He had under his blanket a delightfully-cooked chicken, eggs, and tortillas, smoking hot, which showed that he was in the vicinity of his accomplices. We never enjoyed a meal better. After we had finished eating, he threw around his shoulders his dark-colored serape, and, with his usual sign of silence, disappeared through the bushes.

Everything in this life is good by comparison. We had slept several hours, and a sumptuous meal made us feel vastly more comfortable; but, yet, we were deprived of our desert, for Dan could neither sing 'Long, long Ago,' nor 'The Soldier's Tear.' After whispering to one another our anecdotes, we slept several hours more, when our well known whistle again started us. Our guide approached and beckoned us to follow him. After winding through the boggy bottom half an hour, we came to an unoccupied hut, built of bamboos, and covered with palm leaves. Here he told us we might sleep this night, as he must rest his horses; that he had some friends at hand, and if any alarm should be given, we must disappear in the thick bushes near by.

In a short time he again returned, with a new friend, a long gray-bearded, though athletic old man. This old man greeted us very kindly, with many professions of devotion to our interest, and from his signs we readily recognized him to be a brother in the same cause as our guide. We gave him two dollars to procure us supper, and, after an absence of an hour, he returned with one smoking hot, which we the more enjoyed, as our clothes were now measurably dry. The old man lived in the immediate neighborhood, and, true to his promises, he and his family kept a close watch over us that night and the next day.

At sundown our horses were brought up, and an additional one for the old gray-headed man, with all his traveling paraphernalia, showed that he meant to see us safe through our journey. This veteran, with all the pride of many years, mounted upon a gay, plaited-tailed charger, rode ahead of the party. He was a man of ready words and many compliments; next to him came our head man, of much less address, who knew that our greatest difficulty was yet to be encountered. This night we met frequent companies of smugglers and robbers, but the gray-bearded old man passed them with as much ease of address as one could speak to his neighbor upon a court-green. We would follow in our dark robber costume without saying a word, and doubtless passed as citizens in the same trade.

Our course still lay down the River Antigua, and on the personal estate of Santa Anna, through a dense forest of large trees, many of which were new to our northern raising. It was necessary that the Antigua should be crossed before reaching Vera Cruz, and the only practicable point for doing so was at the small town of the same name near its mouth. This place, which we entered about ten o'clock at night, has for many years been noted for smuggling. Vessels anchor off the mouth of this river, under pretense of getting fresh water, which affords them an excellent opportunity to carry on the contraband trade. The wide and dense bottom which lay upon each side of this river, interspersed with circuitous paths, known only to smugglers and robbers, affords ample shelter for this illicit trade. Here, our old man was well acquainted; and when we entered the town, he drew up his horse opposite a store, with a light burning on the counter, where a Mexi

can cavalry officer was writing at the desk. He whispered to us not to dis mount; that he would go in and buy some cheese and crackers for our supper, and 'see how the land lay.'

Upon entering the house, he appeared to be well acquainted, and rolled out his salutations with his usual volubility. The cavalry officer first addressed him, 'Who are those upon their horses in the street? I have been sent here with my troop these two weeks, with orders to send every foreigner without passports to the Castle of San Juan d'Ulloa. Do you know that sixteen of those daring Texans have escaped from the Castle of Perote, and several of them are yet abroad? Before the old man had time to reply, the officer added, 'As soon as I finish this note, I will examine their papers.'

The old man, with his ready wit, replied, 'They have all got passports, and from the English minister at that, and they are going home,' at the same time setting a large tumbler of aguardiente before the officer, with many compliments. He drank to the venerable old man, and resumed his writing in much hurry, so as to examine our passports.

The old man continued talking with his usual volubility, and threw another dollar upon the counter for more brandy, and before the note was finished, the officer had to stop and take another drink. Watching his opportunity, the old man slipped out into the street, and spoke to the head robber to put off in haste, and cross the ferry as soon as possible,' while he would stay and drink with the officer. The ferry was at the other end of the town, about four hundred yards distant, and we made as little delay in reaching it and getting into the boat as possible. We had barely started from the store before the officer came into the street to examine our papers, when the old man remarked that he expected we would wait for him at the ferry. The old man now feigned to be highly excited with drink, and mounting his fiery horse, swept by them as though he could not control the animal. He reached the ferry just as we were getting into the boat, and the shortest explanation showed the necessity of our hurry.

The old man had no sooner spoke to our head robber than he threw his lasso over the limb of a tree, and ran back to meet the officer. He knew that one minute of time was of the last importance to us; and meeting the officer about one hundred yards from the ferry, he said, 'They are waiting for us,' and drawing his bottle of aguardiente from his goat-skin bag, he passed it to the officer; then he took a drink with a long speech of salutations, and begged the officer to let him pass it to his guards. This was acceded to, and it gained us those few minutes of time necessary to our liberty. When they arrived at the ferry, we were half way across; the old man appeared in a towering passion, and bawled out to us, 'to stop upon the other bank until he came over; he then turned to the officer and said, 'Senor, you need not trouble yourself farther about these foreigners: I'll vouch for their passports; but if you would rather, you can go over with me and examine for yourself. In the meantime, while the boat was returning, the bottle was freely passed between them, the old man feigning both to drink and to be drunk. It was no sham with the officer, for by the time the boat returned for them, he was willing to take the old man's word for our passports.

As soon as we had crossed, we put off it the direction of Vera Cruz, and stopped upon the roadside to wait for our good old friend, and to keep a bright look-out who was with him. In a few minutes the boat recrossed, and we discovered that only one passenger was in it; and as the old man galloped to where we waited him, he proudly clapped his hand upon his breast and said, 'It is useless for young boys to try their wits upon me; I have been too long in the service.'

