[CHAPTER XIX.]
THE HAND OF GOD.
We will now return to the hacendero and the Mexican encampment. When Don Pedro awoke in the morning, Ña Manuela reported Stoneheart's departure in company with her son.
"I feared something of the sort," said Don Pedro sighing; "Don Fernando was so preoccupied last night. I am glad your son has gone with him, Manuela, for it is a perilous expedition. God grant they may bring me back my daughter! Yet I cannot help thinking it would have been better to have consulted me before they left. We have here twenty bold men, who would certainly have been able to do more than two unsupported men, however brave they may be."
"I am of a different opinion," replied Ña Manuela. "Surprises are the chief element of wars in the wilderness, and two men can often succeed by means of their apparent weakness, which allows them to pass unnoticed, when numbers would fail. However, they will not be long absent, and we shall have certain news of the niña."
"Please God they be good! Manuela, if I should lose my daughter, in addition to my former woes, I could not survive it."
"Drive away these sombre thoughts, señor; Providence watches over us all. I hope we shall not be abandoned in our affliction."
"After all," said Don Pedro, "as we are forced to remain inactive, we must exert our patience till our stragglers return."
The day passed without any incident worthy of record. El Zapote, who had gone hunting at daybreak, returned with an elk.