"You are very kind. I think I will do it. It will certainly do no harm."
So Ronie wrote his letter to his mother, describing briefly his recent experiences, and speaking particularly of the portrait he had picked up. He had to make his letter short, for he not only prepared that, but he ate a hasty meal, which Jack had prepared, and with his faithful companion presented himself at the commander's tent in exactly half an hour.
"I am glad to find you so punctual," remarked the colonel. "Yes, I will send your letter along at the first opportunity. Here are the men who are to accompany you. I wish you success, but I do not believe I need to caution you to move cautiously. You have been here long enough to know something of the character of these bush rebels."
In this brusque manner Colonel Marchand saw them depart, though he did not return to his papers until they had disappeared beyond the line of forest vegetation which encircled the clearing in the shadows of the mountains. His eye trained upon the spot where he had last seen them after they had vanished for several minutes, he finally turned back, saying, under his breath:
"I hope I shall not be disappointed in them as I have the others who have gone before them."
CHAPTER XIX.
THE SCOUT IN THE JUNGLE.
Riding at a leisurely pace, the five scouts started upon their dangerous quest, Ronie and one of the Venezuelans riding side by side, with Jack and another behind them, leaving the single man to follow. The young sergeant was pleased to find that the trio selected to accompany him by Colonel Marchand were very prepossessing men, one of them a man with gray hair, while the others were but a little over twenty years of age. The oldest, whose name was Riva Baez, claimed he knew the country well, so it was he who rode beside our hero to show the way.
"About ten kilometers to the west we shall strike the main road to Truxillo," he remarked. "But it may be well for us to avoid that. El Capitan and his followers are believed to be hovering around the foothills between here and Barquisimete. It is a country just suited to ambuscade and concealment."