Part 40 (2/2)

”Ye know, Cap,” said the Texan, justifying hi But to rid the world o' sech var, air the purest hew Irish otherwise and better occupied, holding soft hands in his, words exchanging with sweet lips, not unacco the sa the Condesa

But these moments of bliss were brief--had need be The raid of the Free Lances down to San Augustin was a thing of risk, only to have been attempted by lovers who believed their loved ones were in deadly danger

In another hour or less, the Hussars who had escaped would report theel and Chapultepec--then there would be a rush of thousands in the direction of Tlalpam

So there was in reality--soldiers of all aroons” But on arrival there they found the house of Don Ignacio Valverde untenanted; even the doe, too, which has played such an i with the noble _frisones_ The horses had not been taken out of it, nor any change made in the company it carried off Only in the driver, the direction, and _cortege_ Jose again held the reins, heading his horses up the mountain road, instead of towards Mexico; while, in place of Colonel Santander's Hussars, the Free Lances of Captain Ruperto Rivas now formed a more friendly escort

CHAPTER SIXTY ONE

CONCLUSION

About a oleta-- on tacks off the coast of Oaxaca, as if working against the land wind to make to the mouth of Rio Tecoyama--a stream which runs into the Pacific near the south-western corner of that State Only sharp eyes could have seen the schooner; for it was night, and the night was a very dark one There were eyes sharply on the lookout for her, however, anxiously scanning the horizon to leeward, so the roves, by the river's mouth, a party was assembled, in all about a score individuals They weredistinguishable, as forroup Two of them had the air, and wore the dress, of ladies, souise of athem They were the Condesa Almonte the Don Luisa Valverde, and her ever faithful Pepita

A the nacio, Kearney, Rock, Rivas, Jose, and he who had been orio Most of the others, undescribed, had also spent so the part of Free Lances They were, in fact, a remnant of the band--now broken up and dispersed

But why! When last seen it looked as though their day of triumph had come, or was at all events near So would it have been but for a betrayal, through which the _pronunciamento_ had miscarried, or rather did not come off The Dictator, well inforustin--had poured troops over the Sierras into Oaxaca in force sufficient to awe the leaders of the intended insurrection It was but by the breadth of a hair that his late Cabinet Minister, and those who accompanied him, were able to escape to the sequestered spot where we find them on the shore of the South Sea To Alvarez, chief of the Pintos, or ”spotted Indians,” were they indebted for safe conduct thither; he hi adroitly kept clear of all corito unraised Furthermore, he had proht escape out of the country; and it was for this they were now on the lookout

When Ruperto Rivas, gazing through that saiven Florence Kearney to oleta!” every eye around hihtened, every heart beat joyously

Still ainst the land breeze, the goleta got inside the estuary of the strearoves

Unencue, they were all soon aboard, and in three days after debarked at the port of Pana craft carried theer live in fear of Mexico's despot

Back to his old quarters in New Orleans had Don Ignacio repaired; again under the ban of proscription, his estates sequestrated as before So, too, those of the Condesa Almonte

But not for all time, believed they They lived in hope of a restoration

Nor were they disappointed; for it cath proclaihout the land of Anahuac had arisen a ”grito,” its battle cry ”Patria y Libertad!” so earnestly and loudly shouted as to drive the Dictator fro hin land

Nor were the ”Free Lances” unrepresented in this revolutionary struggle; instead, they played an important part in it Ere it broke out, they who had fled the country re-entered it over the Texan border, and rejoining their brethren, becaed under the leadershi+p of Captain Ruperto Rivas, with Florence Kearney as his lieutenant, and Cris Rock a sort of attache to the band, but a valuable adjunct to its fighting force

Swords returned to their scabbards, bugles no longer sounding war signals, it remains out to speak of an episode of more peaceful and pleasanter nature, which occurred at a later period, and not _so very long_ after The place was inside the Grand Cathedral of Mexico, at whose altar, surrounded by a throng of the land's elite, bells ringing, and organto be wedded

And wedded they were! Don Ruperto Rivas to the Condesa Almonte, Florence Kearney to the Dona Luisa Valverde, and--Jose to Pepita

Happy they, and happy also one as but a witness of the cere a better view of it thanthe head and shoulders taller than any Need we say this towering personage was the big Tejano? Cris looked on delightedly, proud of his coe_, with the beautiful bride he had won and edding For all it failed to shake his own faith in single blessedness In his eyes there was no bride so beautiful as the ”Land of the Lone Star,” no wife so dear as its wild ”purairas” And to them after a ti his companions of the chase with an account of his adventures in the Mexican valley--how he had there figured in the various roles of jail-bird, scavenger, friar, and last of all as one of the Free Lances

THE END