126 MARTIN RATTLER.

The cavaleade consisted of ten mules, each with
two goodly-sized bales of merchandise on its back.
They were driven and attended to by Negroes, whose
costume consisted of a light cotton shirt with short
sleeves, and a pair of loose cotton drawers reaching
down to the knee. With the exception of a straw
hat this was all they wore. Martin, and Barney, and
the hermit each bestrode a mule, with a small bale
slung on either side, over the front of which their
legs dangled comfortably. They had ponchos with
them, strapped to the mules’ backs, and each carried
a clumsy umbrella to shield him from the fierce rays
of the sun; but our two adventurers soon became so
hardened and used to the climate, that they dispensed
with the umbrellas altogether.

The sierra or mountain range over which they
passed was about thirty miles in extent, being in
some places quite level and open, but in others some-
what rugged, and covered with large but thinly scat-
tered trees, the most common of which had fine dark-
green glossy leaves, with spikes of bright yellow
flowers terminating the branchlets. There were also
many peculiar shrubs and flowering plants, of a sort
that the travellers had never seen the like of in their
native land.

“How I wish,” said Martin with a sigh, as he rode