At the moment when Don Ruiz was preparing to answer, the gallop of a horse became audible in the distance.
"Silence, brother!" she exclaimed, with an emotion she could not repress; "Silence, here he comes!"
The young man looked at his sister in amazement.
"How do you know it?" he asked her.
"I have recognised him," she stammered, with a deep blush. "Stay—Look!"
In fact, at this moment the shrubs parted, and Stronghand appeared in the open space. Don Ruiz, though surprised at the singular remark which had escaped his sister, had not time to ask her for an explanation. Without dismounting, Stronghand, after bowing courteously to the young lady, said, hurriedly—
"To horse!—To horse! Make haste! Time presses!"
Don Ruiz at once saddled his own horse and his sister's, and a few minutes later the two young people were riding by the hunter's side.
"Let us start!" the latter continued. "Cuerpo de Cristo, Caballero, I warned you that you were doing an imprudent action in liberating that villain. If we do not take care, we shall have him at our heels within an hour."
These words sufficed to give the fugitives wings, and they started at full gallop after the bold wood ranger. An hour elapsed ere a word was exchanged between the three persons; bent over the necks of their steeds they devoured the space—looking back anxiously from time to time, and only thinking how to escape the unknown dangers by which they felt themselves surrounded. About eight o'clock in the morning, Stronghand checked his horse, and made his companions a sign to follow his example.