"That is so, General. My friend, Señor Felipe, was with them."
"They have not arrived, Don Juan. The troops of Xuarez cannot have intercepted them and I am at a loss to understand this delay. Can you explain?"
"Señor," said Jack after a pause, "before I left Tlatonac there were rumours of an Indian rising. While a prisoner at Totatzine I saw myself the tribes, incited to war by Ixtlilxochitli, the High Priest of the Chalchuih Tlatonac."
"Ah, that cursed opal!" cried Garibay, fiercely; "it is the cause of great trouble. Would that it could be taken from the Indians."
"Rest content, Señor Garibay; it is taken from the Indians. Doña Dolores took it from the shrine, and it is now in Tlatonac."
"Dios!" exclaimed the General and Garibay, simultaneously, while Tim was scarcely less astonished.
"Naturally enough the Indians wish to recover this sacred gem, Señor, therefore the rising has taken place sooner than was expected. I fear, gentlemen, that the Indians have surprised and massacred our poor friends."
"Santissima Madre! a thousand men?"
"The Indian forces amount to three times that number," said Jack, quickly. "It is true that His Excellency, at my request, sent messengers after the reinforcements to warn them of a possible attack. Yet it is not unlikely that these messengers may have been intercepted by the Indians. They might have fallen on the reinforcements without warning, and then—Señor, three thousand against one thousand—an unexpected attack. Alas! it is a terrible risk."
"Our troops may have retreated to one of the towns," said Gigedo, taking the same view of the case as had Tim. "This I would know if the telegraph wires had not been cut. But as it is we can but wait."