When Ix's mountain guard came to that city to join the army, they did so as individuals, and were accompanied by a number of their people, consisting mostly of women and men servants, who came, especially, to witness the tourney. Mitla was of the party, coming at the request of Euetzin to take part in the archers' contest, and whose skill, it will be remembered, proved such an interesting feature of the occasion. The real object for which the tournament was gotten up had not become known beyond the circle of close-mouthed projectors of the movement against Maxtla, and Mitla, as one of the public, was therefore ignorant of what was to follow. She was to have returned to her home at the conclusion of the tourney, with her party, but when the excitement, which ensued upon the heels of it because of the unavoidable publicity of the movement, became absorbingly intense, and she learned the true situation of affairs, she determined on pursuing a different course. Her love for the tzin, which had so quickly become an irresistible, absorbing passion, and which had given added fervency by the grandeur of the scene in which he was a conspicuous figure, and she an object of special attention and admiration--together with a longing desire to be near him, which had suddenly taken possession of her--outweighed all other considerations, and she resolved on following him to the field. How to accomplish this, without her presence in the army becoming known to him, was a matter of no little moment--especially to her, an inexperienced mountain girl. However, love knows no barriers too great to be surmounted, and hers was not an exception. She settled the question by procuring the necessary apparel with which to change her appearance to that of a boy, which she carried away with her when she left the city--presumably to return to her home. The first night out, after leaving Tlacopan, the madly infatuated maiden took advantage of circumstances to quietly slip from among her people, with a view to carrying out her determination to follow the tzin. Getting far enough away from the camp of her friends to feel reasonably secure from discovery, she made the intended transformation, at the same time deepening the color of her complexion by using a stain procured from the bark of a tree. When the disguise was completed, and her discarded clothing carefully concealed where it could be found, should the opportunity ever come around for recovering it, she started on her backward journey. Mitla was now completely lost in the character she had assumed. Her closest friends would not have recognized her, so perfect was the disguise. Instead of a beautiful young maiden, a stoutly-built, well-appearing lad, with a very dark complexion, moved with hurried step, and eyes peering almost expectantly into the darkness ahead of him, in the direction of Tlacopan.