the apparition, and, at ( 45 ' the same time, Teresa excl aimed, louking thither," Santissima Vi.r .. gen !" (most holy Virgin!) ;, un Camancho ." - "A Camanch e: ! cried and repeated nineteen voices in a ch on ::1, <J n ! the whole cav a l~ cade Rtarted in a .gallop after VVa:mataa and Yonka, who had both, in the mean time, reached and entered the fon"'l iu pursuit of the Ca. ' manche, recognised al so by them as belonging to ~.b at tribe. Yonk<l, whoEe pony ran better than Waanataa's mule, caLc nezrest to the fugitive, and saw him leap down into a narrow precipice, whith er she coul~ not and would not venture t.o follow him, and in which he vanished out of her r-ight at the same inst<'lnt when W ~anataa arrived there also. They rorle hack to the . \.irt of the forest, where they met with the others, discussing about what was to be clone. W. anatna said,- " Let us take that lady and her child along with us, and return to our Fort as fr1st as possible, without minding our ricks for the present. I suspect that sne<iking fellow to be sent out by a body of mt:1rauding Camanches, as a spy, to reconnoitre our number and that of our animals, for the purpose of attacking us, 8nd of stealing them during the fight. Let us make haste, before they come hither in a body !" The appearance of the Camanche gave Donna Teresa cause to relate the following cir<mmstances to Sylvio, who immediately communicated them, as ''cry important to us,- on account of which we postpom·d our oeparture until the nr "t morning. "Munoz, an old acquaintance of TerC'~a and of her husband, had formerly been her adorer, but without success, as she never had given him the least encourilgement, and fimdly married Valerio, six years ago. Hov ever, 1VIunoz had the impuclenr:e to persecute . her with his odious pa sion, even after she had lawfully be~ome Va lcrio's wife, and ·in orrler to get rid of him and out of his reach, without bloodshed, the young coup]e had retired into the wilderness, where they thought Munoz would not find them out,-and which at the same tim ~ , suitrd well Va lcrio's purpose to become a free trapper. ... "Either by natural disposition or by despair, on clCcount of rejf'ctcd love, which now was immond and criminal for a m<~n of honour, Mnnoz had turned leader of a band of Mexicr~n guerillas, during 1he vmr between Mexico and the United States,-and, after the trea ty of pt:>ace, they harl turned a banrl of outlaws, who infested the Snnta l'e route flnd its vicinities, bcinO" a terrible scourge in these re p- 1011, , pnrticularly fnr f'miD"rants and ~tber travellers along that route. J\.1unoz hfld now, as a c~)tain of robbers, full power t0 ~atisfy his r:1p(lcity; hnt he would have lai] all his trrasnres, occumulll ted by lW<n jf01d robberies and murrlers, at T(lrf.'sa's feet, for the sake of her lo 'e. This ~~e knew positively, as he ha told her so himself, in hrr ovm habitation, and not lonO"er thrm a few days ngo. "Only think ;f my consternntion !" -sHid Trre~a to Sylvio, "v;hen Munoz was stamling'before me, last Sunday morning;, ju, t whf'n I rose f~om my prayer /to the Holy Virgin! But he i 1stantly raised his nght hand, pointing to our crucifix, and said, 'Teresa ! I swear, by the holy nnme of our Saviour, that I will not hnrm vo, or-any ~me else.~ |