It was in the afternoon of a day a week or ten days subsequent to the time when Hualcoyotl became separated from Menke and Oza, in eluding the Tepanec soldiers on the plateau, that Mitla, the daughter of Tezcot, had gone around the mountains for an hour's pastime with her bow and arrow; and, having grown weary of the diversion, was returning home. She had just passed a sharp extension at the foot of the mountain and was sauntering leisurely along the border of a patch of ripened chia-plant, which her father's servants had gathered into piles and left lying on the ground, when her attention was attracted by a distant yelling, heard from the plateau behind her. She stopped, and, while listening to the repeated yells, which were growing louder and nearer, was suddenly startled by the appearance of a man running toward her from the direction in which the hallooing was heard. He was evidently fleeing from threatened danger, and almost exhausted. His appearance was one of deep distress, and when he came nearer she saw that a look of despair was depicted on his pale and haggard face. She comprehended the situation at a glance, deciding that he was being pursued by a foe, and instantly conceived the idea of concealing him. Without waiting for explanations, she raised a pile of the chia-plant, and, when he came up to her, told him to get under it, which he tried to do, but only succeeded in falling in a helpless heap upon the ground. Mitla did not wait for a further effort on his part, but speedily covered him with the stalks of the plant where he had fallen. Telling him to lie still--hardly a necessary thing to do, to a man in his exhausted condition--she moved quickly from the spot in the direction of her home. The man's concealment had been accomplished none too soon, for Mitla had taken scarcely a dozen steps when a party of Tepanec soldiers came in sight around the mountain in hot pursuit of him. So soon as they came in view she stopped and looked at them a moment; then turned and fixed her gaze on a rise in the ground just ahead of her, as if something had attracted her attention to that point. On being asked if she had seen the fugitive, she answered by pointing in the direction of the rise. Her ruse was successful, for the soldiers, without further question, set off on a brisk run. Mitla followed them, to get as far from the fugitive's hiding place as possible. When the soldiers gained the opposite side of the rise they were completely nonplussed, and appeared undecided what to do. Mitla approached them with perfect composure, and, when interrogated, as to what direction she thought the man had gone, encouraged them to think he had taken to the mountain. This seemed to agree with their own conclusions, and, to her delight, they dashed away, and were quickly hidden among the bushes, in search of him.