“Mula! anda! vaya! levantate! carrai! mula—mulita!—anda!—st!—st!”
In the midst of this din I fancied that I heard the voice of a woman.
“Can it be—?”
The thought was too painful.
A bugle at length sounded, and we felt ourselves again moving onward.
Our road appeared to run along the naked ridge. There were no trees, and the heat became intense. Our serapes, that had served us during the night, should have been dispensed with now, had we been consulted in relation to the matter. I did not know, until some time after, why these blankets had been given to us, as they had been hitherto very useful in the cold. It was not from any anxiety in regard to our comfort, as I learned afterwards.
We began to suffer from thirst, and Raoul asked one of the guerilleros for water.
“Carajo!” answered the man, “it’s no use: you’ll be choked by and by with something else than thirst.”
The brutal jest called forth a peal of laughter from his comrades.
About noon we commenced descending a long hill. I could hear the sound of water ahead.