I needed not to ask him which was meant by the "sweet gurl." Too well did I divine that it was Dolores. "Lead on!" I exclaimed, giving the spur to my horse, and the "Forward" to my followers. CHAPTER THIRTY ONE. DEMONTE. It had not yet reached the hour of midnight, as we left the Great National Road, and commenced moving up the mountain,--in a lateral though somewhat parallel course to that we had been following. For a mile we marched along a path, where wheels might have passed at a pinch. We could see by the starlight that there were some small settlements on each side, and one more conspicuous above, which we knew to be the hacienda of Buena Vista--famed as the spot where the best view can be had of the valley of Mexico. From this circumstance does the dwelling derive its name; and he who from its _azotea_ can look downward, without having his soul stirred within him, must be incapable of romantic emotion. On approaching from the coast--I mean Vera Cruz--it is here the traveller first obtains a good view (_buena vista_) of the world-renowned "Valle of Tenochtitlan;" here that he first comes within sight of the City of the Moctezumas. Story-telling tourists can see it from the summit of the Sierra--looking through the long-leaved pines! Almost every one who has written a book about Mexico has made this plausible assertion. But it must be remembered that these books have been mostly compiled after the travellers had returned home; and, in some instances to my knowledge, before they started out--not having started at all! One and all have followed the first teller of the fictitious talc; who must have been sharper sighted than I. With tolerably good eyes-- strengthened by a capital field glass--I could see no city of Mexico from the summit of the Sierra, nor from any part of its sloping declivity, through the dearest break the pine-forest afforded. Considering the distance, it is not likely that I should. What I saw was the "Valle" itself--not a valley in our sense, but a wide plain; inclosing within its limits several isolated hills, that might almost be termed mountains; mottled with broad expanses of swamp, and sheets of clear water--the largest of these being Lakes Tezcoco and Chalco; here and there a white dot, showing the lime-washed walls of a hacienda, the keener sparkle of a church spire, or the glistening of an enamelled dome amidst the scattered huts of a _pueblita_. All this you may see from the summit of the Cordillera; but not the towers of Tenochtitlan. Before you can distinguish these, you must descend--nearer and lower. You must look from the terrace where stands Buena Vista; or the plateau occupied by the "Venta" of Cordova. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ When nearly abreast of the latter place, the road we were pursuing ran out, or rather into a bridle path; and my little troop had to stretch out into "twos."