"The safer call is to go to them. I will wait on the hill while you are gone."
From the vantage he had gained where he waited for his companions to rejoin him, Ronie obtained a wide sweep of the surrounding country, a view he knew was likely to prove of great value to him in his future actions. He could not follow, even in the pale light of the western moon, which was beginning to lose its glory before the coming of the new light on the eastern horizon, the trend of the mountain ranges as he had not been able to do before. He was really in the region of a distinct offshoot of mountains from those that lead away from the greatest mountain chain on the globe, the mighty Andes. The mountain system which crosses Venezuela in this district is an offset from the eastern Cordillera, and runs down to the Caribbean Sea in irregular conformity with the eastern shore of the Lake of Maracaibo. From this chain the Venezuelan system of two ranges, running almost side by side, extends toward the east, the most northerly branch, which follows quite closely to the seashore culminating in the Island of Trinidad. As he looked down upon it in the still morning atmosphere, the whole panorama of country appeared like a solid mass of forest, uneven, it is true, but unbroken by the hand of man. The intense silence which had hung over deserted Caro was intensified here, so that it became oppressive. Ronie could not fully throw off this spirit of utter loneliness which weighed down his very soul, so that he exclaimed involuntarily, in an undertone:
"Strange I should feel so impressed that something wrong is going to happen. Somehow, I cannot shake off the impression that I stand in the presence of a power that portends me mortal danger."
He had only partially succeeded in overcoming this passing weakness when he hailed with delight the reappearance of his companions, and the five then moved ahead with their accustomed caution.
Half an hour later, when the light of the new day was beginning to penetrate the tropical foliage with growing brightness, they were still slowly moving along the narrow way, overhung by tall, graceful trees, adorned at their tops with brilliant flowers, when the silence of the scene was suddenly broken by a loud rifle shot. It was, in fact, two reports blending into one, for two bullets cleft the air; with a swift, hissing sound. One of these struck the horse ridden by Riva Baez, and the poor animal reared suddenly into the air, and snorted with pain and terror. The other bullet cut away a lock of hair from the temple of Ronie, and for an instant he was stunned by the force of the shot.
CHAPTER XX.
ADVENTURES AND SURPRISES.
While Riva Baez was struggling with his wounded horse, whose sudden plunge had nearly unseated him, Ronie was also active, but in quite another manner. The flash of the shots from the treetops had not sent out its blaze of lurid light before he had discovered a pair of dark forms crouching in the foliage overhead, and the double report had not died away before he had covered one of these with his rifle, his clear, ringing voice exclaiming:
"Hold, there! Move an inch, and I will send a bullet through your head!"