Seen through the clear mountain air it seemed but three or four miles away , and Roger had difficulty in believing the merchants , when they assured him that it was fully twenty . This was Tepeaca . The slaves , wearied as they were , quickened in their pace ; and in two hours they emerged from the mountain gorges onto the temperate plateau . Here they halted for some hours near a post house , a courier being sent on to Tepeaca , to inform the king 's envoys that they had arrived thus far ; and to ask whether they should proceed at noon , when the slaves had rested , or make their entry into the town in the morning . In a little over four hours the answer was received . The merchants were directed to wait where they were until three hours after noon , then to move forward until they arrived within eight miles of the town , and then to halt for the night , and to start again at sunrise next morning . Roger was as glad as were the slaves that he had not another fifteen miles ' march before him , for the journey had been a most fatiguing one .
Seen through the clear mountain air it seemed but three or four miles away , and Roger had difficulty in believing the merchants , when they assured him that it was fully twenty . This was Tepeaca . The slaves , wearied as they were , quickened in their pace ; and in two hours they emerged from the mountain gorges onto the temperate plateau . Here they halted for some hours near a post house , a courier being sent on to Tepeaca , to inform the king 's envoys that they had arrived thus far ; and to ask whether they should proceed at noon , when the slaves had rested , or make their entry into the town in the morning . In a little over four hours the answer was received . The merchants were directed to wait where they were until three hours after noon , then to move forward until they arrived within eight miles of the town , and then to halt for the night , and to start again at sunrise next morning . Roger was as glad as were the slaves that he had not another fifteen miles ' march before him , for the journey had been a most fatiguing one .