Presently, when Carlos had moved to another part of the courtyard, the Padre hurried to my side and said, in a very decided tone, “Señor you must go back at once to Guatemala.” I said, “What is the meaning of this! What has happened?” He replied, “I must not tell you, but I know that if you do not go back to Guatemala you will be robbed and perhaps killed,” and, he added with a look of much distress, “they will steal your beautiful mule.” I told him that it was quite impossible that I should return to Guatemala, and that I intended to go forward. “But,” I said, “if you know anything about which I ought to be informed, you should tell me what it is that you fear.” After some hesitation, he took me aside close to the convent wall and said, “It is this, Señor: last night my housekeeper overheard two Indians talking together in a low tone. One of them was your guide, the other was a man whom she did not know, and she listened to what they were saying. They were sitting in a corner of the courtyard, just beneath her window, and she could hear what they said. She heard them arrange a plan to rob you and to take away your mule. Their plan was this: At about an hour’s journey from this pueblo, you have to pass a long hedgerow of aloes; when you arrive at the aloes, an Indian will jump out from behind them into the road. Your guide will then come to you and say, that the man is his brother who wishes to go to Comitan, and he will ask if he may be permitted to accompany you. After you have gone on for some distance, the Indians intend to come behind you and take a favourable opportunity to attack and rob you, and, whatever happens you will certainly lose your mule.” After walking together within the quadrangle for a few minutes to discuss the subject, I said, that I had no reason to doubt the fidelity of Carlos. He had been recommended to me by the priest at Gueguetenango as a trustworthy guide, and was considered to be a good and honest man. He had proved himself, so far, to be faithful, and was willing and careful; consequently I should still continue to place confidence in him. With respect to the conversation that had taken place, I thought that the housekeeper must have made some mistake, and had been unreasonably alarmed. In any case, however, I said it was necessary for me to proceed across the frontier. The Padre looked very unhappy, so I told him that he must not be anxious about my fate, and that I would take care to send him information about my movements. I hoped that he would soon hear of my safe arrival in Mexico. He then gave me a letter of introduction to his brother Captain Robles, who commanded the small force stationed on the frontier at Lenton.