"Good! My father will let us go in alone."
"Must I leave you, then?"
"Yes, but my father can wait for us outside."
"I will wait," the sorcerer said briefly, as he looked suspiciously at the maidens.
They went in with sorely beating hearts. The toldo was empty.
[CHAPTER XXI.]
THE TOLDO OF THE GREAT TOQUI.
Don Antonio Valverde, delighted at the succour the president of the Argentine Republic sent him, rode at a gallop by the side of the new colonel, Don Torribio. They soon reached a barrier, guarded by a large body of gauchos and armed colonists.
"We must go out here," Don Torribio said to the governor, "but, as the night is dark, and we have one or two leagues to ride, it would be imprudent to venture alone upon a plain traversed by vagabond Indians."