The count heaved a deep sigh as he uttered these words. The hunter, afraid of saddening his host by dwelling on a subject which seemed so painful to him, tried to turn the conversation. "Good gracious!" he said, "I did not notice before that the hacienda is entirely surrounded by water." "Yes, the river has been turned so as to form a belt round it. Our ancestors, compelled continually to contend against the insurrections of the natives, who only assumed the yoke with great reluctance, built perfect citadels, and took their precautions against an attack. But here we are on the river bank; you must dismount, and enter the boat; it is the only way of passing to the other side." "I suspect," the hunter said with a laugh, "that there is another--a ford, for instance; but you do not care to show it to me." "Perhaps so," the count answered, with a smile; "suppose there were, would you think me wrong?" "On my word, no," said the Canadian; "war is a game like any other, in which the cleverer player has the best chance of winning." While talking, they had dismounted, and handed their horses to the soldiers. At this moment the boat, pulled by two sturdy peons, came up to them; they got in, and in a few minutes found themselves on a sort of small quay, ten yards wide at the most. "Come," the count said. The hunter followed his host, and entered a narrow rugged path which ran round the hill, and which foot travellers could alone follow, as it was kept up so badly, perhaps purposely. At length, after ascending in this way for about a quarter of an hour--not without halting several times to take breath, so rapid and abrupt was the incline--the two men reached the top of the hill, and found themselves in front of the hacienda, from which they were only separated by an abyss some twenty feet wide. A drawbridge, formed of two narrow planks thrown across the precipice, supplied them with a rather precarious passage, and they at length found themselves inside the fortress. "Well, well," the hunter muttered, as he looked searchingly around him; "the persons inhabiting this house do not seem to me persuaded that peace will be durable." CHAPTER XVI. DIEGO LÓPEZ. The count did not give the hunter time to make many observations. "Excuse me," he said, "if my behaviour does not appear exactly in accordance with the claims of courtesy; but war may break out at any moment between the Spanish government and the Mexican patriots, and an ambassador, if he understands his profession, is always more or less a spy." "That is true," the hunter said with a smile. "You understand, I suppose, that I am not desirous to let you examine in detail fortifications which you may be ordered to attack within a few days." "Quite true, señor. I did not think of that; your prudence is legitimate."