"What a horrible system!" exclaimed Frank.

"Yes," replied the Doctor, "but you must remember that it was very nearly the same form of procedure as that of the civil tribunals of the same countries and times, and not unlike what is known in some parts of the world at the present day. And, furthermore, remember that while the Inquisitors of Spain and Mexico were doing the deeds which have been proven against them, persecution was by no means unknown in England and America. Perhaps at the very hour when a victim of the Inquisition was being put to death in Mexico, the Christian people of Salem, Massachusetts, were hanging somebody accused of being a witch, or the English Puritans, under Cromwell, were putting Charles I. to death!"

PRISONERS OF THE INQUISITION.


[CHAPTER XVIII.]

ASCENT OF POPOCATEPETL.—"THE WHITE WOMAN."—GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION OF THE VOLCANO.—FIRST ASCENT BY WHITE MEN.—AMECAMECA.—HIRING HORSES AND BUYING PROVISIONS.—EQUIPMENT FOR THE EXCURSION.—DANGER OF ROBBERS.—PEONS AND VOLCANEROS.—FIELDS OF BARLEY AND FORESTS OF PINE.—AN INDIAN TRADITION.—FATE OF THE GIANT AND GIANTESS.—ICE FROM POPOCATEPETL FOR THE CITY OF MEXICO.—SULPHUR FROM THE CRATER.—SLEEPING AT TLAMACAS.—ARRIVAL AT LA CRUZ.—THE ASCENT ON FOOT.—DIFFICULTIES OF CLIMBING IN THE RAREFIED AIR.—THE PICO DEL FRAILE.—CAUGHT IN A CLOUD.