"Friend," said he, at last, in a gentle voice, "what is going on out of doors?"
The man remained mute.
"Answer me, in the name of Heaven!" continued the querist; "I ask but little. Surely you would not overstep your instructions by telling me thus much?"
Just then the clamour seemed to draw nearer; hurried steps, mingled with outcries, sounded close at hand. His keeper rose uneasily, drew his machete (knife) from its sheath, pulled a pistol from his belt, and went towards the door; but on a sudden it was violently opened, and a man rushed into the room, his face blanched with terror.
"Up! On your guard;" cried he; "we are lost!"
His keeper made a sign for Don Fernando to keep back, and placed himself resolutely in front of the door, where four men, masked and armed to the teeth, had just made their appearance.
"Back!" cried the keeper; "No one enters here without a watchword!"
"Here you have it," answered one of the men at the door, as, with a pistol, he blew out the keeper's brains.
The four men stepped over his body, seized and bound his comrade, who had crouched down in the farthest corner of the room, and advanced to Don Fernando, who was wondering at the strange scene.
"You are at liberty, caballero," said one of the four. "Come, you must leave this house at once."