"Alas, alas!" cried Marianita, "an enormous tree is drifting towards them! Oh! it will strike the horse! they will be overwhelmed by it." "Angel, whose name he bears!" shrieked Gertrudis, "angel, protect him! Virgin Mary, appease the rage of the waters, and shield him from destruction! Holy Virgin, save him, _and I vow to sacrifice my hair for his life_!" This was the most precious offering the young Creole could think of making to the Virgin, and as if the vow had been accepted, the voice of Marianita was at that moment heard in a more cheerful tone. "Blessed be God!" exclaimed she, "they will yet be saved! A dozen lazoes are around the tree. They have been thrown by people from the house. Good! the trunk no longer rolls onward. It is checked and held by the ropes. The brave horseman might easily mount upon it. But no! he will not abandon his noble horse, nor the man he is holding in his arms. See, he is riding around the tree, his brave steed plunging through the water with all his strength. Once more he is breasting the flood--on--on--ah! hear those shouts of triumph! He is up to the walls! he is saved!" A loud triumphant cheer rising from below, and blending with a similar cry that pealed along the roof of the hacienda, confirmed the words of Marianita; and the two sisters rushing together became locked in a mutual embrace. "Ah, Gertrudis!" said Marianita, after a moment, "you have vowed your hair to the Virgin? your beautiful hair, worth a kingdom!" "Yes," responded Gertrudis, "and, were it worth a world, I should have given it all the same for the life of my noble Don Rafael. Ah! yes; and he shall cut it from my head with his own hands!" CHAPTER NINETEEN. THE LAST OF THE ZAPOTEQUES.