As Natividad had surmised, the riders were cavalrymen sent out from Chorillos at his order. They ran toward them, Uncle Francis questioning the Marquis, who did not answer. Indeed, Don Christobal, doubly anxious now that his son had left his side, could not contain himself. Hardly had the troopers dismounted than he swung himself into the nearest saddle, and rode off after Dick.
“Sheer madness,” growled Natividad. “If they ever overhaul the Indians, they are lost.”
“What are we going to do now?” demanded Uncle Francis. Maria-Teresa’s fate moved him deeply, particularly from a literary point of view, but under the circumstances he asked no better than to keep a little in the background.
“We can only follow at a distance,” replied Natividad.
“Excellent... excellent... find out where they are making for, and all that sort of thing.”
“There are still laws, a police force and troops in Peru, señor. We are not afraid of the Indians.”
With which he turned to the four soldiers who had joined them, and who represented what remained of the military force of the costa. Uncle Francis, already delighted with Natividad’s plan of following at a distance, approved of it even more warmly when he found that this little escort was to accompany them.
Three policemen mounted on mules, coming from the direction of Callao, now appeared on the road. Natividad at once requisitioned the mules for his expedition. Before starting, however, he went back into the casa to write a hurried letter to President Veintemilla, explaining what had happened. He did so with a certain malice, remembering that ten years ago this same president had been Chief of Police, and had threatened to suspend him for his “mad reports.”
One of the policemen, entrusted with the letter, started back toward Callao at once. The two others were ordered to take charge at the hacienda and begin a preliminary enquiry. Then Natividad and Uncle Francis mounted two of the commandeered mules, the third being taken by the soldier whose horse had been carried off by Don Christobal. When the soldiers saw that they were heading for the sierra instead of Chorillos, there was a grumble, but Natividad silenced them. “Forward,” he ordered, and they, in their turn, entered the ravine.
“We can, at all events, travel as fast as the mammaconas,” said the Chief of Police to Uncle Francis.