Without replying, Ruperto bounded like a jaguar, and disappeared in a clump of cottonwood trees, which was a short distance off. After a few moments, the two men who had remained, with their bodies bent forward in the attitude of listeners, without uttering a syllable, heard a rustling of leaves, a noise of broken branches, followed by the fall of a heavy body on the ground, and after that nothing. Almost immediately the cry of the owl rose in the night air.
"Ruperto calls us," Brighteye then said, "all is over
"What has happened?" Don Stefano asked anxiously.
"Less than nothing," the hunter replied, making him a sign to follow. "You had a spy at your heels; that is all."
"A spy?"
"By Jove! you shall see."
"Oh, oh! that is serious."
"Less than you suppose, as we have him."
"In that case, though, we must kill the man."
"Who knows? That will probably depend on the explanation we may have with him. At any rate, there is no great harm in crushing such vipers."