“‘Impossible!’ replied the horseman.”

“I recommended my soul to God.  To turn our horses round for want of room, to back them along the path we had traversed, or even to dismount from them—­these were three impossibilities, which placed us both in presence of a fearful doom.  Between two horsemen so placed upon this fearful path, had they been father and son, one of them must inevitably have become the prey of the abyss.  But a few seconds had passed, and we were already face to face—­the unknown and myself.  Our horses were head to head, and their nostrils, dilated with terror, mingled together their fiery breathing.  Both of us halted in a dead silence.  Above was the smooth and lofty wall of the hacienda; on the other side, but three feet distant from the wall, opened the horrible gulf.  Was it an enemy I had before my eyes?  The love of my country, which boiled, at that period, in my young bosom, led me to hope it was.”

“‘Are you for Mexico and the Insurgents?’ I exclaimed in a moment of excitement, ready to spring upon the unknown horseman, if he answered me in the negative.”

“’Mexico e Insurgente—­that is my password, replied the cavalier.  ’I am the Colonel Garduno.’”

“‘I am the Captain Castanos.’”

“Our acquaintance was of long standing; and, but for mutual agitation, we should have had no need to exchange our names.  The colonel had left us two days since, at the head of the detachment, which we supposed to be either prisoners, or cut off, for he had not been seen to return to the camp.”

“‘Well, colonel,’ I exclaimed, ’I am sorry you are not a Spaniard; for, you perceive, that one of us must yield the pathway to the other.”

“Our horses had the bridle on their necks, and I put my hands to the holsters of my saddle to draw out my pistols.”

“‘I see it so plainly,’ returned the colonel, with alarming coolness, ’that I should already have blown out the brains of your horse, but for the fear lest mine, in a moment of terror, should precipitate me with yourself, to the bottom of the abyss.’”

“I remarked, in fact, that the colonel already held his pistols in his hands.  We both maintained almost profound silence.  Our horses felt the danger like ourselves, and remained as immovable as if their feet were nailed to the ground.  My excitement had entirely subsided.  ’What are we going to do?’ I demanded of the colonel.”

“‘Draw lots which of the two shall leap into the ravine.’”

“It was, in truth, the sole means of resolving the difficulty.  ’There are, nevertheless, some precautions to take,’ said the Colonel.”

“’He who shall be condemned by the lot, shall retire backward.  It will be but a feeble chance of escape for him, I admit; but, in short, there is a chance, and especially one in favor of the winner,’”

“‘You cling not to life, then?’ I cried out, terrified at the sang-froid with which this proposition was put to me.”