Below, an embroidered skirt--the _enagua_--is continued by a pair of white _calzoncillas_, with fringe falling over her small feet, they are booted and spurred.
On her head is a hat of soft vicuna wool, with a band of bullion, a bordering of gold lace around the rim, and a plume of heron's feather curving above the crown.
This, with her attitude on horseback, might seem _outre_ in the eyes of a stranger to the customs of her country.

The gun and its concomitant accoutrements give her something of a masculine appearance, and at the first glance might cause her to be mistaken for a man--a beardless youth.
But the long silken tresses scattered loosely over her shoulders, the finely-cut features, the delicate texture of the skin, the petticoat skirt, the small hand, with slender tapering fingers stretched forward to caress the neck of the mustang mare, are signs of femininity not to be misunderstood.
A woman--a huntress; the character clearly proclaimed by a brace of hounds--large dogs of the mastiff bloodhound breed--following at the heels of the horse.

And a huntress who has been successful in the chase--as proved by two prong-horn antelopes, with shanks tied together, lying like saddle-bags across the croup.
The mustang mare needs no spur beyond the sound of that sweet well-known voice.

At the word _adelante_ (forward) she pricks up her ears, gives a wave of her snow-white tail, and breaks into a gentle canter, the hounds loping after in long-stretching trot.
For about ten minutes is this pace continued; when a bird flying athwart the course, so close that its wings almost brush Lolita's muzzle, causes her rider to lean back in the saddle and check her suddenly up.
The bird is a black vulture--a zopilote.

It is not slowly soaring in the usual way, but shooting in a direct line, and swiftly as an arrow sent from the bow.
This it is that brings the huntress to a halt; and for a time she remained motionless, her eye following the vulture in its flight.
It is seen to join a flock of its fellows, so far off as to look like specks.