'I trust not in your lifetime,' shuddered Polly, 'or we might as well
begin to "stand round our dying beds" at once.'



CHAPTER II: THE JOURNEY



'Away, away, from men and towns,
To the wild wood and the downs,
To the silent wilderness.'


Whatever the distance was in reality, the steamer had consumed more
time than usual, and it was quite two o'clock, instead of half-past
twelve, as they had expected, before they were landed on the old and
almost forgotten pier, and saw the smoke of the Orizaba as she
steamed away.

After counting over their bags and packages to see if anything had
been forgotten, they looked about them.

There was a dirty little settlement, a mile or two to the south,
consisting of a collection of tumble-down adobe houses which looked
like a blotch on the brown hillside; a few cattle were browsing near
by, and the locality seemed to be well supplied with lizards, which
darted over the dusty ground in all directions. But the startling
point of the landscape was that it showed no sign of human life, and
Pancho's orders had been to have Senor Don Manuel Felipe Hilario