The old fellow strutted to and fro, and recounted the adventure with the self-satisfaction of a Wellington after the battle of Waterloo. He finished his speech by turning to us and saying, 'Now, caballeros, you have but one more danger before you, and trust this old head for that.' So saying, we moved on."

They were now within fifteen miles of Vera Cruz, which was reached without any farther incidents of note. There they were secreted in a secure place until an opportunity was afforded, two weeks later, to escape in an American vessel to New Orleans. Several of their companions had been recaptured; among these was the herculean John Young, who had fallen over a precipice in the mountains, badly crippling himself.

We close this narrative with Green's account of their leave-taking with their robber guides, and the consternation among the Mexicans in the Castle of Perote on the discovery of their escape.

ner.

"After we had been safely ensconced in our hiding-place, our three faithful guides came to take leave of us. They did so in the most feeling manThe gray-bearded old man made the valedictory. He congratulated us upon our extreme good luck in falling into the hands of 'honorable men,' for, said he, 'as humble as your apparel appears to be, you must know that there are thousands in this country who would murder you for that dirty jacket,' pointing to the one I had on. 'I thank God,' said he, 'that as long as I have worn this gray beard, I have never once forfeited my word of honor.'

During this speech, he strutted across the room with the utmost selfsatisfaction, slapping his hand upon his bosom whenever he spoke of a man of honor. We then drew from the waistband of out pantaloons several ounces of gold, which we had been careful to keep dark until now, and distributed among them as a gratuity over and above their contract. We thought this precaution would seal their allegiance, as we had been often told that the most honest collectors of customs in Mexico will say to the importer, 'That, as thin as is a doubloon, no man can see through it.' When they saw the gold come forth from its hiding-place, a look of surprise was exchanged; and when they fingered the yellow stuff, their countenances beamed with renewed devotion to our interest.

We certified, in writing, that they had been true and faithful to us, and the tall dark-skinned robber, after kissing the paper, carefully stored it in a secret place under his shirt. Upon taking leave, the old man, after several facetious jokes, 'how we would surprise our sweethearts when we reached home,' embraced us with a Mexican hug, both long and short. In Mexico, one's regard for another is graduated in proportion to the length and the strength of the embrace. Thus each of these robbers embraced us, and thus we returned it: for if we found in all Mexico the most fearless devo

tion to our interest while in our misfortunes, it was in these three robber guides.

Let us now for a moment look into our late prison abode at the Castle of Perote.

On the night of our escape, and the next morning up to the time of counting the prisoners, as might have been expected, our companions were under the most excited apprehension, not only on our account, but also as to what the discovery might cost them. Under this excitement, everything remained quiet as usual, for no one in the castle except themselves knew a word of it. At nine o'clock next morning, 'Guts' and the new guard came around to the prison rooms with the sharp and often-repeated order, ‘a-formen-a-formen.' This order was well understood by our countrymen; it meant 'to form,' and that in front of the prison doors, as usual, for inspection, in the morning; but still, believing every moment gained would increase our chances of success, and determining to favor us as much as possible, they held back, and were slow to come out of the cells: some making one excuse, and others another. 'Guts' raved and stormed at their tardiness; he went into the cells in person to look where the absent were, and found them not; he inquired of the balance, and received from one in answer, 'Perhaps they are at the comun; and from another, 'They may be at the tienda.' These places were sent to and thoroughly searched, but still they were not to be found. Our boys would repeat among themselves, 'We will put them off to the last moment, for every minute will enable our comrades to get deeper and deeper into the mountains.'

During all this time, 'Guts' swelled and raved: 'Where are they?' he thundered out to the interpreter. 'Well, Van,' one of them said to Van Ness, 'it is no use to put it off any longer; let him have it.' Van replied, • Diez y seis faltan'-sixteen deficient. 'Where have they gone to, and how did they all get off?' bawled 'Guts,' in a still louder tone. Quien sabe ?—who knows? was the reply.

Here commenced the greatest possible row; the whole castle was immediately alarmed-officers and soldiers turned out-the governor came forth with death-like horror upon his countenance-officers and guards flew all over the castle; examined every nook and corner-the top walls-went round the great moat, but still did not discover the breach, the hole having been so carefully stopped with a blanket. The last place where they thought of looking was in the prison cells, and after much useless search, one of the officers pulled back the small shutter in the center room which covered the loophole, and found, to his inexpressible horror, our breach obliquing to the left.

'Who could have thought these daring Texans would have undertaken such a task? They surely are akin to the devil. This castle has stood for these hundred years, and no one ever dared such a thing before.' These, and many such exclamations of wonder and astonishment, burst forth from men, women and children, officers, soldiers, and culprits; for they all, from the governor to the smallest child, came to satisfy themselves of what their astonishment mixed up with miracle.

Our old comrades were doubly ironed, and guarded with increased vigilThe officers now thought that nothing was impossible with Texans;

ance.

and one of my friends, writing from the castle, said that 'they even believe that we will escape in a letter.'

While the best informed Mexicans will admit our superiority in war, both in daring and the use of arms, the more uninformed entertained the most strange notions of us. Many believe that we have a magic power; others believe us to be northern barbarians, of one of two tribes of white Indians, who form the connecting link between mankind and the other world-imps. The Texan, in fact, is looked upon by them with far more astonishment than was the Kentuckian, who said he was sired by a steamboat and came out of a penitentiary?"