"Caramba! colonel, you will give me a real more, I hope," said the debtor, in a suppliant tone.
The host turned a deaf ear to this demand, and taking from a press the sword and helmet of the lieutenant, he gave them to him, saying, "Take notice that I charge you nothing for the trouble I have been at in retaining these articles in pledge for two days."
The debt of Don Blas having been thus satisfactorily arranged, he proposed a walk with me upon the road. I unhesitatingly attributed this proposition to the desire of making use of the liberty he had now acquired, but I was soon undeceived. The lieutenant exchanged some words in a low tone with the other officers in the hall, and went out, promising to let them know every thing he saw or heard. I hastened to follow him; for, in spite of the curiosity that possessed me, I could not hide from myself the fact that the place for a foreigner was not in the centre of a band of conspirators, whatever their private opinions on other points might be.
The rain had ceased. A thick mist still covered the surface of both lakes, but their still waters already reflected in their bosom a sky less sombre than before. The volcano of Popocatapetl was still shrouded in mist, while the snow of the neighboring mountain sparkled in the gentle light of the moon. By her uncertain light the White Woman (Iztaczihuatl) looked more like one of the pale Scandinavian divinities under a northern sky than an American nymph reclining under that of the tropics. The lights of the town went out one after the other, and a deep silence reigned around. A confused noise, however, like the wind agitating the reeds in the lake, at times came stealing upon our ears.
"Come on," said Don Blas to me; "it is close upon the hour, and I am astonished that I have seen nothing yet."
"What are you waiting for?" I asked.
"You will soon see; come on."
After walking for about a quarter of an hour, the indistinct noise which broke the stillness of the night soon resolved itself into the tramp of a body of horse. The sounds were deadened by the damp air, and the soft, moist earth on which they moved. It was doubtless a troop of cavalry on march. A dark mass was not long, in fact, in advancing.
"Who goes there?" cried one of the leaders.