At mention of this name the reader will call to mind the noble muleteer Trujano, whose firm voice he has heard intoning the _De profundis_ and _In manus_ while struggling against the inundation. Beyond a doubt his religious zeal had inspired the besieged of Huajapam: for, every now and then, from out the sad and desolate town may be heard the voices of his men, chanting in chorus some sacred song or prayer to the God of battles! In that moment when the priests of Huajapam have left the altar to take part in the defence of their town, there will be observed, neither in their acts nor words, aught to recall their former profession. At such a time Don Valerio Trujano may be said to reproduce one of those ascetic heroes of the old religious wars--great repeaters of _paternosters_, whose blows always fell without mercy, and who marched into battle reciting quotations from Scripture. Perhaps he might be more happily likened to one of the old Templars, careless of personal renown, kneeling to pray in front of the foe, and charging upon the Saracen to the accompaniment of that famous psalm, "Quare fremuerunt gentes?" Such was the appearance which the plain of Huajapam presented on the morning in question: houses smoking and in ruins--dead bodies scattered over the ground--vultures wheeling above--the royalist banner face to face with the banner of the insurrection. We shall first enter the camp of the besiegers, where the Brigadier Bonavia, governor of Oajaca, held command--assisted by the Spanish generals, Caldelas and Regules. At an early hour of the morning two dragoons, who had been scouring the distant plain, were seen returning to the lines of the encampment, conducting with them a third horseman, evidently a stranger to the camp. This was on the side, opposite to that on which lay the town of Huajapam. The horseman, guided by these dragoons, was costumed as a vaquero--that is, he wore a jacket and wide calzoneros of brick-coloured deerskin, with a huge sombrero of black glaze on his head, and a speckled blanket folded over the croup of his saddle. He had already reported himself to the dragoons as the bearer of a message to the colonel--Don Rafael Tres-Villas. Furthermore, in addition to the horse on which he rode, he was leading another--a noble steed of a bay-brown colour. This animal, startled at the sight and smell of the dead bodies among which they were passing, gave out from time to time a snorting of a peculiar character, which had drawn the attention of the dragoons. These, after conducting the vaquero through a portion of the camp, halted in front of one of the largest tents. There a groom was saddling another steed, in strength and beauty but little inferior to that led by the vaquero. It was the war-horse of Colonel Tres-Villas, of whom the groom in question was the _assistente_. "What is your name, _amigo_?" demanded the latter, addressing himself to the vaquero.