They had reached the top of a small hill, from which could be seen gleaming in the distance, like so many luminous dots, the watch fires of the soldiers encamped round the hatto, when all at once, instead of descending the hill and continuing his advance, Omopoua stopped, and looked round him anxiously, while strongly inhaling the air, and ordering the Spaniard by a wave of his hand to halt.
The latter obeyed and remained motionless as an equestrian statue, while observing with a curiosity blended with a certain amount of discomfort, the manoeuvres of his guide.
The Carib had laid himself down and was listening with his ear to the ground.
At the end of a few minutes he rose again, though he did not cease listening.
"What is the matter?" the monk, whom this conduct was beginning seriously to alarm, asked.
"Horsemen are coming towards us at full speed."
"Horsemen at this hour of night on the savannah?" Fray Arsenio remarked incredulously; "It is impossible."
"Why, you are here?" the Indian said with a jeering smile.
"Hum! That is true," the monk muttered, struck by the logic of the answer; "who can they be!"
"I do not know, but I will soon tell you," the Carib answered.