Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: A simple air on a fife made of the cariso seems a mild matter to read of; but its wild shriek, which can be heard for miles, carries an indescribable terror with it. "The oldest timer" crosses himself and looks askance when that sound floats out to him from the mountain gorges. If the hearer have the courage of his curiosity, and will explore the sound, his eyes will share the astonishment and consternation of his ears. It is well, however, to cultivate secretiveness. Woe to him if in seeing he shall be seen ! A sharp- edged knife or flint shall be over-curious of his back, and across its bloody autograph a hundred fearful lashes shall lift their purpling wales—in barbarous hint to him henceforth to keep a curb between the jteeth of inquisitjveness. V But let him stalk his game, and with safety to his own hide he may see havoc to the hides of others. In advance a tall, athletic pitero, torturing that unearthly unmelody from his rude reed pito, and recognizable as one of the leading musicians of the neighborhood. A few rods behind, two other natives bearing lanterns before the feet of the astounding figure which follows them—a head loosely but securely wrapped in a black bag like a hangman's cap ; a body naked to the waist, and clothed below with not more than a pair of flapping linen drawers, now wet with red ; bare feet purple with the savage cold of a New Mexican March, yet not too frozen to bleed responsive to the attentions of the frozen rocks; and arms which swing mechanically up and back at each step, and bring a broad, plaited whip down upon the macerated back with a heavy swash. A few rods more to the rearcomes another man, in the same fantastic undress, but without the whip. He staggers under an enormous cross, its rear end crunching on the rocks and snow twenty ...