In a few seconds' time the horseman appeared in sight; and galloping freely forward, soon came side by side with our traveller. "_Santos Dios_!" saluted the new-comer, at the same time raising his hand to his hat. "_Santos Dios_!" responded the young man, with a similar gesture. The meeting of two travellers in the midst of a profound solitude is always an event, which leads to their regarding one another with a certain degree of curiosity; and such occurred in the present instance. He who had just arrived was also a young man--apparently of twenty-four or twenty-five years; and this conformity of age was the only point in which the two travellers resembled each other. The new-comer was somewhat above medium stature, with a figure combining both elegance and strength. His features were regular and well defined; his eyes black and brilliant; his moustache thick and curving, and his complexion deeply embrowned with the sun. All these circumstances tended to show that he was a man of action; while a certain air of energy and command bespoke fiery passions, and the hot Arabian blood, which flows in the veins of many Spanish-Mexican families. His horse was a bay-brown, whose slender limbs and sinewy form declared him also to be descended from an oriental race. The ease with which his rider managed him, and his firm graceful seat in the saddle, betokened a horseman of the first quality. His costume was both costly and elegant. A vest of unbleached cambric suited well the heat of the climate. His limbs were covered with _calzoneros_ of silk velvet of a bright purple colour; while boots of buff leather, armed with long glancing spurs, encased his feet. A hat of _vicuna_ cloth, with its trimming of gold lace, completed a costume half-military, half-civilian. To strengthen its military character a rapier in a leathern sheath hung from his waist-belt, and a carbine, suspended in front, rested against the pommel of his saddle. "_Puez, amigo_!" said the newly-arrived horseman, after a pause, and glancing significantly at the back of the traveller. "May I ask if you have far to go upon that horse?" "No, thank goodness!" replied the other; "only to the hacienda of San Salvador; which, if I'm not mistaken, is scarce six leagues distant." "San Salvador? I think I've heard the name. Is it not near to an estate called hacienda of Las Palmas?" "Within two leagues of it, I believe." "Ah! then we are following the same route," said he in the laced cap; "I fear, however," he continued, checking the ardour of his steed, "that there will soon be some distance between us. Your horse does not appear to be in any particular hurry?" The last speech was accompanied by a significant smile.